Ulrika immediately goes on the attack. A violent rush of wind plows into the Paragons. Penny takes most of the brunt. She catapults into the street. Theo sits up, grabs his forearm, and aims the palm of his hand at us. I sense a rapid build of mana form at the railing. Sparks develop like a fuse is burning. The mana within continues to grow until it explodes. I tumble several feet down a hallway behind me. My entire body hurts. I can''t hear anything. I sit up to assess any damage to my body. The outer parts of my armor are torn. My limbs and fingers are intact. I look over to Ulrika to see if she''s okay. Blood pours from her head, streaming over her right eye. She gets on her hands and knees while keeping her eyes shut. The blood drips on the floor from her chin.


    "You''re cut!" I say. "I''ll find something to stop the bleeding!"


    "Don''t go," Ulrika says, grunting. "I can stop it." Sparks of lightning cover her entire body. It moves like a wave, going towards her head.


    "What are you doing?"


    "Cauterizing the wound," she says, straining through her teeth. It takes her a few more seconds to seal the cut. She opens her other eye to see me. "You''re bleeding too." She wobbles over to me on all fours to look at the right side of my neck. I can''t stop looking at the part of her face covered with blood. She stops what she''s doing to address me. "I''m okay," she says. "Stop giving me that look."


    "Is your eye okay?" She wipes as much of the blood away before opening it. Her emerald eye remains untouched.


    "It''s a small cut. You should stop bleeding in a few minutes."


    "We need to find medical supplies to clean you up."


    As I help Ulrika get on her feet, Theo reaches the top of the steps. I place her behind him without thinking and blast him with force magic. He steps down the steps to avoid the shockwave, which cuts a chunk off the corner and parts of the right-side railing.


    "Keep hitting him with those," Ulrika says. "Cover us while I guide you around this corner." She pulls on my shirt to walk me backward as I''m firing concussive waves to suppress him from trying to hit us again with another explosive attack.


    "It''s working!" I say.


    "Okay, try making it seem random."


    "Why?"


    "It''ll make him think about how he''ll attack. Mix it with fire."


    I throw balls of fire to keep him on his toes. Theo tries to take several peaks. He blindly sticks his hand out to hit us with random explosions. His efforts make our escape to safety possible. We cower in what looks like a book closet. The air is musty with the smell of old leather. Its stench is almost unbearable. I open my hand to get ready to sterilize the air with a plume of heat.


    "Kaio, don''t!" Ulrika whispers. She clasps her hands over my hand. "He could sense your mana." We wait without saying a word. Someone passes the hallway intersection. I can hear stomping echoing through the hallways.


    "Where did they go?" Ehan says.


    "I don''t know!" Theo says. His voice sounds far away. All of a sudden, I feel the wind seep through the cracks of the door.


    "They''re not over here!" Air comes through the door again, but I hear someone walking by our door. "Damn," he says right behind the door. "I''m searching the back! Stay around here! They can''t be far!" The air comes through around the door again. I wait for a few seconds and cast TM on Ulrika and me.


    "That was Ethan''s voice," I say. "He can teleport anywhere he''s looking."


    "And who was the one trying to blow us up?"


    "Theo."


    "Fuck," she says, emphasizing the first letter of the word. "Who do you think will be a challenge to kill?"


    Both Paragons will be an issue. Ethan can move at instantaneous speeds, so fighting him will be like trying to cut a fly in half while it is moving in the air. Theo seems to strike at a distance, but who knows what will happen if he''s within arm''s reach.


    "Ethan," I say after shrugging my shoulders.


    "I believe you are right. How do you stop a man who can move that fast?"


    "Freeze his legs."


    "Or blind his eyes." The mere idea of blinding a man doesn''t sit well with me. I''m not a cruel man, but fighting in an unconventional style might ensure us a less strenuous victory.


    "How will we do that?"


    A massive explosion rocks the room we are in. Some of the books on the shelves fall to the ground. We hold each other until the tremor stops.


    "That was from the front left side of the building," she says. "Shall we check?"


    "How''s your head first?"


    "Throbbing," she says, snickering painfully.


    "I think you should stay here."


    "That would be very unwise, my love," she whispers. "Darling, we do this together." It is fruitless to argue with a wonderful woman like her. I warn her if the pain is too unbearable, she must disengage. She responds, saying, "I''m not going to leave my man to die in battle." The pride she possesses is admirable. I stroke the clean side of her face before giving her a long and slow kiss.


    "Let''s go."


    TM disperses from our bodies the second I stop touching her. She cracks the door open for me to look outside. It''s clear. The fighting in the main entrance sounds like more people are going at it. The second I step out, a sword fight breaks out at the other end of the hallway. A Paladin and a cultist fighting in front of me move past my line of sight. I calmly walk to them with Ulrika close behind. More of the cultists show up to attack the Paladin. I attack them before they can overwhelm him. The cultist I swing at manipulates the air to evade me.


