“I did not know you could breathe fire.”
Relkir ducked and weaved past streams of flames, making sure to keep his wings tucked in. Occasionally, he would return fire using his own gun staff, but his weaponry seemed to do nothing to slow the Raptor down. Every projectile that connected instantly healed up, leaving no trace of any wounds.
“I adapt. You die.”
“No, dear, I adapt too.”
The flames seemed less intense now as a layer of wet gel covered Relkir’s skin, protecting him from the harsher flames. But the flames suddenly seemed like far less of a problem as a massive axe very nearly carved through one of Relkir’s wings. He retaliated with a stab and a spray of bullets from his gun staff, and some of them did actually connect. However, that just seemed to anger the Raptor more.
“You should already be dead.”
“But I am not.”
Relkir fired a couple more shots, but they were blocked by the Raptor’s heavy axe. Which the Raptor then swung at Relkir in the hope of taking his head off.
“So why do you wish to kill me?”
Really, Relkir should have kept quiet. After all, he was busy doing two things at once. Not only was he fighting the Axe of the Dessaron, but he was also keeping a telepathic eye on his allies. They were all fighting members of the Dessaron, but they all also seemed to be doing quite well. The reason why was obvious, at least to Relkir. Minds under the influence of others don’t always perform as well as the free-minded.
“The Master wishes you dead. I do as he commands.”
“Really, Phovos? I never thought of you to be so submissive to another.”
The Raptor growled, swinging her axe wildly. Relkir managed to nimbly duck out of the way, before returning fire with the gun side of his gun staff. To his surprise, some of the bullets hit Phovos directly in the chest. However, the Raptor still wasn’t slowing down.
“Then again, we were both submissive to the Allmaker Kinisis. However I thought you wished to be free. To be the adventurer, the hero you always dreamed yourself to be.”
Phovos hissed, seeming to ignore Relkir’s words, instead concentrating on trying to keep Relkir close. As Relkir dipped under one axe swing though, Phovos suddenly saw an opening, kicking Relkir’s leg out from under him.
“Ow, good shot…” Relkir grumbled, rolling to one side, just missing another heavy axe swing, one that could have easily cleaved him in half. With a quick telekinetic blast, Relkir pushed Phovos backwards before she could raise her axe, causing the Raptor to stumble.
“Just die already!” Phovos abruptly roared. “You should already be dead!”
“You are not fighting at 100% capacity. You do not really want to kill me.”
“I DO AS MY MASTER COMMANDS!”
Relkir’s words angered the Raptor greatly, causing her to flail her weapon around. Relkir rolled back onto his feet, weaving past these almost desperate attacks.
“He has blinded you with anger and hate. This is not the real you.”
“SHUT UP AND DIE!”
“The real you would have defeated me without issue. But I can tell, you are hesitating.”
“STOP IT!”
Phovos continued to flail, her attacks no longer connecting with anything. Relkir calmly continued to dodge, until he saw it. An opening.
With a powerful burst of telekinetic energy, Relkir forced his gun staff through Phovos’s chest, cracking through her armour plating, pushing her back and pinning her to the ground. Relkir continued to thrust his blade downwards, until it remained impaled on the ground.
The Raptor’s eyes widened, pain overwhelming her senses.
“… How?”
Relkir stepped around Phovos, gently touching her head with his hand.
“He has you under his control. You never wanted to kill me.”
“I… I…” Phovos stuttered, realizing what was going on. She knew she wouldn’t die from this injury, but she was scared nonetheless. “I.. I don’t want to… kill you.”
“I know, Phovos…” Relkir sighed. “Let me put you to sleep, so I can gather the others and help you fight this mind control.”
Phovos took several shallow breaths, before letting Relkir’s telepathy inside her head. After a few moments, the Raptor’s eyes closed, a healing slumber taking over her senses.