The car doors slammed open. Four guys came out with their guns in hand. Raidha and I rushed away and hid behind the nearest trees we could find. The sound of the wood cracking under the bullets sounded half a second after we were completely covered.
"I didn't expect that they would let us get away easily… but this was too fast…"
My body was completely glued to the tree, with my arms and legs as close as possible. The sound of wood breaking and the hiss of bullets passing a few inches from me was enough to freeze me completely.
Raidha and I exchanged glazes without knowing how to act in such a situation. Reasoning with them did not seem possible. They hadn't even bothered to speak with us before, but at least they tried to keep us alive… Apparently, they had completely changed their minds. Now it was obvious that wanted us dead.
"What the hell could we do now?" I asked.
"Probably we can do anything but fight back," Raidha answered me.
Raidha clenched the small sword in her hand. Her serious face was unable to hide her doubts or fear.
"I would rather avoid any unnecessary confrontation, but I'm not going to stand still while they attack me. Let's make them understand who they are messing with!"
Her gaze seemed to seek support from me, but telling an ordinary person like me to fight a group of armed people was too much.
"Even if you say that… I have never been able to hurt a fly, how do you expect me to fight with human bei? Ehm… beings!"
I had the gun with me, but my hand was shaking uncontrollably even now. I could clearly feel the weight of the metal in my hand. Shooting it against the window had been relatively easy, but thinking about shooting someone made me feel as its weight increased to the point that I couldn't even lift it.
"Don't become useless just now! No, anyway, it doesn't matter. I'll deal with it myself. You just worry about not dying here!"
"Wait…!"
Raidha jumped out from behind the tree where she was hiding. I extended my hand, trying to hold her, but only managed to catch empty air. The only thing I could do was to stick my head a little to see how she ran armed only with a small sword in her right hand.
We were about ten meters from those guys, so they had the absolute advantage with their guns. However, Raidha did not jump directly at them. Instead of assaulting them with the sword, she stood a few steps from me and raised her left hand, from which a few black balls shot up, taking those four by surprise.
'Oh, right, magic… So this is what she shot at that bodyguard… Amazing…'
Two weren't able to avoid the blows. One was hit in the arm and the one next to him in the stomach. They both winced, and the guy hit in the stomach also fell on his knees, but there was no trace of blood. The damage did not appear to be greater than a simple punch. The other two who were not hit, seeing that Raidha could also attack from a distance, opened the car doors and, helping the other two, took cover.
"As I thought, I don't have enough power to deal hard blows. Well, it's not like I want to seriously injure them." I heard Raidha muttering.
I couldn't help but let out a stupid "What?" in front of that comment.
'Seriously? Is this girl an idiot? They are trying to kill her and she worries about that...'
Personally, maybe I wouldn't kill them, but certainly wouldn't just stand there spouting crap while they shot me. I would attack them mercilessly until they couldn't move… or so I wanted to believe… The truth was that I was doing nothing but hiding like a coward.
"Leave us alone before I really hurt you!"
Raidha yelled at them in what appeared to be a stupid attempt to intimidate, but it didn't work very well. One of them rose over the door and started firing again. Raidha, who had been standing in the middle of nowhere, had no time to hide again among the trees. She at least reacted quickly and created the same shield of darkness that protected me when we first met.
"Really, what is she thinking about?"
The shield held up well enough, but in the end, one of those bullets managed to go through it and lightly brush against her right hand. Reflexively, she dropped the sword and held her hand. She looked down, at the sword stuck in the ground, with pain in her face, but aware that she couldn't allow herself to become a free target, she ignored the sword and ran forward, futilely returning the shots.
Her magic was not strong enough to even do something more than small and almost negligible dents in the metal of the vehicle. Also, I could clearly see that the hand with which she was shooting was shaking. She came out very brave to face that group, but without a doubt, she was very scared. Probably her plan was simply to scare them and then escape. She completely failed and was caught in a situation that completely overwhelmed her.
'Shit, what should I do?'
I held the gun in both hands and raised it in front of my eyes.
'Can I really do something with this?'
Cold sweat trickled down my neck. I did not feel capable of shooting that gun, much less accurately.
'What if I miss and hit Raidha? But if I don't do anything…'
Doubts filled my entire mind, to the point of blocking my reasoning.
—Do you plan to wait for them to kill you? You are a moron.
The same distorted voice from the last time brought me back to my senses.
—Or are you waiting for others to solve all your problems?
I was scared, quite scared… actually, very scared. However, the moment I heard that voice that fear disappeared, and another completely different kind of fear appeared… stop being myself.
"So you are still here…"
I rested my head on the tree, looking up at the sky. The sound of the fight came clearly to my ears, allowing me to imagine it even without seeing it. That voice in my head had gone silent again, yet I could clearly understand his intentions.
"If I don't do anything… you will, right?"
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I completely emptied my head, dismissing all useless thoughts, focusing solely on what mattered. Gradually, I stopped shaking. When I opened my eyes again, I had already made my decision.
'Well, I won't let you replace me!'
I definitely didn't know how to fight. I never had to, much less using a weapon. What's more, I always lived avoiding any type of conflict. If I saw that something could be annoying, I would just run away or evade it as best I could.
