An Assault

With Martha’s support, I felt that walking became a lot less of a challenge than it was before. It didn’t feel like my bones were grating together with every step anymore, as the once-jarring impact seemed to spread through her body as well. As we walked together like this, we managed to cover a longer distance more effectively.

After what felt like hours to me, we finally made it to a large clearing. There were a few electrical poles sticking out of the paved cobblestone ground, and several trees surrounded by circular benches. Every few yards, an electric light illuminated what was otherwise completely black, so that there were a few scattered circles of visibility.

“This is the east plaza of the smaller park,” Martha explained. “In all the years I’ve lived here, I’ve barely ever seen anyone come to this place, much less in the dead of night. Is this a good enough place for you?”

“It should work.” I struggled to place myself on one of the benches, the metallic seat intensely cold. Then, I closed my eyes, and rested my hands on my lap. I should still have a few minutes before my breathing really gets difficult. So, in that time…

The air around me started to thicken, and a strange force started to emanate from within my body. To someone inexperienced to magic, the force should have been near invisible, but it seemed as if Martha could feel it. As such, she peered over. “What are you doing?”

“Preparing for the fight, since I have time.” More specifically, I was concentrating my internal magic supply, as in my ‘work energy’. This type of magic is quite useful, as it has the ability to boost several of my physical capabilities, without the use of an external Manalite source.

Typically, though, work energy would be near meaningless to use in terms of fighting. You needed to concentrate for a while in a totally calm state of mind to get it started, and the effects would wear off in a relatively quick timespan. You normally wouldn’t be able to use their effects in battle since you wouldn’t have time to activate it within a fight, and if you activated it too early, then the effects would wear off before the fighting even had a chance to begin. However, since I knew exactly when my opponents would appear, I could afford to do this.

“Fight?” Martha questioned. “I thought you said the attacker already left.”

“He had control over a few spirits, and he made two of them possess me,” I said, prodding my chest. “There’s most likely going to be a fight after I force them out.”

“Hmm.” Martha tapped her chin. “In that case…”

She reached down, and pulled something out of her purse.

“What is that?”

“It’s pepper spray,” she said with a smile. “I figured you’d probably get into more situations like this, so I came prepared and bought a few of these at the mall. Once those things come out, we’ll just beat ‘em by spraying them with this!”

We’ll just beat ‘em? I don’t think you really understand. “Martha, what’s the most powerful animal on this planet?”

“Huh?” She frowned. “Well, maybe a lion, I guess…”

“Can this ‘lion’ punch through solid steel?”

“I imagine it could probably dent it, if it tried hard enough…”

“Then imagine something seven, no, eight times stronger than a lion, simultaneously also able to use magic, and you’ll get an idea of what some of the more powerful spirits are like.” I pointed at the canister in her hand. “Do you really think your spray is going to do any substantial damage?”

Sliding the can back into her purse, Martha placed her hands on her hips, looking away. “Well, I was just trying to help you.”

“The best way you could help would be to stay far away from here.” I pointed off into the distance. “If things start to get nasty, get even farther away. At this point, I can’t afford for you to get hurt.”

“Alright, fine.” Sighing, Martha stuck her hands in her pockets and strolled a distance off. “I do have some sense of self-preservation.”

Now, all that’s left is this. I sucked in a deep lungful of air, forcing the energy in me to swell outwards. “Work Energy: Iron Arms, activate. Work Energy: Raptor’s Wind, activate.”

I could immediately feel the magic taking effect, strengthening my arms and legs. “Work Energy: Abyssal Well, activate. Work Energy: Static Fortress, activate.”

Martha peeked back over her shoulder at me. “Is all that really necessary?”

“I mean, there’s no harm in being overprepared, since I have this chance.” Work energy comes with a pretty significant toll on the user’s body, so I hadn’t really considered using it since I arrived here, since I never really had a reason to activate it. Even though my above-average magic potential meant that I could sustain more work energy, and for longer, the detrimental effects would still remain. But as work energy swirled to cover my whole body, I finally began to feel powerful again. I opened and closed my fist, feeling the reserve power crackling around it. Right. This should do for now.

“Are you done?” Martha asked. “Then, what’s the plan for getting those spirits out?”

“Spirits are unworldly creatures, giving them the power to possess a host, and sap their life force like a parasite. However,” I raised a finger, “this also comes at a cost. Since their lives are essentially linked to the host, it means if the host dies before they exit, they lose their lives as well.”

