Even though she covered herself to minimize the air resistance, her head felt slightly stiff and hurting, because he moved for about a hundred meters in less than a second, and the impact of the wind was hurtful enough — she wasn’t sure if he simply jumped or literally ran vertically downward. In one second, as she leaned her head close to his back and turned left, she saw the hand of the cannon user. And in the next second, she instead saw a broken rusty car on the sidewalks. 

He put Arias down, almost like throwing her off his back, and she landed well, even though she staggered and lost a bit of balance. On the other hand, he spoke, as if nothing happened, “Can you attack them right away?” 

“Attack… what…?” repeated Arias, thinking that she heard it wrong. 

“Attack them. Deconstruct them right away from here. Can you?” 

“I…” Arias paused for a while. She took a peek at the enemy from the corner of the building. 

The lightning wriggled fast, while expanding slowly, but even though she could see the enemy, the gaps of the defense were too narrow, even for her small body. The ground itself was scraped by the lightning, and everything on its way was sliced and burned, leaving bright hot glows on its cuts, before whatever on its way was eventually disintegrated. So in a second, she understood what he asked from her. 

“I… I can’t… I don’t think I can yet…” stuttered Arias. 

“So what can you do?” he sighed, sounding a bit frustrated. 

“I… I suppose I can tear the ground off… throw them into surprise…” 

“You’re sure you can do it?” He turned her body, and held her on her shoulders, a bit too tightly. He looked her in the eyes, with the same color as her own eyes. For the first time, he looked hopeful and somewhat excited, having quite high expectations on whether Arias could do what he intended. 

“I… I’ll do my best…” 

“Excellent.” he smiled. He rubbed on her head for a second, as he said, “Go ahead, then.” 

“I-I-I need some time to do it…” 

“How long?” 

“A-A few minutes, I suppose… no, probably less…” 

“Alright. I’ll buy you some time, but make it quick.” he said, before flashing away in front of her. 

She sighed. She wasn’t even sure that she could do what she just said, much less doing it quickly, although it wasn’t theoretically impossible for her. Nevertheless, she couldn’t imagine disappointing her father, especially when they’re facing such powerful enemies. 

She hid behind the building, put her hands on the ground, and started concentrating. 

Part 5

And suddenly, the ground where the grocery store stood was deconstructed to bits. 

It felt as if she was digging the ground itself with her own hands, projected mentally and employed in delay, with the difference that her hands moved and spread like roots. 

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, fucking come out already, you wussy coward.”

As far as she remembered, the ground she had to cover was significantly wide, and she also had to dig deep enough for maximum effect. 

“What? Am I handsome?” 

And to add further complication, the distance between where she hid and where the enemy stood was quite distant. 

“Is that why you’re that fixated on me? Stop jumping, and you’ll be able to see how handsome I am.” 

Even though her roots were spreading under the ground, she could feel the lightning eroding bits of the asphalt on the ground’s surface, if only slightly. 

“Come on, now! Don’t you wanna see my handsome face real close?!” 

The next thing she needed to do was gaining control on the ground, as far as her roots spread. 

“Come on, now! Did I make you mad? All just because of my face?!”

By her estimation, it was about one hundred square meters’ wide, and about twenty meters’ deep, meaning that she had to cause a blast effect of the entirety of two thousand cubic meters’ worth of soil. 

“Okay, you know what, this is getting boring. I’m starting to think that you're just an overrated, pretentious blessing. It’s like you’re trying so hard to be formidable, but you're actually buying time for reinforcement to get here.” 

Her focus wavered a bit, before she returned to drilling her roots and controlling the soil. She wanted to shout that they didn’t call for reinforcement, and that her father was the real deal, even among the blessings, but she was focusing on her own current task, 

“Shows everyone how weak and pathetic you truly are. How embarrassing. How the fuck could you even do your field job, if all you do is jump around and throw stuff? Do you spend your nights as your director’s sex slave? Bribing him with yourself to get promoted? Because I literally know someone who does exactly that.” 

Her control shook even more. She wanted to gain control of the soil through her deconstruction faster, because she couldn’t wait to shut the enemy’s mouth, but her emotions, no matter how hard she tried to suppress, obstructed the very process. 

