Where Winter Meets Summer (Rusame Countryhumans)

Herald from the Grave: FOUR

(AMERICA POV)

A thin line of red flashed across my vision as the blade grazed my cheek just before I grabbed their wrist and landed a kick square in the chest. A horrible cracking sound came from their chest as I sent them barreling through the dirt.

I dug my heels into the disheveled landscape to redirect my momentum as I wiped away the drop of blood that was rolling down my chin. The wounds stung like hell when my fire touched them but I ignored it for now.

We had been fighting for who-knows-how-long now. No, it wasn't because they were particularly strong. It was because they were slicker than a mud eel! No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't seem to catch them without nearly getting gutted in the process!

"It doesn't help that we're being stretched so thinly in the first place," I grumbled under my breath as I dared to steal a quick glance over at the others.

Through the darkness, all I could see was the outline of mounds and mounds of iron zombies, paired with occasional blasts of magenta and ice blue, blooming over the silhouettes, but I could tell they were getting weaker and weaker with every passing second. The darkness would soon swallow their light.

So what now? Do I go over there and help them or do I keep pursuing this slimeball?

A dagger slicing the air, mere inches from my chest interrupted my thoughts, and a new wave of irritation overtook any previous, somewhat rational thinking.

"OH YOU SON OF A BITCH- COME BACK HERE!"

Though my body screamed with exhaustion and pain, I couldn't stop now. I had dragged the both of us to the brink of collapse and oddly, their flight response didn't kick into overdrive. Instead, they seemed to have given up on any plans of escape. They barely fought back anymore, perhaps even began to consciously hold back.

It definitely was odd and suspicious but I didn't care. Finally, I had built up enough energy and through gritted teeth, I reeled back my arm. The flames coiled and spun a crude Sunbomb in the palm of my hand. At my command, it bolted across the ground like a thread of golden twine before consuming the enemy in a violent glow. Before they could move an inch, they were driven into the air and I took off, bursting into the night sky above them.

During our training session earlier, I had been embarrassingly smacked into the ground for two hours straight. Over and over- god, that was horrible. It was all I could see as everything seemed to move in slow motion. Dangling helplessly in the air, they were exactly where I was.

Gazing at them from above, I felt great that I could finally have a turn being the smacker instead of the smackee. Channeling all my remaining power along with the pent up humiliation, my fists burst into blinding white flames. The air rippled with such intense heat and the shimmering light made the stars and moon seem like a joke. I sent the enemy crashing back to earth with a shockwave impact, worthy of the meteorite that killed the dinosaurs.

After I had landed with a flare of fleeting flames, I collapsed onto all fours, completely spent both mentally and physically. My vision blurred with tinges of nausea tugging on the splitting headache that was starting to form. I was starting to burn up with a monstrous fever as smoke poured from my mouth.

Friggin' wonderful. I had overdone it.

It took a moment for me to recover from the heatwave and for the dust and smoke to settle. Amidst the barbaric landscape I had caused, I could see the outline of a figure lying crumpled in the center of the crater. I stumbled to my feet and half jumped, half fell down the side. It was a mess of smoldering red and black, as dark smog clouds billowed all around the figure.