That laughter would be impossible to forget, more so than anything else Ferain had experienced in her life. It would be up there with her father’s gunshots from when she was five, of that she had no doubt. It radiated like a visible aura around the scene, and all the while, the psychotic boy it belonged to seemed like his sensible mind had finally given way. In Fera’s arms, she felt Lili’s unsteady breaths, though her eyes have yet to open. Even so, she was alive, and she seemed to be stabilizing thanks to whatever Ferain was doing to her. Spidering emerald webs were filling the inside of the grisly wound, almost as if it was sewing Lilipa back together from the inside out.
“F… Fera.” Lilipa murmured.
“Don’t talk.” Fera said seriously. Her gaze remained tunneled on Kiko, making that the only thing she saw now. There was no Yarin, there was no other victim, there was only Kiko, Lilipa, and herself. Anything else was a distraction she couldn't afford to have. Her only choice might be to fight, and if that was the case, she needed the monster that had frightened Raven so badly. She needed to be focused only on her target, and nothing else.
“Y-Yarin… Is he…”
“I don’t know.” Fera replied.
“Save him… Please.” Lili cried, opening one eye just enough so that Fera could see half of a dark crimson iris, though the color was quickly fading into something else. Just as Lilipa’s eye was closing again, she noticed a shade of very light blue, a color she’d never seen Lili use before. Her pulse was fading fast, and her breathing had slowed to an absolute crawl. She was near death, very near, near enough so that any wrong movements might just tip her over the fine line she walked. Lili’s hair began changing colors too. The blonde that it had been that night started melting away, starting at the roots in the center of the top of her head. The dark brown color that might have been her natural hue spread out like a wave, ending in a little flick of the hair that was sprawled out on the concrete beneath her.
“Stay alive, Lili.” Fera whispered, gently setting her down on the ground.
She pressed her hand firmly against the girl’s wound now, and Lili’s body gave a short jump as Fera pushed more power into her. When she took her hand away, a green current was left behind, still working on keeping her alive. Fera rose and looked murderously at Kiko, who was wiping tears from his eyes. These were not tears of sorrow, but tears of joy and amusement, apparently.
“Do you know how long I’ve been waiting to do that?” Kiko asked, before laughing again. “I’ve wanted to kill that bitch since I first met her. Finally! Ah, there’s nothing more satisfying than a long awaited gift coming your way.” He ran a hand lazily through his hair and returned Fera’s gaze, though he looked a lot more… cheerful. “What’s with that look, Ferain? Hmm? Do you not approve of what I’m doing? Do you not like it?”
“How could you?” Fera asked. “How could you do this?! He was your friend! They cared about you!”
“I know.” Kiko sang, chuckling again. “That’s what makes it all the sweeter. Even in his last moments, he trusted me. Yarin knew it was me, yet he couldn’t do it. He tried talking me out of this. Tried getting me to turn myself in. Ha ha ha! What a damned fool! But he made a mistake. Oh yes, mister perfect was wrong for a change. He didn’t know what my real powers were. He didn’t expect me to kill him that way. He thought I would be an easy mark, but oh, how wrong he was. You see, Ferain, Yarin isn’t the strongest wielder here. I am. I might not be as physically imposing as some of the others, but my ability is too versatile, too perfect. I can’t be stopped. Not by him, and most certainly not by you.”
Ferain swallowed deeply and sucked in a nervous breath. He was right, of course. But then, she remembered something. Yarin, or, she supposed it was Kiko in disguise, said something when he attacked her that one night. He said that she was more powerful than even Yarin. Had it not been for her fever, exhaustion, and power-suppressor, he was afraid she could have beaten him. She wasn’t under the influence of any of those right now, meaning, she was without a doubt stronger than her mentor. The only flaw she could see with that was such a simple one, it almost made her laugh inside. She didn’t have half the training Yarin did, and that little detail made all of the difference. She could throw a few punches, send a few kicks, pretend that she had mastered her powers, but in the end, Kiko was just better than her.
“Thinking, huh?” asked Kiko, letting out more quiet chuckles. “I hate to say it, Prodigy, but you don’t have a lot of options. It will be just like the last time. Err, actually, not quite. Yarin can’t save you this time, can he? Not when he’s a bit preoccupied already.”
