Guradian Academy

Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Two Down! One to go?

Shira smiled, her plan had worked...for the most part. Had Izumi used her wind elementary, the arrow with her bracelet would've flone higher. The bright light from the arrow, covered the area in a blinding light. The girls had been saved from the effects by Shira's shadowy illison. Naomi pulled out her nagainta from the shadow wolf's back, before replanting it several more times. Each time, the wolf howled out in more pain then the last. The sharp blade, combined with the light, was causing the wolf great pain. "The effects won't last for long!" Shira shouted to her friends. Izumi was to busy aimming for the shadow hawk to pay attention to Shira's warning.

Shira looked at her friends, wondering who she should help. She only had one bracelet, which meant this was their only chance to take out one of the shadows. She needed to chose the right target. Take down one now while it's weakened, then they can work as a team to take down the other one. Shira weighed her options. Izumi was sixteen like her and was a powerful wind elementist. Which would do them no good, since she refused to use that ability most times. Shira was still surpised Izumi had used it yesturday in her battle. Izumi loved battle more then anything else, she was the best archer in their entire grade. Her arrows always hit their mark, even when it appeared they had missed.

Naomi on the other hand was two years younger then them at fourteen. While she was younger, Shira wouldn't under estimate the guard class. Naomi had skipped two years while in the elementary grades into the middle grades. A rare feet that showed just how skilled Naomi truly was. Yet, she was still two years younger then everyone in their grade. Which meant she had two years less training then everyone else. 

"Shira!" Naomi called, "Cyclone illsion. Izumi, triple arrows!" The orders given made no sense to anyone else who'd heard them. But to the three friends, it was all they needed to hear. Shira went to work, creating a cyclone to engulf everything within a twenty foot radius. The plan orginally tasked Izumi creating a real cyclone, but with her sturnborness against using wind elementry, the task was given to Shira. Izumi's job was to fire triple arrow shots as rapidly as she could. Because they had switched, Shira's orginal job has been to create dozens of bladed weapon illisons. 

Naomi tasked herself with forcing the shadow wolf over to her friends. She began repeatly stabbing the shadow wolf's back, using the pain to make the beast thrash about trying to get her off. No such luck, Naomi used her energy to weigh herself down onto the beast. She would have to be pried off. The shadow wolf continued to thrash about as Naomi's weapon struck in different areas of flesh. The beast finally trapped itself within the cyclone. Naomi jumped off, as a rain of arrows pierced the shadow wolf, making it into a gaint pin cushion. "Where the hawk?" Naomi asked, as she ran over to Shira.

"Over there." Shira pointed to where the hawk was currently trying to free itself from the building it had crashed into. "Izumi was a bit to happy about making that happen." Shira smirked, gesturing to their archer friend, who stood on the roof of the building behind them.

"Don't forget about the shadow hawk!" Naomi called, "We need both of them pinned down with arrows." Naomi turned to Shira, who appeared calm but was only hiding her exshuation. Being an illuisonist wasn't easy. Bigger, grander illuisons required more energy and focus to create, maintain, and appear real. The winds Shira created weren't real, but sure felt like they were. On a sub-basic level, for an illuison to truly appear real, the illuisonist had to fool the senses of the person or beast they were targeting. The fact that Shira was even making the illuison appear real to Naomi and Izumi show how much she cared about the craft and her stamia.

"Shira," Naomi began, wanting Shira to pace herself before the girl passed out.

Shira held up her hand to silence Naomi. "Don't start. All three of us have our faults when it comes to using our abilites. Izumi's sturnborn refusal to use wind elementary, your refusal to fight like guard class or even using those abilites, and mine to always make my illuison appear real, no matter what." She glanced to the shadows that were still being pelted with arrows. "Our faults will harm us one day, but not today. So save the lecture until this is over."

"Umm, guys." Izumi lowered her bow, as she saw what stalked them just beyond the cyclone wall. "We've got a major problem!" She leaped down from her spot on the roof to get her friends attention.

"What now?" Shira groaned, tried of this mess. As academy students, there were certain mission and repsonbilies they could be given to help protect the city. However, dealing with shadows as powerful as the wolf and hawk wasn't part of those duties. 

"How about that!?" Izumi pointed to the shadowy creature that was hidden behind the cyclone. "What are we gonna do?"

Naomi and Shira's both gasped at the massive beast that slowly made it's way towards them. Covered in grey fur like shadowy mist, the creature had black stripes over most of the torse. The entire body took up the whole street, knocking signs, lights, and more down as it walked. Massive talons scratched the ground with every step it took. "We are so screwed." Izumi said as she rasied her bow. "It just had to be a dusk Liger!"

"No." Shira placed her hand on the bow. "This isn't a fight we can win." She looked at the wolf and hawk, then back at the creature in front of them. "We'll die if we stay here."

"I'm not running!" Izumi said, earning a chuckle from Naomi and a glare from Shira. "This is what we've trained for!"

Shira shook her head, "Think you knucklehead! We've been battle two shadows already, we're exshuated and could barely pin them down. Factor in our battle with the second years yesturday, which we're still recovering from. We didn't even go into battle at a hundred percent." She gave a scowl as she spoke a truth she didn't want to admit. "We've already lost. We have to use our last bit of remaining strength to retreat."

"She's right Izumi." Naomi's solem voice only reinforced Shira's argument.

"What's going to happen when we join GUARD after graduating?" Izumi questioned. "We're not going have the pleasure of fleeing when things aren't in our favor. Civilans are going to need us! Who else will fight for them! We else will protect them!" 

Shira began, "Izumi thats not what we'-"

"SHIRA!!" Naomi and Izumi both cried, as their friend was slashed acrossed the back brutally by black talons, blood spattering everywhere, as her body flew through a glass window before cliding with a wall. They looked at the limp bloody body of their friend in horror. Shira laided unconsious, her blood coloring her blond hair crimson red. The only sign that she was alive was the slight twitching of her hand, trying to grip the katana inches from her hand.

"Don't!" Naomi cried to Izumi, who had already loaded three arrows onto her bow. "Don't you dare do another foolish thing." Izumi only stared at the beast that had injuried her best friend. "Our priorty now is saving Shira." The moment Shira lost coninousness, the illuisonary cyclone disappeared, allowing the shadow wolf and hawk time to recover. Naomi knew she needed to think of a plan, a way for them to retreat. Calling for help wasn't an option, shadows and dusk gave off a vibe that made any and all commuciation outside of a fifty foot radius useless. 

"Naomi!" Izumi's desparete cried got Naomi attention. The liger's talons was only inches from Naomi and Izumi, there was no time to dodge. Instiuct took over as Naomi gripped her nagatina and poured the newly built up energy into it. As a gurad class, Naomi got stronger whenever she had to protect someone. The greater the threat and the more people she had to protect, the greater her strength and energy grew. Naomi knew that gurad classes were already gifted with great staimia and stronger bodies then the other classes. Guards could take a massive beating, which is why most relied on this in battle. Their strong bodies and staimia meant that dodging and blocking were pointless when they could easily take the hit and barely be affected by it.

"Naomi?" Izumi called, as she felt the energy emiting from Naomi. She watched as the nagatina acted as a meduim for Naomi's energy and created a barrier that protected them. 

"Grab Shira." Naomi gruted the order, coming back to her sense she wondered how she created the barrier. But knowing it didn't matter, they were protected and that's all that mattered.