The buildings tumbled like children's blocks, sending palls of brown and grey smoke to cover the streets.
"I smell trouble," said Van.
"Let's get going," said Nu, "it might be the others that need us."
They had to climb over some rubble and through shattered windows and busted doorways to move along the street. Vandal passed by a potted plant and took the thin wood of it and scooped up some fat cockroaches. The flesh of the earth, the flesh of the green and flesh of the beasts, Vandal recited in his head as he made about two shots worth of Banfrow.
The pair soon saw a figure in the distance. It was a man wielding a scythe. With the wave of a hand and a swing of the blade, buildings quivered as if startled by an earthquake. A shadowy figure slithered around him, human in shape. It was as if though it was an Umbra pretending to be human. Cordis, Vandal realized the scythe-wielding man to be, barked an order at it like it was his hunting hound.
"You don't think ... " Nu said with worry.
"... That he's looking for Jayden?" Vandal finished.
Something wrapped around Vandal's ankle and pulled. The marksman would have fallen face-first into the dirt of the street, but his arm shot out to grab hold of a piece of rebar sticking from a crumbling wall with both hands, dropping Leonette in the process.
"Wha—" Vandal uttered as he felt the familiar sting of the acidic saliva splash on his shin.
"Van!" Nu screamed as she yanked out her burning tooth, of which was nearly out of the heat.
She tried to stake the tongue, but it was difficult to do with all its movement.
Van pulled the chef's cleaver from his belt, the blood enchantment long gone, yet still sharp, and chopped the tongue. The sliced-off portion loosened, Vandal crawled towards Leonette. Before a second tongue could reach Nu and a third could reclaim him, he fired one bullet at the Umbra.
The iron ball shattered some of its teeth and it seemed stunned. Nu, seizing the opportunity, attacked the dark beast with her uncharged tooth. Van stood up, yanked the axe free from its sling, and charged towards the Umbra. When he was close, he delivered a heavy, overhead cut, killing it.
"Bravo," a voice complimented, "that was fun to watch."
The dark figure, eyes like gold coins, clasped his hands together. Cordis followed his Umbra servant into the rubble-strewn part of the road. Hearing the commotion, they must have gotten curious and stepped in.
"Yes," said Cordis, "Well, this isn't who we are looking for." He let the scythe rest against a shoulder, turned, and began to walk away, some other matter clearly vexing him.
"Stop," Vandal shouted.
But Cordis ignored him, so did his Umbra.
You can't just walk away, thought Vandal with anger, you almost killed Nu.
"I said stop!" Vandal screamed.
The Umbra servant snickered at him, and Cordis deigned to respond, still walking down the street, looking into buildings.
"What? Be glad you get to walk away," said Cordis.
"We have a score to settle," said Van.
"I don't have time for that," said Cordis, "furthermore, I really don't care."
Nu went to Van's side.
"Van," Nu pleaded, "please don't."
"I can't, Nu," said Van, "he can't just—"
"Oh! I think I see him," the Umbra servant shrieked, "over there!"
Cordis gripped his scythe and spang forward.
"Stop, damn you!" shouted Vandal.
Before going any further, Cordis made a gesture, and the earth below Vandal's feet began to shake. The anger of the earth was great enough to have both Nu and Vandal to fall to their knees. A short building tumbled down between them, blocking the pair from intruding on his pursuit.
"Damn!" growled Van, pounding the ground with his fist.
"Van, please, don't get so angry," Nu implored, a tone of familiar guilt creeping into her voice.
"This is not for you, Nu," Van said, hoping it would soothe her a little, "maybe, he's after Jayden or the others! We have to stop him."
But, truly, the pain of the memory in the mall still burned strong. Revenge outweighed concern. Though Vandal felt some guilt himself, hiding his true, dark, feelings from Nu.
He looked around and saw a building with barred-up windows and a heavy metal door. By the looks of it, perhaps he could enter, find an entrance to an alley, and exit out of the building next to it, detouring around the fallen building.