“Last time?”
“Don’t tell me you didn’t figure that out either. For the love of… You really are dense, Ferain. Put the pieces together. Yarin was following me around for months. I attack you and just before I kill you for good, you’re miraculously saved and brought back to your apartment. Who the hell else would it have been, Ferain? Me?” he asked, laughing hysterically. “Then he played that nasty stunt of turning himself in, taking credit for all of my work. Moron should’ve known that it wouldn't stop me for long. Not when I was so close.”
“Close to what?” asked Ferain, trying to concentrate on too much for her brain to handle.
She was attempting to stay focused in the present, while part of her mind delved back into the past, doing as Kiko told her. She was putting all of the pieces together, from the start of the year to right now, where she was currently standing. Cross told her that the door alarm was tampered with, which caught Anita’s attention, and that was when she found Fera sitting in the hallway. The last thing Fera remembered that night before waking up again was a flash of light, knocking who she thought to be Yarin off of her. Due to her illness and confusion, she didn’t pay much attention to any of it, not at the time, but now, looking back, she thought that she might have recognized the figure of the person that rescued her.
“Close to getting what I wanted, obviously. I got it now, though, so no worries. Yarin’s dead, Lili’s on death’s door, and you delivered yourself right to me. All that will be left after I deal with you is sweet little Anny. She’s a feisty one but she’s nothing compared to you or Yarin, especially since she won’t know anything about what’s happening right now. You were stupid enough to leave her behind, weren’t you? Sentimentality, friendship, they’re both damn stupid things to worry about. Had you not been worrying about keeping her safe, you might have stood a chance against me. Both of you would be a challenge together. For that, I might as well thank you. You know how much I hate doing the heavy lifting.”
“Why did you want to kill us? Why kill all of those people if you just wanted us out of the way?” asked Ferain.
“Because I wanted to.” said Kiko, a manic grin plastered on his face. “Does there need to be another reason or some higher purpose? I just wanted to kill people, that’s all. You should understand better than anybody else here, Ferain. You’ve tasted it before, after all. It’s intoxicating, knowing that you can. To feel it so intimately, to watch the life fade from somebody’s eyes, it’s mind-numbing. It’s all I ever want to live for. It feels powerful, it feels blissful and liberating. Think about it. Think about a world where you don’t have to hold back anymore. Imagine a place where we rule, and where we can use our abilities without any restrictions. Think about what your life would’ve been like had we lived in that more free reality.” Kiko laughed again when he noticed the disgusted look on Fera’s face.
“That’s right, pup, you’re an innocent little girl, aren’t you? Afraid of your own powers, afraid of what you can do with them, so of course you don’t get it. It’s lost on you. That power of yours is wasted. You have so much potential, but you’re so pathetic and blind that you’ll take the side of imprisonment and hiding over real freedom. I can see that talking to you will be worse than talking with Yarin, at least he had something to say back. I’ll give you two options, Fera, a chance, if you will. You can run and make this hard on me, or you can fight and do this the easy way. The choice is yours but you’ll die either way. It’s really down to how much my friendship is worth to you.”
“How so?” asked Ferain.
“Well, a real friend wouldn't make me work unnecessarily hard, would they?”
Fera cast a look down at the unconscious Lilipa, who was breathing slowly and hoarsely, and seemed to be getting worse by the second. After stepping around her, she glared up at Kiko with her now glowing eyes of pure yellow energy. “Your friendship means nothing to me anymore, Kiko. I cherished you all, I really did. But after what you did here, I can’t forgive you.”
“Pity, I was really counting on it.” Kiko said, before laughing to himself. “Fine, then. Let’s get this over with.” Kiko said, pulling a hand out of a pocket and watching her lazily.
Fera’s body glowed brightly with blue static as she bounded forward. With two leaps, she was on Kiko, but he didn’t move. In fact, he seemed entirely unfazed by her speed and attack. In a fraction of a second, when it was too late to change course, she understood why. As she reached him, a sudden twister of vicious air surrounded him, and Ferain was swept up in the currents. She spun and slammed hard into the wall of the building beside them, causing her to gasp in pain. Kiko’s own electrified hand grabbed her before she hit the ground and she was pulled into his knee as he drove it into her gut. He spun and forced her back-first into the wall again, cracking it inwards from the impact.
