Chapter 5-Stand Strong

Downtown Makura was in chaos. The police, along with their local magicians, were fighting off over a dozen foreign monsters that had suddenly appeared in the middle of an intersection where the civilian population was most dense. There were already several civilian casualties when the police arrived on the scene with mages from the Hunter’s Union. Any mages employed in the police force were immediately dispatched to combat the monsters, which were all of the Beast category and thus were little more than animals in terms of intelligence. Now these mages were no slouches, but what made fighting off the monsters even harder was the fact that they were artificially enhanced.

“What the hell is going on here?” Shirai growled, running out of the WcDonalds he was hanging out at to see what the commotion was about. He was treated to a sight of odd-looking monster running around attacking people without pause. He spotted a couple of police mages running into the streets fighting the monsters, but they weren’t doing much damage.

One of the demons, a tall humanoid monster with bony arms and legs with long claws and a mouth full of sharp teeth, charged at a woman who had tripped over the curb and fallen to the ground. Shirai was already moving before he even knew what he was doing. He leapt up and slammed his fist into the faerie’s face, knocking it back.

“Get out of here!” Shirai yelled at the woman. She quickly thanked him and ran to safety, leaving him alone with the monster. Shirai took a deep breath and called upon his power, making his eyes and veins glow with energy.

The monster, known as a Red Cap back in its home territory of Western Europa, shook its head and hissed at Shirai. It raised its claws and howled before charging at Shirai, swiping at him. Shirai easily dodged its strike and landed a spin kick to its face again, but the red cap anchored its feet in place and returned the blow with a slash of its claws that came dangerously close to impaling his ribs.

“Shit!” Shirai jumped back just fast enough to only get scratched along his side. He hissed and ducked under another swipe to get in close and land another punch to the Red Cap’s ribs. To his surprise, the fae didn’t immediately buckle like he thought it would.

‘The bastard’s more durable than I thought.’ Shirai thought and glanced at the other demons attacking the people. The police were hard at work evacuating the area while police magicians handled the fighting. Shirai spotted a three headed monster with the heads of a goat, lion and snake ramming into cars and swiping at the police officers.

There were two other officers trying to fight off a giant black furred leopard-like monster that had breath so poisonous that cars melted when they came into contact with the deadly gas. Shirai had no idea how these things got this far into the town, but something told him that the police weren’t supposed to be having this hard a time fighting these monsters.

‘Something’s not right here. Was this attack even random?’ He wondered as he dodged the Red Cap’s attacks. He was getting really tired of trying to kill this bony bastard.

“Head’s up!”

Shirai ducked and a slender girl sailed over his head, slamming her heel into the Red Cap’s face. The girl twisted her body in the air and slammed her weapon, a spiked mace, down on the Red Cap’s skull. It stumbled a bit in pain, but it tried to grab her with its sharp claws and she jumped off.

“Hey, Shirai.” Ayane chirped.

“Ayane.” Shirai sighed, wiping sweat from his brow. He still had full energy reserves, but fighting these prolonged battles were going to drain him quickly if he wasn’t careful. “You know what the hell’s going on? Where the hell did these things come from?”

“Don’t know, don’t care. I just popped up to kill these fuckers.” The vulgar language sounded so out of place coming from a girl with bright pink hair and a cat-ear hoodie, but neither was the sadistic, bloodthirsty grin she had on her face. “Mind backing away for a minute?”

“Hey, don’t hog my kill! You just got here!” Shirai growled.

“You can have that guy over there. There’s plenty to fight here.” Ayane said, pointing to the side.

Shirai followed her finger and saw a giant lizard running around belching intense bursts of flames at everything it saw. It was a salamander, a fire monster also native to Europa that was definitely larger than it should be. When the salamander spotted the glowing white flames leaking from Shirai’s hands, it immediately charged at him, leaving behind melted footprints in its wake.

“You bitch.” Shirai growled at Ayane before jumping into the fray.

