Fallen angel ( 1/2 )

“Inside each of us, there is the seed of both good and evil.

It's a constant struggle as to which one will win.

And one cannot exist without the other.” ~ Eric Burdon

Lifting up, Ling let Kiseki lying on the floor. She gave him strong kicks with the bottom of her foot, but apparently he wasn't able to fight back anymore.

“Hmpf. Too bad for that poison. I wanted you to live a bit longer, 'cause the dead ones don't suffer.”

    Moving forward, she stepped in front of him while something held her leg back. A hand grabbed round her ankle.

    Silver Bullet lowered her head to glare at Kiseki in disdain.

“Wait… I'm not done with you.”

    His face covered with blood and debris, the inspector had difficulties speaking. In a slow pace, he intended to stand up.

“Ara… You're pathetic.”

    As she knelt to contemplate his attempts, she stroked his hair.

“You still didn't tell me why you wanted me to suffer that hard.”

    Ignoring her mockeries, he looked directly into her eyes, raising his head.

“Haa? Why should I answer that?”

    Kiseki didn't reply anything, though his eyes again repeated the question.

“Well, I suppose I may say it as to complete your dying wish. Though, that's quite easy. When I came to Asperia years ago, I saw what you'd become. Seeing that you were a policeman, no surprise, mister guardian angel. However, I was really mad at you.”

“Mad at me?”

“You wonder why? Back then, although you were obsessed by your justice thing at least you had a curiosity that didn't suffer any limit. Then, as I came to Asperia I found you as a slave of that saint-like fucking mayor. What an insult… that a man like you was by my side even for a couple of months. I hate losers.”

    While she pronounced her last words, a crimson feather fell right before her eyes. Her pupils retracted.

    As she raised her head, she saw a cloud of feathers that had shaped above her.”

“Son of a bitch… Your sole purpose was to distract me.”

    And without waiting more, it seemed that a crimson rain was felling on Ling Zhen. Many feathers got stuck into the ground, as sharpened knifes.

    Though she protected the back of her head with her hands, projectiles hitting her submerged Ling and she shaped little by little into a feathery hedgehog. Her back, her shoulders and any single space of her skin exposed to the attack were covered in no time. She only managed to protect her head with her hands.

“I won't let you step in my way anymore. I am here to bring back my daughter, and I will achieve my objectives. Dying is not an option.”

    Standing up clumsily, he made a step aback. Not having any second to lose, Kiseki looked around him, looking for Woodle. The latter was on stage, gazing at the scene with a not dissimulated smile.

    However, an eerie laugh soon made the inspector focus anew on Ling. Despite the stroke she suffered, she had enough desire to stand up again, ripping the feathers from the back of her hands.

“Nice try, Kiseki. But that won’t be enough.”

    Her gaze conveyed such intense animosity that the inspector moved away from her. His body was poisoned and he had no much time left. He clicked his tongue. The hope of getting promptly rid of that madwoman had vanished in an instant.

“…the more you move, the most it is likely to kill you sooner.” Those were the words of the lassie.

    Ling made a step forward, raising a bleeding hand to the back of her neck and, grasping a clump of feathers, she roughly wrenched it without taking her eyes off of Kiseki. With her spare hand, she already had reached for a handful of cards.

    Extending her arm, she suddenly hurled them at the black-haired man, in a trajectory defined by an arc. He tried to avoid them, but it was useless. Two spade cards hit his right leg getting deeply into his flesh.

“Ghhh…”

“How does it feel?”

    She repeated the same attack, aiming this time his bust. A card sank near the heart of Kiseki who coughed a great amount of blood.

“This ain’t no good. If I do nothing…”

    Ling was already outstretching another card hand.

“…I won’t be able to see her again.”

    However, how could he even hope to regain the upper hand under current circumstances? Nothing seemed able to oppose her resilience. She who was colloquial with the art of pain didn’t mind her own. Not that she liked being hurt, it was rather kind of a necessary spice to add more flavour to her distraction. It is an undeniable fact that a vainly struggling mouse is way more attractive for a cat than a resigned one.

“How does it feel to be unable to save anyone?”

    At her words, Ling could see the inspector freeze as he widened his eyes, his pupils narrowing. But… More than that, something felt awkward about him.

***

    A young blond-haired woman holding a baby by the window, gazing at the lights of the city. She smiled as a man placed his hand round her waist, tenderly looking at them. A brief piece of his past that rewound in Kiseki’s mind.

***

    A swarm of crimson feathers began to fuss, gathering in his back. At once, Ling threw her cards at Kiseki.

    The latter rose his head, gazing at Silver Bullet.

    Before the cards could reach him, two large feather screens stood up as barriers in-between so they got stuck in.

“Oow. You decide at last to play serious things.” Ling remarked with a wry smile.

    The feather barriers thereupon unfolded, revealing to be grand wings that had assembled in Kiseki’s back. His endlessly growing determination spared him to get unsettled by these unexpected attributes. Now that he had the opportunity to position himself beyond the reach of her attacks, he didn’t miss his chance, his crimson wings flapping so that Kiseki left the ground.

    As he was getting higher, Silver Bullet threw a card at him which without fail set fire on the edge of his left wing. For a moment Kiseki was unbalanced, though soon the burning feathers untied, falling so that the fire wouldn’t spread and new ones already merged to shape the missing part of the wing.

“Tchh.”

    She wouldn’t grant him any moment of respite and soon threw repetitively another heart cards at him. They released a phenomenal fire that would burn Kiseki at once but as it drew nearer to him it also lost velocity. By strenuous wings beating, the Players’s enemy repelled the burning wave due to wind strength. He intensified the pace of his beating wings and the fire disintegrated. Without losing time, he continued by hurling tens of feathers at Ling. The latter ran to avoid the projectiles.

“Unable to save anyone, you said?” Kiseki repeated, grasping the card which earlier stuck near his heart, before removing and observing it. “I also used to think that. However, I won’t let the history repeat itself.” he firmly added, raising a vivid glance at Ling.