The nunchuck wielder advances swiftly, and panic grips me. With my Reaper magic failing, I have no other option but to raise my arms in front of my face to shield myself.
The nunchucks come down hard, striking the side of my arm. The impact is fierce, and the force sends me crashing into the debris left by the destruction of the front doors and walls.
Pain shoots through my arm and side, a burning line singed into my skin from the flames on the nunchucks. Despite the agony, the blow to my head is mercifully avoided.
I groan, trying to push myself up from the debris, but my body protests, aching from the impact. The nunchuck wielder walks towards me, his steps deliberate and confident.
He towers over me, his masked face expressionless and intimidating.
"Not so tough now, are you?" he taunts, crossing his arms over his dark black robe.
Just as the nunchuck wielder takes another step towards me, a fierce, determined voice cuts through the tension. "Get away from him!"
As the fog settles, Aimi stands ready, her wand glowing with a bright, azure light. Despite the bruises and the pain in her stomach from the earlier strike, her hand clutching the injured area, her eyes blaze with determination, refusing to falter.
Aimi doesn't hesitate. "Water Magic: Aqua Blastia!" she shouts, sending a powerful jet of water straight at him. The nunchuck wielder spins his nunchucks at tremendous speed, creating a circular flame shield that blocks the attack. The water hisses and evaporates on contact with the flames.
The nunchuck guy then instantly gets ready for a counterattack. He spins his nunchucks faster, igniting the air around them with a fierce intensity. "Fire Magic: Inferno Cyclonium!" he roars, sending a whirlwind of flames spiraling towards Aimi.
Aimi, visibly exhausted, drops her wand, her mana completely drained. "Aimi, dodge it!" I call out weakly, barely able to lift my head. She's going to get hurt because she stopped the nunchuck man from hurting me.
Unexpectedly, I hear loud footsteps followed by huffs. I turn my head slowly, scared of what is coming next, and then I see Kajiwara sprinting down the hallway towards the main entrance.
Kajiwara takes a mighty leap into the air and yells, "Earth Magic: Earth Dam!" As his feet hit the ground, the school's concrete floor shakes, and a solid wall of rock erupts from the earth, breaking through the concrete and effectively shielding Aimi.
He then waves his wand towards the nunchuck attacker, sending the wall at him for a counterattack.
The nunchuck man tries to dodge it, but it comes at him so unexpectedly that it smashes into him, causing the wall to shatter and large pieces of rock to fall on his head.
Dazed, he almost loses his balance as he staggers. "Wow, you guys managed to hit me," he says moments later, perfectly fine. "Now an earthworm has joined the fray. Get ready to be burnt!" he laughs evilly.
How powerful is this guy? He took a head-on attack from Kajiwara. Better yet, how is Kajiwara already fully recovered?
As I slowly get up from the rubble, bruises covering my body, I see sparks of embers flying, water shots being launched, and the floor rumbling.
I notice a sharp pain in my right arm, which looks completely broken. The pain is unbearable, but I can't just watch as my two friends risk their lives while I can't muster an ounce of magic.
While I watch the fierce battle, a blaring alarm sounds.
Aimi takes a step back from the fight. "They somehow made it past the artifact's vault! Masa, you must go to the school's main office and activate lockdown mode. It should be in the dean's office," she says, panting, and without a second thought, she goes back to help Kajiwara.
"You can count on me," I shout, starting to run down the hallway. My broken arm dangles like a loose tooth by my side, but I know that once I enter the hallway, the main office is to the left.
"Where are you going, small fry?" The nunchuck guy shifts his attention to me and menacingly runs towards me.
Kajiwara jumps in front of me, "Earth Magic: Armadillo's Armor," he chants, creating armor from hard rocks that completely absorbs the strike from the nunchucks. "Go, Masa! We can hold them off."
I nod, thankful for his intervention.
As Aimi and Kajiwara keep the nunchuck guy occupied, I reach the main office and make my way into the dean's office. I see a red button labeled "Lockdown mode" on a desk at the side of the room. I press it as hard as I can.
"Initiating lockdown," an automated voice says. I rush to the school's security room and watch the front camera where Aimi and Kajiwara are fighting. Huge, thick steel walls begin to lower at each of the school's entrances, securing the facility.
-Aimi's Perspective-
As the steel wall slowly descends, the masked nunchuck user steps back, eyeing the closing barrier with panic. "Goddamn it, where are the other two?" he mutters, his voice tense.
