DIVINE CHAMPIONS 6: A FINAL CONFLICT

SUN: CATS WITH COW TAILS

Karena attacked first, holding her knives as she ran at them. Ishaan bent down, touched the ground, and melted the top layer of the street with his solar heat. Karena slipped, and her knives fell out of her hand. Meanwhile, the other one attacked, only for Mikael to block her way with icicles. Rick flicked his fingers, and put some invisibility charm on his bag, that contained the Crystals. 

Ishaan fired balls of fire at the feline hulder, but they hit her and remained unaffected. "We art the huld'rs. We art b'rn charcoal burneth'rs. We art immune to fire."

"Ah, Shakespeare. More Shakespeare." Ishaan felt irritated by that fake accent. He took their accent as a mock, which angered him. The feline hulder hissed, and attacked again. Ishaan summoned his wings, and flew away. He swore up, and then, descended with speed. However, the hulder jumped out of the way. Meanwhile, Mikael formed an ice-blade, and blocked all of the knife attacks from Karena. But, Karena was outnumbered soon. She grew tired, waving her knife at both Rick and Mikael, both of who were defensive because of her speed. However, as time passed, Karena slowed down. And then, Rick struck. He drew the rune of power, and blocked another attack with his hand, breaking the knife's blade. Mikael countered by slashing his ice-blade at her, and brushed her hand with it. Blood gushed out, before Mik did something he had never done before. At least, not at Ishaan's presence.

Mik spread his hand at the drops of hulder blood that were falling on the ground, and froze them mid-air, turning it into some icy blood before rotating his fist, and turning it into a knife of its own. He caught it in air, and stabbed it through Karena's neck. As he drove it out, Karena's scream distracted the feline cat. Ishaan took that moment to kick her, disarm her, and chokeslam her on the ground. In his fiery form, Ishaan could feel his physical strength increase. While Rick's sucker-punch threw Karena down, as she bled to death, Ishaan put his foot on the neck of the feline hulder. At first, she hissed, but soon, she started to run out of breath. Ishaan's body started getting hotter and hotter, just like it had against the water spirits in Niflheim. "Ishaan's going supernova again." Rick said, as Ishaan removed the foot from the hulder's neck, and turned away. His body started getting cooler. The hulder took a second to catch her breath, before she ran at Karena, whose lifeless body, bathed in blood, lay on the ground. Mik thawed the blood blade, and let it drop on the ground. Around them, the less-crowded street seemed to go normally. No one cared for the fight that was going on. The hulder turned towards Mik, and screamed, "Thou shall payeth f'r this." And so, she jumped at him. However, Rick interrupted, pushed her away, and twisted his wrists, snapping her neck. The hulder fell dead too.

"That was easier than the last one." Ishaan said.

"They had nothing but speed. Their skills were bad." Mikael said.

"They didn't have anything supernatural except for their super fast instincts. That was not a fair fight." Rick said, before looking up at the wolf-shadow on the Moroccan night sky. "Come on, Hati, if you wanna kill us, send someone who matches. Two hulders, with their cow tails out, are not good enough."

The shadow got darker for a second, as the dark shade of purple turned literal black, before becoming normal again. However, the glaring eyes on the shadow glowed brighter before disappearing. That could only mean bad omen.

"Now what?" Ishaan asked.

"Let's go back. We are not getting out of the airport in Buenos Aires." Rick said.

A call from Maja woke Mikael up, who had gone to sleep again. Rick was listening to some music, and Ishaan was watching Stranger Things on Netflix. The network connection in Casablanca was quite stable.

Maja's call startled everyone. Meghna and Rick had talked only an hour before. "Mik, guys, they sent a troll."

Everyone gathered around Mikael's phone, where Maja had video-called. "What's going on?" Rick asked.

"This." She held the phone at a dead troll, which had taken three arrows through its neck. Why were monsters dying by getting hurt on their neck today? What was this? Inter-world Neck Day? Gods, it was so bad. "Who did that?" Rick asked.

"Well, Rishi's mother smacked it with a frying pan, not knowing who she was hitting. I couldn't kill it with a spear, so Meghna brought out a bow, and arrows, and killed it."

"Woah!" Rick said, super-impressed, "You can do archery?"

"She can." Rishi's Mom spoke from aside, as Meghna flipped her hair with pride, before Aunt Nina went on, "Hey, I and your Uncle are here at your house. We realized that these girls might need things."

"But doesn't that endanger you guys?" Rick asked, worried.

"Not really." Meghna said, "They are safer here than there. I feel like we should bring Ishaan's mother and Udi here too. At least that way, if they are under attack, we would be here to save the day." The mere talk of a possibility of Maa and Udi being under attack ran a chill down Ishaan's spine.

"Do that." Rick said, "And yes, please, be careful, you guys."

"Any news from my son and Aitri?" Aunt Nina asked.

"Not yet. They are at a different world. So, I guess they'll call as soon as they are back in Midgard." To that, the lady hmphed, as if accepting this heart-wrecking roller coaster that her child made her go through.

As the Lejet left Casablanca and soared up into the night sky towards the Argentine capital, Ishaan revolved the letter from Eir up and down. Should he write her back? He could have though. Maybe use some godly help to get it delivered. Anyway, his mind had a lot of things in it, and he needed to focus until he reached this little town. Ishaan went back to the world of thoughts, imagining where Rishi and Aitri would be. What would they be doing? They would perhaps be kicking monster behinds for fun.