25: Fearful and the Fearsome

The two stood an unnatural three feet apart, Laura realized that she didn't have her sword with her, but it was laying on the middle of the cave. She wondered why Shujin teleported it there, it's almost like he wants us to have a chance. 

She walks slowly to the middle of the room and picks up her sword calmly, despite her heart racing and sweat dropping from her head. A flash of light above her head illuminated the cave briefly. She looks up to see a mid-sized beast falling from above her. Heath rushed in close and grabbed her, moving her to safety. He then lets her go aggressively.

The beast landed, a four-legged beast with a pair of yellow eyes and a snout of a wolf with scales instead of fur. It growled at them with drool slobbering to the floor.

Heath wants to cast his Cosmic Resonance immediately, but he was wary of the aura the beast had. He knew the beast was artificially enhanced by the Blue Book, he remembered there was a spell for it. An External Amplification Spell, that would allow extreme increase in toughness and strength.

He decided to use lesser but cutting edge spells he had in his arsenal. He conjured his deck and drew a card. An Ace of Spade. Its ability was to home in and cut through the target like a tracking bullet. Heath throws the card at the beast and it bounced off its hide.

Well, that sucks, he sighed. 

The beast charges at him, he manually activated his Heart Ace and expanded its size to near the whole cave. One thing he missed was; the bigger and larger the spell, the more mana needed to keep the integrity. He merely expanded without piling on more mana. The beast broke through his defenses easily. Heath was ran over by the beast, getting pinned against the wall.

He struggles to breathe as his whole chest was pressed. The beast tried to open its mouth and chomp Heath in half. He used all of his strength to keep the beast's snout shut. He groans as he struggled. He looks over to Laura who had her eyes wide but immobile. He wants to shout and call out to her, but he might lose his focus and let the beast bite.

Heath puts one of his foot against the wall and unleashed a stream of flames to propel the beast and himself the other way. He was able to make the beast slide backwards slightly, but the beast wouldn't give out. Heath was able to lift both his legs and made them parallel, creating a steady force. He realized it wasn't working, he decided to cast explosions on top of the thrusters. He managed to create an explosive force that pushed the beast back further, creating him more space. After a while, he finally was able to put himself between Laura and the beast, then he lets go of the beast's mouth and dropped low to the floor, then exploded the ground and launched him upwards. He drives his fist under the beast's jaw and knocked it upwards. As he was falling, he opened both palms, close to each other. His palms growing bright orange as he released a large explosion that threw the beast against the other wall.

Due to the pushback of the explosion, he uncontrollably rolled onto the floor, landing on his back. He immediately sits upright and sets his eyes on it. He felt his back bruised and have some scratches and cuts.

I should just use it. Why am I even hesitating? He questioned himself. Fuck! This is so irritating! 

"Cosmic Re-" He abruptly stopped himself. He plays back Shino calling him a cheater. How much it actually offended him. Is it pride?! He realized in frustration.

"His words mean nothing!" He yelled at the beast, slowly recovering to its feet. "I am where I am today because of it! I don't care if it's cheating, dammit!" 

"Cosmic Resonance: Oblivion Incineration," he incantated. A purple flaming card appeared in front of him, he grabs it immediately.

Why do I have to worry about if it's cheating or not? It got me this far, he believed what he chose to do was his best option.

As if time stopped, someone tapped him on his shoulder. He looks behind him in surprise, his eyes widened as it quickly glossed from tears. "Jane ne-chan?"

Ne-chan = Older sister

"Hey, Heath," she waved with a warm smile.

"Why are you here?" He questioned as a tear dropped to the floor.

"Didn't I tell you not to skip the fundamentals?" She shook her head.

"Fundamentals...?" He murmured. "Yeah, I remembered," he nods, feeling a little ashamed.

"Then tell me, Heath," she points at him, "what do you do against a strong beast?" She asked with a friendly challenging tone.

"Hit it with equal or stronger mana?" He shrugs.

"Wrong!" She yelled. He got a little startled hearing her voice, yet he found it nostalgic. "That's to fight a strong sorcerer!" She stated. "You should chip away or find a weakness!"

"Really?"

"Yes, really!" She yelled while nodding. "Beasts don't fight with strategy! They fight based on instinct, if you can't find a weakness visible weakness, chip away. From armor, to skin, to flesh, to bone! You have a strong and scared ally with you, brave with her!"

Heath then smiled as he cried, he knew that it wasn't really his sister talking to him at the moment, just a memory surfacing itself in the moment of need.

"I miss you so much," he quietly sobbed.

He turns around and time seem to continue without mercy. The beast was rushing towards him, he dispels his ultimate spell and rolled to his left. The beast past through him, he stood back up and analyzed the beast's size and structure.

This is a spell from the Blue Book, one I'm somewhat familiar with. I know that the spell unevenly enhances the beast's body. Its structure and weight is probably even, but it isn't the same with the power. I miscalculated, its jaw strength was fairly weak, I just panicked. 

