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The burst of water seemed to catch Parson off guard and ripped into the man’s air currents, including the ones composing his own body. The water didn’t touch Zeff, but the shock wave that it created did, and the Rainlord found himself suddenly falling.

But he was free. Finally. And he could see the two reapers, as well. Parson had lost his grip on them, since they had not been affected by the purely physical blast. Zeff had bought them precious few moments. The reapers could try to flee, of course, but as Parson had proved earlier, they did not possess the speed to escape this enemy.

Zeff, however, could. Or at least, his instincts told him that he could. Fighting Parson and actually winning? Certainly not. The difference in soul power was too great. But escaping? With the power of emergence coursing through him and with a head start of a few seconds, that seemed abruptly possible.

He raised an upward-moving platform of ice beneath himself. And kept raising. “To me!” he called out, and both reapers rushed to meet him. He grabbed one with each hand as he shot past them on his growing platform, bending it horizontally.

By now, he had more speed, but it still wasn’t enough for him. He could do more. He knew he could. And when he pressed his mind harder, the jump in acceleration was so violent that he felt a dozen bones snap at once.

And then he was flying. On an icy rocket that arched across the sky, he was flying.

Still, he knew that he could do more.

He removed the cooling aspect from the ice so that he could focus everything on velocity. Water exploded forth on a sideways geyser, growing perpetually forward so as to never lose any of its initial power or momentum.

Then, he finished merging with Axiolis. The added control that pan-forma afforded him was the final push. The speed jumped another time, and Zeff felt the punch of the sonic boom as he rocketed toward the rain clouds in the distance.

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Wide-eyed and grinning, Parson watched Zeff zoom away. He didn’t bother giving chase and instead chose to land. Overra melted out of his body, and Parson let out a weary breath, wiping the sweat from his brow. He started the long walk back toward Rheinhal as Overra kept pace behind him.