A half hour later, they were on the move across a stretch of collapsed highway, the city lights a distant, sickly glow. Lisa stopped suddenly, holding up a hand.
"We're close," she whispered. She turned to Darian and Isara, her blue eyes piercing. "Remember, we disrupt, we don't engage. This is merely a reconnaissance mission for the Swiftblade Family. Nothing more. Got it?"
Darian nodded, his own constellation energy thrumming faintly under his skin. He was already focusing on the sounds, searching for the tell-tale shuffle of the controlled Nulls.
Suddenly, a massive surge of Nulls boiled up from the underpass below the highway, their vacant eyes fixed not on them, but on the path ahead, as if waiting for a command. And then, a figure stepped out from the shadows beneath the bridge.
It was a man in a black, high-collared coat, his skin unnaturally pale, his hands gloved in what appeared to be dried leather. His face was gaunt, and his eyes glowed with a sickly yellow light. As he raised one hand, the Nulls began to shuffle forward in perfect, terrifying lockstep.
He glanced up, his yellow eyes fixing directly on their position on the highway, a chillingly intelligent smile spreading across his pale face.
"Lisa Swiftblade," he drawled, his voice rasping like dry bones rubbing together. "I should have known your father would send his little doll to meddle. Pity. But this time, you've brought us a gift."
He pointed a finger, not at Lisa, but directly at Darian.
"The Myth Guild's Commander. Kill the princess. Capture the Commander."
The command, echoing with a sinister resonance, instantly shattered the tense silence. Lisa didn't hesitate. Her casual demeanour vanished, replaced by the honed alertness of a true warrior.
"Corpseheart's pet," she spat, whipping the bloodied bat from her back. "Took them long enough to notice me."
The pale man, obviously a powerful member of the Corpseheart Family, snapped his fingers. Immediately, the horde of Nulls, easily two dozen strong, diverted from their patrol and began scrambling up the support pillars and jagged edges of the collapsed highway toward the small group.
"Darian, Isara! Corpseheart's ability is mind-link control. Don't just kill the Nulls, take out the one giving the orders!" Lisa yelled, already in motion.
Her three white-clad guards moved with practised precision. Two instantly formed a defensive line, drawing wicked-looking energy blades that hummed with kinetic force. The third guard, the one who had carried the book, positioned himself slightly behind Lisa, his hands already glowing with faintly pulsing light, a healer or perhaps a buffer.
"Isara, cover fire! Keep them off my guards!" Lisa commanded, and then, with a terrifying surge of speed, she darted toward the Nulls, climbing the nearest pillar. The winged shoe on her hand pulsed with light, and she was suddenly a blur.
Isara reacted instantly, her own blue Constellation energy flaring brilliantly. The air around her dropped several degrees, and hoarfrost instantly coated the cracked asphalt beneath her boots. She didn't have to be told twice about the threat of a directed horde.
"Arctic Shard!" she roared, thrusting her hands out.
Needles of razor-sharp ice materialised in midair and shot down the pillar. They impacted the first three climbing Nulls with the force of bullets, punching through their desiccated bodies. The Nulls shattered into fragments, their golden particles momentarily illuminating the dark structure before being sucked into Isara's body.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Lisa was a whirlwind of motion. Her bat, infused with an unseen power, was no mere blunt weapon. Each swing connected with surgical precision, exploding a Null's head or thorax into shimmering gold dust. She moved at impossible speed, leaping from one pillar to the next, a chaotic dance of death and white hair, keeping the immediate threats at bay from the guards.
Darian, however, had his eyes fixed on the pale man, the Corpseheart controller, standing smugly in the shadows below.
"Capture the Commander."
The words resonated with great danger. They weren't just targeting the Myth Guild; they were targeting him. Darian was still struggling to fully grasp the limits of his new Class and powers from the Constellation of Taurus, but he knew this was the time to test them.
"Isara, keep Lisa's flank secure! I'm going for the controller!" Darian shouted over the din of battle.
"Be careful! Don't let him touch you!" Isara warned, immediately shifting her focus. A powerful shield of Glacial Barrier sprang up around the Swiftblade guards, deflecting an avalanche of leaping Nulls and buying them crucial seconds.
