Chapter 44: Premonition
Raven charged forward, but Krista was ready to meet him. She’d hate to admit it but he was stronger than her, faster than her, maybe a little smarter than her, and she’d have to protect Damien. Krista would have to thank Phive and Shix later, they at least gave her a fighting chance even through all the disadvantages.
“This is the third, no fourth time that I’ll have to protect your unconscious ass!” complained Krista as she moved in to take Raven head on.
At this point, the fight will end up being a battle to see if Krista makes a small mistake. Especially when Raven now on a time limit. Using her reach advantage with a weapon, Krista slowed her approach as she got closer wanting to strike as soon as he met her range. Sure that she got the spacing right, Krista made a sudden stop ready to let him come into her slash range, but felt something tie around her leg and pulled her sideways. The next moment, her vision was of a black shape propelling itself past her faster than she could react.
As Krista backed up, she could feel a hand touch on her shoulder. Dante was standing next to me holding a whip, and the whites of his eyes were completely black.
“You were the one that pulled me there?” Krista asked. “Something to do with that ‘other ability’ you were talking about.”
Dante nodded his head, “I call it premonition. Let’s me see a little bit into the future. Can’t do it too many more times, and I can’t see everything, so let’s try not to rely on it. Though, at least, Raven will at least be more cautious.”
Like he said, Raven began to circle us rather than charge directly at us, “Really Dante, premonition? This is why I’m doing this. I believed that you had enough self-awareness to realize showing one of your hidden abilities to a friend, lover at that, of a man who just tried to kill you, may not be the best of ideas.”
Without saying it, Krista would have agreed with that notion, but Dante spoke out assuredly, “Don’t worry about that Raven. I consider Krista a friend of mine too, just like you, and a friend of my friends is at least somebody I don’t want killed. So, if you would just- Krista, left!”
Krista swiped her sword in that direction, completely missing Raven who had charged in on her right out of nowhere. Instead, it was Dante who pulled her arm to the right who managed to place a small cut on an angered Raven.
“Why did you lie to me!” raged Krista.
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Yet, Dante shook his head. “I didn’t. In the future I saw, Rave was going to rush in on your right then switch to your left until I said something. The future is finicky that way, any slight change, like saying it out loud, could drastically alter it.”
“Guess that’s why you called it premonition and not future sight,” Krista retorted as she looked back towards Dante. “Hey, you’re breathing pretty heavily.”
“Yeah, like I said, it takes a lot out of me,” responded Dante.
Looking further behind, Krista saw Amelia healing Damien. Catching her gaze, Amelia gave a status report, “He’s not hurt at all, so healing him won’t make him wake up faster. Yelling and water also did nothing.”
“Just keep doing what you’re doing and don’t forget to make him say “hooray” when he wakes up. Dante, with your help, I think we should be able to keep him at bay, at least long enough for Damien to wake!”
Raven continued to circle us, a predator wanting to finish off its kill, when Dante responded, “Krista, at all cost, you need to avoid taking too many cuts from Raven.”
“Well, of course, that’s the goal in any fight,” responded Krista.
Dante tried to get the information out quick, “No, his fingernails are poi- watch out!” but was immediately interrupted by an attack.
Time seemed to reach a standstill as they battled. Raven easily danced around Krista’s sword, while taking each and every chance to counter that he could. It took everything in Krista to just stop him from getting past her. Her only saving grace was Dante’s support, while any time he tried to get involved in their swordfight he would fail to measure up and get blasted aside, his ability with his whip to help Krista avoid some attacks and restrict Raven’s movements were invaluable. Amelia was doing her best too, healing both of them whenever they needed a rest, but it was easy to see that it’s taking a toll on her.
An exhausted Dante yelled out, “How long have we been fighting for?!”
Cleo, who had managed to get her aura back under control, chimed in, “Almost seven minutes. Don’t give up, Dante! We believe in you! Take down that nasty crow!”
Raven was breathing calmly, but he was beginning to sweat. Krista was relieved to see his stamina wasn’t infinite, “Be silent gorilla woman! You’ve done well, keeping up with me. Regardless, Damien will awake shortly, within the next three minutes I suppose. If he awakes, I will have failed again, and I will not let that happen. I had hoped to move past you without doing much harm. I apologies for underestimating your abilities.”