*Sigh*
Alright, I concede. Once-a-day updating has gotten too difficult to do.
Anyways . . .
As was said in the last episode, there's a battle underway. Ryca and his team are fighting the human side. So how's that fight going, considering that Oroco's team has wasted time by complaining to Unibas?
"Stand your ground, men!"
Mina rolled her eyes at the general's order. Why did it always have to be 'men'? What about her, or the other girls in his squad? She grumbled to herself as she grabbed her bow off of her back, so they were fighting more of these . . . what had he called them before? +Anima? Yeah, that was it.
She wasn't all that certain how she had gotten herself dragged into this. How exactly did one short visit with her older brother get her caught in this . . . war? No matter. The quickest way to get out of here would be for the human side to win.
Mina grumbled as she began to set up her bow, but she was caught off-guard when a man she knew well walked over to her. He wore a leather vest, shorts, and a large red cloak. Hidden by his waist was a sheath, which held a katana. Just like Mina, the man had green eyes, although his hair was brown, unlike Mina's black hair. "Cory?"
Mina's brother nodded with a slight smile before he addressed Mina. "Hold on a bit Mina. General's ordered you to pull off a kill on a high-ranking target. Follow me, I'll explain on the way."
Mina gave a slight grin as she nodded to Cory. If Cory had asked her that same question about a week ago, she would have asked him if he had gone off the deep end. But now . . . it was like everything was backwards. "Okay."
Wasting no time, the siblings traversed the battlefield. Mina had never seen a +Anima before, but . . . they scared her. They looked like some sort of human-animal hybrid, and they wouldn't fight with weapons. They fought with claws, teeth, and in some cases tails. How could a human turn into one of these . . . these things?
She watched as one of the +Anima - this one having strange, insect-like arms - advanced on a club-wielding human, trading blows with him with such speed that Mina almost didn't see the strikes. Fortunately, the human with the club was just as fast somehow, and parried each blow.
Tearing her eyes off of the terrifying sight, Mina found Cory entering a nearby building. Mina followed him, staying close. Cory was the one out of the two of them that could actually fight close-combat. If one of these, these things attacked them then Cory would have to be the one to fight them off. "What . . . how are these things made?"
Cory sighed as he shook his head. "From my understanding, they are people that have gained the power of animals through an unknown mean. To be honest, they apparently aren't all that unknown. Our village just hasn't had all that much contact with them."
Mina shook her head in annoyance. "That's what we get for being from a village full of superstitious morons, isn't it? God, I've gotten so many stares for the things I used to believe. It turns out that you don't have to knock on every single doorway you pass through, and you don't have to mumble a prayer every single time someone trips."
Cory chuckled as he turned to look at Mina. "It sucks, I know. Why do you think I chose a new home?"
Mina couldn't help but smile at that. "Yeah, then you got caught up in this here. You explained it last night, remember?"
Cory chuckled as he nodded, but soon got a hold of himself. "Alright, now here's the deal. The general has fought this +Anima higher-up before. This one appears to have some strange hindrance to his ability to speak, and as such requires another +Anima to relay his orders. If we take out that +Anima in-between them, the +Anima should retreat for now."
Mina gave a slight grin as she nodded. "And that's where my skills with the bow and the arrows come into play?"
Cory nodded, a slight grin on his face. "Right. We get to an area few can see us, I watch your back as you set up the shot, and you take out the one that's relaying orders. Extra points if you can also hit the other one before they escape."
Mina grinned before she nodded. "Alright. It shouldn't take me too long to set up for the shot, I can prepare right here."
Cory nodded in agreement, so Mina quickly strung her bow and grabbed out an arrow. After nodding to Cory, the two of them raced up some stairs. Once they were on the second floor, Cory nodded over to a specific hallway. "Over there."
Following her brother's orders, Mina raced down the hallway. It wasn't long before they entered a room, and Cory nodded over to a window. "Should be able to get a clear shot from there. Aim for either their leader, or the one holding the staff."
Mina nodded to her brother's orders, and soon approached the window as her brother opened it. Mina gulped as she nocked the arrow and looked out the window. She quickly identified her target, and was completely shocked to see that it was . . . it was a human?
What was going on? Next to a person with bug antenna and insect eyes was a boy with pure-white hair and green eyes. The boy was holding a strange staff, almost like a huge porcupine quill or something. As Mina watched in complete shock, she noticed that there were quite a few drawings on the ground around the insect +Anima and the boy holding the quill-staff.
The insect boy pointed to one of the pictures, and the person next to him quickly made a motion with his staff. This was so strange . . . no, it didn't matter. Mina gulped as she pulled on the bowstring, expertly aiming her bow at the boy's head. The time seemed to pass so quickly, yet so slowly. Mina couldn't believe that she was about to kill someone, but . . . it wasn't like she had a choice.
She didn't see the insect +Anima look up at the window, she didn't see the determined look that appeared on the insect +Anima's face. Mina gulped, and after two heartbeats passed she let go of the string. The arrow flew out of the window, racing towards the head of the boy holding the staff.