He wasn’t done with her, even after that. He spun again and threw her aside, sending her into a pile of garbage cans that crashed down around her. She rolled on the ground and stopped on her stomach, where she shakily rose as she gasped for air and clutched her right side. She noticed the ground shifting beneath her and she forced herself into a quick roll to the side, barely avoiding a rising pillar of concrete and earth. It was similar to Copper’s power, something she hadn’t seen since that fight in the cafeteria much earlier in the year. Just as she avoided another one, she landed on all fours, but this time, the ground was not hard and porous. It was cold, slick, and somewhat wet. She slid off balance and another pillar arose, this time being partially infused with ice. Using her momentum, Ferain shifted herself enough that the point grazed her. She fell onto her right side and slid a few feet across the slick surface before it began to harden, catching her body in its frozen trap.
Hastily, she let out a surge of lightning to heat up the ice around her, melting it in time to dodge another piercing spire. Kiko was waiting for her to make that move though, as an extremely powerful kick to her side was waiting for her. This one didn’t send Fera away, it sent her up into the air. It was only a few feet, but it was enough for Kiko to take both electrified fists and drive them into her back. There was a powerful, blinding blast of black and red light, sending her back to the ground with enough force to break it. Blood filled her mouth upon impact and her world was spinning as she faded in and out of consciousness.
“You move around too much. I might start calling you Rabbit for a nickname. They like to bounce quite a bit, I think it’s rather fitting.” Kiko said joyfully.
To Fera, it sounded like he was even more amused than before. She recalled him calling this the easy way, so maybe for him, this way was more enjoyable. It really just solidified how sick he was, but she didn’t have any more time to focus on that. She had to focus on the fight, had to draw out the strength she used against Raven, even if it meant burning her own body in the process. She didn't have a choice, it had to be done. Ferain forced herself into a blindingly fast tackle, but Kiko’s black lightning shifted into shades of blue and white, like her own. He matched her speed and caught her by the right wrist as she dove towards him, trying to use that hand like a blade. As he grabbed her wrist, he used her momentum and drove her into the building beside them, adding his own force as well.
She blacked out for the moment of impact. There was a loud crash, a heavy weight against her body, and before she knew it, she was no longer outside. She instead resided in the living room of some apartment, a pile of bricks and concrete surrounding her as dust fell from the cracking ceiling. Fera groaned in pain as she struggled to lift her head, just in time to see Kiko stepping through the opening he created with her body. Blue and black lightning coursed around him as a frosty haze cascaded down from his arms and out of his mouth.
“You really don’t know anything, do you? You can’t beat me, Ferain, not at that speed. You see, everyone has a specialty. Yarin’s was his overwhelming power. He could be fast when he wanted, but he’s nothing compared to you, and it works the other way around. You’re strong, but Yarin outclassed you in raw strength. With a bit of both of you, you can’t win with what you have. You need to go past it. You need to go faster if you want to make it a bit more entertaining for me.”
Fera threw a brick at him and while he distracted himself with shooting it out of the way, she scurried away, using her speed to propel herself through the front window and into the street outside. Her wounded body needed a second to rest, so at the moment, it couldn't handle the sudden burst of speed. Fera fell into the road, rolling twice before stumbling back to her feet. Panting heavily and grasping at her wounded side, she ran weakly into another ally across the road, hoping to buy herself a little time. As Ferain pressed her back against a wall and tried to catch her breath, she kept an ear open for any encroaching footsteps.
“Come on. If I don’t do this, I’ll die. Fight or flight. Fight or flight. Please, I need that power. Come on.” she begged silently to herself, hoping that if she repeated this enough times, she could pull out that buried strength.
