CHAPTER 21 / Auditory Assault

Rizu had me by the shirt collar. In her other hand she had something.

"I'm gonna finish you right here, Brother!" She was gathering magic energy. The object in her hand was a spellcard.

"Audio Sign: 'Empithree'!"

Rizu threw me across, and sent a bass wave from the ground, that struck me and sent me into the air. I recovered quickly and pulled a spellcard of my own. Marisa got up and stood beside me, drawing a spellcard of her own.

"You expect me to just watch, ze?" She grinned. "We can take her down, together!"

I smiled, and then focused on Rizu. I looked at the card I drew.

"Carbon-Fibre Blade: 'Ethereal Edge'!"

I pulled up a mass of concrete from under the wood floor, and shifted its carbon matter into a blade. I rushed at Rizu while Marisa stood ready to follow up.

I jumped up, and swung down at Rizu. She sidestepped at just the right moment to avoid it. Ethereal Edge stuck into the floor. Marisa declared her spell.

"Love Sign: 'Nondirectional Laser'!"

I was used to Marisa firing one large rainbow blast out of her hand, but this time, she spawned up six orbs of magical energy, that each fired straight forward. Rizu was paying attention, and was able to dodge before the attack actually fired. But the spell wasn't done. The orbs started rotating, and the beams expanded outward from each other. Rizu didn't expect this, and ended up taking three or four lasers before the force knocked her down. The beams kept going, and the attack was tearing the front end of my house apart.

"For the love of Christ, Marisa! Couldn't you have used something else!?"

The lasers faded out as the spell wore off. There was a large shredded-open hole where the front of my house used to be. Marisa scratched the back of her head. "Sorry, ze!" I sighed heavily, and pulled Ethereal Edge from the floor.

Rizu put her hand to her forehead and looked at it, to check if she was bleeding. She looked at Marisa. "Well, if you don't want your house destroyed, Brother, then maybe we should take this outside!" She pulled another card.

"Audio & Carbon Sign: 'Auditory Assault'!"

A large carbon subwoofer thrusted out from under my floor (destroying yet MORE of my home), in front of Marisa. Before she could react, the large subwoofer sent a heavy sound pulse that forced Marisa backward and out into the trail in front of the house. The speaker crumbled and the pieces fell back into the hole in my livingroom floor.

'ALERT: POWER CELL CHARGE IS LOW.' The notification was blinking on my heads-up display in my left eye. I haven't had the chance to recharge yet. I had been too busy with repairing myself. And I couldn't do it right then, because of Rizu. I can't let her know that I'm weak, or else she will destroy me. The alert kept beeping faintly in my head. 'Shut up!' I yelled in my mind.

Marisa had already recovered from the last attack. Rizu was reaching for her spellcards. She wasn't watching me, so I went in for a strike with the sword. She heard me approach, and moved just forward enough for the blade to barely cut her in the back. She stumbled forward and fell to her hands and knees.

I rushed to Marisa's side, holding Ethereal Edge at the ready, while Marisa grabbed a spellcard. She looked at it, then nudged me. She showed me the card. It looked different from any spellcard I had seen before. She asked me if I was up for it. I nodded.

As Rizu was standing back up, I placed my hand on Marisa's card, and we held it together. Marisa and I stood back to back, both holding the card out toward Rizu. We both called out the spell together.

"Audible Love: 'Bass Spark'!"

As my right hand and her left hand were holding the card, we clasped my left and her right hand in front of the card. Then, we held them forward, aiming at Rizu, and fired a large combination of Bass Blast and Master Spark. The rainbow beam had a red center, that had a white core. Rizu wasn't ready for the attack, and the beam slammed into her dead-on, engulfing her in a combination of heavy bass pulses and raw magic power. Trees behind Rizu were taken out completely by the blast. When the spell had worn off, Rizu was on the ground.

She slowly pushed herself up, and looked at me. "This...isn't over...not by a long shot..." She pulled a spellcard, and held it between her palm and the dirt.

"Pulsation Propulsion!"

She unleashed a heavy bass pulse into the ground, pushing her into the air, and at the same time kicking up dust from the ground. Once the dust had settled, she had already flown out of view.

"Gotta make more of those, ze! That was awesome!" Marisa was in celebration. "We totally kicked her ass!"

"Yeah. Guess we really showed..." My eye's display simply cut off. I fell unconscious while standing. My energy had run out. My seemingly lifeless body fell to its knees, then to its face.

Marisa's voice was calling out to me, fading away as I slipped into darkness.