Spearbound Ch. 40

Eliza had been using the last of her strength to keep herself upright on the ground, likely not to be completely defenseless when the last of the surviving karnathis attacked, but after Kade’s help, she let herself fall on her front.

“Thanks,” Eliza mumbled into the ground as she took deep breaths.

“Were all the karnathis just as weak as the ones I killed?” Kade asked as he hopped over the fault. Hellion was quiet for once, sensing it wasn’t the time to be psychotically angry.

Eliza rolled onto her back before giving him a look. “I killed the strongest ones in the volley.”

Kade hummed in acknowledgment. The karnathis that ran from him must have somehow got word on this battle and abandoned the tunnel to rush here.

They didn’t run from me to avoid death. My views of the karnathis still hold.

“And it’s been a few hours.”

Kade blinked before he stared at Eliza. “What?”

“The last time you contacted me. It’s been a few hours since then.”

He had forgotten about the message he had sent her. The answer called into question his assumptions about the tunnel. The time dilation might not be due to the tunnel itself, but the chambers hidden behind the statues.

“I don’t understand it either.” Eliza regained some energy to sit up. “I’m just glad you got here on time. I would’ve had to do something distasteful to keep myself alive.”

“Really?” Kade grew curious. “What would you have done?”

He imagined many things. Blood magic, soul magic, ritual magic, vampire-ish magic… All kinds of possibly real magic that he imagined were messy.

“Bury myself and hope I had enough in me to stay alive until you arrived.”

“Oh,” Kade deflated, severely disappointed at her solution’s practicality. “That’s smart.”

There was a lull in the conversation as he looked more closely at the dead city surrounding them. Eliza told him she used explosive fumes to her advantage. Still, he didn’t register just how devastatingly effective it would be.

“So, aren’t you going to introduce me to your little friend?”

Kade saw Eliza staring at the chick in his arm. With Hellion’s quietness, he had almost forgotten that it was there. “This is one of the rewards I got in the tunnel. The name is Hellion.”

“… You named the poor thing Hellion?” Eliza looked offended for the docile chick.

“Don’t be fooled,” Kade said drily. “This thing has a bloodlust that is unmatched.” He ignored the possibility that he might possess more.

Eliza looked even more delighted. “So it’s not just a pet? You’re a lucky one, Kade. All I got was this.” She lifted her arm to show off a purple bracer.

Purple blood. Purple miasma. And now this. This Rift Zone loves that color.

Hellion let out an offended squawk and was promptly ignored.

“Ah, it doesn’t help much?”

“No,” Eliza said with a small sigh. “All it does is greatly boost my MP and stamina recovery rate.”

Kade automatically nodded in condolence before he realized what she said. He froze as he narrowed his eyes. “You never needed me to save you.”

“What makes you say that?” Eliza asked with a smirk. She chose that moment to stand, though still unsteady from her exhaustion.

Kade looked her up and down, taking in her near-undisturbed attire, and chuckled. “I can’t wait to see you in action.” 

Eliza’s eyebrows rose in surprise at his words. “I wondered why you seemed disappointed when you ‘saved’ me. Looks like you like women who can hold their own.”

“… That’s a farfetched conclusion to draw from so little.” Kade cleared his throat and looked away. “Where’s this pillar you destroyed?”

“Gone. It disintegrated after I destroyed it. You must have seen where it existed since you came from the city’s center. There’s a massive empty spot where it used to be.”

I thought that was a massive park that was burned away.

Kade tried to imagine what it must have looked like before Eliza erased the city off the map, but it was hard to piece together anything from the ruined disaster. “You said you used explosive fumes to do all this?”

“Without it, I would have never had a chance.”

There was something Eliza was keeping to herself. Now Kade really wanted to see what she was capable of. He started thinking he had made a mistake when he picked [Warrior].

There’s a weakness. If she is so much stronger than me, there’s no reason to pretend I’m in a higher position.

Kade looked at Eliza and wondered what he would do if she were stronger.

“I know I look great, but that serial killer smile will not charm me,” Eliza sounded like she had almost recovered. She was testing her movement, and it seemed fluid enough.

He didn’t know he was smiling at her, but that answered what he would do if she was stronger. Challenge her to a fight. Hell, he might do that anyway.

“You know, when we get out of here, we should see if there’s a way to spar safely.” Kade didn’t hide his intentions.

“Spar?” Eliza laughed. “Is this a new form of foreplay? If you want to ask me out, you’ll have to find a different way.”

Ask you out? Kade wasn’t sure what to feel.

After dealing with his ex’s whiny bullshit at the end of their relationship, everything Eliza did should attract him greatly—and it did—but his first thought was about how great it would be to fight against her.

“We can talk about that after we get out of here,” Kade looked away. “So, where to next?”

“I have no idea, but your new friend might be able to help us.”

He followed her eyes to Hellion. He hadn’t noticed before, but its feathers were even more stunning in the sunlight. The multitudes of reds and oranges popped in a way that made it look like gems.

“Hellion is good at drawing enemies with its screeches, but I doubt that will do much to help us now.” Kade ignored the indignant screech from Hellion. The bond they shared was transmitting more information as time passed.

Eliza rolled her eyes. “Let it fly. It can tell us where to go.”

He was about to mention Hellion couldn’t fly when the chick suddenly decided it was time to return to its psychotic ways. It screeched in excitement and try to escape his grasp, and if that wasn’t enough of a headache, its emotions were blaring through the bond.

Kade let go and glared, eagerly waiting for it to fail.

Hellion’s wings flapped rapidly as its tiny body slowly rose. It wasn’t steady whatsoever, with sudden dips common before Hellion could gain control over its body.

“He looks beautiful,” Eliza murmured as she followed Hellion’s progress.

Kade agreed, though he was more focused on the ‘he.’ “How do you know Hellion’s a male?”

“I don’t, but generally, male birds are more colorful.”

“Huh,” he stared at Hellion, now gaining height easily. “Are male birds also more… quick to anger?”

“Oh, stop it,” Eliza admonished him. “I’m sure Hellion isn’t as bad as you say. What can something so small—”

Hellion chose the perfect moment to shriek loudly before he lit up into a fireball that was brighter than the sun. A small red ball rocketed out of its beak toward the ground, the target not even a mile away from Kade.

His vision flashed before a small mushroom cloud rose, and his hair fluttered from the concussive blast. The heat demolished his already-ruined clothes, returning him to wearing only a tattered pair of pants.

Kade noticed Eliza emerging from the ground, in which she took cover to protect herself from the heat. She wore an amused expression as she drank in his nearly naked body.

“So… you still think Hellion is a sweet little bird?” Kade asked drily, patting off the ash on his body.

“I must have missed a large group of karnathis. He could have been trying to help us.” Eliza could barely say that with a straight face.

“We both know Hellion wasn’t. Plus, that wasn’t powerful enough to mortally damage anything close to our strength.” Kade observed Hellion plummet to the ground. “He just wanted to show off.”

He launched himself up with a powerful jump, catching an overly proud Hellion in midair with a blank face before landing softly beside Eliza.

“We go that way.” Kade motioned toward the epicenter of the fireball explosion. “Hellion saw something strange in the distance.”

Kade’s eyes darted to Hellion, who drifted off peacefully on his arm as they made their way. The attack it was capable of currently had more show than substance, but he saw a bright future for the bird.

He subconsciously petted Hellion on the head.