But, it seemed that no matter how hard she tried, it was too ingrained into her to just bury it deeper. Her sensible self might not be able to ever access it willingly, which would be a massive problem when it came to Kiko at his current level. It was starting to get to a point where her only option now would be to flee to the best of her ability. All she would have to do is get to the school, that is it. Somebody there could help, a teacher, another student, it didn’t matter. She wouldn’t be alone if she made it back through the checkpoint. Something then crossed her mind, however. If she left, how could she protect Lilipa, who was unable to keep herself alive at the moment. If she abandoned her to die, wouldn’t it be the same as killing the girl herself? Lilipa was her friend, one that was teetering on the edge of life and death… one that she couldn't leave behind.
“I can call them.” she then thought, reminding herself of the band she always wore around her wrist. Unfortunately, as she lifted her left hand, the watch was unresponsive. It had frost particles under the screen, as well as several cracks, and some scorch marks over the band and glass. From all of Kiko’s mixed styles of attacks, the band didn’t seem able to withstand that much trauma.
“I know where you are.” came Kiko’s voice.
Fera’s breath caught in her throat and she pressed herself closer against the wall, hoping that he would walk right by the alley she was hiding in. As if she wasn’t having enough bad luck, it would seem that Kiko wasn’t bluffing. There was a blue flash as Kiko zapped from the streetside to the wall in front of her in the alley. Instantly her body lit up as well and she leapt away, bounding from one wall to the next as Kiko gave chase. From one alley to another, to open roads and up the sides of buildings, she fled and he followed suit. As she reached the rooftops of District-B, she rolled on one and then broke into a series of four-legged leaps while leaving blue electric trails in her wake.
Suddenly, she let out a cry of pain as something stabbed into her back from the sky. Her powers died out and she slid across the roof before crashing harshly into the parapet on the opposite end. It wasn’t just one thing either, but a series of somethings. It was rain, or something similar. It seemed to Fera that he had frozen the moisture in the air into the shapes of miniature needles, sending them after her with a brief wave of his hand. To get away from it, Fera slammed a static-imbued fist into the roof, breaking it beneath her. She fell through with piles of lumber and roofing material, landing in the bedroom of some random apartment. Fera rolled onto her side, coughing up debris and dust and blood before turning onto her stomach and attempting to crawl away. Something hard then struck her back, Kiko’s foot, she guessed, pushing her through the floor and down to the next one.
A gust of wind hurriedly lifted her up in front of Kiko, who then slammed both palms into her gut, sending her out of a nearby window and back into the street. Fera slid across the glass-ridden ground and found herself unable to move any further. In front of her, coming from the building, she heard the crunching of Kiko’s boots as he stepped over the piles of glass that shattered from Fera’s crash. He stepped slowly towards her, practically unharmed and seeming quite pleased with himself.
“Here I thought I was underestimating you, Prodigy. But I am left disappointed. It seems that all you’re good at is running away, and you can’t even do that properly. And people actually thought you were the one going around killing everyone. Ha! Heh heh! Yeah right. I know I planned it that way, but really, how stupid would you have to be to actually believe that?” He crouched down in front of her, his legs spread and his arms draped across them in a lazy, relaxed sort of posture. “Come on, Ferain, you can do better than this. I know you did more when that bird girl attacked you on Halloween, and I saw you do more when you fought that giant oaf during the advancement test. It’s almost like you’re not even trying. It’s a bit insulting, to tell the truth. Am I not worth the effort, or do you want to die that badly? Well, are you going to answer me?”
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“Shut… Up…” Fera spat, in between her weak, panting breaths.
“I don’t think I will. Now I see why the bird-brained girl was so angry with you. It really is frustrating to see how much you can do and how easily you can drop the ball. I’m literally not moving, I'm right in front of you, and I still doubt you can lay a hand on me. My goodness, Ferain, do you really value your life so poorly, or the lives of your friends? Because, if you die here, I’ll be able to go kill them right away. I mean, once you, who are the biggest threat by far, are dealt with… Well, I’m sure you can put that together, at the very least. If you aren’t going to fight for your own life, what about Anny’s? Ooh, let’s play a quick game, shall we?” said Kiko, rising to his feet and stuffing his hands into his pockets.
“I want you to imagine what Anita’s reaction would be when I tell her that you’re dead. I would even show her your body if that will make it sweeter. Yeah, I think I might do that. So, here’s the deal. You guess correctly, I’ll give her a quick death. Guess wrong, I’ll take my sweet time with it. Slow and painful, using your own powers, I think. So, what do you think she’ll do?”
