The large humanoid beast sailed over the heads of the three girls until it crashed down on the ground. Quickly it got to its feet just in time before Jade could stomp on its head. Veronica blinked twice before it struck her that the female Hunter had literally removed the space between herself and the werepanther to teleport to its location so quickly. She took a moment to fully comprehend the meaning of Jade's earlier words.
Meanwhile Jade and the werepanther had begun exchanging attacks with the latter yet to land a single hit on Jade. Whenever it looked like it was about to hit her, she would create space to distance herself from it. Then before the beast would be able to recover she would be right beside it again with an attack of her own. There was something to be said for her strength with how easy it was for her to knock around a beast that looked twice her weight.
And yet even with all these, the girls and the skinwalker could not help but share a single thought.
'She's holding back...'
A heel kick to back of the werepanther's leg had it kneeling on the ground. With amazing agility for a creature its size, it twisted its body to avoid another kick or at least tried to. In a move that both shocked and confused the spectators, Jade's leg which had already sailed over the werepanther's body was suddenly approaching its side at an entirely different angle. The kick connected with a harsh crack that had the beast rolling across the ground.
Whitney was the first to realize what had happened but that did nothing to diminish the astonishment of seeing someone manipulate space to redirect an attack like that.
'With a skill like that, she would be able to land all her attacks. Wait a minute...'
Her amber eyes now devoid of their unnatural glow immediately narrowed in realization of what that thought entailed. Her respect and dislike of the Hunters grew simultaneously. And as much as she would deny it, so did her fear of them.
The werepanther got to its feet and considered its next actions. There was no way it was winning this fight and it was very much aware of that. Encountering a Hunter tended to cause such thoughts. Escape was also out. With that infuriating Space-Time Manipulation magic the Hunter had, running away was impossible. That meant it would have to fight its way out. Another equally impossible option but one he was more willing to attempt.
Jade saw the resolved look on the werepanther's face and gave it a toothy grin. She preferred prey that went down kicking and from the looks of it, this skinwalker was not going to roll over for her. It raised up its hands and channeled raw magic power directly absorbed from the environment through its body. It regretted not having this battle in a forest. There was more natural energy there but this would have to do. A dark mass began gathering on its fingertips as it gave form to the pure energy and aimed it at Jade.
"Did you not understand what I said?"
Her question was demeaning but what caught the werepanther's attention was the fact that the ball of energy it had sent at Jade had been stopped in its tracks and was now hovering before the girl harmlessly. She looked at it and the energy suddenly became unstable within the ball. Strands of energy began to break of the outer surface only to get pulled into its core immediately. The phenomenon seemed eerily similar to one that did not occur naturally on Earth.
It was Mia's small voice that named the phenomenon. "Is-is that a black hole?"
The Hunter turned and gave her a bright smile. "Correct. I can increase the density of space around energy to create a pseudo black hole effect. I call it pseudo because I still have to control the behavior of the black hole so it doesn't destroy everything."
Her gaze turned cold when she turned back to the skinwalker. "But it's still enough to do things like this."
Alerted by her words and dangerous body posture not to mention the unstable collapsing mass of energy that was now under her control, the skinwalker tensed its muscles in preparation to dodge the oncoming attack.
When Jade did not move, it became confused. That confusion quickly turned to panic when it saw the mass of energy had disappeared. Before it could react however, a feeling of emptiness over took it as it felt the black hole destabilizing and consuming its form. It just had the time to look down at the powerful imploding mass of energy in his chest and realize that its heart was already gone before the darkness of death overcame its senses.
"Whew! I hope I never have to do that again," Jade laughed lightly and looked over at the star struck girls like she had not just opened a black hole in the middle of an alley. "Come on you three. I have to get you home so I can get my beauty sleep."
None of them could form a viable response. Veronica however still had the presence of mind to indicate were her weakened bodyguards lay unconscious. In less than a second, Jade had closed the distance between herself and them, literally. She knelt on one knee to observe them. Blackened veins stood out clearly underneath pale skin and sweat matted their hair to their head. They were perfectly still, their rising and falling chests being the only moving parts of their bodies.
"They reduced body movement to a minimum to slow down the spread of the poison. Smart guys," Jade mused.
"What can be done to help them?" Veronica asked anxiously.
"Let's get them to the dorms first. Olivia should be able to cure them," Jade replied nonchalantly as if it was nothing to be worried about.
Raising her hand at both men, she opened a portal right below them through which they disappeared. Standing up, she took a look at the witches and resisted the urge to laugh at their expressions. Whitney had been cautious around her the whole night but now she seemed a few seconds away from either bolting or straight up attacking her. Mia on the other hand looked torn between admiring her and being terrified of her. She did not try to hide her feelings, unlike the other two.
The Hunter just sighted lightly and opened another portal that took them away from the alley, leaving it deserted save for a few ashes and multiple signs of the unnatural clash that had taken place there.
Michael arrived at Starlight Bay a few hours past nightfall. Most people were heading home for the day and the stores had already began to swap in their night shift workers. The wind had brought with it a chill that was not unusual in the fall so a lot of people outside wore long coats.
Having given away his, Michael decided to shove his hands in his pockets even though the cold did not affect him in the slightest.
His thoughts returned to the meeting they had held with the vampires and the witches. As a Hunter, he was obliged to protect people by removing potential threats before innocents were harmed. The protection was not exactly restricted solely to normal humans. Rather the volatile behavior of most members of the supernatural world did not allow much room for peaceful coexistence with their mundane counterparts. He did not particularly have anything against supernatural beings but he had no intention of letting them do as they pleased with the rest of the world.
'Maybe this might be the answer. If they were able to come to an agreement like this, then maybe there's still hope for a better future.'
Michael was inclined to agree with his predecessor's line of thought. He as well thought this program held potential for sustained peace among the factions. But that was only in the case that their leaders actually kept their word. He knew more than anyone how easy it was to be betrayed by one's leaders if they felt there was gain to be had. As far as he was concerned, there would always be a possibility of this being a trap.
'For their sake, I really hope it isn't.'
"Me too."
Before he could continue his inner conversation with the other inhabitant of his soul, Michael caught sight of something disappearing round a corner. He would have dismissed it as a person returning home after the day's work were it not for the amount of negativity he felt radiating from the figure. His Hunter instincts kicked in and before he knew it, he had already gone after the shadow. As he rounded the corner, he saw that the person had disappeared. But the negativity was still lingering in the air, refusing to disperse even in the slightly windy night air.
Movement above caught his eyes and he looked up to see multiple black smoky figures climbing up the wall of a nearby building. His face darkened and his eyes narrowed in recognition.
"Baykok? What are these things doing here?"
A Baykok was an evil creature in some Amerindian cultures that was formed by the discontented soul of a fallen warrior. The malevolent spirits often tended to seek violence wherever they could find it and usually worked individually. So their presence in a group in a city like Starlight Bay was enough to give Michael cause for alarm. He observed the creatures for a while longer and realized that they were moving towards a particular window as if in command. That thought got him more than a little alarmed. If there really was someone controlling these things, then there would be something deeper at work. That usually meant more trouble for him in this particular line of work.
When the shadows were a few feet away from their targeted window, Michael lowered his body slightly and leapt straight up to the wall of the building. His claws sunk into the concrete of the wall easily, allowing him to remain steady as he reached out and grabbed the head of the nearest shadowy figure. With a burst of magic, he erased it from existence. The other shadows glared at him with eerily bright crimson eyes before they dashed into the window, obviously intending to finish what they came for first.