Solflare: The Painter's Secret

The war disc spun and pierced the estate wall, right beside the Hi-no-Kami.

Hayes rolled his neck. Bones cracked. Blue light climbed his hands and spread across his chest like cobwebs. "See what real power is."

Gravel at his feet lifted, hovering as the air grew thick and suffocating.

He pointed two fingers forward and smiled. "Catch this while you can."

Sharp, thread-thin filaments of blue light erupted from his fingertips, dashing in every direction. The threads pierced the walls and the iron lantern posts lining the entrance.

A deafening hum filled the air as a web of blue threads formed between him and Leon.

Leon’s eyes blazed with a black glow. He drove both palms into the ground, sending a shockwave of dust into the air.

The black cloth flapped, releasing itself from the face of the dead Skywarden lord. It wobbled in the dusty air before wrapping itself back around Leon’s neck.

Black, pulsing light snaked out of Leon’s hands, washing through the cracked ground like water. Gravel and hidden stones in the earth rolled outward as the black light dove deep.

Every filament the pulse touched went dark, losing its life without a struggle.

The iron lanterns at the gate flickered, their blue flames dying as the black light touched them.

’How did he do that?’ Hayes lowered his fingers. A thin black thread of smoke rose from the wicks of his indestructible cobalt web.

The hovering gravel dropped to the ground with a sharp, loud click.

In a blur, Leon appeared beside the wall like a ghost and pulled the Hi-no-Kami free.

The moment the blade exited the stone, the war disc tore loose, hummed, and sprayed dust from its surface before returning to Leon’s back at lightning speed.

Black essence flared behind Leon as he fixed his gaze on Hayes and began to walk.

’This is what I wanted to fight, not the weak one you brought.’ Hayes stepped back. With a soft touch, his cobalt cobweb wall disintegrated into countless fraying lines.

The threads vanished as he walked into the estate. "Come inside and let’s settle this once and for all, Leon Storm."

Stone paths darkened the moment Leon’s shadow touched them. The cold-burning flames of the path lanterns flared like dragon fire as Leon passed.

Fallen leaves from the dead trees gathered at Leon’s boots.

Cunning laughter spiked through the estate. Hayes stopped and turned. Blue, fiery flames erupted from his hands, climbing his entire frame as he looked to the darkened sky.

A cold wave of cobalt energy flashed outward, pressing the courtyard grass flat against the ground.

Leaves skittered away from his boots in rings of flame as he moved forward. "Jade is not coming out here, Leon."

He raised one hand and drove it forward. "I AM!"

A spear of blue fire hurtled toward Leon’s face before Hayes’s words could fade.

Leon dropped his hand. The spear blade grazed his forehead, lifting a thin layer of skin where the jagged edge sliced through.

Air exploded at the estate walls behind Leon as the spear pierced the stone. Chunks of masonry scattered across the courtyard floor.

Leon hissed through his teeth as a layer of warm blood snaked down his forehead, rolling over his right eye.

"So you bleed." Hayes leaped, sending three more spears toward Leon. The heated air crackled as the storm of energy exploded through the courtyard.

Leon moved the Hi-no-Kami upward, deflecting the first with the flat surface of the blade.

Blue sparks scattered and sizzled on the stone tiles as the war disc intercepted the second, shattering it.

Cold light rained on the grass. Leon locked eyes with the last fast-spinning spear.

He moved his arm to block, but the spear swerved, driving through his left shoulder. Leon stumbled back, bringing the Hi-no-Kami’s blade down to shatter the projectile.

Sharp air escaped his lungs as his chest heaved. The black cloth seethed over the wound, smothering the fire before it could spread.

"So be it, Hayes!" Leon charged, swinging the Hi-no-Kami in tight, fast arcs toward Hayes’s chest and sides.

Sparks rained as Hayes blocked the first two strikes with his forearms.

He caught the third on his palm, fingers clamping around the flat of the blade with a thud.

Blue fire crawled up the steel toward the hilt. Frost crept along the metal, biting at the red cloth wrapped around the grip.

As it neared the fabric, the cloth blazed, sending the frost retreating in wisps of cold smoke.

"You die!" Leon wrenched the blade free and drove his knees into Hayes’s gut, cracking bone.

Hayes took the impact without stepping back. He wrapped both arms around Leon’s bent knees, leaped upward, and slammed Leon into the stone path with a thunderous blast.

Dust and gravel leaped upward and rained back down around him as the stone cracked beneath Leon’s spine in a starburst.

Sweat trailed thin lines on Leon’s face as he stood over him for a second before bringing his heels down.

The drift shield materialized between them and struck Hayes’s heels. Shockwaves rattled through Hayes’s bones as he stumbled two steps, his boots scraping pale drag lines across the stone surface.

Loose gravel bit into Leon’s palms as he rolled to his side and pushed himself upward. One of his dual hearts hammered hard against his chest as he pressed his fist to his sternum.

Fabric flapped as Hayes smoothed his cobalt war suit. "You are going to destroy yourself before you reach him, Leon Storm."

He wiped the back of his hand across his mouth then grinned. A cold wind moved outward from him, pushing the loose dust of the courtyard away from his boots in a slow ring as the blue fire on his suit crackled. "Jade is not worth this."

"You don’t get to tell me what he is worth." Leon’s eyebrows hardened as he raised the Hi-no-Kami.

Hayes laughed then raised his arms wide, causing the blue fire to rise from his suit and gather between both palms in a dense mass.