edelweiss - &team

36

Unfortunately, it was easier said than done. "We can't be reckless," Yixiang started, unusually restrained, "If anything goes wrong, we'd be killing humans instead."

Yuma scowled, hand pressed to the side of his head, "Puppets...how do we defeat them? How do we even differentiate them from humans? Ugh, I feel so stupid-"

"If you're thinking of traditional puppets, they're most likely hollow, and their joints will move weird," Maki suddenly said, completely focused.

"What."

"What? I used to be in a theatre club, you pick up some things after a while. I've seen a lot of puppeteers," Maki shot back distractedly, eyes studying the various figures in an attempt to spot any of the characteristics he had mentioned.

"You think he'll be so considerate?" Yudai asked, doubtful.

"You got a better idea?"

"Hollow body it is."

Yixiang then added, "You know what, to hell with Life's promise. If we injure humans, we'll do what Maki does and say it was in self defence or something. Collateral damage."

Harua, who had been silently listening, suddenly chimed in, "Are you guys gonna go full out?"

"If we want to stop them, yeah," Maki replied, already getting ready to launch himself off the top of the building.

"Okay," Harua took a shaky breath, "I'll try to isolate the area. So we can minimise the amount of humans affected."

"That was an option all along?"

Harua wrinkled his nose, "It's not easy and very draining. But I'll do it this one time, because if we're gonna do this, might as well do it properly."

"Will you be alright?"

Harua gave a wry smile, "You know my role in all this right? You are the protectors of humanity and I have only one role and one promise to keep. I just have to keep you and your powers safe."

"You should stay up here then," Yuma suggested, "We'll handle everything below."

"I'll take the first guy, the rest of you spread out," Yudai stated, before he dove down from the roof, shifting smoothly into a falcon that glided over the city. "Well?" Yuma beamed, "After you two."

Yixiang launched himself off the edge, rolling gracefully to break his fall before immediately rising to sprint towards the nearest target, scimitar in hand. Yuma elegantly lowered himself down, landing lightly on his feet, while Maki slammed down, with only his astral projections to cushion him. Maki spared a look up to Harua, who already summoned his spellbook, spread out in front of him. His eyes closed for a second, then when they flew open, they were an unmistakable gold.

"Let's go," Yuma urged, noting how Yudai and Yixiang were already nowhere to be seen. The oldest usually wielded a pair of double blades but in the unexpected mess, he had only been able to retrieve one. That didn't stop him, he had no qualms attacking the first man wildly, the dull edge of his sword going straight to the man's chest. The figure stumbled, staggering like a lamb freshly delivered. Yudai's sharp ears caught the sound, as though a paper-mache form was struck. "Caught you," Yudai smirked, driving his sword straight into the puppet's body. For good measure, he dismembered the puppet and sliced off its head.

"Remind me to think twice before angering you," Yuma remarked, shuddering. Yudai cocked his head, a foot planted on the puppet's ruined torso, "You could crush me by raising a pinky, if you wanted."

Yuma shrugged, lifting his pinky and two men were sent crashing into each other, crumpling down. "I guess," Yuma chuckled, and, taking a leaf out of Yudai's book, wrenched the heads off the two puppets. "Well, we're making significant progress," Yuma sighed, watching as Yixiang tossed his scimitar to a side, with an almost sadistic look, slowly stalked up to his target as the figure fell to its knees, after all, it was completely made of matter.

"Don't you feel free?" Yudai suddenly asked, exhaling as though a tremendous burden was lifted from his shoulders, "We finally aren't held back by the weakness of humans."

Yuma shot him a look, "For someone that interacts with humans daily, you sure have no fondness for them."

Yudai scoffed, "I haven't been human for centuries."

Wordlessly, Yuma turned his attention to Maki, who, with an expression of indifference, pummeled into a presumed puppet with his bare fists. "Maki, that's enough," Yuma called out, strolling towards him, "It's dead."

It looks as though Maki was shaken from a trance, when he raised his gaze to meet Yuma, his eyes were liquid, puppy-like.

"How many are left?" Yixiang appeared by their side, his hand gripping the head of another puppet like a trophy, which he tossed to a side carelessly. Yuma looked around, but the buildings were blocking his view. "I'll take a look," He said, levitating into the air to have a bird's eye view of the little town. Eyes flitting around the maze of blocks, he quickly spotted the remaining figures, before making his careful descent down.

"Two," Yuma grimly informed. "Fifty-fifty chance," Yixiang groaned as he stretched leisurely, like a cat basking in the sun. "Let's toss a coin and send Maki after one. If he comes back with a puppet we'll call it a day," Yudai suggested. "The human is still under Death's influence, though," Maki reminded, wrinkling his nose. "Yuma'll handle him, then," Yixiang replied, shooting a look at the psychic.

"Yuma, tell me the direction and I'll go for them," Maki said, already prepared to sprint off. "Twelve o'clock, make a right turn," Yuma said, and without wasting a second, the youngest took off.

"We should brainstorm about the labyrinth," Yixiang said as he dropped to the ground to rest, "If he's trying to mess with Life's immortals, we should probably help them."

"Hm, this is strange," Yuma suddenly remarked, hand against his head, "I can't reach them anymore."

"Kyungmin's probably pulling something funny," Yudai complained, "Maybe they were transported to like, I don't know, Spain or something."

"That's not how Kyungmin's power works," Yuma said. Yudai made a face, but Yuma was busy trying to contact Maki. Yixiang flicked his eyes up to Harua, who looked a little dazed but still managed a wave to them, before pointing down, signalling that he'll join them soon.

"Yuma, you there?"

"Yeah, result?"

"Puppet," Maki sighed. "Alrighty then," Yuma rolled his neck quickly, before saying, "You guys gonna come or are you going to laze around?"

"The latter," Yixiang beamed, and Yuma sent a pebble towards his temple.

While Yixiang whined and grumbled like a child over the insignificant pain, Yuma went off alone.

an: I probably should have mentioned that they were all carrying various weapons but i thought it would have been so jarring to point out what everyone was holding.