Witch Hunter Academy

Chapter 13 - Being Brave Is Being Afraid and Acting Anyway

When she had teleported to the second-year cabin, she hadn’t even come close to guessing the scenario.

It was… awful.

The cabin was on fire, filled with screaming people that she couldn’t possibly all save at once.

That’s the reason I’m here. I have to save them, because I’m the only one who can. I need something to enchant .

She looked around and saw the witches who’d attacked the building. There were three of them sifting through the wreckage, all of them seemed mildly bored. The pit of fear that had been consuming Arai became a burning anger, a fury so strong she couldn’t see straight.

The witches were acting as though the screaming wasn’t anything more than some annoying birds on a Saturday morning.

After a bit more looking, Arai found a relatively unburnt log, and she picked it up.

“Log, bring all the second-years to safety and fast. ”

The log zipped out of her hands and she
watched it zip around the building, then outside. Ryu was sitting on her right shoulder, his entire body tense with fear.

Smoke and ash filled the air, making it heavy with heat.

It was stifling, like she’d been shoved in an oven, or like the fire was sucking the oxygen from her lungs, making it difficult to breathe without coughing like a choking animal. The witches finally seemed to notice her, turning around to look at her.

“Looks like we missed one.” One of them remarked.

Another flicked her wrist, and the fire raced towards Arai, hungry and crackling as it approached, faster than the fastest race-horse. She didn’t have time to think things through, she put her arms up to protect her face and uttered the only spell she could think of in those seconds.

“FIRE! Return to your sender!”

The fire raced towards them on all sides, heading straight for the witch in the center. The fire crackled and roared, engulfing the witches in a ball of burning-hot flames. Shrieks followed her spell, terror and pain.

It should stop, I only said return to sender.

I thought that would make it disappear once it reached them, distracting them long enough for me to figure out what to do!

She watched in shocked horror as the fire continued to burn and consume, the smoke was much more intense now, the smell of burning flesh and hair filled her nostrils, her eyes stung with the smoke and ash, her skin felt like it was on fire. Ryu curled his tail in to brush her cheek, snapping her out of the shocked daze that she’d just used her magic to hurt someone, another witch no less!

“Fire! Stop it!” She ordered frantically, waving her hand.

The flames immediately ceased, returning to devouring the building that was too far gone to save, even with magic. She pulled the paracord she’d grabbed from her bag, she’d brought it for rescue purposes, but she’d now use it for restraint.

“I enchant this rope to immobilize these witches, make them unable to fight or use magic of any kind. I then enchant the rope to bring these witches out of the burning building and to safety on the grass outside and heal all their wounds.” She said softly.
The witches were already getting to their feet, furious and in pain, but Arai’s paracord wouldn’t allow them to attack again. It wound itself around their hands, feet, and wrapped around their waists, tying all of them together, then bringing them outside.

Arai herself left the burning building, the smoke was stinging her eyes and making her breathing nearly impossible. She suspected there were another two witches keeping the teachers busy, but she knew they’d be able to hold their own without her. She walked straight over to the tied-up witches.