Depthless Hunger

After a day of intense flying over the Commonwealth, the three of them trading off to sleep, it became obvious that they would have to fight. Their opponents couldn't quite catch up, but also couldn't get ahead of them or herd them. As the dark ship grew larger behind them, they prepared to eliminate everyone tracking them.

The first attack came from soldiers flying on those incredibly fast ribbons, and it seemed like they'd armored them against Void Gaze this time. They were still out of range... or so they thought. Kai hopped up to the side of the diamond star and used Thunderbird's Wings instead.

When he leapt off the diamond star, he hurtled toward their pursuers at his full speed. They would have seen him in the first attack, but they weren't prepared for how quickly they'd close when they were flying toward one another. Kai himself might not have been able to adjust if not for his speed phase training - he might be far from the Windlord's untouchable speed, but he could touch that realm.

Thus the result was that he blew between the demonic arts users and left two of them falling in pieces. He hadn't so much swung Tyrant's Claws as held them to the sides and let speed take care of the rest.

In midair he managed to change directions with a thunderclap, tackling another of the riders. On the way down he headbutted the man to disable him before they crashed through a tree. Several of the others circled to take him on, leaving fewer to chase after his allies.

When he saw a flash of silver he reacted instinctively, intercepting with another Tyrant's Claw. Anaelina fell back... but she'd blocked the claw. There was some kind of aura building up around her and he didn't like it - Kai leapt directly up with a thunderclap.

Anaelina wasn't as fast, but at the apex of his jump she caught up. She was too close, her eyes were glowing, he could feel the clouds swirling in his mind...

.

..

Omilaena glanced back when Kai leapt off the ship, but she'd have to trust him to handle himself, and he could definitely catch up. There were more pursuers and she tried to estimate the trajectory on a long range needle... her calculation was correct, but the flight ribbons were too agile.

"Hold!" Zae Zin Nim shouted. Omilaena had just enough time to look back and see someone attacking from the ground ahead of them.

The Krysali vessel spun wildly, dodging the hail of chakra arrows. They were briefly upside-down and Omilaena gripped the edge while looking below - it seemed there was some sort of new outpost set up. The demons must have finally gotten some minions ahead of them without being noticed.

It seemed they might make it past for a moment, then one of the arrows punched through the crystalline bottom of the ship. Omilaena realized it was going to explode and all she could do was grab Zae Zin Nim and jump over the side. They plunged through the air and she felt the shockwave hit her back before they skidded to the ground.

"No!" Zae Zin Nim struggled, reaching out toward the plummeting ship. "We have to..."

Once they'd stopped, Zae Zin Nim rushed out to recover the damaged ship. She was reaching out with her spatial bracelet when the demonic arts users loosed more arrows: they didn't target her, they attacked the ship. Arrow after arrow punched through the crystal, then they exploded in a vicious combination that tore apart every trace of the crystal.

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Zae Zin Nim stared at where it had been, wavering on her feet.

There was no time for her to be stunned, not as Omilaena judged the fight. Kai was still further back, but a few of the flying ribbons had gotten past him. She breathed a cloud of poisonous smoke as high as she could, hoping it would ward them off, then turned back.

And saw Zae Zin Nim running toward the soldiers who had destroyed the Krysali vessel.

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"I'll kill you!" she shouted. "I'll kill your families! I'll kill a hundred generations of-"

She cut off as Omilaena pulled her back with a hand over her mouth. "You can't murder the random soldiers, we need to move before the real fighters arrive."

"But they destroyed the ship..." Zae Zin Nim was still reaching in their direction, but her struggles grew weaker as her rational mind took over from her rage.

For a few heartbeats it looked like they could work together and retreat in a reasonable fashion. It might have worked if Kai and Anaelina hadn't crashed into the battlefield the next second.

Something was definitely wrong: Omilaena couldn't untangle their chakra in an instant, but she knew Kai and something had been distorted. Anaelina was gripping his neck, preparing a more potent technique as she drove him to the ground. Omilaena managed to ward her off with needles as she ran in, then struck the other woman with a kick that sent her flying back.