Fera’s eyes glowed brightly as lightning began to fill her mouth. She rose to all fours and instantly lunged forward, catching Kiko mid-hysterics and off guard. They both went into a roll, which Fera, using all of her built up power in her legs, kicked Kiko out of. He went flying into the house they had just exited, knocking his mocking grin off of his face. Ferain rolled forward and dove again, tackling him through the wall so that when they reached the other side, he was on his back and she was on top of him. Fueled by rage and blinded by fury, she raised an electrified fist, one that was glowing pure white with powerful currents, and hammered it down into Kiko’s face. She repeated this with her other fist, before using both at the same time.
“Ahhh! Gahhh! Ahhhhhh!” she screamed animalistically, clasping her hands together and bringing them down like a powerful hammer, driving it directly into the center of her target. Smoke was rising up from the crater that his head was creating with each powerful impact, but she didn't stop. She screamed until her throat was raw and her power was snapping uncontrollably around her, all the while, she pounded his face into the dirt relentlessly. Her senses were beginning to fade completely, and all that was left was red. “Don’t!” she howled, bringing a fist down. “Threaten!” she continued, adding another hit to the flurry. “Her!” Fera cried, preparing for another two-handed blow.
As her fists were coming down, she let out a shocked gasp as a blast of energy threw her into the ceiling and she came crashing down on the floor beside Kiko’s body. She heard Kiko gasping beside her, though the sound was mixing in with her own, which made it hard to distinguish after a second or two. Her senses returned as she saw Kiko sit up, and at the sight of it, she instantly got sick in her mouth. Kiko’s face was nothing but a disfigured mess. Burned flesh hung in tatters around broken white bones and scorched muscles. His jaw was hanging loosely in what little meat was left of his mouth and his burned scalp was caved in near the forehead. When he turned to look at her, with the ooze that was his left eye dripping down his melted face, her stomach turned inside out. She turned away and began throwing up everything she’d eaten that day. When she was done, she was clutching her sides while her forehead was pressed against the floor.
“You really did a number on me.” Kiko said, and to her surprise, he sounded more normal and calm than he should have. Hesitantly, she glanced behind her and saw him again, but this time, his face wasn’t as grotesque. It was actually healing rather quickly, and was mostly put back together. It at least had all of its skin back, which made it a tad less sickening to look at, had it not been for the fact that this should not be happening in the first place.
“How?” Fera muttered.
“A nifty little power I borrowed from somebody. Not the nurse, if that’s what you’re thinking, it’s much too weak for me. No, there happened to be a student with an incredibly potent healing ability. A little pass-by in the hallway and a small touch to his shoulder after I handed him back his fallen books, and wouldn't you know it, I can even heal from something like that brutal beating of yours. By the way, a bit barbaric, but pretty effective. If not for this power, I would have been dead in a matter of seconds.”
“Impossible.” Fera whispered. “No.” she then cried.
“Oh yes. A good effort for a change, Hirigaya, but I’m afraid this will be yet another loss for you. Goodbye.” Kiko raised his hand into the air as a massive spear of glass began forming above it.
“Ahhhh!” came a bloody scream from their right. Unfortunately, it was one that Fera knew well. A torrent of wind burst into the room, funneled through the hole in the wall and blasting with full force into Kiko. He was easily swept off of his feet and thrown against the wall opposite of their entrance. “Yahh!” they screamed again, forcing another powerful riptide of air against Kiko’s body as they stepped closer. When the girl stepped into the building, she shoved both hands forward and past her flew four unimaginably strong tunnels of visible wind. Kiko’s body was forced back outside and the mountain of debris that went with him fell down around and on top of his body.
“Anita?” Fera said, spitting out some blood in the process.
“Ferain? Oh my… Thank you. Thank you.” Anita murmured repeatedly, and Fera doubted it was her who she was thanking so intently. “Can you stand? We need to go.” said Anita, as she was trying to help Fera to her feet.
“Lilipa. Yarin, he’s… Anita, we can’t…”
“Calm down. Slowly now. What’s going on?” Anita inquired.
