The three of them surrounded Soren, Rin still staying in her original position and the two swordsman both started charging up their attacks at him. Wind started bursting out behind Varik and he looked up at Soren his eyes widening, with a fat grin forming on his face
''Take this you gold mine!''
Varik ignited his fire magic again, short bursts of flames propelled him forward like a rocket allowing him to cut through the air. He swung his sword forming horizontal slash aiming at Soren torso. At the same time both Rin and Talia commenced their attacks. Rin span in a circle swinging her entire body using her massive war hammer as bat slamming it into a huge shard of ice that threw itself towards Soren and at the same time Talia began making the earth itself shake beneath Soren's feat trying to mess up his footing
Despite all of these oncoming attacks Soren remained in the same position, the difference this time is that blood started to unusually pool from his leg and then what burst forth from his leg was a flood of blood. Soren then kicked his leg in a circular motion causing the torrent of blood to form a circular dome around him
''Detonation''
The blood that had formed a makeshift dome around Soren detonated
A violent explosion tore through the alley, blasting outward in every direction. The massive shard of ice Rin had sent flying toward him was caught in the shockwave and violently knocked off course, smashing against the alley wall where it shattered into dozens of fragments
At the same time Varik was already mid dash, flames roaring behind his feet as he closed the distance
His eyes widened
"Oh shi-"
The explosion struck him head on
His momentum turned against him as the shockwave slammed into his body and sent him flying backward. Varik crashed hard into the stone wall behind him with a sickening crack. The flames around his boots sputtered out as his body slumped against the wall and slid down to the ground
He didn't move
Rin's grin vanished for a brief moment
Talia clicked her tongue in irritation
"Damn idiot rushed in again"
'That's one down'
'Cocky bastard. Treating my life as a joke'
His body moved immediately and Soren turned and bolted out of the alley, ignoring the sharp pain ripping through his injured leg
Behind him Rin's voice rang out
"He's running!"
Talia stomped her foot against the ground and the earth trembled as she launched herself forward
"Don't let him get away!"
Soren's heart pounded as he sprinted down the narrow street
'Shit. They're still coming'
He could feel it through his empathy magic. Rin's killing intent burned behind him like a torch. Two others were right beside her and that support mage further back
'Three of them still able to fight'
His leg throbbed violently with every step. Blood continued to drip onto the ground behind him. He had just forced his own leg to gush out with blood which at the time was the right choice but the downside is he had erased the progress that his Regeneration spell had previously made
'Detonation bought me time but I can't keep doing that.'
He glanced down briefly at the blood trailing from his wound
'I'm losing too much. The regeneration can't keep up'
His mind raced as he ran
'Thorne said he passed all of his magic to me'
'Then why do I only know two spells?'
Regeneration. Detonation. That was it
'That doesn't make sense'
His breathing grew heavier
'I shouldn't be this limited'
Then a thought struck him. The prison. That was when he learned both regeneration and detonation
Soren's eyes widened slightly
'At that time I was desperate'
Not spells. Understanding
That was what Thorne gave him
'His knowledge of blood magic'
Not techniques. Principles
Behind him Rin shouted again
"Spread out! Cut him off!"
Stone shifted as Talia manipulated the ground to close the distance
Soren gritted his teeth
'I don't need new spells'
His fingers twitched slightly as he ran
'I just need to use the ones I have better'
His mind replayed the detonation spell
Blood. Compression. Release. Force
'If I detonate blood...'
His gaze shifted to his own hand
'What if I control the explosion?'
Tiny droplets of blood gathered at his fingertips
His heart started racing
'Instead of exploding outward…'
He focused his magic carefully
'Compress it even more'
The droplets vibrated
Energy building inside them
'Then release it forward whilst maintaining the pressure'
A small pop sounded at his fingertip
The droplet shot forward like a red streak, slicing through the air before embedding itself into a wooden crate ahead of him
Soren blinked
'Oh.'
Behind him Rin's voice suddenly sharpened
"What was that?"
