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Hector could only watch the Lord Najir in awe. The one glass handle could only sustain Asad’s movement for a few seconds, but Asad created more on the fly, alternating between handles and platforms as he pleased, striding and soaring through the open air with such apparent ease and swiftness that Hector could hardly believe he and Asad shared the same ability type.

The Blackburns kept him busy, bombarding him with fleets of copper and cesium that he had to deflect while also keeping Sabas pinned down. They seemed to have regrouped very quickly, somehow.

‘Careful, they’re all using pan-forma,’ said Garovel, and Hector understood why their three reapers had vanished from sight all of a sudden. ‘Even headshots won’t kill them now. You’d have to obliterate their entire bodies or tear their reapers away from them--neither of which you’re capable of doing.’

Had the circumstances been less dangerous, Hector might have taken issue with how ridiculous that all sounded, but here and now, doubt was a luxury that he could not afford. He took Garovel at his word, and instead simply asked, ‘What should I do, then?’

‘Same as before. Asad needs space to breathe. Provide it for him.’

Jada was doing precisely that, Hector saw. She’d lobbed a cooked grenade at Silvia, which exploded before even hitting the ground and blew a chunk out of the woman’s face. Silvia dropped but didn’t stop moving, and Hector could see her head regenerating just as Garovel had said--and with a speed he’d never seen before, even. Combined with unrelenting gunfire, Jada had certainly earned the woman’s attention and would doubtless be receiving an overabundance of cesium momentarily.

Hector was already sprinting by this point. And because he had the distinct impression that trying to coat Silvia Blackburn in iron would be about as effective as attacking with a feather pillow, he instead decided to materialize an iron chain in his free hand, broad and strong as he could make it. When he drew close enough, he chucked it at her with all his strength, and it caught her around the torso, huge links wrapping around her but still not stopping her.

A hail of exploding cesium came for Jada, and the young woman only managed to dive partially out of its path, losing her left arm, shoulder, and ear in the process. It did, however, buy precious time for Hector.