R. A. T. H

Forty-Two

Blue. Blue and ringing. The first thing she saw was a blinding blue, and what she heard was the ringing of her ears. Elsa groaned, feeling pain upon her chest and back, her sight—blurred—moved to see two small hands shielding her face alongside charred, black hair close to her nose, she raised a hand and shifted some away, then stared at a head below her chin.

"Ro. . .se?"

The homunculus's breath was calm, but her expression spoke for itself. Her teeth gritted, she hid the pain from her face as her skin seared. Half of her hair was gone in flakes, the clothing on her back was all but wiped off, and there were patches of skin and muscle missing from her back and arms. The ball had bounced from the floor and into the air but Rose had taken the impact of the azure explosion, blood oozing out of her.

"Fuck," Elsa cursed, "You fucking dumbass."

"I'm—I'm fine, just, just give me a moment."

Mana was already channeling through her body, beginning to revitalize her cells with its energy, and increasing their production as her back slowly began to heal. She had activated that ability in the split second before the explosion and shielded an Elsa who had not  been fast enough to prop her shield up.

"I don't need your fucking protection."

"Be quiet, you, look up."

Elsa's eyes sharpened to the sound of a wooden roof coming down and she rolled, hugging Rose tighter. To their side, wood and metal fell down as a slew of mana arrows followed their descent, striking the floor.

"What the fuck," She cursed, eyes darting around as the two struggled up.

"Put up your barrier, jump out of the way, now."

Rose spoke as mana rolled through her body and Elsa followed her command. Just in time for two heads of a dragon to combine—blue and roaring—opening its maw and devouring the two.

The explosion was even louder and greater than the last. The shack rocked and broke apart under the blue light that engulfed their world. Rose found herself propelled and slammed against an asphalt road. Sounds and voices mixed, before she knew it, she was shaking to stand up as blood riddled her body.

Her eyes, blurred, stared at the bits of wood and metal that stuck out from her. Still, she looked, ignored the dead bodies around her, ignored the odd faces of the two groups down either side of the street, and pierced her emerald eyes through smoke.

"Where's Elsa?"

Her question was answered fast when the smog cleared.

To her right, her friend stood with a barely blinking film of mana upon her body, and blood leaking from her lips. To her front, an expressionlessly calm face faced her with two swords in her hands. Behind that girl, there was a man with a bow aimed at her, and to his side, a blonde male in a tracksuit wielded a western sword while a male was atop a familiar van and seated before a familiar turret.

"You'll do well to step aside, Elsa." The blonde spoke up, his voice as calm as always, and his sword already in his grasp. On his left feet was a metal boot she was unfamiliar with, and his tracksuit was padded with leather.

"You're all. . ." Elsa knocked her fists together as a blue wave of mana rolled over the gloves. "Pieces of shits."

Armaments that boosted physical attributes were important, but a human body couldn't take mana coursing through it for long before it started to harm it instead of help. Still, she was pissed—wood and metal scattered around her, and blood came from her lips, and she was pissed as her eyes glared at the team before her.

With such a welcoming, putting it all together wasn't hard, and her voice raised into the air.

"Rose! These fuckers are here to take you!"

Nicholas whistled on top of the vehicle, "For once, you didn't misunderstand."

"Motherfucker." She glared at the man. "I should have punched you harder."

"Feisty, you weren't harmed too much huh?"

"She wasn't, there was a mana shield," Lilias said, reaching a hand into a satchel at her back and pulling out two cores.

She turned her weapons, grasping the mana orbs embedded into them and popped them out, then replacing them with the new ones.

"Bloom." She spoke.

The blades of the armament in her left hand separated down the middle, revealing a long tube-like shell within that rolled with the azure light of mana, and a trigger came out of its hilt. The crimson blade of the second vibrated with a blue intensity that signified sharpness as cracks appeared on its surface, flowing with mana.

"We'll take care of Elsa," Reed spoke at her back.

She grasped their handles firmly, calm eyes looking at Rose.

"What the fuck are you all doing?!"

Voices came from either side of the group, but they ignored the stagnate commotion of the war around them even as guns pointed to their location. There was a man shouting close to them, his voice weak in the commotion, but even he blurred away.

"You and Fieth on the doll, don't damage it too much."

"Right."

"Oh?" Rose's voice piqued.

Her jeans were mangled. Her shoes were gone. Her jacket and shirt were in tatters. Her figure was bloody. Still, a fire blazed in her hand as she grabbed the hilt of a sword and pulled it from its sheath. There was a thin smile on her face, but her eyes were far from happy.

"You came to capture me?" She asked.

Crimson eyes narrowed back at her.

"You're worth a lot. Please, come peacefully."

That was laughable. Holding the cover of her weapon in one hand, the blade of her sword sparked to flames in the other. 'Peacefully? Peacefully be sold and returned back to a time before she knew freedom? Was this girl looking down on her to such a degree?'

"No thanks."

She slashed down and a blaze of fire blasted out, morphed into a strike, and flew forward.

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