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“Be back as soon as I can,” said Roman, letting Voreese latch onto his back. And as he crouched down, everyone took a step back. It wasn’t quite far enough, however. He shot up into the sky, leaving a shock wave in his wake that cracked the ground and nearly knocked Hector on his ass.

‘Holy shit!’ thought Hector, looking up with wide eyes to see Roman and Voreese dwindling from sight.

Then Garovel pointed suddenly. ‘Karkash.’

And Hector saw the Vaelish man as well, diverting up and after Roman, obviously wanting to intercept him.

Harper raised an outstretched arm with a closed fist. He didn’t need more than a moment in order to take aim, and then a beam of solid, white light flashed into existence all at once, cutting the sky in two.

Karkash instantly lost an arm, a leg, and half of his torso. He ceased flying up and spiraled off into the forest below.

‘Nice shot,’ said Darsihm, bobbing his head at his servant.

It was an alteration type, Hector knew. The ability to manipulate light waves. Garovel had learned of the man’s power after his long strategy meeting with the other reapers and had then been kind enough to impart that knowledge to Hector, as well. But even though he’d known about it beforehand, seeing it firsthand was something else. And just like that, the Lt. General had already crippled Karkash, at least temporarily.

Hector could hear the enemy drawing close now. They didn’t seem especially concerned with keeping quiet, whooping and hollering over the already raucous sound of their vehicles pushing down the narrow path.

Then the noise died down, the cars’ engines shut off, and Hector could hear people exiting the vehicles.

‘I sense a lot of souls over there,’ said Darsihm, ‘but only ten are making their way closer. Half of them are floating, so it would appear we have five opponents.’

‘Until Karkash gets back,’ added Garovel.

‘Keep the formation,’ Mehlsanz reminded them. ‘Don’t let them separate you.’

From there, a heavy period of silence seized the area. The Abolishers did not show themselves in order to exchange words.