Let's Dance Baby

“So, should I blow the smoke out?” Yayoi allowed herself to smile as she gazed at everyone—except Teri. “You guys ready?”

Taku gave Yayoi two thumbs up, sandwiching his staff between his legs to make the feat possible. “But can you make it cool? Like… make it go whoooosh… and then, we’ll go baaaam and we’ll spread and just go ham at it and be like… walk slowly and cooool?”

Yayoi raised a brow.

“You know, to confuse the Witch,” Taku continued without losing his gusto. “And the Witch will be like… ‘Whaaaat? The Wizard King and his men—and women? How can this guy be so cool like a cucumber while I’m right here acting all so bossy?”

Yayoi tilted her head.

Taku cleared his throat. “Something along those lines, yes.”

“So…” Yayoi adjusted her gloves. “I blow out the smoke and make it cool? I’m strong but… Well, yeah. I think I can make that happen. And I guess this is the part where we take our positions?”

“Yeeeeeeep,” Taku replied. He walked in the middle of their group and faced everyone. His smile wasn't as inspiring as he thought. “I’ll be here. I’m the leader. The Wizard King. Teri will be at my right. Yayoi will be at the far right. Mr. Takesh will be at my left… and Sebastian Benjamin Noir will be at my far left.” He nodded at the bald old man and the butler respectively.

“I am deeply concerned about… what is going… on…” Sebastian Benjamin Noir materialized a glossy, jet-black comb from his sleeves and used it to fix his hair. He picked up a Gray Knight’s chipped longsword as he took his position along with everyone else. “But… I assure you… I will perform… to the best of my… ability. For… that is… my way.”

“You can also leave the fireball to me,” Yayoi added. “Though you’re on your own if she does the fire scattershot thing.”

“Not a problem,” Teri said, unnerved by the air between him and Yayoi. “It takes a lot of time to cast. We’ll just not let her cast—”

Mr. Takeshi slapped Teri’s shoulder. “I LIKE YOUR BALLS, KIDDO!”

“Courage. Please, say courage,” Teri mumbled as he glared at the old man. “Or confidence—”

“NO.”

The old man drowned out Teri’s reply with a hearty laugh. He pinched the air with all of his fingers, like the Italian hand gesture he saw on TV. He didn’t drop his smile. Not one bit.

“BALLS.”

“Okay… Balls. I see. Okay….” Teri looked at Yayoi, almost begging her to turn her eyes his way. “Can we fight now?”

Yayoi didn’t look back. She snapped her fingers with a confident, cheeky grin and summoned a gust of wind that pressed the glittery smoke against the room’s walls, creating a great grey wave that framed their dramatic entrance.

Taku. Teri. Mr. Takeshi. Sebastian Benjamin Noir. All of them marched forward ever so slowly, packing as much menace and style as possible with every step.

Basking in her now threatened glory, the Witch let out an ear-wrenching screech. The bed behind her cracked with the weight of her voice alone. The pinkish light that filled the room swelled and became darker, almost purple. The air grew heavier, fattened by the somewhat sweetened smell of sweat and dying candles.

Then, she raised her glowing crimson staff and pointed it at Taku. Its bell chimed. The tinkle echoed. A glint. A small yet powerful light appeared at the staff’s tip. It grew in both brightness and power as it sucked the boiling air into its core. The temperature in the room rose once again. The remaining Gray Knight that stood between the Witch and their group quivered.

“Don’t you dare lose your shit,” Yayoi said, forcing a laugh as everything went bright. “A hero’s entrance deserves a big explosion, after all. The one that flinches or moves is a massive bitch.”

The air cracked.

The Witch screeched and waved her staff, commanding the great ball of fire to descend and obliterate them. The mere sight of it and the way it felt as it neared made Teri imagine that the sun itself had come, and that in its presence they would burn to death.

Yayoi scoffed. “Barrier.” She willed a smaller but denser barrier not to block the attack but to intercept it, forcing the ball to explode and summon yet another blazing cloud of glitter and smoke—at a relatively safe distance.

What the Witch achieved with her opening move was to give their group a better, more badass entrance. The monster seemed more amused than surprised. Teri sighed and relaxed his shoulders as he kept walking with Taku and Yayoi at his side.

“I am SIMPLY too CHILL…” Taku claimed, his jaw trembling while he pretended not to notice the dried beads of sweat that marked his forehead. “Could’ve canceled the spell myself… but I didn’t want to ruin your comeback. Sooooo… How does it feel?”

