Ada snapped her whip at him, pulling him back into the fight.
“Yiran—again!” she yelled.
Another talisman. Another slew of arrows.
Yiran’s insides were heating up, but he didn’t care. He recited the incantation again.
More arrows shot through Ling. The Hybrid writhed as yangqi burned into her flesh.
“Felix, Felix—it hurts...” she gasped as her jaw started to melt.
“Ling!” Felix dashed to his comrade.
But he was too late.
And Ada was too fast. The deadly hook of her whip pierced Ling’s chest. Ada channeled a blast of magic.
And pulled.
Felix screamed. He lurched, falling onto the ground, crawling to Ling. She was turning to ash, and he cradled her crumbling body with a tenderness that felt wrong.
He’s a monster. They both are. They shouldn’t feel anything.
Yiran turned from them and ran to Eddy.
The violet spikes pinning him to the tree were disappearing. They must have belonged to Ling, and with her death, the yinqi ceased to exist.
Yiran caught him as the last spike holding him up vanished, and laid him gently on the ground. Blood leaked from the many puncture wounds.
“T-told you not good at... magic,” Eddy wheezed. “Can’t fight... either.” He was clutching a small metal device tightly in his trembling hand. “Tried to steal s-sensor... they want... they want our tech—can’t let them know...”
“Shh, stop talking, you’re okay.” Yiran pressed his hands on Eddy’s stomach, trying to stem the flow of blood. “You’re going to be okay.” He repeated the words again and again, willing them to be true.
“Yiran.” Ada was limping toward them. Her clothes were torn and bloody, one of her eyes bloodshot and swelling. “Yiran, we have to finish the job.”
“He’s going to be okay,” Yiran told her. “He’s going—”
Behind them, Felix let out a feral roar.
He was standing, face distorted with anger and anguish. The tail-like thing behind him rose like a serpent. He flung his arms out. Hundreds of violet spikes fanned out from his tail in a semicircle on either side, like the hood of a cobra. He drew his arms close, fingers pointing at the three cadets.
The spikes detached.
Yiran had seen this attack before. He knew what would happen next.
“No!”
He punched the sky with his gloved fist.
Crimson light exploded from it, forming a massive dome over the area with Eddy and Ada and him in the center. The Hybrid’s spikes pelted down like a torrential downpour.
But Yiran’s shield held.
A searing heat was spreading throughout his legs, his torso, his arms, hismind. But Yiran gritted his teeth, channeling everything he had into his shield.
And still the violet spikes came raining down.
And still his shield held.
