The bright light was followed by a condensed beam of light that instantly sliced half of the tower. He ran across the roof and dodged the incoming light. His body was covered by a frame of obsidian flesh. The enemy that used the flash has not stopped from firing. It continuously fired until he could do nothing but hide.

“How cowardly,” the enemy said. “Hiding on a house filled with civilians?”

“Could say the same to someone who fires a rapid fire of energy beams at me. Guess you bastards don’t really want your labor camps destroyed huh, must be nice being psychopathic bastards, that force children into working long hours.”

“The bastard that saves them while not doing anything afterward is speaking this? Can’t you see the hypocrisy and stupidity of your words?”

“You should try letting people have their own choices. Try not being a controlling bastard for a second.”

“You don’t understand.”

“Call me retarded, daft, idiot, stupid, or whatever do you fucking like. A city and an Empire that relies on their kids to survive needs to stop breathing. It’s just wrong for you all to coerce kids into your automaton slaves. Of all the shit you could do instead, build an orphanage, coerce the rich into funding it, but hey let’s put the kids to work because it is much easy and much less expensive!”

“If only things are that easy, besides, you Porters have been stealing from nobles lately. So how things are now could be considered as part of your group’s fault.”

He was still in cover. He knit his brows together.

“Porters? I have no idea what you are talking about.”

“Oh please!” she pointed her staff, six concentrated beams of laser burst towards Nolan. “Red eyes, ashen hair, pale skin, and finally, obsidian flesh. If you are not a Porter then what are you?”

The output of her beams became ferocious. Instead of hitting straight, the beams followed Nolan throughout the rooftops. He vaulted, run vertically, and dive inside windows, avoiding the beams that were laser precise. The beams are fast, they homed, and they can change size if possible, he thought.

He leaps out of the window and back into the roofs again. She was hovering above the roofs, her robe fluttering, not letting the rain wet her. Her eyes were cold as ice. She looked at her enemy with fish-like eyes.

“You seems to have mistaken me!” Nolan said. “Trying to frame me? Oh, I see, must be easy to blame it on a group instead of facing the fact that you are abusing children and refuse to give mercy!”

“Enough with the lie, that obsidian flesh is all I need to confirm it. How’s the mistress of obsidian? She’s still angst about being beaten by our war maiden? Didn’t think that she’d go on such boring roundabout way this time. I preferred destroying you all in a fight!”

“Shit!” Nolan tried to dodge but the rain has made the roofs slippery. He slid down, and almost fell from the house. He could see the beam coming so he ejected from the wall, and grabbed on to another ledge, he pulled himself up, rolled away from the blast, but a stray tile hit the frame of his obsidian flesh.

She’s overwhelming, her attacks are nefarious, and they changes are scary, he thought. He wasn’t lacking breathe and yet he was sure that the chase would soon take hold of him. So he pulled out his gun and pointed it at the enemy, he pulled the trigger, the bullet launched from the barrel of his pistol, but the bullet was simply deflected.

“The invention of firearms have been outstanding, they are fast and cannot be easily perceived, not to mention that anyone could use it. It doesn't work on me though.”

“She’s not taking me seriously,” he thought. “Looks like I was really lucky that I only met thugs, but these guys are beyond my level!”

“Why so silent?” she said, pointing the tip of her staff.

BOOM! The flash was fast enough for him not to notice. He felt blood pouring out of his chest, his obsidian flesh, however, started sewing his wounds.

“What more proof do I need?” she said. “You even have that detestable regeneration that only a few of the Porters have. Really, why do you lie when I can see through you? Why not talk to me? I am not unreasonable and if possible I don’t want to obliterate you.”

“I am not a Porter. If you don’t believe that then so be it!” he said. He started to sprint away from the purple-robed mage. He leaped down a chimney and felt his bum burning for a second. He saw three people eating food, on his left was a kid, and on his right were the parents. The first reaction of the parents was to leap to their kid, shielding their kids from the ‘monster’ that appeared on the chimney.

Nolan removed his coat and turned his eyes towards the window when he met the gaze of the kid. The kid’s eyes reflected Nolan, the hideous skull mask, the blood on his torso, and finally the look that he was making on his face. He stared for a brief second before vaulting out of the window, dodging the homing that was coming after him.

He fell from that floor, rolled to break his fall, and started sprinting, his feet creating splashes. The enemy was floating, she had a bird’s eye view, she was merely waiting for him to tire out, he thought. It has been a while since Nolan found himself in a situation where he was forced to fight an enemy that was out of his caliber. But that didn’t mean that he had to give in, raise his hands in surrender and ask for forgiveness.

Nolan clenched his fists, sharpen his senses and think of what he should do to survive this encounter. He had been careful ever since that elemental bolt hit him and created a phantasmal oil that could disable magic for a short time. If he could just stop the enemy’s power, and throw the phantasmal oil at her. Nolan thinks that he could come out of this place alive. However, how does he defeat a person that has mastered flight and can deflect bullets with ease?

He had to think.