Then the impossible happened. The insect +Anima turned into a blur, and appearing to defy all physics with his speed, he perfectly intercepted the arrow. Mina was astounded as the insect +Anima caught the arrow, forcing it to stop. Then the +Anima grinned towards Mina, shaking the arrow towards her while sticking his tongue out. It was such a childish act, but . . . how . . .
Even Cory was shocked as they watched the +Anima speak to the startled person. "How did he-"
Both of them immediately turned around when they heard a growl. Mina paled as she saw the culprit. It was a +Anima alright, a +Anima that was completely covered in fur. Besides for a few blonde highlights on the top of its head, the +Anima's color scheme was similar to that of a honey badger. However, it was the huge claws connected to its arms that really drew her attention.
As the +Anima banged his claws together, a vicious glare on his face, Cory immediately put himself in-between the +Anima and Mina. "Stand back and stay out of this fight, Mina."
Mina immediately complied, backing up as much as she could. Cory nodded to her before turning to face the +Anima. The +Anima simply growled as he got into a fighting stance. "You almost killed my friend. I don't take too kindly to that."
Mina gulped, but Cory glared at the +Anima. "You won't get to her without going through me."
The +Anima gave a cruel grin as he honed his claws. Without saying another word, the +Anima charged at Cory. Mina watched as Cory stood there, clearly waiting for the moment this +Anima got to a certain distance. Once the +Anima was about to strike, Cory's hand flew to his sheath, and he grabbed his sword and slashed at the +Anima.
It was only by a tiny bit - not even an inch - but the +Anima managed to lean back and avoid the strike. As Mina watched in horror, the +Anima retaliated with a slash towards Cory's face. Its claws cut into the side of Cory's face, and with a cry of pain Cory staggered back from the +Anima, clutching at the wound. The +Anima didn't miss a beat, grabbing Cory's sword right out of his hands. Time seemed to slow down for Mina as Cory's sword hit the ground. That was his only weapon!
The +Anima grinned cruelly as it brought back one of its claws. But to both the +Anima and Mina's shock, Cory reached into his pack and quickly grabbed out his hunting knife. Cory then swung it towards the +Anima's face, and while the +Anima was able to back away from the knife and avoid a fatal blow, Cory still did a great deal of damage, leaving a large cut on the +Anima's face and hitting the +Anima's left eye. The +Anima roared as he backed away, covering his face with his claws. "MY EYE!"
Cory immediately reached down for his katana, but to Mina's horror the +Anima recovered before Cory could get back to his feet. The +Anima savagely roared as he swung down one of his claws, embedding it into Cory's back.
Mina was horrified as Cory gasped once before falling to the ground. It couldn't be. Had Cory just . . . died? The +Anima roared in pain as his clawed hand went back to his face, covering his bleeding face. As Mina heard footsteps approaching from outside the wound, the +Anima raced out of the room, leaving a trail of blood as he exited.
Once the threat was gone, Mina turned all of her attention to Cory's body. It . . . it couldn't be. She looked him over, and immediately went into a panic. He wasn't breathing! "CORY!"
She looked him over, trying to find a way to get him to breathe again. Mina was so focused that she didn't notice when the footsteps reached the room, although when a voice told her to move away from Cory she obeyed. A guy raced over to the body, and soon gulped. "Struck from behind in the heart. He's already dead, there's no way to get him back."
Mina couldn't stop the tears from flowing. The person stepped away from the body, and Mina soon embraced the body as she cried.
It was a long time before she even remembered about the war, and through tremendous effort she managed to leave her thoughts and face the person that had entered the room. "S-sorry, I . . . I-I should be waiting u-until . . ."
The man gave a sympathetic smile towards Mina before nodding over to the window. "I'm part of your backup. The +Anima quickly retreated once we showed up. It's a perfectly acceptable time to mourn your brother, you can cry your heart out now."
Mina gulped, but soon burst out into tears again. She couldn't believe it, Cory was gone! The two of them had been through so much . . . she just couldn't believe he was gone. It wasn't fair! How dare that damn +Anima kill Cory! What gave him the right to take Mina's brother from her? Eventually, Mina got up and wiped away the tears. Cory was gone, she couldn't change that. But the next time that Mina saw that damn +Anima, she was going to put an arrow right through its goddamn head.
I hate stories that seem one-sided. For the longest time, I assumed that people's fear of +Anima was caused simply out of a sort of jealousy. But while making this chapter, I tried to imagine what it would be like from Mina's point of view. Once I saw the half-animal, half-human creature charging at me, well . . . I understood.
BTW, Ryca is a Tiger Beetle +Anima. A Tiger Beetle +Anima is capable of going five miles per hour while running. This is similar to if a person was capable of running over 300 miles per hour. The tiger beetle runs so fast that it gets tunnel-vision. However, when standing still, a tiger beetle has excellent eye-sight. Ryca made full use of both of these factors, using the excellent eyesight to find Mina aiming at Kesi then using a phenomenal burst of speed to intercept and catch the arrow. Now, is it probable to say that Ryca was going at over 300 mph? No, mainly since his legs are still a human's. But the idea is that his speed is great enough that he can intercept an arrow aimed towards him.
Okay, biology lesson is over.
The next chapter shouldn't take me too long to make.
