Descent into the Abyss

Chapter 43

"We need to push up, Danny!" One of the group, a woman, yelled out, launching a melon sized flaming sphere down the road.

Someone raised their arm, the second closest to Marcus, and gestured with two snaps of their fingers. Tiny flames sped through the air, swirling on the wind, sticking onto the stonework of a nearby wall. Wordlessly, the four of them burst forward following the flame, oblivious to their prey turned hunter following behind. As they closed the distance, the same figure raised their arm again, illuminating their self as flames flickered on their fingertips. They snapped and the flames dashed forward to a new position, blood spraying with a dark mist behind them.

A scream filled Marcus's ears, but his teeth clenched down, swinging the blade with deadly force a second time. As the bloody limb fell through the air, the three other individuals turned with anger and shock plastered on their faces.

"Who the fuck... Wait! Is that...?" One of them yelled, multiple orbs of fire manifesting from the closest duo.

"Does it matter!? He just took Danny's arm off!" The female of the remaining trio screamed in response, thrusting her left hand forward.

Danny, the man missing his left forearm, wreathed on the ground in agony, half screaming, half whimpering.

"You're gonna burn!" He spat between stifled sobs, staring up at the Marcus.

As the first two of the four orbs from the woman sped forward, Marcus sidestepped them feeling the heat of the elemental spheres.  Slashing downward once to silence Danny, blood sprayed up into the air, a final crimson squirt from his dying heartbeats. Marcus dashed straight forward, towards the last two of the flaming orbs.

A vertical, downward slash split one sphere in half and sent each fiery portion into the ground, splashing against the pavement next to him. With a quick twist of his wrist, the blade stopped cold, inches away from the asphalt before streaking upward at a forty-five degree angle. The second orb split unevenly, closer to a thirty/seventy slice, with the larger chunk flying past.

"Be careful," Kou began, but Marcus knew the critical role of the tiny flames now spreading and began to shed his jacket.

The smaller portion, no larger than a baseball, impacted against his left shoulder, coating the dark fabric with bright flames.

"It's fuel," Marcus mentally reiterated to himself, yanking the burning fabric off before the wielder could gain control of the spreading fire.

With another dash, Marcus closed the remaining distance between himself and the female fire user, sword at his side. Hesitation slowed his blade, the fear in her eyes striking a painful chord in his mind.

"Liz!" The second Pyro yelled out, stepping forward as the man behind him threw forward his own arm.

A half second delay before the blade regained speed, but it was enough for the crack of thunder and a bolt of lightning to cross the distance. Marcus adjusted the blade, his recent battles with Kyle and the envoy, Frank, flashing to the front of his mind.

"If the electricity won't hurt their wielder," He recalled, catching the arc with the Rozan blade. "I'll target someone it will..."

With a horizontal slash through the air, Marcus watched with grim fortitude as the arc slammed into the outstretched hands of the woman. Sparks sizzled in the air as she went rigid, falling back onto the street with a deafening Thud!.

"You motherfucker!!" The furthest screamed out, more lightning crackling around his hands and arms. "I'm gonna kill you for that!"

Marcus resisted the urge to rebuke; to shift blame onto the invaders, but it was his fault they were invading. Or how it was the electric user's own attack that ended her life, yet he chose the target of the reflected attack.