Strike Force vs. Surge

Stella’s mind raced as she met Surge’s energy spear blow for blow. The flames of her sword clashed viciously with the spear, leaving the two of them in a stalemate. If Stella had a bit more focus, she could have probably broken through by now, but she was distracted by the very existence of an Aria like Surge.

How could there be an Aria who could speak their language? What’s more, an Aria that understood the concept of “family?”

Stella summoned a fireball in her left hand and threw it at Surge. The Aria dodged it, just as Stella predicted, giving Stella the opening to catch her off balance and stab her in her lower abdomen.

Stella gritted her teeth as she twisted her sword in the Aria’s stomach and trapped her in an inferno of flames.

Surge wailed as the flames engulfed her and clutched at her abdomen as blood seeped through her claws. A crimson deluge spilled onto the dusty warehouse floor.

“You…little brat,” Surge growled. Her skin burnt away, Stella could see the muscle fibers in her stomach twitch as the wound in her stomach tried to mend itself. “You’ll pay for that.”

Stella glared at the Aria as she adjusted her grip on her sword. “Sorry,” Stella said as flames licked at her blade. She readied herself for the final blow. “I didn’t bring my wallet.”

Stella pushed off her back foot to make her charge, and it would have been perfect—that is, if it weren’t for one crucial mistake.

She’d looked into Surge’s glowing magenta eyes. Now her feet wouldn’t so much as twitch, and the flames of her sword snuffed themselves out against her will.

Surge steadied herself as the rest of her wounds finished healing, her eyes never once breaking contact with Stella’s.

Mind control, Stella’s thoughts supplied. She had encountered Aria with the ability before, but she’d thought they were only capable of controlling animals.

It was the worst timing ever to find out that she was wrong.

Stella couldn’t move. Couldn’t look away. Couldn’t even blink. Surge stalked closer with a feral snarl on her lips. She looked down on Stella as she manifested another energy spear in her hand.

Stella’s eyes began to sting and water. Was it because she couldn’t blink? Or because she was being forced to face her own death head-on? She didn’t want to know.

Surge reached out to touch Stella’s face. “Tell me, little child,” she said, “do you know why Aria created?”

Surge’s claw trailed down Stella’s cheek. Beads of blood began to surface on her tender skin.

Stella swallowed. “No. The company just said it was an experiment gone wrong. Nothing else.”

Surge tilted Stella’s head from side to side, as if examining her the same way someone would a mangy dog they’d rescued off the street. “Naive,” Surge said simply.

Stella swallowed. “Listen,” she said, “if you know something, then—“

“Then what? You stop attacking us? Even if you do, Aria will still attack the city. Most don’t have control of self. Nothing will change.”

“That’s not true,” Stella argued. “We—Sakai Kousan, can help you. If our scientists created you, then surely they can find a way for Aria to manage their violent impulses.”

Surge’s eyes narrowed as she leaned in closer, their noses almost touching. She gripped Stella’s jaw so hard she could hear how it cracked under the pressure. “What make you so sure they want to?”

Stella tried to ignore the ache in her jaw as she answered, “My mother, Sakura Sakai, is the CEO of the company.” Surge’s eyes widened, but she said nothing as Stella continued, “If I tell her the truth about the rampages, I’m sure she’ll do everything she can to help you.”

“Sakura…Sakai,” Surge repeated. “Sakura Sakai’s daughter…!” Stella groaned in pain as Surge applied more pressure to her jaw. It felt like her face was about to be crushed.

“That woman…everything is her fault! There’s no way she save us!”

If Stella was in a better position, she’d try to defend her mother. Instead, Surge makes a move for her neck, and her mind goes static.

She closed her eyes tight, waiting for the inevitable, when a shot rang out inside the hollow warehouse walls. Stella’s eyes snapped open, and while she still couldn’t break free of Surge’s control, she knew Yui must have made the shot from the entrance.

Instinct forced Surge to break her trance on Stella and look back at her assailant. Finally freed, Stella crumpled to the floor like Yui had not so long before.

Surge scoffs. “I’m almost offended. You think a measly bullet is enough to take me down?”

Yui didn’t answer as she shot multiple rounds at Surge. The Aria once again found her legs encased in ice, but she seemed more amused by Yui’s attempts to fight her than anything. “This attack again? I thought you would know it’s useless by now.”

“It is—at least as an attack. As a distraction though, I think it’s pretty effective.” Yui pointed at Surge’s spear-wielding arm. “You haven’t noticed what that measly bullet is doing to you, have you?”

Surge didn’t get the opportunity to answer as her arm sloughed off from her body and fell to the floor. She looked at the empty space where her arm used to be in shock. “Huh…?”

