Lord Vandiba stopped playing.
The theatrical arrogance was gone. So were the taunts and smug speeches. What remained was something much simpler and far more dangerous.
Rage.
Vandiba brought his hands together, long fingers locking as his palms pressed against each other. Rank 4 energy exploded from his body, spreading outward in a thick cloud of shadow-poison that poured through the streets like living smoke.
FWOOOSH.
The cloud moved like liquid, crawling across the ground and climbing the walls around him. Wherever it touched, stone dissolved and concrete bubbled. Windows didn't even have time to shatter. The glass liquefied and streamed down the buildings in clear, hissing trails.
Tssss. Tssss. Tssss.
The cloud kept expanding.
Twenty feet. Forty. Sixty.
Rain made it worse. The poison mixed with the falling water and spread through the streets with every drop, turning the entire area into a deadly zone.
Holden's processor tracked the movement.