He pulls out from his deck, a Straight Flush, all thirteen cards from the Clover suit. He slashed the beast's two right legs. He realized that he managed to cut the front leg deeper than the back. The beasts turns to him and raised its foot with claws. Automatically activated, his Heart Ace managed to protect him from the attack. The shield cracked and he instinctively backed away from the shield.

The claws are stronger for sure, he quickly assessed. Heath then leaps forward and managed to slash the beast's snout in half. He found it fairly easy, its nose was the only thing that was heavily enhanced. Heath expected the beast to drop and die, but instead it healed the snout quickly.

A healing factor? FUCK! He grinned.

The beast decides to play chase with Heath. Heath was able to do hit-and-runs fairly easily. He noticed that the beast's healing factor was even.

It's a different spell. Only way to activate healing crystals is to use mana from a Light Core. The same to deactivate it, positive and negative charge. I need Laura, I wouldn't be able to cut through it.

Heath clapped his hands together and created a box of cards that accommodated to the beast's size, trapping it in. He knew not to make the same mistake, adding on more mana. He then runs up to Laura as the beast was clawing and slamming against the walls. The cards were breaking, but Heath repaired it with his mana, though expending an extreme amount.

"Laura-chan!" He calls.

She didn't respond and just stared at him, not blinking once. He grabs her shoulders and shook her awake. "Laura-chan!"

"C- Chan?" She was perplexed by the added suffix.

"Are you okay?" He asked, concern.

"Wha-" She was caught off guard by his sudden care, then she shook her head, "yes, I'm okay."

"Listen..." He looks down to the ground, got distracted, then looked up to her bright pink eyes. He pushes her hair away from her hair, "I'm sorry for everything I did to you. All of it, I'm sorry," he apologized sincerely.

"Huh...?" She got even more perplexed.

"I've been shitty to you, I really hope you can forgive me. It doesn't have to be right now. Right now, I need your help."

"M- My help...? Why?"

She reminisces when she was running through a park, gripping her sword tightly. She ran, never looking back. Tears flowing out of her eyes. Then a loud boom coming from behind her, along with a shockwave that knocked her down.

"You're the only one that can do it, please," Heath begs.

"D- Do what...?"

"Kill that beast," he replied.

She glances at the beast and took a step away from Heath, but his grip was slightly tighter than he thought, so she was kept in place. "I- I can't," she said, her body shaking.

"Yes, you can. I need you to," he believes.

"You do it," she said, pushing him away. "You have that powerful spell of yours, don't you? Use that!"

"No," he shook his head.

"Why?"

"Unlike you, Nate, or Volta, or even Dan, I never trained much in becoming a sorcerer. I was satisfied with that one spell I got, I can't use it, not until I've become a proper sorcerer."

"That's... Admirable... But stupid?" She thought aloud.

"I know it is, so you use it."

"M- Me? I can't Synergize with you."

Heath casts his Cosmic Resonance: Oblivion Incineration and held a card up to her face, "take it."

Hesitantly, she grabbed his card and the purple flame turned to white waves of electricity. She was shocked to see she was able to do it immediately, "h- how?"

"That day we first spoke, I... Um... Felt... Connected with you...?" He couldn't put the reason's to words.

"It shouldn't be that easy."

"I guess..." He knew how corny the next thing he was about to say was, but he said it anyway, "it's meant to be...?" 

Laura didn't get to respond, the box of cards broke apart and the beast howled in rage, its eyes started to glow. It ran towards the two. Laura tries to run away but she wasn't used to the speed the spell grants her, she nearly crashed to a wall. Heath simply flew upwards. 

Heh, you and Dan are the same. That's cute, he laughs.

The beast circles around and charges for Laura. Heath reached her first and spun around with his leg lifted, his heel cracking the skull of the beast. He stops when he faces Laura, "I need your sword."

Laura quickly drew her sword and handed it to him. The sword began emitting purple flames, "well, isn't this nice?" He was impressed.

"I'll burn its skin then you cut the beast, got it?" Heath told.

"O- Okay."

The beast rushes quickly, Heath leaps forward, holding his blade in a reverse grip. He unleashed a Crescent Slash that burnt the beast's skin down to its flesh to cinder. "Go now!" He yells. Laura follows his order and dashed forward in the motion of slashing the air. She manages to cut the beast horizontally, practically in half. However, she failed stopping. She crashes into Heath and knocked him on the floor.

She lays on top of him, she got up and took a moment to glance into Heath's eyes. He tries to get up, but he noticed his head was getting dangerously close to hers. 

"You don't like me, do you?" He giggles nervously, feeling unfaithful.

She pushed off of him and stood up, "I- I still don't."

"Laura-chan, good job on using my spell. It must've been hard in your first try."

"Where did the chan come from?"

"I feel like we bonded a bit?" He giggles.

"You definitely changed a lot," she replied in a somber tone.

Laura grabs her sword off of Heath's hand and puts it back in her scabbard. She then walked away shamelessly. She looks down and grips her scabbard tightly.

You useless piece of shit, you wanted to run, again! It's the same with Taylor... You can't ever do anything, can you? You coward. 

All she could imagine was the day he left her brother for dead.