Killbox in the Fog

“I count at least a dozen targets between 15 and 45 meters down the road,” calls Obscuring Mist, a swirl of fog acting as a visor over her eyes while her fingers massage the misty air.

“Have they spotted us?” asks Rosary Bow, raising her yumi above her head in the uchiokoshi (the high draw) stage.

“Not through my fog,” murmurs Mist, sensing every vibration and movement the demons make as they crawl from the beads.

“Let’s keep it that way,” Rosary murmurs, before beginning another Hail Mary prayer. As she chants the prayer, she lowers her arms. Despite the bow missing a string, it flexes all the same, and a faint sparkle gleams where the arrow should be. In the tree above, Mist is far from idle, massaging the fog around them like a baker kneading dough. Her fingers warp it and open a column no wider than a ¥100 coin, just enough for Rosary to see her target. A lanky-looking demon with sickly yellow skin and a face like a rotten dragon fruit. Rosary finishes her prayer with a definitive “Amen,” and the bow snaps back, sending the twinkle flying toward the demon.

*Fwump*

The impact sounds like a powdery snowball hitting a wall, sending the demon’s head flying. Orange ash flies as its body crumples to the ground and dissolves back into the bead from whence it came. The remaining demons turn to look at their dissolving companion, only to have a second from their ranks split in half by another shot. By the third shot, the demons have woken to their predicament and scatter in all directions. Mist feels them skulking behind lampposts and under sewer grates.

“Can’t hide from me, Mist thinks with a sneer, opening another column to Rosary’s next target. “This fog is my domain, you trash mobs should learn your—”

*Whooosh*

A gust of wind carries the sound of flapping wings through the fog. Mist feels the vibrations as the demon uses its wings to escape the fog.

“Dammit,” Mist cries, feeling the demon burst from the fog like a breaching whale.

“Language,” Rosary chides between prayers, her eyes never leaving her target. “What’s the issue?”

“One burst through the top,” Mist explains, arms already in motion. “I’m gonna increase our overhead cover to give us a heads up if it dives.”

“Just above us, or the whole area?”

“Just above us. I can only pull humidity from so far,” Mist explains, raising her arms as if lifting something above her head.

“No, wait, if it’s just above us, then wouldn’t that give away our pos—,” but it’s too late. Mist’s arms are already raised, and the dome’s bulge forms directly above them, a perfect beacon. Mist feels the enemy burst through the bulge before her arms are lowered, diving like a falcon directly toward them.

*SKRAUNCH!*

A thick bony claw slashes down on the limb Mist stands on, ripping through bark and wood like snapping a chopstick. The burst’s dome gives Mist just enough time to fling to the side. The impact launches a stray woodchip at Mist’s face, cutting right through her visor, revealing it to be no more solid than the fog around. A bright amber eye shines through the slashed visor; its pupil fully dilates when the demon’s red eye glows, the telltale sign it’s locked on its target. Mist avoids the strike but not the fall, dropping with the tree limb to the street below.

“Ah!” Mist cries, crashing back-first through the thin sticks before her spine bends to its limit on the solid limb. The impact forces all the air from her lungs and nearly cracks a rib. Prone and in shock, all she can do is look at the demon’s glowing red eyes, still locked on Mist’s exposed amber iris. The demon raises its clawed hand, talons longer than Mist’s arms, glinting as they reach their apex. A flash of peachy orange later, and the demon’s severed head rolls away, dissolving into orange ash along with its body.

“Are you hurt?” Rosary asks, standing tall over Mist. With empty lungs, Mist can only mouth a thanks and point a finger. The noise had alerted the rest of the demons to their position, and they were closing in. “Give me a clear battlefield,” Rosary commands, taking her bow in both hands again and raising it with a new prayer. “O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of Hell.” Mist scrambles to mold the fog accordingly as three twinkling lines form from Rosary’s bow.

“Three arrows, but nine enemies… The most dangerous ones should be…” Mist’s mind scrambles to open peepholes and clear an open battlefield as Rosary finishes her prayer.

“Lead all souls to Heaven, especially those in most need of Thy mercy. Amen.” Three demons leap through the fog as the final word escapes Rosary’s lips. Her hands move faster than the eye can see, pointing at each of the three demons and reducing them to orange ash. The ash doesn’t reach the ground before more demons burst through the mist, claws and fangs bared, ready to tear the pair into pieces. Despite the sight before her, Rosary’s eyes remain clear of fear as she places her yumi on her back and grasps her rosary’s crucifix in her hand. “Our Father who art in Heaven!” she declares, yanking on the beads.

*click-click-click*

They extend in rapid succession, becoming more like a lasso than a wrist wrap. “Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.” She spins the crucifix like a chained blade, creating a blurred afterimage. The whirring crucifix stirs up the fog, generating a smokescreen that even Mist can barely contain.

By now, the whole party of demons has entered the thinned fog, eyeing and circling Rosary until she’s surrounded. Nonetheless, she continues her prayer undeterred. “Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” From within the micro-cyclone, a faint twinkle turns to a distinct glow as Rosary’s crucifix expands and brightens, growing as large as a kama and bright as a lightbulb in her hand. “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever!” Her volume rises with her crucifix’s glow until she’s screaming with the full moon in her hand. “AMEN!” she finishes, punctuated by a deafening snap that echoes through the empty streets. Rosary pulls the chain tight, and Mist freezes the fog glass-still. The massed demons take their positions as everything moves at once.