“Wait, wait, go back.” Martha pressed on her temples. “How exactly does this relate to your plan?”

“It means I’m about to do something really stupid.” I stretched my right hand forwards, and clenched my fist tight. “Ethereal Grasp!”

A dark blue aura spread across my hand to my forearm, and I plunged my arm straight into my chest.

Martha let out a scream, and stepped back. “W-What are you doing?”

“Stopping my heart.” Ethereal Grasp’s ability would allow me to make a body part intangible, but have it still retain the ability to affect physical objects. This ability would most commonly be used by low-level thieves to steal from safes unguarded from magic, but I didn’t think anyone would have ever tried using it for something like this, and for good reason. As my fingers closed around my heart, a cold pain spiked in my chest. A strangled cry escaped my lips, but I grit my teeth together hard. I tightened my hold, and my heart ceased to beat.

I felt myself start to lose consciousness almost instantly. My heart throbbed in the palm of my ghostly hand, and my vision blurred. Staggering to the side, I used my left hand to grab on to the cold metal bench, in order to keep me from falling to the ground on the spot. It was a horribly eerie feeling to force your heart to stop beating, but I knew with what bit of logical thinking I had left that I couldn’t stop. Not yet.

Seconds passed, but in my pained, dazed state those seconds felt like entire minutes. Just as the last dredges of hope started to leave me, I felt something budge. It wasn’t my heart, as it was lying limp in my hand, but the throbbing pain of the spirits. For a second, it seemed to subside, but it returned after a split second. Dark spots began to cloud my eyesight, but something in my brain sparked. It’s working.

My head started to tilt back like a ragdoll, and out of the corner of my eye I could see Martha rushing over. Her arm wrapped around the back of my head to keep me from falling, but I could barely sense her touch anymore. What I could feel was the fluctuations of the spirits’ pain increasing more and more, like bubble on the verge of bursting. What I also felt was a numbing coldness, that spread starting from my toes to my fingers. Just… a little bit more…

The dark spots coalesced and grew, taking up more of my sight, until I could only see faint colors. I heard a faint, strangled noise coming from somewhere, like someone was choking. No, wait. That’s my voice.

The darkness collapsed inwards onto me, and at that moment I felt something similar to a heavy weight unfurling and spiraling out from my body. Once the weight left, there was nothing left to keep me anchored to the real world, from sinking into the murky depths, and I was left staring at a dim glow that seemed so far away. The final moments of my life were approaching, and though in actuality they were only a few seconds, time slowed down for me to almost a standstill. I hit the dark waters, and as the coldness enveloped me like heavy waves, I sank further and further down.

I was dying. I knew that much, but I just couldn’t bring myself to swim back towards the surface, towards the light. I’m so tired… and anyway, it’s comfortable like this… My arms lay at my sides like motionless logs.

What was I doing just now? Why did I stop my heartbeat? I couldn’t remember. I felt like there was something I still needed to accomplish, some reason I couldn’t just let the lazy shadows take me, but I couldn’t get the memory to resurface. Well, there’s no point in thinking about it now. It doesn’t matter anymore. I allowed my eyes to drift closed, and finally let the tendrils of darkness grasp on to my body and pull me down under.

Get up, kid.

My eyes snapped open, and all of a sudden, the ocean was gone, replaced with a lush forest filled with the chittering of wild animals. I whipped back and forth, confused. Where am I? That voice just now… what? Where did it come from?

The forest was unfamiliar, yet somehow, I felt sentimental just by looking at the thick trunks and overgrown vegetation. The sun shone on my skin from an opening in the trees, giving warmth to my entire body.

What do you think you’re doing?

My breath caught. There it was again, that ringing voice. Where did it come from, and from who?

The kid I knew wouldn’t just give up like this.

It was a woman’s voice. By now, I understood that all this was just a hallucination created by my desperate mind a split second from my death. Actually, that might have been a bad description. It was more like the fragment of a memory? In any case, the voice worked to rouse my recollection just a little.

You’ve still got unfinished business, right? I didn’t teach you to leave things halfway done.

But who? Was it the girl, Martha? No, that couldn’t have been right. This voice was older, more nostalgic.

Come on. And you call yourself a god?

My eyes widened. That’s… that’s right! How pathetic would it be to have my life ended not by a worthy opponent, but by myself? Instantly, lightning crackled around my arms and legs, and I felt my body rise into the air, above the dense forest. That’s no fitting end for someone like me!

