Of desperate stands

Before them, dressed in a business suit that clashed horribly with the surrounding landscape, complete with a briefcase that had been put on the ground, stood a man in his thirties with a mop of brown hair, who would’ve seemed pretty average if it wasn’t for the uncanny light in his green eyes and his ominous words. That, and the fact that behind him, hiding the waterfall, there was a column made of interlaced floating elements, that while they were still in town had seemed a plume of smoke.

Yukiya, who was somehow still clutching the magic book to their chest as if it was their own child – Reisen wasn’t sure how they had managed to not let it fall during that entire time –, instinctively took a step back in fear, so she did the only logical thing and placed herself between the two of them, clenching the hilt of her sword. “Who are you?” she asked, even though all the bite she put into it made it seem less like a question and more of an order.

The mysterious man smiled eerily, linking his arms behind his back. “Oh, right, how impolite of me, I forgot to introduce myself.” He slightly bowed his head. “You can call me Sonogi, it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” Where had Reisen heard that name? It sounded familiar, but she couldn't quite pinpoint what it was connected to, and now she definitely didn’t have the time to dig through her memories, distracted as she was by what was happening in the present.

She felt a shiver of discomfort go down her spine: although she was firmly planted in front of Yukiya, the newly-introduced Sonogi seemed to see right through her, and she didn’t like that kind of attention directed to a kid. “Yeah, not for us. Are you the one who sent the chimaera near Narai-juku?”

“I thought it was rather obvious.” He paused, and then added: “Not for you, of course, but I already knew which one of you could pick apart magic signatures.”

“Why did you do that?” Reisen seethed, feeling her irritation grow more by the minute.

“I wanted to retrieve something that belongs to me, and the other methods weren’t working.” He shrugged. “You two decided to get in my way, but at least I discovered something invaluable.” Reisen didn’t need to ask for clarifications, because he continued without being prompted. Apparently, that was indeed a thing for evil masterminds. “Tsuchifuji Yukiya.” The kid jumped. “Despite your age, you already displayed an innate talent for magic, talent of the rarest kind, and with some training you could become one of the most powerful mages of this century.” Sonogi extended a hand towards them. “Join me, and I’ll show you what really differentiates someone like me, someone like you, from those ignorant fools who shouldn’t even have the right to practise magic.”

Yukiya seemed speechless, and with reason, but Reisen had a lot of opinions that were just waiting to be voiced. “What the hell? Are you completely nuts?”

For the first time since the start of the conversation, Sonogi’s gaze actually fell on her, but it was filled with very thinly veiled disgust. “I wasn’t talking with you, who so easily rejected the beauty of magic. You don’t deserve to-”

“Don’t speak to Reisen like that!” Yukiya suddenly exclaimed, full of righteous anger, interrupting him. Reisen turned to them, always keeping Sonogi in her field of view, and was surprised of the expression the kid was staring at the man with: absolutely furious, albeit still scared, in a way she’d never thought possible. Sonogi opened his mouth to reply, but Yukiya didn’t let him. “Are you the person responsible for making people lose their magic?”

The man didn’t even blink. “I only cast the spell, but only the weak-willed and untalented ones felt its consequences.”

“You…” The kid shook their head, their eyes getting glassier by the second. “A lot of the people I knew- good, kind people- lost their magic, just like that. And for what?” Now, tears were travelling down their cheeks: they tried to wipe them away, but it was without avail. Reisen felt her heart constrict, the sensation accompanied by more than a tinge of regret. “I will never join you!”

Sonogi’s shoulders slumped. “Well, that’s… unfortunate. I don’t suppose I can convince you?”

“No.”

“I see. In this case…” His gaze became cold, and a dozen alarm bells started ringing in Reisen’s mind: she stabilised her combat position, getting the sinking feeling that things were on the point of becoming really ugly. “… you don’t need one of the five celestial tomes either.”

The five what, now? Reisen had thought that the oddities surrounding her parents’ ancient volume started and ended with what they’d discovered at her place, but apparently she’d been wrong. She didn’t know what owning a celestial tome entailed, but from the name alone it sounded important enough not to want to let it fall into Sonogi’s hands.

Yukiya hugged the magic book to their chest, their eyes widening. “What…?” Reisen echoed the sentiment.

Sonogi, however, had evidently decided that the time for conversation had ended: with a bored wave of his hand, he sent the elemental pillar crashing on them like a heavy whip, and it was only because Reisen had been ready for an attack that she managed to tackle the kid to the ground and remove them both from the crater that became the spot they were standing on.

Reisen got back up in seconds, adrenaline pumping; her fight-or-flight instinct was screaming at her to do something, and she listened to it, choosing to the first option.