Kajiwara and I also step back for a moment. "Looks like Masa was able to initiate the lockdown," I say, relief washing over me despite the pain radiating from my bruises and my injured left arm.
"Yeah, it looks like the little runt did it," Kajiwara sniffs loudly, trying to mask his pride.
Suddenly, the two other masked oni rush in from the hallway where the vault is located, to the left of the main office, opposite the hallway where Kajiwara, Masa, and I entered.
"Uncle, we have the artifact!" the female masked oni shouts, her accomplice waving a small black loot bag.
"What did I say about calling me that in public?" the nunchuck user snaps before pausing. "Well, whatever, just throw me the artifact! The door is about to close!" he says urgently.
The masked oni with the bag throws it high into the air. I can't just stand by and let them take such a precious artifact!
"Water Magic: Bubble Rollerblades!" I chant, directing the flow of water magic to my feet, allowing me to move swiftly.
I leap for the bag, but the nunchuck guy goes for it too. He's bigger and stronger than me, and he beats me to the bag, knocking me out of the air and causing me to land hard on my back.
Kajiwara tries to conjure up a wall in front of the nunchuck user to buy time for the steel wall to close.
But this time, the nunchuck guy uses all his strength to shatter the wall with his nunchucks and slides through just before the door closes.
"Yay! Uncle got out. Our dreams will finally be realized," the oni girl says, letting out a sigh of relief. "Now it's our turn to dispose of the trash," she continues, her accomplice nodding in agreement.
Kajiwara and I brace ourselves for battle. I lean in and whisper, "Let's focus on the one beside the girl. I'll support you."
"I don't like being told what to do, but we can make it work," Kajiwara huffs.
"Water Magic: Wave Summon!" I yell, quickly trying to catch the enemy off guard. I summon a wave of water beneath Kajiwara and move my wand across, causing him to ride the wave towards the oni girl's accomplice.
"Earth Magic: Stone Gauntlet," Kajiwara intones, a gauntlet made of hard rock forming around his right arm.
Kajiwara leaps off the wave, lunging towards the accomplice with his gauntlet poised for a crushing blow.
The accomplice, stunned by the sudden attack, whispers, "No—get—away. I don't wanna fight."
Kajiwara's gauntlet makes contact with the accomplice's head, a loud thud echoing through the room as the gauntlet shatters from the impact. Blood seeps through the oni mask as the accomplice crumples to the ground, seemingly knocked out.
Even though Kajiwara is overconfident and tends to look down on others, his powers are truly outstanding.
Kajiwara retreats to my side, and the oni girl rushes to her accomplice's side, falling to her knees and sobbing. "Why—why didn't you want to fight back?" Her voice becomes stern and angry. "HOW DARE YOU ATTACK MY LITTLE BROTHER?" she yells.
She starts to overflow with anger and hate towards us. She roughly rolls up her sleeves and detaches a blue orb from her bracelet on her wrist.
Oh god.. Don't tell me that's a summoning Orb.. And it's blue..
"Come forth, Ignara!" she shouts, and the orb erupts in a burst of light, engulfing the ground in flames.
I look up, my face paling as I see a tall, striking figure with glowing, ember-like skin. Her eyes are molten gold, and her long, flowing hair resembles flickering flames. She wears elegant robes that shimmer like molten lava, and her arms and legs have glowing runes. The mere presence burns the ground.
"Destroy them and leave no bones behind," she commands with a malicious grin.
Ignara clasps her hands together, forming a diamond shape with her fingers, and I can feel an immense surge of magic building up. "Kajiwara, run!" I shout at the top of my lungs.
With a roar, Ignara unleashes a devastating beam of flame that disintegrates everything in its path, leaving nothing but flickering embers behind. The concrete walls and floors crumble and burn with terrifying ease.
Kajiwara watches in awe as the inferno ravages the surroundings. "Thank god that wasn't me," he mutters, relief in his voice.
Masa arrives at the worst possible moment, his eyes widening as he takes in the immense, raging spirit and the destruction it has wrought in seconds.
"Masa, get out of here! Don't get caught in the flames!" I warn urgently.
We scramble, dodging Ignara's relentless attacks like mice in a maze. The masked oni girl sits atop Ignara's head, her unconscious brother lying beside her. She laughs coldly, taunting us. "You don't like it, do you?"
By sheer coincidence, we all converge at the entrance where the door was first shattered. The massive steel barrier now blocks our only escape route. Who would have thought our lockdown plan would end up sealing us in with our doom?
With nowhere left to run, Ignara prepares for another attack, even more powerful than before. We panic, with no options remaining.