Rangers Endgame

FUYUMI:

Her fingers readjusted around the leather handles. The familiar stench of billowing ash and ichor stained the cool air. Fire crackled, swallowing shops and consuming houses, heatwaves lapping around her skin.

She didn’t thrust. A battle cry didn’t roar from her throat.

For the first time, violence wasn’t her first move.

Her eyes glanced left; a trampled dessert stand spilling with skewered fruits, and beneath it lay a man who wasn’t fast enough to react to the chaos. They flicked right; the charred remnants of a family were trapped in a writhing position, silent screams tearing from their gaping mouths.

Flashes of her own burning village resurfaced, and her attention went back to the hound, fury swelling.

Twice.

This thing had trampled over a village twice. Every village their kind touched, every home they devoured, only scars remained. If she could put them through the same pain, she would. Unfortunately, their nature made it impossible.

Death would have to suffice.

Yakeru came up behind her and lifted the slab of ice off the chief. Emi hurried to pull her out. He placed a hand on the woman’s forehead and hovered an ear over her mouth. Emi clasped her trembling hands in worry.

“Unconscious,” he breathed.

But they didn’t have any health elixirs left. He scanned the debris, his gaze landing on Takahiro, who was squirming under a mound. Then Yuto, lying still under a collapsed roof. And finally, a dishevelled Risa, prone and panting in a clearing. His eyes lingered on the tavern, partially caved in.

“Emi,” Fuyumi said, softer than she intended. “I need you to take her to the tavern and wait for me.”

She didn’t move, her nerves locking her in place.

“Emi,” she said more firmly.

She flinched out of her trance and started pulling the chief away. Yakeru joined Fuyumi’s side, sword not yet drawn, and his gaze locked on the bloodhound.

“Can I trust you to keep it busy?”

He’d seen her in battle. Seen her slay hordes of fungus blights. Subdue a serial killer. Survive a colossal beast that could’ve flattened her with a breath. She’d even pried her mind free from the depths of an illusion once. Killing it wasn't outside of possibility. His question was almost insulting.

Her mouth opened to snap a reply, but before the words could leave her tongue, he spoke again.

“Busy. Not kill,” he clarified, as if reading her mind.

Her mouth stayed open for a time. It was annoying how well he knew her.

“Just long enough for me to get everyone out.”

The bloodhound dipped its head, eyes narrowing, as if understanding. Blood sparked at its sides, swirling into something it hadn't yet decided on.

Her guard tightened on reflex. “Better make it quick.”

Radiance crawled along Yakeru's legs, a wince stinging his carefully controlled expression. They didn't have much time to replenish their reserves.

Then he was gone, leaving behind a ghostly outline of trickling amber particles.

The bloodhound reacted a second slower, the swirling blood finalizing into a burning canvas it smeared over the snow. Columns jumped into shape, twisting into scaled heads attached to serpentine bodies. They roared into being, leviathans arcing over Yakeru to come crashing down on him.

But he was faster. He was always faster.

His form streaked effortlessly through the chaos and scooped up Risa in a blink.

Fuyumi dashed toward the bloodhound, and it shifted its attention. With a flick of a finger, javelins shot from the ground.

The same countermeasure from last time.

She moved accordingly, maneuvering through the jagged field of constructs, infused daggers cleaving apart what she couldn't evade. Curling its fingers warped them into wolven beasts that leapt out at her, their blazing forms more suggestion than defined.

Air seared and crackled as furious shapes chomped where her head had been, their trails ensnaring her in a web of serrated scarlet.

Yakeru blurred past, a silver glint passing through a wolf that pounced into her blind spot. Its head separated from its shoulders, hissing into embers that stung her cheek, as Yakeru continued unabated towards Takahiro. The wolves wavered as the bloodhound’s eyes snagged on him.

As it pointed a hand at him, blood shrieking around its palm to punish him, radiance raced into Fuyumi’s dagger before she quickly fired a premature stream of gold directly towards its raised arm.

It was enough to force the hound to swing its limb out of its path, exploding with a half-collapsed wall behind it.

She closed the distance in mere moments, taking advantage of its brief disorientation.

Its arm came back around and sprayed a cloud of red mist from the fur to envelop her.

A new creation. Something she hadn’t seen before.

Deep-rooted fury thundered for her to push forward. Its neck was right there. But through the noise, Yakeru’s words glimmered stubbornly within the storm.

‘Keep it busy,’ she reminded herself.

Since when did he start having such an effect?

She forced herself to veer off course from attacking the hound. The moment she did, the cloud erupted into a raging furnace. Her skin screamed momentarily as scathing heat chased her out of the mist, leaving her coat seared. Pants burst from her lips, eyes wider after she’d nearly been burned alive.

The hound tilted its head at her abrupt retreat.

