General Gahiji walked slowly towards his opponents. His emerald armor with gold details made him look imposing. He was like a lion facing two cornered prey.

  It was inevitable for Fadala and Ekundayo to take two steps back. Fadala turned to the Sage of Justice and challenged:

  “Didn't you say that one blow from the Sword of Life and Death would put this thing on standby?”

  “Don't blame me, undertaker! The generals of the Phalanx are cyborgs. I think that condition allowed him to cut off the effect of my Ofó, or maybe…”

  “Or maybe what?”

  “Remember the Axé-Core? These things must not just be energy generators. They must also affect the vibration of the internal portals.”

  “I see, that means your Ofó is useless.”

  “Don't be rude!”

  Gahiji went for a run. Electromagnetic thrusters were activated in his back and calves. His speed increased dramatically. The displacement of air alone was enough to hurl his opponents away. It was the same sensation as being hit by a bullet train.

  Ekundayo was thrown into the second floor of a building, and Fadala hit a wall. Their senses went numb for a few moments. When they returned to normal, Gahiji was standing in front of them. His right arm was outstretched. The general was preparing a punch and carrying enough Axé energy to destroy a house.

  Fadala smiled. His fist came down on the ground. With every centimeter it pierced, the surrounding area cracked and threw boulders upwards in slow motion. A huge curtain of dust rose into the sky, covering the soldier's body.

  “You're pretty fast for an assassin.”

  Fadala had escaped and hidden behind a halved pillar. He drew both pistols. For the first time, he felt like he was in the crosshairs of the gun, and not the shooter.

  “If you won't come out, I'll force you out.”

  Gahiji walked over, grabbed an iron beam with both hands, and spun it swiftly above his head. Finally, when he had gained enough speed, he threw it where the mortician was hiding. The beam shattered the wide concrete pillar like a knife cutting through a fresh slice of bread.

  Fadala escaped a second time and went back to hiding in the shadows of the unfinished building. He thought that there was no way to hide from the invader. The cyborg clad in an exoskeleton full of cybertechs had several ways of locating him.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  You can't hide, you can't run away, and you can't fight back… just like Mr. Mashal said. I feel useless having to entertain the visitor until the host shows up.

  Fadala came out of his hiding place. He pointed his pistols at Gahiji's chest. The general opened both arms in defiance:

  “Shoot!”

  Before the triggers could be pulled, the Ilu Nla soldier was hit by several metal thorns with Axé propagated in a spiral shape at the tips. This caused the large projectiles to rotate in the air, increasing their speed.

  Despite the explosion caused by the impact, Gahiji managed to hold on to two of them with his bare hands, and deflected the rest.

  “Fadala, get out of there!”

  The hitman raised his face. From the top of the building, Ekundayo was expertly using the mediumistic arts. He concentrated huge quantities of Axé. He shaped them like metal projectiles. He attracted the Axé of nature and impregnated it around the thorns, which gave him the same piercing power as an electric drill. After this operation, he punched and kicked the base of the nails to throw them at the enemy.

  Gahiji decided not to dodge or defend this time. He jumped towards the projectiles and advanced against his opponent. He used his leap between the metal spikes to reduce the distance between them.

  The CAPR Mediumistic Profile is complex to use. That's why he specializes in modelling Axé. His repulsion is very weak, but thanks to the Spiritual Key of Justice, he has compensated for this weakness.

  “How do you…”

  “My system has already detected the weaknesses in your fighting style, medium. You use the Sword of Life and Death for critical attacks. Without it, you're a zoner, your combat is long to medium range. In melee, you won't stand a chance against someone like me.”

  Gahiji grabbed Ekundayo by the neck with ease. The military man's big hand was like a hydraulic claw squeezing his neck. His face turned red and veins popped under his skin. The air seemed to have disappeared around him. The sage tried to use his hands to free himself from the enemy's grip, but was unsuccessful.

  However, he noticed that the ring finger of Gahiji's right hand was missing. This meant that one of his blows had wounded him. He wasn't as invulnerable as he thought. The medium let out a choked smile.

  “Urgh…”

  The sage tried to articulate a few words, but the constriction around his neck didn't allow him to.

  “I didn't hear you, say it!”

  Convinced of his submission, General Gahiji pulled his opponent close to his ear. The enemy whispered:

  “Hall of Expiation.”

  In a millisecond, the soldier's perception had changed. A building of slate walls appeared around him. There were columns and walls full of reliefs. Gahiji lowered his arm, bewildered. He looked at the ceiling, the ground and the surrounding walls; there was no visible exit. The little light came from the torches hanging on the walls.

  On the back wall, there was a stone altar. Not one made of polished stone, but of rough stones that fitted together like the menhirs in the Egyptian pyramids. Behind the altar, leaning against the wall, there was a huge aura of a half-human, half-ape creature with scales in its hands. On one side of the scales was a hawk's feather.

  “You will be tried today for all the crimes you have committed, General Gahiji. This room will drain all your Axé. Feather of Truth.”

  The anthropomorphic creature placed the scales on the altar and disappeared. The scales swung with one of their supports to the side where the feather was resting. Gahiji felt as if power cables had been connected to his armor and were sucking all the Axé out of his body.

  But what was that?

  “Surprised, aren't you? Don't worry, it won't last long. And don't even try to fight back. The more you resist, the more the Hall of Expiation will suck your Axé.”

  “You must be desperate to use your trump card right now. You and the gunman are just buying time, or rather wasting my time. You should know that the Axé-Core can be recharged to infinity after it's been depleted. Alteration of Quantity: Quantum Entanglement of Matter.”

  Gahiji's body began to defragment in mid-air and disappeared completely.

  Ekundayo ran towards him, but there was no way to stop him from running away. The sage came to the conclusion that the soldier had not simply teleported away. Discouraged, he undid Axé's massive prison. In front of him, a faint Fadala had been captured by Gahiji.

  With his bare hand, he held the hitman upside down. His arms hung like pendulums. In addition to the grave situation, the sage noticed that, in a mysterious way, the ring finger of his right hand had returned.