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Stolen Flight

Chapter 6 – Death

The battle was fierce. Dash recognized that Sei was becoming faster as the fight raged on, as if she had gotten used to the loss of her other wing. She was minimizing the distance she needed to travel in order to make up for her lack of propulsion, taking more chances by evading only millimetres so that she could quicken her counterattacks. She did receive a few scratches here and there, but with this, she forced her opponent to use two arms, both of which couldn’t be completely regenerated under the speed of battle.

Dash would’ve tried to stop her if it were a moment ago, but seeing the way she fought, he realized that he would only be a burden if he tried. Instead, he needed to get behind the opponent. If he could do that, perhaps he could sneak an attack in to help her out.

While Sei kept the opponent occupied, Dash crept to the edge of the building, sliding down a water pipe until he reached the balcony of a tenth floor apartment. Taking a look at his surroundings, he tried to figure a way to jump over to the next balcony.

He caught sight of a person on the alleyway below while he scanned the area. He was too far up to see her clearly, but when he strained his eyes a little, a slight resemblance made him shiver.

It was Fuer!

Dash opened his mouth to call her name, but just before his voice sounded, he silenced himself. If he had shouted, the opponent would hear him. This would only endanger Fuer and himself. He would have to reach her physically to warn her of the danger. Without a choice, he made his way back to the water pipe and gripped onto it tightly, preparing for the downwards slide. With his chin pressed against the pipe in his position, his face was forced upwards.

“Sei!” he screamed instead when he caught sight of what was happening.

Just a moment ago, Sei had stepped to her right to avoid an attack, and then skilfully launched forward to evade a follow-up attack from the opponent’s other claw. It had seemed like she would deal a lethal blow to the defenceless head of the Sinner, but just before her sword made contact, something pierced her stomach.

At the decisive moment, the Sinner had grown a horn that cut through the Angel.

“The Darkness I’m blessed with is not regeneration. It is growth! Growth of any appendages that you can imag- ”

His voice was cut off by Sei’s sword that severed his head cleanly at the cervical spine. It was then that Dash had noticed there was no blood from what would have been a huge wound on Sei’s body. Even when the Angel pulled out the horn from her abdomen, her cells just flowed in like fluid filling a crevice.

“You look like a koala bear from those nature television shows. Is this the definition of an endangered species?” Sei asked calmly after she walked over to the building’s edge in search of him. He frowned.

“Shut up, Reckless Pig,” Dash rebuked, climbing back up to the rooftop. Sei was putting up her fingers into the air once more, and with what seemed like a second of concentration, the grey vanished. A vibrant pink, tinged with golden streaks, filled the twilight skies once more, partnered with the honking horns of rush-hour traffic.

The corpse of the Sinner…Sei’s halo and black wing…they were all missing!

Dash hurriedly turned around in a full circle, searching for hints of battle, but there was nothing; no damage on the building, no blood…even Fuer was gone, leaving only the stolen purse lying beside his feet.

“I don’t get it. Actually, I don’t get lots of things,” Dash muttered, scratching his head in confusion. Sei just sat down with droopy eyes, opening her mouth to speak in a soft tone.

“It can’t be helped that you are dumb, but to be honest, there was one thing I don’t understand either,” she muttered, her hand absentmindedly feeling her stomach where she should’ve been pierced, “But I’m sleepy. Let me lie down for a moment first.”

“Hey! Wait! You’re not going to sleep here on top of a ten storey building, are you? I said wait! Are you even listening?”

“Where the hell have you been?” Cain exclaimed when his adoptive sister stepped through the front door of their humble abode. While their parents worked overseas on some family business, Cain took up the fatherly role despite that they were only months apart in age.

“I was just running an errand for our first aid brigade. Nothing much,” Fuer answered while she skipped merrily past Cain on her way to the stairs, the action of which made him lose all his anger, “If you’re so worried about me, Cainy, you should join us too! I know Dash would be delighted if you do!”

“Delighted as in wanting to spar with me? Right…” his voice trailed off as she walked away, “Besides, why the hell do you call me that stupid nickname anyway? Call Dash Dashy and see what he thinks about it.”

Fuer carefully locked the door to her room. It seemed perfectly logical that she would do so, seeing that she had just returned and would most likely be changing.

That wasn’t what she aimed to do though. Instead, she took out a ladder from her closet and set it in the center of the room under a trapdoor that led to the attic.

“I’m coming up, Heron,” the girl spoke before she slid the entrance open and pulled herself up the confined space. It was dark in the small room of slanted walls; the only window was covered by deep indigo curtains. Fuer could only make out a dark figure leaning against the far corner.

“How was it? Did Sei kick butt?”

“It wasn’t quite as glorious as I would’ve imagined, but we managed.”

“We? A combined effort now, was it? Hard to believe that anti-social punk would team up with others,” the stranger’s voice sounded in a smooth, playful tone, “By the way, Fuer. Do you know what Sei’s name means?”

Fuer shook her head a little as the stranger continued.

“It’s written in the Ancient Tongue. Sei literally means death, but you know what? That isn’t just her name. The Tenju of Saionji is fundamentally different from all other Angels out there. She has never been human to start with. She was created as the embodiment of death.”

End of Chapter

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