Thetarune: Book One

Chapter Three | Hurricane Hustle

A hurricane whipped up around the party. King clumsily launched spades at them. They whistled ear-piercingly loud as they rocketed towards the party, just barely slow enough to dodge. The projectiles collided with Seam's car, but nothing happened. They simply turned into thin air.

"Car's immune to magic, kids." Seam called out. King looked peeved. His lower mouth unnervingly mimicked every expression. When he spoke, it drooled as if waiting for it's next meal.

"Really? Well, that's a shame. Was planning on blowing this car up and grabbing youse out of the rubble..." King fired off more spades, faster this time, which cut up Kris' robes. They moved slower than usual, in fear of falling off the car. Every inch closer to falling made their heart race faster. They were paralyzed with fear, and could barely move.

"We need to think of a plan!" Ralsei said, expertly weaving in-between spades. Susie thought for a second, almost being knocked off the car by an especially large spade.

"Ralsei, crouch down and use your knife to cut his chain. I'll do the same over here. Kris! Shoot fireballs at him to distract him!" Susie commanded, leaning down to start sawing at the chain. Her sword came to her, and she began to slice. Kris' head felt like it would fall off their neck, and they meekly nodded. Kris put their hands forward, and small fireballs formed on the tips of their fingers. They fired them off like tiny snowballs, splashing into small explosions on King's face. He coughed from the smoke and shook the chains. The sound of cutting through the chain was thick and meaty. Kris felt very uncomfortable. Ralsei looked confused, but kept cutting.

"AHHHHHH!" King screamed as the 2 blade wielders sawed at his chain. He shouted out, ripping one of his chains out of the car and lashing it at Kris, who retaliated with a ball of flame.  Ralsei and Susie finally cut through the first tongue. It fell off with a meaty splat, despite clinking like they were made of metal. White blood spurted out of the remaining stump, and King screamed bloody murder. The car rattled violently, and Kris lost their balance. They shouted out in terror as their feet slipped. Expecting to scrape against the asphalt, they prepared a magic shield. But the fall never came. Instead, two large purple arms were wrapped around them. A thick metal chestplate pressed against their chest. Hair was flying into their face. Susie had caught Kris and held them on the roof of the car.

"Kris! Kris! Are you ok?" She asked, looking into Kris' eyes. Kris was shaken up and still trembling. The brush with death left Kris terrified.

"Get up as soon as you can. Something tells me that King's not gonna let us cut too many more of these." Susie let go, and summoned her sword to hack away at King's second chain. Kris' head felt hollow and full of fluid at the exact same time. They could barely move, but slowly and surely got back to standing position. Kris was quaking.

"YOU LITTLE PSYCHOS! THAT'S MY TONGUE YOU'RE CUTTING!" King howled in agony, and began to move closer to the group. His cut tongue had retracted into his lower mouth, which gave an angry open-mouthed frown. It soaked his suit in white blood. King had an incredibly pissed off look on his face. He summoned two spades and grabbed them in his hands. He swung them down, which elongated them into twin blades.

"Let's rumble, kids." He spoke with a menacing tone, staring at Susie and Ralsei with a brutal intensity. He lunged off his flying spade with a speed not yet seen from him. He slashed Ralsei across the face, leaving a deep gash and cutting his hood up. Ralsei cried out in pain, grabbing at the wound. Kris quickly cast a healing spell, and Ralsei retaliated with a slash to King's suit. It was torn open, revealing that his body was a smooth blue and white patterned blob. He looks exactly like Lancer! Susie thought, before narrowly dodging a slice to the stomach.