Gr. Sorry if the fight scene isn't TOO good... they're rather hard... I also apologize for any OOCness that may appear in this and the next two chapters. But i'm still editing the ones after this, so... Hopefully they'll be better by the time i update them. >.>
And for those who guessed right, the character from the last chapter that appeared IS my OC, Hiebie. I had mentioned her in chapter 8 if you didn't already know who it was.
n.n Animation is very fun to do, yes it is. I'm at this camp thingy where i'm learning it... We're using that Flash Program thing. Don't really like it too much but it's kinda fun, i suppose.
Anywho, here's an update! Hope it's satisfactory.
Diclaimer: I do not own anything of this, however, Hiebie and her bookkeeper are mine.
Erased
Chapter 20
Equivalent to More
The one reason why I hated the enemy finding us first was because we would most likely be off guard, and this we certainly were. That's why I always trained to become stronger so that when we were caught off guard, we would at least be prepared or could stand up for ourselves when the enemy sent an onslaught of attacks.
I stared at the new team before us with wide eyes while Sherry gazed in their direction as well. The one that appeared to be the demon was standing a few feet before the human, whom was clutching onto a pale blue book. She had a dark aura about her that made her appear strong, I wondered if she could put up a good fight.
The demon had pale skin with silvery blue hair tied up on the back of her head, she glared at me with her equally pale eyes and smirked, putting her hand that had created the spell on her hips. Her shirt was light blue with different crisscross designs on it that was held up by what looked like a necklace, along with a dark blue sash around her waist. Her boots were white with dark crisscross designs on them and I could barely see darker blue shorts underneath her sash. She glanced over to her own bookkeeper, who I looked over to as well.
The human didn't look as menacing; I quickly noticed this. However, there was something strange about her and how she stared at me blankly, without at least any emotion whatsoever. I didn't think her heart was controlled, but still… there was the possibility that was what was causing the sensation. She stared at me blankly with her gray eyes and tilted her head to the side slightly, her somewhat silver bangs falling over her eyes. She was dressed in what appeared to be a normal outfit, with a short-sleeved black shirt on and tight white pants. There was even a large, white scarf around her neck.
"Hiebie," murmured the human impassively, "Is this the team?"
"Of course it is, human!" snapped the demon identified as Hiebie. I blinked at the two of them and then helped Sherry up as I looked over to the other shout at her bookkeeper. "Do you seriously think I would lead us all this way for a bunch of amateurs? Idiot!"
My brow furrowed deeply and I growled. "We're not amateurs."
The other demon spun around quickly with a blink and quickly frowned. "Oh, you're a bunch of amateurs all right. In fact, you're just a bunch of naïve fools."
I growled as I glared again and then realized I was still holding onto Sherry. Quickly, I let go as my bookkeeper blushed and then started to take out my own book, I continued to glower at the other team.
"So, you're the ones we've been looking for, huh?" I asked irritably, noting the power I was sensing from this duo. Of course it was, idiot! What were you thinking? Who else would emit such power like these two?
Hiebie snorted in discontent before glaring down at me and Sherry even harder than I had done to her. "Of course we are! Must I explain everything to you idiots?"
When I glanced over to her own keeper of the book, I noticed how she seemed unfazed by all of the crude remarks her partner was saying. Strange, I thought, whenever I said anything of the sort to Sherry, she'd start crying… Or at least the new Sherry would, anyway. The old one would just yell more remarks back at me, and then we'd be in a completely pointless fight about nothing.
In fact, the human merely continued to stare at the two of us with a blank, gray-eyed look, not at all flinching when her demon turned around to snap at her again.
"Now in the meanwhile, human, cast a spell already!" yelled Hiebie angrily, afterwards turning around to face Sherry and I again with her arms outstretched, prepared to launch an attack. In the very split second I realized what was happening I looked towards Sherry and ordered her to cast a spell as well.
"Reisu!" "Korudo."
The attacks were called out simultaneously. My right hand was shot up in the air and a hurtling ball of gravity was sent towards the other team, in the meanwhile, Hiebie sent a shockwave of ice that quickly settled on the ground in our direction.
"Damn it!" I cursed as I quickly pulled Sherry out of the way when the flow of ice caught up with us—we had used the wrong type of spell. While my attack was sent in the air, Hiebie's was heading towards us via the ground. Not good.
