"No, wait!" Celina shouted, throwing out her hand. She wasn't fast enough to reach Hugo and Xia in time herself, but the water that moved by her will was.
It shot forward just as Xia paused to glance at Celina in confusion and enveloped Hugo's head. The man, whose arms rose towards Xia, began to shake his head madly in an attempt to get rid of all the unwelcome attachments to his body. Bubbles of water left his mouth as Hugo shouted something consumed by the liquid.
Xia jumped off from his back, making a graceful arch in the air, and landed in a crouch next to Celina. Celina stopped in her tracks, her chest heaving, but kept chocking the life out of Hugo.
The man charged at them, intent on taking them with him as a last-ditch effort, but Celina tripped him with a tendril of water and he fell face-first on the ground. He kept trying to get up, but in one more minute Hugo's limbs weakened and he stopped resisting.
