Chapter 42: Princess of Sector Twelve
She quickly vanished once again, sucked into the voidspace before reappearing in another position. The featherblast that had nearly struck her detonated harmlessly against the shield.
Voidspace only allowed for quick, short bursts of travel, preventing Padva from staying inside for long. This was why she warped from position to position, narrowly evading the feathers that exploded against the shield behind her into shadowy smoke.
When only one feather remained, Padva warped smartly in front of Skarion, then vanished instantly. The feather had followed, speeding straight for Skarion— Padva’s earlier position. But Skarion anticipated Padva’s tactic.
He adjusted his shoulder sharply, and just in time for the feather to wheeze past and explode to shadows on the wall.
When his gaze snapped forward, he was shocked to see that Padva was already on the attack again. She was racing towards him, rather than just warping this time. Her running form was peculiar; both of her hands were thrusted behind her, head was low and her knees pulled forward as she cleared the distance between them.
Once she was close enough, she dragged a fist coated in void energy toward his face. Skarion blocked desperately, shadows forming around his elbows to create a glistening black shield. But Padva didn’t stop there. She moved her fists in ways that Skarion couldn’t anticipate and Jethro’s watchful eyes couldn’t follow.
Her strikes were unpredictable and landed with sharp impacts. Skarion’s shadow shield absorbed several blows, but not all. When she hit the final punch, the energy shattered the shield and her knuckles slammed into his chest. The void energy sent a jolt of disorienting spatial distortion through Skarion, making him stumble backwards.
Padva pressed her advantage with ferocity, not even giving him a moment to rest. But her own momentum became her undoing.
Skarion recoiled, his fist dragged with it a burst of shadow energy that connected with her jaw, the impact sent her high into the air.
Then Skarion launched dark tendrils that wrapped around her limbs while she was still mid-flight, before pulling her hard to the ground in a sickening crash.