Capture

Kies wasted no time and immediately attacked the banshee the moment it finished its sentence. "You have to try harder than that!" the banshee screeched. It spun up into the air to dodge Kies's magic and then curved back down towards him.

Kies patiently waited for the banshee to get closer to him before making his move. When it was just a few feet away from him, he began to run to the right. The banshee turned and chased after Kies while laughing hysterically. "Ha ha ha! You can't outrun me, boy!"

Just as the banshee is about to reach Kies, he suddenly stops and jumps backward, rolling under the banshee as it zooms past him. The banshee just barely misses him as it sweeps by. Kies quickly gets back up and starts attacking the banshee with his magic but misses all his shots. The banshee hisses in anger as it loops back around.

Kies didn't actually need to dodge the attack since he didn't have a soul. Haro explained to him that the banshee's attacks won't affect him and it would only go through him harmlessly. But the banshee didn't know that, making this Kies's trump card. However, he could do this once since the moment the banshee realizes that it can't take his soul it will leave.

Kies shoots a few blasts of wind at the banshee as it circles around him, looking for an opportunity to strike. All of his attacks missed and the banshee makes a sharp turn towards him. Kies tumbles to the side as the banshee barely misses him again as it flies by. There was no way for Kies to hit the banshee with ranged attacks. He needed to try something else.

'Looks like you're struggling, child,' came Haro's voice through his head. 'Here's a word of advice when dealing with banshees. Unless you have a spell that follows it or a spell that covers a huge area, you'll have a hard time hitting it.

'Wait you can see what's going on?'

'There isn't much that can escape my eyes,' Haro responds. He had been watching Kies's fight the entire time and was rather impressed by how well he was holding his ground against the banshee.

'Should I charge at it then?' Kies asked Haro. It seemed that waiting for the banshee to get close to him was the only way for him to hit it.

'Hoo hoo hoo,' Haro laughed. 'Here's another tip, you're focusing too much on offense. Why not try the opposite,' Haro advised.

'Huh, do you want me to go on the defensive or something?' Kies asked. 'I'm not sure if that will work.' It was true that Kies was trying his hardest to land a hit on the banshee, but he wasn't sure if focusing primarily on defense would do anything.

'Fast-moving enemies have many weaknesses.' Haro explained. 'For one, their speed becomes useless if, let's say... There are too many obstacles in the way.'

'Ohhh!' Kies suddenly understood what Haro was hinting at. As the banshee spun back around for another attack, Kies quickly began to gather the winds to form a thick wall in front of him. He wasn't sure if it would be strong enough to hold the banshee back but he needed to try.

The banshee sees what Kies is doing and hisses. It immediately begins to accelerate towards Kies so that it would reach him before the barrier can fully form. "Too slow!" it yells as it crashes into Kies's wind barrier and shatters it. The shockwave from the barrier breaking sends Kies flying back into a tree. It was a good thing that he couldn't feel pain or otherwise, the impact would have definitely stunned him for some time.

Kies quickly gets back up and tries something else. Instead of waiting until the banshee was already flying towards him, Kies started preparing his barrier while it was still circling around him.

"The same trick again!?" the banshee screeches in anger. "You're really underestimating me!" The banshee was furious and flew at Kies at an even quicker speed than it had previously. "You will regret playing with me boy!" Kies saw that he wouldn't be able to finish the barrier in time and scrapped it. He jumps to the side to dodge the banshee as it speeds past him.

'This isn't working either,' Kies tells Haro.

'Why are you only using chantless magic?' Haro asks confusingly.

'Chanting? Isn't that slower than just using magic without chanting? And also, I don't know any chants,' Kies explains.

'Ah, I see. There are many advantages to casting magic through chants. I will tell you about them later. For now, repeat out loud after me.'

Kies follows Haro's instructions and says aloud, "Winds, heed my call and come serve my will." Immediately following the end of the sentence, Kies feels the winds rushing towards his hands. They were fierce and hard to control, a lot different than the calm and obedient winds that he called upon.

'Good, now let's continue.' Haro finishes the last portion of the chant and Kies repeats it quickly word for word. The banshee sees that Kies was standing still for some reason and takes this opportunity to attack him.

The banshee laughs hysterically and says, "What, are you giving up?" The banshee increases speed since Kies wasn't moving and zoomed towards him.

"Gather around and shelter me from the storm that ensues." Kies finishes the chant and the winds in his hands instantly begin to wrap around his body until he is completely covered by it. As the banshee approached Kies, it sensed that something was wrong, but by the time that it noticed it was already too late for it to stop or change directions. Kies instinctively holds his arms up to protect himself as the banshee collided with him. But it wasn't necessary.

It slams into the layer of wind that surrounded Kies and screeches in agony as if it just hit a brick wall. "GAH! You will pay for that!" the banshee hissed as it slowly backed away from Kies. Kies puts down his arms and sees the banshee wiggling in the sky in pain from the collision.

'Hoot, now it's time for the next spell. Once again, repeat after me,' Haro tells Kies.

"Winds, heed my call and serve my will." The winds surrounding Kies swirled back into his hands and roared fiercely. "Bind my foe and tear them of their wings." The winds howled as they flew from Kies's hands and surrounded the banshee.

"What is this!?" the banshee shrieked in surprise as the winds wrapped around its body and brought it to the ground. The banshee struggled to break free of the winds that chained it but it was futile. As long as Kies had the magic to keep the spell going, it couldn't rid itself of the binding.

Kies felt his magic start to drain very at a frightening speed as the banshee struggled to break free. 'I can't hold the banshee for long,' he told Haro to hurry. The banshee was tearing away at his magic reserves. Kies could only contain the banshee for a maximum of a few seconds.

'Hoot, do not fret, child. I am already on my way to you.'

After thrashing around for some time, the banshee broke free of the binding that restricted its arms. It started to tear at the bindings on its body and legs. Kies quickly poured his magic into the remaining two bindings to keep them from breaking.

"YOU!" the banshee screeched angrily. "After I get out of this, I'll make your soul suffer for all eternity!"

Despite Kies's efforts, the banshee broke free of the binding on its torso and began to focus on the last one. Kies gathered what was left of his magic power and poured all of it into the binding. He started to feel very dizzy and wobbled a little, struggling to keep his balance. 'Haro!'

'A few more seconds child. I'm almost there.'

The banshee suddenly stopped scratching at the bindings on its legs and turned to look at Kies or rather, the trees behind him. The banshee sensed a powerful presence closing in on them. At first, it was confused but fear quickly enveloped as it realized who it was. "No... no no no!" The banshee frantically tore at the last binding. It was panicking now. "Let me free this instant! Please, I beg of you! I will release that female demon of yours. Please! I don't want to go back!"

Kies magic was practically gone at this point and his spell was running on fumes. The last binding began to thin due to the lack of magic supplying it. The banshee saw it weakening and continued to frantically claw at the binding. It was in such a hurry that it didn't care about injuring itself in the process. There were many cuts on its legs as the banshee tore at the binding, and ghostly ectoplasm was leaking out in place of blood.

"Yes... yes, yes yes yes! YES!" The banshee tore the last chain away and Kies dropped to the floor, completely drained of his magic power. "HA HA HA!" The banshee did not bother to try to snatch Kies' soul and immediately made a break for it.

But just as it got off the ground, a powerful force slammed it back onto the ground. The banshee shrieked in pain. "NO! Please! Forgive me! I won't do it again!"

"Hoo, are you really in the position to negotiate with me, Issie?" Haro lands on a nearby tree and scratches his feathers with his beak.

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