Children of the Archangels

CHAPTER 34: A FELINE GHOST

"That's one big pussy," Luke announced and then quickly clarified himself. "I meant the cat kind." Then he realized that didn't sound good either so he face-palmed himself.

They had barely walked for more than a couple of minutes when they spotted the creature. It was almost the same size as the Yak that had attacked SGA. Sirius summoned his sword Absorber to get a better look which nearly blinded Luke and Victor.

"Do you want to give away our position? Dim the light?" Victor whispered harshly.

"Sorry," Sirius whispered back as the light started to dim like a setting sun.

The good news, the Iumenti was sleeping. Bad news, it blocked the pathway leading to the other side. They had no choice but to climb over it.

And yet even that posed a problem. The creature had the framework of a leopard mixed with a rhino. Great, another Zengan. Atop its forehead was a singular horn covered in yellow and black fur while the rest of its body was a smoky-gray tough hide. Along its back were a row of furry horns that looked like hairy teeth. It also had the tail of a leopard that snaked around on the ground while the creature was asleep.

Victor tip-toed and pointed at the creature. "We can kill it before it wakes."

Luke didn't like the idea of killing anything while it slept, even a creature that wouldn't hesitate to do the same back to him. It felt like it was a bit cowardly.

But Luke also acknowledged that they were on a time crunch and needed to get through this cave as fast as possible. Luckily, he didn't have to make the decision. That rested on Victor's shoulders.

"If we can get close enough to finish him without waking him, then we should go for it." Victor took out his slingshot. "Sirius take point. If he wakes, I'll distract him long enough for you to get away."

"And then what?" Luke asked not liking that Victor just signed his friend up to die.

"Trinity Clock," Victor said. Sirius nodded, and even Luke knew what that meant. It was one of the many attack strategies the students at SGA worked on during combat practice. "But for now," he took Nil's hand like a stern teacher removing a bothersome student from the classroom. He led him behind a rock a good distance out of sight from the creature. "You stay here and don't move," he enunciated each word as if speaking to a slow foreigner.

Once Nil was out of danger, Sirius began creeping closer to the sleeping cat-rhino and raised his sword. One clean jab to the head should be enough to reduce this feline to ash.

Sirius brought his sword down and was surprised when he struck the floor.

"Where'd he go?" Luke whispered.

Sirius gulped. "Phantom Cat."

He barely had enough time to teleport himself away from a strike from the fast-moving feline that roared to life from thin air and clawed chunks of stone from the place where Sirius had been standing. Victor shot a pellet at the feline and a cloud of static smoke filled the cave, lighting it up like faulty strobe lights in a dark club.

Victor headed to the left while Luke took out his whip and headed right. Sirius reappeared equidistant from both Victor and Luke. They had the beast surrounded in a triangle.

But the cloud of smoke made it difficult to see anything. Sirius allowed his sword to shine brighter and it was just in time for Victor to rolled out of the way of the Phantom Cat's horn that drilled the rock wall behind where Victor stood.

"The thing's too fast," Sirius said. "We'll never land an attack on him."

Much to Luke's distaste, he tried to draw the attention of the Phantom Cat away from Victor. He swung his whip at the creature, but only ended up stinging the cloud of smoke.

Suddenly, the cat's tail swiped at Sirius's feet and he lost his grip on his sword and the cave went dark. Luke reacted instantly, summoning a red and orange flame in the palm of his hand.

What he saw was the baring fangs of the Phantom Cat as it licked its lips and tried to take a bite out of Luke. Luke had to react quickly. The flame in his hand turned white and he swiped his hand forward like a torch. The cat hissed and backed away, just missing an everlasting burning mark from Luke's hand.

In the shadows, Luke saw Victor causing loose rocks from the ceiling of the cave to rain down onto the cat. Either the cat was literally a ghost and the rocks passed right through it, or it was so fast it dodged every single stone and pebble that rained from the ceiling.

"We need to be unpredictable," Victor shouted at his subordinates. "Make your attacks random."

That's kind of what Luke had been doing all along, but he kept on trying. Shooting flames of fire at the creature, trying to land a strike with his whip, but nothing.

Sirius tried the same, taunting him all the while by making woof noises which seemed to rile up the Phantom Cat. Sirius teleported himself to different places and tried to strike with his newly summoned Absorber. But each time, the cat dodged the attack.

Victor was slinging shot after shot, first a flashbang to blind the creature (which ended up blinding Luke), then an explosion that blew a small crater in the ground (and made it rain rocks on Luke that he had to dodge), and finally he shot a pellet that radiated a supersonic bomb to disorient the creature (which nearly popped Luke's eardrums). In the end, he felt each shot was meant to harm Luke more so than the cat. He guessed Victor was trying to be "unpredictable."

While each of them tried landing an attack, they rotated clockwise, trying not to group up, always splitting the attention of the creature in three different directions—the Trinity Clock. But as of now, it was only working as an elaborate diversion and they were spending too much time in the cave.

Luke then switched from fire to lightning to see what results he could achieve. He tossed the whip to his left hand, his non-dominant hand. He knew his aiming would be off. He swung once with the whip in his left hand and ended up slapping himself in the face, leaving a stinging cut that leaked blood.

Pull yourself together, Luke scolded himself. He kept on swinging the whip, striking his arm and leg next, but after a couple of tries, he managed to snap at the area in front of him for a change.

The cat was getting more restless and charged straight at Sirius, pinning him to the ground and raising its claws in the air to carve Sirius like a turkey. Sirius teleported next to Victor and then collapsed to his knees, blood trickling from his left arm. He managed to miss the brunt of the attack, but still took a heavy slash to the arm that looked like he tried scratching an itch on his arm with a rake.

The cat turned its attention onto the two of them. Victor summoned a wall in front of him to block another attack from the cat's claws, which demolished the wall like it was made of Legos.

Luke had little time to make a move. He charged up his left hand with electricity and transferred the current onto his whip. He had one shot at this. The cat raised its claws again and aimed to kill two Nefs with one paw.

Luke flung the electrified whip forward, hoping it wouldn't snap back and fry his face and end the mission early.

Luke's heart soared when the whip didn't slap his face. Not only did he strike the beast, but he also managed to wrap the whip around the paw that was going to end Sirius and Victor's lives. The shock made the fur on the cat's horns and tail stand up. The cat roared so loud it shook the cave and used its strength to drag Luke by the whip and fling him across the cave where he crashed against a wall and felt the breath forced out of him. He let go of the whip and tried to catch his breath.

The cat was convulsing and trying to get the whip off of its paw. It looked like it was trying to play with yarn but got frustrated with it as if it had it been playing with a Rubik's cube instead.

Finally, when the cat got the whip off, it spotted Nil, standing behind a rock further back in the cave, and looking dazed—an easy meal.

It was too late for anyone to do anything. Within seconds, the Phantom Cat had reached Nil.