Her daggers hummed with borrowed energy again, and she let out another beam that flared out into a cone. The beast conjured a titanic wolf muzzle that closed its jaws over the projectile. As dim splotches of amber flashed within its jaws, Fuyumi darted to the hound’s flank.

The beast didn’t panic, but redirected the wolven construct towards her and willed its maw open. The remaining radiance still trapped inside rushed outward. Her daggers came up as the blades took the brunt with a screeching whine, hammering her backwards through the snow.

She recovered with a roll, but a new conjuration was already on her—or rather underneath her. Blood-infused snow warped around her, shaving down into razor-like teeth to ensnare her in a gulp.

She got its attention alright.

Her body moved, racing up a fragile mound of rubble that started to collapse behind her the moment weight was placed on it. She launched herself skyward as the colossal jaws slammed shut behind her, the serrated teeth clipping her coat.

Before she even landed, the hound curled its fingers, and the maw reacted. Its scarlet form crackled, jagged lines peeling from the brightening surface. Fuyumi brought her daggers up again, heat coursing through her already-throbbing arms as she pushed radiance into the blades.

The maw swelled before bursting into a deafening storm of lightning that devoured roads and remaining homes within its gluttonous radius. She answered with another compressed beam of radiance, using the recoil to shove her out of range. The two forces crashed into one another in a screeching wrestling match, retinas burning against the strobing light, but the lightning quickly overpowered her attack.

‘Come on, Yakeru.’

Her legs nearly buckled when she landed, the soft snow breaking her fall.

A shape flashed to where Yuto lay. The ranger was gone the next moment.

That split second of distraction was all the bloodhound needed. It had coated its claws with condensed blood and slashed the air. Four viscous lines raced towards her, scoring the air as they passed.

She positioned her infused daggers in front of her. Barely.

The slash met with metal, tremors shooting through her fatigued body and sending her soaring.

Her heart leapt as she hurtled towards a house engulfed in flames. Then, something yanked her sideways, jerking her head and punching air from her lungs, and the two landed through the tavern’s collapsed roof.

Yakeru set her down, his knees quivering from accumulated stress. “Sorry. Are you okay?”

She waited for her breath to return. “Yeah. Thanks.”

He dropped to a knee to manage his own breathing for a moment.

She turned. A guard was helping Emi bring the unconscious elder through an open hatch.

Takahiro had just finished with a health elixir and tentatively pressed it to Yuto's mouth. The young man squirmed awake. Confused, but awake.

Risa, back resting against a leaning slab, had her wand at the ready.

A roar in the distance.

Yakeru and Fuyumi peeked around the mound of debris. Blood flailed against the snow as the hound forged it into shape, beady eyes locked onto them.

“Get a move on!” Yakeru shouted to the others.

The guard rushed to Risa, lifting her to her feet, and stumbled to the hatch. Takahiro and Yuto were next, but something intercepted. A jagged line of scarlet thrashed into their path, cutting them off with a scalding trench.

Fuyumi didn’t think. She leapt out of cover and retaliated with a low-caliber projectile. A conjured scarlet shield caught the blast, but it bought them a few precious seconds. Takahiro shoved Yuto inside.

Fuyumi fired a second arc. This time, the hound's shield warped into a monstrous wolven creature that swallowed the projectile and rushed towards them.

“Come on!” Yakeru called out, closing the door in preparation.

Fuyumi raced towards the hatch, the wolf’s heaving snarls growing louder. Its gargantuan form eclipsed the light behind her as she dove inside. Yakeru slammed the metallic door shut.

The metal caved inward with a haunting screech. The guard quickly pressed a circular artifact against the alloy, and runes fanned across the door’s underside. Protective amber layered over it just as another threatening bang hammered against it. The shield flickered dangerously but held.

Barely.

They didn’t pay it any mind; they just rushed down the stairs with the guard.

“It wasn’t built to keep an S-tier monster out,” the guard warned.

“I figured,” Yakeru replied.

Frightened murmurs grew louder over their hurried steps. The stairs bottomed out into a cavernous room dimly lit by rusted lighting artifacts that long since lost their ability to hover. Families clutched each other's hands white, guards between them and the stairs. Empty vials, along with other emergency supplies, lay scattered on the rough floor. A sticky warmth clung to the musty air, making breathing more of a negotiation.

“Move everyone further into the tunnels,” Yakeru told the guard supporting Risa.

He nodded and informed the others.

Armored men gathered around and organized everyone into groups.

As villagers formed a queue, Fuyumi took Risa and set her down next to Emi. The conjurer winced when she accidentally put pressure on her shoulder. While the guards carried Chief Zeri, Fuyumi took a roll of bandages and antiseptic no one was using and tended to Emi’s wounds.

