Page 93 of Cheating Fate

Our suits’ neural interface read our thoughts and instantly enabled a focused magnetic force field around our gloves. Almost as one, my companions and I raised our hands towards our chosen victims so that our magnetic field would get traction on the balls. Then we yanked our hands down. Our respective targets flew towards us in a cacophony of startled and frightened screams as an invisible lasso pulled them.

Being greedy, Vahl, Rhad, and I all drew two enemies at once. With Rhad, they vanished as soon as his hands touched them, only to reappear somewhere incompatible with life. With Vahl, they also died on contact as he tore apart their internal organs.

As for me, feeling particularly vindictive, I killed the first one before he ever reached me. Complying with my neural command, my suit used my bladed braid as a spear, the tip extending further to stab the Dantorian in the face. The blade split open inside, wrecking his brain. Two seconds later, his companion reached my hand. I yanked his soul right out and let him fly past me, carried by his momentum as he crashed on the floor.

As my braid retracted, I raised my shield to bash back an armored enemy coming at me. I followed up with a roundhouse kick. He stumbled but never got a chance to fall to the ground. As I completed the rotation from the kick, I whipped my head around, and my braid wrapped around his neck. Sharp small blades shot out from its length, beheading him.

At the edge of my vision, I spotted Lenora and Sylvius pulling more flying Dantorians to themselves. They used their kinetic powers to collapse their adversaries’ suits, crushing them within.

Then, as one, the attackers retreated.

To our shock, the large doors began to close. The enemies still inside the room tried to escape, only to get locked inside with us. Moving at dizzying speed, Vahl slashed through half of them with a sword in each hand. It was like watching a blur.

He ran up to the door to open it only to find it locked.

“REYES!” he shouted, glancing over his shoulder at him.

He didn’t need explanation and ran forward to use his powers to unlock it. Meanwhile, Vahl turned to look at us.

“Anyone hurt?” he asked, before glancing at the dignitaries when we all shook our heads. “Primus, is there a secure area you and the dignitaries can go to while we eliminate the threat?”

Coron didn’t respond. He seemed shellshocked as he looked at the surrounding carnage. Gavin walked up to me with a concerned expression. I smiled reassuringly as he caressed the back of my shoulder.

“Coron!” Vahl snapped when he didn’t respond.

The Primus’ body jerked as if hearing his name had been a physical blow. He stared at my brother, wide-eyed. When he still failed to respond, a female dignitary took a step forward.

“There’s a bunker down this way,” she said, pointing in the opposite direction our attackers had fled. “It’s not too far but…”

“Vintor, Nolar, Sylvius, and Trehv, escort them to safety, then join us when you’re done,” Vahl ordered.

They nodded and swiftly herd the dignitaries away. The female who had spoken gently grabbed Coron’s upper arm and led him after the others. Dazed, he complied without a word.

“It’s stuck,” Reyes growled. “It’s not locked, but something on the other side is jamming it.”

“Lenora,” Vahl said before turning to Gavin.

My mate was already on the move, Curok and the other Braxians also jumping in. With the doors being so thick and massive, it would take a while for Lenora to sufficiently weaken the reinforced metal to make a large enough opening for us.

We couldn’t risk having Rhad take us to the other side. First, he needed to have seen that place before he could teleport us there. But he only got a glimpse when the enemies fled. And more importantly, we didn’t know if they had an ambush set up there. I just thanked the Goddess they hadn’t released some lethal gas in the room.

“Zha, message Kamala to have her intercept any vessel attempting to leave the Basilica or Parliament,” Vahl ordered. “Reyes, run scans for traps and ships, especially if any are powering up. Rhad, scan for non-Dantorian people in the vicinity.”

We got to work while Vahl called up a map of the Parliament and Basilica based on publicly available schematics. It displayed as a 3D hologram over his armband.

“I do not detect any traps. But there are a couple of human ships and a Zolian one,” Reyes said grimly a few moments later.

“WHAT?!” Vahl exclaimed, a few more of us gasping in shock.

“You heard me correctly. I have no idea what in the Goddess’ name the Zolians are doing here,” Reyes said, shaking his head. “But there’s also another unidentified shuttle on the opposite side of the Basilica at the back. It seems to be camouflaged as the reading is quite weak.”

“I think I know who that shuttle belongs to,” Rhadames said with a hint of anger. “The corpses here belong to humans and Zolians. But I also pick up three Draylians.”

“What the fuck?!” Gavin exclaimed.

“They’re in the Basilica,” Rhad added.

My blood turned to ice.