Chapter 13

Andy raced towards the explosion. He brought out his tool pill and activated it, Talon and his pistol came out.

As Andy ran forward, he grabbed them and strapped his pistol to his hip. He drew Talon and let it drag behind him through the air.

As he came closer to the vehicle bay, he could hear a loud roar and gunfire.

He turned a corner into a large dim room with catwalks on top and shattered glass windows.

He dashed through it when he got a chilling sensation. When he turned, he saw the silhouette of a soldier with a thin person.

Andy spoke out “Hey we need backup down this hall.”

The room lit up with yellow eyes as the soldier’s body slumped to the ground.

From the darkness that was next to him, a dark set of eyes emerged. They seemed to make the room brighter.

Andy became frightened as a tall and skinny man came into the small amount of light that was in the room. This wouldn’t have startled him if the person was normal. The man was covered in dark gray feathers. His fingernails were long and sharp, and a smirk covered his bird-like face. On his hips was the white hilt of a dagger.

Andy rose sword and aimed it at the creature “Who and what are you? Are you one of the new monsters that Pyesis created?”

The smirk on the creature’s face disappeared. “Show some respect boy! My people had existed long before men gained power. We were betrayed by Xelos, and we are going to ensure that he is never coming back. We are called the Valravn. I am known as Horst, and I am the leader of Scarlet Fang. Sorry to say but since you’ve seen us, you are our next mark.”

The room filled with laughter as Horst drew his dagger. Its straight white blade contrasted his darker body. The overall length was no more than a foot. The single jagged edge had a faint red color.

Andy brought his sword closer to him and pointed the tip towards the ground in front of him in between his legs and focused on devising a plan.

“Damus, I’m going to hide being a user for however long I can.” He said in his mind “If I can beat him great, but if not, it would make for an excellent way to gain the upper hand.”

“Agreed. I’ll watch your back for these others. I have a bad feeling about them.”

As quick as he could, Andy drew his pistol and fired at Horst who somehow managed to dodge the shots.

Upon his back spread out two large wings and he flew forward towards Andy with his dagger pointing straight at Andy’s chest. Andy threw up Talon and deflected it while simultaneously bringing his pistol up and firing off a few more rounds.

However, Horst was ready for this and quickly got out of the way before the first round was fired off. He landed and slashed his dagger at Andy who had to drop his pistol and grab the sword with both hands to block the surprisingly strong attack.

Horst quickly brought his powerful leg up and kicked Andy in the ribs causing him to drop his sword and sent him crashing into the wall beside him.

Aching he stood up as quickly as he could and managed to block Horst’s arm and stop the dagger. Andy built energy into his right hand and slammed it into Horst’s face sending him flying and forcing him to drop his dagger.

Damus spoke, “How the hell did you do that?”

“I basically just built an earth fist and hit him instead. I remembered the damage it caused the ground and figured that it would probably do something close to him.”

Horst rose to his feet and cracked his stiffened neck. “That was a pretty good punch kid.”

Andy reached down and picked up the dagger and charged at Horst.

Horst folded his fingers over his palm and blocked the blade. He smiled at Andy “I should’ve warned you that the dagger is really just for show.”

As fast as lightning he brought his arm up and thrusted at Andy’s chest.

Andy jumped back and clutched his chest in pain. He looked forward and saw Horst’s claws growing and dripping red with blood. He looked down and saw blood bleeding through his shirt. Luckily Horst’s claws didn’t seem to pierce too deep.

Horst grinned and said, “My claws are as strong as any sword, and I can never be disarmed.”

As quick as before Horst lunged forward. Andy readied himself and blocked his razor-sharp claws with his dagger. As quick as he could he punched Horst in the chest with an energy punch causing Horst to stumble backward.

Andy pressed the attack and slashed with the dagger. Horst moved up to block it and was hit with an energy kick instead and was sent onto his back.

Horst jumped back onto his feet unfazed. He charged forward again, and Andy brought the dagger to intercept when Horst disappeared and reappeared beside him. He slashed at Andy and cut his shoulder rendering his arm practically useless.

“Andy, I think now would be a good time to unveil your powers.”

Andy used his good arm to throw the dagger straight at Horst who deflected it with ease.

Andy used the time to build up his energy into his hand. He made a pair of large energy particles in his palm and surrounded the space around his hand with five smaller pairs of particles. He lit them all on fire and aimed it at Horst who had stopped in his tracks.