Reina’s fingers rhythmically tapped the table, small sparks of electricity flying off of her fingers. Her eyes flew over the map that was laid on it and then she tapped multiple locations on it, leaving behind a small burn with each one.

  “Not too far,” Reina murmured. “I can make it in the hour.”

  “In the hour!?” Machua exclaimed. “These bases are kilometres apart!”

  “You’re fast, auntie, but isn’t this too much, even for you?” Plue asked.

  Rasa added, “That and you have to save everyone kept prisoner in each one. You’ll be dealing with Dalan’s grunts with each base as well.”

  “Did she stutter?” Mikoko interjected before the squad could exclaim more. “My sister can do it.”

  The trio who voiced their thoughts looked at her with troubled eyes before turning to Reina. They were met with only a steadfast smile.

  “Trust me. I’ve done faster things under even more duress. This is nothing to me.”

  Before this, the group had relocated to a nearby house. Machia and Carmine were resting in a bedroom, with Ernest tending to them.

  The map they were using was taken by Machia from Dalan’s hideout before it fell into ruin. He had given it to them before passing out on the bed. The map was just what Reina needed to pinpoint the remaining base locations. Now that she had, she could save everyone Dalan had taken and in just an hour. Or at least that was what she claimed.

  “Okay, that’s one thing, but-“

  Machua was interrupted by the door to the bedroom slammed open. Walking through it was a freshly healed Carmine. Her clothes were still in tatters but the flesh that could be seen through them were healed. Not even scarred.

  “How..? You don’t even look injured,” Machua muttered.

  “I heal fast,” Carmine nonchalantly answered while sitting herself at the table.

  “You must be paying a cost for it. Otherwise every Blood Aspected would use it. Is that right?” Mikoko asked a pointed question.

  Carmine clicked her tongue at it. “Yeah, it’s nothing much. It’s a bit of a drain on the mana and I get a bit thirsty afterwards.”

  Carmine left an awkward pause, as if waiting for someone to ask. Mikoko frowned but didn’t say anything. Everyone could tell there was more to it, but no one said a word.

  When she saw no one had anything to say she shrugged her shoulders then continued. “So, I snacked on your bro while you all were chatting.”

  “What!?”

  “He was awake enough to consent.”

  “Argh, never mind that. Reina, you’re really sending us after him?” Machua questioned.

  “That’s what I said, but after hearing about that kid Ernest, I can’t commandeer your squad. That wouldn’t be right. You have a duty to Ernest to protect him.”

  Machua took a deep breath as she remembered her promise to him. There wasn’t anything about killing or even stopping Dalan. Only that she would see him through this and keep him alive.

  “Don’t agonise over this yet. Make your decision after you hear her plan,” Mikoko advised.

  Machua nodded and listened intently.

  “Earlier, while Dalan was distracted by me, my cute little-“

  “Sister,” Mikoko interjected before Reina could say anything. The others at the table looked at her with a confused expression.

  “Ahem,” Reina coughed, drawing attention back to her. “Mikoko put a tracker on him.”

  Mikoko raised a device that showed his location. Dalan was heading towards one of his bases that was quite a bit away. This base was the only base that Reina hadn’t tapped earlier.

  “Now that I’m here, this entire area’s compromised. He must be trying to escape now, and I’m guessing it’s on an airship. The base is in an abandoned mall and it does have a helipad, but if it had an airship inside Verdin Hunters would have noticed already. Pre-Emergence buildings aren’t built to store or maintain airships, so any modifications would be noticeable,” Reina explained.

  “Basically, he has to go down before he gets on his airship. He’ll make it there first, so he’ll get to call it and you’ll have to use that extra time to put him down.”

  “But you can definitely beat him before he makes it auntie,” Plue pointed out. “And you’re way faster than us.”

  “That’s exactly the issue. I can’t do that. If I stop him, all his hostages die. I can’t both save his hostages and stop him at the same time.”

  “Which is why you’re sending us out. Sounds just about right,” Carmine grinned.

  If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

  Rasa spoke up, “But then there’s a risk that if you aren’t fast enough, Dalan’s men will execute them.”

  “You’re worrying about me making it in an hour and now you think I can’t finish faster than all of you? Don’t make me laugh.”

  Mikoko glanced at her older sister briefly.

  She returned it and nodded. “I would be assisting you all. You’ll need the extra support now that you’re down a man.”