As the energy filled my body, and I rocketed towards the sky, I heard a distant, soft laugh.

You’re childish as ever, but that’s more like it.

Accelerating faster and faster, I broke through the clouds, and suddenly burst back into the depths of the cold ocean. But this time, the energy propelled me upwards, so fast that the darkness split open before it could touch my body, creating a pathway through the dark waters. I reached out a hand, grasping for the gentle light of the surface as I got closer and closer.

At that moment, my eyes flew open and I burst back into the real world, gasping for breath. My vision was still cloudy, but through the haze I could see Martha’s head hovering above me. For a brief second, I saw a look of relief flood her face, but it was quickly replaced by irritation.

“You…” She prodded my chest angrily. “What the hell was that? You don’t just do that without warning!”

“Ow! Ow, calm down!” My gasping turned to coughing, and I clutched my chest. “Still… hurts.” But I noticed that the constant, painful pressure within my chest had more or less disappeared.

I glanced to my right hand, which was still popping with the residue of electricity. Minor Shock? Did I… restart my heart with that? As I lost my concentration, the dark blue haze around my hand faded and the effect of Ethereal Grasp was lost, as my hand returned to tangibility.

“Hmph.” Martha heaved my body off her lap, and halfheartedly shoved me onto the tree.

“Hey, that hurt too!” I shifted my body into a better position. “I know you’re mad, but do you really have to be so spontaneous?”

“Spontaneous? You’re the one who literally killed himself!”

Touché. I rubbed my head. “Alright, alright, sorry. I won’t do stuff like that anymore, probably.”

Martha plopped herself down next to me and crossed her arms, letting out an annoyed sigh. “Honestly. You know, for someone who claims to be a ‘god’, you really are an idiot.”

Even though she was still a little angry, I could tell at this point that she’d basically forgiven me. But her focus wasn’t on me, and I saw that her gaze had quickly shifted to something else. “Hey… is that a problem?”

I followed her line of sight, and saw two orbs of swirling above the small plaza, slowly taking physical form. I grimaced. Ah. Almost forgot about those.

Standing up, I rolled my shoulders, and glanced back at Martha. “Okay, this is the part where you leave. It isn’t safe for you to be here anymore.”

“I don’t think you’re in any position to be lecturing me about safety, but yeah.” Martha gathered her things, and began her retreat.

“Remember, nothing too reckless. And if things start falling out of plan,” she shouldered her purse. “I’ll decide myself, and take my own route from there.”

“That’s fine by me.” If things got so out of control that Martha would want to escape on her own, I wouldn’t blame her. “Then, see you in a bit.”

Nodding her head, Martha’s figure disappeared into the darkness of the empty park. As I turned back to face the glowing orbs, I could see that they had almost completely finished taking shape, forming recognizable silhouettes.

I grit my teeth. If I want to attack them, now would be the best time, before they’re perfectly formed. I spread my arms out to my sides, preparing a magical attack, before something struck me.

Wait. I’ve already used up Ethereal Grasp and Minor Shock. That’s one Tier 2 and one Tier 1 spell. Tapping my chin, I tried to sort things out. Maybe assigning point values would make things easier for me to keep track of things. I can use two Tier 3 spells, three Tier 2 spells, and six Tier 1 spells a day. That means a maximum of what, say… I strained my mind. Uh, 30 magic points? 15 points for a Tier 3, 10 points for a Tier 2, 5 points for a Tier one. Yeah, that seems about right.

Despite myself, I felt quite proud of my not particularly noteworthy mathematical achievement. So, I’ve used up 15 of my 30 points today. It would be best not to squander all my magic at once. If I launched a powerful Tier 3, and one of the spirits managed to survive, I’d be left completely defenseless. My hands dropped by my sides. Best to just evaluate the situation as I go.

Right then, I heard a resounding roar echo through the plaza, as a towering humanoid form swirled into existence before me. It stomped its rocky leg down, and split the tiles of the plaza with ease.

Oh, hell. That’s an earth golem spirit. I breathed, appraising the figure that looked like a bunch of boulders bound together by glowing blue energy. They’re the most physically powerful of all the lesser spirits.

“Damn, it feels good to be out again!” The spirit laughed, its booming voice like the grinding of rocks. “I felt so cramped in that little bottle!”

