FIA
He sounded genuinely rattled. The light had blinded him, left him blinking and squinting, and he hadn't seen what happened. He hadn't seen the red.
I didn't answer.
I hit him with the gift instead.
The force caught him square in the chest, and since he was still trapped inside his own barrier, there was nowhere for him to go. The impact drove him backward into the wall of the barrier, hard enough that I heard something crack. The barrier itself shuddered, fractures spreading across its surface like spiderwebs, and then it shattered completely.
Valentine fell.
He hit the debris in a heap, gasping, and tried to raise his hand. He even attempted to conjure another barrier. The magic flickered weakly in his palm, sputtering like a dying flame, then it went out entirely.
He stared at his hand.
"Fuck. My mana."
He scrambled backward, moving like a cornered rat, and stumbled over something soft.
A body.
Number Four's body.
