Wings & Mages (Version 2)

Chapter 27: Ice vs Feathers

Recap:

"I'm sorry," he said with a soft voice, "You got involved in my mess..."

"Who are you?" the thief asked tiredly.

"Having yourself beaten up like that..." he trailed, "What a wretch you are..."

He pounded his fist on his palm. Just as it started to smoke, his face seemed darker.

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"Eh...?"

"Ice make: spear!" Gray charged his ice spear and drove it forcefully directly to the thief. But thanks to his reflex, he managed to roll out and dodge it.

Daisuke finally woke up inside of him. "What's going on?" he asked, partly unaware of what happened and still lacking sleep.

"There's another psycho trying to kill us," Dark replied as calm as he could, but the words he used were simply terrifying. Daisuke was startled.

"Another psycho?!" Daisuke shouted, "What do you mean 'another psycho'?!"

Dark didn't reply right away. He kept his focus on the unidentified attacker, keeping track of his possible next attacks. That time, Daisuke noticed that his counterpart was already badly beaten and when he darted his eyes to the attacker, there wasn't even a single scratch.

"He must be a tough opponent for you," Daisuke muttered.

"He just came," Dark retorted silently, "And I don't know him."

"Who gave you all those scratches, then?"

"Krad did..."

"Krad?!" Daisuke nearly shouted, "Krad was revived?!"

The thief simply nodded. "And I don't know how..."

"Where is he now?"

"He disappeared after I defeated him."

"I see..." Daisuke sighed in relief.

Gray finally grew sick of the glaring competition occurring in between them. "Ice make: death scythe!" he yelled as he slammed his fist on his palm again. A death scythe was formed out of it and he swung it powerful enough to render the accused incapacitated.

Again, the thief dodged it, but failed to balance and fell on the ground. Just before he could stand up, Gray yelled again, "Ice make: lance!"

Countless arrows and lances came out of it and it hit the thief. He screamed in pain, just as a sinister grin crept out of the attacker's face.

Mist covered Dark as the lances crushed onto it, but dissipated when the rest of them had hit. Much to Gray's surprise, no one was there.

"He dodged it again?!" he thought, "He could dodge even an attack like that at his hopeless state?!"

Then, the thief crawled out of his shadow form and strangled Gray from behind. "Who are you? And why are you trying to kill me?" he demanded, mustering a threatening expression in his face.

Gray coughed and replied indirectly, "You hurt my comrades..." he coughed again, "I'm going to make you pay back for it..."

"Wait!" he startled, "I didn't do it!"

Gray didn't want to listen to him and bit his arm as hard as he could, making him let go. Then, he used that chance to elbow the thief and kick him away.

Dark pounded his arm on the ground to stop his momentum, leaving a large distance in between them. His body hasn't fully recovered from his battle with Krad and the disappearance of the white-winged left a strange sensation coursing through his body. For the first time, he felt whole and that gave him power.