It was a girl in a purple dress—young, about the same size as Shane.
Her twin tails were neatly tied, and a teasing smile—far too old for her face—played at her lips. In her pale hand she held a purple-black crystal orb, and that unpleasant, icy aura was seeping from it without end.
"My, my," she tilted her head, voice honeyed but cold, "you actually noticed me. Your eyes… they're special."
Shane ignored the remark. He had, at most, four minutes left in True Name Release—no time to waste.
He calmly raised three fingers. "Three minutes."
That was his calculated safety limit; beyond it, the strain on his body would be too much.
"Hm?" She blinked, puzzled, lashes fluttering like butterfly wings. "Are you talking about how long you have left to live?"
"I don't know what you want with Jellal…" Shane's tone stayed flat as he slid a half-step forward, silent as a shadow. "But I'm in a hurry. I'll finish this in three minutes."
"Pfft—" She covered her mouth and laughed, as if she'd just heard a wonderful joke. "Three minutes? Anyone can talk big~"
Her laugh hadn't even faded before she melted back into the darkness like ink into water.
A heartbeat later, the air hissed from several directions at once—pigeon-egg–sized crystal orbs arced in weird curves and rained down on Shane.
Her voice drifted around the room, impossible to place.
"So hasty… Let me guess: your magic has a time limit, doesn't it? Am I right?"
Shane's footwork was light; he slid, shifted, drew back—clean, efficient movements. The orbs grazed his hem and hit the floor, exploding with violent booms.
"Correct," he admitted, unbothered. "You can try to hold out. When the magic drops, I'll be at your mercy."
He paused, then added, "If you can manage it."
Shane didn't talk big for nothing. For the moment, her tricks—strange and strong as they were—still looked manageable.
The girl in the shadows didn't answer; her reply was a denser storm of attacks.
Another barrage poured down, sealing off every angle he could dodge into.
"Pointless."
Shane moved as if dancing on knife-tips, eyes bright under the pulse of magic, reflecting a rush of passing light.
"Arash's eyes see the far distance—and the path yet to come. I can read all your lines before you draw them."
[Clairvoyance A]
He spoke as his hands worked. Light-arrows of mana snapped out one after another—not blind barrages, but shots placed with surgical precision into spots that looked empty.
Bang!
An arrow smashed a hole in the wall; backed into a corner, a smear of purple rolled out into sight, her skirt rimmed with dust.
"Damn it!" The smile slipped. She thrust a hand down and squeezed the air. "Grow!"
A twisted giant tree erupted from the cracks, its limbs clawing for Shane. He merely hopped and slipped neatly past the spread of the canopy.
"Losing your head?" he said coolly. "Lumbering tricks like that will never tag me."
That easy poise finally enraged her.
She bit her lip, a hard glint in her eye. Crystal orbs howled out in a sheet—denser than before—flooding every corner of the room.
"How do you dodge now?" she sneered, flicking her gaze to the unconscious Jellal in the corner. "The one you want to save is right here. What'll it be—dodge, or… watch him get blown apart?"
"…"
Shane watched the incoming and shook his head, almost sorry. By now he'd seen her whole hand.
"That's all you've got."
With that, he did exactly what she'd predicted: he surged to Jellal and put himself between the barrage and its mark.
Boom—
The orbs slammed into him, kicking up smoke and splinters of magic light.
Her smile was already lifting—she could almost see him blasted to cinders—but froze on her face a second later.
The haze cleared. Shane was still standing. Not a mark—not even a scuff on the spirit garb over his clothes. His expression hadn't changed from start to finish, as if those impacts had hit someone else.
"Impossible!" she blurted, as if she'd seen the world turn upside down.
"Strange?" Shane brushed at dust that wasn't there and spoke like he was stating a fact. "Arash's body is robust as a mountain, never plagued by illness. Attacks of that level don't injure him."
[Robust Constitution EX]
[Magic Resistance C]
His presence shifted at once. Before she could recover, his bow was at full draw.
Ffft—
The mana arrow seemed to blink through space, crossing the room faster than the eye could track.
Her pupils pinpricked; death's chill raised her hackles.
At the instant before it punched through—
"ICE MAKE: Rose!"
She screamed and crossed her arms, dumping everything she had.
A huge rose of ice bloomed between her and the arrow, crystalline and bitter cold.
Crack!
The shaft slammed the blossom's heart with a shriek. The ice rose burst; shards flew, and the arrow jolted slightly off line.
"Gah!" The remaining force still smashed her off her feet. Pain ripped her left shoulder as if the muscle had torn. She hit the wall like a cut kite and slid down, dust raining.
She dropped to one knee. Her left arm hung useless; blood seeped from the wound and quickly dyed the purple dress.
If not for that rose knocking the shot aside, she'd be nailed to the wall.
Shane didn't stop.
He closed like a ghost. In her terrified eyes he dismissed the bow, clenched his right hand, and drove a heavy flurry of punches into her soft midriff.
"Bear with it. I've got questions," he said, face blank.
"—ugh!" She jackknifed around the blow, copper on her tongue, vision going black as her gathered magic scattered.
A few more strikes, and when she finally went limp, the fight drained out of her, he stepped back.
The spirit garb's glow ebbed from him, the sharp light in his eyes fading as he returned to normal.
"Three minutes. Right on time."
He drew a breath, settled the slight raggedness left by the burst, then lifted his gaze—cold—at the girl twisted in pain at his feet, beauty gone from her face.
"All right," Shane said in his usual tone. "Now we can talk properly—what did you want with Jellal?"
~~~
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