“Excuse me? Aren’t you the one constantly professing size doesn’t matter when you pin me to the mat?” Gael quirked a brow, thoughts flitting to his many one-on-one trainings with Kenzo, where his boyfriend often bested him.
“That’s different. Your technique is sloppy,” Kenzo said. “And you’re soft.”
“My spikes have entered the chat, calling bullshit.” Gael beamed, sharklike teeth easing Kenzo’s nerves.
They each stood, and Kenzo told Gael to move back.
“Focus on distant strikes,” he said. “And try to stay off his radar.”
“As long as you do the same.” Gael backed up, aiming his spikes at the skeleton soldiers.
“Let’s see what kind of trouble my lovelies can cause.” Grim gestured his giant hand toward the nearby street. “Go, my pretties. Slaughter the masses, purge the fat of this city.”
Lena panicked, knowing she couldn’t abandon this battle against Grim, but if she didn’t give chase, those skeleton soldiers would kill civilians.
“Diaz is nearby,” I thought, linking my mind to Lena’s. “I’ll warn him of the incoming threat.”
I sent the warning, stretching what little magic I had as far as it’d go. Hopefully, his team had recovered by now and could handle those skeleton stragglers.
“Nice tip.” Lena sent a flurry of bubbles for Grim. “And where exactly are you right now? Care to actually help, Enchanter?”
“Currently indisposed, but still doing my part,” I replied. “How about you save the backtalk and pay attention?”
Lena frowned, annoyed and in complete agreement, which only further pissed her off.
In order to break past his protective barrier, Lena had to fly in close and hit with a potent flurry of bubbles. It worked a few times, but soon, Grim changed his form, adding defensive spikes wherever Lena hovered. They sprouted long and curled unnaturally, chasing after Lena until she fell back.
Kenzo continued lashing out with his gray static, attempting to disrupt the bone spikes protruding from Grim’s giant limbs.
“Focus less on countering him,” I thought, linking to Kenzo’s mind. “Lena’s got that covered.”
“Frost?” Kenzo tsked, more annoyed than startled. “Get out of my head. You’re not my teacher anymore.”
“Maybe so, but I know your branch pretty well, and I know you could be doing a lot better than these bug bite disruptions.”
Kenzo’s scowl lessened, and the thought of casting a hex to get me out of his head only crossed his mind a few times. “Well? I don’t have all day.”
“We know your disruption can break apart magic or amplify it.” I recalled several times in class when Kenzo used his hex in such a manner.
A small smile crept on his face as I shared images of Gael twirling round and round when Kenzo triggered his levitation root. When Layla screeched at the row of lockers, she telekinetically ripped off their hinges after a tiny telekinetic burst meant to knock someone over flew out of control. When Melanie set her own hair on fire because she was practicing her juggling instead of paying attention during a training session with Kenzo. All prime examples of Kenzo amplifying another person’s magic instead of breaking it down.
“Am I supposed to make his bones grow even bigger and hope he collapses from the weight?” Kenzo growled. “That’s auseless fucking idea, Frost. No wonder they kicked you out of teaching.”
“First off, I took a sabbatical. Secondly, no, you dick.” I huffed. “You’re only thinking of amplifying to cause harm. What if you aimed just enough amplification to assist?”
Kenzo’s eyes widened. “Lena’s precision cascade of bubbles. I could turn those thousands into millions and maximize their effectiveness.”
“Precisely.”
“Not bad, Frost.” Kenzo aimed his static at Lena’s bubbles. “I take back half the times I called you a dumbass.”
“To be fair, you only ever thought it.”
“True.” Kenzo grinned. “But we both know you heard me.”
“What are you doing?” Lena watched as static coiled around her attacks.
“Helping,” Kenzo answered. “Pay attention.”
