Time fractured. The wall of force hit Evan like a physical blow, throwing him backwards off his feet. He landed hard, the breath knocked from his lungs, the Nine Heavens Jade Pendant case digging into his back. Pain flared, but the Innocent Heart Core flared brighter, a surge of pure energy shielding his core, preventing worse injury. He rolled, gasping, scrambling to his knees.
Zander was already moving. As the concussive wave hit Evan, Zander hadn't been its target. He met the flanking hunter on his side head-on. There was no finesse, no evasion. Zander simply charged. The hunter, expecting perhaps a dodge or a block, was caught off guard by the sheer, brutal aggression. Zander's fist, wreathed in a sudden, terrifying aura of crackling violet-black energy, slammed into the hunter's chest.
The impact sounded like a small thunderclap. The hunter's black armor buckled. He flew backwards, crashing through a thick bush with a sickening crunch of branches and possibly bone. He didn't get up.
The third hunter, the one who had raised the thorny barrier, turned its featureless mask towards Zander. It raised both hands. The discordant hum intensified, vibrating painfully in Evan's teeth. The ground around Zander's feet began to liquefy, turning into grasping, sucking mud that seemed to pull him down with unnatural strength.
Zander roared, a sound of pure, primal fury that shook the trees. He strained against the mire, muscles bulging, the violet-black aura flaring violently around him, repelling the mud's grasp like oil repelling water. He took a heavy, deliberate step forward, then another, breaking free with terrifying force.
Evan, back on his feet, faced the hunter who had attacked him. The creature advanced, its movements eerily smooth, its gauntleted hand raised again, gathering another pulse of concussive force. Fear warred with the Innocent Heart Core's demand for focus. He couldn't dodge forever. He needed to fight back. But how? His power was linked to emotion, to resonance. Fear would make it volatile, dangerous.
He thought of Zander's fury, his unstoppable charge. He thought of the hunters' discord, their violation of the natural harmony. He thought of Yale Leaf's warning, Luna's pain, the desperate need to survive. Not fear. Righteous anger. Focused. Pure. A demand for balance.
He didn't reach for the zither. There was no time. He planted his feet, facing the advancing hunter. He drew breath, centering the righteous fury, the protective instinct, the unwavering will to end this threat. He focused it into his core, shaped it not into uncontrolled force, but into a single, resonant command.
"SILENCE!"
The word tore from his throat, amplified a hundredfold by the focused power of the Innocent Heart Core. It wasn't just sound; it was a wave of pure, resonant energy, visible as a ripple of shimmering crimson-cyan light that exploded outwards from Evan.
It hit the advancing hunter like a physical wall. The creature staggered, its featureless mask tilting back as if struck. The concussive energy gathering in its gauntlet sputtered and died. The discordant hum emanating from it faltered, choked off. For a split second, the hunter seemed frozen, stunned by the sheer, silencing power of the resonant command.
It was the opening Zander needed. Free of the mud, he lunged at the barrier-raising hunter. The creature tried to raise its hands again, but Zander was a blur of contained fury. He grabbed the hunter's outstretched arms, just below the humming gauntlets. There was a sickening CRUNCH of composite armor and bone. Zander twisted violently, lifting the hunter off its feet and slamming it down onto the hard ground with earth-shaking force. The hunter lay still, limbs bent at unnatural angles.
The first hunter Evan had silenced recovered quickly, shaking off the resonant stun. It saw its companions downed. Instead of attacking again, it raised its gauntlet not towards Evan or Zander, but towards its own chest. A high-pitched whine built, then a pulse of blinding white light erupted from the gauntlet, engulfing the hunter completely. When the light faded a second later, the hunter was gone. Vanished. Only a scorched patch of earth marked where it had stood.
Silence descended, broken only by Evan's ragged breathing and Zander's low growl as he scanned the trees. The thorny barrier dissolved into dust. The liquefied patch of ground solidified.
They had survived the ambush. Two hunters were dead, one had escaped via some unknown teleportation. But the cost was high. The fight had been brutal, short, and terrifyingly efficient. The hunters were not just trackers; they were elite killers, wielding powers that defied conventional magic.
Evan stumbled towards Zander, his legs trembling slightly from adrenaline and the effort of the resonant command. "Are you alright?"
Zander nodded, his gaze still scanning the darkness. "Minor bindings. Their power... is twisted. Artificial. Like poisoned strings." He looked at the scorched patch where the third hunter vanished. "He signals our location. More come."
The brief respite was over. The hunters knew they were here, outside the city, heading north. The chase was on in earnest.
"We need to move," Evan said, urgency replacing fatigue. "Faster. Lose them in the wilds before they regroup."
Zander grunted in agreement. He looked towards the north, towards the distant, dark silhouette of mountains barely visible against the starry sky. The Whispering Peaks. Sanctuary was still far away, and the path was fraught with shadows both natural and supernatural.
As they turned to flee deeper into the night, a new sound reached Evan's ears, carried on a sudden, unnatural gust of wind that smelled of ozone and decay. It was a low, mournful howl, echoing from multiple points in the forest around them. Not wolves. Something... else. Something that resonated with the same discordant hum as the hunters, but wilder, hungrier.
The hunters hadn't just signaled their location; they had unleashed the hounds.
Evan Young tightened the straps of the Nine Heavens Jade Pendant case. The song of survival had just gained a new, terrifying verse. He and Zander plunged into the deeper darkness of the forest, the haunting howls closing in behind them, the desperate race to the Whispering Peaks truly begun.