Fragments

Ch.9 - The Sword and the Shield

"Die already…" Scowling at the quadrupedal Reaper and its pathetic squirming, Yin angrily raised her hand above her head. White, glowing matter floated into the air from underneath her clothes, coalescing into a myriad of tiny daggers and swords that were flung into the beast in the blink of an eye to vanquish it once and for all.
In its last moment of life, as it tried raising its claws for a final attack before succumbing to its innumerable injuries, Yin backed away from it and realised the mistake she made. Her breaths became heavier and her body felt exhausted, the excessive amounts of energy she used reflected on her physical state instantly. As the storm of blades rose up from the Reaper's carcass and its claws lifelessly dropped to the ground, she backed away from it and decided to conserve her weaponry rather than getting rid of it. "I got too emotional… Now I'll need to be careful. Damnit." She tried to act like her usual, cool and calm self, but she couldn't hide her exhaustion completely.

Though every battle thus far ended in the Guardians' favour, most were in quite bad shape. Reuel, who motionlessly knelt in the back corner of the warehouse, was incapable of battle, Ku exhausted himself by defending his teammates from gunfire without any breaks, and Yin acted far too irrationally. Yuu also felt tired out from the creation of Min's explosive shield.
And still, their most threatening obstacle stood unharmed.
Deep yet elegant clicks of hooves echoed through the building, alarming everyone to the knight's presence. Having conquered a blind, 4-legged Reaper mutated to resemble a wingless dragon, the final challenger possessed an intimidating presence that demanded respect. It was a 3 meter tall monster with knightly armor made of bone and shiny, extraordinarily sharp longswords for hands. As the monster's eyes silently darted across the warehouse, Min felt a very unique, calm form of aggressiveness none of the other Reapers possessed.
Judging from its observant behaviour, the worst case scenario seemed to be unfolding.
"This one is dangerous…" Min concluded his short analysis of the opponent he'd face as it stood in the warehouse's middle, surrounded by the remaining Guardians. "The others acted like animals. I'm not sure just how intelligent it is, but this one can definitely think."
Having waited long enough for its place under the spotlight, the knight wanted to test its target. The battle was initiated after it gently kicked its steed's side, which rebelliously shook its head and opened its mouth, revealing rows of razor-sharp teeth. Its throat and head lit up with an orange hue and a pillar of fire was blasted out of its mouth, directly at Min.
A rush of shock washed over him as he put up a barrier wide enough to cover his body at the last moment, the condensed flame splitting around the shield and pushing Min backwards. "That was close!" Min held his ground against the barrage of fire with visible difficulty, the barrier shattering just as the beast's fire breath stopped assaulting him. Despite possessing an expressionless face, Min could tell the knight was a little impressed by his endurance.

Several days before the mission, when everyone was still moving into the station, Min took some time to experiment with his ability. He found out the individual barriers' durability was comparable to iron, but once broken, the entire shield would shatter like glass.

He knew the weakness he'd be working with, but didn't imagine his opponent's attacks would be quite so fierce. "We'll need to cooperate as well. Lilly! Curse the Reaper the knight's riding!"

"Huh?!" While keeping her distance from Min, she deactivated the curse on the deceased quadrupedal Reaper it affected before. A massive, shattered purple padlock was momentarily shown above its corpse as a visual sign. "Y'know I can only curse one at a time, right? Why not the knight?!"

"If they stay together, they'll be impossible to beat. I need you to create an opening with your ability!"

"Aha… A-alright!" She trusted Min and steeled herself, aiming her hands at the blind dragon. "Curse, activate!" The girl yelled out, but once more, nothing happened visually, which left the knight in confusion. Upon hearing the word "curse", its mind went through several possibilities, but the lack of any visual evidence made it act carefully.