Fisher Gesha lashed lines of purple madra to the debris, hauling them back with her power. With a single palm strike, Cassias shattered a block bigger than he was, though he had to lean against a wall and take a breath afterwards. He looked as though he'd bathed in blood, and his wounds were obvious. More than any of them, he needed to get out of here.
Yerin simply grabbed chunks of stone and hauled them away with her bare hands. Lindon switched to Blackflame and joined her, though the Burning Cloak was better for sudden, abrupt motions than for sustained strength. He ended up kicking stones away, then shattering the door open.
He was relieved when he saw the steady runelight of the script-circle in the stairway behind the door. It led down, toward the chamber where his pack waited. Once he retrieved Little Blue, his belongings, and his new arm—which was still in the process of being created—they could all leave. Fisher Gesha had some belongings of her own as well, which she couldn't leave behind. She wasn't even carrying her goldsteel hook.
They started heading down when Eithan crashed through the ceiling behind them.
A red hook had been driven into his shoulder, and the Redmoon Hall emissary had hauled him down through the ceiling. Longhook was standing behind them, on the ground floor, and none of them had noticed him show up. Now he stood over Eithan's squirming body, holding his chain in two crimson hands.
Eithan forced his eyes open, though they were hazy with pain, and both of his hands were holding the hook in his shoulder. He craned his eyes back to see Longhook, though from his perspective the emissary must have looked upside-down.
He revealed a grin of bloodstained teeth. “It's not too late for you to surrender,” he said, pulling the hook from his shoulder with a sick, wet sound. He shuddered as he did so.
Longhook had a cut along the side of his neck, and his coat had been sliced in a few places. But otherwise, he seemed the same as when he had first appeared.
Lindon gripped the edge of the doorway, rekindling the Burning Cloak.
A loud voice in his mind urged him to run down, grab his belongings, and leave. But Blackflame pushed him to action, which is why he kept it surging through him.
He had to help…without getting destroyed by a single casual backhand from an Underlord.
He gathered a dark fireball between his palms, focused on Longhook. Fisher Gesha shook her head frantically when she saw what he was doing, but he was staring at his target. Blackflame madra was known for piercing defenses. He had blasted off a Truegold's hand and threatened Jai Long. He could at least distract an Underlord for an instant.
As long as he didn't draw too much of his attention.
Eithan flipped up, slamming a foot into Longhook's face, but the emissary dodged and caught Eithan in the ribs with a red fist. The blow launched Eithan five feet in the air, where he twisted and fired a Striker technique down at his opponent.
A colorless wave washed over the Redmoon Hall emissary, and just a hint of it splashed on Lindon, destabilizing his technique. His ball of Blackflame swelled to twice its size in an instant as his control shook, and it was all he could do to compress it once again before it exploded.
The fight between Underlords had continued in a long, ear-shattering roar of strikes and counterstrikes, but Eithan was clearly getting the worst of it. If Lindon couldn't do something, he was going to die.
Then Longhook froze.
And the world darkened.
The crimson light streaming in from the holes in the ceiling was cut off, swallowing them in shadow. Lindon looked up, startled, only to see a deep green mass covering the sky. It rolled like distant storm clouds, or the surface of a lake seen from beneath...
No, those were clouds. A massive bank of green clouds.
Longhook withdrew his chain, and it slithered back into his sleeve, the hook following. He turned to dash off, but there was another wave of transparent power. He stumbled.
When it washed over Lindon, his Blackflame technique was snuffed out like a candle. The purple lights connecting Gesha to the rocks vanished, and Cassias and Yerin both sagged to their knees as the Enforcer techniques they used to keep themselves upright failed.
“So rude, to leave in the middle of a conversation,” Eithan said, though his words were slurred and his smile was still bloodstained.
Longhook's head swiveled on his neck independent of the rest of his body. His hook peeked out the edges of his sleeve again.
Then a figure fell from above. It fell through one of the holes in the roof, folding its emerald wings, and landed with an impact that shattered stone.
Naru Gwei looked up through the veil of his greasy, gray hair, burn scars twisting his face. His old, battered armor was no worse for his hard landing, and his wings folded up impossibly small as they vanished into slots in the back of his armor. He knelt with one hand pressed against the broken stone.
The other held his massive black sword.
“In the name of the Blackflame Empire, and by the authority of the emperor, you are under arrest,” the old man said. His voice still sounded bored, if not sleepy.
Longhook hurled his weapon. Not toward Naru Gwei; the hook shattered the far door, breaking the way out to the arena where Lindon and Jai Long had fought. The chain continued, impossibly long, until the end of the weapon hooked one of the columns still standing.
Without a word, he hauled on his chain, pulling himself down the hall so fast he may as well have been flying.
Naru Gwei lifted his free hand from the stone, making a gesture as though grabbing something.
Longhook froze like a bird trapped in mid-flight.
“I thought I said you were under arrest,” the Skysworn said, rising to his feet.
The emissary of Redmoon Hall craned his neck with great effort to look back at them. No, not at them.
He looked straight at Yerin.
Yerin's head rocked back as she noticed, and she drew in a breath. With a barely perceptible motion, he nodded to her.
Then he twisted his body, fighting Naru Gwei's Ruler technique, and moved his hands in a strange pattern.
Red light twisted, and pain stabbed through Lindon's limbs. He fell to the ground, because the weight of his body was too much for the agony in his calves. Even Naru Gwei grunted, flinching back.
A blood Ruler technique, Lindon was sure of it. He was using the power of blood aura to affect their bodies directly. Normally, it might be too weak to harm an opponent, but the power of blood was so strong it was twisting the light. He had more aura to work with than Naru Gwei possibly could.
The Skysworn's technique broke, and Longhook shot off again. In an instant, he had vanished beyond the cliff.
Naru Gwei looked sharply to Eithan, who was struggling to sit up while leaning against the wall, a bleeding hole in his shoulder.
“He has friends,” Eithan said, his smile twisting. “He's headed straight for them. I can't be sure if they're coming to us, but I'd rather not find out.”
The Skysworn Captain nodded. With a casual swipe, he destroyed a bloodspawn that was rising from the pool beneath Eithan.
“Fifteen minutes,” he said. “See to your injuries and gather your things. Then we're leaving.”
Eithan glanced up at the vast green clouds overhead. “You brought your whole fortress along, did you?”
“Never thought I'd need it,” he said heavily. “No one should have to plan for a day like this.” Eithan started struggling to his feet, but Naru Gwei scooped him up with one hand. “The rest of them can join us, or they can take their chances with the Bleeding Phoenix's mercy. But you, Arelius, you're coming with me. The Emperor needs us both.”