Void's Psionics (53 page)

Off to the side Oliver noted the parents were
telling the children to run and hide while drawing their own
swords, spears, knives and bows while running to their Elder’s call
to battle.

Too fast for the Elder’s
reactions, the assailant jumped forward, swinging his right arm
horizontally to decapitate the Elder at Oliver’s side, but Oliver
threw his right arm out and knocked the strike upwards by the
shield. Decapitation was averted. Being scalped through the helmet
wasn’t. Thinking at inhuman speeds Oliver calculated the survival
rate of the Elder and everyone else.
His
attack of a slicing wave holds power enough to destroy planets. His
speed of that strike proves he is as fast as me and deadly
accurate. No one here can hold him back other than me. Survival
rate without my aid is zero. Anyone else will be killed so I need
to make an opening. Otherwise there is no chance anyone will
survive this fucker.

Decision made in that nanosecond. With a kick
to keep him out of danger, Scimitar flew seven meters away and fell
in the water in the time it took the sword to shave off the top of
his head. Flying into the river, missing most of his scalp and a
chunk of skull.

Oliver though engaged now in a calm rage
after the calculations were in his favor. Eighty eight percent
success rate to defeat the enemy. The cutlass screaming its melody
and striking the other sword, building power at the same time. The
sparkling black blade seemed to grow wider, a trick of the eye by
how fast it sang through the air. The cutlass’ reach was nearly
half the longsword’s yet it was faster. Speed trumping power. The
strike of swords crackling with energy the magnitudes the other
Hunters had never felt before made intervening impossible. But the
Hunters readied weapons, kinetic blasts in their hands as well as
lesser kinetic streams that were more like bolts of lightning
rather than a beam. Ready to unleash the moment they got a clear
opening.

Time didn’t slow for Oliver, but he did
process more and it fortified his combat capabilities. A part of
his mind catalogued the attacker also gathering and enhancing his
armor from being cut in half. If not for the power, the cutlass
would have gutted in another strike the pale blade missed. In
return from the glancing blow, Oliver was kicked in the sore ribs
again and managed to throw up a barrier a moment before a kinetic
blast appeared on the foot. The power didn’t hurt Oliver, but it
did send him up thirty meters up. The attacker’s polished armor was
easy to spot perusing when he countered the momentum. Oliver
acrobatically dodged under the following sword sweep and returned
with an enhanced kick of his own that knocked the man sixty meters
higher and shattered the femur. He followed, watching as the man
drew out a simple long dagger hidden from underneath the polished
backplate, infusing the new weapon while gathering even more and
directing the energies up his esophagus. The damaged leg sustained
hardly slowing him. Oliver read the energy surrounding the man and
readily countered them and knew what he planned almost before the
man even decided what he was doing next.

Metal rang out loudly, even from afar as
battle joined. Going at speeds even trained Hunters could not even
follow made them halt their charge. Some flew up, holding distance
to help as soon as there was an opening. Not before.

Four Hunters though dove into the river to
drag out the unconscious Elder before he sunk and drowned.

Far away came the enrage roar of eleven adult
Ligers that hurried to their master’s aid, ready to tear through
this dishonorable enemy, but they were too far away at the
moment.

The long dagger joined the longsword when the
man learned Oliver was not one to challenge lightly after all. The
dagger made up for the speed of the cutlass, but what was odd is
Oliver kept throwing every ounce of speed he could muster into the
attack flying through the air. That the man moved just as fast was
ridiculous.

When Oliver gathered sufficient power he
funneled it into his mouth from the throat a moment faster than the
white mask which lost its mouth and lower jaw section to a stream
of his own and two near equal kinetic streams met head on.

With a foot as a guide Oliver kicked out a
barrier to protect the ground, village and people for hundreds of
kilometers below the aerial confrontation in nearly an instant.