"Come on, Nu," Vandal beckoned, running headfirst into the building. Above the doorway, shiny letters spelled the name "Eastman Bank."
"Don't go so fast!" Nu called from behind, "I can't keep up."
Once Van stepped in, the steel door slammed shut behind him.
"Van!" the marksman heard Nu saying, muffled from behind the door, "Open up! Are you still in there?"
She pounded on the door and tried the handle, but it sounded like it wouldn't budge.
Van turned around to see what happened and saw a familiar face.
It was the watcher. The man that had fooled him into following him on the first day. The man that had forced him to fight. The man that would have had him killed if not for Jayden and the other's showing up.
"Rushing in as always," the man sighed with disappointment. Instead of torn rags, he wore a sort of suit. He was richly dressed.
"You again?" Van asked with confusion.
"Yes, me again," the man said, "and it seems you are a problem."
"To who?" asked Van, "Cordis? Are you one of his servants?"
"Perhaps," the man answered enigmatically, "perhaps not. Due to current matters, you are not far off from knowing what I am."
"You ... you are an Umbra?" asked Van warily.
"Sharp as a razor this one!" exclaimed the man with mock praise to nobody in particular.
"You're not like them," Vandal questioned.
"If you mean not a revolting lump with poor table manners, then yes, I am not like them." He stepped closer, broken glass crunching beneath the hard soles of his leather shoes. "I am far, far more deadly. Unfortunately for you, I'm quite hungry. Here and now, you can at least put up a fight to keep me entertained."
Vandal could see gas emitting from inside his suit. When he walked into the light, he could see the man had pale skin and eyes of gold, much like the umbras.
"Go ahead," the Umbra beckoned, "load that one shot. I'll wait."
Vandal, perplexed by the Umbra's composure, began to reload, watching the Umbra closely, in case he was lying. What is this creature's plan, Van thought as he popped the little iron shell out of one barrel, filled it with Banfrow, placed an iron weight in it, and snapped the shell back into the breech of the long gun, or is this all a game to it?
"Are you ready?" asked the Umbra patiently.
"Yes," said Van.
A ceiling panel dropped down, letting more light in from the outside. The crash of it seemed to signal the beginning of the duel.
Vandal leveled the barrels at the man and fired one shot. He aimed for the heart, but the shot only caught him by the sleeve of his expensive suit. The clothing split and a small spurt of dark fluid and gas emitted from the Umbra's arm. The creature only smiled at his injury.
The man leaped up and turned into a ball of gas. He hurtled towards Van, who, seeing his intense speed, barred himself with Leonette and braced for impact.
The Umbra slammed him like a bull, making him crash against the brick wall behind.
"Van!" Nu called from outside, now at the barred window, "What's going on? Van!"
The smoke recoiled, leaving Van to cough up blood and catch his breath. The Umbra was turning back into the shape of a man when Van fired one shot into his dark cloud of a body. Did I fire too soon? Van thought as he saw the smoke part before the iron, two holes now fading in the smoke of its essence.
The Umbra solidified and approached Vandal, tsking at him.
"No good," the Umbra shrugged, "what now, gun-boy?"
Vandal slipped the cleaver out of his belt, stood, despite the pain, and flung it at him. The Umbra side-stepped the flying blade. Vandal, dropped Leonette near a desk, pulled his axe free and swung sideways, aiming for the neck. But the Umbra dodged that too. Van kept pressing his attack, though he could not land a hit. He's too fast, Van thought as he only cleaved trails of smoke where the superior Umbra once was.
Both the pain from whatever may have been broken within him and the exhaustion from swinging brought Vandal to his knees.
The umbra let loose black tendrils that sprung from his back, thick smoke coming off of it as if they were ready to burst into flames. They seized Vandal by the torso and lifted him off the ground.
"Done already?" He asked, annoyed.
"Sorry to disappoint," Van conceded, making a mocking smile.