Darian focused, his muscles coiling. He could feel the chaotic, almost intoxicating energy of his Constellation, The Whispering Bull, swirling within him. His class, Envoy of Mayhem, was subtle, designed for the quiet manipulation of minds, not frontal assaults. But his new skills offered a different kind of weapon.
He targeted the nearest three Nulls, scrambling over the edge of the highway, their eyes locked onto him. He didn't use force; he used suggestion.
"Infectious Rage," Darian murmured, his voice barely audible, the skill requiring intent more than volume.
A subtle, red pulse of Constellation energy flowed from him, invisible to the eye, and touched the minds of the three Nulls. This wasn't control; it was pure, untethered emotional amplification. The Nulls, already driven by a primal urge to kill and survive, were instantly overwhelmed by the Mayhem.
Instead of continuing their climb, they let out horrible, rasping screams and abruptly turned on the Nulls closest to them. The controlled, synchronised attack instantly devolved into confused, internecine conflict. One of the newly berserk Nulls lunged at another, ripping off its arm, and the ensuing struggle sent all three tumbling back down onto the road below.
The Corpseheart controller frowned, his yellow eyes twitching in annoyance. He snapped his fingers again, harder this time. The rest of the climbing Nulls hesitated, but the compulsion to obey their master was too strong, and they continued their ascent, albeit with slightly less cohesion.
Darian recognised the power difference: his Mayhem was a disruption, a temporary mental injection, while the Corpseheart's power was a deep, sustained link. He needed to get closer to the source.
He took a running leap, clearing the ruined guardrail, and dropped down onto the crumbling asphalt of a lower service road, landing with a jarring thud. He was now on the same level as the controller, separated only by a fifty-yard stretch of shadows and confused Nulls.
"A bold move," the Corpseheart man mocked, his voice echoing under the highway structure. "You deal in parlour tricks. I deal in death."
The controller gestured, and the five remaining Nulls on the ground level lunged at Darian. These Nulls were faster, perhaps older, their movements more fluid.
Darian inhaled sharply, channelling the Mayhem. He wasn't strong enough yet for full mind control, but he could use the second part of his Class's gift: subtle suggestion.
"Unstable Command," Darian focused, pouring his will into the energy.
This skill didn't just cause rage; it messed with the Nulls' perception of their target. Darian focused on the Corpseheart controller and willed the Nulls to see him, their master, as the enemy.
The five Nulls stopped dead in their tracks, their empty eyes darting between Darian and the Corpseheart man. For a split second, they seemed utterly confused, their programming warring with the external, chaotic influence.
The Corpseheart controller's eyes widened in genuine alarm. "What is this? Stop! Attack him!"
The command was too late. One Null, its body visibly shaking, let out a tortured noise, something that sounded almost like an aborted scream, and launched itself at the pale man, claws extended. The others followed suit, a small, violent mutiny erupting at the base of the highway.
"Incredible," Darian breathed, watching the chaos. His Mayhem didn't make them loyal to him, but it made them violently disloyal to their master, causing the ultimate internal conflict.
The Corpseheart man was fast. He raised a hand, and an invisible, crushing force smashed the first Null into the concrete pillar, turning it into pulp and gold dust. But the brief diversion was all Darian needed.
He sprinted forward, drawing on his Constellation energy to enhance his physical speed, closing the distance while the controller was distracted, swatting away his own rogue monsters.
Meanwhile, above him, the battle was reaching a fever pitch.
Isara was a beautiful, deadly spectacle. The ice was flowing from her in torrents. The Glacial Barrier was holding the front line, but Nulls were beginning to flank them.
"Ice Age!" Isara commanded.
The ground around her instantly became a treacherous sheet of black ice, stretching twenty feet in every direction. The Nulls, lacking the complex motor skills and balance, went sprawling. They tried to crawl, but the ice was too slick.
Lisa and her guards capitalised on the advantage. Lisa bounced across the ice with impossible grace, using the instability to enhance her own velocity. She was a devastating force, clearing the immediate threat on her flank, her bat never missing its mark.
"Good work, Ice Queen!" Lisa called out, her voice filled with exhilaration. "But there are too many! We need to pull back once Darian is clear!"