“My bullets are specially condensed with my ice magic to force your body to experience rapid frostbite. If you’re lucky, you have ten minutes before the rest of your limbs fall off too.”

“We can’ affor’ to wai’ that long,” Stella slurred. Her jaw was surely broken, but she couldn’t worry about that now.“Let’s fini’ this.”

Yui nodded, and resumed firing rounds at Surge.

The Aria, demonstrating her incredible agility, jumped from wall to wall as she dodged the bullets.

Yui took advantage of the anti-gravity magic in her boots and pursued her, the both of them forcing the creaking walls of the warehouse to their limits as they sped around at a speed that even Stella found difficult to track.

Stella knew that Yui had been practicing upping her speed, but she hadn’t developed the stamina to match it. She had a minute or two left at this pace, at most.

Thankfully, that was all Stella needed.

Surge threw her energy spear at Yui, and it grazed her side as she retreated back to the ground. Despite the wound in her side, she still didn’t stop shooting.

Surge flapped her wings to blow the bullets away. “Nice try,” she said. “But not enough.”

Yui glanced at the Aria once before raising her gun and aimed it at a new target—one that Surge undoubtedly wanted to protect.

Yui shot a bullet at one of the Aria eggs, and Surge used her own body as a shield to protect it, resulting in a fresh bullet lodged in the back of her thigh.

Surge’s leg fell to the ground with a splat. She screeched in rage. “You little—!”

“Now, Stella!”

Stella held her sword firmly and closed her eyes. She’d been practicing remote activation of her flames, but it required an immense amount of focus. If Yui hadn’t been with her, she would have never been able to use it. She was grateful she was here.

Her eyes flashed open and she glared at Surge’s wings.

Flames, ignite!

Unlike her previous injuries, Surge didn’t screech when her wings caught fire—no, she screamed with a human timbre that shook Stella to the core.

Yui lifted her hand and encased her body in ice, leaving only her head exposed. Too shocked by the amount of injuries she’d suffered, Surge was in no position to resist.

Stella stood before her this time, their positions reversed, and she suddenly felt like she’d become the evil she’d been trying to eradicate.

“We better hurry,” Yui advised. “My power causes tissue death, but if even the slightest bit of oxygen remains in her system, she’ll be able to regenerate eventually.” She cocked her gun at the Aria. “We need to finish this.”

Stella was prepared to choke the life out of her if she had to, but something inside her was making her hesitate. Was this really the right thing to do? Surge had implied that she knew the truth behind the existence of the Aria. Didn’t she have a duty, as the one at the forefront of this conflict, to hear her out? Gather intel?

“What are you waiting for?” Yui asked. “Do it.”

Stella placed her hand over her heart as she focused on gathering the last of the magic in her body to cast her newly created oxygen depletion magic.

Surge chuckled as she watched. “You’re just like your mother,” she said weakly. “You trample on the lives of others without a second thought.”

Her words filled Stella with fear—and malice.

Stella decided she didn’t really want to hear what Surge had to say anymore.

She activated her magic, and Surge began to gasp for air. Her eyes bugged out of her head and swiveled around frantically, as if she was looking for someone to come to her rescue.

It was too late.

Once her pale pink skin turned a sickly blue, Stella knew it was finished.

Yui patted her on the shoulder as she stared down at the dead body. “I’ll take care of exterminating the eggs. You just…keep an eye on her for a bit. For all we know, she could be capable of resurrection magic, too.

Stella nodded, and Yui proceeded to the back of the warehouse where she began to stomp the eggs one by one. Stella winced with each crunch underfoot.

When she had finally completed her task, Yui rejoined her next to the body.

Strangely, as if responding to the return of her presence, Surge’s body began to emit a peculiar glow.

Stella looked at Yui in confusion. “Is tha’ supposed to happen?”

“I don’t know. We don’t usually stick around to check on the bodies of the Aria we kill.”

The two of them watched, both perturbed and fascinated. The glow grew, and grew, and grew—and yet, it was only once they were almost blinded by its light that Stella asked, “We…should’ prob’ly run, right?”

“Right.”

The two of them dashed for the exit, but they didn’t manage to escape before the Aria exploded.

Stella and Yui dropped to the ground and protected their heads, but the impact of the blast never came.

Eventually, Stella cautiously rose to her feet, and Yui followed. Stella stared blankly at the spot where the Aria’s body had been moments before. “What…is that?” she asked.

“It feels like…the same energy from the dragon,” Yui said. “It’s…magic.”

“Magic,” Stella murmured. The real reason Sakai Kousan created the Aria…was it this?