  “Even with your help can we really do this? He practically tore through us, even with Machi. Someone could die,” Machua’s voice turned shaky towards the end.

  “I’m not as confident as my sister personally, but she has a reason,” Mikoko answered. “Care to explain?”

  “Dalan has a pretty unique way of cutting. You all know he has Severance, but you also should have noticed that he doesn’t slash, he shreds.”

  Machua didn’t understand that at first but when she heard it, it all made sense. The aftermath of Dalan’s slashes, both at that bridge and during his fight with Machia, were wild. None of those slashes were clean, they were rough and flew all over the place. The ground and any objects in the environment naturally got cut whenever he fought.

  “Yeah, noticed it when he cut me,” Carmine said. “It’s like running your hand through a chainsaw.”

  ‘What?’ Machua thought to ask if she knew how that felt but decided the implication would probably be too heavy for her right now.

  “I’ve clashed with him a few times now and I noticed that his mana is formed into shredding cuts around his daggers. The cutting mana moves in a real annoying way. They sorta oscillate, you know?“

  “Huh?” Most of the group said.

  “It’s like a, you know how sound waves work? It’s like that. Constantly moving, but with the same rhythm.”

  “…Huh?”

  “Rei, I don’t think your analogies work.”

  “Whatever. I see the most important person understood what that means though,” Reina gestured to the person in question.

  Rasa, who was lost in thought, looked up at her. He had a glint in his eye.

  “Gal told me you’re real good with that sort of thing so you can figure something out with the oscillation. You’re the keystone of the plan. Figure out the frequency of his oscillation and Rasa here should be able to counter the shredding. That’s why I trust you all to take care of him.”

  Rasa’s ears wobbled slightly. It was true that he had recognised that Dalan’s mana was oscillating. He also used a similar method of making a screeching noise as him, which he was able to handily counter, so that lent the idea more credence. Still, it was a burden that was thrust upon him very suddenly. He couldn’t be sure if he could.

  “I can try. I believe I should be able to at least affect his magic. But I would need to learn the frequency first, so we would have to engage in a prolonged fight with him to give me enough time to grasp it.”

  “My specialty,” Carmine almost snickered.

  “And I can assist in that as well,” Mikoko added.

  “My only doubt is that I may personally have to clash with him to fully understand the frequency, which could break my equipment. But other than that, it seems feasible.”

  “There we go. That convincing enough to you, leader?” Reina asked Machua.

  Machua should really have gotten used to this by now. Her nerves were tired from being so uptight, but now a member of Erebus was calling her the group leader?

  “Like I said, I’m not commandeering your squad. You’re free to go back to Verdin at any time with Ernest. Might even be the best decision. No lives will be lost if you don’t go. But Dalan would get away.”

  Machua sighed slightly, then gritted her teeth. “I already made up my mind when you showed up. Nah, I made my mind when I saw Machi get cut up. No matter how hard you were going to stop us, I was going to beg you to let us help you. So now that you’re backing us up, I’m sure we can do this.”

  The rest of the group reacted positively to her words. They all nodded or smiled at her.

  “Alright folks! Let’s get going! We don’t have much time. Machia and Ernest’ll have to stay here for the time being, but we’ll be done quick.”

  “Okay. We can leave them behind for a bit. I feel bad for Ernest, but someone has to take care of Machi,” Machua said.

  “No one… has to do that,” Machia shambled into the room.

  “Sorry, I tried to get him to stay in bed!” Ernest came up from behind him and supported him.

  Machia shook off Ernest’s help. “I can fight. I can keep going.”

  Machua furrowed her brows. Her brother was clearly still injured. His wounds were bandaged, but even with first aid, there was no hiding how it affected him. He took slow deep breaths and walked with a gait that seemed like he could topple over at any second.

  “You can’t-“ She began to say, but she was cut off.

  “Machia,” Reina said with an intense tone. “You’re too injured. You’ll weigh them down. Everyone agree with me?”

  Everyone nodded along. Machua met her brother’s gaze then nodded as well. He grimaced and turned his gaze away from her. Instead, he turned to Reina.

  “Listen, I have to come with. If I don’t, then someone will get hurt. I won’t let anyone-“

  “Give me a break,” Reina interrupted.

  Machia stopped speaking. His mouth closed, and he gritted his teeth. When Reina spoke again, he looked to the ground, almost unable to stomach keeping her gaze.

