Rangers Endgame

RISA:

Her emerald eyes reflected the crackling dance of flames. Snow fluttered and silently shrank into nothing as it passed by too close to the hearth’s comforting warmth. Her fingers fidgeted with a bloodstained piece of fabric from her coat—hardened fluid from one of the bloodhounds they’d slain during their retreat.

She watched the entrance at the edge of Marrow Village. Although the guards would notify them anyway, obligation nagged at her to keep watch. To wait. But it’d already been a day—almost two.

Yakeru had proven himself capable for a B-rank. And Fuyumi, although a bit aggressive, had shown herself to be strong as well. But Risa couldn’t help it. Could they have survived the fall? Could they withstand the elements? What about food?

She shook her head, her carefully styled blonde hair bouncing, to dislodge herself from the spiral.

“They’re still out there.”

She shifted on the bench, not meaning to say it out loud.

Takahiro, who’d just left the tavern to do his routine check, walked by. It was faint, but there was something in his gait that didn’t belong in his usual measured steps.

“Of course they are,” he agreed, a tender hand over his heart. “That being said, we cannot stand idle while the elements steadily gnaw at their bones.”

Ignoring his obvious motivation, she wasn’t opposed, but wasn’t entirely convinced either.

“We went over this. Give it more time.”

“And if that is a luxury we cannot afford?”

Her lips tightened. “We don’t know where they could be. Looking for them now might put us in unnecessary danger.”

“Is that not the duty of a ranger?” he argued. “To sacrifice one’s essence to preserve another? Otherwise, the Nandemo name would stall with yours truly should the wild prevail. I fear there will never be another like her. We must act promptly if we are to—”

Risa fixed him with a stern look at his admission. He cleared his throat awkwardly.

“If we are to save our comrades,” he amended.

She sighed, the thin cloud fading, and adjusted on the bench.

A delicate figure walked out of Chief Zeri’s home along with a guard—Emi and Mamoru—looking around until she spotted Risa. The girl jogged over, steaming mug in her mittened hands. It was the same girl who’d handmade charms.

“Hey, you.” Risa slipped on a warm smile, then gave Mamoru a nod.

He nodded back.

Emi stopped in front of her and offered the mug, a shy hopefulness in her eyes. “You were out here for hours, so…” she shuffled. “I figured you’d like something warm.”

Her smile softened, and she gratefully accepted. “You’re too sweet. Thank you.”

The steam reacted to her breath, cooling it before she took a sip. The hot chocolate slid down smoothly, and warmth settled in her core.

“Just what I needed,” she said with a satisfied hum. “Did you make this yourself, too?”

Emi beamed at her pleased reaction and nodded vigorously.

“A girl of many talents, aren’t you?”

The child giggled. Unashamed confusion was plastered on Takahiro's delicate face as he likely wondered why he didn't get hot chocolate.

By the time Risa briefly turned her attention back to the guards stationed at the gate, they were shouting something to the others. Those nearby scrambled, pulling villagers away from the entrance as the remaining guards formed a defensive wall with rehearsed coordination. Villagers were ushered into the mines for shelter.

She didn’t need verbal confirmation. Someone—or something—was coming.

She gently took Emi’s arm to guide her away from the noise. “Why don’t you get back to the chief? We’ll see what the fuss is about.”

The girl lingered, but obeyed when Mamoru gently ushered her along.

To Takahiro, Risa gestured towards the gate with her head, and the two hurried. They pushed through the wall of men to the front. Spears quivered, and feet shuffled back, nerves racing in each of their hardened faces. Yuto was already there—he’d been patrolling with the other guards since their return—shield raised, but eyes wide.

Risa's and Takahiro’s gazes followed. Her blood ran cold—a wrongness in the air like the mountain had drawn its breath and forgotten to release it. The silvery whistle of the wind, the soft clouds drifting at their feet—gone.

In the distance, something moved within the thin sheet of white.

Not blue eyes that bounced with the snow. A figure that pushed against.

Its form became more detailed: fur as white as the mountain itself, scarlet arcs snapping clean through solid rock in contrast to its calm gait. And its grin, not the same as its brethren—feral and bloodthirsty—but sharp and knowing.

