Kael was in no hurry looting the bodies around him.
It was evident that something close to an economic crisis was spreading through Velthoria. The Luminaires were carrying almost nothing. But whenever he found a mindstone he didn't hesitate, crushing it on the spot.
'Back to 300 thousand Thoughts again.'
Still 50 thousand short of his absolute peak, but with Point Blank and Point Aegis demanding so little to activate, he considered it enough for now.
He looted the last of the bodies and stepped back onto the main road. The stairs he had descended were painted red, blood from the pile above finally trickling down in something that looked almost like a slow, sluggish waterfall.
He turned his gaze toward the black market stretching deep into the ground. Things had finally settled, the sellers and shop owners coming out on top.
"Now... how should I do this."
He had made a rough estimate. No more than a handful of rank two Luminaires remaining, the rest sitting at a mere rank one. With his motes he was confident he could take them all down, but only with certainty if they came at him one at a time. Assuming they would be that cooperative, however, was its own kind of foolishness. They were in a terrible state, but so was Kael, and some of them might still have ranged motes. He had nothing to match that.
A snicker escaped his lips as he thought of the golden rod. It really had been too useful.
He flicked his knife into the air and grabbed it firmly. What choice did he really have? He couldn't let anyone escape from here, so the only realistic solution was for him to walk along the road and get rid of everything that he stumbled into.
But first…
His eyes scanned the ground beneath him.
Broken stone and wood lay scattered like a carpet across the floor. After a few steps he found what he was looking for, pieces of scrap metal shed from a nearby refinement ingredients stall.
He weighed them in his hand, gave each a few tosses into the air, before settling on one. It was something close to a rusty spike, resting in his palm beside the knife. A single glance told him nothing of what motes it might serve, but the wear and pitting along its surface spoke of a long history, which probably justified its value.
He turned to the stairs and climbed until his head was level with the ceiling. With each step, blood clung to his boots, stretching thin before breaking away, slinking back down into the dark pool soaking the stairs below.
Strange lights hung from the ceiling throughout the entire black market, stretching as far as the eye could see.
Kael shifted his head from side to side, studying the endless stretch. A rough estimate, but it was better than nothing.
His entire body leaned back as his arm drew with it. His jaw tightened a fraction, then it all happened at once. Taking full advantage of the Gold Horned mote, he hurled the spike forward.
The moment it left his fingers, an explosion followed as Point Blank activated.
For the Luminaires that had taken notice, the spike was nothing more than a streak of brown.
Bam. Bam. Bam.
Wherever it went, lights shattered in tandem, leaving suffocating darkness in their wake. It lasted only a heartbeat before the spike finally lost its momentum and fell, hitting the floor with what one could only assume was a clink, drowned out by the shattering glass.
Kael studied the darkness ahead.
'Around two thirds in a single throw.' He concluded.
He had wanted to get all the lights in one throw but knew it was unrealistic. The spike was too light, making wind resistance a major factor, and he hadn't been able to make it fly straight like a dart either, further robbing it of distance. Still, if he gained another passive mote with at least the strength of the Gold Horned mote, he suspected he could manage it.
It had achieved his goal regardless. Whoever lacked a sensory mote capable of working in the dark was essentially crippled right now. Not Kael though. Weeping Eye had already proven more impressive than he ever imagined. Light or darkness, it didn't matter to him anymore.
Kael ran his fingers through his hair as he studied the Luminaires ahead. Even though he hadn't attempted to stay hidden, they had been so exhausted from the last fight that none had noticed him until he shattered the ceiling lights. Now, however, they were fully aware something was wrong.
Kael tightened his grip around the knife and leaned low.
Then he entered a sprint. The darkness was impenetrable, yet he moved through it with grace, the blade trailing close behind him, whistling as it cut through the air. Gurgling and muffled screams erupted down the hall one after another. More than a dozen Luminaires had already fallen by the time someone with a sensory mote finally appeared.
Kael's head whipped back as a counter came at him.
A fist hissed past his cheek, its coat scraping against his skin.
'A strength pathway.'
Kael let his momentum carry him down, shooting his hand out to catch himself. The fabric of his coat groaned under the pressure as he twisted his body and whipped a kick into the Luminaire's lower ribs.
The man raised his arms to block, but Kael's speed and sheer superiority as a rank three proved its worth in the same instant. His foot slipped beneath the Luminaire's guard and drove straight into his ribs. Three dull cracks echoed, followed by a spray of blood from his mouth. The Luminaire crashed into a stall, sending splinters of wood and iron exploding outward.
