Rook vs Maniacal

The Fool Arc

The creature saw the girl in his hands. A new one. Even more Magical Girls existed in this world. And the creature could defeat them all, crush them. Bring them to their knees. 

This one had leapt into battle without a word, it seemed. Walking proudly into his little trap, believing herself immune, invulnerable, perhaps immortal. She had underestimated the creature. Perhaps, in his vain, power-addled mind, the creature saw her bravado as a personal insult. That her actions had proven she saw him as nothing more than some first act villain, a minor player.

He tightens his grip.

How dare she underestimate him.

♖ Queen-Side Rook ♖

Choking… Can’t… Breathe…

Everything is going dark around the edges, the hand on my throat is crushing…

I don’t grab his wrist, that instinct is a rookie mistake, instead I swing my weight back and slam forward with my foot, slamming it hard into his stomach. As he doubles over, I bring both my arms down and slam my linked fists into his elbow.

I stumble to the ground, gasping and rubbing my throat, but I know I don’t have long. Taking the steps two at a time, I run into the main room and look for Boshi. The tiny fairy is shocked to see me.

“What’s wrong, Ma’am-shi?” The fairy asks, approaching me rapidly with wings aflutter. I wave it away.
“How long until hel-” I gasp as something slams into my back and sends me flying across the room, into the wall, and through it. I roll as I land, looking up at Boshi.
“Freeze the area!” I yell up as I get to my feet. Boshi moves into the sky and begins casting while I simultaneously summon my casting circle. Glowing green, it appears before me, and I begin tracing sigils.

“Bind, lock, seal, block!” I call out each one in turn, creating a shield around the building, locking the creature inside for the time being. The Maniacal isn’t far behind me, but it slams into the magical wall I’d called into being. There’s already cracks appearing, but it buys me time. I run out to the time-frozen street, nodding at Boshi who flies just above.

“Clean up crew will arrive in five minutes.” Boshi chimes in. I look up at the fairy and smirk. Maybe this thing can take one of us, but not two.

I hear a roar from the Maniacal as it smashes through the shop wall, and runs into the street. It turns at the end of the alleyway, into the street, and face me.

I grin. Now I have enough space for my Resonance. I raise my hand up and close my eyes, and summon a spiritual lance. White with gold symbols engraved upon it.
“Gungnir!” I call out triumphantly, summoning it by magic. Soon, the lance finishes summoning and appears solidly in my hand. I spin the lance around my head, all ten feet of it, and stand at the ready, lance behind me. One free hand I gesture at the Maniacal.

“Bring it.” I charge at the same time it does, swinging my large lance towards it as I run forward. My lance raised in an attacking position, I point it down at the last moment to stab it into the ground and vault into the air.

Flying through the air, I curl my legs up to my chest as I fly over the Maniacal and kick out. My boots slam hard into the back of the Maniacal, and it stumbles forwards. Using the extra force, I flip around in mid air to face it, spinning my lance around in one hand before snapping back into a grounded fighting position.

“Gungnir, CHARGE!” I run at the Maniacal, my lance shining with a brilliant light.

The Maniacal swings around with the lance inside, and sends me flying around, but I adjust my grip and go to strike again. It leaps into the air away from me, and I leap in turn after it. Jabbing upwards with my brutal lance, each thrust stabs into the Maniacal’s body. It twists in the air to defend itself, but outside of the rare clack of metal on the chitinous bone that grows over areas of its skin, it hits with every blow. This is my Resonance, the ancient lance Gungnir. Once activated, it always hits where I thrust it. I don’t even need to question as the point of the lance stabs true, impaling through the back of the Maniacal.

“One… two… three… four!” I call out each stab, ending with one through its hand. It lands with a smash, and I land with it. Before it can react, I summon up the last of my Resonance energy and charge. Sixth stab. It impales through the Maniacal’s stomach.

It lets out a roar of pain and slumps forwards. I release one hand from the lance triumphantly.
“Not so tough… after all. Maniacals are just a regular shadow with a few extra pounds.” I taunt, preparing for a killing blow.

A mistake.

Sensing the shift in my grip, the Maniacal grabs the lance from the other side of its chest and throws me across the street. I hit my head, and my arm snaps underneath me. Looking up from my injuries at the creature, it gets ready for the killing blow…

“Clean-up team arriving, ma’am!” Boshi calls out cheerfully, entirely unfeeling as to the current circumstances. I look up, and so does the Maniacal. As if scared of the memories of being overwhelmed like its last fight, it turns and runs at the sound of another Magical Girl approaching.

I blink and stare up as Bishop descends near me. Grateful for the save, I fall to one knee, breathing heavily. I hear Bishop rush over to me, footsteps fast and frantic.

“...You should’ve killed him when you had the chance…” I choke out, looking gratefully at my rescuer. Bishop gives a gentle smile.
“Saving you was more important to me.”
“That’s… a bad tactical decision. There’ll be hell to pay when you report to Queen.” I pant, leaning on her.
“Yes.” She replies, cheerfully, brushing my hair out of my face.
“...He’s only going to get stronger now.” I mutter. Bishop places a hand around my waist and gently lifts me into the sky. Landing on a rooftop, nearby, she summons a pure white casting circle and begins a complex dance of sigils with her fingertip.
“Do you believe them now? The new girls?” Bishop asks. I can sense a very slight edge to her voice.
“...Yeah. I do.” I slump into her shoulder, breathing heavily. After a few moments of silence, another idea comes to the fore.

“We learned something, though.”
“Hm?”
“We learned what it’s afraid of.”