Immediately, a smaller bipedal figure coalesced next to the golem, its flames licking at the ground. I could see the snout of a yellow-orange beast on its head, and it pointed a flickering finger at me incredulously. “The hell? The hell is wrong with you? Are you insane? You almost killed all of us!”

A foxfire spirit? I frowned. They’re mostly known for stealing from lone groups of travelers in forests, but I guess they could be useful in terms of long-range combat.

“Don’t be like that, Kin. I like this guy. He’s crazy, but he’s got some willpower to him,” the golem rumbled amusedly. “It’ll make his defeat all the more satisfying.”

“Crazy? You’re one to talk, Dihn,” the fox spirit muttered. “You, the fortune-teller freak, and now this guy? I feel like I’m the only one still sane around here.”

The golem, Dihn, gave a raucous guffaw. “Good one, good one!”

“I wasn’t making a joke, though.”

“Hey,” I said, scratching my head. “Is this really the time for banter? Aren’t you guys supposed to kill me?”

“Oh, yeah. I forgot!” Dihn laughed again, and all of a sudden, his fist was right in front of me.

Wait, wha –

I barely had a split second to throw my arms up before Dihn crashed into my arms with all the strength of a landslide, and I was thrown into the air for two whole seconds before slamming down hard onto the paved ground. I rolled to a halt and lay there staring at the night sky, dazed. Hearing a sharp ringing in my head, I couldn’t get my body to move.

He’s so… fast. If I hadn’t activated Static Fortress, and raised my defensive power… I tried to lift my left arm, and a jagged pain stabbed through it. It was definitely broken. That punch would have killed me.

Through my blurry vision, I saw Dihn shaking his fist, and when he spoke his voice was flat. “Hey, that’s it? This guy’s so weak.” He opened up his hand, before tapping on his stony chin. “Did I get my hopes up for no reason?”

“You started already?” The fox spirit Kin threw his arms out, and flames flared up inside his palms. “You attack without warning every goddamn time.”

“Oh?” As I staggered to my feet, a smile broke out across Dihn’s face. “Yo, Kin! He isn’t dead!”

“Why do you sound so happy about that?” Kin sighed. “That just makes our job harder.”

“I’m far from dead, you damned rock abomination,” I spat. With Abyssal Well raising my stamina, the ringing quickly stopped, and my vision was restored. The pain of my left arm faded to an ache, but there was no way I’d be able to use it. “You just caught me a little off guard, that’s all.”

Without letting the spirits get ready, I darted all the way forward and launched a powerful kick. As I made contact with Dihn’s body, the rock gave more resistance than I expected, but it gave way with a loud burst of noise, and Dihn’s entire body teetered backwards. Instantly, a ball of fire spiraled my way, exploding on Dihn’s shoulder. I jumped backwards off of Dihn’s chest before the flames reached me, but just barely.

“Hey, watch it, Kin.” Dihn pat his singed shoulder, and turned to me. “Nice attack, blue-haired guy. But you know…” He brushed the cracked part of his lower back that I had kicked. “Punches and kicks don’t work on spirits.”

I knew that, but I had attacked in order to check how quick Dihn’s reflexes were. Sure, he was fast, but from that kick I gathered that his instant responses to attacks were average at best.

Also… My eyes drifted to Dihn’s shoulder. It looks like he can be damaged by magic attacks to the blue stuff holding his body together. I smiled. That attack was beneficial on my part.

“Hey, you listening to me?” Dihn crouched down, and as soon as he extended his legs, his massive form burst forth with explosive speed. But this time, I was prepared for the pace Dihn would be on. With the help of Raptor’s Wind, my agility was heightened to many times my normal level, and I managed to duck under his wide swing. Another blow came from the right, then the left, but I always managed to stay just out of the range of the boulderlike arms. With every blow, the residual force from the punches would shakes the branches of the artificially planted trees, which reminded me just how much force each attack carried. I’d have to be sure to dodge every single one.

Dihn finished launching his flurry of rapid punches, and I jumped backwards, wiping my brow. The constant movement was starting to get to me, but the boost in both my speed and stamina kept me going.

“Hey, quit running away! It was more fun when I got to hit you.” Lowering his arms, Dihn glared at me. My change in strategy seemed to annoy him, and he got more frustrated with every blow that he missed.

Now would usually the perfect time for me to make a snarky remark, but I needed to conserve my breath in order to keep up with the golem’s agility. Wordlessly, I darted forward again, this time raising my fists.

