At Shine-C, it's the quietest out of the three cities. It's a lot less hectic than Shine-A or B. Volta was with Sam, they patrolled the streets, waiting for any mana abnormality that wasn't the destruction in Shine-A.
"V, do you feel bad?"
"For what?"
"I mean, we're not in the frontlines. Most of our class are placed in A or B. We're the only one in C."
Volta knew exactly why they were placed in Shine-C, away from the big fights, she didn't want to tell Sam why, she thought that it might hurt and discourage him.
"I don't know. Maybe to avoid fighting Shujin or Ablaze."
"We're going to fucking kill Shujin for killing them." Sam sounded confident, that worried her
"We'll avenge them, for sure."
Volta then felt a surge of mana coming from a few kilometers away and it was approaching fast. She reacted and pulled Sam away from the road, a bright blue long trail passed by quickly. The trail circled around and stopped a few meters aside of the two.
"Oh great, finally a sorcerer."
"You must be Shift, right?" Sam presumed
"Yeah, I am."
"Why does she seem familiar?" Sam muttered
"What do you mean?" Volta whispered
"What are you two talking about over there?" Are you two planning right in front of me? The fucking audacity."
Shift dashes at Sam, Volta guards him by lifting her right knee and pointing it outward. Shift slams into Volta's knee, she slides on the ground backwards. Volta dashes forward, Sam drew his blades and ran at Shift.
His world slowed down and he feels a familiar sensation. Dread. He knew that he's seen Shift before. "Sean..." He uttered. His brother who died to a speedster.
"You fucking bitch!" Sam slurred out with rage boiling up
He ran faster and started throwing everything off course. He started swinging away without a thought. His swings may have been mindless but still lethal. A slash from him could end Shift in a few moves. Volta became distracted and can't fight optimally.
A frontward kick, followed up by a sidekick, then dropped down to a double leg slash while trying to sweep Shift's legs. He clashed his blade and repelled Shift and Volta with his Necrotization effect. Volta fell over, and Shift was flung to a street pole.
"Sam, what's wrong?"
"Volta, please stay out of this. I'll kill her myself."
"Why?"
"Sean! She killed Sean!"
"Sean... Your brother?"
Sam runs at Shift who already recovered, but their fight quickly turned one-sided. Sam slashed away combining with kicks involved. Shift was fighting on the defensive. Volta was confused about where and when to intervene, the timing was off and she couldn't mark it. She wanted to help but Sam was drowning in his emotions. She could see tears running down Sam's face. His vision was obscured by his tears, he couldn't see the blade that Shift had behind her. It was an easy strike to Sam's stomach. The knife was long enough to go through his entire body. He dropped his blades and grabbed Shift's arm. He stared her down with tears continuously running down his eyes. He grabbed her shirt and drove his right leg behind both of hers and trips her down. He lifted his fist and landed a full punch at her face. If he was as strong as Derrick was, Shift would've died then and there.
Sam just simply wasn't. He may have unwillingly traded magic for superhuman abilities, but it wasn't super strength, like Derrick or speed, like Ava.
Shift surged a repelling electric force that shocked him. Sam was in paralysis. Shift got away from Sam and landed a knee strike to his face. He was knocked out.
Shift was afraid. She didn't feel like fighting anymore. She dashed aside of Volta and slashed her knee and made her unable to run. Volta limped to Sam and held him on her hands. She checked for a pulse and he was still very much alive. She didn't know what to do, really. She just held pressure on his wound.
Sam woke up gargling blood.
"You can't die, Sam."
"There's a healing crystal in my right pocket."
She grabbed it and applied it to his wound. It healed it enough. Any heavy activity would tear his wound back open however. The two went inside a building to shelter themselves.
"What were you thinking, Sam?"
"What?"
"You can't go fighting like that!"
"I don't get it."
"You could've died!" Volta raised her voice
Sam heard fear in her voice. She wasn't crying, she wasn't sad, she was angry. Furious. So was he. But right now, he realized something. She was afraid of losing him. He damned himself. "If only I had magic like the rest of them" or "if only I was as strong as Derrick or Ava."
"Please... I can't have you die." She begged.
"I promise I won't." He knew it was a lie.