The shadow blade moved with terrible speed. Kade attempted to fling himself to it but fell just short despite all of his enhancements. Dawn's eyes widened at the incoming projectile; with just a sliver of time, she managed to block it with her crystallised pike.
The impact sent a shiver into her bones as the knife diverted off course, and her pike crumbled into shimmering sparks of light. The memory had been destroyed, but much to Kades' and the figures' Suprise, the spear blossomed once again from the remnants of the essence.
"Oh, it seems the young maiden isn't cattle after all!" Mused the cloaked figure, taking a step forward, he rocketed forward with the prowess of a proper awakened warrior.
Kade roared, hurling himself into the collision. [Never Ending Fury] blazed, strength surging into his limbs. Met with a crack of bone and concrete, the ground shattering beneath their heels.
Kade latched onto the assassin's wrists, snarling—but the grip strained, slipping under the figure's inhuman strength.
Their cloak tore back from the shockwave, finally revealing his face.
He saw a man in his 20s with ferocity and amusement across his face, the presence of dark eyebrows and a messily shaven face. Staring directly into Kade's eyes.
"You're going to have to get through me first!" Kade growled, his feet beginning to slide against the concrete as they awakened down on him.
The man grinned widely.
"I don't, actually." His tone was lazy and cruel. "I could kill her three ways and back if I wanted to. But—hey—if you want to die first? Be my guest."
He laughed, breaking free of Kade's grasp and crashing into him with his shoulder. Kade was sent flying backward into the air, reorganising himself in a flip before sliding across the shattered concrete and beside Dawn.
"The bastard's a bit too strong for me." Kade relented, he didn't know why a guy of this calibre was sent after Dawn of all people, but to keep his word, he stood by ready for the assassin to strike again.
"I can see that," Dawn answered, anxiety of the threat weighing upon her, the stare of the shadowy assassin drilling holes into her. But with the presence of Kade, she calmed herself.
"We can't fight, so we have to run," she proclaimed. Kade solemnly looked to her in surprise but understood. In normal circumstances, he would try to at least give the assassin the most he had to offer, but someone else's life was on the line.
"Ok then, follow me!" Kade answered, giving a parting glance to the assassin before bolting into the alleyways, with Dawn eagerly chasing his step. The shadows conjoined as the assassin rocketed after them.
"Hey, where did the bravado come from, kid? Come back here!"
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Deep in the choking alleyways of the outskirts, Kade sprinted, carrying the breathless Dawn in his arms. His body screamed, muscles straining, but he forced it all down, navigating the maze with grim determination.
Every so often, a cackle echoed through the dark. Then an annoyed growl. Closer each time.
Kade clenched his jaw, refusing to look back. He was faster here, in these tight corridors where even monsters feared to tread. But carrying Dawn slowed him down, not because of her weight,ht, but because of the way the alleys twisted and demanded impossible manoeuvres.
Still, she never complained. He caught the glare she shot him now and then, but she understood. Without him, she'd be dead. Instead, she focused, reaching out with shaky hands to erase obstacles from their path, transforming metal and stone into glittering specks of memory before Kade barrelled through them.
"Are we close to the police station yet?" Dawn timidly asked.
Kade quickly glanced down at Dawn and responded breathlessly.
"No, that place is certain death if we bring the assassin there. I've been heading to the inner city; there just maybe there will be awakened somewhere."
Kade huffed a small grin, taking his face.
"Do you want me to put you down that badly?"
Another cackle resonated between the tight corridors of the alleyway. Dawn grimaced further and replied.
"Yes, but dying is the alternative, so it can wait."
The alley stretched like a dying vein, twisting, narrow, suffocating. Trash and shattered glass underfoot, the duo passed under a small section where the streetlights shone through, the darkness fading for only a second.
For that split moment Dawn was able to see clearer; she saw a mutiny of scratches, scars and bruises littered across his skin, his fitted shirt in tatters covered with slashes, the fabric now barely clinging onto life.
She had thought him to be all fine, since he never once showed he was tired or wounded, but it was on the contrary; he had taken the attacks from the gangsters, bruises from the assassin and cuts from manoeuvring the tight alleyway.
'How the hell is he still running that fast in a condition like that?!' Concern and guilt came through. He could have abandoned her and gotten to safety far easier, yet he was running for his life, refusing to leave her behind, despite the incoming fate he was inviting.
She was only a burden to Kade at the moment.
Still in the layers of the brown coat?' Dawn questioned. 'If I were in his position, would I?' She desperately tried to reason with herself that she would, yet deep down she knew that she wouldn't; the courage and discipline to do something like that evaded her.
With the backdrop of Kade's quick steps and breathless gaps, she felt deeply ashamed of herself. Unconsciously gripping onto Kade tighter as he ran, the anger and disappointment flaring back as she fought the emotions that stormed inside her.
"You alright?" Kade questioned, feeling her grip tighten.
Dawn spoke. Her voice came out rough and raw, nowhere near the stoic resolve she wanted.