Soren slowly raised his hand again as the tips of his fingertips burst open collecting blood
A small grin spread across his face despite the pain in his leg of unfolding this new magic
'It's not a new spell'
Another stream fired forward
Fast. Precise
'A modification'
It had taken Adrian, a fellow prophesied one, two long years and countless failed attempts before he had finally managed to alter even a single spell
Soren had done it in the middle of a fight
In the span of a few desperate breaths, while surrounded by enemies who wanted his head, he had taken a spell he barely understood and twisted it into something entirely new
Soren's steps suddenly slowed and for a brief moment his body stopped moving entirely
Rin noticed immediately
"Why did he stop?"
Talia frowned, still rushing forward behind her, but before either of them could react, Soren turned and he brought both of his hands together in front of him, palms aligned as blood rapidly gathered between them. The crimson liquid vibrated violently as his magic compressed it tighter and tighter
'Focus'
The pressure built for a split second. Then it released. A sharp, piercing stream of blood erupted forward like a railgun and the air itself seemed to split as the crimson beam tore through the alley
Rin's eyes widened
"What the hell is that!"
She threw herself sideways at the last possible moment. The stream of blood sliced past her face, cutting a thin line across her cheek as she barely avoided the attack
Talia reacted just as quickly
She stomped the ground and pushed herself off the shifting stone beneath her feet, twisting her body out of the beam's path. Even then the edge of the attack grazed her, leaving a shallow cut across her jaw. Both women skidded to a stop, stunned and Rin wiped the thin line of blood from her cheek and stared at the crimson streak that had carved a deep groove through the stone wall behind them
Her eyes narrowed
"What magic is that?"
For a brief moment she actually sounded confused
"Water magic?"
But the attack had not been aimed at them. Behind them Kael was far slower to react. The support mage who used light magic had only just begun to lift his head when the attack reached him
His eyes widened
"Wai-"
The blood railgun slammed into his stomach with brutal force
The impact knocked the breath from his lungs and sent his body flying backward into the wall as what it looked like to be a barrier of light started dissipating, but still a hole formed on Kael's stomach. Stone cracked behind him as he hit it hard before collapsing forward onto the ground
Kael curled slightly as the air rushed out of his chest
Then he stopped moving
Unconscious
The alley fell silent for a moment
Rin slowly turned her head and saw Kael lying motionless behind them
"...Damn"
Talia's expression darkened
"He just took out our support. We can't drag it out anymore"
Soren lowered his hands slowly
His breathing was heavy now, chest rising and falling as pain pulsed through his injured leg
'Missed the vitals'
He exhaled quietly
He had aimed lower on purpose
The beam could have easily pierced through Kael's chest or neck at that distance. Even Soren knew that, but the moment he lined up the shot something flashed through his mind
A cave
Blood
Adrian's lifeless body
The memory still made his stomach twist
'I'm not doing that again- no. I can't do it again'
Soren's heart started racing and his vision started swaying. His mind kept flashing back. The blood. Blood everywhere. He kept going back to that moment but he couldn't dwell on it, no not now, he just needed to keep himself sane
Just enough to survive
Rin stared at Soren again, the earlier grin slowly returning to her face, but now there seemed more hesitation and nervousness in her voice as if her grin was a mask to hide her true feelings
"You're full of surprises, aren't you?"
She lifted her hammer again, rolling her shoulders
"But now you've really pissed me off"
Talia stepped forward beside her, the ground beneath her feet already beginning to shift
Soren did not respond. He simply turned and started running again. Behind him Rin laughed as she began the chase once more
"Oh no you don't"
Her killing intent flared even stronger than before
"You don't get to run after pulling something like that, taking out two members of our team!"
Soren gritted his teeth as he pushed himself forward, his injured leg screaming in protest
But despite the pain, his mind was still racing. The railgun attack. The compression. The release
'So that's how it works'
A small grin appeared on his face as he ran
'This might actually keep me alive'