The first Seeker moved with a speed that defied physics, its Void-Steel spear whistling through the air toward Tunde's throat. In Mowe, Tunde would have frozen. But here, the "King" was driving.
Tunde parried the strike with his starlight blade. The collision didn't sound like metal; it sounded like a glass cathedral shattering.
"Amina, the ground!" Tunde roared.
Amina didn't hesitate. She dropped to one knee, slamming her palms against the glass sand. "By the blood of the soil, BIND!"
She didn't use blue fire. She used the "Separation" alchemy she'd learned from the table in Chapter 4, but she reversed it. The glass shards beneath the Seekers' feet liquefied, turning into a glowing, sticky trap of molten crystal.
Two of the Seekers sank to their knees, their armored legs hissing as the Alchemical heat began to melt their Void-Steel.
"Filth!" the lead Seeker hissed, vibrating with rage. It abandoned its spear, its hands transforming into jagged claws of black smoke. It lunged at Amina, sensing she was the "Engine" providing the power.
"Not her!" Tunde moved like a blur of obsidian.
He didn't just strike; he merged. He grabbed the Seeker's smoke-arm, and instead of pushing, he pulled. He allowed his Star-Core to flare to its maximum output.
The silver light from Tunde's chest poured into the Seeker's black form. It was like pouring white-hot lead into a bucket of ice. The Seeker began to bloat, its armor cracking as the pure, unadulterated "Life-Force" of the Star-Core forced its way into the "Death-Force" of the Void.
"You... you are burning your own soul..." the Seeker gasped, its silver eyes beginning to leak white light.
"I've survived Lagos traffic for ten years," Tunde growled, his face inches from the monster's. "I have plenty of fire left."
With a sound like a thunderclap, the Seeker exploded into a cloud of harmless grey ash.
Amina gasped, her energy flagging. Binding two armored Seekers was draining her years she could feel her hair graying at the temples, a physical manifestation of the "Life-Price" Okoro had mentioned.
"Tunde, the other two!"
The remaining Seekers had freed themselves from the glass trap. They didn't attack. They retreated, merging their shadows together to form a single, massive gateway of darkness.
"The King has seen enough," a voice echoed from the gateway. It wasn't the Seeker's voice. It was deeper, colder, and it smelled of the Lagos Lagoon at midnight. "The Star-Core is ripe. Bring them to the Pyramid. If they resist, level the suburb called Mowe. Start with house number 42."
The gateway collapsed, sucking the remaining Seekers in and leaving the forest of lightning in an eerie, ringing silence.
Tunde's obsidian armor faded, leaving him standing in his torn, wet clothes. He looked at Amina, his chest heaving. "They know the house address, Amina. They're going after the neighbors. Mrs. Adebayo... the kids in the yard..."
Amina stood up, wiping silver blood from her lip. Her legs were shaking, but her eyes were fixed on the Black Pyramid.
"Then we stop playing defense," she said. "They think we're just a couple from the suburbs. Let's show them what happens when the suburbs fight back.