Titans - March of Progress

Sain stared at Jalel and Ricky before him, fear in his eyes. He was terrified, and his entire body was shaking as he desperately drew in breath from sprinting to get to this point.

"C-Come on Jalel, it w-wasn't my fault what happened. They were too strong!" Sain stated loudly, his voice belying the fear he was feeling. Both Jalel and Ricky just stared at him impassively and after a few moments Jalel just shook his head.

"Then maybe you should have come and found me right after. Instead, you fuckin hid and pretended like nothing happened. Fucking coward. And now your times up. End him lads" Jalel snapped as he stepped back, leaving Ricky in front of him, leaving no room for negotiation.

Sain looked backwards desperately, looking at those gathered behind him, as well as his surroundings.

It was a tight fit in the small pathway and the five youths were packed together as they came towards Sain at Jalel’s order, knives drawn with the intent to end him. Sain felt a surge of anger then, his nervousness and fear dissipating under a growing rage.

This was happening now. There was no situation where he talked his way out of this. Fight or flight, and he was trapped so all he could do was fight or die. So as his fear and nervousness washed away under the anger, Sain just snarled, drawing on the emotion. He had to do this now. And there was no going back.

Sain took a few steps towards the larger group even as he shoved his hands into his coat pockets, grabbing two fire shards he had brought back with him from the factory. He held them up in his hands and drew on the energy within them. They flared up brightly in his grasp, and drawing in a breath, Sain pulled the energy upwards through his arms timed with his breath, feeling the warmth of the energy spread through his upper torso, setting his entire body pleasantly tingling. Gathering it in his throat, Sain imagined himself breathing a stream of fire, opening his mouth to give the magic form as he exhaled.

As the five youths closed in on him in two ranks, the leading two of them already lunging forward with determined looks on their faces, a rushing roar escaped Sain as a crimson stream of fire erupted from his mouth. He felt the heat of it in his mouth as the flames blasted out over the five youths in front of him, searing and burning them. Screaming, two of them recoiled, arms going to cover their faces and weapons dropping from their grasp as both their hair and clothes burst into flames. The three in the second rank seemed to be protected from the flames by those two in front, but even then, they recoiled in fear, stumbling backwards as their two flaming comrades flailed about in pain and terror. It caused utter chaos for that group, so Sain turned around to face Jalel and Ricky.

Jalel had stopped moving and was staring in horror at the carnage even as Ricky advanced, breaking out in a chant and lifting his hands dramatically to fling out a blast of magic at Sain.

Sain hissed and pulled on his own magic, guiding it up to his left hand and forming a barrier just as Ricky’s energy blast hit him. The blast spun Sain around, his arm flinging around him as Sain felt the air contort and twist. This was a first for him. He had never experienced the full brunt of Ricky's power, and he felt like he had been thrown in the deep end as his friend attacked. Stopping his spinning, Sain blocked out the ongoing screams of those on fire, and focused his attention on Ricky who lashed out again with a blast of magic.

This time a thought popped into his head from Clyde's notebook, and Sain created a smaller, angled barrier in front of him. Then he made it denser, like he had thought when he had fought alongside Minda. As Ricky's blast hit the barrier, it rippled, getting redirected, instead of blocked. The air shimmered in front of him as the blast of energy was redirected into the wall on Sain’s left, causing the brickwork to shatter and explode into the building it was supposed to protect. As that happened Sain pulled up the last of the magic from the fire crystal in his right hand and forming a fireball, he flung that straight at Ricky.

The youth crossed both his arms over his face as the fireball hit, erupting into a brilliant yet short lived wash of fire and heat. Not wasting any time, Sain threw the empty crystal to the side and pulled on the rest of the energy in the crystal held in his left hand.

Moving forward, Sain formed a barrier in front of himself even as he released a gout of flame from his left hand, seemingly erupting from the crystal which he pointed at Ricky.

As the fire pulsed over Ricky, Sain ran forward, and as the flames died out, he launched his barrier forward, thrusting it into Ricky, but focused only on a small point. As both their barriers met, Sain felt Ricky’s barrier collapse right before Ricky was knocked clean off his feet by Sain's charge. The youth was flung backwards, and fell heavily to the ground, his head cracking into the path and dazing him.

Sain gritted his teeth, recovering his footing right before he stepped over the other youth, and stomped down on Ricky’s throat, breaking straight through his supposed friends outstretched hands and crushing his windpipe. Not even a sound escaped Ricky as it happened.

