The face changer stopped just short of being impaled. A laugh rumbled from its chest, the sound low and grating as it straightened, giving those assembled their first glimpse of Alexander’s attacker.
The creature that stood there was as different from a face changer as two beings could get.
Whereas the stage one face changer had looked unfinished, the surface of its skin raw and red looking as if it had peeled a layer off, this creature was a thing of beauty.
Its body lithe and well formed. Skin the color of ash.
Red and orange lines were drawn across its face and torso, intersecting to create interesting designs.
The same colors burned in its eyes, giving them an eerie glow. Horns jutted from its forehead, curving upward. They weren’t as long or developed as a general’s, but they weren’t small either. They were riddled with the same lines as the rest of its body.
The most concerning thing, though, was the intelligence with which it regarded the Tuann around it.
“Stage two,” Kira murmured through numb lips.
The exact thing she’d so desperately hoped to avoid.
Raider shoved Joule backward with his shoulder, retreating several steps in the process. “Why is it that when you think it is over, it never is?”
That was a good question.
The stage two’s calm was a terrifying thing as it observed them like they were bugs.
Blood oozed from a cut on Alexander’s head as he climbed to his feet, still surrounded by Selene’s spiked bloom.
“Don’t you look at him,” Selene told the stage two as she whipped up a hand to surround it with her shields.
They slammed into it, piercing its body and anchoring it to the ground.
The stage two gave the shields a curious look before wrenching its limbs to the side, shattering every single shield.
Selene didn’t hesitate, continuing toward the creature.
“Raider, keep going,” Kira ordered. “Finn, with me.”
She and Finn started forward only to stop as the stage two’s head turned, his gaze moving to track Devon and Raider.
“They are not your concern,” Selene hissed.
A sword of light appeared in her hand as Alexander threw himself forward. The stage two met them in battle, weaving through their attacks as if they presented no more nuisance than a fly’s.
Kira and Finn reached the battlefield in the next second. The four fought, trying to force the stage two backward and largely failing.
Alexander attacked from the side as Finn took the stage two head on.
The stage two shrugged off the blows, grabbing Alexander and flinging him to the ground. When it would have taken advantage of the distraction to run Alexander through, Kira stepped in to fend him off.
Selene attacked from the rear. Blood flew as her sword made of ki and light bit into his back.
The stage two hissed and drove an elbow into Selene’s gut.
The woman grunted, bending forward from the force of the blow. The stage two twisted, grabbing her head in an effort to slam her into the ground.
A shield surrounded Selene’s head, knocking his hand back.
Taking advantage of the momentary distraction, Kira darted into its blind spot.
Kira’s world spun down to the feel of the akieri’s hilt in her hand. The delicate manipulation of ki as it sang the song of death. The flex of her muscles and the power contained in them as her grip shifted, bringing the akieri up.