Not even a moment had passed before Kael stood over him, knife raised high for a lethal thrust. But in the same way Kael wanted him dead, so did the Luminaire. Faster than Kael had anticipated, the Luminaire rolled his tongue and spat. A faint luminescent needle, around the size of a thin toothpick, formed at the tip of his tongue.
Kael drove his knife forward the same moment the needle shot out. The two swished past each other at immense speed, indifferent to one another. Kael's knife reached its target first.
It dug effortlessly into the Luminaire's neck, stopping only at the hilt.
The needle danced through the air without pattern, taking sharp and meaningless turns at every opportunity.
Unable to track it fully, Kael raised his hand over his chest and activated Point Aegis, tilting his head with all his might.
The needle was a hair's width from Point Aegis when it took another sharp turn toward his neck. It tore through skin and muscle alike, punching straight through the side of his neck before continuing on and embedding deep into the stone above.
Kael clenched his teeth and raised his hand once more. It came down hard against the pommel, harder than needed.
With the force applied, the skin could no longer stop the hilt from going deeper. The knife drove straight through the Luminaire's neck. Bone shattered as it pushed through, burying itself between two cobblestone tiles and into the ground below. It only stopped when the hilt clanged against the stone.
Certain the Luminaire was dead, Kael clamped a hand over his neck.
He rested it there for a moment, feeling the warmth of his own blood seep between his fingers. He massaged the wound gently, and a slow sigh escaped his lips.
It couldn't have missed the artery by much.
He grabbed the Luminaire by the collar and tossed him aside to retrieve the knife, pulling it free and sheathing it in one motion. Then he walked to the nearest wall and leaned against it.
"The blood loss is getting to me."
He massaged his temples.
Things were looking grim. He knew that.
Not only had he lost his entire arm in the fight with Lucian, but his soul was still damaged from the loss of his soul-bound mote. He had no way of telling, but Weeping Eye was probably clouding his judgement at this very moment too. His previous wounds combined with the new hole in his neck made the blood loss no longer something he could afford to ignore. He was down to three motes in his inner realm, Obsidian Shard, Point Blank, and Point Aegis.
Kael was already pushing past the limits of what could be considered reasonable. Given the chance, he would rest for weeks. But that was not an option.
And this was only some of it.
A Luminaire stumbled toward the sound, waving a knife shakily through the air as she wandered in front of where Kael was resting.
"Is there someone there." she murmured. "Does anyone know what happened to the lights?"
Kael watched in silence as she walked past, completely oblivious to his presence. He pushed himself off the wall and followed.
"Who's there?"
Before she could turn fully, Kael drove his arm straight through her back, killing her instantly. He swept his arm through the air in a sharp arc, shedding the blood and scraps of flesh clinging to it.
He snorted and turned toward the light.
'It'll only get more dangerous the longer I drag this out.'
The remaining darkness was empty of Luminaires, each one having drifted toward the nearby light instead. They stood grouped together now, pale-faced, murmuring amongst themselves.
Kael picked up a rock at random and measured the distance.
'A lot shorter.'
It was without a doubt doable.
A sharp crack reverberated through the tunnel as Point Blank activated once more, sending the rock screaming forward and straight through the remaining light sources.
The Luminaires reacted instantly, but instead of running toward Kael they fled deeper into the market, the way a frightened animal would.
'Perhaps Vael wouldn't be so angry if these ones died anyway.' Kael mused.
Each step echoed as his boot struck stone.
This time he didn't sprint. He had already evaluated the remaining Luminaires to a satisfying degree, and he knew there was nowhere to run once they reached the end. Besides, he had no respect for them. Individually they were like dust compared to Syleena, or someone like Lucian.
When the Luminaires finally heard him approach, each one tensed and turned toward the sound.
"We don't know who you are, but leave now and we won't attack."
On paper it sounded reasonable, but the delivery came from a voice too shaky and too innocent to carry any weight.
Kael halted.
There were many. Close to twenty left.
Should he just leave them? They hadn't seen his face, and he had free access to nearly the entire black market, all except the few stalls resting furthest inside.
He weighed the options.
One would think the most expensive positions in the black market would be near the entrance, where everyone passed on their way into the bar. But reality was a little different. Prices were kept well hidden, yet it was common knowledge that the stalls furthest inside had been there the longest and were the most expensive, run by trusted vendors, and in some cases carrying the rarest items. If there was any chance of finding a mote or ingredient he needed back there, however slim, he intended to have it.
So in reality there had never been two choices really. Not in his eyes at least.
He would kill the Luminaires.