A group of about twenty or thirty Strays appeared from the crack and crevices of the ice castle. The dripping blood and pulsating veins would be enough to send any normal person running. Their sharp claw-like nails and strong grip as well as their unpredictable movements and sharp fangs made them all the more terrifying as well as highly dangerous.
Luckily, our group wasn't exactly normal.
*FWAP*! *BANG*!
What I thought to only just merely be a stick that Norman carried ended up firing a ball of a strange grey substance straight at a couple of Strays. One had its head blown off while the other lost a chunk of its upper left body.
Jaden's movements were extremely fast and he's bounced all over the place as he sliced and diced with his short blades. The blades were so think and looked so light, so he was able to shred them so quickly. It was like watching a lightning strike multiple times.
By the time he stopped dead in his tracks, all the Strays that he "lightly tapped" had their limbs detached from their bodies.
"I go by a saying by the way," Jaden said. "Like lightning, I don't strike the same place twice."
Sora swung her chains at a small group and, suddenly, her hands started steaming. Then, the chains turned magma orange and melted through their skins. And with a sudden *YANK*, the chains yanked straight through them and tore off various limbs as they fell to the ground dead, blood spurting from their fatal wounds.
A ring of Strays surrounded both Kagashi and I. We stood back to back with our swords out and ready to strike.
"They say two is better than one," Kagashi said, flourishing his two swords. "Think you can keep up with me?"
"You may be stronger, but I can guarantee you that I'm much faster." I said.
Kagashi pulled a coin out of his pocket.
"When this coin hits the ground, the competition will begin," Kagashi said to everyone as a new mob of Stays came out of hiding. "Whoever kills the most will get the last cup of pudding in the fridge."
My eyes, along with everyone else's, suddenly lit up with excitement and courage.
*DINK*
The coin flipped up in the air, an imaginary countdown begin to form inside my head.
5...4...3...
Everyone tightly gripped their weapons that they held, ready to strike once that countdown reached zero. I could feel the blood in my body rush throughout my entire body. My heartbeat accelerated and my body felt even lighter.
I don't know where Kagashi got it, but that pudding cup was worth dying for.
2...1...*DING*
The countdown finished and everyone sprinted to any Stray that they saw. Jaden sliced through them like a knife cutting butter. Norman shot fire straight out of his stick and burned as many as he could. And Sora melted through a group of them with her chains.
Kagashi and I just stood there staring at the chaos that unfolded.
"Why are you still standing like that?" Kagashi asked me.
"That cup of pudding is worth dying for, but we still have unfinished business." I said with a smile, biting my lip to keep my composure.
"Alright then. Let the real competition begin."
...*WOOSH*
We both sprinted to our groups of Strays, but I got to them faster.
Three days earlier.
"My armor?" I asked.
"Yes. Your armor weighs almost as much as you do, so you should probably not wear it while fighting." Aria said.
"But what will protect from injuries?"
Aria held up a golden colored jacket with a weird looking lever on it.
"This jacket is made of a tough material that Jaden's nor Kagashi's blades can cut through," Aria said. "Not even Norman's magic or Sora's chains can burn through. We all wear one while we fight. I've already given one to Xylvia and Hiro, so now I'm giving one to you."
I held that jacket in my hands. It was light, and the color matched the color of my armor. A golden light.
"I modified the jackets to not only protect the wearer, but also fit their style." Aria said.
I nodded my head.
"Thank you Aria," I said. "I'm very grateful for this."
I've been fighting and training in my armor for years. I've always moved incredibly fast in that armor, but now I'm moving even faster than before. I felt light on my feet, as if I was actually flying through the air. My arms carried my sword with ease. I swung faster. I ran faster. I dodged faster. I jumped higher.
I felt like even my stamina was much higher.
I felt almost no fatigue even after I had gone through about twenty of those Strays.
I was then met face to face with a large mob of Strays who were ready to strike and kill.
I had to try it.
I gripped my sword tighter and let the magic that flowed through my entire body pour into my sword. The light flowed brighter, brighter than I've ever made it glow.
The Strays charged at me, but they all looked like they were moving at a tenth of their speed. I took my stance with my blade in my hands and sprinted as fast as I could at them. My golden blade past through the Strays with ease. I watched as my blade sliced through each and every one of them. Golden streaks of light were being left behind. The light even engulfed the Strays as they burned into ashes.
After I cut through the last one, I sheathed my sword and let out a small breath. I turned around and saw that what was left were ashes, blood, innards, and a few sparkles of light that disappeared in the air.
I still felt practically no fatigue in my body.
I heard a light clap from behind me.
"I think we have a winner." Kagashi said as he clapped.
Everyone else suddenly began to clap along with him. A nervous smile crept onto my face.
"Feels much better without that armor on right?" Jaden asked me.
"I must say, I never knew that I could feel this light on the battlefield," I said. "It was as if I was flying through them."
"How do you feel right now?" Norman asked.
"I still feel completely fine. I can still fight at full power."
I flexed one of my arms.
"Well, you can't see it because of this suit that's protecting us from the cold, but I've grown much stronger."
"Yeah, I bet Hiro could vouch for that." Jaden said.
I nodded my head with a smile, but then suddenly processed what Jaden said and felt my face blush a hot red.
"He might even give you plenty of compliments with that stamina you have." Jaden said.
I wanted to stab him in the heart. Then stab myself out of embarrassment.
Sora suddenly flung her chains at Jaden and tightened it enough for him to fall to his knees and apologize.
"SORRY SORRY SORRY IM SCHARRY!!!!!" Jaden said as the chains kept getting tighter.
