Divulgence (Song of Sophangence Book 2)

by E. I. McAllistair

  Dashing across the building at a high speed, he jumps, clearing the gap with ease, kicking Corey Tott with an explosion powered roundhouse so savage, he streaked like a comet through four buildings before hitting the ground with a titanic thud that left a large crater in the building he had landed. Jumping across the buildings until he finally made his way into the building Corey had landed, he worked his way down, finding the sickening mass of a man pulling himself from a heap of rubble.

  “You hit like a little bitch. Your cunt of a girlfriend hits way harder than you do.”

  With a snarl, Anaar runs toward the man, but rather than hitting him, he runs past him, jumping out the window. As he jumps from the window, the building explodes in a fiery display, causing it to collapse to its very foundation. Walking back to the building, he blasts his way through until he finds the man still lodged under mounds of rubble, dirty from all the soot and dust of the crumbling building. Though trapped, he was very much conscious and still seemed to have ample mouth in which to talk.

  “This is what everyone is fucking scared of? Fuck, if I had known that little bitch was the real threat, I wouldn’t have taken it easy on her. You ain’t got half the balls she’s got.”

  “At least I have mine.”

  “The fuck are you talking about pussy?!”

  “The funny thing about people with Invulnerability, is that in order for their body to function, they need to take on a very specific property. Their bodies work like a barrier. Near impervious from harm on the outside, but quite fragile on the inside. You touched the wrong girl you piece of shit.”

  With the man surrounded by the demolished building, trapped, burning, and unable to free himself, Anaar knew that there would be no way the cameras could see what he was doing. Using the water in his body, Anaar cleanly severs the man’s penis and scrotum from the inside out, leaving him to scream in unbridled agony as his pants filled with blood and he bled out underneath the rubble. Turning to leave him, the now unconscious man clearly warranted medical attention, and the first casualty of the School Rankings Competition had officially been created.

  ◆◆◆

  Remembering Anaar’s account of his own experience starting off in complete darkness, Maggie was happy she planned for the worst now that she knew it was possible. When she awoke to the message letting her know that she should be ready for anything, she was not sure if it pertained to everyone, or just the people involved in the competition. Though she wanted to call Anaar to find out, she knew that if she was going into this event completely alone, she had to start now so she could be self-sufficient and make the hard decisions later.

  Being pulled from class and told she had five minutes to prepare, she knew she had made a grave error by assuming they would at least have a few days to get themselves ready for what was to come. With no other option, she utilized the portal to her room to get her bow, arrows, and hammer, along with a few supplies. Among these supplies was a high-powered flashlight Anaar had bought her, that was an exact copy of the one he used to navigate the Caverns zone of Tactics and Siege.

  Hiking through the winding tunnels, she never imagined they would have seriously analyzed their skills to identify adverse environments for them. Nothing could be worse for an archer than a dark, cramped space. Utilizing all the time she had allotted to prepare had certainly not worked in her favor. She had decided to profusely apologize to Anaar the next time she saw him for not believing what he said about starting in the Caverns. If it had not been for the flashlight he bought her, she would have been stumbling around in the darkness. There was no way for her to tell where she was in relation to the rest of the map, and she did not know which direction she should travel to get to an exit. Luckily for her, there was never an intention to drag the event out, so she found her way to the surface fairly quickly, exiting into the Forest zone if she assessed correctly.

  Creeping through the brush, she spots a woman who appeared to be of Indian decent, walking primed for battle with a unique looking sword. Her first thought was that she did not recognize the woman, which meant she was definitely not in her class. Though that did not offer her much insight, she at least understood one thing: Everyone in the tournament would be extremely dangerous. During her own Melee, she tried to give people the benefit of the doubt that they had perhaps only evaded detection, or they were potentially already running out of steam. It had not been long since being pulled, and if they were here, they were held in high enough regard by their peers to be their representative.

  Unfurling her bow, she took aim, not taking any chances. If she was lucky, the woman would not have any defenses to prevent her from striking true. As she had just recently watched the Junior Melee, she was not positive, but she was fairly certain she did not see the woman during it. That meant she was likely either a Sophomore or a Senior. Sophomores were known for their Medics and Water Affinities, and the Seniors were known for their Juggernauts and Artillerites. Either way her chances seemed good, but she knew she would basically only have one real shot. The people she would be dealing with were far too dangerous to give mercy, and she had to play to her strengths.

  Hoping she did not misjudge her own strength, she releases an arrow charged with enough force to burst through steel. In the event the woman had the combat presence to block the arrow, she would be taken aback by the force, either breaking her blade, or at least throwing her heavily off balance, leaving her open for the next strike. Loosing the arrow, she finds the arrow strike true, ripping into the woman’s neck, causing her to fly backwards to the ground, with an immediate portal opening to tend to her. With a sigh of relief, she scurries away, not even attempting to recover her arrow as she did not know who might be watching from the shadows.

