Chapter 31: The Bull's Horns

  I stuffed the journal into the inner pocket of my jacket and kept running, not daring to look back. But the Crow’s sounds behind me were terrifying.

  The hiss and snap of his suit’s pistons. The heavy clang of metal feet hitting the ground. He wasn’t running – he was hopping, closing the distance in jarring bursts of speed.

  I briefly considered using Slow to gain some distance, but quickly decided against it. He’d still catch up.

  I should only use Slow when I had somewhere to escape to. Right now, I haven’t.

  Confused Halden Heights residents turned to watch, stunned, as I bolted past them with the Crow on my heels.

  Idiots. Where are your survival instincts?!

  They stood there frozen, staring, instead of getting the fuck out of the way.

  I cut sharply between two houses.

  Then – BANG. Gunshot.

  The wooden fence behind me exploded into splinters. Just barely missed me.

  I stumbled but kept going, scrambling to stay upright.

  Fuck.

  I didn’t even know where I was running.

  Obviously, I’d never been to Halden Heights before. Maybe one of my past selves had, but it’s not like I’d remember. Either way, this whole escape was a gamble. I had no idea if I could even drop him.

  Damn it. If we were in Orlinth, I could’ve used my knowledge of the streets. I could’ve outsmarted him.

  BANG. Another shot.

  The fence in front of me shattered, splinters flying. I skidded to a stop.

  I turned around, panting hard.

  He was close now – maybe a couple hundred meters away.

  Too close.

  I scanned my surroundings, desperate for any plan of escape.

  I didn’t want to die. But if it was bound to happen – then let it happen after I finish reading the damn journal.

  I would’ve checked the contents of the fabric bag, but my COG was still overheated so there was no point – I won’t be able to use a crystal any time soon.

  The Crow slowed and began approaching slowly once he saw that I stopped.

  Fuck, fuck, fuck. I wasn’t going to just stand there and wait for him.

  I bolted again, cut left behind the nearest house. Acting purely on instinct, I spun toward its back door, grabbed the handle, and burst inside.

  An elderly man stood frozen in the kitchen, half a toast in his mouth.

  “Excuse me!” I shouted as I sprinted through the kitchen, darted through the living room, and slammed out of the front door, bursting back onto the main street.

  Suddenly, BOOM.

  A deafening explosion shook the ground behind me. I turned just enough to see the house I’d just passed through half-ruined, catching flames.

  The Crow was angry – he used an Ignis.

  From behind the flames came the shriek of compressed pistons. And then he jumped straight through the fire, his armored frame resistant to heat, armgun already aimed in my direction.

  He shot.

  I had no choice but to activate Slow.

  Everything dropped into a crawl. The bullet drifted forward slowly.

  I dove to the side, dodging.

  Time resumed as I crashed hard against the ground, rolled, and scrambled to my feet.

  I kept running.

  I cut between another pair of houses, hoping to break line of sight – to disappear from his view for even a few consecutive seconds.

  But he didn’t care about anything. Not about collateral damage. Not about civilians. Not about anything except catching me.

  Another explosion erupted to my left.

  The house to my left blew apart and a wave of pressure launched me right, slamming me into the outer wall of the other house.

  I hit it hard. Out of breath. In pain.

  But the sound of his approach – the heavy clangs of those metal feet – snapped me back to my senses.

  I clutched my sides, grimacing, and quickly reached into the inner pocket of my jacket. The journal was still there. I exhaled in relief.

  Then, I forced myself up again, starting to lose hope.

  The Crow was just a few steps away.

  “Those who run get put down like dogs. Quick. Disposable.” He said as he approached, his voice flat. He raised his armgun. “Die like the dog you are.”

  I had no plans left. No tricks. So I braced myself for death, clutching the journal I would never get to read inside my pocket.

  But then – the unexpected happened.

  Harvey Leighton.

  Harvey fucking Leighton came charging through the smoke of the burning house beside me. He was wearing the Aetherguard Mark II, carrying an unfolded sword in one hand.

  He saw me, eyes wide with confusion.

  “Viktor?!” He called out, stunned.

  Then his gaze snapped to the Crow. His expression twisted in anger and horror.

  “What the fuck is wrong with you?!” He exploded. “You blew up two residential houses! Did you even consider people might be inside?!”

  The Crow watched him silently before he spoke. “Move.”

  “He’s gone rogue!” I shouted, hoping to warn Leighton and get him on my side before it was too late. “He already killed two Enforcers – “ I hesitated, then added, “and Graham Stanford!”

  “Stanford…” Leighton repeated under his breath, turning his gaze toward the Crow, his eyes questioning now.

  But the Crow didn’t care to respond. Of course he didn’t. He was going to kill us both!

  Leighton’s eyes darted back to me. I wasn’t sure what my face looked like, but whatever he saw in it must’ve been enough. Because – for the second time today – he stepped forward to defend me.

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  “Listen, no matter what he did, this is too much. I don’t know what directives you had received, but what you just did is not justified. As Lady Caldra Huntington’s assistant, and a former Crow myself, I ask – “ He began, but the Crow didn’t wait.