Zae Zin Nim had recovered and leapt after Anaelina, pushing their advantage. The two of them moved in a graceful flurry of blows and Omilaena was about to intervene when a hand grabbed her ankle.

She started to stab before she realized it was Kai, then it was too late. He lunged up, grabbing her torso and pushing her back across the battlefield. They moved so quickly that when her back hit a tree it knocked the breath from her lungs. It hadn't been an attack, though, he was pinning her between his body and the trunk.

His lips captured her before she finished her gasp, and for a moment it was glorious. This was Kai as she'd never seen him, burning with desire, claiming her mouth even as a claw-like hand grasped her hips and pulled her against him. She could feel his dark hunger turning toward her and wanted the consummation of all their tension so much that her fingers loosened and she dropped her needle.

This was what she wanted... but it wasn't what he wanted, not like this.

Omilaena grabbed the sides of his head and pushed it away. "Kai, think! Don't let her control you!" He leaned in again, still trying to kiss her, but she injected him with a vial of poison. She'd given him near total immunity to her normal poisons by now, but the injection made that defensive ability of his kick into high gear. As his eyes returned to normal, he took a step back...

"I didn't... I wasn't... Anaelina..."

"It doesn't matter." Omilaena didn't dare touch him right then, but she looked him directly in the eyes. "You weren't in control, but you are now. Do you think we can kill her here?"

A little of his usual intelligence returned as his eyes flickered to the fight and their pursuers. "I shouldn't fight her again. We need to go."

"Then you need to do that. Only your ability can outpace them now - grab us and go."

Kai obeyed faster than he otherwise might, throwing her over his shoulder. They lunged toward the others in a dizzying rush, then he'd grabbed Zae Zin Nim too. Omilaena had thought they were going fast before, but Kai sped up even more, streaking through the air like an arrow loosed from the most powerful bow in the world.

He'd moved her before, as a strategic part of battle, and always been awkwardly respectful. There was something different now as his hand gripped her hips. Probably just the remnants of the technique that had been used on him... when he finally set them down an hour later, she was disappointed but not surprised.

"Anaelina isn't much stronger, but I'm weak to her techniques." Kai rubbed his forehead as if in pain. "I don't know... maybe it's the Savage Heart, maybe something else. I need... to think..."

They let him go and Zae Zin Nim looked after him in confusion. At least it seemed like she hadn't seen what had happened, since she'd been fighting Anaelina and many soldiers. When she turned back to Omilaena, she looked almost completely neutral.

"Those bastards destroyed the ship," Zae Zin Nim said flatly. "I want to go back to get revenge, but... how are they tracking us?"

"I see two options," Omilaena said. "Either they have a tracking device that we somehow missed, or some sort of technique that's much more effective than we thought. Kai needs time to recover, so we should investigate again and make preparations before choosing our next direction."

"Agreed. I don't think any could follow, but they know our exact trajectory, so we won't have long before they catch up."

That was a reasonable plan, so they immediately set about working together. Omilaena thanked the gods that Zae Zin Nim hadn't seen, otherwise things would have been much worse.

.

..

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In the end they concluded that there was no tracking artifact, especially because it was unreasonable to presume some magical technique that could somehow detect items inside spatial rings. Their best strategy was probably to stay low, use different elven cloaks, and take a completely different path. It seemed like they'd escaped their pursuers, at least for now.

All of the work and tension had kept Zae Zin Nim focused. When she finally accepted they were safe, the images swarmed back into her mind. She couldn't forget the sight of Kai grabbing Omilaena like that... she told herself that it was probably all Anaelina's technique, but in that moment he'd wanted her.

And more importantly, Omilaena had wanted him. It was more than just lust, because she'd carried that desire over so long without acting. She'd wanted it and she'd pushed him away.

Zae Zin Nim could ignore Omilaena the Maneater, the succubus who toyed with men and had no real emotions. Better that Kai be kept safe from women like that. But this Omilaena...

"We should assume they'll keep following," Kai said as he returned. All the unnatural lust had left his face and he seemed wholly focused again. "So we need a new plan."