  Her greatest advantage was the element of surprise, as her arrows were silent, and she could fire off multiple before someone was aware, if she was able to identify her target without revealing herself. Though that went well for her, she knew this was a competition where it was impossible to become confident or even comfortable. Despite her fortuitous victory, she moved silently, cautiously, muscles tensed for whatever the next round might hold.

  ◆◆◆

  Her unparalleled mobility offered her a unique advantage over the rest of the participants in the tournament. With almost six years of experience, Sophia Grimm was able to navigate through Tactics and Siege as comfortably as if it were her backyard. Her knowledge of the landscape combined with the fact that she could cross the massive expanse in an instant proved to be quite useful as she eliminated other participants systematically. Unlike everyone else who was bound by the constraints of random selection, she could pick and choose which fights she took. As a Senior, she also had the advantage of direct experience with those she would be facing, or had been afforded the opportunity to study them in combat situations.

  Thus far, she only had three opponents that gave her even the slightest concern. The first was the Invulnerability Titan from the Freshman class. Though he had gotten a bad matchup, and thanks to his folly of dramatically underestimating Anaar’s best friend Maggie, he was no doubt an issue for her. Titans were her least favorite people to deal with, as guns had little effect on them. Having Invulnerability, while he was clearly not completely immune to harm, she did not exactly have the tools to properly deal with him. She had contemplated if it would be literal overkill to portal him many stories into the sky, allowing him to plummet to his end, but as it had shown, he could be dealt with if the right tools were had.

  She was not so proud to allow someone else to do the work she was not fit for. Part of proper military strategy was appropriate delegation of duties. Unless it came down to the two of them in the end, she would rather avoid him, hoping he was eliminated by someone else. Something she had come to take for granted during her years of Melee participation was the counter that let her know how many people were remaining. Her Vizer was completely devoid of that information, meaning she could only go based on the people she knew she had
eliminated personally.

  The next person who concerned her was someone she could loosely call a friend, but it was more apt to consider him a rival. Phavian Ingraham was one of the few men she respected, not only for his strength in combat, but also his overwhelming character. Due to the nature of how their school was set up, they had never been given the opportunity to face off in a real match. He was often hailed as the strongest person on campus, and that ignited a fire inside of her. She was not sure if it was jealousy, or something else, but the idea that he was such an undisputed force, no doubt came from his unique talents.

  Titans and Juggernauts were built for combat situations, and were seen as the compliments to one another. What made them manageable was a Titan’s lack of offensive ability, and a Juggernaut’s lack of defense. Even separate, these two were forces to be reckoned with, but having the extremely rare case of combining the best of both worlds made him a machine built for domination.

  As if that was not enough to inspire envy, his ability as a Titan was actually a secondary manifestation. His primary manifestation would make him instantly lethal, as he could be classified as a Controller or a Disruptor as well. The number of tools he had at his disposal seemed unfair when compared to someone like her, who had an ability most saw as quite valuable, but was at best useful for its utility.

  She had worked hard to overcome her inherent biological deficiencies as a smaller woman, and also an Air Affinity. As an Air attuned, it gave her increased perception, but did not do much for her against someone who could weather her blows without even flinching, or who could put her out of commission in one well placed strike. Something about the thrill of the challenge excited her though, since she could possibly once and for all put to rest the idea that he was better than she was.

  The last person she worried about was more than concern, or even reservation, it was abject terror. In getting to know him, she had seen a side to him that was sweeter, softer, and more loyal than any person she had ever met. If this was the full extent of his nature, though it may seem wrong, she could exploit that with no problem. While there was question whether Phavian was truly stronger than she was, even with all his abilities and skill, to this day she still got chills when she was around Anaar Vorpahl.

  On paper, though without a doubt the most destructive force on campus, as he was the exceedingly rare Demolitionist, he should be nothing more than an average Juggernaut at best. Having such an overwhelmingly destructive ability in a practicum setting like the school should actually limit him. From what she could tell, he in no way boasted the sheer physical strength of Phavian, and last she checked he was not a Titan either.

  Phavian boasted years of martial experience over his significant other, and had both the physical offense and defense to make them extremely potent without being lethal. By all accounts he should not even be on her radar of concern. Her mother and father had taught her very well how to assess the strength of a person when she was growing up, and Anaar’s actions did not match his stats on paper.

  She had seen him move faster than Air Affinities that specialize in speed, hit harder than some of the most renowned Juggernauts, and shrug off damage as if he were a Titan. His skill with his weapons were beyond impressive given his short time training with them, and she had the sight of him firing two massively powered cannons with perfect accuracy, all while smiling, forever seared into her memory. There was also the fact that from what she understood, all of these were additions to his arsenal.

  What made him the most dangerous was his mind, as he was known on campus for not only obtaining a perfect score on the entrance exam, but also retaining a perfect ACR. She had come up against many people who lacked skills, or power, but had the brains to overcome even the most adverse of situations. Here was a package that combined exceptional skill and abilities, with a mind that could make something that was meager, mighty.