How’d it find them? Did it track them? Or did it simply wander here by coincidence? No, its steps were too deliberate, and the elements had long since wiped away their footprints.

She looked down at the blood on her coat, and a horrific answer speared her mind. Was it possible that it…? She didn’t want to believe it. That she’d led it here, led these villagers to a demise they promised wouldn’t come.

Through the snow-infused wind, its grin grew wider than she thought possible at the sight of the village, at the trembling men protecting it. A smile that already determined the outcome of the battle before it started.

Blood fanned underneath its leisurely pace and spiraled into twisting columns of screaming scarlet, snow and rock caught and pulled in as well.

“Yuto!” Risa roared.

He understood and slid in front, shield burning with amber that reinforced steel. Risa ignited her wand, and flowers blossomed from the snow to surround the entirety of the entrance, glowing a steady golden hue. Their petals swayed in anticipation for something—anything—who dared step foot inside the perimeter.

Takahiro drew his rapier with a flourish, and the three of them held. Watched.

It didn't care.

With a simple tilt of its head, the twister launched forward. The vortex flashed with bursts of gold as it devoured the flowers while on a crash course with the gate.

Yuto braced himself, a wall of radiance flaring outward.

A crystalline shriek tore out as he met it head-on. For a moment, wild scarlet wrestled with amber before the A-rank’s defense gave, and the wall shattered. The sheer pressure from the ruptured air flung them back through the gate. Lashing winds split her coat, and shrapnel needled her skin.

Iron ripped free from its foundation as bodies flew through the fence. She rolled to a stop, vision doubled, ribs creaking. Sliding an aching forearm under her, she pushed. Her once-carefully styled hair collapsed around her shoulders, blood trickling down her mascara.

She willed her blurred vision to focus and panned her head. Some guards writhed, gashes leaking red through their compromised armor. Others lay still, the light in their eyes gone.

“Risa!” Yuto rushed over, hand clutching an injured arm, blood webbing down his skin.

“I’m okay,” she responded.

He helped her stand anyway. Takahiro squirmed underneath twisted alloy that’d ripped free from the gate.

“You with us, Takahiro?” she asked.

“A Nandemo—” he coughed, “—does not yield so easily.” He gathered his resolve and pulled himself from the light debris, gaudy armor cracked.

Risa let out a humorless breath. “Of course not.”

They all turned back to the entrance, guards evacuating the frightened villagers from the area. A thick screen of white billowed across the ruin, the creature’s silhouette carving out of it.

Risa retrieved her wand. “We need to keep it busy.”

“Easier said than done,” Yuto said, shaking out his arm and donning his shield again.

The hound emerged from the cloud, and Risa saw something she hadn't noticed before, now that she'd gotten used to the pressure. Her eyes trailed down to its midsection, where a gash sliced through its stomach. But the blood there wasn't pouring; it had stalled, suspended like a tamed flame.

It'd been injured prior to its arrival, but they hadn't faced it before. Perhaps it'd gotten into a scuffle with its own kind. Or maybe Yakeru and Fuyumi confronted it. But if the bloodhound was here, did that mean that they were…?

Pushing aside the horrific thought, she aimed her wand at the creature, prepared for combat. It was too strong to meet it head-on, but they could still redirect its attention.

She glanced at her two teammates, and they nodded with firm understanding at her unspoken command.

Takahiro moved first before the bloodhound could conjure another attack. Not towards it, but around it. The hound tracked him, a storm of flaming scarlet whirling around itself at the flex of a finger. Risa flicked her wand, and a flower sprouted at its feet. Whipping her wand across her body, the flower dragged towards it and detonated.

When the smoke cleared, it’d already put up a shield to take the brunt. But it was enough. Takahiro thrust his rapier outward, but as if the blood had a mind of its own, it shifted to its flank and met his amber javelins with a wall of flaming red.

His amber strikes seemed to evaporate upon contact, and he was quick enough to disengage before the blood twisted into a gargantuan wolf-like head that slammed down with rows of razors lining its maw. Snow exploded in all directions as he tumbled from the force.

Its arm was moving again. Its blood answered. With a sweep, it conjured an ocean of raging scarlet overhead in a blink. Flexing its fingers, the ocean rushed forward.

Yuto slid in front of Risa, shield prepared.