  He raised his armgun and aimed it at Leighton’s head.

  But at the very last second, Leighton’s body lit with Kinetra’s orange aura. He swung his sword, fast and precise, slamming the flat of the blade against the gun's barrel. The weapon tilted just as it released the bullet, and the shot flew wide, blasting into the side of the house next to us.

  “Motherfucker!” Leighton groaned, clutching his ear. Then, he shouted. “Run, Viktor!”

  Without waiting for my answer, he lunged forward, swinging his sword at the Crow.

  The Crow countered instantly. His armblade shot out, clashing against Leighton’s sword in a burst of sparks, the force of it sending the man sliding backward.

  Well, no need to tell me twice.

  I scrambled to my feet and ran.

  I tore down the street, lungs burning, but after just a few strides – I slowed.

  Was I really going to leave him?

  Of course you are! What can you even do against that thing, Viktor?!

  And yet…Leighton had already stepped in for me twice today. Both times when he had no reason to.

  Not all Skyhaveners were scum.

  How could I just leave him to die?

  Every fiber of my body screamed at me to keep running. But my mind was made up.

  I turned on my heel – and ran back.

  Just in time to see Leighton hurtling through the air, flung across the street like a ragdoll. While airborne, he twisted mid-spin and directed both hands downward, casting a blast of air with Aero to cushion his fall. He landed in a crouch, but the second his feet touched the ground, the Crow was already closing in.

  Fire erupted from the Crow’s hands – huge, burning orbs of Ignis' fire – each one half his body in size. Leighton snapped his arms upward, forming a wind barrier between himself and the incoming barrage. The fire slammed into it, exploding on impact, flames enveloping the cobblestone.

  Leighton’s barrier barely held. The Crow’s COG was clearly higher leveled, his Quality function definitely maxed out. There was no point defending against him in the long run.

  And Leighton understood that.

  He suddenly pivoted – turning straight into the offensive.

  Still using Aero, he launched himself upward, rising through the air like he was running up an invisible staircase. Kinetra’s aura surrounded him, balancing his ascension, while wind magic surged beneath each step, lifting higher until he reached his desirable altitude.

  He was dual-channeling. Two crystals at the same time. But he wasn’t done.

  Then, with each stride, he hurled arm-sized icicle projectiles using a Cryora. They arced through the air like spears, leaving white trails behind as they shot toward the Crow.

  Triple-channeling. Aero to keep himself afloat in the air where it’s easier to dodge, while he also manages to keep the infrastructure and people out of harm’s way. Cryora to launch attacks. Kinetra to balance and empower his body even further.

  The Crow, empowering himself with a Kinetra too, dodged the icicles. He moved incredibly fast thanks to both the crystal and his suit, hurling more fire balls at the soaring Leighton, dual-channeling. But he couldn’t get him. Leighton was too fast, and the fiery attacks just dispersed in the air when they reached their maximal range.

  Meanwhile, each icicle that struck the ground exploded on contact, erupting into a spreading blast of frost and mist.

  Eventually, surprisingly, the Crow just stopped dodging altogether, letting the attacks crash onto him one after another.

  The frost enveloped him at first, but it didn’t hold, quickly flaking off.

  Of course…

  The Aetherguard Mark III, embedded with Aetheris, designed to repel magic damage on contact. Any incoming mana output simply dissipated across the surface.

  But there was a trade-off.

  If he tried to use magic, the suit’s own shielding would cancel it out.

  So he didn’t. He just stood there and took it, waiting for Leighton’s COG to overheat. He knew Leighton wouldn’t try to fight him in close quarters again – not with the difference in suits. The Aetherguard Mark III was too strong, too durable. Leighton couldn’t compete with that.

  So the Crow baited him - letting the attacks hit. Showing him that nothing he did from a distance would work.

  Leighton could stall. Surely, some sort of backup was on its way.

  But it seems that the Crow understood that as well. So…he did the unimaginable.

  He raised his armgun and starting shooting the houses to his side, forcing Leighton to come down to him to stop him.

  Watching this from the side, I knew I had to do something to swing the balance in Leighton’s favor. Because once the Crow deals with him, he’d turn back to me.

  That’s when my eyes landed on a lamppost just a few paces from the Crow. It stood tall and currently unlit.

  An idea sparked.

  Residential lampposts were powered by the yellow mana crystals – Lumen. That was the crystal's only purpose. Lumen couldn’t be used offensively like the rest of the crystals, but it had one major flaw. Once heated, it became violently unstable – sometimes reacting explosively.

  Normally, Lumen didn’t produce any heat while active. It had something to do with the crystal’s inner structure and the yellow mana in general.

  But external heat? That was a whole different thing.

  My mind summoned Stanford’s gun from the Inventory before I could second guess myself.

  It materialized in my left hand. Small. Sleek.

  I had never fired a gun before – at least not that I could remember. And I was pretty far from the target – definitely outside the recommended range. And I only had two bullets before I’d need to reload.

  But…that Lumen crystal inside the lamppost's white, glassy covering should be at least the size of a hand - if Orlinth’s were anything to go by.