She admitted it: in hindsight, charging at the enemy wasn’t the smartest move, but what else was she supposed to do? Yukiya wasn’t used to any type of combat and Reisen couldn't leave the man with too much time to think about all the different manners in which he could kill them: she needed to close the distance if she wanted to have even the slightest chance to win.

In any case, it didn’t work: the elemental column had dissipated upon the violent contact with the ground, but Sonogi had apparently just needed it for the whole power show, because he simply glanced at her and an overgrown tree branch hit her right in the side, making her fly and crash against the nearest wooden trunk. The breath was taken from her lungs as she slid on the ground, and she staggered as she struggled up for the second time, coughing.

“Reisen!” the kid shouted.

“You foolish brute” Sonogi commented, looking disinterestedly at Reisen. “You don’t have an ounce of talent for magic, and your skills are pitiable. You can’t even sense a simple attack; how have you not lost your magic yet?”

“Maybe it was your spell that didn’t work” she retorted between a gulp of air and another. “Have you thought about that?”

The man frowned, something like anger finally flashing in his eyes. Reisen drew some sort of vicious satisfaction from having succeeded in fracturing his composure even a fraction. “My incantations never fail-”

“Yeah, whatever.” She wasn’t interested in hearing what he had to say. Instead, she swiftly picked up a round rock from the ground and chucked it at his head. He was reactive enough to change its trajectory with earth magic, but too surprised to pay the attention he should’ve to her wobbly second charge. “Yukiya!” she exclaimed, right as she attempted a horizontal slash at Sonogi’s arm. He managed to avoid the worst of it, getting away with just a shallow wound, but he got hit in the back of his head with the rock that the kid redirected, reading her mind.

They didn’t have the time to cheer, however, because Sonogi retaliated with two spiky branches headed their way, that they only narrowly dodged. “I really detest children.” While Reisen and Yukiya were busy regaining their footing he quickly opened his briefcase, out of which flew an ancient-looking book, very similar to her parents’ one. On its cover, in emerald and embossed letters, there was written Of flexible strength. “I’ll show you what real magic looks like.” The volume hovered in the air next to Sonogi, and at an irritated flick of his hand it opened on one of the pages in the middle.

Reisen didn’t want to wait and discover what he had in store for them, so after the initial surprise she tried to deal some more damage, but got stopped by thin but deceptively strong roots circling her ankles and wrists: she pulled against the restraints, doing her best to rip herself free, but the sole force of her muscles wasn’t enough. Yukiya called the earth to their aid, but their slabs and spikes of stone they threw against their enemy got intercepted and neutralised by a wooden wall.

At the same time, nourished by the water from the falls, the trees around them seemed to come to life, and humanoid puppets were created from their branches, trunks and roots, forming a small and silent army at Sonogi’s orders.

In that moment, a specific memory hit Reisen’s mind with the suddenness of a lightning bolt, and she was reminded of her épée instructor’s words, as well as of a certain head of the Sonogi Foundation and promoter of the fencing tournament in Osaka: if her teacher’s information wasn’t wrong, then Sonogi had to be behind that disaster of a competition as well, but if that was the case hadn’t he been a bit stupid to tell them his real name? Maybe he was sure he would’ve either killed the both of them or killed her and convinced the kid to go with him.

“This is your last chance to join me, Tsuchifuji Yukiya” the man said, calm once again now that he thought that the situation was under his complete control. “Me and all the other talented wizards and witches who should be the only ones deserving to wield magic.”

“No-” The kid shook their head. “Magic is and should remain accessible to everyone! That’s the beauty of it!”

“Even when so many people are forgetting their blessing? Ignoring it?”

Yukiya straightened their back. “Even- even then.”

“You really don’t understand” Sonogi sighed, a disappointed frown on his face. He extended a hand in Reisen’s direction, and a spiky branch got dangerously close to her throat. “Give me your celestial tome, and I won’t kill her.”

Now, Reisen wasn’t exactly free of worries at the moment, but she refused to panic. Even in her current position, she needed to focus. “Don’t listen to him, Yukiya” she said, turning her head and meeting the kid’s scared, hesitant stare. “He will probably kill me anyway.” Admittedly, it wasn’t the most reassuring thing to tell a child, but it was the truth, as well as a very good reason not to trust Sonogi. “I became a ‘threat’, after all. Isn’t this the reason why Oshibi should’ve eliminated me in the tournament?” she asked, glancing at the man.

He tilted his head to the side, something appraising in his gaze. “You did become a thorn in my side, yes, which is strange since there’s nothing noteworthy about you. I admit I was surprised when my sweet little Mutsumi failed in killing you.”

