Aoi’s fear and relief.

Aoi’s first, totally amateur instinct was to panic. Helga had summoned 10 ethereal, human-like figures to put between them and William. Aoi, for a split moment, was overcome by fear she believed past her.

Will had no powers, no supernatural aid to fight the two summons that approached him wielding swords of energy. She needed to cut through these eight others and get to him immediately. Her sword was in her hand in the blink of an eye, by now its image clear and its construction instant and instinctual. And yet her feet felt heavy, her hands cold, and instead of the eight threats in front of her, she saw dead bodies in an office.

Ishtar’s movements woke her up. The spirit controlling Reina’s body cracked the concrete floor as she kicked off it, jumping high and forward to land a flying knee to the face of one of the figures. It was powerful enough to make it vanish like it was made of smoke. A single move and now only seven summons stood between them and Will.

Aoi clicked her tongue in frustration and held her sword by the sheath to her left side, slightly bending her knees. Her body began to heat up as aether flowed inside her, focusing on a single point before she released it all in one move. The energy, released like a held-up spring, moved her body empowered beyond human limits, creating something that should’ve been impossible. Aoi pulled the sword out of its sheath, and in what looked like a single motion, sliced through the golden summons’ neck twice, from the left and the right at the same time or with a gap so small it might as well have been at the same time.

The ethereal figure vanished like drifting smoke, but despite having yet another less enemy to worry about, Aoi cursed herself. She knew better than anyone how much a single second in combat costs. She was no rookie to be freezing up like then, especially not when it could lead to losing someone else.

Her chest hurt, her heart seemed to pulse in her ears, and it had little to do with the adrenaline of combat. She’d just… never had to truly worry about Will before. Even in dangerous situations, he had the raw power to survive and Ishtar by his side. Now he was powerless, helpless, and…

…

Oh.

Nevermind.

In the moment she managed to look past the six remaining enemies to check on Will, Aoi saw him punching one of the soldier-looking summons in the gut and pushing it towards the other to block an incoming sword strike.

The exact words didn’t form in her mind, but the feeling in her chest could’ve easily been translated to ‘that’s my boy.’ He insisted on training with her despite the bruises he ended up with. Couldn’t teach him much about magic beyond basic theory, so she focused on honing his instincts and technique. Aoi smiled. Her student was not powerless or helpless. He took her lessons to heart and applied them.

She took two steps back as the golden summons began to retaliate. Two rushed at Ishtar with swords in hand while two others rushed at Aoi with bare hands. Odd choice.

“Don’t you fucking put a scratch on this body!” Ishtar shouted as she jumped back to dodge the blades of aether.

Aoi, meanwhile, decided to go on the offensive. She held her sword in front of her with both hands, and with practiced ease, moved forward with barely any motions. It was normally something to mess with her opponent’s depth perception, but she wasn’t sure if these things could really see. It was mostly muscle memory at this point, and as she moved forward, she thrust her sword and aimed it at what would normally be a person’s heart. She judged the range right, and yet her attack missed, and the reason it missed sent a warning to Aoi’s mind.

The summon hadn’t just dodged. Unlike Aoi’s move, which was done simply by keeping the upper body steady and taking a subtle step forward, this thing had moved as if something had grabbed him from behind and pulled him to drag him out of the range of her sword.

The second summon rushing at her saw the opening, and while Aoi was prepared for an attack, she did not expect to see something familiar. The summon jumped forward with its legs stretched out, coming at her like a propelled rocket.

Aoi bent her knees while keeping a steady stance, leaned slightly to the left and raised her sword, cutting the attacking foe at the groin as he flew at a hair’s breath above and past her. Another one down.

She rose and glared at the summon standing before her, now looking more cautious than before. The golden, ethereal figures had no facial features. Their builds were distinct, but other than that they were plain silhouettes made from energy, so there was no way to tell, but… She’d seen techniques like those before. An automatic emergency retreat and a high-risk, high-reward flying kick propelled by aether. She’d seen them at the underground fighting ring she took Will to for practice, used by other contestants. Not exactly original techniques, so it was not much to base her theory on, but adding their apparent individual instincts and judgement…

Were these copies of real people? Or worse, the people themselves? The powers of greed, to take everything for oneself… Helga, a specialist who suddenly became a popular hire. If her abilities included taking even the powers and skills of others for herself, then things started to fall into place.

“These things…” Ishtar let out a heavy, frustrated sigh just as two summons poofed out of existence in front of her. “These are weaker than the ones you used before. Going for quantity over quality this time? Whatever. Just get them out of my way.”

Ishtar extended her arm and aimed it directly at Helga. Aether began to concentrate on her palm, and the three remaining summons, including the one in front of Aoi, ran back to stand in front of their summoner.

“W-Wait…!” Helga shouted, but Ishtar didn’t want to listen.

A blast like a gunshot pierced through one, two, three summons before losing its strength and dissipating in front of Helga’s face.

Heh. That was Will’s move.