Only a few scrapes and bruises, but thankfully, she was okay. Something in the girl’s expression brought Fuyumi’s mind back to the Sotiri Raid. Back to Ella. The way her body shook, the way her eyes jittered with uncertainty. Her hands trembled the same way, too.

Before she could stop herself, Fuyumi wrapped her hand around Emi’s. She stayed with her like that for several seconds, Emi still visibly worried about the elder.

Her shaking slowed.

Fuyumi gently let go, rubbed her arm, and let a guard take her.

She gripped Fuyumi’s wrist, stopping them both. “Will it come back?”

“We’ll deal with it,” Fuyumi assured.

“Can’t we just…” she trailed off, eyes moving to the pale ceiling, then back to the floor. “Can’t we just wait until it’s gone?”

Fuyumi breathed, almost a sigh. “It won’t stop until it finds you.”

The girl shuddered, glancing back at the elder being carried away. “But what if something happens to you? Just like…”

The stoic ranger turned fully and knelt. She took the time to fish in her satchel, producing the lunar lilac charm. “We have this, remember?”

Emi’s shoulders relaxed—just a tad.

Fuyumi’s eyes went to the top of the child’s head, her hand automatically moving to fix something, but awkwardly stopped halfway when she remembered there was nothing there. It settled on Emi’s arm instead.

“Go. Elder Zeri needs you right now.”

She nodded and let the guard take her away.

Fuyumi moved on to the conjurer next.

Pain turned to curiosity as Risa watched her work with tentative care. “You’re good at that.”

No answer. Fuyumi calmly moved on to the gash on her forearm.

Risa glanced at Emi, then back at Fuyumi. “And you’re good with kids. I’m sure a certain someone would very much appreciate that in a woman,” she said with a teasing note.

Fuyumi deliberately snapped the bandage tighter than necessary, eliciting a sharp yelp.

“Hand must’ve slipped.”

Risa sucked air through her teeth. “On a more serious note, I didn’t expect you, of all people, to tend to me.”

Fuyumi rolled her eyes, though not forcefully. “Well, you want to get back to your mother, right?”

Risa studied her for a moment, then smiled. “Yes. I do.”

A beat.

Then, she finished with the last bandage around Risa’s head, blood blooming beneath the wrap, but tamed.

A crash from the surface shook the room, dust trickling onto its inhabitants. Panic rippled across the chamber as the guards hurried everyone through one of the side tunnels.

Fuyumi left Risa to one of the guards, and she watched her meld into the funnelling crowd.

Yakeru was speaking with another guard by the stairs when she reached his side. The man studied him, confusion etched on his face, while Yakeru remained steeled. The same face he always made when he formulated a plan he wasn't quite sure he agreed with himself.

“If you say so,” the guard said finally, turning down a different tunnel. “Follow me.”

Yakeru glanced over at Fuyumi and gestured to follow, too.

Their boots pounded against the stone as the man led the two rangers down the claustrophobic corridor. They moved throughout the winding passageways, scenes of Sotiri’s underground labyrinth replaying in Fuyumi’s head.

They jogged for several minutes, the groaning hatch behind them a constant reminder that time wasn’t on their side.

They passed various corridors connecting to other safe houses filled with other villagers who were also being led away from the impending threat, until something violet pressed against the distant darkness before them.

They drew closer, several men guarding the room, their sword blades resting on the floor, hands on the pommels. Before her eyes could fully register them, they’d already reached for the handles at the rangers’ presence.

Their escort raised a de-escalating hand, and the guards relaxed, but tension still lingered in their shoulders. Yakeru and Fuyumi followed him inside, and the details of the light’s source bloomed into focus.

A cylindrical device etched with two runes on the top and bottom hovered at the center of an open room. It hummed at their arrival, as if greeting them, the air twinkling around it. Fuyumi caught the others glancing back at them with distrustful gazes.

The guard gestured to the artifact. “This is what keeps the blizzards at bay around our village.”

Yakeru circled it. Quiet.

Her chest churned with anticipation.

That look. The kind he made when he’s thinking of doing something drastic.

“So…” the guard said nervously. “Why did you want to see it?”

Yakeru stopped, his back towards them. “Fatigue is weighing on everyone, but the alpha hasn’t shown any sign of slowing down. We can’t face it. Not as we are.”

The guard clenched his jaw to keep it from shaking with nerves. “And our guys don’t stand a chance either.”

A grotesque shriek of twisting metal exploded from the hall they’d come from.

Then, a roar, clear and insatiable, barreled down that corridor. Fearful screams broke out, and men snapped orders.

Fuyumi whipped around to Yakeru and took a bracing breath. “Time’s up. What’s your plan?”

His foot slid back, and his hand went to his sword’s hilt, eyes locked on the artifact with a saboteur's glint in his gaze. Every guard whirled around, weapons racing to intercept.

“To call in reinforcements.”