At the moment, she was too busy running away to explain more.
This was bad. The nuns hadn’t used the device—Nel had called it cracking the sky, if Eva remembered accurately—while Eva had been indoors. They didn’t have shelter out here. Nothing but fields, hills, and occasional trees. Nothing that would stop a magical weapon of that magnitude.
Eva’s cellphone started going crazy. A constant stream of beeps indicating messages gave way to an incoming call ring.
She slapped the phone to her ear without stopping running. “Zoe? Little busy here.”
“I-it’s Nel! There’s an armored man following you. I think he is reading out your location over a phone.”
“Right. Thanks.” Nothing unexpected there. She had assumed that whoever was observing her was in contact with others. It was good to know that it was the armored man again. She wasn’t entirely sure how that helped at this exact moment, but so long as they got out of there, it could come in handy.
“There was another observer,” Eva said into the phone. “One that hasn’t been following us. If you look between us and the prison, there should be a large patch of scorched earth. Keep following it back towards the prison and you might see that observer, if they haven’t moved that is.”
In the mean time, Eva had to get her group out of here.
Preferably without revealing too many abilities, but with that sky cracking thing, Eva wasn’t about to discount anything.
“Vektul,” she said as they ran, holding the phone a short way away from her ear. Still close enough to hear if Nel had anything important to say. “Your portals. Can other people pass through them?”
She hadn’t wanted to ask while her pursuers could hear. With that Elysium Order beam, she didn’t have much of a choice.
“I suppose so,” he said, voice vibrating slightly with each of Arachne’s footsteps. “As long as I kept it open for others.”
Eva turned directions without responding. The others would follow her lead. Probably. If they kept running in a straight line, the hunters would be able to target them by just casting the sky cracking spell some distance ahead of them.
“Excellent. Open–”
“Eva,” Nel’s voice half-shouted over the phone.
Eva moved it closer to her ear before responding. “I’m here. What is it?”
“There’s some woman in a wheelchair. She’s sitting in front of… it’s like some sort of mockery of the Elysium Order’s idol. Twisted and
“That’s nice Nel,” Eva said. “Tell me, does this woman have an eye patch? How about a few holes in her back?”
“Eye patch, yes. But she’s wearing clothes. Would the holes be in her clothes as well? I don’t see any.”
“Thanks Nel.” Eva disconnected the call. If something really important came up, she was sure that someone would call back soon.
New mission: Survive. That was always a priority, really. However, Eva really did not want to allow her enemies to possess a sky cracking idol.
“Vektul, can you portal us back to the field?”
“That might be too far away.”
“As close as you can then.”
Just as had happened back at the prison, a dark portal opened in the air in front of them. It started small before widening to a proper size.
Eva didn’t break her stride. She charged right into the portal and out the other side. Whether through clever portal placement by Vektul or simple luck, the ground was at the perfect height and incline to keep her from stumbling.
Less lucky was the addition of a new humanoid in range of her blood sense. Her demonic companions emerged from the portal behind her one by one. None of them concerned her.
Ahead and to the side, Eva found herself close enough to see one of their pursuers.
Not the woman.
A man clad in shiny metal armor stood at the crest of a hill only a quick blink away. The same man who had defeated Zagan at the start of summer.
Notably, his armor was not the same. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that large portions were missing. His arms and boots were clad in metal. One of his legs as well. His other leg and chest just had some kind of padded undergarment.
There was no surprise or shock in his posture. His heart rate remained steady as he drew his sword. A long, curved sword.
The same one that had torn up Zagan.
The vials of demon blood beneath Eva’s cloak exploded, releasing the liquid into the air. Two orbs formed into rings, flying off towards the hunter. Another two orbs formed up into a shield around Eva.
Her shield solidified just in time. The knight dashed forwards in the blink of an eye. His sword came down on the shield.
The blade bit into the membrane, piercing a portion of it, but stopping before it could cleave through Eva.
Both rings she had sent out passed the knight during his charge. She recalled them, but by the time they reached the knight’s back, he had already dashed away.
“Arachne!” Eva shouted, seeing his target a moment before he reached the demon.
She jumped backwards just a hair too late. One of her back legs fell to the ground even as her body flew backwards.