Unfortunately, Sherry's foot ended up getting caught in the ice wave. She was sent tumbling down a little sooner than I had predicted, in fact, she ended up landing right on top of me. Again. There was a squeak as she fell over me, fortunately she was still clutching onto my book, so that was good. However, I glared as I saw the other team dodge my Reisu as if it were nothing, even at its high speed.
"Ha! Pathetic!" muttered the ice demon as she jumped to the side, landing on a bench not very far from where she stood. "Human, cast the next spell!"
I stared. Damn it, what was she going to do next? Quickly glancing over to her bookkeeper again, she monotonously called out the next spell, while I merely urged Sherry to try and get up.
"Telokorudo."
Hiebie's hands glowed and suddenly an ice barrier was summoned around both Sherry and I; there was a sudden intense chill that swept across the both of us and I could feel it immediately becoming immensely colder.
"Kuso," I muttered under my breath, staggering to get to my feet. Sherry watched me helplessly as she then realized her predicament and started to try to tug her foot out from the ice, unfortunately that didn't work. Though I managed to stand up and walk over to the wall of ice, however I could feel myself slowly beginning to freeze. It was becoming colder by the second…
I brought my hand back in a curled fist and swung it forward, attempting to punch down the barrier. Unfortunately it didn't crack, even after hitting the ice multiple times.
I stared. "What…"
"Heh, you can't break that with a simple punch," said the other demon harshly as she jumped over to where we were on the outer edge of the ice barrier. I stared at her through the ice. "It's going to take more than that to bring it down." Her eyes were aglow with a dark look and I growled under my breath once more.
"B-Brago, w-what are we going t-to do…?" murmured Sherry through shivers; the woman still couldn't manage to free her foot. She was now curled up with her arms around herself, my book held closely to her chest.
"I… don't know," I said back. Even I had to admit it—it was getting chillier. If we didn't get out of this sooner, we would freeze, and I couldn't allow my book to get burned in this type of situation. I attempted to punch down the ice again but it didn't work, it felt as though I were getting weaker as the time passed by and I became colder. Crap!
Outside the barrier, I could see Hiebie staring at us with a blank look, waiting for us to make the next move. It was then I realized that I too had my book. Damn it, what was wrong with me, not using my head? Turning around, I ordered Sherry to call out the third spell.
"All-all right," she murmured, opening the black book to a certain page. "G-Giganoreisu!"
A larger energy began to gather in my palm and power up. Hiebie's eyes widened and she immediately leapt back upon seeing what I was doing; the Giganoreisu began to charge up even more and more until I finally launched it. The spell collided with the ice and it shattered quickly like a broken mirror, sending ice fragments everywhere.
Sherry and I were immediately sent flying backwards onto our backs quite away from the blast. Sherry groaned in pain as she hit the ground, soon forcing herself to sit up. At least her foot had been pulled out from the ice from the blast… Shoe and all.
"W-what was that?" she asked quietly, sitting up after shivering slightly. I turned around only to be met by a foot in my face and was sent flying backwards again. "BRAGO!" shrieked Sherry and she too had been sent back.
I managed to sit up just in time to see Hiebie looming over me, a dark smirk creeping upon her lips. "Fool," she murmured and kicked me in the side again, this time afterwards sending a rally of punches in my face. I quickly regained some control and jumped out of the way, blocking a few of her physical attacks as well as sending some of my own.
Unfortunately she blocked all of them as if it were the easiest thing in the world. I stared at her angrily and yelled as I sent my curled up fist flying in her direction with all my might. Still, she dodged it. Perhaps she was on the level I was at before Sherry's memory was erased?
"Come on, you're so weak!" she taunted and twirled about, kicking me again. I fell backwards, right next to Sherry whom had finally stood up again. My bookkeeper screeched my name once more and bent down to see if I was alright, I reassured her that I was and stood up to look the ice demon in the eye with an angry glare.
"She's strong," I said quietly but loud enough for Sherry to hear. The blonde turned to look at me with a concerned look, obviously not liking the obvious news.
"C-can we defeat her?" she inquired worriedly, glancing over to the other demon as she bit her lip anxiously. "Can we do it?"
"We will," I said and stood up, not at all removing my gaze from the other teams' direction. There was something about those two I really didn't like… it was coming from her bookkeeper. She stared at me blankly as if she weren't frightened in the least about what was going on… I woke up from my daydream and reminded myself that I was in the middle of a battle and certainly couldn't zone out, unless I was willing to face the consequences.
