Discordant Note: Crescendo | TBATE

Chapter 196: Cementing Resolve

Toren Daen

I growled, settling into my Acquire Phase on instinct as Cylrit's intent–serious and sharp–slammed into me. The reassuring warmth of my Phoenix Will steadied my anger, focusing it and allowing me to block out the roiling guilt in my stomach. "Are you really going to do this, Cylrit?" I hissed, my hand clenching around Inversion.

Cylrit didn't respond. My instincts blared at me, screaming that I needed to move. That I was in danger. All at once, the hairs on the back of my neck rose, sensing an electric tension in the air. Cylrit's intent slammed into the atmosphere in tune with his mana. I barely had the time to inhale, shifting my stance in preparation.

And then the Retainer blurred. One moment he was fifty feet away. The next, he was simply gone.

The first thing I felt was pain–the flashing, disorienting kind, that made it hard to even think. A dull, crunching sound echoed out as the Vritra-blooded mage's gauntleted fist–appearing as if out of nowhere–slammed into my collarbone. My shoulder buckled from the blow, the shattering of bone and tearing of muscle radiating all across my body like fire.

A crater the size of a house opened beneath my body as I was slammed into the ground by the force of a jackhammer. Stone rumbled around me as I cried out in pain, a wave of dust kicked up around us. My vision flashed red from agony, my decimated shoulder made all the more apparent.

"Toren!" my bond cried in worry, her words reaching me like lights in the fog. "He isn't done! The Retainer is–"

"You are weak, Spellsong," Cylrit's voice hissed from above. A dark, plated hand thrust through the cloud of dust, cinching around my bloodied robes. He hauled me up, forcing me to look him in the eye. My hands–feeling exceptionally weak–gripped his metal gauntlets.

Inversion streaked in from the side, the point sharp and deadly as it aimed for the Retainer's jaw. I snarled, blood dribbling from my lips as I glared at the Vritra-blooded mage.

His massive greatsword shifted, and suddenly, my telekinetically controlled weapon veered off to the side. I twisted in Cylrit's grip, building a layer of plasma across my shin as I attempted to kick him in the chin with an attack coated in burning energy.

My shin hummed audibly as my leg blurred for the Retainer's head in a streak of red. I felt the adrenaline in my veins, the pulse of both our exaggerated heartfires, and the sure sense of battle reinvigorating my blow.

Several things happened at once. Inversion slammed into Cylrit's greatsword with a resounding clang, the magic surrounding it being absorbed into his pitch-black weapon. At the same time, my kick nearly hit his chin. Except the dark-haired man released my collar just in time, my spinning attack barely missing his jawline as he leaned back. His eyes darkened perceptibly as he sneered, the tip of my toe barely clipping his hair.

And then his fist struck me heavily in the side. His solid attack shattered my telekinetic shroud as if it didn't exist, treating my greatest defense as if it were merely paper. His metal knuckles ground into the flesh beneath my ribs, sending a horrid jolt of pain into my liver. The force of the impact made me hover in the air for a split-second, my consciousness winking in and out from the pain as I achieved zero-gravity for the barest instant.

I didn't even see what struck me next. I felt the impact across my jaw, the bone cracking and splintering from whatever had hit me. Against my own will, I blacked out from the attack, my brain rattling in my skull.

The next thing I knew, I was in a heap on the other end of the training room, pain radiating from a dozen different places. I groaned, blood pooling beneath me as I tried to pull together a cohesive thought through the searing agony.