Bane of the Dead (Seraphim Revival Book 1) Read Online Free Page A

energy.
    Fortunately, Tevyr had not activated his chaos daggers, and Seth sighed with palpable relief at this. If the brash Aktenai pilot had been so inclined, his opponents would now be floating around in a lot of small pieces.
    That isn’t to say Seth found the predicament much more pleasing. Instead of using chaos daggers, Tevyr had disabled one EN seraph and now swung it as a bludgeon against the other four. Barriers or not, the EN seraphs showed heavy damage. Seth spotted the hapless bludgeon’s wing clusters drifting away from the melee.
    “Well, at least he’s winning,” Seth muttered.
    Seth redoubled his efforts to reach the melee before it escalated further.
    The EN seraphs spotted Seth approaching and immediately scattered. Seth closed rapidly with Tevyr and his mangled seraph-bludgeon. Tevyr tossed the abused seraph aside, as if that made him any less guilty.
    Seth concentrated, right fist compressing tightly. Purple snaps of barrier energy arced out of the digits. He pulled the fist back, flew in at incredible speed, and swung.
    There was a brief, blinding flash of green and purple light as his fist connected. Tevyr’s barrier compressed. His shoulder imploded inward. Kinetic energy exchanged between the two seraphs, leaving Seth at a relative standstill and Tevyr speeding down into the JSDC asteroid.
    Tevyr’s seraph hit so hard that the asteroid’s outer surface cracked open, sending him careening through the asteroid’s mined-out caverns.
    Seth fanned his wings out and turned slowly in space, facing the EN seraphs. With a mental command, all seraphs present entered a common channel.
    “Would anyone care to explain the situation to me?” Seth asked.
    The channel was silent for long seconds.
    “Anyone? Anyone at all? I’m sure one of you is about to share a fascinating tale with me.”
    The least damaged EN seraph flew forward slightly. He grabbed the still-spinning seraph-club and steadied it. The pilot’s name registered as Jared Daykin.
    “Umm, we made a wager, sir.” Jared glanced over the mangled remains of his team. “And we appear to have lost.”
    “I see. A wager, was it?”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “And not an attack on another Alliance pilot?”
    “No, sir. Nothing of the sort. Simply testing some of the tactics we learned today.”
    “By letting one of your own be swung around like a club?”
    “Well… the tactics were a bit on the unconventional side, sir. I will grant you that. We may have gotten a little out of hand.”
    “A little out of hand, you say?” Seth asked.
    “But this was purely due to our unfamiliarity with the tactics in question,” Jared added quickly. “Please accept my apologies on behalf of the Earth Nation. It was entirely my fault. We should not have engaged in such, uhh, advanced tactics without additional practice beforehand.”
    “I see. Well, that is quite an interesting piece of fiction you just spouted.”
    Jared’s wings twitched. “It’s all true, sir.”
    Seth frowned. “I will take your apology under consideration. All five of you are grounded until further notice. Land immediately.”
    “Yes, sir.” Jared slung the seraph-bludgeon under an arm and led the others to the JSDC asteroid’s hangar.
    Seth linked to the red seraph on a private channel. “And as for you !”
    Tevyr finished freeing his seraph from the crater. He shook his wings out, looked up, and shrugged.
    “What did I do?”
    Seth let out a slow seething exhale. “Indeed. Besides using one of the Earth Nation’s seraphs as a close combat weapon, indeed, what have you done?”
    “It’s not what you think.”
    “Land at the JSDC. We will discuss this further in person.”
    “Understood,” Tevyr said glumly.
    ***
    Seth pushed out of the pilot alcove and stepped onto his seraph’s open cockpit hatch. The JSDC facility might have been an Earth Nation facility, but the seraph bays were of Aktenai manufacture, staffed by Aktenai technicians. Aktenzek still flatly refused to