    "What?!" I say.


    We violently clash. He sticks his hand out to me when I miss him with a jab. The air rapidly builds in the palm of his hand. I quickly twirl to the ground to avoid the air while swinging my sword across his stomach. The tip of the sword cuts through his stomach as the air whisps past my face. It doesn''t kill him right away. He stumbles and falls on his knees. I waste no time jabbing my sword through the heart from the back.


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    Ulrika fights against her target. She is between me and the cultist. Their fight rages on longer than what I am used to seeing from her. It is almost like the cultist is getting the upper hand. She continues swinging and blocking, but she''s losing ground. I jump in to assist. We take out the cultist after I use force magic to knock him to the ground. She delivers the final blow, driving her sword into his chest as she kneels to the ground.


    "Thank you for the help," the Paladin says.


    "Damn," she says, breathing hard.


    "What''s wrong?"


    "I''m in so much pain," she says, painfully laughing. "I''m afraid to admit, but I need some healing. That fight was painful."


    "I know where the elixirs are. It''s just down this hallway." He walks around the corner. While I''m helping Ulrika stand up, a massive explosion comes from where he is. Bits and pieces of the Paladin hit the wall.


    "Shit!" Theo walks around the corner. He stares at the bloody mess of the body parts on the ground. Then he looks our way, only moving his eyes.


    "There you two are," he says. "Nowhere to run now!" He points his palm at us. An unstable amount of mana forms around Ulrika and my stomach. I drop my sword, wrap my arms around her waist, and try to jump back before it explodes. It detonates, but in a blink of flashing lightning, we are down the other end of the hallway.


    "What the?!" I say. "What just happened?"


    "Did I hurt you?" Ulrika says, grunting in pain.


    "No," I say, then she suddenly throws us on the ground to the right. I break most of her fall using my body. "Ouch! Ulrika, what are you doing?"


    "Getting out of sight," she says as she rolls off me. "Kaio," she says, huffing. "I have an idea. It''s going to suck though."


    "You can''t keep running away from me!" Theo says.


    "Suck? How?" I say.


    As Ulrika is telling me how I might be able to kill Theo, I can hear him sprinting over to us. I stand up moments before he reaches us and punch him in the face. We have a fist fight. I do my damnedest to keep him from trying to open his hands by remaining close. He quickly counters my onslaught of heavy punches by using my momentum against me. I suffer hard and violent blows to the face and stomach. One unfortunate punch makes me see stars. I shield my face to wait out the daze.


    "This is the best Haleema has?" Theo says and goes for a knee to the gut.


    I see it coming and halt it with my hands crossed around it. Theo''s right fist curls into a hook and hits me square in the cheek. The force spins me around. I use its momentum to knock him down by back kicking the side of his head. His head hits the floor first. While I''m writhing in pain, he''s holding the side of his face, cursing.


    "Kaioson!" Ulrika says. "Get''em when he''s down." I grab my dagger and power through the pain and get on top of him. He fights the blade from reaching him. "I''m coming, my love!" She crawls to us with her dagger in her hand. When she gets her hand on his shirt, Ethan kicks her in the face.


    "Come here!" Ethan says. He yanks me off of Theo. I take a swing at him. He vanishes before my fist hits him, and then he reappears, punching me on the right cheek. Every time I try to hit him, he vanishes and attacks my open spots.


    "Stand still!" I say.


    "Come on, Kaioson," he says, laughing. "You got to be quicker than that!" Out of frustration, stomp the ground with force magic to make him trip or stumble. The force catapults him to the ceiling. He slams to the ground flat on his stomach. "Ugh!" He groans. To make sure he doesn''t teleport on me, I force his face to stay on the ground. Theo rolls on his stomach and eyes me. I glance at Ulrika for immediate assistance. Her head is bleeding again. She''s bracing her face with her hand, covering her wound.


    "Ulrika!" I say.


    Ulrika intercepts Theo before he can throw me off Ethan. They roll around wrestling to gain the upper hand. He tries to fight for control of her dagger. I take my hand off Ethan''s head to blast Theo off of her. Ethan turns his head to the right and opens his right eye. His body disappears out from underneath. The next thing I see is the bottom part of his boot. I don''t move in time to avoid getting kicked in the face.


    "Ugh! Enough of this!" I say.


    I''m so angry that the mana within me abruptly spikes. Fire escapes through my fist and then travels up my arm. I summon my sword. The flames of my anger shoot it to the ceiling. When I point my sword at Ethan, he stands clear from the fire.


