The Leaking Barrel
Yue heard a noise: the whooshing of air filling the vacuum left behind by something – someone–moving at speeds imperceptible with normal human eyes. Sarkhaev's fist materialized in front of her and struck right under Yue's sternum. Yue's head jerked forward as her wind barrier was shattered.
Her body flew backwards and smashed into the wooden walls, and splinters exploded behind her. With the wind knocked out of her and choking on her own blood, Yue struggled to breathe. She feebly fell to the ground, leaning on the remains of the wall. She leaned over, and blood came pouring out of her mouth.
Broken ribs…internal bleeding…external bleeding…some of the wall is lodged in my back…
Yue's eyes closed, and she crumpled onto the floor. Someone screamed, and the patrons of the bar flooded the exits, some jumping through the glass windows just to get as far away from that supernatural strength as possible.
Castle, just now able to comprehend what had happened, looked over at Yue in shock. Sarkhaev, grinning madly, turned slowly towards him, with a fist whose knuckles were covered in Yue's blood.
Just a few moments ago, they had entered the bar to talk to a painfully obvious set of mafia members, all dressed in dark jackets, black clothing, and shiny tar-colored shoes. Yue asked them about Gustav's death and a certain gravity mage believed to be the culprit, but they were beyond suspicious. Someone had told them Yue was coming. Well before a logical person would come to blows, Sarkhaev told his apparently non-magical men to clear out.
Castle drew his pistol. Not hesitating, he fired, but the bullets only pushed Sarkhaev back before bouncing off and smashing the bottles behind the bar. He frantically jammed his hands into all his pockets, grabbing for the green potion vial imbued with the special healing spell. He threw it at Yue's collapsed form with all the force he could muster, and the vial shattered, releasing the shining green liquid. The potion spread over her body, forcing the large wood fragments out of her back and sealing the external wounds. Her back reflexively arched and her face contorted in pain. A hissing sound could be heard as steam came from her slowly closing injuries.
Sarkhaev had other ideas. He turned back to Yue, accurately deeming Castle too small a threat to bother with, and figured he ought to stop her recovery before it started. He raised his huge foot over her torso. He dropped his foot like a sledgehammer, crushing Yue's vital organs.
Almost. Right before his foot made contact, a vial of shining blue liquid struck him on the side, and a blue shimmering barrier exploded outwards, flinging Sarkhaev across the bar.
Castle didn't have any way to know this, but he was actually the first person, let alone the first non-magical person, to ever use that simple shield spell offensively.
Castle dived over to where Yue still lay on the floor. He held up her head on his thighs, as her eyes slowly opened. She turned her head away from him and violently coughed up a rust colored blob of dried blood. The green potion had healed her external wounds and stopped the bleeding, but the recovery was far from complete. It was enough, however, for Yue's brain to kick in as her eyes flung wide open adrenaline started to course through her system, dulling the extreme pain in her abdomen.
With Castle's help, she managed to stand up. Sarkhaev was rolling, grasping his head in pain, but he too slowly rose. Upon seeing this, Yue's fury boiled over. A terrifyingly wide smile crept onto her face, and she chuckled.
"Heh…you got me there. Damn, that was one hell of a punch. But now it's my turn, you stupid bastard! Foa Zo Cratia Socratica! Melodia Bellax! Adeat!"
A giant sword materialized in front of her, and her clenched fists began to crackle with electricity. Her hair, long undone, slowly rose as sparks flew across the strands. A large witch's hat materialized and plopped onto her head, and the air in the room began to circulate around her as a shining blue aura enveloped her entire body. Castle watched in awe.
Well, gotta know when to fold 'em, he thought to himself as he beat a hasty retreat behind the bar.
Yue hurled her sword at Sarkhaev at an enormous speed, but Sarkhaev simply twisted his upper body and caught the sword's blade mid-air. Yue, unfazed, pointed at it, swung her hand down, and shouted:
"Emittam! Dios Tukos!"
A wall of electricity burst out from the sword and blew Sarkhaev to the other side of the building. He made a similar dent in the wall, but the large man did not stay down for long. Sarkhaev got up, panting, blood pouring down his face. He took a deep breath and a stance, and leaned all his weight forwards. Sarkhaev was telegraphing his next move.
