Another day in San Fransisco, another city-shaking fight - wait, what?

Reina's footsteps echoed around the alleyway as she ran back; her breaths came in heavy.

Reina had been running for too long now, constantly checking the sky for any sign the fight had accelerated; any smoke, or screams of pain. She just wanted to lie down and relax but unfortunately, that was out of the question. Damn it, damn it, damn it; why had she given into Marie's desires to watch the billboard?! Now Marie was in danger!

The grocery bag rattled against her side, bumping into her legs every time she moved. At this point, it was better to discard it; most of the food had already fallen out. The moment Reina had sensed the overbearing aura of another Artist nearby, she had begun sprinting, discarding the loss of the food. Marie was most important.

Reina leapt over a fence and hit the ground. She could hear the sounds of fighting and tensed. It was way closer than she had thought it was. Every day, every single day, these so-called heroes fought with the so-called villains. Each time, it ended the same way: the hero was triumphant over the villain, and the villain was locked away in prison. Yet they always forgot to mention all the hurt people and property damage done during the fiasco. Any questions directed towards the heroes that didn't show them in a positive light was shut down, and people who continued to pry despite warnings would disappear.

She knew there weren’t many people who would agree with her. Heroes were an integral part of life, and they meant well, Reina knew. At least, most of them. More than a few were scumbags who were only in the hero gig because of the easy glory or since it served as their jail sentence. Of course, that wasn't common knowledge.

Honestly, being a hero wasn't all that bad of an idea; you got money from the government so you could survive, and best of all, you would be able to save people. Seeing the look on people's faces, how happy and relieved they were. . .it gave a thrill that nothing came close to rivaling. On occasions, Reina wanted to join the fray as well; to work side by side with the heroes, and beat down the villain just like in comic books. In that manner, Reina sympathized with everybody else. Unfortunately, Reina couldn't. She'd sworn not to interfere in a fight again.

Reina exited the dark alleyway and into the clambering crowds and bright light. She easily blended into them, getting jostled as everybody hurried over to the fight. This was one of the main problems she had with this "hero craze", and made her want to groan at people's stupidity sometimes. Why in the world would they want to get closer to the fight? That didn’t make any sense! They should be running away! Unless they had a strong desire to die or was an adrenaline junkie of unhealthy proportions, people should be following the specific instructions the city put into place. Step 1: Whenever there's a "super-villain" attacking, don't panic and call the police, who would call the heroes. Step 2: If possible, evacuate in an orderly fashion to a safe place. If not, stay as still as possible. That was it. 2 simple rules, because there was no way to enforce anything complicated with how often these battles occurred. Yet with all that, scenarios like this happened way too often.

Reina could at least could take care of herself to the point where she wouldn't die from being caught in a battle between two Artists. Somehow, as she watched a boy pick his nose and eat it, she highly doubted they can. Reina grimaced at the sight before turning her head. The center where she'd left Marie was only a few blocks away, she could get there in 10 minutes. At the same time. . .Reina glanced at the kid again, who was now getting jostled by the swarm of people before getting picked up by his mother. If things got too rough and the hero couldn't handle it, she should be there to protect the people.

But Marie. . .the fight wasn't anywhere near her location yet, and things could get worse if she wasn't here. Besides, Marie had a pepper spray in case anybody came after her. Every molecule of Reina's body revolted at the thought of leaving Marie only for even a second long, much less to stay at a fight she probably wasn't even needed at but. . .she couldn't take if it somebody died because she wasn't there. Resigning herself to her fate, Reina turned on her heels and followed the group of people like the good little sheep she was.

“Did you hear?” somebody asked excitedly. Reina’s ear tilted toward a couple talking animatedly.

“What?”

“The academy’s first day is coming up soon!”

“Do you think we need to go through a test to have our kids go in?” a third party wondered.

The first person who spoke shook his head. “Nah, I think you just show up and be there.”

“Really? That’s great!”

Reina sighed as she stopped listening. The academies were dotted all over the world, and they were all. . .not the best place to put it lightly. Too much politics, not enough education. Reina brushed away the though; she needed something to distract her.

Lucky for her, the battle had just arrived.

A semi-truck flew toward a young kid and Reina dived to push him out of the way. Covering him with her body, she twisted to get the full force of the landing. The truck crashed to the ground mere feet from them, sending glass and metal shrapnel everywhere. Reina quickly got up and placed the boy onto his feet, examining for any injuries. Other than huge streaks of tears running down his face and a couple of scratches, he was fine. Probably had extensive trauma, but he wasn't going to die.

“Get out of here!” she ordered, lightly giving him a push. It was meant to be an encouraging action but the boy took one look at her and ran off bawling. She sweat-dropped. He cried at me but not the flying truck? Whatever. She followed his path with her eyes, ready to intervene if any other trucks happened to land on him. When he was swallowed up by the sea of people, Reina focused her attention back to everybody else.

Most of the people had scattered the moment the first vehicle flew into the air and she nodded approvingly. Apparently, not everybody was an adrenaline junkie. There were a couple of stragglers that Reina helped pick up the pace, all while scanning the surroundings for anything that would pose a threat to them. Other than extreme amounts of damage done to the stores lining the road (all of which were empty) and an unreasonable amount of fallen vehicles on the ground, nothing seemed to be too bad. There weren't any bodies, in any case.

A cry of agony split the sky and Reina spun her head to see the cause of such a noise. The hero, obviously a rookie by the looks of him, was slowly being crushed by the pinchers of a giant crab. An abnormally large crustacean with a shiny red shell, ten long longs, of which the front two pairs had razor-sharp claws protruding from them. A pair of eyes was seen at the top of the shell, shining with clear human intellect. The hero was trapped in the right claw, the sound of his armor creaking audibly even from where Reina stood. Another yelp tore out of him before he spotted her.

