Molting the Mortal Coil

With the bright light the man in white was emitting, the woman in black had almost completely disappeared. To the Dragoons at least. For Sage, he merely blinked and activated Foresight. Yet, he didn’t move from his position, never having intended to fight this battle personally. Instead, a pair of dark colored humanoid figures appeared in front of him. Without any instruction, they leaned forward and broke into a full sprint. They were both wearing long black cloaks so there wasn’t much detail that could be made out besides their two legs and human-like shape. When they started running, the cloaks were swept back by the speed of their motion, revealing a pair of arms and tight black combat clothing. Their faces were still hooded, but their clothing did not make them look like kind fellows.

The man in white wasn’t deterred, though he felt angry at not being able to take on the enemy leader directly. Instead he was up against a pair of subordinates. Already irritated, the bright light he was emitting somewhat dimmed. He noticed immediately and grit his teeth, controlling his breathing and reintensifying the power of the halo over his head. The ring of light was a good six feet in diameter, so there was no mistaking him for any sort of angel. With the woman in black gone, the lone man in white was facing down the pair of black clothed enemies. As they approached each other, the man in white seemed annoyed at the enemy’s lack of response to the bright light.

Just before the three clashed, the man in white held up his left hand, palm towards the enemy on his left. An even more brilliant light was emitted from his palm, like a camera flash, but hundreds of times brighter. The world was washed out in white for a moment. When the bright light cleared, the man in white was holding his right hand up, index finger pointed towards the enemy to his right.

The enemy he was pointing at, one of Sage’s cloaked subordinates, had a hole clean through the center of his chest, just where his heart was. The hole was like a two inch wide cylinder stabbed clean through him. The outer and inner edges of the hole were already a black color and not a drop of blood was spilled. He swung his arm to the left, pointing his finger towards the other cloaked figure.

The cloaked figure with a hole in its chest slowly fell forward while the other dodged the direction that the man in white’s finger was pointing. Of course, how could a person’s whole body be faster than just a pointing finger? There was no bright flash of light this time and Sage got to see the true appearance of the attack. A thin beam of light lanced through the other cloaked figure’s chest. Connecting the two bodies for just an instant before disappearing again. A hole, exactly like the first, appearing on the cloaked figure’s chest. The man in white couldn’t help gloating, “Is this the best your side has to offer? Haha, they don’t even stand a chance against me, let alone the rest of our forces. How pathetic!”

Was that a laser? Sure looked like one. That’s pretty interesting.

The man in white was laughing and spewing insults, walking closer to the two enemies he’d just defeated. He moved quickly, wanting to steal their valuables before Sage could recover them. Just as he reached down towards one of the two bodies on the ground, they both jumped up and lunged towards him.

Boom!

The grass was blown apart from the force of a heavy impact, tossed into the air like confetti. The two cloaked figures were thrown backwards by a dark shape. They skid a few yards across the ground and then steadied themselves. At that time the cause of the impact was now apparent. The woman in black was now standing beside the man in white and from her fingers extended long and thin tendrils of darkness. She wasn’t a showboat like the man in white and immediately followed up her first move. Her fingers wiggled, controlling the strands of darkness like the strings of a marionette. They swept back and forth, undulated up and down, arced to the side and then shot forward like a whip. A massive variety of attack patterns were thrown out and the cloaked figures couldn’t keep up.

Their clothing was torn to shreds, bits of torn black cloth were thrown into the air and quickly covered the area they were battling in. The cloaked figures were tossed back and forth, their bodies ducking and weaving. They dodged the majority of the attacks coming their way, but even a small percentage of them were enough to turn their clothing into scraps and tear the flesh from their bones. Realizing he was being left out, the man in white also joined in. Pointing his finger and releasing more beams of bright light. In just a few moments their two enemies were ripped to bits and shot full of holes.

Their cloaks had long been torn to shreds, but only after the mayhem came to a stop did their bodies fall to the ground. Unfortunately for the two, their enemies, the previously cloaked figures, did not stay down. Torn to shreds as they were, they slowly rose back up to their feet and only now did the man in white and woman in black get to see what they were up against.

They had glossy black skin and flat black eyes. Their shape was humanoid, with two arms and two legs, but their appearance was unsettling. Each looked like a person completely coated in black oil, yet the liquid wasn’t dripping or running off. Worse yet, each of their injuries had caused a huge chunk to be missing from their bodies, either torn off by the woman in black, or burned away by the man in white. Some of those holes were not as clean as the man in white wanted and the oil skinned pair each had their bones exposed to the open air, revealing a glimmer of metallic blue.

Only now did the two realize they were not fighting humans, but something else. They had some sort of silvery bones and their bodies were already rapidly sealing up all the wounds they’d received. That was when they finally felt something was wrong and the woman in black yelled at the man in white, “Quickly, retreat!”

They’d been warned by their companions and the woman in black was quick to do as told, ordering her partner back. They’d just used some of their best moves and yet their enemy could just slowly climb back up to its feet. Worse yet, these were merely subordinates. There was no telling how powerful the enemy leader was. While the two oil skinned enemies were impressively tough, they also didn’t seem to be all that dangerous, but they’d only clashed once and the woman in black agreed with the sentiments of retreating sooner rather than later. Why should they risk their lives when they can just join hands with the other pair and really give this enemy a show. The man in white was reluctant, but he quickly nodded and the two of them started to retreat.

Only, the two enemies they faced wouldn’t let them go that easily.