Cosmic

Chapter 10: Gone Up in Smoke

[Ben]

Clang!

Clang!

Clang!

Clang!

Clang!

I gritted my teeth as I braved yet another flurry of almost invisible attacks from Shadow. Over and over, the somehow solid cloud of darkness repeatedly dashed at Ethan's shield, attempting to destroy it or something.

In a stroke of genius, I realised that instead of staying in the middle of the lobby area where we could be easily attacked, we could back ourselves into a corner instead.

Now, in TV shows, when the main character was backed into a corner, that was a bad sign. But, unfortunately for Shadow, this was not an anime, and therefore, we could theoretically stay in the corner indefinitely.

Doing this eliminated the possibility of our enemy sneaking up from behind, as well as forcing them to attack us head-on. There was literally no way it could do anything to us when we were this well-protected.

"When are your friends going to turn on the lights? How hard could it be? It's been ages and, I feel like the shield could break at any moment." Ethan complained bitterly.

Of course, I didn't have a single clue.

"She's probably yelling at Kent right now instead of focusing on what I told her to do,"

That seemed like a very Mia thing to do, even though I hadn't met her for long. To me, it was the most logical conclusion to come to when we considered her vile personality and her stereotypical 'tsundere-esque' behaviour.

"Well, you have that Comm-Link, don't you? Go nudge her again,"

Ethan stepped forwards from behind me and relieved the shield off of my hand as we swapped places.

Reaching into the depths of my pockets, I felt the small metallic box with my fingers, pulling it out and pressing the small button on the side to turn it on.

Drawing in a breath, I spoke into the speaker on the side.

"Don't worry about me. I've got it sorted. I just need you to turn on the power. It's nearly been an hour, so hurry up."

Having accomplished my mission, I sat down on the floor as I waited for my turn to hold the shield again. Whether or not she would actually read the message was all up to fate itself.

Clang!

Clang!

Shadow came back to deal yet another barrage at Ethan's sturdy shield that just wouldn't seem to yield. Although I had laughed at him for having something so dumb, I now came to realise the true potential of the slightly curved piece of metal.

However, the shield did feel a bit familiar.

I'd definitely seen something like it before.

Nevertheless, I was astonished that it was able to withstand so many blows when Destrimos...

Why did Destrimos have to break, goddammit!

The sword.

My sword.

It was now nothing.

"Has she replied yet?" Ethan interrupted.

"Huh?"

I looked at my Commlink's screen to see no new messages or any replies of the sort.

"Wow, she really did just leave me on read. Talk about rude," I mumbled.