Majutsu-shi no noroi

Chapter 9: Fury

Natsuko carefully stepped forward into the blackness, cedar and aluminum filled her nose, coupled with musky mildew. She squinted and saw boxy shapes lining the large area in misshapen arrays. 

As Natsuko's eyes adjusted she could see inside the building was stacked with wooden crates and skids, mostly lining the parameter. Dull streams of light cut through the large windows, some broken and some still partially glassed. 

She had extended her arms out to make sure she wouldn't bump into anything. She searched, squinting her eyes and finally found Hisoka sitting in the left corner, constructing a house of cards.

As she surveyed the building, she noticed there was no hint of Illumi. 

Her heart beat rapidly as she scanned the area, where was he? 

Tension filled her muscles, sending them twitching, hypersensitive to her surroundings. She thought back to her previous training, the setting eerily similar--the darkness, the abandoned warehouse. 

She closed her eyes and willed her palms to light up, she sent a small flame shooting into a crate, igniting it. She peered around the towering structures, she hadn't wanted to expose herself with her fire, but the blackness of the warehouse offered little light. 

She began to step forward cautiously, scanning the tops of the stacked crates.

"You'll have to do better than that," his cold voice echoed off each wall of the warehouse. 

She spun around in every direction. Natsuko crouched and readied her body for the assassin to strike at any moment. 

"Don't be a fool girl, do you know who I am?" Illumi's voice surrounded her again. 

Suddenly, Natsuko felt a devastating blow from behind, hitting the back of her neck hard enough to make her head snap backward, leaving her dizzy and with blurred vision.

As she stumbled forward she turned on her heel and found no one behind her. 

"How are you supposed to train if you can't even find me?" Illumi began to laugh, it rumbled through the vast space sinisterly. 

As the chorus rang out all around her, she received another blow, this time to the right side of her face. It sent her tumbling to the ground, spitting blood as her head spun. 

"What a disappointment. I thought you would be so much better. Smarter. But I suppose you're just another piece of pussy for our friend Hisoka. Or at least that is what you will be until he finds your replacement of course", his voice was languid and smooth, cold and controlled, yet it ignited her fury even further.

Natsuko could feel flames welling up ferociously inside her, all she could see was red. 

"Shut up! Come out here and fight me fairly then! Why are you hiding from a little girl, huh?" as she screamed into the darkness her palms began to smoke then erupt in flames. 

She opened her mouth and growled loudly, as a feral cat would when met with a pack of dogs. 

It was a scream of fear, resentment, and most of all rage.

She was sick of Illumi's antagonizing comments, his weirdly calm demeanor, and condescending tone. She was going to find him in this building no matter the cost. She raised her arms out to the side and shot hot spouts of fire into the sides of the building. 

The crates inside the warehouse caught fire and burned with a chemical and woody smelling smoke. She brought her hands closer to ignite the rest of the crates in the room.