The blood feinted, splitting open to converge on them from opposite sides. In a desperate effort, Risa shot her wand skyward, tangled foliage of wild flora bursting from the snow on either side of them.

Booming amber wrestled with shrieking scarlet as rivers of blood collided with her spell. Radiance poured into her wand, fueling the improvised creation of more flora behind each compromised wall. The continuous barrage left her in a constant state of replacing foliage, their improvised defenses creeping inward toward them with every detonation. Her reserves plummeted, innards twisting into painful throbbing.

Takahiro rushed the bloodhound again, blade thrusting to break its concentration. The oncoming attacks on her ceased as the hound redirected its attention and batted him away with a scythe of blood. His streaking form crashed through an already unstable wall, its support beams giving out and crashing onto him.

A cry got caught in her burning throat. But her eyes widened at the sight of who else was inside the home.

Mamoru practically threw himself over Chief Zeri and Emi as the rubble dislodged above them. Fortunately, Yuto was faster, dashing and raising his shield over the two just as the debris collapsed. Radiance groaned and flashed as heavy rocks battered his defense.

A crackling squelch drew Risa’s attention back to the bloodhound. Burning red swirled around its form in a furious typhoon, building. Swelling. Risa ignored her body’s protests and summoned every last bit of strength she had to conjure a jungle of flora around the hound in an attempt to contain it.

Then, its power surged outward.

Scarlet devoured her improvised constructs and swallowed their feeble explosions. The force flung her back and sent her plummeting into Yuto.

Black flickered at the edge of her vision. A fit of wet coughs tumbled from her mouth when she tried forming words. A dull throb radiated throughout her body. The world tilted a bit too far when she flopped onto her side.

“Yuto…?”

No response.

“Elder? Emi?”

Nothing.

She willed the blurring landscape—what was left of it—away towards the edges of her vision and scanned the ruin.

Fire spilled from trampled hearths, catching on roads and consuming homes. Villagers unfortunate enough to be caught in the initial blast lay in grotesque ribbons. Panning further brought her gaze to the monster responsible, a mummified guard trapped between its teeth, armor sheared. Threads of gleaming red slithered from its fur and plunged into the corpses dotting the area, siphoning their blood and trenching their bodies as if time itself had abandoned them.

Its beady eyes snagged on something, and it dropped the guard unceremoniously with a crunching thud. She followed its gaze, heart leaping into her throat.

Pinned beneath a slab of red-tinged ice was Elder Zeri, Emi straining to remove it but to no avail. Mamoru’s arm trickled with red, but he stood between the bloodhound and the girl, resolve smoothed over his features.

Emi froze when the hound approached, slow and deliberate.

No constructs, no theatrics.

Just moved, flat tongue circling its maw in hungry anticipation, smearing blood.

Its claws ignited, but Mamoru's grip on his spear only tightened. The hound flicked its claw towards him, the air crackling. He parried one-handed.

It prodded again, playing with him.

He slashed through it, then followed through with a jab. The point nicked its fur. It looked at where the blade connected, almost curious. Before he could thrust again, the hound ran him through. His spear clattered. Emi watched, horrified, as the beast let the burning claws consume him, the flames smothering his screams.

It tossed the charred corpse aside.

The elder coughed. Something crimson came out. “Go, child…”

Risa pleaded with her legs, but they simply couldn’t respond.

Charms crafted by diligent hands and passionate spirits snapped and cracked under the hound's feet. It neared, and Emi threw herself over Elder Zeri, eyes slamming shut and hugging her tight.

The beast’s grin widened so far, its head should’ve split in two. Blood sparked at its side, a single tendril igniting into creation. It hovered over the two of them.

Risa reached for her radiance, but winced, channels screaming in response.

The tendril thrust forward.

She shut her eyes, unable to face her failure.

Then, something silvery flashed in her ears.

Nothing. No screams. No sound of flesh tearing.

She peeled back her eyelids, and sheer surprise left her speechless. Emi hesitated to look back, but when she did, the tears drenching her despair stopped falling, her expression now leaning more towards hope.

Fuyumi stood between them and the bloodhound, blades glinting protectively in the cool air. The severed tendril returned to the beast, and for the first time, something actually flickered across its face, disrupting the amusement twisting its features.

Mild annoyance.