XXXXXX

“You two are walking trouble magnets, huh?”

Kira cracked open his eyes, which he had closed shut when he pulled Saya close to him. His head was still ringing from the explosion, though he had to wonder how they were still alive.

“What…?”

“You can let go of me now.” Saya grumbled.

“Huh?” Kira noticed that he was still hugging Saya tightly to him. “Oh! Sorry, Saya.”

Saya was about to make a snappy comment when she noticed the bright glow of the large golden barrier of light that they were sitting in.

“Kira, what did you just do?” She asked him as the barrier faded away.

“I have no idea.” Kira breathed, trying to calm himself down. “I just acted on instinct and-“

Sai cleared his throat. The twins jumped as they noticed him standing there.

“Sai!” They exclaimed.

“Hey guys,” Sai grinned, clearly relieved to see them alive and well. “I knew there was something special about you two.”

“You have no idea.” Saya chuckled.

Henry limped over to Anya, still shaking the loud ringing from his ears. Anya was on her knees, still a bit tired from her explosive episode.

“That was close. Almost screwed up the entire operation.” He coughed. “At least they’re as powerful as the stories say they are.”

“Henry, I’m so sorry.” Anya whimpered. “I didn’t mean…”

“I won’t tell Margareta or Raleigh if you don’t.” Henry said, helping her to her feet.

Anya smiled and nodded. “Deal.”

Kira looked at the two mages opposing them and stood up. “So those are the bad guys, huh?”

“Yup.” Sai picked up Kira’s shoe and tossed it to him.

“Okay, so what’s the story?” Saya asked, already thinking of ways to pay that redhead back for shooting at them. “What did you do to piss them off?”

Sai’s face scrunched up as he tried to explain himself. “Um, it’s not me they’re after. It’s you two.”

The twins glared at him in an eerily similar manner before Saya reached up and roughly pinched his ear.

“Explain!”

“Ow, ow, stop! I promise, I’ll explain everything later, but first we need to ditch these guys.” Sai said. He looked earnest as he looked at them both. “After we get out of this you can ask anything you want. But for now, let’s concentrate on escape.”

“No way.” Surprisingly, it was Kira who said this. “These guys won’t just let us escape. We need to beat them down.”

“And send them packing.” Saya grinned savagely. “Nice, bro, you’re lookin’ pretty badass.”

“Thank you, Saya.”

Sai shook his head and chuckled. “You two are too much.”

“Tell us something we don’t know.” Kira replied. “Now, what can you do and what can they do?”

“Well, since the cats out of the bag, I’m a water mage. I control water, shape it, freeze it, all that good stuff, but I need to draw it from another source, like a pool or the plants around me. I’ve been overtaxing this place in my fight.” Sai explained, motioning to the dry trees devoid of water. “The dumb blonde over there is Henry. He uses gravity magic and can swing that huge axe around because he can control the gravity around him. Anya, well…to be honest, I’ve never really known for sure, but she’s a skilled marksman and channels energy through her guns to fire those energy blasts you just saw. Don’t piss her off too much, she’s a bit…unstable.”

“Yeah, I gathered that.” Saya scowled, remembering how she was almost blown apart. “What was that big explosion? The one from earlier?”

“That was Henry blowing up my water dragon spell with a spell. And no, I can’t use it again. I used up too much mana already.” He said.

Kira finally realized just how tired and hurt Sai looked. “Wow, you really look like hell.”

“I feel like hell. I was fighting both of these guys at the same time before you two arrived.”

“Did you get a few hits in?” Saya asked.

“Well, I made sure each hit hurt.” He replied. Saya nodded, satisfied for the time being.

“Good boy.”

“Are you children done with your little huddle yet?” Henry called out.

“You’ve been awfully patient.” Sai sneered.

“We’re all tired, Huang. Plus, beating you into the ground will be a tad more difficult with the twins around, even if beating you alone won’t.”

