Vincent’s eyes are watching the culprit like an eagle. “Is that short man Shalbiri?”
“Don’t let his current appearance fools you. He’s actually about 6 feet tall.” Jenna watches Shalbiri from the corner of her eyes; this makes Shalbiri realizes that his identity has been exposed. All of a sudden, he jumps out from the crowd.
“He’s jumping the gun!!” Vincent and Jenna rush to chase him. Shalbiri moves really fast, with The-Flash-like speed. All they see is a black shadow dashing through the air. Vincent speeds up as well, moving like a silver lightning. He almost matches up his speed with Shalbiri, but Jenna is falling behind. “He’s getting away!! Can I go any faster than this?” As if reading her mind, the Heaven Armor spews out wings at the heels of her feet, and she is moving as if gliding in the air. The little wings make a huge speed difference. Now she’s gaining on Shalbiri. Jenna finally catches up with them. She readies her bow and talk to Vincent “Be a little gentle. We want him alive.”
“I’ll try.”
Shalbiri sees them getting closer, and starts to panic. “How come they have holy artifacts weapons with them? This is not good” He lets out his first attack, like a squid, he lets out a black cloud that covers the air with darkness. The dark cloud acts like a black hole, blocking all the light to enter. Jenna pulls back, and takes the Eye of Gabriel from her armor. Now she can see him as clear as day. She enters the cloud, then aiming the Sheer Will Arrow right straight at him. The lightning arrow zooms past through the darkness and grazes Shalbiri’s arm. He screams really loud like a wounded animal. Even though it’s not a lethal wound, the arrow feels like a hot burning iron tearing through his skin. Shalbiri loses control and sways like hydroplaning car. Jenna readies another shot. Prior to the shot, she tries to find a way to stop him and abruptly thinks “Ice.” The arrow turns like an icicle and emits cold air. Shalbiri is moving uncontrollably due to his injury, and it makes him a harder target to hit this time. She follows Shalbiri movement to the left and to the right, but she just can’t get a clear shot at him. She calms herself, holds her breath and lets out a little prayer “So help me, Almighty”.
She closes her eyes and releases the second attack to Shalbiri’s feet. The arrow flies ripping the air like a comet, letting out a trail of mist behind. It follows Shalbiri like a homing missile until it finally hits his legs. “Bull’s eye!!!” The arrow freezes both of Shalbiri’s feet. The immediate halt from a high speed run flings him high up in the air. Shalbiri bounces like a piece of pebble thrown on a lake. Sounds of broken bones can be heard every now and then. “Ouch..that’s gotta hurt” Vincent doesn’t even blink watching Shalbiri gets thrown around like a ragdoll. He drags on for a couple of feet until he finally stops.
Vincent and Jenna moves in carefully like two angels descending slowly from heaven. Vincent steps forward. “Careful. This demon is a crafty one” Jenna reminds Vincent, just before he inches towards Shalbiri. The dust from the high speed fall is still settling. Vincent raises his shield covering his face and his sword, getting ready for a surprise attack. He walks around Shalbiri and kick his feet. Shalbiri doesn’t move at all. Vincent circles him, and kicks him on the stomach and still no movement at all. “Well I guess he’s knocked unconscious” He lets down his shield. Jenna immediately yells “Don’t let down your guard!!!” Shalbiri suddenly turns around and like a cobra, shoots poison from his mouth. “NO !!!!!”
~τ~
Vincent quickly backs up and the armor, sensing danger, reacts and creates a face mask to protect against the attack, but not fast enough that the poison manages to seep in. Vincent screams as the poison stings like a thousand needles in his eyes. Shalbiri laughing maniacally, Jenna shoots Sheer Will Arrow that splits into three and hit Shalbiri on both his arms and just a couple of inches from his heart. Shalbiri is slammed to the ground from the impact of the arrows. Jenna instantly grabs Vincent, and lays him down. He’s still screaming from the pain “AARGHH…it feels like…scorpion stings…hhnnnnn…”
“Calm down..Shush….let down your face mask.” Vincent is still struggling from the sharp pain in his eyes, but manages to calm down, and the mask opens. His eyes are black and blue from the poison. Jenna grabs her bag, and takes the Morning Dew. She puts Vincent’s head on her lap, opens the cork, and lets out two drops of the elixir to each of his eyes. In a couple of seconds, both of his eyes heal almost instantly. Vincent breaths calmly now, the pain is now completely gone, and he opens his eyes. The sun shines from above, and the relieved face of Jenna makes the perfect combination that mesmerizes Vincent. “Hey there. Better ?”
“Much.” He smiles like a schoolboy crush for his teacher. But the “moment” is interrupted by Shalbiri’s coughing. They realize that they are still fighting an enemy. Both get up and rush to Shalbiri, but this time he equips his face mask. Shalbiri is convulsing. He is dying from the mortal wounds inflicted by the arrows. Vincent grabs Shalbiri’s robe “Talk and I will make this easy. Where is your piece of the Manna Crystal?” Shalbiri cackles “I’d rather bring it to the grave than telling you.”
“So you want it the hard way. Jenna, what is the minimum amount of the elixir just enough to keep him alive?”
“About a quarter of a drop.”
“Give him exactly that.” Jenna takes the bottle, yanks one strain of her hair, dips it into the bottle, and shakes the excess liquid back in.
“This should be enough” Vincent shoves the hair to Shalbiri’s mouth. As much as he refuses, the elixir goes down his throat, and some of his wounds begin to heal. Shalbiri is a bit healthy now, but still to weak to do any attacks. Vincent lets go of his grip and stands up. “Last chance”
“Rot in hell, Zuriel!” Shalbiri spits on him.
“Suit yourself.” He lifts his shield high, and smashes it against Shalbiri’s knees. Shalbiri screams so loud that the birds are startled and flee from the trees. Vincent crouches down and speaks to Shalbiri on his face “When you are too weak, I will give you another dose of the elixir. Believe me; I can do this all day. Now, are you ready to talk?” Shalbiri lets out a weak nod. “That’s more like it.”
~τ~
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