“Great.” Yayoi cracked her knuckles. “I am dying for some Witch sashimi right now.”

Mr. Takeshi laughed. “I AIN’T NO BITCH EITHER.”

“I was… I believe I qualify to not be called a bitch…” Sebastian Benjamin Noir said elegantly. “I may have… peed… a little…”

“ALSO, that bitch aimed at me!” Taku widened his grin and glanced over Teri and Yayoi. “I AM THE DANGER. I AM THE STRONG SOUL—whatever that means. This also makes me think about Super Sentai for some reason. I call dibs on the red one. Teri you be the blue one.”

“Dibs on green,” Yayoi added.

“Wait…” Teri smiled nervously. They were really taking their time walking. “You’re calling me the smartass?”

“I WILL BE YELLOW THEN.” Mr. Takeshi chuckled as he stroked his beard. “BUT LET’S MAKE MINE MORE GOLDEN!”

“I… will be… HOT PINK…” Sebastian Benjamin Noir said as he materialized a handkerchief from his sleeves and pressed it over his crotch. “Partly because I look good in it… On… another note… when are we launching our… assault?”

Teri took a few more steps forward. The ring on his left hand gleamed purple. “Mr. Takeshi… I remember you said you wanna punch that monster in the face. You still up for it?”

“I AM BUT…” Mr. Takeshi cupped his chin, grinning wide at Teri.

“Clench your fist, Mr. Takeshi.”

Zone. Teri’s presence surged, covering his friends and the Gray Knight in front of the Witch. It seemed that his aura and the Witch’s clashed and canceled each other out. It might be impossible for Teri to target immediately with his spell. At least for now.

Teri also modified his zone to boost the speed of his thinking and the efficiency of his casting. The faster he could react and cast his spell, and the less strain it put on him, the better. He was no longer alone, after all.

“Taku… We’ll back up Mr. Takeshi. Yayoi and Mr. Sebastian Benjamin Noir… please handle the Gray Knight quickly and join us as soon as you can.”

“Very well…” Sebastian Benjamin Noir raised his sword, grabbing the hilt with both hands. “I am… ready… when you are…”

Teri smiled.

“Switch.”

Teri swapped the positions of Mr. Takeshi and the Gray Knight. Taku activated his zone and dashed toward the Witch. Teri did the same. Sebastian Benjamin Noir had already engaged the Gray Knight with a fair trade of slashes, keeping the monster in place. Yayoi was already running to them. Mr. Takeshi…

A hearty laugh that reeked of violence rocked the room.

Teri turned his head forward.

“TIGER-KILLING—” Mr. Takeshi roared with laughter, his feet rooted to the ground and his body already mid-swing, about to deliver one hell of a haymaker. “—BOMB.

The old man’s voice was cut by the sound of his fist crashing against the Witch’s side, his aura flashing black to show an x-ray of the monster’s ribs cracking upon the sheer weight of his attack. The Witch moaned as she was forced to take a few steps back. But she recovered. Her aura surged and she conjured a small ball of flame—about the size of a human head—at the tip of her staff and swung to crush Mr. Takeshi’s head with a wide downward swing.

“Switch.”

Teri swapped places with Mr. Takeshi and twisted his body just in time to dodge the Witch’s attack. The ball barely whizzed past Teri’s face and cracked the stone floor before bouncing back. Teri didn’t want to imagine what would’ve happened to his face if he had failed to avoid it.

And of course, the Witch was already prepared to take another swing at him.

However, it was the same for his team too.

“TIGER-KILLING BOMB—!” Mr. Takeshi smiled even wider upon delivering the blow.

The attack forced the Witch to take another few steps back, her gaze fixed to the floor. The old man shot out a laugh, taking another step forward to finish the job, but the Witch let out an amused moan and snapped back to return the blow.

It was too fast.

The Witch planted her feet, cracking the floor with her extreme speed and mass as she raised and brought down the might of her swing against Mr. Takeshi. He blocked the attack, but it cost him his left arm—it burned his skin, cooked his flesh, and shattered his bones like glass—before sending him rolling over Taku’s feet.

Teri raised his left arm.

The Witch’s crimson aura surged and converged back into her heart. The muscles resting beneath her porcelain-white skin bulged. The crown she proudly wore on her head grew brighter. Another curious, amused moan escaped her face. Her aura emerged once more, this time as bright as a great blaze and yet flowing quietly centimeters about her skin like the surface of a dead water.

