———Lynda———

  <1: 44 pm>

  *Boom* *Rumble*

  “Well this was likely gonna happen to at least one of us. Guess I drew the short stick on this one. Maybe not the shortest.” Rico casually said, not concerned over the giant exploding fireball that just collided with our bus! How durable is this damn thing! “Alright, children. It’s time for me to clean up the road. Stay in here, or don’t. I’d rather you don’t step outside, actually.”

  And she left the bus… Wait, are the doors unlocked?

  …It sure is. What the hell is with the mixed messages?

  …Oh whatever. I’m curious what’s even happening. I’m pretty sure I’ll be fine as long as Rico is around.

  *Shine*

  Hm? There’s a barrier surrounding the area around the bus. Looks slightly ominous, but it’s clearly casted by Rico as an extra yer of protection. I guess that means I can maybe listen in and get a better look of the action. It also conveniently protects the onlooker from getting hit by the rain. So just myself, as of now.

  “...So you block our progress because of that?” I heard Rico say, there are multiple people surrounding her with weapons on them.

  “That’s right. We’re going to make an example out of you. No one gets to boss us around. No one.” A rge guy said loudly, holding a rge sword almost as tall as himself. “You’ll be begging for mercy, and you won’t get any.”

  “The malice you people gave off is quite intense.” Rico said, not afraid of whatever vibes these guys give off. “Almost as much as the vibe of a cry baby you all gave off. Like a spoiled child without its toy.”

  Something about that sentence ced with mockery seems to set them off, and all of them rushed towards her, standing in the middle of all of these assaints.

  *Swing* *Jump*

  “Huh?” They are all confused as the person who should have no space to dodge their attacks simply vanished. She didn’t actually do anything fancy, just jump up super high as a disappearing act. “Where did she go!?”

  *Stomp*

  She gracefully nded on top of one of the assaints, probably breaking his neck in the process considering how big of a jump that was. The act itself was so startling that the others quickly retreated in shock. That’s one down out of many. I can see some of them even standing on the rooftops, probably aiming to snipe her with magic.

  Speaking of that, there are some being sent my way since I am looking at this, but the barrier is simply too strong for them to get past. Some people also try to break the barrier using their weapons, but it all comes up short.

  “You wench!” Looks like that act alone didn’t deter them, since they ran at her again.

  *Swing* *Evade* *Swing* *Evade*

  Swords, axes, spears, all kinds of weapons were aimed right at her, and she simply dodged all of them without even a sign of strain on her face or body.

  “Damn it, stop getting in my way!” One of them bmed the others for the clumsy coordinations. He’s not wrong, but it wouldn’t really make a difference, so it just felt like an excuse.

  “Use your magic or something.” Rico said, clearly bored out of her mind with how clumsy they were. I can tell that I’d have a hard time dodging those attacks if I were in her shoes, but it doesn’t look impossible with how disorganized they are.

  I guess the original tactic was for Rico to be pushed to near exhaustion, push her back with a few wounds then followed up by the attack of the mages on the rooftop to account for her running away.

  Also, they were probably banking on part of their groups taking us and the bus hostage, but that was doomed to fail from the start.

  *Kick*

  During the assault, she chose to do an upward kick of almost ninety degrees, sending one of the assaints flying away with great force, probably breaking some of his bones both due to the impact of that kick and him crashing onto the hard road. That act startled the others and led to another pause as they retreated by a few steps, probably thinking she was ready to fight back and afraid they’ll be next.

  “Second time. If there is a third, it’d be a pattern.” She mockingly said, deriding them of being startled despite the number advantage and confidence shown early in the confrontation. “Also, where is the fancy magic? Are you all still stuck in the past, fighting with nothing in that brain of yours? Where was that spell earlier again? That little light show?”

  *Sizz*

  As if due to that provocation, a mage with the high ground shoots out a ball of fire at Rico, one that burns bright enough even in the light rain, probably frustrated by the ck of progress of the ground team in addition to being so directly mocked.

  *Swat*

  She swatted it aside without so much as looking at it, like she simply swatted in the direction of a fly to make it go away.

  “So? Where is it?” She said, as if she doesn’t even acknowledge the earlier attack even happened.

  “Die already!” One of them shouted out and swung his axe at her.

  *Grab*

  She grabbed the bde of the axe like it was simply a pstic toy.

  *Crush*

  “A-Ahhuh?” The guy that attacked her looked at the destroyed axe in disbelief. She crushed it with her bare hand.

  **Swing** **Crack**

  Two more guys tried to attack her, but were met with a simir result, their weapons broke the moment they came into contact. She didn’t lift a finger, and yet those attacks were violently repelled by her sheer power alone. Some sort of invisible violent forcefield.

  *Bang* *Clink*

  Someone chose to pull out a gun and shoot. Again, not even a scratch on her clothes.

  *Bang*

  “If you are going to bring something like that around, maybe learn to protect yourself against it.” Rico suddenly pulled out a gun and shot the gun right back, piercing his heart. The callous murder was definitely not what they were expecting. From their tone, it seems like all they know is that she is representing a school full of kids with hopeful prospects, no one in their right mind would’ve hired someone so willing to enact violence, let alone kill, to such an institute.