Dihn’s sneer spread across his face. “That’s the way. Fight back, cowardly man!”

Having realized that I would attempt to dodge, Dihn shot out a punch too low to duck under. Pushing off the ground in the middle of my sprint, I built up enough energy to leap, with one wide step, on top of Dihn’s incoming arm. Vaulting myself upwards towards Dihn’s upper torso, I grabbed onto his hardened head with my right hand, arced across the air using it as a pivot, and slammed into the same spot as before with both legs. The work energy Iron Arms gave me the power to crack the rock that made up his back even further, and I could see the blue aura behind it start to show. As I dropped onto the floor, I had just a second to admire my melee handiwork. Never thought I’d actually have to use my close-range training from those times back in the gang, but it sure came in handy.

Dihn rotated his upper body and whirled his whole arm at me like a log. I used this chance to duck under again, and give the cracked rock on his back another work energy-infused blow with my fist. It had been a long time since I’d been in true close-quarters combat, but the more I fought, the more I got used to Dihn’s style of fighting and the flow of melee combat. Left. Down. Right, right. Left. Up. Dodging the accelerated jabs from Dihn became almost methodical, and I followed each dodge with another forceful punch to the cracked rock.

Swinging his arms out blindly, Dihn roared and struck the ground with all his force. The tiles split instantly, and huge cracks spiderwebbed across the paved floor. I was sure that he wasn’t feeling any pain, but the fact that he hadn’t managed to even graze me besides his first punch was starting to fuel his rage. Jumping back to avoid the cracks, I planted my legs on firmer ground and rocketed towards Dihn’s back, preparing for the final strike.

Then, a searing column of flame burst out of nowhere, coming so close to me that it singed the tips of my hair. I twisted midair to avoid the baking heat, and dropped to a crouch on the ground, observing the source of the attack.

“If I’m being honest, I decided to stay out of the fight at first, since I thought Dihn would finish you off quick. Also, you’re a pretty nimble guy, so it’s been hard to keep track of your position.” Kin strolled up to me, his flaming arms outstretched. “But you’ve been learning Dihn’s pattern of motion, and it’s been easier to predict his next attacks, right?”

His foxlike snout curled into a grin. “Same goes for you, you know.”

I scowled. I’d been too focused on attacking Dihn, and had neglected to think about the long-ranged foxfire spirit. Has this guy just been watching me fight this whole time? Unlike Dihn, Kin was just a swirling figure of flame. Work energy buffs like Irons Arms or Static Fortress wouldn’t protect me if I was just punching straight fire. So, the only way to beat this guy would have to be through magic attacks.

Maybe negotiation would be an option. I caught my breath, and looked up towards the spirit. “Look, you don’t seem like too bad of a guy. Can’t we just sort things out? You spirits don’t even use gold, so it’s not like bringing the kingdoms my head will even benefit you guys.”

“Well, if it were up to me, I wouldn’t be fighting at all. Don’t like to put myself in danger, you know,” the fox spirit’s eyes gleamed, and as he shrugged his fiery shoulders, embers rose up into the dark sky. “But orders are orders. If I don’t follow them, I’ll be killed.”

He outstretched the palm of his hand, and a small fireball appeared above each finger. “If you understand, then go down without a fight, please.”

Damn it!

Each dot of flame erupted out towards me, elongating into blazing lasers through their speed. I sprinted out of range, but the fireballs curved and homed in on me. Does he have full control over all of them?

Darting upwards, I managed to get out of the way as one crashed into the ground underneath me, burning an egg-shaped impression into the ground. Whipping my body to the left, two more whirled past and struck one of the implanted trees, setting it on fire. Twisting, one more shot past my shoulder, but another followed quickly after, and I wasn’t able to move fast enough. I tried to turn away, but the final fireball scorched through the right side of my stomach, before exploding into the ground a distance further. Panting, I clutched my side, glowering at Kin. What the hell am I supposed to do about that? I pegged the golem as the more powerful of the two, but now it’s clear that this guy’s fire is going to be a bigger problem.

“You tired already?” Kin’s left arm began glowing as well. “Just so you know, I have two hands.”

With both hands outstretched, ten tiny orbs of light appeared above all his fingers. But just as he was about to fire, Dihn came crashing through, and slammed his foot into the ground where I was. I rolled out the way as the impact burst through the tiles, raising all the dirt underneath into the air. Coughing, I pulled the top of my shirt over my mouth, and my eyes started to water.