Teri could hear the wind whisper.

It begged him to run away.

The Witch disappeared, leaving only a small cloud of dust where her feet were supposed to be. Teri’s gaze wandered. The floor. The door on the northwestern side of the room. The door leading to the pink room. The ceiling. The bed. To Taku and Mr. Takeshi.

Teri opened his mouth.

The Witch was already in front of Taku, about to crush him and Mr. Takeshi in one swing—but a web of pink strings emerged from the floor and kept her in place.

“About t-time you showed me some respect.” Taku raised his voice, his brave eyes locked at the Witch’s figure as he healed Mr. Takeshi. “How does it feel that you actually aimed for the strongest person in the party?”

“Hack.”

Yayoi’s cold voice resounded, matched by her sheer presence that made Teri forget the smell of the sweetened sweat that filled his nose. The wind screamed. A portent. The Witch gasped and jumped back toward the wall on the other side of the room; she raised her left hand the moment she landed to conjure a blood-red barrier that flickered at the impact of multiple slashes that carved the wall at her back and the floor beneath.

“You… You’re supposed to be a sub-boss right?” Yayoi walked forward, one hand combing the hair on the side of her head. The clack of her heels echoed, sounding more and more like the slow toll of a funeral bell. Her head was low, but her gaze was piercing, taunting, and true. “I don’t know if you can understand me, but… you could’ve died… y’know? At least help let me sort through my emotions properly. Seriously. Get your shit together.”

The Witch screamed like a cornered beast, her supposed calm aura surging to form a torrential wave. The ball at the tip of her staff grew larger. Her delicate frame beneath the nightgown bulged until it cracked her porcelain-like skin—making her appear bigger, more jagged, and more dangerous.

It was apparent in her aura alone that she wanted to settle this fight by crushing each and every one of them, not with a spell, but with her own strength

“What the hell did you do that for?” Taku chuckled as he picked himself up off the floor. He helped Mr. Takeshi up as well, who seemed surprised at how well he had recovered from his wounds. “You forced her to transform into her third phase. We could’ve killed her while she was in her second… Not complaining though.”

“Not my fault that she’s weak to emotional damage,” Yayoi replied. “Also it’s customary. You gotta let them transform to their strongest forms first and then you beat them. Teaches them humility or something. Besides…” Yayoi looked around and finally fixed her eyes on Teri, her gaze pained and almost apologetic. “You’ll back me up right?”

Teri replied with a reassuring smile.

“I mean… what kind of a Wizard King will I be if I let my teammates die?”

“I simply do not… want to die. For that is… my way…”

“I WANNA PUNCH THAT BITCH IN THE FACE AGAIN!”

Yayoi chuckled, her voice sounding a bit more cheerful. “So, what’s the plan?”

Teri ran toward the Witch, the ring on his left hand gleaming. “We’ll hit her—together—till she dies.”

The Witch kicked the ground, disappearing and reappearing in front of Teri, her staff about to crash into him like a mighty hammer. Teri dodged the attack. Switch. Mr. Takeshi appeared in his place and drove a Tiger-Killing Bomb into her face. The Witch was pushed back, but she didn’t flinch and returned with another devastating swing. Switch. Teri swapped with Mr. Takeshi and dodged the attack. The Witch extended her assault with another blow. Bind. But Taku’s spell stopped it. Hack. Yayoi extended her fingers toward the Witch, sending slashes that forced the monster to conjure a barrier. Sebastian Benjamin Noir emerged from the shadows, the sound of his footsteps escaping everyone’s ears and the flash of his longsword striking and shattering the weakened blood-red barrier. Mr. Takeshi made use of the opening. He bellowed another cheerful laugh and delivered a Tiger-Killing Bomb into the Witch’s chest, sending her rolling on the floor.

A sharp pain hit the side of Teri’s head, making him fall onto one knee. He was bleeding from his nose. Mr. Takeshi was the same, but the blood only stained his grin. Taku touched them both, healing them and urging them to follow Sebastian Benjamin Noir’s lead. The man was already trading blows with the Witch, slowly getting pushed back and overwhelmed by the difference in their power, even with Yayoi’s help

“Taku… please.” Teri looked at Taku.

Taku nodded, smiling as he wiped the blood from his nose. “I got you.”

