“I’m almost there,” Jin promised as Kira dashed for the face changer. The needle-sharp teeth in its mouth flashed as the lower part of its face elongated into something resembling a snout.
Kira changed direction, barely evading as it tried to wrap her in a bear hug.
If it had succeeded, Kira would have been speared alive by the hundreds of spikes sprouting along its body.
It would have been a painful way to go.
This wasn’t good. The face changer was evolving too fast. Far faster than the previous time she encountered one.
How many Tuann had it fed off of for it to be in such an advanced state of evolution? It would have had to be over a hundred.
You’d think someone would have noticed if that number of Tuann had gone missing.
Maybe the rules changed when the face changer fed off bodies that were rich in soul’s breath. It could be that was why it was evolving so quickly.
Kira had no further time to consider as the face changer struck. She dodged, barely escaping.
“Stop playing with it,” Jin urged. “You need to kill it before it’s too late.”
“Working on it,” Kira sang, dancing out of the way again. “It’s not like this is easy.”
If it was, she wouldn’t be so worried.
Kira could feel Jin rushing in her direction. He needed time to get there. Time to save Devon.
She could hear the panic in his voice as the lu-ong kept a running conversation up with Devon’s still body.
“It’s going to be okay, Devon. You’re going to be alright. I’m almost there. Everything will be okay once I arrive. You’ll see.”
Kira hoped so, but it was hard not to expect the worse with a wound like Devon had received. The few glimpses Kira had caught involved Raider applying as much pressure as he could to Devon’s wound.
Blood still leaked out of the hole, and it wouldn’t be long before he passed the point of no return.
Death was close.
Kira could see it in Raider’s resigned gaze. Could feel the cold touch of the grave waiting for the last spark in Devon to go out.
Kira put distance between her and the face changer, not looking away from her enemy. “Jin.”
“I’m doing this, Phoenix. Don’t try to stop me. He’s my brother.” There was a tremble in Jin’s voice.
Kira nodded. “I won’t.”
It was Jin’s risk to take. She’d lay the groundwork and make sure he had a brother to reach.
With that goal in mind, Kira raised her voice as her face changer lowered to all fours. “Finn, end this before he reaches stage two.”
Kill the face changer by any means necessary. That was the plan. The end.
Kira didn’t have time to talk any further as the face changer rushed her. The sound of something heavy thundering its way from behind her made her take a step back.
Just in time as Alexander pounded past her. He grabbed the face changer’s arm and tossed the creature away like it was nothing more than a frisbee.
“What are you doing?” Kira asked as Alexander straightened.
“You looked like you could use help.”
No, she didn’t.