“Dihn! The hell are you doing?” Kin snapped. “I almost had him! I can’t even see anything anymore!”

I stopped. Wait… he can’t see?

“I don’t care!” Dihn roared. “I’m going to crush his skull with my own hands!”

If the fox spirit can’t see where I am, then it doesn’t matter if he can control his fireballs or not. He won’t be able to direct them at me! Dihn’s burst of anger had in reality created quite an effective smokescreen for me. In this confusion, I leapt out behind Dihn’s back, wound back my arm, and smashed my fist as hard as I could into the cracked surface.

There was an immensely loud bang, like a cannon was fired, and the shockwave from the punch blew away the surrounding dust. The last remaining shards of rock crumbled away, leaving a massive hole in Dihn’s back, where I could see wisps of blue aura leaking out. Clutching onto Dihn’s shoulder blades for dear life, I tried my best to maintain my balance on him.

Feeling my presence still on him, Dihn howled out a scream of anger, trying to fling me off. I could see Kin grimace, as he continued to keep his glowing arms outstretched. The foxfire guy can’t shoot with the golem in his way!

“Move, Dihn!” Kin shouted, gnashing his teeth. “I can’t get to the blue-haired guy!”

“Shut up, fox!” In his blind rage, Dihn lashed out in Kin’s direction.

“Wha –” Kin stumbled back. “Wait, idiot!”

I dropped down to the cracked ground, and with a thunderous crash, Dihn ripped through the foxfire spirit’s fiery form, into the implanted tree behind him. Kin’s figure was burst apart, but he was already starting to reform from the flickering flames in the air. Dihn yelled infuriatedly into the air, and attempted to dislodge his fist from within the split tree. But the twisted metal of the bench around the tree curled around his rocky arm, trapping him down for the most part.

My eyes widened. This is the perfect chance. No, it’s probably the only chance I’ll get! Without pause, I whipped out my undamaged right arm, and began the chanting.

“O High Powers, grant me your strength!” A whirlpool of churning power whipped up within me, spiraling around my arm. “Allow me to channel this energy, and raze my enemies to ashes!”

With Dihn trapped, his exposed back to me, and the remnants of Kin’s body still reforming around the golem, this would my only opportunity to take out both spirits in one potent Tier 3 attack.

The spiraling energy condensed into my fingertips, as I threw my arm out. “Come forth! Lesser Eternal Flame!”

At my command, a jet of perfectly blue fire flared up out of my index finger in a stream, burning through the air and casting a turquoise light on the entire plaza. The shockwave from the blast rolled outwards, rustling the leaves on the artificially planted trees, as the beam of azure light hurtled to the spirits’ direction. Snapping his head back, Dihn became aware of the attack, but it was far too late for him to escape.

Come on! As the flames sailed closer and closer, I knew there would be no possible way for them to dodge the attack. Almost –

“That won’t work!” Crushing his leg into the ground, Dihn flipped up an entire section of the tiled ground into the air in a pivoting action, creating an effective wall in front of him.

I drew in a sharp breath. No!

The beam impacted the tiled wall, and a giant wave of blue flames flared outwards in an explosion. I threw up my right arm to shield against the heat, as rubble and shrapnel flew in every direction. As the dirt swirled to a stop, I saw Dihn’s figure start to emerge.

“Nice try, blue-hair.” Dihn seemed to have finally regained his composure, and had managed to free himself from the tangle of metal.

The scraps of orange flame next to him piled up into a humanoid form, as Kin reemerged within the dust. “Control your temper next time, blockhead.”

I could only stare as I looked up from the floor, my mind racing. Was there any other option?

“Now, I’m going to enjoy this.” Dihn sauntered slowly over to me. “Run all you want, but you’re only prolonging the inevitable. You’re out of magic, right? Can’t hurt us.”

My eyes darted left and right. Could I use the environment? Maybe some of that human electricity, from the poles and wires above? No, that wouldn’t constitute a magical attack, it would probably backfire. Then, what? My pace quickened, but my mind was still drawing a blank as Dihn wound up his final punch.

“I’ll send you to hell myself, Conqaide!” A pillar of rock flew downwards, aimed right at my head.

“Wait!”

A voice rang out from behind, in the empty plaza. Dihn’s fist stopped short, just a hair’s breadth from my face, and the wind from his punch rustled the hair on my head.