The result was an explosion able to crack
open the surface of Zerika had Oliver not kicked out the barrier to
deflect the energy back up. Nevertheless the forces of physics
forced both to disengage and go momentarily unconscious even though
they had both added another barrier around their bodies.

Consciousness was regained first to Oliver
because it was impossible to block hearing his Pride’s anger sear
the mind and flipped midair to find the other tumbling body a half
kilometer away completing his flip, awakening too. Oliver thrust
his shield to launch an instant wall of blue energy half the size
of a mountain with the attacker’s back turned.

He must have sensed it incoming as he let
loose a series of weak waves that effectively let the wall pass by
till it dissipated. When he came to, Oliver looked closer, zooming
in with aid of the chip. The assailant glared through the broken
mask. Proving it made of ceramic. Holding it from below where the
stream melted the now clear properties of ceramic. He held it to
continue to cover the face, but the black eyes were still burning
with complete malice. But he didn’t continue the assault, glancing
to the armored Liger flyers moving at near the speed of sound. He
decided “Not bad, Solarian. You put up a good fight. Till next we
meet. Father, I’m ready. I got what you wanted.” There was a bright
light and he was gone.

From below the Hunters all attacked, but
missed their opening.

In the next five seconds he
was surrounded by his yowling Pride, encircling him and staring
out, all ready to let the others know as soon as they see him.
Splashing water and from the alerted village sirens had him look
down to connect fully.
“Nova, get Renee
here NOW!”

There was a distant roar and
meanwhile Renee was holding on for dear life to the flying Liger
who impressed upon her his urgency before she even knew the
constant mental link to her Match spoke of danger. She Read the
image Nova had given and didn’t ask. She grabbed on and squeezed
her eyes. Her hard armor protected her from his as he ran
right
through
the
hull of the Dorgenox without hesitation. The sharp blades of the
armor parted the dense wood like water. Nova followed new commands
by angling at the gathering humans on the ground. Renee though had
locked eyes with a figure surrounded by wing flapping giant cats
with turbines jutting from their hindquarters angling down
too.

“
Back away!” Oliver’s
booming voice boomed out and the crowd of weapon crackling Hunters
did so. He landed along with the yowling Pride that made the
villagers back further from the area. Nova landed more lightly than
she expected and Renee dismounted to run over to the downed
Elder.

She let loose power in the run which ripped
the remainder of his helmet off as if they were nothing more than
soft crackers and took command of the situation. She willed her
armor to cover the gaping head wound as she let her bracelet flow
from her wrist to him while scanning with her other hand. Finding
the severe damage was infused with a deadly poison few knew the
cure to. Her mind may not be able to do technical calculations at
her man’s level, but she mentally saw the components of the poison
and created an antidote in the span of a heartbeat. From there she
withdrew some of her bracelet and had the microscopic particles
gather the treatment from pieces she carried out in her bones.
Created the antidote in the span of four seconds and delivered it
into the Elder’s bloodstream while simultaneously extracting dirt,
dust and other microbes from the massive head wound. She glanced to
Oliver who was holding his ribs and told him what she found without
opening her mouth, letting him know the man would survive. She then
yelled “Move! I need to get to the med bay.” Levitated the bulky
Elder by herself and flew straight to the only white painted
structure with a red cross in the village. She contacted the
alerted medic enroute before he even had time to step outside.
“Prep for major head trauma. His brain was subject to water and
air. I’m removing the last of the foreign particles as we speak.”
The medic didn’t fight her command and returned to prepare. By the
time she landed and levitated the man inside, the room was cleared
and the door shut to let them work.

“
Secure the area and turn
off all lights. Any sudden flashes of light will be attacked
instantly! He likely teleported.” The Hunters moved by Oliver’s
command as an Elder Hunter. That and they saw exactly what he was
capable of right then. “Nova,” the Pride king looked at him. “you
and the boys scout the area outside. The light was bright so I
don’t know if that was true teleportation or he was just too damn
fast. Get the females back to the cubs first. Let me know if you
catch his scent again.” He said while impressing the little amount
he was able to smell with his still hindered sniffer the other man
had and Nova along with the pride scattered. He wished his sense of
smell was more accurate, but that was all he was able to
gather.

