Land of the Blades

4. Arrow

As we ran to where the Lunarians were appearing, Phos was the one that was lagging behind now. The Amethyst explained to me the characteristics of their enemy. They came from the Moon to hunt Lustrous, and used their pieces as decorations or even as weapons. An enemy that attacked for such banal reason was unforgivable.

—Stay behind and protect Phos —said Eighty Four.

—He is very valuable, and very weak, so they might try to steal him away —added Thirty three.

—Leave it to me —I said full of confidence, though the best I could do was be a human shield for her. Then I realized something weird about the way they spoke of Phos.

—Wait, are you a boy?

—I'm a Phosphophyllite, what is a "boy"?

—Well, it is... um... —I couldn't remember, not even where I had heard that word. I knew I was one, or at least I thought I was, but what would someone who is not a boy be?

—Shirou-san, watch us carefully, this is how we fight the Lunarians!

The twins unsheathed their swords, long blades made out of Obsidian. The black cloud in the sky started to unfold and something completely unexpected appeared from within. It looked more like a painting or a parade than an enemy. There was a big statue in the middle, surrounded by what looked like smaller copies of it, however these ones moved. Some were playing musical instruments, others were carrying banners, and others aimed their bows towards us.

The Amethyst jumped and cut through the arrows that were fired. It was a bit difficult to think arrows could even hurt a person made of gemstone, but when one hit the ground it produced a small crater on it. This made me rethink the whole situation, starting to doubt the fact that I could even work as a shield for Phos.

However, the twins were drawing all the fire onto them by jumping into the Lunarians cloud-like platform, and slicing them without any noticeable effort. The defeated enemies turned into dust, which for some reason bothered me.

Finally, they sliced the head of the big statue in half and walked to the edge of the platform, waving their arms to us.

—We have finished here!

—Did you watch us, Shirou-san?

—Yes, yes, I got a valuable lesson —I said. Pho grabbed me by the shoulder and pointed towards something that had slithered from the sliced head of the statue.

—Watch out! —I tried to say, but halfway through, something resembling claws were already closing over the twins.

The amethysts reacted and tried to stop them, but the claws were too strong, and they had some spikes made of red crystals that were chipping away pieces of the twins, while the strength used to capture them was making cracks appear all over their body.

—W-we must... call Sensei —Pho said, paralyzed with fear—, But... he will... not make it in time.

—Shirou-san, take Phos away! —Thirty three yelled—, we'll keep it busy until reinforcements arrive!

She was trying to sound calm and confident, but I could see the truth it in her and her sister's faces. "Help us" they said. I clenched my fist and walked towards them. There was no way I could just leave them and run after that.

But how could I even help them, I was so heavy I could barely jump to knee high, and I didn't had any weapon. If only I had a bow like the Lunarians. An image flashed in my head, a man dressed in red and black, carrying a bow. His face was all blurred, but his weapon was clear as everything in front of me. If my body could change its shape, I could replicate that bow.

—Trace... on... —I could feel the steel in my body moving towards my arms, electricity moving through my nerves and fire flowing throwing my veins. The bow started to shape itself on my hand, but I still needed an arrow. The ones that the Lunarians had used had a weird shape, I needed something simpler, but I couldn't remember what a simple arrow looked like. It needed to be something pointy, so I took as base the swords that the Amethyst twins had been using, just shaped it more aerodynamically.

The Lunarians started to get away as it seemed reinforcements were arriving, but before they fled taking the twins away, I shoot my improvised arrow through the neck of the statue. The whole platform became dust, throwing the shattered Amethysts to the sea, alongside a Bort that had arrived just then and jumped before the cloud puffed away.

My head feel too light, and I fall back to the ground, then everything turned black.