“Unless they’d rather come with us.” Anya’s suggestion was hopeful. “Margareta will totally let you go if the avatars come with us. And they look so cute together too, it’d be a shame to harm them.”

“No thank you.” Kira said in a cool tone. “We’re fine where we are.”

“You sure about that, kid?” Henry sneered. “You two clearly don’t know what you’re getting into with him with us-“

“Go fuck yourself, blondie.” Saya stuck out her tongue and pulled her eyelid down. “We’re not so stupid that you can lure us into willingly being kidnapped, you G.I. Joe reject.”

Henry’s aura crackled with his anger as Anya giggled.

“You know what? To hell with this diplomacy crap! It’s time to get serious!” With that he pumped mana into his legs and kicked off the ground, shooting forward and swinging his blazing axe above his head.

Kira and Saya both yelped and stumbled back in shock and fear. Despite having fought murderous yokai over the past two weeks, having another human flying at them with murderous intent was something else entirely.

Without a word, Sai pushed them behind him and fired off a water spell that created a small but sharp shard of ice. To everyone’s surprise, a car engine-sized ice bullet was created and slammed into Henry, throwing him back into a tree. Sai stumbled back in shock.

“What was that?”

“What do you mean? I thought that was your spell?” Kira exclaimed, not feeling very confident now.

“It is, it’s just…” Sai looked at his hand, then to the twins. “Could you two do that again?”

“Huh?” Kira blinked hard. Was he saying that they did that? Then he noticed a red and silver light come barreling into his peripheral vision. “Watch out!”

In a flash, Anya was there, gunblades held over her head in a reverse grip and plummeting down on Sai’s torso. He froze the water over his arms and blocked her attack, kicking her back before sharping the ice into blades over his arms.

They fought furiously for a moment, with Sai parrying Anya’s flurry of blades. The Aslavan assassin’s face was blank with robotic passivity as she converted her right weapon and took aim at Sai’s legs. Sai focused his left ice gauntlet into his palm and flicked it at her gun. The gun flew from her hand.

The Aslavan froze and her blank mask fell away in panic as she took aim with her left hand, but didn’t fire. Her arm was shaking and she clearly didn’t want to use her left hand to fight. Unfortunately, this left her open, not to Sai, but to Saya, who shot a light beam from her hand and hit Anya in the face. Sai followed up with a quick water blast that knocked her back into a tree and froze her to the trunk.

“Good job, Saya, now we need to haul ass before she breaks free.” Sai clapped his hands and did a hand sign and water was taken from two trees to form an ice platform under him. “Get on.”

The twins cautiously got on the ice platform and Sai motioned forward to make it slide forward, using the water in the grass to move along the ground.

“Is there any way to find help?” Kira asked. “Call the police? Anything?”

“I was hoping that our magic show would attract attention. The combined energies of our mana should’ve attracted the attention of any nearby magicians, but only you two came.” Sai explained, looking back at them. “How and why did you come anyway?”

“To help you. We somehow knew you were in trouble and we ditched gym class to save you.” Saya said.

“Well you certainly gave me a bit of an edge. Thanks, both of you.”

Kira and Saya smiled and held onto his shoulders as they moved through the forest. Kira noticed that they didn’t seem to be going towards the school.

“Sai, shouldn’t we be at the school by now?” He asked.

“We’re not going back to the school yet.” Sai said. “I’ve got to get to a place with more water, because I’ve already drained most of the water from the clearing back there.”

“Couldn’t you just make more water?” Saya inquired.

“Saya, I just told you that I need to draw water from another source to use it. The moisture in the air, the water in plants, that stuff.” Sai explained. “I’ve almost tapped out the water sources back there with my magic.”

Sai felt around his pocket and felt something hard and smooth, like a crystal. He grinned widely and looked at the twins. “Okay, I think I have an idea, but I’ll need some help for this. Put your hands on my shoulders.”

“Why?” Kira asked a little suspicious, but he and Saya did so anyway. “Do we concentrate on an image or something? Recite and incantation?”