'I can no longer avoid every problem…'
Perhaps because of the resolution I had taken, perhaps because of the accumulated adrenaline, or perhaps simply because of the contained fear, I felt the strength returning to my previously trembling body. I came out from the tree and ran in a straight line, directly to the car. Vurtalis was pinned to the ground right in front of me, so I took the opportunity to pick it up without actually stopping.
Raidha continued to defend herself as best she could from the shots. Aside from occasional light injuries, she had managed to avoid real damage, but her fatigue was more than evident. Leaving her a single minute without help would be a death sentence.
I shot at that group as soon as I was sure that Raidha wouldn't be hit by some stray shot of mine. The bullets came out of my pistol without a sound, something that was perfect for an ambush, but as expected, I wasn't able to hit any of them. Mind you, unlike Raidha's magic, my shots left some nice holes on the car chassis. Attention was immediately fixed on me, both from those guys and from Raidha.
"Drayd, what are you doing? If you are going to shoot, do it from behind the trees. You have nothing to defend yourself!"
"And you are at the limit. Cover up and rest, I'll keep them at bay."
'Besides… from the trees I would never be able to hit them…'
I fired a few more times to force them to stay covered and prevent them from returning fire, although just doing that would lend me to nowhere.
"Think, think, think, what can I do? My marksmanship is not enough to finish this quickly and the bullets can't get through their covers. The only way would be to shoot up close, but if I get close I'm lost…" I murmured, turning the gears in my head at full speed.
—And if you don't get closer too.
"Ah, thank you. Such wisdom is very useful to me at this moment," I replied sarcastically.
"Drayd, did you go crazy? Stop talking to yourself!"
Apparently, Raidha listened to me and took me for a madman… I probably would have done it too if I was in her place.
"Tsk, I guess there is no other choice."
I switched the pistol to my left hand and held Vurtalis with my right. I wouldn't be as before, but it was still a weapon capable of cutting. I didn't think about it anymore and ran straight for the car with all my might. I climbed onto the hood and jumped from the roof, stepping over the door they used for cover.
While I was still in the air, I shot one of those guys in the shoulder. The bullet went through him cleanly, and blood splattered hard where the bullet exited. Another of them immediately aimed at me, but I wouldn't let him shoot. Using Vurtalis with a reverse grip, I stabbed into his arm and pushed it down, deflecting the trajectory of the shot. The bullet just missed me by a few inches. Without wasting another second, I aimed the pistol at his leg and pulled the trigger. He lost his balance and fell to the ground. I took the opportunity to draw the sword stuck in his arm. Surely, that guy wouldn't move for quite a while, but there were three more to deal with.
I spun around, taking advantage of the momentum after drawing the sword, just in time to find a gun pointed directly at my head. I slightly moved to the side in time to avoid the bullet and, following that same motion, picked up Vurtalis and cut him vertically from below. I left a deep wound on him, but it didn't seem to be enough to kill him. However, like his partner, he could not get back on his feet for the moment.
'I hardly noticed any resistance at any time. The edge of this sword is truly terrifying…'
But I didn't have time to be fascinated by a sword. The one who I shot in the shoulder still had the strength to fight, so before he could point his gun at me again, I shot him in the other arm, completely incapacitating him. Finally, the last of them, who was on the other side of the car, had already switched sides and was pointing his gun at me. I was also targeting him, so I just pulled the trigger and…
"Oh?!"
A stupid sound escaped from my mouth when I saw nothing coming out of the barrel.
'Shit, no bullets left!'
That guy pulled the trigger and the bullet flew from the gun pointing at me. At that moment, I felt as if time was slowing down to a thousandth of normal. I clearly saw that piece of metal fatally approaching me at a very low speed.
'I'm screwed up…'
But just as it was about to reach me, that so familiar black wall appeared before me.
"Are you crazy?! Although I have to admit that you had done a good job."
Half a second later, Raidha appeared next to me. I could see a small smile of relief before she charged at that guy and gave him one of her kicks… That guy wouldn't move for a long time either… I knew from experience...
"looks like we managed to get out somehow," Raidha said.
Her expression was bitter as she watched those four writhing in pain. She was probably a little worried about those guys. I was also worried. After all, I did not want to kill them. Anyway, I had no intention of wasting time with them. At any moment more and more of those humanoids could arrive. We needed to get out of there at once.
"It seems so, but we better not stay here," I replied to Raidha.
The car they came in was still turned on, so I got into the driver seat and peered at the controls. It didn't seem much different from the cars I knew.
"Get in the car, Raidha!"
Raidha climbed into the passenger seat and closed the door. The car was full of holes left by my shots, but luckily it still worked.
"We are not stealing, we are just borrowing… with no intention of returning it," I stuck my head out the window and informed the four of them, who gave me a murderous gaze.
"Whatever you say…" Raidha replied instead of them.
Without having a fixed heading in mind, I hit the throttle and drove away from that place. After a long time of driving, we were finally able to relax a bit.
"Looks like they are not following us anymore," Raidha said, as she looked back.
"That seems, so… Shit, everything hurts…"
I sighed deeply as I shook my sore shoulders a little. Now that my head was cooled, I began to remember how I faced that group, and fear began to fill my body again. I couldn't believe that that was me.
"That was your doing, wasn't it?" I murmured.
"Eh? What do you say?"
"Nothing… I just was talking… to myself…"