The arrow Ritta shot without hesitation was obviously dodged by Alloy, however, it got suspended in the air as it did before.
"Huh??!! It's stuck in the air!!" Tasue exclaimed. Damion's eyes narrowed, trying to figure out what was going on.
Meanwhile, Ritta was told to shoot another and she did so, by the third one, Ritta figured that she was using cover fire for Alloy to get to them with a bit of time to spare. Speaking of which, in no time, Alloy caught up to them and halted, holding her knees as she tried to catch her breath.
"Thank… you… Ritta… that guy is faster… than I thought… so…" she struggled, a gasp of breath in each word.
"What… is… going on… here?!?!" She added.
"Spire…" Damion pointed the undead body on the ground. "He raised the dead."
"Oh… that's what I hit… along with you guys… It looks creepy!!"
"YOU GIRL!! GET BACK HERE!!" The reunion got interrupted by Maki's booming voice behind them. He finally arrived. Now… all the pieces were on the board.
"Ugh…" Alloy began, looking back at Damion, "can you deal with that guy?? He's persistent."
"Who is he??"
"Your brother's right hand."
"You can leave him to me. Spire is…"
"I see him…" a grin formed on her face. "I'll beat him and get that necklace back."
"You sound excited, youngin…" Ritta wondered.
"I AM!!" She assured her.
"Don't break it." Damion told her.
She smiled and began sprinting to the left side of the graveyard to face her ticket to Damion's company, the real reason she was excited. Spire seemed to have finished his summoning of the dead. The stance he held showed he was ready for anything after that. Believe it or not, the undead were given commands, and they were simple… terrorize and harm everyone they could find. It was truly going to be a problem if Alloy and her new friends weren't around. And so, the final struggle began, Alloy vs Spire, Damion vs Maki, and Tasue & Ritta against the not-so-big multitude of undead they were surrounded by.
"Anikii, bring your hand." Tasue told Damion as she saw his bleeding hand and walked over. As a tailor, she was proficient in stitches so she used that skill to stitch up his wound with a different medically used thread. This in turn returned mobility to Damion's arm and he could better face his new opponent.
"Thank you, Tasue. Now… you see all these walking bones?? Can you take care of them??" He asked.
"Damion. She may be a child, but don't treat her like one. She can understand more than you think." Ritta urged him. He sighed, "Great. That makes things easier. Tasue, defend the townspeople!!"
"I want to but my energy is ending…" She said, panting.
"Just do what you can. Ritta will help you out."
"Let's go youngin!! Damion… that man's abilities are difficult to deal with, he has invisible shields he can summon from anywhere, but they're weak, so take these." She reached for her leg quiver, one that had more arrows than anyone would've guessed since they were both hidden perfectly under her belted olive dress. She then handed him three of her steel arrows. "They're sensitive to the abilities of those who wield them, but their heaviness might help you deal with him, when you shoot these, they'll only manage to go halfway through, the rest is up to you. Use what we learned. This fight is what will determine the future of your abilities."
"Thank you." He nodded with an idea or two of how he'd approach the situation. He then began walking forward, toward Maki, but stopped at a distance. At an intersection that led to the inner side of the town from the graveyard.
"Alloy is doing me a favor… so I'll be your opponent." He said.
"So you're the boss' little brother — you're just as cocky as she is." Maki replied.
"She's on a different level." Damion smirked as he drew back his bowstring. Both runes from his gloves as well as the short bow began glowing dimly.
In concentrating, a flaming arrow formed and he shot it directly at him. It was deflected in mid-air by his shield, he shot another and the same thing happened, only this time, Maki grunted as he charged after the flame dissipated in the air. Hands ready and set below his jaw like he was boxing. Damion believed the conditions of his power changed as he charged and he needed to confirm this. He shot another arrow and it did the same thing. 'I was wrong' he figured, so he decided to try another approach after Maki evaded the one coming.
Maki bolted straight toward him, but Damion noticed his arrows were too slow at being drawn and released, so for the moment, he couldn't do anything but dodge as much of Maki's attacks as he did, Maki weaved down and tried to land a right hook nearly every time, leaving Damion to notice that his punches were obvious. A jab then flew that Damion weaved away from, however, it was followed by another serious left hook.
"Damn…" He noticed his failure. "I was wro…"
Interrupted, the punch connected to Damion's face and he was flung into one of the buildings to the right side of the street they fought in. Landing into some furniture which led to some silence after the cracking and splinting sounds of wooden stuff were done echoing.
With Maki right outside, he waited, placing a barrier between him and where he sent Damion flying. Suddenly, a flame was shot from inside the building, as expected, it was deflected. "My shield won't get a scratch with your weak arrows. Your friend there figured something out earlier, but I doubt you're that smart." He taunted. Immediately after, another flame came from inside, only this time, it was bigger. It had a punch to it that barely reminded Maki of Alloy's attack waves.
"What?!" Maki exclaimed. Unsure of where that extra power came from.
Pieces of furniture moved around. Damion pushed and pulled different pieces of furniture out as he stood up and waltzed to the back alley behind the store after Maki blabbed about his ability.
"Where are you going?!" Maki sneered as he charged after him.
Damion had thought of something.
*****
Alloy had already gotten to an earshot distance with Spire. She noticed his attire had changed just a bit. His coat had a few blackened holes that she got to notice after their little chat. Both of their ebony colored hair flowed in the wind atop the side of the hill. The air that blew was stale, with a hint of rot as the fresh corpses off their coffins weren't necessarily pure bone.
"After doing all this, you still won't stop, will you??" Alloy stated as she pushed away one of the undead. They were weak, but the towners were more scared to do anything about it so they ran, a few stood up with the guns they had but still held the same conflict of putting down people they previously knew.
"How did Damion manage to trick you?? Did he do the same thing as with the child??" Spire sneered. Alloy wanted desperately to share how she got the first members of her guild but it wasn't the right time, nor was it the right person, so she responded.
"There's no trick, he's my friend, and you're hurting him. It annoys me."
"Friend?! You're going to die because of friendship?!!" He retorted as his voice rose to a shouting status.
Her jaw clenched. "I won't die."
She lunged herself toward Spire, forming her right sword mid-air as she struck both of them down on him but he dodged them quickly, she didn't stop there. She slashed where he dodged with her left hand, he swiftly leaned back to dodge it but she had another right slash ready for him as she crouched. He drew a slightly bigger dagger than the ones Alloy finally began seeing strapped to the inside of his coat and held it in place for her sword to deflect, and it did. She jumped back after seeing it.
That was the first direct confrontation with Alloy and Spire but he felt something in her, something familiar, but it also gave him a chill down his spine. His shoulders stiffened to this sensation but he ignored it before he made his next attack, throwing his daggers in anger as well as in quick succession. He had one drawback that was no longer at the front of his mind so he couldn't pay any mind to it. Alloy weaved through the daggers and as a few stuck to the gravestones, she deflected one with her right sword to the ground, noticing the make of the thrown ones was different — lighter. With that new information, she took action, slicing a wave with her left as she closed the distance right behind it.
The dagger Spire already held was still on his left hand, he jumped, missing the wave but seeing Alloy right after with her hand gripped on her sword and swinging it already, she shot a wave upward, he tried to position his right hand to get another dagger from his coat but it didn't make it in time. He then used his left dagger to try deflecting it by trying to use momentum from a mid-air spin, after struggling for a second, he managed to deflect it to the air, the latent energy forcing him to spin, as he balanced himself, he looked down, his opponent wasn't there. He looked around to see townspeople pointing upward. When he looked, Alloy was flying toward him, due to the immediacy, she slashed part of his right torso, his coat was caught as well.