“Just relax and focus on me.”

Saya gave a nervous chuckle. “That’s kind of hard. I’m pretty nervous.”

“Me too.” His shoulders were tense and a charge was beginning to fill the air, making their skin tingle. “But I’ve got a decent plan that requires just enough mana for me to handle Henry. I’ll handle he rest.”

Kira and Saya simply focused on Sai, and after a moment, the tingling in their arms had become constant jolts of static. The twins forced themselves to relax, and after a minute their arms began to glow, red for Kira and black for Saya. This glow extended to Sai, whose own aura began to flare a deep bronze. Sai took a deep breath stood straight, taking something out of his pocket, though the twins couldn’t see what it was.

Saya felt a tingling in the back of her neck, as did Kira, and she looked behind her. “Sai, I think something’s coming!”

A section of the brush exploded as a large fire blast burst from the trees and smashed into the ground near them, blasting apart the ice platform and throwing the kids off. Another mana bullet raced towards Sai, who erected a mana shield just in time to block the attack.

From the forest, Anya sauntered into the clearing, her hair hanging over her face like a curtain, her aura writhing like flames around her body. A single gun was clenched in her right hand, set to melee function.

“Your time is up, Sai. Give us the avatars.” She command, her voice low and dangerous. Her eyes were focused solely on Sai, who formed two water whips on his arms.

“Come and get them.” Sai growled.

“Don’t mind if we do!”

A fire blast blew apart two trees and Henry burst through the shower of bark and leaves, sprinting across the field in long strides. He ran straight towards Saya, axe raised ready to swing as his free hand reached for her wrist.

“Saya!!!”

Something snapped within Kira. Seeing his sister, his twin, about to be taken by these people for gods know what, made him scared and angry. He leapt forward and threw a punch a Henry, not really expecting to do much. But something did happen.

A bright red light exploded around him for the briefest moment, and the punch he had thought to be a futile gesture slammed into Henry’s face with the force of a sledgehammer. Henry’s gray mana skin visibly shattered like glass and he was hurled aside, tumbling across the clearing until he smashed into a tree.

Anya, Sai, and Saya watched the whole scene in stunned silence. The red glow around Kira died out and he was left lightheaded and feeling like he was at the end of an overstretched leash.

Henry’s jaw throbbed painfully, and with his mana skin gone, the fatigue and physical pain he ignored came down on him at full force. Gritting his teeth in rage, Henry made a beeline for Kira, but found his path blocked by Sai. Without stopping, he swung his weapon with killing intent. Sai shaped a small rod from the water in the air and swung it.

The axe blade sank into the water rod only halfway before the spark and crackle of electricity began to fill the air. Sai’s rod had snapped in two, the axe was wedged deep into the earth, and yet Sai still stood, just off to the side. The two halves of the rod were stuck to the sides of the axe, and for some reason Henry remained frozen in place. It took the twins a moment to notice the jagged bolts of electricity surging through the Europian’s body, sparks running up and down his convulsing muscles. He cried out only once and slumped to the ground.

“I-Indra’s Ham-mer? Y-You?’ Hentry’s bloodshot, watery eyes slid over Kira and Saya and he smiled. “S-So even that spell is possible with an…avatar. Wonderful.” His body continued to spasm even after his eyes slid shut. The water rod that had defeated him collapsed back into liquid and was soaked up by the soil.

A scream ran out.

Saya’s body moved on its own as she whirled about and raised her hand. A barrier of light formed and stopped Anya’s blade inches from Sai.

Sai turned and slowly looked into the Aslavan’s enraged red eyes, his expression one of pity and regret. He created a long water blade and cut right through Saya’s barrier, cutting Anya’s gun into pieces, leaving the girl with the hilt of her weapon.

Anya’s expression slowly melted into a broken face, looking at her broken weapon like a child with a broken toy. Then those red eyes moved from her broken toy to her fallen comrade, and she felt to her knees, the assassin replaced by a crying teenage girl.

