Twenty-Seven

Rushing through the streets in her motor—with the yelps of people surrounding her—Rose fidgeted with the steering wheel, tapping a finger, her feet unrelenting upon the pedal, and her mind wandering.

'I can't be caught, and. . .' The memory of the blaze falcon falling from the sky in blood leapt into the top of her thoughts as she gripped tighter. 'There's no way I can fight her.'

A Reaper. 'Even the name tells me to stay away.' She knew her limits, she might be able to wave around <Igris> but that could only be a toy in the face of a flying weapon like that, right? She didn't think she could take on such a person—and with those weapons strapped on the girl, with the people immediately recognizing her jacket, with Elsa's previous statements, she thought of the word 'military.'

In quick time, she had reached the outskirts of the slums, almost in the midst of crossing over to desert lands. The air whistled above her, wind blew around the dainty wooden shacks, slummers glanced overhead as her black hair waved behind and she dared to squint up.

"What the—"

The silver bottom of a jet was already over her, its chromium, smooth surface reflecting her face. The speed of her vehicle had mattered not.

"Alright, let's take you for a ride," Shana grinned, speaking from the cockpit as she tapped a screen, 'And have us a little chat.'

There was a beep and mana rolled. Before long, ropes of blue moved in tandem and covered the car in a spherical field of azure. Rose instinctively tried to jump out and found herself slamming against a mana shield, she shook herself, looked around, and realized the jet was already accelerating into the sky with her and her motor in tow.

"Fuck." It was the first time she had ever cursed since she was made.

Looking at the rushing sand below her, what appeared like several meters, and quickly incrementing, she frowned. She was unsure of the extent of damage her body could sustain and unsure if she could survive a fall as great as that. Or, if she did live, she wondered if she would be in such a sorry state that, not only wouldn't she be able to move, but might fall unconscious from her core releasing every bit of mana it could spare to heal her. Yet, the belt at her waist—with an orb at the back replacing where Lux's pulse pistol would have been had she not scrapped it—calmed her. She wasn't one for making the same mistakes again.

Fire blazed and a sword appeared in her hands. She unsheathed the weapon and stood up from her car, staring at the thin layer of mana around her.

'I'm not one for waiting.' The weapon's blade burned orange and fire consumed it as she jumped forward. 'Trying to escape is much better than following the whims of another.' No matter which way she saw it, that was the only choice.

She swung.

A blaze of flames crashed against the shield. There was shuddering, and she pressed on with her strength as her core hummed, then, cracks spread and the thin film of mana was devoured by fire until there was nothing..

What came first was the realization that she was spinning within the air. What came next was blinking emerald eyes as the wind hustled around. She spun, and soon, she looked on to see her motor in a bid to crash into a sand dune.

She gripped her weapon tighter. She felt the connection between herself and <Igris> grow in the midst of the chaos and, as her green jacket flapped with the wind, she pointed her blade down with sand dancing into the air around her.

Fire devoured the sky.

She felt a jolt of her arm as it shot upward and her descent abruptly came to a momentary stop. She gritted her teeth, the pain was palpable, and continued on as spurts of flames came, intermittently before she slammed into sand.

.

.

.

A breath in, a breath out. There was the taste of dirt in her mouth—she spat it out. Her core hummed and she felt the rush of mana spring within her body. She staggered up, legs unsteady, and looked around the area with a shaking right arm that leaked blood upon her clothing, and a figure covered in sand.

'She circled the slums?'

Her dune-buggy was stuck within the hill of sand she stood upon. To her immediate right—although it looked several miles off at the least—the slums were visible. And, with her eyes, she could make out the crude shacks. They definitely hadn't traveled far from it.

Her mind spun and she thought to escape this area as fast as possible. Yet, when the air vibrated, when she heard a vroom, and her sword yelled to her, she leapt forward.

The dune exploded as blue pulses slammed into it. Rose found herself rolling down, struggling to find her foot, and soon face planting once more into lower elevation.

A jet came down in front of her as she stood. The reaper jumped out.

"Alright." She looked across the sandy space with a small smile.

"You really should have just let me carry you," She said, pistol leaving her thighs, "But I suppose the hard way isn't so bad either."

Rose's eyes widened as a red hue came off of the girl. It shook within the air, vibrating like a gas, then morphed into blazing wings of flames that sooner took the shape of a bird as it circled into the air and flapped behind the female.

"What—what is that—"

There was fear in her eyes. The words left her mouth before she realized that she knew.

"This is what we call a Spirit." Shana smiled. The fiery bird blazed from the air and leapt into the core at the side of the weapon, giving it a flaming red hue. "The soul of a Mana Beast that has been turned into a companion."

The weapon spun in her hand and came to a stop, pointing forward.

She touched the trigger with the tilt of her head and a thin smile. "Sorry, this will be painful—but, you're an homunculus, right? You'll heal, I'm sure~"

She pulled.

A screech reached the air and flames flew from the muzzle of the weapon. As Rose moved to dodge, the beak of a phoenix opened—the mass of fire—and, even as she successfully leapt out of the way with a speed enhanced by mana, the bird merely turned and swallowed her whole.