Fantasy

The White Knight tilted his head in a snap and flashed forward. It whizzed past Teri and stopped with its trembling longsword inches away from Yayoi’s neck.

Its blade was held in place by a cracked sheet of flickering light.

The White Knight let out a low, amused growl. It grabbed the hilt of its longsword with both hands and bent its body. It was attempting to push the blade through, but it wouldn’t budge. Not with all of that strength. Not with all of that weight.

“Bitch…”

Yayoi scoffed and pointed her two fingers at the White Knight. Hack. Three slashes grated against its armor, making the metal sing as the monster was pushed about two steps back for each hit.

“Imagine literally going for the strongest one in the group.” Yayoi combed her hair with both hands as she walked toward the White Knight. She let out a grim laugh. “You’re not wrong though, but I get the feeling that you’re looking down on me. You failed to kill me… and that’s going to be the last time you’ll find me open.”

“Zone—”

Teri emerged from the White Knight’s shadow just when it was about to recover. He aimed for the monster’s head. The White Knight parried the attack and countered with a light but swift swing to his left eye. This happened in the same second their weapons bounced off against each other.

Flashes and the screams of metal against metal followed.

Killing the White Knight was impossible. Keeping it in place was the best thing Teri could do. Five seconds. About four to five trades. It took him that long to realize the fact. It seemed that what he had chosen to boost with his zone was correct. He improved the rate at which he processed his thoughts. Then, he complemented that by improving his general physicality to keep up. It stung to know that this was all he could do, but he felt blessed to remember that he wasn’t alone.

“Maybe it was supposed to go for the weakest one?” Taku added, raising his staff and binding the creature to let Teri rest and catch his breath. He groaned. “Maaaan, I wanted to be cool and not say the attack name, but it really does affect the quality of the spell…”

“And that’ll be the closest thing I’ll take in this fight in terms of damage. Congrats Taku, you’re doing better than this shitty knight. But hold on… I wanna try something,” Yayoi said, activating her zone and making her aura swell. “Please cover me, Teri—”

“Gotcha—” Teri slammed his shield against the bound White Knight. “Please aim right above my head, Yayoi.”

Yayoi stretched her right arm, pointing two of her fingers at the White Knight like a gun.

“Hack.”

The wind screeched and carved a deep gash across the room’s southern wall. The massive attack made the room tremble, kicking up a storm of dust and making the smell of sweat and paper more apparent.

Teri ducked, saving himself from the attack

The White Knight had no choice but to take it.

Yayoi waved her hand and forced the dust to clear, revealing the monster in the middle of taking another step back, groaning in pain and rage from the shallow cut it bore across its chest.

“Too slow… and too weak.” Yayoi looked at her right hand. “But thanks, Teri…”

Zone. Teri firmed his feet on the ground and slammed his weapon against the White Knight’s face. It seemed appropriate to put all of his efforts into a single, pre-programmed attack. He was right. Smashing the White Knight with his bar mace felt like hitting a large rubber tire, but it was satisfying to see how his attack dented the side of its face.

However, it wasn’t enough to stun the monster. Taku stepped in and bound the monster before it could counter. Teri took the opportunity to land three hits—to its face, to its side, and to its right knee—before he shifted his zone and disengaged to safety.

“I’m starting to feel bad about us stun-locking this new monster.” Taku commented, binding the monster again before it could follow and make a counterattack against Teri. The man used his spell without saying its name, and its quality seemed to improve the more he used it. “But then again…”

“Dude, we thought it was a good idea to pick a fight with four dolls,” Teri added, smiling. He exchanged looks with Yayoi and raised his shield with his weapon ready.

“This is a fight?” Yayoi asked, almost laughing. “You guys are overthinking it. If some dumbass kid thought it was a good idea to pick a fight with someone and that person hit them back, I’d say that the kid had it coming. I’ll give this shitty knight credit for attacking me first as the STRONGEST one in our group. But he did think that it was a good idea to pick a fight with three people. This thing deserves to be a punching bag—speaking of which, I wanna see if my spell gets better if I try to paint a better image in my head.”

“What are you even trying to do?” Taku asked, keeping his staff raised to keep the White Knight in place.

“I wanna try and see if I can make some sort of power, power move. Something cool…” Yayoi raised her right arm once more as if to hold the White Knight at gunpoint. “The last one was too large, too weak, and too slow.”

