Chris watched with awe as more and more robed figures came through the tear in the dimensional fabric. He felt a swell of excitement inside of him. Now they were really getting somewhere. With proper troops, he’d finally be able to crush Oliver once and for all.
As the swarm passed him and filtered into the streets of Florence, he turned back to look at the other Obsidian students. Madeleine looked stunned, and not in a good way. In fact, she looked horrified by the scene unfolding before her eyes.
Natasha had a sort of excited glee flashing in her eyes, and Chris could tell she was relishing the chaos just as much as he was.
Finally, he looked at Malcolm. His nemesis was looking furious. He was jealous, Chris decided, because he had not had the brilliant idea to call on the dark army himself.
“You’ve no idea what you’ve just done,” Malcolm told him sternly.
“I know exactly what I’m doing,” Christopher replied.
“Really?” Malcolm replied, folding his arms. “Because your army has no commands and they’re running around like headless chickens.”
Chris wasn’t about to take a critique from stupid Malcolm Malice. He could command the army, no problem. He knew how to get people to respect him now. He’d had enough practice with the ragtag bunch of Obsidians. It was all about displaying strength.
He searched inside himself for his dark powers, finding that they were more honed now after his training with Colonel Cain. Then he tugged them up through his chest.
Christopher opened his mouth and a blast of black light burst from it. It was accompanied by a horrifying noise, like the screech of metal. He roared his black light into the sky, like a beacon call to all the dark army soldiers.
“Look!” Madeleine cried.
Sure enough, robed figures were beginning to reappear, crowding closer to Chris. Chris felt even more powerful as he saw that his plan was working. And the look on Malcolm’s face was the icing on the cake. When was he just going to accept that Chris had surpassed him in every way possible?
Soon, the dark army was surrounding the Obsidian students. Then one of them took a knee. The others quickly followed suit.
Chris closed his mouth, shutting off the light and noise. He glanced over the sea of bowed heads at his army, patiently awaiting his command.
He cleared his throat.
“Find Oliver Blue,” he said. “But do not kill him.” A smile spread across his lips. “I want to do that myself.”