Teri needed to do something more drastic. He had to shift his priorities. He brought himself back to the front, Mr. Takeshi at his side, with that in mind. The Witch was only wary of Yayoi’s attacks, so he could make it so that Yayoi’s attacks would have a higher chance of landing. He glanced at Mr. Takeshi. The old man’s grin was grim, but he understood what Teri was going to do. He couldn’t be more grateful.

Mr. Takeshi reentered the fight, emerging from the blind spot created by Sebastian Benjamin Noir and crashing a Tiger-Killing Bomb straight into the Witch’s face. The monster’s head rocked back, but she answered with an attack of her own—a wide swing that caught, seared, and carved the side of Mr. Takeshi’s head. The old man grunted in pain. Switch. Teri swapped the positions of Yayoi and Sebastian Benjamin Noir. Mr. Takeshi disengaged. The Witch conjured her barrier again, seeing Yayoi about to fire her spell. Teri shifted his zone, pouring all of his aura to the striking end of his bar mace. He screamed, planting his feet and twisting his body to strike and break the barrier with a single swing. Teri lost the feeling in all of his fingers to pain. Yayoi’s smile twisted. Hack. Fifteen slashes marked the Witch’s jagged body and painted the floor in cruel, satisfying strokes. The monster wobbled, about to fall, but it screamed and jumped back. Or it planned to. Bind. Taku’s strings kept it in place.

Mr. Takeshi’s laugh rocked the room once more. He hugged the Witch from behind, lifted her in the air, and slammed her on her back into the ground. Taku beamed, calling it a German suplex. The side of Mr. Takeshi’s head was already healed. Taku touched Teri’s shoulder too and healed his hands; then he gave him this tired look, urging his friend to go forward and finish the fight, even if he was not there.

Zone. Teri bolted back into the fight and slammed his bar mace against the Witch’s head just when it was about to land a hit on Sebastian Benjamin Noir. Hack. Yayoi slashed the monster’s right knee. She was bleeding from her nose too, but her gaze remained fierce. The Witch staggered back. But Mr. Takeshi was already there. Tiger-Killing Bomb. He drove his fist into the monster’s lower back.

All of them screamed.

It was now or never.

Zone. Teri decided to forego all defense and slammed the Witch’s head. Mr. Takeshi followed up and brought another Tiger-Killing Bomb aimed at the monster’s spine. Sebastian Benjamin Noir, on the other hand, swung his sword and slashed her across the torso. Yayoi used her spell, outspeeding her barrier and cutting the Witch all across the body once more.

The Witch let out a despairing moan, begging them to stop.

Teri answered with another slam. Then Mr. Takeshi delivered another Tiger-Killing Bomb. Then Sebastian Benjamin Noir with a slash. Then Yayoi with a Hack. Slam. Tiger-Killing Bomb. Slash. Hack. Hack. Slam. Tiger-Killing Bomb. Slash. Slash. Hack. Slam. Slam. The Witch slipped in a revenge strike aimed against Yayoi. Switch. Teri took the hit and was sent away, his right arm in shambles. That didn’t stop the rest of the party. Mr. Takeshi replied with a Tiger-Killing Bomb. Yayoi continued the combo with another Hack. Sebastian Benjamin Noir kept it going with a slash. Hack. Slash. Hack. Hack. Tiger-Killing Bomb. Hack. Hack. Slash. Slash. Tiger-Killing Bomb.

“FIGHT BACK, YOU SPELLSLINGING BITCH!” Mr. Takeshi laughed. “FIGHT BACK!”

A shallow breath escaped from the broken Witch. She conjured another barrier, not to protect herself but to push everyone back, buying her the time to raise her staff and bury its tail in the stone floor with whatever was left of her flesh clinging to her now-exposed bones. Her aura surged, becoming even brighter. It was apparent that she would blow herself up and everyone else in the room.

She moaned in victory—only to realize that her staff wasn’t hers.

“Teri… You son of a bitch…”

Taku’s strained eyes beamed as he pointed his new staff toward the Witch. Its bell chimed. The Hot Rod. His fated weapon. Almost breaking into a laugh, Taku’s presence surged, burning even brighter than the Witch’s and filling the room with falling cherry blossoms made from his very own aura.

Similar to the spell he saw, Taku conjured a small ball of fire at the tip of his new weapon, making it bigger and bigger as the temperature around him rose.

“And for you…” Taku widened his smile before firing his spell. “Sit the fuck down.”

Everything went bright.