Chapter 46: Hooray?

There was an unsettling lack of emotion on Raven’s face. As he stood an stared at Dante’s almost motionless body. Not anger, not sadness, not regret, just emptiness. Slowly, Raven tilted his head just past Krista towards at Damien who was still trying to regain his consciousness.

Without a hint of emotion in his voice Raven finally spoke out, “I must remove the error.”

Krista could hazard a guess as to what this error could be, so she prepared for at least one more onslaught from Raven. She waited patiently again, waited for the moment Raven would get close enough for her to attack, or the moment that he’d try to do something she wouldn’t expect. Either way, Krista wouldn’t let him pass.

With each step Raven took another piece of sweat rolled her forehead. Would he make another sudden dash? Maybe this was a feint, and Raven was readying himself to strike from one of her sides. At this point, anything was possible from this man, and Krista couldn’t afford to be wrong, not with the stakes this high.

Raven entered the space Krista could attack in, but she didn’t move, no she wouldn’t fall for the same trick twice. Raven took another step, he couldn’t be more than three more away, but he kept his guard down as he calmly walked forward.

Another step, still Krista stayed stationary, Raven wasn’t even looking at her, his focus was completely squared on Damien. Another step, Krista’s body started to fidget against her will; everything inside her screamed to attack already and worry about his reaction after. From this distance, missing her attack would be impossible, yet she held back. The assassin seemed to feed off of impatient, and Krista knew that the moment she attack, their little battle would be decided.

A final step, Raven was directly in front of Krista, close enough that she could reach out and grab him. In a single moment, Krista felt every single one of her muscles tighten. In an explosion of power, Krista sprung forth. Her blade followed closely as it came crashing down in a downward arc.

“Animus,” whispered Raven.

Krista felt something slimy wrap around her leg. She almost ignored it thinking that it was just Damien, but then she remembered that he was unconscious. Whatever it was yanked at her leg, nearly pulling her off her feet. Animus stood there with two red, fleshy like tentacle appendages and a red aura.

“Come on!” shouted Krista.

A sharp pain slash her back as Krista felt a familiar numbness permeate past her legs and through the rest of her body. She fell onto her side, completely unable to move her body. Krista had to watch as Raven slowly pass by and crouched near Damien. Watch as Raven grabbed his collar and placed a single black finger on Damien’s neck. Krista couldn’t even muster the energy to open her mouth and shout at Raven to stop.

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Krista needed to move, she needed to move now. In seconds, less than seconds would be all that it would take to end Damien’s life. Energy, she needed more energy. Krista didn’t care where she got it from, Damien was close, if she could just move slightly, she could borrow just a bit of energy. Just enough to move again.

It was futile, no matter how much Krista struggled, she couldn’t move even a millimeter. She needed this energy. Krista was already out of time as she watched Raven bring his finger into Damien’s neck.

“Let him go!” Krista felt a burst of energy flow into her body.

She immediately stood up and charged at Raven. As she ran, Krista could feel energy continuously flow into her. Not from any person, but from the grass, nearby trees, animals in the ground, and even from the air surrounding them. There wasn’t much in any one place, but all together she had enough to tackle him off Damien.

“How did you-” asked a surprised Raven.

“Damien, say hooray right now!” interrupted Krista.

Raven through Krista off himself as she barely had enough energy to tackle him in the first place, before lunging back at Damien.

Damien, not fully aware of the situation and still somewhat dazed, spoke out, “Holly and Rei, how do you know those names Krista?”

Raven made a sudden stop partway. The names Damien called out seemed to have a profound effect on Raven even if he had said them absentmindedly. Unexpectedly, that’s also when Damien’s brain began to work again.

“Raven!” He shouted before looking to his side towards Krista. “Why is Dante unconscious, why does my neck hurt, and why are you all cut up?”

“Just say hooray, asshole!” Krista commanded.

“Hooray?” Damien asked. “I don’t think now is a good time to celebrate.” Hearing the key word, Raven came back to life and stared at Damien. “Wait, it’s coming back to me… oh shoot-”

Before Damien could finish his though, Raven stabbed him in the neck with his finger. Shix was the one who rushed forward and pushed Raven off of Damien, “It’s your loss.”

Shakily, Krista stood to Shix’s side. Running on less than fumes, Krista wasn’t sure how much more she could muster, but Raven walked past them to attend to Damien, “I understand, I merely put him back to sleep, so Shix could easily take the proper precautions. I concede, this is my third failure.”

“Raven just conceded defeat” Shix remarked. “If I didn’t hear it myself… Hear that Krisha you won! Krisha?”

Krista never did her Shix’s congratulations as the sweet relief of unconsciousness soon consumed her.