  *Grab* *Crush*

  She suddenly got behind one of the assaints and grabbed him by the neck, lifting him up before crushing his neck, not giving him any time to react before his life was completely snuffed out, the head and body separated by the force of that grip.

  *Swing* *Grab* *Slice*

  Two guys with a sword tried to attack her before she could continue her assault, but she grabbed onto their swords and snatched it away, and the next action had her dual wield it and sliced both of them into two. The cuts were clean, no one probably even processed what had just happened until the upper and bottom halves split off after they fell to the ground, painting that part of the street in red.

  “I was about to let you guys fumble badly a few more times, turning more of you into spectacle-worthy corpses, but I just remembered that I’m on a schedule today.” Rico expined as she dropped the two swords. Her face cked any emotion to it.

  *Stomp* *Crush*

  “Let’s make this quick.” She said after stomping on one of the swords, crushing it into pieces.

  *Dim* *Crackle*

  A massive wave of energy engulfed the entire area with her body covered in a menacing purple aura, creating a whirlwind around her that is strong enough to almost make her enemies lose their footing.

  “What were you saying earlier? Make an example out of me? Listen here, you know what happens when someone like you guys appears so audaciously in my face?” Her tone turned deadly serious as she gred at them with eyes that seemed to glow an ominous shade.

  She holds her right arm up, opening her hand as a sphere of magical energy formed. “Simple. They die. All of them.”

  The sphere grows massively, the force of its formation causes wind to go berserk, and the entire area engulfed in a shade of purple. If that thing detonates, nothing aside from those in this barrier would’ve stayed standing.

  The ground shakes. Everything seems to be shaking just from the force of this attack she is creating. Is she sure this won’t end up with us also in the crossfire!?

  I can see a few already losing hope, dropping their weapons with their legs turned into jelly from fear. A few tried to attack her before the attack could go off, but they were just unched back like they sm into a trampoline, while any spells unched towards her or the attack simply dissipates on contact, or even worse, absorbed into the massive sphere of mana that is probably comparable to a five-story building.

  *Dim*

  Then, instead of throwing the attack, she converted it into something else entirely. The entire area is covered in complete darkness. I couldn’t see what’s going on. Even my power-sensing ability isn’t enough. Whatever spell she just used, it disrupts my ability to sense energy.

  …What is even happening? What’s going to happen to those guys? Everything feels like it has been turned upside down. Day turned into night, the bustling streets full of violence turned into an isoted realm with not even a sound. Not even a sound of a single droplet of rain. Inside the barrier is still lit up, but with the suffocating darkness outside, it looks like inside the barrier is the only pce with any ground to stand on, and anywhere else is an endless void no one would dare to step into.

  “Alright, let’s get back on schedule.” At some point during my pondering, Rico returned and walked back into the bus as if nothing important just happened. Was it all over already? What even happened?

  I don’t know if I should press her for an answer, but I choose to just go back inside and not waste her time.

  The barrier is dispelled and the darkness dissipates and… there’s no one. Those people occupying the road and aiming at us from the rooftop are all gone. Was there even a struggle here? I can’t quite tell what she did, since all that seems to be left is a few specks of blood on the road that catch my eyes as the bus continues to move towards its destination.

  I look at the others to see what their reaction is like, they all seem confused more than anything, and obviously a bit terrified. They didn’t go out and check like I did, but they definitely noticed the massive ball of energy and the darkness that surrounded us momentarily.

  “‘What just happened?’. Nothing important, I simply scare them away.” The questions obviously flooded in, and that’s a very… nice way of putting it. My gut is telling me very clearly that she doesn’t simply ‘scare them away’. “‘What did you do?’. Eh, just like I said earlier. I scare them away so they stop blocking the road. We still have a schedule to go through, so I have to ‘accelerate’ things.”

  ‘Accelerate’... Right. I’m still getting goosebumps, those acts of violence are still fresh in my mind. That sort of callous act of killing wasn’t what I expected out of this trip at all.

  Rico… It’s not like I never interacted with her before. In fact, a lot of us have hung out with her since her family’s restaurant is a pretty famous pce. Good price with good food. She helps around the pce, always seems to be full of energy, and overall a pleasant person.

  What I just saw seems to contradict everything everyone else thinks about her. That sort of showing is not something that came by with just power alone…

  No. I’m looking at this wrong. She already told me the answer. Not a completely clear answer, but enough for me to know one thing. She has always been like this. That’s the thing I need to remind myself of.

  What I just saw is probably her with next to no inhibition at all, just letting loose for the sake of what she finds the most satisfying. Now what does killing others have to do with that, I have no idea. At least I know she doesn’t kill willy-nilly. We’d all be dead… probably before the Eclipse even started, realistically.

  As for all the backstories… It’s not important. I doubt she’ll tell me anything anyway. Perhaps I should just close my eyes and try to rex, first of all…