  Not only that, she had only recently as a thank you given him a full inside look into her own abilities. If she had foreseen something like this, there is no way she would have ever allowed such a breach of intelligence, no matter what she thought she owed him. All of this was assuming he would do what was typical of him, and not bring his powers to bear. She had seen what he was capable of in an instant, without any thought.

  There was also the still very murky and ominous situation that occurred some weeks back as well where he all but told her that he intended to go somewhere, and his intent was to kill. That is what truly scared her. Most other people could not fathom the idea of taking a life, not matter how much training they had. Something in his eyes, deep beneath their sparking, sweet exterior revealed a soul stained black. She was sure she had begun to understand why he did his best to stay out of the spotlight.

  With her mastery over her portals, she was able to open windows into the sky, essentially giving her bird’s-eye surveillance of the events going on. Though there were many fights she had caught a glimpse of throughout the day, she had yet to find the person she was looking for until now. She debated taking out Anaar’s friend Maggie as she was fighting against an Artillerite, but if there was one thing she had learned, was that his savagery was proportionate to the people close to him getting hurt. If the girl did manage to get through that fight, she did not want make things any more difficult for herself if he were to find out about it. Instead she focused on the person she had waited years to finally face in a true battle with all the stakes. Stepping out of her portal, she wanted this fight to be fought fair and square, so though not the most strategically sound, she made her presence known.

  “I’m not at all surprised you are still going at it. It took me forever to find you.”

  Recognizing the voice, his body humming with excitement, Phavian turns to face the person he had been vying for supremacy with. “There were a lot of small fries, hard to believe we are the cream of the crop at this school. I was looking for the Invulnerability kid, you do him in?”

  Giving him a scoff, “Can’t say that was me, but I didn’t exactly want to deal with him. Seemed like a waste of bullets.”

  “Yeah, it would be, I figured I’d just bash him over the head until he passed out. Seemed to work before. So how are we doing this?”

  “Hard and fast. Hit me with your best shot.”

  “Not a surprising choice of words for you.”

  He begins sprinting full tilt toward Ripp, she immediately pulling out two guns, unloading shots. Just as he manages to reach her, he pulls out a gun of his own. The two unload their clips, practically a foot from each other’s faces, her barrage of bullets plunking harmlessly at his face with no effect, his simply finding themselves going through small rapidly created portals that sent the bullets behind her. After a few seconds they both find themselves squeezing their triggers, only to hear the sounds of empty clips.

  Giving her a smirk, “Looks like we are both out. Guess we have to do this the old-fashioned way.”

  Not even the slightest bit concerned, “Don’t you know I’m never out?” Throwing one of her pistols in the air, it flies through a portal, as she reaches into another, pulls out four more clips, loads one gun, as the other comes back through another portal, where she catches it, reloading.

  “That shit isn’t even fair!” Lunging at her, she ducks backward through a portal, it closing quickly before he has the opportunity to connect. Caught mid lunge, he was not able to recover fast enough to counter Ripp appearing just behind him, kicking him at the knees, causing him to topple. Trying to make full use of the opportunity, she lets off another couple of shots, the first being blocked deftly by Haymana, and the rest once again simply losing all their power upon hitting him.

  “This is why I fucking hate Titans.”

  Opening a portal just below him, it spits him out about ten feet in the air where he is unable to change his trajectory. Still firing, she mistimes some of her shots, incorrectly accounting for his rate of speed as he plummeted to the earth, but one shot managing to hit him in the leg, this
time not being stopped by his irksome ability. With a thump, he hits the ground, the wind knocked out of him, and it showed the clear difference in his abilities in comparison to an Earth Affinity’s natural resilience.

  As he is doing his best to regain his senses, she fires two shots that cause Phavian to immediately put up his defenses behind him since he was face down on the ground and could hear the shots. What he had not accounted for was the fact he was facing a portal user, and a very good one at that. Though he could not tell from his position, there was a small portal just under his stomach where she fired both bullets, causing him to vomit blood, as they ripped through his insides. Due to the nature of his ability, it actually worked against him, because the negation of the energy near his back caused the bullets to not go through him, and instead remain lodged inside of his body.

  “I’ve waited a long time to do that. You put up a good fight kid, but sometimes talent isn’t enough.”

  Though they just had a furious bout that left her the victor, she still considered him her rival, if not exactly her friend, and it was only respectful to wait with him as the medical team arrived. The portal appeared as they rushed in, seeing the pool of red liquid expanding in the grass of the plains.

  “The bullets didn’t go through, he is going to need surgery stat.” The medical team nods at her gratefully as they rush him through a portal to get him patched up.

  When she sees them leave, she finds herself excited that she was the victor, but for some reason it did not feel like a true win. No matter how much she looked at it, he had lowered himself to a place that he thought they could fight equally, while she had used all the data she accumulated on him to make her victory a reality.