“Can’t imagine how your family must feel. A loser old male being trying to fulfill his family’s needs with his mediocrity, physically and mentally. And in the most blasphemous manner I can imagine? Any sane person would disown you if they were your son.” 

She was about to do it, even though her deconstructing grasp was still not good enough, thanks to her fury by listening to what he said. She even thought about actually attacking him by herself, after he blasted the ground where he was standing, even though she was well aware that she had no chance at all to stand against him. While controlling her power, she tried hard to keep her own mouth shut, because she didn’t want to spill her hidden presence and location yet. She even felt her tears falling down onto the ground and her hand, hardly able to get rid of the words off her mind. It took her a moment to realize that she shut her mouth by biting her lips. It wasn’t a strong bite, to a point where she bled herself, but she could hardly worry about that for the moment. The one thing she thought was having her hand touching the enemy, somehow, and disintegrating him to death. 

Until she felt that someone else suddenly landed, approaching the enemy. 

Father…! 

What are you doing…? 

She was thinking of taking a peek at her father, before she remembered that she was taking control of the ground they were standing on, including her own father. Although she knew that he would be able to avoid the sudden attack, she thought that it was best to not include the ground where he stood on into her preparation. So she chose to just listen to what they were saying. 

“Talkative, aren’t you? Trying to rile me up with all the insults you can think of.” 

She felt awe and amazement. Even from hearing his tone, she could tell that he was not riled up to the enemy’s bait at all. 

“The weird thing is, it feels like I touched on some truths there… maybe not all, but, you know…” 

“We both know it’s as true as your teenage life as an edgelord who makes his parents dead, because he made them indebted by buying too much coke and whores, without them knowing it. Which is another word for ‘completely wrong.’ Unless I get it right?” 

“Oh, someone’s getting mad.” 

On the other hand, she could hardly control her own emotions. She needed to tell herself so many times that she had her own crucial job to do, as fast and well as she could. 

“Not really. I just feel bored. There has to be a better way to get under my skin than making up edgy stuff, even if it’s all just buying time for your friend over there.” 

That was when she realized that he expected her to be ready anytime soon, almost as if he was literally telling her to get the surprise attack ready. 

“I can say the same for you. Where’s your cannon guy, anyway? Must be hiding around, waiting for the right moment to blast us to death.” 

She was nearly finished with her own progress, but she wasn’t sure if it would work in the first place. Now that she had to actually do it, doubt and anxiety attacked her just in the worst moment, when she had to do it right away. 

“There’s a limit to what he can do, even if he seems to be invincible.” 

Nevertheless, she continued. There was one thing that kept her from hesitating, and a part of her felt relieved that it was enough. 

“Oh, he finally died? Is that what you’re saying? Thank goodness, if that’s true.” 

“I wish I could say the same. But, no. he’s not dead. He’s just gravely wounded, thanks to that lightning of yours.” 

She didn’t want to disappoint her father, at all, no matter what she had to do. 

“But don’t worry. Your guess is right. I am also buying time. It’s a hell of a move, though.” 

Henry couldn’t tell how it would be like for Arias to blast the ground using her power, nor how it would look like. Considering that he wasn’t fully prepared dealing with such a powerful enemy reinforcement, he couldn’t exactly say that the idea of hers was a ridiculous one. He could only let her and trust that she would deliver, even though he had a doubt about that. He said that it would be a hell of a move, partly to scare the enemy, even if it was just a bit. 

What she managed to deliver was indeed a hell of a move. 

In a glance, it looked as if a gigantic being popped up from underground and rose upward, against all the things on top of it. The solid and stiff, singular entity that was the ground itself, was split and unraveled into thousands, if not tens of thousands of pieces of dirt and concrete. There was no order or pattern of each of the pieces’ trajectories, other than going upward, opposing both him and the cursed enemy. What made it even more powerful was that he could feel the momentum force, powerfully pressing anything in its way upward and outward. Even the grocery store behind the enemy didn’t stand a chance against Arias’ deconstruction. 

With his power, it all looked as if the time itself was immensely slowed, so he could jump backwards and dodge the surprise attack with ease. The enemy, on the other hand, was panicked, he pointed his hand downward to stop the blast, and even then, he only managed to stop a few of them. Few of the pieces of concrete actually hit him, and considering that he was thrown upward and that he looked to be in pain from his face, Henry thought that the impact did get to him. 