“Let’s get out of here.” Sai said to the twins.

“Um, don’t you need to arrest her or something?” Kira asked, looking at Anya. She was cradling her comrade’s head in her lap, still sobbing. Somehow, the pitiful sight aroused some sympathy in him.

“Or at least knock the bitch out?” Saya said, not sharing her brother’s sympathy.

“We’ve won, there’s nothing else to do here.” Sai said, not unkindly. “Right now, I need to get you two back-“

“Hello, Sai.” A stone cold voice spoke.

The twins spun around in quick haste, Sai not so much. They felt a prickling sensation in their heads. It was Anya who spoke, once again on her feet, but it also wasn’t Anya. Her eyes were glowing brightly with a multicolored hue, like stars, and her face was distorted with an arrogant sneer.

“It’s been a while, hasn’t it, Sai? Have your missed me?” Anya’s movements were jerky, as thought they were not her own, and though her lips moved, another voice spoke. Sai looked at her in horror and realization.

“And you two must be the two avatars, Kira and Saya Asakura.” Not-Anya giggled through her fingers. “My, you two are powerful. Good to know are powerful. Good to know my prey are your typical whiny children.”

It wasn’t hard to detect the ill-concealed mockery in her voice.

“Who the hell are you?” Saya demanded. She really wasn’t in the mood for anymore bullshit.

“Margareta Walcott.” She said, giving a polite curtsy. “An…old friend of Sai’s.”

“What do you want, Margareta?” Sai spat. “Where are you?”

“Someplace quite safe from you, my dear.” The woman smirked. “And well beyond your reach. Though, as always, the weather is simply ghastly.” She added with a gloomy sigh. “As for my business, it is-at the present-to rescue my favorite pair of bodyguards. Your long awaited reinforcements are near, and I’d rather my associates not get sent off to the Ninth Circle. They’re quite useful, you know.”

“I thought it was us you were after.” Kira said slowly.

“Don’t flatter yourself, dear.” Margareta giggled. “Sai was always a secondary concern, and you two are hardly so vital that we can’t try again. Besides, I can’t do much when I’m borrowing a body, even Anya’s.”

Margareta held up a wooden box with the kanji for “lightning” carved onto the top. “Now, if you don’t mind, I really must be going. So nice to see you again, Sai, dear.”

Margareta-Anya threw the box to the ground and quickly hefted Henry and his axe over her shoulders. The wooden box exploded in a flash of lightning, throwing the children back from the force of it.

“What’s going on?” Kira yelled over the crackling lightning.

“That thing’s a prison used by the Europians to trap powerful fae inside layers of protective spells!” Sai yelled over the noise. “Get behind me!”

The twins ran over to Sai as the lightning that burst from the box took shape. What appeared was an odd-looking creature that was about the size of a tiger, but had the head of a monkey, the body of a gray-furred Tanuki, the limbs of a tiger, and the tail of a snake. Lightning arced off its form as it growled and glared at the world it was sealed away from for so long.

“A nue.” Sai spat. “Damn it!”

“A nue? As in an actual nue?” Kira yelled.

“The worst kind.” Sai’s eyes widened and he erected a mana shield. “Heads up!”

The nue finally noticed the children after regaining its senses and detecting their auras. Its baboon-lie far snarled, lips pulling back to reveal its sharp teeth and too a single step forward before lunging at them. Even Sai couldn’t react fast enough as the nue’s body suddenly turned into a bolt of lightning and slammed into Sai’s shield.

The mana shield shattered like glass as the lightning yokai blasted the children away. They rolled across the ground like scattered leaves, with Sai taking the brunt of the attack. He quickly got to his feet and sought out the nue, which was zipping around the clearing at high speeds. When the nue made a move for Saya, he cursed.

“Shit, it’s attracted to her mana signature!” Sai slammed his hand to the ground and called out a spell.

“Winter Blossom!”