In disgust, the Umbra launched him to the ground, making him bounce and roll away a couple of feet away from him.
He stuck a wooden desk. The impact caused pain to shoot up all around his body, and he coughed heavily. He crawled behind the desk. Leonette still lay there, one round left in a barrel.
"Why do you hide?" asked the Umbra.
Vandal ignored the question and pulled out the little black bag of Banfrow. Half-full, Vandal gauged. I still got one more trick. He popped the last shell out, enchanted the iron weight with fire, and slid it back into the breech. The enchanted element of gem reacts with the Banfrow, which then reacts with the bullet, Winston's voice rang through Vandal's head from a lesson long ago, a battle mage gunner is someone to be feared, my young apprentice ...
Vandal stood. He took aim with one hand, resting the forestock on the desk, and with the other, he flung the bag of Banfrow at the Umbra.
You must not miss, Van, the marksman thought he pulled the trigger, you never miss, right?
The burning bullet struck the little sack and it burst into wild flames of many different colors as if a phoenix spread its fiery wings within the bank. Van hid behind the desk.
Vandal heard the Umbra hiss beneath the roaring fire. Did I win? Van thought with hope, is it dead?
Van stood, despite the pain in his bleeding legs, and searched the great fire for any sign of the Umbra. Within the licking flames, he did see the vague shape of a man. It moved quickly, towards him. Van brought Leonette up to block, but something burning flew towards his face like an arrow. He turned his head slightly.
The sharp, burning fragment of wood struck him, dashing across his face, above the cheekbone, and he screamed. He found it difficult to open his right eye, the intensity of the burn coming from it. My eye, Van thought with distress.
The black tendrils shot from the flames and wrapped around Vandal. The Umbra, still alive, though missing one arm, his suit completely burned off his body, dark, smoking flesh appearing underneath the torn ghostly white skin, became face to face with him.
"You ... " It said with a raspy voice, half its face gone to show what looked like black bone and muscle beneath, "You've worked up an appetite." What was left of his lips made a cruel smile. "They say hunger is the best spice," he said as he licked his teeth and made his tendrils tighten around Vandal.
I'm sorry, Van thought as the life was being squeezed out of him and his world went dark, Jayden, Senshi, Magpie ... Nu ...
A loud screech pierced Vandal's ears, and the tendrils dropped him. When he looked up he saw a crossbow bolt buried in the Umbra's neck.
What ... thought Van.
A second bolt crashed into its skull. At this shot, the Umbra turned into smoke and fled, leaving the bolts to drop on the bank's tiled floor.
A figure dressed in red swooped down from where the ceiling panel fell and landed gently like a cat.
"Curses," said Ladnavia, "looks like you didn't soften him up enough. I'm sure that one had the Potion of Life. Or at least knew something about it."
"Ladnavia," Vandal said as he stood up, pain racking every inch of his body, "you saved me?"
"Used you," she said dispassionately, "I watched from above. A huntress needs her hounds to take the quarry. You've failed me, though. It got away ... "
"Van!" Nu called from outside.
"Your mistress calls," said Ladnavia as she turned and left, through one of the doorways in the bank, "I'll leave you two alone."
To be saved by her. The thought made Vandal sick.
"Stand back, Nu," warned Vandal.
Vandal loaded one prepared shell into Leonette and fired at the door handle from a distance. The door swung open slowly by itself.
Vandel limped out into the sunlight and saw Nu, her expression turning into shock and worry.
"Hi," was all Van said.
"Van ... your ... your eye," muttered Nu.
"I think it's gone ... I ... think ... it's ..." Van felt his head swim, and the world turned black around him.
"Van! Hang in there!" Where the last words Vandal heard as he passed out in Nu's arms.
VANDAL'S INVENTORY:
Bullets 8/12: ⚪⚪⚪⚪⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫
Banfrow: 0%
*10% used per shot
ns 15.158.61.54da2