Letting out an annoyed grunt, Dihn tilted his head backwards. “What was that?”

Kin glanced at the golem. “The hell you looking at me for? I didn’t –” He was cut off as the voice spoke again.

“I said to step away from him!”

I weakly tilted my head, and my breath caught. What… Martha?

There she stood, clutching her little canister of spray in front of her within shaking hands. I stared over in utter disbelief. “What the hell are you doing? I thought you said you’d escape by yourself!”

“I said I’d go my own route! This is my own route!” She yelled, trying her hardest to keep her legs from shaking as well.

“And who might you be?” Dihn slowly moved off me, towering over Martha’s fragile little form.

“Don’t… touch her!” I growled, struggling to get to my feet.

“What? I don’t care about killing her.” Kin shrugged, igniting his arm. “My orders were to take you down, Conqaide. I’ve got nothing against the girl.”

“To hell with that!” Dihn roared. “She your friend? I’ll kill you both together!”

Kin scratched the tip of his nose. “Is there really a point in doing that?”

“Don’t order me around!” Dihn threw a punch at the foxfire spirit, but Kin was more prepared this time, ducking just as the rocky fist sailed over his head.

“Takes energy to reform my body…” Kin muttered quietly, and he stepped aside.

“And, you!” Dihn turned back to Martha, who took a step back. “What makes you think you have any right to –”

With a loud hiss, the gas from inside Martha’s can of spray abruptly spurted outwards towards the earth golem. As the yellowish spray wafted around his body, Dihn froze.

“What makes you think…” Dihn stopped again, confused. He lifted an arm to swat the gas away, but the blue aura around it crumbled, and boulders that made up his arm dropped to the floor. “Hey, that’s… weird.”

The aura began to dissipate, faster and faster, until Dihn’s entire body started to crumble like a badly constructed tower of rocks. And then, as the rocks were held together by magic, even they crumbled into powder.

Lifting her sleeve to her mouth, Martha let out a cough as the dust reached her. “I’ll say. That sure worked better than I expected.”

Both Kin and I stood there motionless, shocked in equal parts. I turned slowly to Martha’s direction, where the empty can of spray clattered onto the tiled ground.

Don’t tell me. Is that stuff… Spiritsbane?

Seemingly snapped out of his stupor, Kin quickly bolted out of range, and threw his two hands in the air, letting out a nervous laugh. “I don’t know how you got ahold of that unholy stuff, but it won’t work on me. You can’t catch me by surprise anymore!”

I frowned. Yeah, there’s no way he’d give us a chance to spray him without him getting out of the way. He’s too quick, now that he knows how potent that stuff is. But out of the corner of my eye, I glanced at something on my chest. It was the sealed Manalite crystal, but something was different. When I looked closer, the red line seemed, impossibly, to show that I still have a tiny bit of magic usage left. What? How? Did my magic potential somehow increase by staying in this world for an extended period of time? Or is it because…

I let out a breath. Abyssal Well! Since the amount of magic I can use is based on the amount my body can process, my increased stamina means that I might have just a little bit more!

Kin growled. “Hey, say something!” The dots of light appeared again over his fingers.

This might not work, but it’s really my only chance. Taking a deep breath, I turned my head to face Martha. Here goes nothing.

“Hey!” I yelled as loudly as I could across the plaza. Martha still looked a bit shaken, but she returned my gaze. “You still have more of those, right? Chuck one at him!”

Nodding, she pulled another out of her purse, and lobbed it over to Kin with an underhand throw.

Kin held out his index finger with a frown. “What do you hope to achieve with that?” The dot of light above his finger flew out and pierced right through the canister, causing a small midair explosion. Light expanded to fill the plaza, and in that instant, I threw out my arm. Gonna take a page out of your book, Eli.

“Curving Arrow!”

The particles of Spiritsbane, or ‘pepper spray’, as Martha called it, gathered out of the air around the explosion into the rough shape of a spear, hovering in the air. Kin bat away the shrapnel from the explosion, attempting to get a clearer view, but my plan was already set in motion.

“Release!”

Immediately, the javelin of yellowish gas curved back around, shooting at Kin. The fleeting light of the explosion faded, and Kin’s eyes adjusted just in time to see the spear speeding towards his chest.

He only had time to open his mouth. “Hey, wait –”

Swift as an arrow, the rudimentary spear tore right through his body, splitting his fiery form apart.