Reisen grinned. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

Sonogi’s eyebrow twitched, but he turned to the kid again. “Give me your celestial tome.” The roots around Reisen’s joints tightened and she stifled a grunt of pain. “Now.”

Yukiya was subtly shaking now, their eyes wide, but Reisen had no intention of letting that small-time, stuck-up wizard upset the kid any longer. “Yeah no, I don’t think that’ll happen.” She took advantage of Sonogi’s inattention to make her move, and with a mix of elasticity and very simple metal levitation she cut in short sequence the root threatening her life and the one circling her right wrist, in order to easily free the other three limbs afterwards.

The man reacted quickly and sent his puppets in her direction, but she slashed them away. After not even a minute, however, it became apparent that it couldn't go on like this: the humanoid creatures regrew their arms and feet, but even when she managed to destroy one of them for good Sonogi simply recreated it; it also didn’t help that he had an infinite supply of water at his disposal to support his wood magic.

“Kid, this would be the perfect moment to pull a different magic trick out of your sleeve!” Reisen shouted when she had to roll out of the way of an attack. Thankfully, everything was easier with an actual sword, but she would’ve got tired too sooner or later. “Preferably, a powerful one!”

Yukiya was busy distracting the man with various spells, but found the time to bicker anyway. “It’s not that easy, Reisen!” She could hear the pout in their voice.

Sonogi made a sound similar to a startled chuckle. “Nothing short of a miracle could help you now, you’ll just be stalling for time.”

Reisen ignored him, his voice becoming background noise for her thoughts. “No, we can do this” she muttered to herself. To win, however, they needed a plan: Yukiya’s earth incantations were powerful, but ultimately useless against wood magic; Reisen’s metal sword was efficient against the puppets, but they outnumbered her. They had to figuratively cut off the head of the snake to stop the humanoid creatures, but how…

Ironically enough, she got the idea when she crashed on the hard ground as the result of an attack. “Kid!” she exclaimed while she stood up once again. Every time was becoming more and more difficult, but she had to hold on just a little longer. “Focus on blocking their movements!”

“But-”

“Trust me!”

Yukiya didn’t seem awfully convinced, but they did what she asked regardless. “Okay, Reisen!” They switched gears, putting their energies in a different incantation, and suddenly the earth itself started trembling and surging from under the puppets and Sonogi’s feet, that were soon unable to move from their spots. The humanoid creatures began to fracture their stony shackles right away, but Reisen cut off their upper bodies to slow the process.

“As I said, this won’t be enough” the man commented, eyes blazing, even though the earth was literally crawling up his legs. Reisen had to applaud him for his cool head at the very least. At a flick of his wrist, the tree branches came to life and transformed into wooden drills pointed at the kid and ready to pierce them now that they were busy with their immobilising spell.

Reisen, however, wouldn’t have let him have it his way.

“Reisen…?” called Yukiya, understandably worried, a tremble in their voice.

Reisen forced herself to stay calm. “Kid, I need one last trick.” Sadly, she had no time to ask them if they could make it. It had to work, and that was it. “At my signal, propel me in his direction, okay?” she told them, low enough not to be heard by Sonogi.

Yukiya nodded, and at that point there was no more time for doubts: the drills descended on them in a lethal deluge, and Reisen threw her sword in the air, using every single ounce of focus and magical ability – nearly an oxymoron, for her – she possessed to make the weapon levitate and cut the branches. “Now!” she exclaimed then.

The kid used earth magic to shoot her like a bullet across the small battlefield, and, when Reisen reached the spot where the man was standing, she punched him square in the face, taking advantage of the momentum to inflict even more damage. She lost her balance just after, but the look in his eyes before she’d hit and sent him taking a swim in the water from the waterfall had been simply priceless.

Around her, the humanoid puppets and weaponised branches lost the magic that gave them life, shutting down like robots whose batteries had discharged, and even Sonogi’s book fell on the ground, so she finally let herself relax. Her shoulders slumped, suddenly devoid of all the tension she had been accumulating since the beginning of that whole ordeal, and she grinned victoriously at Yukiya.

They returned her smile – and she noticed that they were holding her sword in their free hand, so they must’ve retrieved it after she’d thrown it –, but after a few seconds of tranquillity their relieved expression, touched by incredulous exhilaration, morphed into a terrified one.

“Reisen, behind you!” they shouted, extending a hand in her direction.

Reisen had just the time to move a bit sideways, before something sharp pierced her left shoulder and sent her flying like a rag doll toward the other end of the clearing, her world filling with pain.