Once Sora felt satisfied, she flung the chains off his neck. Jaden collapsed onto the ground as he tried to catch his breath.
Was he right though. Would Hiro really be happy if I told him about my stamina.
A lewd thought suddenly crept into my head.
I was in a large bed with Hiro. Golden curtains surrounded our naked bodies as we embraced each other.
"Can you still keep going Hi-ro~" I said with a voice filled with seduction and lust. "You've already came three times."
"I'm still good to go," he said as he caressed my cheek. "What about you? You came more than I did."
"I still good to go." I said with a smile.
"I love you, Leonna."
"I love you too, Hi-ro~"
...
*FWOOOOOSH*
"YIIIIIAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!"
A cloud of steam flowed out of my head as I screamed in excitement and embarrassment.
W-Would Hiro really be happy with that? Would he? Wait...WHAT THE HELL AM I THINKING ABOUT?!?! Here I am, on a mission and all I can do is think about Hiro and I having s-s-s-sex...aaaahhhh~
I felt like I was going to faint.
Suddenly, I felt the ground shake lightly. A sizzling sound echoed throughout the icy caves. Like a fire being extinguished, except it continued forever.
Kagashi suddenly flung himself at me and landed us both on the ground. Before I could scold him for that, he extended his index finger and placed it in front of the shield that covered my face. He then pushed a button that was on the side of my helmet.
Everyone else did the same.
"You need to stay still." Kagashi said.
He took his finger off my shield as if telling me it was ok to talk.
"What's going on?" I asked.
"I turned off the speakers in your suit. The only ones who'll be able to hear you is us. Nothing in the outside world can hear you."
"Why the hell are they here," Jaden suddenly asked. "They were supposed to be much farther east."
"Who's they?" I asked.
Before Kagashi could answer my question, I felt a terrifying presence right behind me. I saw Kagashi's face turn into the most disturbing face I've ever seen.
A face filled with terror.
I could see tears flow from his eyes. He was very scared.
I looked down without moving my head and saw a shadow of a bizarre figure standing behind me. It didn't move.
It had to have been at least fifteen feet tall and it's head was long. The long sticks that stuck out from its hunched back must've been sharp spikes.
I, too, became scared.
I felt a vibration of something small running towards us. I looked to my left without moving my head and saw what looked like a wolf like creature standing next to us and barking at what stood behind me.
Everything happened in an instant.
The wolf that stood there was suddenly gone. My vision turned blood red. My shield was covered in it. I, slowly, wiped it away and saw that the wolf that stood there was nothing but a pile of flesh that stretch on for a few feet. I could only see the legs of the creature, but that alone scared me.
It's legs were veiny and bright red. It's feet looked like the feet of a regular person.
I turned to face Kagashi again, but I was also met with what looked like a long stick just inches away from my shield. I turned my eyes to see wear it went. It stabbed straight through the ice of the cave.
I looked around and saw that the sticks were all over the place. They stabbed through the snow and ice of the castle. Suddenly, they started shrinking back to the source of what caused them to shoot out. The creature that stood a few feet away from us.
The creature then dashed away. I still couldn't get a good look at it because of the blizzard outside, but I knew for sure that it was long gone.
Before I could ask Kagashi what the creature was, a bloodcurdling scream made me come back to my senses.
"JADEN!!!"
It was Sora. She was crying.
I got up and ran over to her. When I saw what she was screaming about, I froze.
Jaden's foot was stabbed by the stick from the creature. His foot was pulsing as blood oozed from his foot. The veins turned black and his foot began to rot.
"NORMAN, GET THE FIRST AID KIT!!! SORA, HEAT YOUR CHAINS UP!!" Kagashi screamed.
Norman pulled out a small box and opened it. He pulled out what looked like rags and a gauge. Sora, through her tears, heated her chains to a bright magma color.
"Jaden, can you hear me?" Kagashi asked.
Jaden nodded his head, tears were streaming down his face.
"You know what has to happen right?"
Through his tears, Jaden said, "Yes...."
Kagashi unsheathed one of his swords and marked the place where he was going to...cut it?
Norman raised his stick and created a field of green around us. Sora pulled off Jaden's boot and rolled up the pants of his suit to reveal his rotting leg.
"Just get it over with goddammit." Jaden said.
"Wait..."
Before I could finish what I was about to say, Kagashi raised his sword up...and sliced through his foot.
Before we could hear Jaden's scream, Kagashi pushed a button that was on the right side of his helmet. His screams were silent.
"We can't operate while hearing that."Kagashi said.
The team then began to operate. Sora placed her chains on Jaden's leg, cauterizing his wound.
Norman wrapped the gauge around Jaden's leg after the bleeding stopped.
After it was all said and done, Norman waved his stick and a blue color that had a cool breeze flowed into the gauge on Jaden's leg.
Sora wrapped her chains around Jaden after lowering the temperature at a comfortable warmth and Norman carried him using magic that came from his stick.
"No one in our party can use healing magic," Kagashi said. "Even if we did have a healer, they would collapse after healing his foot. The pain that Jaden felt would be the pain that the healer feels."
"Then what's the point of healing magic?" I asked.
"No one knows. However, I think the reason is because this world is teaching us that just because we have special abilities doesn't mean that we can't have consequences for using those abilities either. I'll explain the rest when we get back home. Let's meet up with the other back at the tunnels. The mission is over."
Everyone began to leave with expressionless faces. An aura of sorrow and fear hovered above all of us as we began our walk back home.
"And by the way," Kagashi said. "Those creatures we encountered. They're called Screechers."