Corn vs the Headless Horseman

At the risk of being pounded into corn meal, I quickly teleported all the way across town towards where the dungeons were. From at least a kilometer away, I watched as the disembodied giant limbs smashed several buildings into the ground, adding to the growing dust cloud from the destroyed bell tower and sending a crashing shockwave about that caused windows to shudder from the force.

As amusing as it was to now be in the position to run from attacks on a whim, I was concerned at how reckless the headless horseman in particular was at putting civilians at risk with his attacks. In the streets below, members of Grey Storm were beginning to flee the houses, seemingly aware of their employer's destructive nature.

"Missed me!" I telepathically shouted at the two mages from a distance. "Kiss my kernels, you wimps—

Thankfully I had 360 degree vision, as otherwise I wouldn't have been able to see the rain of purple fire balls that were falling from the sky directly above me. I "dodged" the flaming projectiles by scooting back in forth in midair safe inside my red energy ball, surely a bizarre sight to any spectators. I heard yells of panic as several soldiers stationed by the dungeons found themselves having to flee to avoid being torched by the flames.

"If you're so powerful, then why do you run?" Dryden asked as he crawled out of a purple portal that had formed on top of the stone structure like a horror movie villain. "I want to face you, give me a real fight."

"F-fine, but it's your funeral," I replied.

 If my kernels had the ability to sweat, they'd be drenched as I stared down the menacing, headless figure as his gangly body stepped towards me. Flight of fight kicking in, I manipulated my energy barrier as I had when facing the hobgoblin, and took multiple swings at the mage. Unlike Gogrin, who wasn't able to see my kernel energy, I was shocked to see Dryden effortlessly dodged the expanding parts of my barrier as he continued forward.

"You're getting a slight handle on your qi," the horsemen admitted as he stopped feet from me. "But I can tell that you're no master."

As a last resort, I expelled a good bit of kernels and created a large shockwave as I had before. Seemingly anticipating this, Dryden rapidly created a transparent-black barrier in front of him using his hands, where the shockwave pushed him back a little but otherwise, left him seemingly unharmed. Before my increasingly-tired mind could come up with another trick, terror rippled through my cob body as the horseman snatched me out of midair using his gloved, bony hand.

"Interesting, you really are just a husk of corn," Dryden remarked as he examined me, his empty shoulders tilted over. "You're lucky I don't have a head, otherwise I'd be tempted to take a bite of you."

I tried to teleport, but found myself overcome with a bizarre sensation of sudden fatigue. The way that a man slowly feels his energy dissipate from him after jerking off, I felt sapped of my strength as what remained of my kernel energy seemed to be flowing out of my kernelled body—and into and up the arm of the headless horseman. He was siphoning me.

"My, you sure had a lot of qi stored up, hard to believe that a vegetable can amass such power," Dryden remarked as he continued to examine me despite his lack of a face. "Before I incinerate you, I have many questions to ask. If you could do me the pleasure, I'll happily grant you a quick, easy death."

I was mortified, having admittedly underestimated the undead horseman and his ability to quickly get the upper hand. My energy was being drained quickly, so I had time for perhaps one more ace up my sleeve before being unable to do anything. Despite being in the grasp of my enemy, I hadn't gotten as far as I had by panicking the whole way, so I allowed my mind to enter a deep, meditative state despite the predicament.

I thought long and hard for a way out. Simply teleporting wouldn't be enough, and plus with Dryden's skeletal hand on me, there was no telling whether or not I'd bring him with me by accident. I needed him to drop me first, so focusing all my kernels to the latter half of my veggie body where I was being held, I focused on repelling. Not via a shockwave, but by setting the horseman's own hand ablaze. When it came to fantasy settings, undead creatures often had a weakness to fire, although given Dryden's previous use of fire of his own, I wondered if it would affect him. In my concentration, I failed to actually ignite, but what I did do was save my energy and generate a projection of flames instead.

"Oh? You're not done yet?" the horseman asked as he tossed me into the air while a dark red fireball appeared from my body.

My best image projection yet, the "fireball" flew towards the mage, but he quickly deduced that it was a fake and wiped it away with a swipe of his hands. This single second was all that I needed to teleport myself far off into the distant fields beyond Carverstead's reach. Now surrounded by cool, freshly-dewed grass, my corncob body slumped down, exhausted and at my limit. Needless to say, what remaining kernels that I was emitting were quickly quelled, masking my presence from the mages once more. Feeling myself slip into unconsciousness, I took a final look at the distant town and its soft torch lights. 

Mission accomplished. Surely my two pursuers would take off and try to look for me. Or so I thought.