Chapter 48 - 47: Broken Ground
Leon’s elite mage zombie materializes mid-fall, skeletal hands weaving desperate patterns in the air. Wind magic catches Leon’s plummeting form three stories above the top floor, slowing his descent just enough to prevent instant death.
He crashes through clay tiles and wooden beams, the impact driving breath from his lungs in explosive gasps. Pain radiates from his already broken ribs as fragments of the Upper District’s finest architecture rain down around him.
The building beneath him belongs to the Middle Quarter Merchant, a sprawling manor with manicured gardens and servants who polish silver by candlelight. Leon’s fall through their roof sends housemaids screaming through marble corridors.
"Master Hendricks!" A butler shouts from below. "Something’s fallen through the atrium ceiling!"
Leon tries to rise, blood pooling beneath him on expensive Persian rugs. His vision swims as concussion wars with determination. Through the hole he’s torn in reality, stars begins to glitter like accusatory eyes.
A shadow blocks out those stars.
Tobias descends like divine judgment wrapped in flame. He doesn’t fall, he aims himself downward with the precision of a guided missile. Fire trails behind him in spiraling ribbons that illuminate half the district.
Leon rolls aside as Tobias impacts the rooftop with force.
The explosion of landing sends shockwaves through the manor’s foundation.
Tobias rises from the crater he’s punched through solid stone, flames wrapping around his form like living armor. His eyes blaze with supernatural fire that makes the surrounding destruction seem trivial by comparison.
"Did you really think you could handle me?" Tobias asks conversationally. "I’ve been hunting monsters longer than you’ve been breathing."