Indomitable

t h i r t y - t w o

Because he was curious to see if his master would deflect the blades just as she'd deflected that rock, Killure didn't try to stop the knives. If necessary, he could always intervene at the last second.

He let them fly towards her unhindered, watching with eager, gleeful eyes to see what would happen.

And just as he'd predicted, his unconscious master's wrist flicked up instinctually and a blue shield appeared in the air just long enough to absorb the impact of the blades before disappearing again. The blades clattered harmlessly to the ground.

Faye stumbled back in surprise. "Witch!" she screamed, pointing a finger at her sister. "She did it again!"

Killure noticed the brothers looking at his master in awe.

"Again?" her father asked with a grin that looked like it was about to split his face in half.

"Calm down," her uncle finally snickered. "She's not a witch. If she was, both your father and I would be too."

With the flick of his hand, he produced a swirling, black flame. It was connected to the tips of his fingers by what looked like tiny black threads, and hovered over his palm.

"What is that?" Faye whispered, taking a step back.

"It's called projection. Only myself, your father, your brother, and your grandpa were born with it, as far as I'm aware. Only a few others in our family tree have ever had this ability, which makes it quite rare indeed." 

Killure's blood boiled at the mention of their grandfather, and he had to bite his tongue hard enough to make it bleed in order to stop himself from spewing out a harsh string of words that would most certainly get him killed.

He continued. "It's extremely rare. Only the strongest of Designers have the ability."

"And now my precious daughter!" the other whooped, patting his unconscious daughter on the cheek as though she were a cute baby animal.

"Levi, calm down," his brother growled impatiently. "We don't yet know the extent of her ability."

"But we will soon enough!" Levi cheered, practically bouncing in place.

Faye released an unattractive growl. "Why aren't either of you angry? She had my fiancé killed!"

Her uncle shrugged. "It's a shame we won't be merging with House Gallanthus, but on the other hand, eliminating the competition is never a bad thing. In fact, I'm quite pleased with this turn of events." He turned to Killure. "You're quite the assassin, aren't you?"

Fahrem's wrist barely moved, but the needle came flying through the air towards Killure like a minuscule rocket all the same. Killure brought his hand up lightning fast, and managed to catch it between his fingers a centimetre from his forehead. The needle had been thrown at a speed easily twenty times faster than Faye's knife throwing, and it was searing hot to the touch. He'd probably have welts on the insides of his pointer and middle finger tomorrow.

Killure eyed Fahrem in a new light. This man was extraordinarily powerful even without his energy. Even with the needle, he'd hardly made an effort.

"Interesting," Fahrem smiled, appearing pleased.

"Besides," Levi grinned at Faye, completely oblivious to everything that just went on, looking devilish with his small, curved horns. "Do you really think your sister could harbour enough ill will in her heart to do that? My bet is on the Icix."