Jolie threw herself into the driver's seat of the beat-up pickup truck. She slammed the accelerator, tearing down the dirt road toward the town center. She parked the truck in a dark alley two blocks away from the plaza, pulled her hood up to shadow her face, and melted into the panicking crowd.
The town square was a war zone.
In the center of the plaza stood a man engulfed in roaring, crimson flames. It was Blaze Thatcher, a local Fox-attribute Primal. His feral index had completely shattered his sanity. His eyes were pure, glowing white, and he was hurling massive fireballs at the surrounding storefronts, turning the market into an inferno.
A squad of local security guards crouched behind a shattered concrete fountain, firing low-grade energy blasters at him. The blue plasma bolts hit Blaze's fire shield and fizzled out harmlessly.
Blaze let out a demonic screech. He swept his arm in an arc, sending a wave of fire that obliterated the top half of the fountain. The guards dove for cover, screaming for backup.
Jolie ducked behind an overturned fruit cart. The heat radiating from Blaze was blistering, singing the edges of her hoodie. She stared at him, her eyes tracking the chaotic flow of his energy. He was a walking reactor, and she needed his power.
But she was too far away. Her Arborgenesis couldn't reach him from here.
Using the chaos of the fleeing civilians, Jolie dropped to her hands and knees. She crawled through the smoke and debris, inching her way toward the ruined fountain, stopping just thirty feet from the raging Primal.
The heat was unbearable. Sweat poured down Jolie's face, stinging her eyes. She pressed her bare palms flat against the scorching cobblestones.
She focused her mind, condensing her green energy into threads as thin as spider silk. The translucent green lines slithered through the cracks in the stone, perfectly camouflaged by the smoke and the blinding light of the fire.
The threads crept up behind Blaze and silently wrapped around his ankles, slipping beneath the barrier of his flames.
"Absorb," Jolie commanded silently.
A violent, searing rush of fire-attribute energy shot up the threads and slammed into Jolie's body. She bit down hard on her lip to stop herself from screaming. The energy was brutal, tearing at her meridians like broken glass.
She immediately engaged Sylvan Soul, forcing the violent fire energy to convert into soothing, neutral plant energy.
Her system interface went wild.
[Regulatory Energy +100]
[Regulatory Energy +200]
[Regulatory Energy +500]
In the center of the plaza, Blaze stumbled. The roaring flames around his body flickered and shrank. The crushing pressure in his skull suddenly eased, replaced by a bizarre, cooling sensation spreading up from his legs.
He shook his head, the white glow fading from his eyes as his pupils dilated in confusion. He looked at his hands, realizing his feral state was being forcibly drained away.
The security guards saw the flames die down. "Now!" the captain yelled. They fired a heavy, electrified containment net, dropping it squarely over Blaze.
Blaze roared, trying to summon his fire to burn the net, but his energy reserves were suddenly empty. He fell to his knees, trapped.
Behind the fountain, Jolie gritted her teeth. She was so close. Her energy bar was almost full. She pulled harder, thickening the threads to drain the last dregs of his feral power.
Blaze felt the sharp tug on his energy core. His sanity fully restored, his combat instincts kicked in. He traced the cooling sensation down his leg, his sharp eyes following the faint green glow across the cobblestones, straight to the ruined fountain.
"Who's there? !" Blaze bellowed, his voice echoing over the sirens.
Jolie's heart stopped. She had been spotted.
She instantly severed the energy threads. The green light vanished. Without a second of hesitation, Jolie spun around and sprinted into the thickest part of the fleeing crowd, keeping her head down.
Blaze struggled against the electric net, his eyes scanning the crowd, but all he saw was a sea of terrified backs. The mysterious savior-or thief-was gone.
Jolie didn't stop running until she reached her truck. She threw herself inside, locking the doors, her chest heaving as she gasped for air. She had played with fire and almost gotten burned. But as she checked her system interface, a triumphant smile touched her lips.