  “If you wanted to have a say in what they’re doing now, then you should have let the rest of your squad help you out. There’s no reason to do it alone when lives are at stake. That’s the fastest way a Hunter dies. You were lucky today, but it could have gotten you killed. Or even worse, it could have gotten your charge killed.”

  Reina gestured to Ernest. Machia couldn’t follow her gesture though. He couldn’t look anyone in the eye right now. Especially not Ernest’s.

  “I’ll be heading out first.”

  Before anyone could even respond, Reina had already gone out the door and disappeared into the city. It looked as if she had turned into a purple streak as she did so.

  “Let’s prepare and get our things ready,” Mikoko said, before letting anyone get caught up in the situation.

  Following the order, the group all began preparing. Machua looked into her dimensions and noted down how many replacement tonfas she had. Only one pair left. If those broke, she was fresh out of weapons. She looked around the room in a bit of a worry until her gaze landed on the table and chairs they were just using.

  ‘Machi used that car door earlier. I can do the same, and I can even use the full car.’

  “Is everyone finished? We should be leaving quickly, so don’t spend too much time checking over your equipment,” Mikoko told her.

  “I’ll grab some cars on the way there. I’m ready.”

  The group all gathered around the exit and, after a quick check if they were all prepared to depart, opened the door.

  “Wait,” Machia spoke. “Machu. Take my shoes.”

  Machu didn’t question it and took her shoes off. The two traded their shoes and she found that her feet snugly fit. As expected.

  “They’re Walestein, so they’re durable. The outsole is metal and can handle clashing with Dalan’s daggers, but they’ll survive being cut in any spot too. You’ll have to be careful though. Fighting with your feet isn’t easy.”

  “Walestein is what Captain Galas uses,” Rasa informed.

  “Gotcha. Thanks for the shoes, Machi. And…” She lingered.

  “I promise you we’re all gonna come back alive. And I’ll stomp his face for you too.”

  Machia worked out a smile. “Yeah. Thanks. Go get ‘em.”

  Machia watched as the group left the house, one by one. They all gave him a slight look as they went. Machua went first and put on a brave face. Carmine went second and let out only a smirk. Mikoko after that who gave him her typical stern gaze. And then Plue who nervously nodded and smiled for him. But then there was Rasa.

  Rasa gave him a look in his typical manner. Bereft of emotions, a still expression. Machia opened his mouth to say something, but then, he closed it.

  Rasa began to move his mouth to speak too, a little hesitant on his words. He glanced to the side with a furrowed brow, before deciding that he should speak his mind.

  Rasa spoke, “I believe that when lives are at stake, you should not be withholding anything. You are still… withholding something, aren’t you?”

  Machia grimaced at the pointed statement. “I… Hah.”

  “The frequency is this.”

  Machia took out a knife and coated it with his mana. He oscillated it in the same frequency Dalan did and held it out. Rasa met his knife with his bow-sword and closed his eyes, attuning to it. After a while, he took his bow-sword back to his side.

  “Thank you,” was all Rasa had to say before he joined the others.

  ———————————————————————

  “… Hey, I never thanked you for saving my life. You… I would have died,” Ernest

  stammered out.

  “You’re not mad?” I asked him. “I was still holding something back at the end. If Rasa didn’t catch on then I wouldn’t have told them. And they might’ve died because of that.”

  ‘If they could’ve died then why did I hide that I knew the frequency!?’ I mentally yelled at myself.

  My hands shook. I took a deep breath to calm down. I took several actually. An upsetting feeling rose inside of me. The same feeling whenever I knew I had made a terrible choice.

  But I didn’t this time. Because Rasa caught on. I could always trust him to. But…

  ‘What the hell was the point of that!? Why did I continue to hide it!? They needed that! What if they died!? What would I do then!?’

  Because I wanted to keep my secrets? No, I could have explained it away that I learned it while clashing with him. They all watched me fight him, they knew I could have learned. I could have used the excuse that I happened to be sensitive to these things.

  Me being overconfident and not using any of my spells or techniques was one thing. But me withholding that information was another. There was no reason for me to. No reason at all.

  “Machia… I think you should wash your face. You’re getting a little… sweaty,” Ernest, not wanting to quite say what I looked like, advised.

  “Yeah, you’re right.”

  I walked to the bathroom and placed my hands over the sink. I looked up briefly at the mirror, but I was transfixed. In the mirror was Machua’s face. My face. The same Machua that fought and killed Dalan. The same Machua that nearly died to him, and nearly led his friends to their death.