  How hard could it be to hit it from here?

  I raised the gun with both hands, steadying my breath. Aimed at the top of the lamppost, right where the Lumen crystal would be housed.

  And fired.

  The recoil punched back into my arms harder than I expected. I didn’t think that such a small pistol would kick this hard. The barrel jerked upward just enough for me to miss the target completely.

  Shit.

  I tried to line for a second shot – but it was already too late.

  The Crow’s head snapped toward me, and in the next instant, he lunged in my direction.

  Panicking, I raised the gun and aimed at his approaching figure, firing the second – and last – bullet in the magazine, not expecting anything other than the bullet to bounce off him.

  But it didn’t.

  The shot hit him square in the shoulder and…went in.

  Somehow, it pierced through the Aetherguard Mark III’s impenetrable plating.

  The impact staggered him. He fell backward, letting out a low, distorted groan of pain.

  I stared down at the gun in disbelief.

  What the fuck?

  But there was no time to process what just happened. The Crow was already on his knees, struggling to rise, visibly fighting the pain.

  Then – Leighton came to the rescue again.

  He landed between us, his body still flaring with Kinetra’s magic. With one powerful motion, he hurled a fiery spear that he conjured in his right hand mid-movement straight at the wounded Crow.

  The spear hit the ground in front of him, exploding on impact, sending the Crow flying backward, crashing through the wall of the house behind him, disappearing behind a cloud of dust.

  Leighton turned to me, panting hard. “Fucking…That was stupid of you to come back here…”

  He caught his breath and narrowed his eyes. “Did he actually kill Stanford? Was he chasing you because you saw it?”

  “Yes!” I nodded quickly. “Don’t get me wrong, but what are you even doing here?!”

  “I live here!” Leighton shot back, exasperated. “I heard the noise and feared the worst – Valdemar.” He let out a long breath and muttered, mostly to himself. “First, I get arrested, now this. On my one and only vacation day in the last three years…always had shitty luck.”

  As I was about to respond, a chill ran down my spine.

  The quest.

  I turned to my COG. The Outlast quest was still active.

  Surely blasting the Crow through a house would count as “immobilize”…right?

  Then why hadn’t it updated?

  Leighton, as if sensing my fear, spoke. “He’s not down yet. But don’t worry. I already called for backup. They should be here any second.”

  That was when everything turned to shit.

  From within the ruined house, a whip made of fire suddenly lashed out towards us.

  Leighton reacted fast. He grabbed me by the shirt and pulled us both out of its path just in time.

  But then a second whip joined in, striking the ground in front of us.

  Yet, no explosion followed. Instead, ice began to spread from the impact point – massive, jagged crystals that rose up high from the cobblestone.

  “Ice from fire…” Leighton muttered, his eyes widening in realization. “But that means he’s – “

  He never finished.

  Because the ice crystals suddenly exploded outward. And from within them poured the unmistakable black mist of Umbrium. Decay.

  Leighton tried to react. He threw a gust of wind forward to push the mist back – but some of it had already spread, curling around his arm.

  The shroud latched onto him – hissing, eating through his suit’s exoskeleton, corroding his COG. It burned through his clothes, then his skin.

  He screamed, stumbling back, clutching at his right arm in pain.

  I stood frozen. Horrified. Helpless.

  Not sure what I could even do to help him. Not sure how the Crow had just managed to combine three types of mana in such a bizarre, unnatural way. I didn’t think it was possible. I didn't even consider such thing as a possibility.

  And then, from the smoke and shattered debris of the ruined house, my killer stepped out once more.

  His armored feet suddenly left the ground, his body rising with Aero, empowered with a Kinetra as well.

  And he was ablaze.

  His entire form, including his sword, wreathed in flames. And at the same time, the ground beneath him crystalized with creeping frost – ice spreading outward, untouched by his fires.

  Then, he shot himself forward through the air like a bullet.

  Leighton, still reeling from the Umbrium's damage, couldn’t react in time.

  The Crow’s flaming sword cut through him in one smooth arc, taking his head clean off while freezing up the rest of his body by just being next to him.

  The Crow...he was quadra-channeling…

  Aero. Kinetra. Ignis. Cryora. All at once.

  Then, without wasting a single movement, he turned to me, already mid-attack.

  Before my eyes could even register what happened, his sword was already impaled through my gut, the tip punching out my back.

  The pain quickly followed.

  I chocked. Blood filled my mouth, pouring from my lips uncontrollably as I stared down at the blade jutting down my abdomen.

  He didn’t let go. Instead, he lifted me into the air with the sword. The steel twisted inside me, tearing deeper through muscle and organs.

  I couldn’t even scream. Only blood came out.

  “So,” he said, voice low, calm and slightly amused. “You’re not a dog after all, huh?”

  Then I felt it.

  Fire spread from his sword, igniting me from within, burning me alive from the inside.

  Slowly, painfully, I died.

  But not before I heard him one last time.

  “Until next time, eh?”

  [Outlast: Quest Failed]

  P.S.

  one of the final bosses of the story. Viktor has no business going anywhere near him at this stage...and yet, the Crow keeps showing up.