“Lilipa is hurt. She’s not far from here. Yarin… I think he’s dead. There’s another person too. It’s Kiko. He’s…”
“I figured out that much when I got here,” said Anita. “I’ll come back for Lilipa, after I get you out of here and I get some help. The headmaster is at the school, he was making a presentation. If we get him, we–”
“We don’t have the time,” said Fera.
“You’re right, we don’t. So stop arguing and get your ass moving. The quicker I get you out of here, the better.” Anita said.
She had hoisted Ferain to her feet and threw Fera’s arm over her shoulder to help support her. They started climbing out of the broken home, Anita ignoring all of Fera’s arguments and excuses to stay, when she felt a tingling sensation in the back of her mind. It pulled on her lightning and caused a blue spark to snap around the base of her neck.
“Down!” Fera ordered, shoving Anita aside.
Fera didn’t make it in time, however. A massive beam of black and blue lightning struck her in the back and threw her further into the street. That was the last thing she fully remembered for a time. There was a thud, a muffled scream, and flashes of slowed time as she flew through the air and hit the road head-first. Her entire body jumped as the foreign currents invaded her system. There was a cold breeze against her bare back, though it was quickly followed by a wave of heat every time. To her, it might have been what a terrible burn would feel like if it was cooled by a fan and then allowed to heat up again, over and over.
Her body twitched faintly while her electrified nails burned into the asphalt of the road as she raked them into fists. She took several heavy breaths as she rose to her hands and knees, shaking from the effort of forcing herself up. Her dress was singed in several places, torn in a dozen others, and she felt a terrible pain on the exposed skin of her back. Her hair fell around her face as lightning continued to strike around her.
“Fera? Are you okay?” Anita asked, rushing towards her.
“Fine.” Fera growled, struggling to her feet and swaying on the spot as Kiko emerged from the hole in the building. She looked over at him and wiped her mouth on her arm, smearing blood along her pale flesh.
Kiko clapped as the rubble crunched under his boots. “Alive and standing,” he said. “I was hoping to hit Anita with it, but that’s okay, I suppose. It would have killed her, but beggars can’t be choosers, after all.”
“You’ll pay for this.” Anita hissed, helping to keep Ferain on her feet.
“How?” asked Kiko. “There’s a dead body back there, sitting right next to a confessed murderer. It looks to me that Yarin tried to kill another student, but managed to get killed in the process. Another student down, Yarin finally disposed of, and poor little Lilipa, who was head over heels for Yarin, was unfortunately caught in the crossfire. By the time they find any of you, I’ll be back at the school, wondering where my lovely date went off to, only to be shocked and surprised to see that she ran back into the murderous arms of her childhood friend. Nobody will be none the wiser, and you two will be dead. Hate to say it, Anny, but you lose this one, and again, I still don’t have to use much effort to win.”
“You sure talk a lot of nonsense.” Anita stated angrily.
“Do I?” asked Kiko, laughing hysterically. “Well, every villain needs their big moment, right? The moment where they reveal all of their evil plans and their elaborate motives. Oh, but I don’t really have either, do I? As I told your lovely partner, I simply wanted to be free. I just wanted to kill these people, nothing more. I did originally plan to have Fera take the fall for a while, but that was mostly to keep the police off of my back. I knew it wouldn’t last long. Not much of a planner, really, just lucky… and I have a bit of common sense.”
Anita growled as she took a step forward, leaving Ferain’s side. “I’ll stop you here and now, Kiko.”
“Anita, don’t.” Fera murmured, staggering as she tried to step forward.
“We can do it together, Ferain.” Anita said, looking over her shoulder and smiling. “I know you’re hurt, but try to deal with it for a bit, okay? I need your help. If we lose now, we die. You know that, right?”
Fera nodded, fully understanding the consequences of both winning and losing, both were unfavorable. Losing meant the loss of their lives, but winning, that meant something entirely different, while also being somewhat similar. Either way, somebody would die. Winning might only be possible if they attacked with the intention of killing Kiko. After her mother, Fera never wanted to dirty her hands in that way again, especially not intentionally, but what choice was there now? Fera swallowed down her fear and contemplation, gathered herself together, and mustered up the strength to stand beside Anita. She summoned even more of her power, enough that her aura of blue and white static appeared around her body.