Taku shrugged, still keeping the White Knight bound. “Maybe there’s a better way of doing it—”

“You really thought that shooting slashes was a good idea, huh?” Teri laughed.

“Bitch—”

“I mean… What do you even want?” Taku raised his voice before Yayoi could point her fingers toward Teri. “Do you want something fast or something strong?”

“Strong.”

“Then, you have to face the fact that it’s going to be slow at this point,” Taku replied. “It seems to me that the more you are involved with the process of casting the spell, the stronger it becomes—precisely because the image itself is stronger. And for the image… yeah… shooting slashes might be a bit hard to picture realistically. It might make more sense for you to throw the slashes instead of shooting them like a cannon.”

“I see.” Yayoi walked toward the White Knight. “Let me revisit my approach then… Cover me please. I wanna try something different.”

“Sure.” Teri widened his smile. “It’s hard to say no when you asked us so nicely.”

Taku gave her a thumbs up. “What are you planning to do?”

“Fight like Teri—and I mean that as a compliment before you lose your shit.”

Yayoi adjusted her gloves. She walked forward, her aura surging and most of it gathering at her right hand. She glanced at Teri and Taku, shrugged, and swung her right arm outward. The slash bit into the White Knight’s armor, pushing the monster back three to four steps. The cut was also deeper. Yayoi smiled.

“I’m getting it.”

Taku chuckled. “Try putting more weight into it. That and say the spell’s name. Might make it better. Also… do you need me to bind it again?”

“No need…” Yayoi cracked her knuckles. “Teri, what did you do with the zone again?”

Teri took his stance as the White Knight slowly recovered. “Boosted my thoughts and my body to keep up. But if you want to go all out… I’ll take care of it. Just don't aim it at me.”

Yayoi smiled. “I would love that—”

The White Knight tilted its head and flashed forward.

Zone.

Teri smiled as he intercepted the attack.

The tip of the White Knight’s blade pierced through his shield like it was butter moments after it was let loose. But Teri was counting on that. Right before it could reach his left eye, Teri simply moved his shield to the side. He bent the sword and its path at the same time, making it so that its killing flash would barely graze his left ear. Then, Teri pressed his bar mace against the blade’s edge to trap it in place in case the monster chose to bring it down to cut his shoulder.

This motherfucker thought that it was a good idea to use the same attack against them twice.

Teri sighed, realizing that he would’ve died if he was a few milliseconds late. But somehow, not feeling Yayoi’s presence filling the entire room scared him the most.

“Hack—”

Yayoi commanded the wind with a sharp breath, her feet planted in the ground and her right arm swinging strong and wide. The White Knight was thrown back. It was cut in two. The attack seemed not as wide as the gun-slash she sent before, but it was more compact and potent. It crushed the White Knight’s armor first before it tore through its flesh.

The way it landed on the ground was satisfying too.

“Damn…” Teri laughed as he moved toward the White Knight’s upper body to finish the job. “It feels good that you didn’t point it at me.”

“Do hold that memory dear…” Yayoi replied as she wiped the blood from her nose. “A bit wasteful, yes… It feels like I can be more powerful and accurate with it. But this… I like this—”

“A strong… soul…” The White Knight mumbled in its last breath, much to everyone’s surprise. Its voice warped and distorted as though its message was relayed over a dozen broken radios. “Finally… a strong soul… bless…ed… this tomb. Praise… the Sun…”

They looked at each other.

Teri crushed the monster’s head for good measure. Yayoi crossed her arms, raising a brow at Teri and then at Taku. For a moment, Teri was sure that everyone was surprised to know that monsters could talk. But he took a closer look at Taku and was immediately proven wrong.

His friend didn’t seem to know what was happening. He just smiled at them innocently, waiting for some kind of celebration for the fight they just won. Teri contemplated reminding Taku about what just happened. It was fortunate that it only took his friend a minute to look at the dead knight and finally form a thought about what it just said.

Teri and Yayoi looked at each other again.

Taku cupped his chin, his grin brimming with confidence. “None of you guys are talking, so I’m just gonna say it. This motherfucker was talking about me and no one else.”

Teri laughed, tempted to shed some tears of joy.

His friends were back, after all.