What he didn’t expect to happen, was the fact that the lightning fences barrier dissipated. Although it was still there, it was no longer without any gap for him to slip through. 

So he simply threw the sword, to stab his head. 

It was a vertical throw. The sword spun and hurtled in a high speed, thanks to his strength, it could go against the impact by Arias’ attack and cut the pieces of dirt and concrete along, until it eventually sliced his head into halves in a clean cut, right in the middle of his head. Blood splattered around, along with bits of brain and, he noticed, skull. His sword even kept spinning past the enemy, and away further toward a building. 

At the same time, the grocery store was also decimated. He realized that the other enemy had his shadow filling the store’s interior, until it broke, although it seemed to be still solid enough to protect him from Arias’ surprise attack. As the shadow dissipated, he saw that the shadow enemy put his hands onto the civilian, seemingly trying to heal him. 

So he has healing power as well… but it doesn’t seem to be that capable… he thought to himself, since the civilian looked to be still unconscious. Although he couldn’t be sure about his wellbeing, he thought that the impact of the initial cannon attack was serious, particularly for a normal human being. Based on the assumptions, he thought that he was desperate enough to try using his healing power, even though it was on a weak level, onto the civilian who suffered under such a powerful attack from Robby. 

He must have cared so much about the civilian… 

A curse cares about a person…? 

What a joke. 

At the same time, the shadow enemy saw what happened outside, considering that the store itself was destroyed from below. Henry saw that the shadow enemy was shocked to see what had happened, and then shifted his eyes toward him, before moving it to his fellow, whose head was already split and whose body was thrown by the impact about five meters from the surface. And on top of that, some pieces of concrete did hit the body quite hard, and the dead enemy did nothing to stop it at all. 

What surprised him was the fact that it didn’t take long at all for the shadow enemy to process what he just saw and react to it properly, and predictably. 

“YOU FUCKING BASTARD!!!” 

He flashed toward Henry, leaving the unconscious civilian, the shadow on his hands formed into giant blades. He flashed quite fast, being propelled forward by his own shadow, but it still wasn’t as fast as Henry could move. He simply moved sideways, dodged the giant blades, and moved his sword to stab him in the head as well. 

Blood splattered from his head, but not fast enough to touch Henry’s clothes. It was a clean stab, as the sword pierced through the head. By his own momentum, the shadow enemy’s body kept flashing forward by itself, until it hit the street, rolled over, and stopped. From the looks of it, few bones were most likely broken, considering that the speed was abnormally fast, although he thought that the body, being a curse, could withstand the momentum. The shadow disappeared, as the user died, both on his hands and at the destroyed store. 

Finally finishing his desire, he stood still, took deep breaths, and soaked it in. For once, after who-knows-how-long — not even he himself knew — he stopped thinking about his desire. So now, he calmed himself, stopped sensing his surroundings, and looked into himself, taking the moment of victory and serenity for himself. 

Until Arias spoke, which was just a few seconds later. 

“Is… is it over…? We… we did it…?” apparently she had approached him as Henry stood still. 

Henry sighed, feeling annoyed. Nevertheless, he said, as he went to grab his other sword, “Yes. Finally, we did it.” 

“Oh, thank goodness!” Arias ran and jumped forward to hug him. He was a bit surprised, but nevertheless, he didn’t reject her. He let her hug him quite tightly to her own capability, while his eyes looked at the body of the shadow enemy; Arias didn’t seem to notice the presence of the body, although it wasn’t as disgustingly gore as the first enemy he slaughtered. 

His eyes and mouth were wide open, while blood kept flowing out from his forehead, soon turning into a big puddle of dark red liquid. The shadow thing from his body was nowhere to be seen, leaving to mark or sign whatsoever. The only thing that assured that he was a curse was his yellow eyes with red pupils, somehow looking like the complete opposite of the silver eyes of the blessing like him with purple pupils. 

It felt… easy… too easy, even… he thought to himself, as he frowned. Back then, he was formidable, however I cut it… 

“What do we do to him…?”