How to Kill a Phoenix

8: DO NOT PASS GO

CHAPTER 8: DO NOT PASS GO

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"Opponents are often better judges of character than allies." – Nicholas Aurelius Reuben

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Even as Go slipped through a dark, narrow crack in a collapsed building that she doubted any of her opponents would brave, she felt a slight wave of disappointment. That boy Alex fell too easily. It should have been more fun than that. Were they really this fragile?

Never underestimate your enemy. Anything could go wrong in a battle.

She had set the starting points for the very purpose of scattering them all, little fishes ready for slaughter. She already memorized them by heart, sneaking glances to remember the owners of each cards. Plus the code word for starting the battle should catch them off guard.

It's a big island. I said we're starting when I say the code word, not when they hear it.

Go paused before the exit - no enemy in sight. Her hunch told her that her next target would be easier to spot but much harder to defeat. After having them tell her their abilities, she already had a sequence in mind.

Whom to kill first.

Her ears stood erect as she sniffed silently. A distant bang rent the silence. She heard what anyone else probably couldn't: the crash of glass laced the distant gunshots.

Number two and number three in one place! What are the odds?

Go felt a surge of excitement, like a child getting a new set of toys she had pined for. Few things thrilled her like a chance to fight against star-men with their peculiar abilities and weapons.

It didn't take her long to sprint past another row of buildings and scamper up inside one of them, up ancient steps in the dark by gaping window after gaping window. The gunshots kept coming.

She hoisted her frame out of an opening in the ceiling and casually surveyed the surroundings. The roofs of adjacent buildings looked close enough to leap across. She found what she was looking for two buildings away.

Lifting her sword, Go leapt across the gap, not minding the height in the least bit. She hoped they wouldn't notice that she had switched her sharp sword with a dummy one made of steel with blunted edges.

Tanya's pet was no longer an anglerfish. A huge gulper eel whipped its tail, long enough to reach where Go stood. Through the pink glass, Go could see Tanya hugging her knees inside the enormous mouth with her eyes set on her target. Pieces of glass accompanied the eel like a swarm of bees.

The swarm bombarded the building before retreating. A cloud of dust rose even as shot after shot were fired.

Go couldn't see the shooter, but the shots obviously originated from the topmost window of the building in front of Tanya's hovering monster.

Go allowed herself a smirk upon noticing the limits of her preys' abilities. Tanya couldn't make her pieces of glass move like she wanted in places she couldn't see, and Fox's ammunition barely had the strength to break through Tanya's protection.

Go walked nonchalantly towards the gulper eel and leapt across another gap, utilizing the weight of her sword to steer her flight.

A barrage of shots hit the eel's head at the same spot even as Tanya raised a hand. The glass struggled to patch itself like the fast-forward of a wound healing.