“Do not worry, madam! I will save you!” He grinned, showing all his teeth and trying to inspire hope in her. Or something like that. Honestly, all Reina could think of at the moment was how this giant crab even came into existence. She didn't think turning-into-giant-sentient-crabs was a side effect of any of the Arts. Energy Artist, maybe? A deformation?

She shook her head at the hero when he continued yelling supportive comments. Screaming one second and the instant you spot a ‘damsel’ it’s fine? Well, props for trying to calm down a bystander. Not a lot of heroes would do that nowadays, all too busy with taking down the villains. She cupped her hands over her mouth. “Thanks, big guy! Uh, you're in a bit of a trouble, right? Want me to help?" Reina called, trying not to seem too eager.

Sis is going to kill you! - What she doesn't know won't hurt her. - Oh, she'll definitely find out. And then you're going to be feeling the hurt! - Over-exaggeration! Besides, it's not like I can just let him die! She'll understand. - I swear to god, she will kill you. Back and forth, Reina's inner mind went.

“N-no, I'm fine!” the hero insisted. "Don't worry! Just leave and - ARGH!" The rest of his sentence was cut off when the crab tightened his claw, the sound of bone breaking audible. Reina grimaced, her hands unconsciously twisting into fists.

See! He doesn't want help! Now, go do your duty, make sure Marie's safe, and get the hell out of here! The more "logical" side of her insisted. Reina bit the inside of her mouth.

"I don't know, he seems like he really needs help," Reina murmured. The hero grunted.

"You're still here? I told you, it's fine!" he bellowed. "I, uh, I have a secret weapon! I can't use it while you're here!"

The crab chuckled. "This is hilarious. You're a riot, you know?" With his another claw, he pressed it against the hero's chest. "How long do you think your ribcage can hold out?"

"I SAID GOOOOOOOOO!" the hero roared.

"Damn it," Reina said under her breath. Marie took priority. Besides, he had a secret weapon; he'd be fine, she told herself. "Hang in there, hero! I'm sure you can win!" Turning around, Reina bolted down the street. She had left Marie next to the billboard to get the grocery, hopefully she was still there!

The crab bellowed behind her. “Hahahahaha! You have chewed off more than you can bite, have you? I am the most powerful being there is! I have slain countless of heroes before! Drowned civilians in the blood of their precious heroes! Destroyed entire cities!"

Reina stopped walking as a thought occurred to her. This hero was a rookie, right? Judging from how rudimentary his gear looked, he was just fresh out of training. If that was the case, could it be he wasn't faking? Was he actually dying?

“That’s impossible! You filthy liar! You scum of the earth, dirty-eared-” the rookie cried. The crab lifted him closer to his teeth; (oh wow, it had human teeth. Now that just looked weird).

“I lie? Then why are you caught in my pincers right now, about to be lunch?” He started moving him into his mouth and the hero flailed around even more.

A small chuckle stopped him. They both paused and looked at the slouched figure, standing in the middle of the road. Her shoulders rose with laughter. Reina couldn't help it. She'd been about to let this guy die! Not on purpose, not knowingly, but still! The very same sin she hated people doing, she had been about to commit.

The crab grunted and turned to face her. “You there! What is so amusing?” he asked. Reina didn’t reply and kept on laughing, taking on a more maniacal tone. What kind of person was she?

“I demand an answer!” the crab roared.

“Listen, little girl! Run! Get the heroes!” the rookie shouted, trying desperately to save one life.

Reina clenched her fists, feeling the heat rise inside of her. For once, she allowed it to do so unhindered. She didn't know how powerful this crab thing was, and she had gotten rusty. For all she knew, she might need all her power. To those who were still around her, they could spot tendrils of steam drifting from her shoulders. the air around her shimmered as the heat racked up.

Both the crab and the rookie froze when they took in her eyes - from the shadow of her cloak, they glowed golden, like brilliant ingots of gold being melted. The ground underneath her feet started to turn red and cracks formed from the sheer heat. “Blood, eh? Killed a ton of heroes, hm?” she asked. The crab smacked himself on the chest.

“Aye! Be honored, little girl, because today, you will die at the hands of a true monster!”

“Don’t make me laugh.”

Her cold reply froze the crab in his tracks. “Excuse me?” His voice was more threatening now.

“You heard me?” Reina shouted. It was only a matter of seconds before he attacked, judging by his tone. “You think you’re some big shot? Well, you’re not!”

The crab growled. “How dare you?!” His body tensing was the only thing that alerted Reina; in an instant, he pushed himself off the ground and sped toward her, the left pincer snapping while the right still had the rookie hero contained within. “I’ll rip your body limb to limb!”

Reina sidestepped him, gently touching the shell with the palm of her blazing hand. The shell was strong, more durable than steel. The heat barely did anything, and the crustacean didn't give any indication of her touch. She needed something strong to combat this foe. Her hand went into her cloak and grasped something the wooden hilt of a familiar friend.

The crab had landed, slightly stumbling from the unexpected lack of contact. Quickly catching himself, he attempted another charge. Reina dodged to the side again, but this time, she whipped her friend out of the cloak. A flash of silver reflected the light as the pincer that held the rookie went flying, dismembered from the rest of the body.

“Raaaah!” The crab stumbled in agony, slamming into a building in a blind rage. The rookie gazed at the girl in disbelief.

Amidst the flames that crackled around her body, she lifted the gleaming katana in front of her. “Let’s do this.”