Hiebie stepped forward, frowning. "You guys are boring me," she said quietly, I growled and ran forward, aiming to strike her in the face. But before I knew it, I was turned around and thrown onto the ground face first. I groaned in agitation and glared up at the demon before me, who had pinned me down with my arms behind myself, sitting on my back to prevent me from moving. I glowered even deeper.
"Damn it," I cursed, turning to look up at the one above me. "What's your intention?" I muttered angrily through gritted teeth, staring at the pale-eyed demon with a crimson gaze. She blinked before my question registered and snorted.
"Oh, I really don't care about becoming the next ruler of our world," she murmured blankly. "I'm just here for the kicks. Besides, it's quite interesting watching others suffer… Like you."
I growled before rolling around and kicking her in the side, sending her tumbling over as she growled at me angrily while I caught her off guard. At least I accomplished one thing…
"Sherry!" I shouted, turning to look towards my bookkeeper. "Cast a spell, now!"
She glanced at me without a word and nodded her head, flipping to a page in the book as she called out my third spell. "Giganoreisu!"
I turned around and shot my powered up gravity ball towards the opponent, Hiebie's expression didn't change, but she quickly jumped forward and blocked the attack with her hands. Afterwards, she ordered her human counterpart to cast a different spell.
"Human, spell number five!"
I blinked. Five? Just how many spells did they have? So far I had only seen two…
The human nodded in acknowledgement before turning around to look into the book and she called out the spell that was ordered. "Korusen."
As I watched from a distance, I noticed Hiebie's hands freeze, ice immediately covering her wrists as she smirked in a victory-styled way, afterwards punching away my Giganoreisu with ease. I stared in bewilderment, but before I could do anything else, Hiebie was charging towards me, her fists still frozen. She thrust her right hand in my face and I yelled as I was thrown to the side, though I immediately caught myself as I landed on the ground and kicked her away from me, charging towards my opponent.
Sherry then called out a spell, "Gurabirei!"
I sent the other demon's foot down onto the ground, causing her to stumble slightly. She hissed a curse under her breath before punching me away from her with the frozen fists her spell had given her. Staggering backwards, I too cursed and then glanced towards Sherry, whom was giving me a look of concern.
"Brago, are you…?"
"I'm fine!" I said and turned away, wiping the blood that was trickling down my mouth away. I didn't want to deal with any more of her tirades, especially after what she said to me earlier… Though with that spell and those punches… I had to make sure that she didn't attack Sherry with one of them, even if she was somewhat bothersome with comments like that, she wouldn't be able to handle it. I turned back around to face Sherry and ordered her to cast another spell.
She nodded, "Aian Gurabirei!"
Instead of a weaker attack like Gurabirei, I sent a larger version of it onto Hiebie as she then realized what it was. Unfortunate for me, she quickly jumped up out of the way as my old attack wore off and ran in a different direction. Heh, nice try. She ran over to her bookkeeper and commanded her to do something, I couldn't really hear her, though my eyes widened when I saw their next spell.
"Korushi."
Instead of an ice barrier, an ice shield was instead summoned to protect the two. My Aian Gurabirei attack hit their shield head on, I couldn't hear any cracks or anything from the protection. Instead, my spell wore off and the other two were spared. Great!
I turned around to face Sherry; there was a worried look on her face that I had made me feel anxious as well. Over in the other team's direction, the two were staring at us both with an equal dispassion. I growled under my breath and jumped back so I would be next to Sherry and tell her my next plans of action.
She glanced at me and turned to look at the other team. I knew that she wasn't particularly enjoying this fight… I had to admit it, but even though I craved a good battle, I didn't like having to be caught off guard like I was today. There was something wrong with this fight and I wanted to find out what. Hiebie was at least my power, maybe more, so we were almost equally matched, but nonetheless… that wasn't it.
And with the blonde's comments from earlier, those three words of confession… Why did it have to be those? Why did she tell me that, why? A strange sensation had welled up within me when I heard her speak to me, and then suddenly this fight arose. I wasn't sure if I should be thankful for the intrusion or not… I honestly just didn't know what to think anymore.
However, there was one thing that I was currently musing over that I for sure had to succeed over. It was this battle: Sherry and I had to win, no matter what the cost.
And win, we would.