His instant movement brought him right in front of Yue, and his fist was poised ready to finish the job. His arm exploded towards Yue's head, all in a fraction of a second.
Yue casually leaned her head to the side as Sarkhaev's arm rushed past her.
"That's not going to work twice!"
Yue lowered her stance and stepped forward, her left palm, complete with a golden magical ring, striking Sarkhaev's chest. His eyes widened.
"SinistraEmittam! Jovistempestas et Iaculatiofulgurientes iungentes!"
A blinding light filled the room as a spear of electricity, propelled by a full blown magical tornado sent Sarkhaev through the walls into the adjacent alleyway, as he struck the concrete wall of the next building with a loud thud. A groan escaped his lips as his head leaned forward and Sarkhaev fell unconscious.
The aura around Yue faded, and her legs gave out under her. Castle rushed over and slung her arm over his shoulder.
"I need to get you to a hospital. How is your vision? Do you feel disoriented? Damn that was intense."
"No need for all that. The green potion was made with a strand of hair from a friend in the Konoe family. It will mostly heal me, but it will take a few hours. That's how powerful of a healer she is. Get your cop friends to haul Sarkhaev off for interrogation. I am about to pass out in 7 seconds, so if you would please drive me home that would be much—" Yue's eyes closed and her body went limp.
Castle stood alone in a destroyed bar with two unconscious people he had to take care of, all without somehow revealing the…explosive…nature of their battle.
"…What the hell kind of situation is this?!"
Yue ran down the dark corridor, panting, clutching to a filthy, tattered cloak, frantically looking backwards to see if it stopped chasing her. She tried to envision what 'it' was, but upon remembering convulsed and fell to the ground. Its very image ceased all other brain function. She tried to scream, whether in terror or agony she was not sure, but the sound would not come out. She knew only one thing for sure.
The thing chasing her was fear incarnate.
She summoned what will to survive she had left and feebly stumbled forward, leaning on the walls around her. She heard footsteps. It was coming. She turned around, and the indescribable horror stood there, completely silent. Its hand, made of thick black smoke, grabbed Yue by her neck and slammed her against the wall. Yue screamed and kicked and tried to pry off the hand, but her fingers passed right through the arms of the abomination. Looking into its face only maddened her desperate thoughts. Tears streamed down her face. Its grip slowly tightened, and Yue's scream was cut off. Yue could feel the life slipping out of her, and her eyes closed.
Her upper body sprang up like a jackknife and her eyes frantically searched the now bright room she sat in. She sat upright in a bed in what appeared to be a fairly normal bedroom. There was a painting of a tiger on the left side of the red-painted room, and a door was to the right. Orange light from the sun beginning its journey into the afternoon fell on her. A dresser and mirror stood next to the door, and Yue looked down at the bed she had just woken up in.
Okay, calm down, it was just a nightmare. Yet another horrifying, awful nightmare. First and foremost, what is the last thing I can remember?
The only image she could conjure was of the smoky figure strangling her. She bent over and grabbed her head, her eyes clenched shut.
I guess we'll try that again later.
Yue looked down and saw that she was covered in nothing but white bandage wraps from her waist where her pants were all the way up to her chest, stopping just short of her arms. Some splotches of red decorated the front parts of the bandage, but nothing seemed to hurt. Fragments of her memory started to return to her.
I…I went down. I was severely injured, and…Castle saved me. This is one of his guest bedrooms. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't have been able to blast Sarkhaev into next week. Well, that's just embarrassing. Wait, then how the hell did these bandages get on me?!
The door creaked open, and a smirking face peered in. Long, auburn hair draped its sides, and large circular glasses sat squarely on it.
"Yue, you're getting taken out this easily these days? You're slipping. Negi would be disappointed."
Chisame Hasegawa entered the room, and pointed her thumb at herself.
"You're lucky I have a regrettable amount of experience in dealing with injuries caused by magic. You wouldn't believe some of the – woah, what's wrong?!"
Chisame rushed over to Yue, whose eyes were welled with tears.
"Oh, nothing. I just…had a nightmare. It was worse than the ones I've been having before. It was… a little too much. It's nothing, really, I'm fine."
Yue wiped her eyes and got out of the bed. She hurriedly put on a blue silk blouse that had been left on the dresser, and motioned to a rather confused Chisame.
"Let's go."