It wasn’t as powerful as it had been on Halloween, but it would have to be enough. With Anita by her side, it would be enough. Kiko let out another maniacal guffaw as he readied himself to receive another attempted attack. He had a confidence about him, but being at Anita’s side filled Ferain with her own sort of courage and belief. Fera kicked off the ground, leaving blue streaks behind her as she flew at her opponent. She saw Kiko’s grin widen as he moved to react, but from behind Fera, a sweeping wave of wind kicked Kiko’s feet out from under him at the last second. Fera spun in the air and drove her foot into his body, sending him crashing into the ground. A pocket of wind awaited his return, and it sent him flying back up towards the still airborne Ferain.
She delivered another powerful kick, propelling him back towards the road and her into a flip to create some distance. Anita was there in a flash, sending a kick of her own into his falling torso. Her foot didn’t technically make direct contact. A layer of swirling wind and pressure connected with him, and when the attack landed, it shot away from her like a bullet leaving a gun’s barrel. She flipped backwards and Kiko went flying down the road. He crashed into the asphalt, rolled several times, but managed to recover by flipping himself back up to his feet. Before he could even think of a reaction, however, Ferain was already stuck to a nearby wall, glowing blue and white, her illuminated eyes staring intensely at his stunned expression.
She launched forward like a near-invisible rocket, kicking his gut and launching him into the building across the road. Fera flipped back and touched the wall again, holding her position there as Kiko started to make a move towards her. A glass spear appeared in his hand and he threw it with so much force, a shockwave appeared around him. Fera jumped, flipped over it, and landed unsteadily on her feet in the middle of the road. She stood straighter as a panting, injured Kiko eyed her hatefully. At last, his jovial look had diminished into something far more terrifying. It was dark and full of rage, enough to make the bravest person in the school quiver, she suspected. As he stepped towards her, a wall of air appeared between them and threw him back into the building.
“Enough of this!” Kiko screamed. At once, he charged for Fera, his body glowing blue and black and red. When he was about to reach Anita’s next barrier, his hands became engulfed in wind, allowing him to simply swat the barely visible wall away like it was nothing.
Fera’s eyes widened just as Kiko landed in front of her, his fist wound back and was shimmering with multi-colored streaks of lightning. Fera felt the full force of the attack in her stomach and she was thrown off of her feet, forced back into the wall she’d been perched on moments before. Her head struck back, cracking against the concrete. She felt it break open, and she felt the warmth of the blood as it seeped down her neck onto her singed back, and matted her hair in the process.
“Now you!” Kiko spat venomously as Anita ran to meet him.
She sent several kicks and punches his way, but he dodged or tanked any number of them. Whenever she tried to use her wind, he negated it with her own ability, the one he somehow copied from her at some point in time. As Fera’s blurred vision was going in and out of focus randomly, she saw vague glimpses of the fight, snapshots at second-long intervals. As her subconscious mind pieced them together, she saw Anita’s foot get frozen in ice as she tried to throw a punch in Kiko's direction. The wind from her disrupted attack blew past his face, grazing his cheek like a missed slash with a blade. Kiko then grabbed her throat viciously with both hands, ice and lightning radiating around him like armor.
Easily, the ice at her feet broke and she was hoisted into the air, kicking and clawing at his hands, trying to break free. Kiko removed one hand and gripped her right side, just below the ribs. As he dug his nails deep into her flesh, Fera saw smoke and frost rising from the wound. What burrowed deepest into her mind, however, was not the smell or the sight, but the wailing screams that her partner was letting out. They filled the night as she cried and fought, trying to break free of the terrible pain Kiko was inflicting on her. Fera… snapped. There was no other word for it. Her sense of reasoning faded, her power surged within her, and in the smallest fraction of second, Kiko was on the ground, and Fera was holding Anita in her arms a few dozen feet away.
She gently set Anita down against a wall, taking note of the blood and smoke that hung around the hole in the beautiful dress she was wearing. Anita had agony written all over her face, and it pained Ferain to see it there, knowing that Anita should not have been here in the first place. If not for Fera, Anita would not have gotten hurt. Fera pressed a hand against Anita’s side, where the disgusting injury was, and bright green lightning began filling it. Anita winced, but after, one gray eye opened enough to see her.