"Leave me; I should be able to at least distract him for you to get away, maybe to the Awakened Academy; even someone like him can't get in there to you. After all, I'm the target at the end of the day."
Kade let her words ring; his mind was set on not dying at the present and being able to manoeuvre the chaotic landscape of the alley, yet he felt an urge to divert it, confusion and concern taking place.
"Why in the hell would I do that?"
Dawn looked at him in solemn confusion.
"So you can live...?" She stammered, forcing the words through a throat that burnt. "I mean... he'sgoing to catch up soon, so it's... better one of us lives than both of us dying—"
Before Dawn could finish, Kade hurled her skyward without warning.
The suffocating alleys fell away as she shot past the rooftops, weightless under the endless night sky of NQC.
Kade, now unburdened, slammed into the alley wall, boots grinding against the concrete as he launched upward.
He snatched a sagging cloth slide mid-air, the fabric tearing under his weight as he swung higher.
Dawn's breath caught in her throat as the sky seemed to tilt. She flailed, clutching at empty air, panic clawing up her chest.
But before the ground swallowed her, something slammed into her side.
Kade.
They hit the rooftop hard, rolling, scraping across coarse concrete and rusted pipes. The impact jarred her bones, stealing the breath from her lungs.
For a moment, the world was nothing but stars, bruises, and Kade's iron grip.
'WHAT JUST HAPPENED!'
Kade hauled her up, his iron grip unrelenting, dragging her into another reckless sprint across the patchwork roofs. Not giving Dawn a second to speak.
her legs stumbling to keep up, lungs screaming, heart pounding loud in her ears. The crazy stunt left her silent, too breathless to question him at all.
But he glanced back at Dawn, pulling her closer to him, allowing her to stay beside him as they ran. Dawn's emotions silenced as she focused all on not falling behind, the cackling of the assassin coming ever closer as the figure rose from the building behind them, running with murderous intent behind them.
The cold wind clawed at her face. She ran, pushing herself to keep up with Kade, running with everything she had. Unlike him, she didn't have any physical enhancing attributes, not to mention aspect ability.
With just sheer will alone, she was able to keep up with him for a little, Dawn gritting her teeth as she forced herself to run faster than ever before. Exhilaration followed fear as she realised that she was somehow keeping up with Kade.
But she felt the weight under her shift as she slipped on a loose tile, all the speed now carrying her as she fell forward but was pulled back up as Kade carried her with his right. Her cold, raspy breaths on his shoulder as he ran.
"I just can't keep up, can I..."
The words barely escaped her lips, bitter and cracked. Doubt, acceptance, and regret washed over her, pooling in the pit of her stomach as she relinquished defeat.
But Kade only let out a breathless chuckle, the sound rough, almost amused.
"You're doing better than most would," he said, his voice strained but steady, like the world crashing around them was just another night in the city.
Then, without missing a step, he shifted her weight, pulling her closer against him as he vaulted over a broken ledge, the rooftops blurring beneath them.
Dawn watched the acrobatics in silence, anger and confusion boiling back up to the surface. She parted her lips to yell at him, but Kade beat her to it—a breathless chuckle slipping past his lips.
"You don't get it; this is basically a dream come true for me," he said, voice rough but weirdly upbeat. "I thought I'd be dead and rotting in some gutter three days ago, and now here I am—running for my life from a deadly assassin, with a girl in my arms! Come on, that's straight out of a trashy movie!"
He shot her a crooked grin before focusing back on the escape.
"So, trust me, you don't owe me. I'm doing this because I want to. Leaving you behind?" He huffed between gasps. "That's the opposite of what I want. I'd be stuck in the academy all alone, riddled with guilt, listening to those shit-eating legacies talk down to me."
Kade laughed again, the sound boyish and reckless, only slightly dashed with fear.
"To me, that's a death in itself. So I'll risk it all; that's saying a lot, because I might be many things—but a gambler isn't one of 'em!"
The gigantic walls of the inner city drew closer as Dawn absorbed what he had just said.
She clenched her fists, biting back the sting behind her eyes. How could he joke at a time like this? How could he be so?
him?
"You're insane," she spat.
Kade barked out a laugh, this one more real than any before. A wild, bright grin stretched across his face.
"Maybe. I might be."
Dawn's breath hitched, her eyes darting upward, the glint of cold steel reflecting off the dim light from the inner-city walls.
"Kade—!" she shouted, panic rising in her throat.
But it was too late.
Time slowed as the blade—black and gleaming—ripped through the air toward him. Kade's back was turned, his focus still on the walls, a smile still faint on his lips, fading as he looked back.
The dagger sank into his shadow. A wave of pain, unlike anything he had ever felt, crashed over him. His shadow [Anchored] down to him by the thinnest of margins, before completely severing.
He managed to stay upright, but the world blurred as he staggered, losing control. The momentum carried him and Dawn off the edge.
"Kade!" Dawn screamed again, her desperate cry swallowed by the rushing wind.
Both of them are now plummeting toward the crowded streets below.