    "That''s impressive," Ethan says. "But a little fire show isn''t going to work against me."


    "Is that so?" I say.


    "I''m too quick for your flames to burn me."


    "You are right," I say as I''m looking at his feet. If I''m quick enough, I can tether his boots to the ground. But what if his ability isn''t limited by stepping? Can he crawl-teleport?


    "There''s nothing you can do to win, Kaioson." For a moment, I panic. Ulrika is bloody and in no shape to fight. I need to find her medicine. Theo is slowly getting up. There is no doubt in my mind that he will attack me. I have to do something now.


    "What if I surrender?"


    "You won''t. People like you would rather die than see what you fought so hard against come true."


    "Yeah," I chuckle. "That sounds like me."


    "What about," he says and teleports with his arm around Ulrika''s neck. "Her? Will she surrender?" He tightens his arm. She drops her dagger and tries to break free. "I have a strong feeling she''s not the type either."


    "I''m gonna fucking kill you," Ulrika says.


    "Theo... Blow her up."


    Ethan teleports a distance behind Theo. Theo slowly raises both of his hands as if reality is moving at a leisurely pace. Ulrika doesn''t break for cover. She looks at me with her mouth slightly open. I can see the absolute fear in her face.


    I mentally call upon a protection spell to make my sword do what it thinks is the best solution to save Ulrika. It lunges out of hand so fast that the leather wrap around the handle gives me a friction burn. My sword floats in front of her and expels a stream of fire at Theo. The whole hallway is engulfed. My sword suddenly aims left in a snap of a finger. It torches the hallway where the room of old books is.


    I use all of my strength to hoist Ulrika over my shoulder. I run as fast as I can to the medical room. There are Paladin and cultist dead bodies in my way. Most of them seem to be victims of Theo''s explosive magic.


    "Where do I go?" I say several times.


    "Breathe," Ulrika says. "You passed a few doors. I saw signs on them." I stop and turn back to read one of them.


    "Found it," I say and enter inside. "Wait here."


    There is a table in the middle of the room, I sit her on. The back and both sides of the room hold shelves of different colored liquids. I head to the left wall because I notice a fair amount of red and blue vials. My intuition, from what I remember Rhyndac giving us a time ago in dire situations, I believe blue deals with mana. Red might be for wound healing. Lucky for us, every item is labeled with a detailed description for use.


    "Ulrika, how is the pain?" I say.


    "Terrible," Ulrika says softly.


    "Take these."


    "Did you get the right one?" She says, staring at the bottle in her hand. The blood on her chin drips in her lap.


    "Yes. Please drink it."


    "Okay," she sighs. Within seconds, her wound seals up. Half of the elixir is gone. She hands me it so I can have the rest of it. It warms my body as if I''m drinking strong beer in cold weather.


    "Damn," I say, coughing. "I think we got the good stuff. Why aren''t you bothered by it?"


    "I was a drunkard once. I''m used to it."


    "Forgive me. I didn''t mean to bring that up again."


    "It''s fine," she says, smiling at me behind a bloody face. "That was a long time ago."


    "Let''s get you cleaned up." I''m not taking any chances with the Paragons. I set PG (Perfect Geometry) within the boundaries of the room. No one or thing will come through unless I know them to be friendly.


    "Are we staying for long?"


    "No."


    "Then why did you put your box around us?"


    "To protect you while I clean the blood off your face," I say, looking around the room for a bucket.


    "Kaio." She points underneath the table where a set of three sets of buckets is. Inside each was a rag, a sponge, and a water crystal.


    "Perfect."


    "Is everything all right?" I show her what''s inside the bucket. She takes the sponge and the rag out with one hand. I fill the bucket with warm, soapy water. I wash her face clean, making sure all of the blood is wiped away.


    "This will be tough getting it all out."


    "Don''t bother trying, my love. We don''t have time for that." She stands at the door with her sword in hand. "Call your sword," she says and cracks the door open. I summon it. It comes to my hand, smoking. "Whoa! Do you feel the heat coming off of that?"


    "Not in the slightest." The sword isn''t burnt. Nothing is frayed or singed.


    "So, what was that spell you cast?"


    "I told it to protect you out of panic that you might die."


    "What?" She says and slowly shuts the door. "You told it?" I nod twice. "It''s a rare thing to see you do that without using your hands."


    "Yeah," I say, looking at my left hand. It''s healed. There is nothing left to show for it. "Let''s get out there and put an end to those Paragons. We know what they''re capable of now."


    "Let''s kill those fuckers."


    Ulrika steps out first and immediately looks to her left. When she exhales, she frowns angrily. I step outside to get a glimpse. Down the hallway stand Penny and Garret.