Half-Bloods R • 1: Fallen World

C • 22 : Split the Nail, Pull the Hair

Demi watched Vaelan and Anna rush away before turning back to see the Agent, coated in black mana skin lower himself down with his thick tails, opening himself into the hall. Fire rose off of his body and radiated heat throughout the hallway.

"Let's do this," she huffed.

She exploded upward and smashed her knee into the forehead of the dark Agent and pulled him further out onto the roof as she passed. He fell back and his mana skin dispersed when the back of his skull struck the roof. He laid there, unconscious and unmoving yet still holding onto his scythe as he laid beneath the bright blue sky.

"Damn, Chris really did a number on you, and here I thought you'd be tougher," she tilted her head and scanned him as she nudged his side with her foot.

She threw herself back and released a plume of flame when the Agent shot to his feet, roaring with a distorted face of rage. His tails reformed and lifted his torn-clothed body up as he growled, "Give her to me! She's mine! My sister! Stop tainting her!"

"Anna?" Demi stepped back and dodged one of the tails.

The Agent's head snapped toward her as grey skin crawled up his neck and along his shoulder. His eyes welled with fiery tears as he countered with a wide, crossing swing of his tails. She flipped back and stabbed her spear through the crossing point.

"Jake, we don't have to do this!" She shouted, "Anna and Christopher still care about you!"

"Shut up!" He shouted back, "They abandoned us- me!" He growled, "I suffered because of them, I killed for them, I became a Chimera for them! And they rejected me! They're traitors, abandoners, I hate them!"

"Jake, Chris didn't-"

He tore her spear into flaming pieces, and launched his tails at her, "Shut up!"

His body became slathered in a layer of mana skin that immediately burst into flame. Demi spun and absorbed the fire into her hands and released it back into the air above her, creating a massive ball of destruction that crashed through the sky.

Chris really did mess him up. From what we know, Jake is supposed to be energetic and compulsive, but right now, he's being slow and cautious. What changed?

He looked at her, his tails retracting and unhurriedly swishing in front of his body, he was barely holding himself up with the pole of his weapon. He lifted his hand to his head and pinched his brow, giving a deep growl as he did.

She stepped toward him and he stepped back.

"Jake," she reached toward him only to be met with a hiss, "We don't have to fight, just come peacefully and you won't have to work for the Order anymore. We can keep you and Anna safe."

"Is that what you're doing? Cause I'm damn sure that being a Chimera isn't safe," he sucked black spit back into his mouth, "You're all liars, filthy liars, and sinners. Especially you and that damn Vaelan!"

What lies has Evan been telling him?

Jake suddenly shook violently as his veins turned indigo and his tails lashed at Demi. She spun around the attack, twisting and dodging every strike that came her way. She twirled into a pirouette of flame as she summoned her spear and flipped over the Agent. Jake spun around, his discolored veins returning to normal when he started wildly swinging his scythe at her right as his tails aimed at her left.

She landed. Sorry, but you left me with no room to dodge or defend.

She swung her spear up and let the blade cut through his arm, separating it from his shoulder. His tails pulled back and guarded his front as he fell into a pool of his own blood and spasmed on the ground. His scythe and arm fell to the roof. He screamed himself into a coughing fit where he eventually coughed up a viscous orange liquid with a pungent odor. He began to scream and growl like an animal, clawing at the roof with his remaining hand as flesh and bone began to form and grow back.