“
Brother, what…” Began Stone
who had been the one who escorted Stephanie and Jessica back to the
village safely.

“
Help me find Scimitar’s
blades and then we lock down the med bay. It was a nasty
wound.”

“
Better than losing his
whole head. At least he has a chance… I saw it from Breena’s
balcony. The bastard just appeared behind you out of nowhere like a
Phantom. Like Renee likes to do when sneaking around… He was using
a Star-saber wasn’t he?”

“
Yeah. It was too white
otherwise and it managed to cut my armor through. Few things are
that sharp.” He held his chest with a grimace no one
saw.

“
How bad, Brother?” Stone
said looking at how his friend held himself, not sheathing his
hatchets either.

“
I’ll live. The wound wasn’t
jagged and I’ve already neutralized the poison.”

“
Poison?!”

“
Relax, Renee just told me
what she found and I scanned myself while you were looking at
Scimitar as she worked. She already neutralized it in him before
she flew off. Help me find his swords.” He turned and dove into the
clear water. Stone wasn’t far behind.

Despite the fast pace of the river, the water
was crystal clear. Making it easy to locate one blade, but after
twenty minutes of searching, the other was gone. The rest of an
hour’s time was spent outside the med bay in relative silence. The
whole village remained deathly quiet if not for the waterfall.
Hunters combed the grounds as well as stood on every rooftop,
waiting for danger. As the only Elder there, he was contacted
several times about suspicions which turned out false. And when
Nova told him one of the others found a trail, the three male
Ligers followed it. There was signs of a ship landing through
Nova’s eyes, but all other signs told him the enemy was long
gone.

It was four hours later that the med bay
doors opened and out stepped Renee to find Oliver petting Nova who
sat proud and alert. Stone stood in his armor now instead of a pair
of shorts beside his dark skinned mate and three others. The moment
the doors had hissed open all their eyes were turned. She had to
raise a hand to block the bright afternoon sunlight as she said
“He’s sedated and out of micro surgery. His brain itself has minor
bruising and he lost a bit of blood. He’ll likely have short-term
memory loss, but we were able to save him in time before the poison
spread.” Her words were met with a sigh of relief.

“
I’ll inform Elder Scythe.”
Stone said and walked away.

“
I’ll spread the word to the
rest of the village.” Another man said and ran off.

“
It’s really quiet.” Renee
noted as her eyes slowly adjusted.

“
I’ve ordered a lockdown.”
Oliver said. “Sparky and my other two Ligers are running and
watching the perimeter. Everyone is still on alert.”

“
You think that bastard has
the balls to come back?”

“
No, but I can’t be certain.
Before he vanished he said something about his ‘Father’ and that he
got what he came for. And you’re not going to like what he stole.”
Oliver was deadly serious.

“
What did he take?” Renee
swallowed.

“
He stole the sphere of the
AI Jenniviq. I just got word also from Drake councilor Alandra, the
Wise One, that someone has also stolen Vladamin without detection.
I told the captain what the man said about getting what he came for
and rushed to the orb chamber to find her sphere gone. Rose
contacted Drakken Prime and they relayed theirs was taken
too.”

“
No.” She breathed with her
mouth turning to an O.

“
Yeah. Afraid so. If that
bastard took it, I had to assume he took it out from under the
Drake council’s nose too. I have been taking all your calls, but
with the situation as it is, Jake is flying everyone back with all
haste. He estimates three to four days. If the guy stole two
priceless orbs and is a decent match for me, we can’t be left
behind in the race to the other cities.”

“
Did you get his
scent?”

“
Not as strongly till my
Pride found his trail. Whatever he is isn’t human.”