The water in the grass under the nue’s feet burst up around it, but before the water could encase the nue, it turned into lightning at the last minute, reshaping just a few feet away from Sai. He saw it was gearing up for another attack and jumped back.

“Oh shit.”

The nue howled and flashed forward, turning into a bolt that destroyed Sai’s mana shield once again and sent him tumbling across the ground. The nue, partially physical, partially electricity, paid Sai no more attention as its instincts attracted it to the nearest largest source of spiritual power-Kira.

The boy scrambled back as the nue turned its attention onto him and started running in his direction. Saya and Sai both started to run to help him, but they knew they wouldn’t reach him in time.

“Kira!” Saya screamed.

Kira saw the nue turn into lightning and shoot at him. He closed his eyes, hoping that his mysterious power would return and save him.

To his great fortune, he didn’t need that power, for the nue’s body slammed into a glowing orange barrier that repelled its body. Kira opened his eyes, seeing that he was unharmed, and saw someone standing in front of him.

A woman of exceptional height towered over him, curvaceous and clad in a tight, black bodysuit. Unfamiliar silver hair danced in the whipping winds and a white scarf hid the lower half of her face, but Kira recognized her at once. There was no mistaking that huge bust or those jade green eyes.

“Auntie?”

“How’d you let things get this far, Sai?” Mai Asakura demanded as the nue flickered back a few feet from her. A golden wand hung loose from her hand, with a stylized Sun symbol carved into the hilt.

“Sorry, I did what I could.” Sai said as he jumped over to them with Saya in tow. “I was under the impression that there’d be backup at some point.”

“There’s been outbreaks of yokai all over Makura.” Mai said, bristling as she spoke. “They were probably illegally brought over from Europa that were magically altered and mutated.” She put a hand to her chin as she thought about it. “It was perfectly planned, really. The entire police department is occupied.”

“It was Margareta.” Sai said tensely. “She was after the twins. They’re…she said they were Hosts or something.”

“I know that, Sai.” Mai said briskly.

“Auntie,” Saya breathed. “What are-“

“In a moment, Saya.” Mai cut her off, making her feel like a rebuke. “First, I have this fellow to deal with. Sai, protect them.”

“No need to tell me twice.”

Satisfied, Mai took a step forward and leapt at the nue. Her wand glowed as it fired a spell at the beast, a thin beam of light that moved almost instantaneously, and severed one of the nue’s front legs.

“Holy…” Kira gasped.

“She’s amazing!” Saya yelled. “Kira, our aunt’s a mage!”

“And a powerful one at that. She’s using light magic, but the speed she’s casting those spells is uncanny.” Sai said.

The nue staggered, its severed limb dissolving into energy, and tried to attack Mai. It slammed against her mana barrier and she held up her wand to cast another spell.

“Heaven’s Net.”

Her wand glowed an orange, golden light, and shot out of her hand as if possessed. Faster than the eye could see, it crisscrossed in the air around the nue, leaving trails of light in its wake. Within seconds, it had formed a web composed of thin strands of light that trapped the nue inside. The wand returned to Mai’s hand, which she pointed to the cage and turned it like she was turning a key.

Kira, Saya and Sai covered their eyes as the cage erupted in a bright light that was both blinding and powerful. This lasted for several seconds before Mai ended the spell and the glow faded. When they could see again, they saw that the nue was gone, as was the patch of grass it was standing on.

“Wha-where did it go?” Kira asked, astonished.

“She vaporized it” Saya gaped.

Mai put her wand away and approached her niece and nephew. Her hair had returned to its normal glossy black.

“Nue are tough yokai to handle due to their speed and ferocity. Not something you want to fight unless you have a way to sufficiently combat it.” Mai said as she pulled her scarf aside.

“Auntie…” Kira said. There were so many questions that he had and how Mai was a mage was just one of them. First yokai, now terrorists. Everything was so damn confusing!

Mai looked at the twins and her features softened.

“Kira, Saya,” She said. “We need to talk.”