“Fera?”
“It’s okay.” Ferain said softly. “I’m sorry you got hurt, but I’ll take care of it now. You made that promise with me, remember? Neither of us can die, so take a rest… And hold on, okay?” Fera ran a hand through Anita’s hair before lightly caressing her cheek.
“Right… back at you.” Anita whispered, which apparently seemed to be as loud as she could speak.
Fera nodded her head before standing straight up. She turned and glared wickedly at Kiko, who was again climbing to his feet, looking as if he had never been touched at all during their long, agonizing fight. The lightning around her body finally felt as it did that night with Raven. In fact, it felt hotter, stronger, more wild than it ever had before, while simultaneously still remaining under her control. What appeared to be thousands and thousands of currents arced around her flesh as she stepped closer to her opponent, the person she held so much contempt for, it made her blood almost literally boil beneath her skin. Kiko let out another fit of uncontrollable chuckles as he saw the seriousness and determination on her cold, distant features.
“That’s what I’ve been waiting for, Ferain, it’s about time. That girl, the real monster within you, that’s what I wanted to see all night.”
“Then you can have your fill.” Fera snarled, and as she raised her hand slowly in front of her, her powers changed again. Her bright blues and whites shifted into such a bright white alone, it almost looked like straight light. The unstable crackling was impossible to distinguish in the countless amassing strands of power that were surging wildly from within her. “I’m done holding myself back.” Fera snapped. “You’ve gone too far, Kiko.”
“Are you going to kill me, Prodigy? Hmm? Did I hit a sore spot when I killed that girl behind you?”
“She won’t die.” Fera said. “I’ll deal with you now and I’ll save her and Lilipa.”
“Or you’ll die a hero’s death, sacrificing your life for nothing. I think the opposite, Fera. You’ll die, she’ll die, Lili will die, and I’ll keep living on.”
Fera’s aura of light grew closer, tighter, and more contained. It was now like a solid armor around her body, with no gaps, no crackling, and soon, not even color remained behind. Her lightning went completely invisible, leaving only a heat haze in the air around her. As she moved her fingers, trails of white electrified air followed her movements like rivers of light.
“I am no hero, Kiko.” Fera said, looking from her hand to him. “I’m a monster.”
Ferain slowly moved her arm to her right, holding it straight out so that her hand was close to the wall beside her. The energy radiating from her caused a massive crater to near-instantaneously explode into the hardened surface. Cracks spidered in all directions and a quiet, barely noticeable hum came from her arm. Millions of electrified webs snapped and arced between her fingers and the broken concrete. Beneath her transparent armor, her skin and clothing were smoking and burning away. There was even a heat from behind her as her hair started burning at the end, where it was near her back. She felt pain like she’d never experienced before running through every part of her melting vessel, but it was a worthy price to pay to take down Kiko.
“Do it!” Kiko howled in a crazed sort of ecstasy. “Come on! Kill me!”
“Ahhhhh!” Ferain screamed from a mixture of uncontainable fury and an unbearable amount of pain as she started moving.
She kept her arm held out, and as she ran, the building she was next to broke beside her. A jagged trail of ruptured concrete followed her path as she bound ahead. When she leapt, everything went completely still except for herself. As for her own perspective, nothing was as it typically was when she went fast. Usually, time moved normally for her, and the world moved slower, but it didn't stop completely. This time, her body went faster than expected, and there were no signs of any other movement to be seen. She blew past Kiko at such a speed, the ghost of his last smile, the sound of his last laugh, were still frozen in time. It was a second after she crashed past Kiko that everything seemed to catch up. First came the destruction, from her sporadic path carved in the side of the building to the eruption of bricks and concrete from where she landed. Afterwards, the sound soon joined as well. The cracking, gritty cries as the wall was destroyed, ending with her own involuntary stopping point against a shop down the street. Fera’s last sight, her last experience of any kind, was watching Kiko fall lifelessly to the ground. She blinked once, and then her eyes closed for good.