"Dammit!" he cursed loudly as he tried to wiggle out of the trap, but his body was tugged forward and he was dragged through the snow towards us. It was a bumpy ride as the golf-ball-sized hail continued to work its magic on raining down and hitting his face.
We all seemed to realize Jaxsin was the culprit of the burning rope and by the time our captured enemy was pulled onto the wooden platform, he was knocked right out with bruises all over his flesh.
"Oops?" Jaxsin muttered, but he was smiling like a proud little boy as he slowly returned to the ground. The flames around him extinguished on their own and he let go of the rope to walk over to me. "My bad." He winked and slyly laid an arm over my shoulders. "Now praise me."
I rolled my eyes at his demand, but it was kind of amusing, so I leaned over to kiss his cheek. "Good work, Jaxsin."
He pouted his lips as if he wasn't expecting me to actually do it.
"Hmph," he said in pure disappointment. "Whatever."
Just like that, he was gone and Jax shook his head. "I don't get what he was expecting from you."
I grinned before looking around. We all seemed to have regrouped.
"Do you think it's over?" I inquired.
They exchanged looks hesitantly, but I'd said my words on purpose.
Elsa, I need you. Stand by.
I felt the furry movement in the sleeve of my sweater, just as Fuwa lowered his hands.
"We should get goin-" His words were cut off as the ground beneath us began to shake. One worried look only confirmed what we all were thinking.
"Earthquake," I whispered and looked to Finnick. "Finnick! Lift this area up!" I then looked at Connor. "Connor! Protect with the barrier so that no one can penetrate through it!" Next was Jax. "Jax! I need you to keep a hold of that guy." I pointed to the unconscious assassin. "It'll make it far easier to prove in court that the mafia is involved."
Finally, I looked at Kaito. "You're with me, swordsman," I declared with a smile.
Everyone got into gear and I looked to Fuwa.
"Make sure you don't die a second time?" he said before I could order him around. I gave him an appreciative smile as he tried to hide his guilt.
"You were stopped from reaching us, weren't you?" His attempt to keep a blank face failed miserably, which only made me smile further as I reached out to pat his shoulder. "Thank you."
He slowly nodded in acceptance as Finnick's gathered winds began to lift all of us up. With a glance to Kaito, we both nodded in understanding before we raced right off the floating platform before it would get too high for us to jump off of.
"Wait, what? Brianne?! Kaito?!" Connor called out, but we were already in action as we landed on the ground, only to dodge the large mass of electric power that jolted right into the house from behind.
The ground shook harder then, which made it almost impossible to keep one's balance, but I was already moving as was Kaito. His swords were out in preparation to attack while my eyes were on the very last individual Jaxsin's target had caught in the crossfire.
Elijah.
The clashing of swords caught my attention as Kaito was the one to find Elijah first. "You should have stayed dead," Elijah growled. "You looked way better that way!"
"Fuck you!" Kaito cursed and got the upper hand due to Elijah's lack in swordplay as he moved quickly enough to slash at Elijah's chest before he got his third sword out and shot it at him.
Elijah evaded the attack, but the earthquake made him fall forward. He cursed and shifted his stance in time as Kaito glided past him, one of his swords slicing at Elijah's arm.
He hissed again, but he was up and charging another blast far bigger than the first in Kaito's direction.
"Fuwa." I whispered his name so that Elijah wouldn't hear my command. "Get Kaito onto the platform."
"What about you?" The hesitation in his voice was obvious, but his body appeared right behind Kaito. He hooked his arms under his armpits and was back on the floating wooden platform above the modern, exquisite house that was on the verge of collapse.
I'll be fine. I'm with Elsa.
"Coward!" Elijah declared before noticing my lingering presence. Elsa poofed her head out of the end of my sleeve, her head just at the inner palm of my hand.
"MewMew!" she cheered in preparation, knowing well I was about to need her aid.
Elijah and I stared at one another, even as it felt like the world was coming to an end with the cracking ground beneath us and the hail that seemed to lessen, only to be triggered by the booming of the sky with thunder and lightning.
"Be prepared to die, Brianne," he declared. "You're coming to the dark side whether you like it or not!"
"Can't choose what side I want when I'm dead, Elijah," I voiced as anger began to course through me. I was angry at a lot of things - the disruption of what should have been the perfect holiday vacation, the idea that the Shadow Kingdom continued to disrupt our lives, and the experience of death that I was sure would imprint a sense of despair when all the adrenaline was gone.
Something had to be proven today. A spectacular show of dominance to make the Shadow Kingdom rethink that they can allow us to be tormented whenever they feel like it.
They want a taste of darkness? I'll show them what it's like to feel the wrath of my hidden misery.
Our bait will be a prime example.
Elijah pushed off the ground as it cracked and began to plunge downward - the start of a cascade of crumbling rock.
"There's no room for the weak!" he growled as a sword of ice formed in his possession, seconds before it flashed into mine. His eyes widened at the pink sword, its charge of gold and orange sparks growing stronger by the second.
Marianna pushed her power within me, the conjunction of her dangerous strength and my pulsating magic of fury beginning to thrum around us. Elijah's eyes widened as the ground beneath us crumbled, and the two of us began to fall to what surely was a sinking hole of death.
Lifting my sword, I sent a slash of charged energy downward, and like a flip of a coin, we landed upon a solid black platform while the ground around the circular plane continued to collapse.
Elijah scrambled up and didn't hesitate to race towards me, but with one step I was behind him, my charged body coming into existence before I slashed at his back. He hissed in agony, spinning around to impale me with his weapon, but he was far too slow as I moved not once, but twice - leaving cuts on both sides of his arms.
He cursed and tried to predict my movements, but it was a game of cat and mouse because I was a charged force of electricity - to the point that it felt like I didn't have a body but was a pure source of energy.
The slashes upon Elijah's flesh tripled, leaving him a victim of tormented screams as his body became dummy practice for my sword, which was Elsa in weapon form.
Each piercing slice began to do its job, leaving dark ice in its wake, and within a mere minute, he was like a statue attempting to move while his head looked around to see the damage I'd done to his body.
"What the fuck did you do to me?!"
I finally came to a stop, my body trembling with buzzing energy that thrummed through my veins. My eyes throbbed with magic as the world around me was like night vision.