Sain jumped away from the downed youth then, and turned to face his other foes, heart pumping rapidly in his chest, his gaze sweeping left to right and catching glimpses of the two flaming youths falling to the ground, their life spent. He bared his teeth and crouched low, his hands coming up to beckon the last three forwards who just stood there looking at him nervously, seemingly frozen to the spot.

“Come on you pussies, is this all you got. I’ve known wet puppies that have more fight than you” he crowed at them, adrenaline pumping hard in his veins. He felt powerful. Completely different to when he had fought the Hard Hat casters. Jalel shouted something in reply from behind him, causing the three to pluck up their courage and charge Sain, who just stared at them, seeing nothing but red. He was locked in a life and death moment, and it was invigorating. Exhilarating. Fighting non magical people was so easy. Nothing like those Hard Hat casters.

So as the fight continued on, Sain sucked in a breath and pulled up a surge of energy from his core to summon a ball of energy into his outstretched right palm. With a shout he splayed out his fingers and threw the ball of energy straight at the charging youth in the middle. With a cry of surprise, the three scattered to avoid the attack, the blast sailing straight past to hit a lamp pole and explode in a shower of splintered wood and distorted air. Sain didn’t wait to see the damage it caused of course, and instead focused his attention on the attackers before him as they came at him once more.

Drawing on his own repository of magic once again, Sain backpedaled fast, putting distance between him and his assailants even as he threw a wall of invisible energy at the youth on the left, hitting him and flinging him through the air. The youth spun with a shriek before crashing against the alley wall, a few loud and audible cracks sounding as flesh and bone smashed into the hard bricks. The youth just dropped to the ground, his limp body thumping hard into the pavement.

Bringing his power in, Sain turned his attention to the others and formed a magical barrier in front of him just as one of his attackers moved to Sain’s right side and stabbed towards his torso with a long and vicious looking knife. The blade skittered harmlessly against the barrier, sliding off and causing its owner to stumble. Sain gritted his teeth and lifted the barrier up high as the other youth on Sain’s left swung his knife at Sain’s head, the thing sliding off Sain’s barrier and being redirected to the ground. Puffing from exertion now, Sain pulled the barrier back and with a yell, sent the condensed barrier into a point on his left fist. He punched out with a cry, the hit colliding with the face of the youth on Sain’s left, his magic exploding on impact. There was a sickening crunch as the magic caved in the youth’s face and sent him flipping, his legs shooting out from under him and his head flying back. He toppled to the ground, landing with a brutal and sickening crack as his neck snapped.

Sain turned then to look at his final assailant who just stared at him in terror and dropped his knife, the thing clattering to the ground. He lifted a hand to point shakily at Sain right before turning and running away, tripping and stumbling in his panic. Sain exhaled then, losing some tension as he watched the youth run. Sain relaxed a moment and made to step forward but stopped as he heard a muffled and somewhat croaky voice from behind him.

Turning hard and fast, Sain brought up a barrier just in time as a strong blast of energy collided with him and crackled around his barrier. He staggered hard with the impact, falling on his backside as another blow came, completely crumpling his barrier. With a yelp, Sain rolled awkwardly to the side just as a hole blew out in the ground where he had been, causing a plume of dust and debris to shower down around him. Coughing and spluttering in the cloud, Sain stumbled to his feet and summoned more energy from his core just as a third blast was sent his way.

Instead of meeting the blast, Sain once again turned his barrier and redirected the blast, seeing a shimmer of energy as it rippled along his barrier and blasted into the wall to his right, shattering the bricks and sending debris flying. Chunks of brick rained down around him, thumping both into the ground, and Sain’s barrier even as Sain regained his footing. Looking at his assailant, Sain scowled as he realized it was a recovered Ricky who looked damn near furious.

With a raw shout Ricky fired another blast at Sain, and instead of blocking it, he redirected it again, this time to his other side and heard it screech through the air to slam into a lamp pole not far to his left rear. With a shriek the thing exploded at the point of impact and came crashing down. The pole slammed into the building to Sain’s right, crushing a good portion of the structure’s roof.

Gritting his teeth, Sain gathered all his remaining energy in the palms of his hands and threw it at Ricky. The first blast slammed into the youth’s chest, bursting through whatever barrier Ricky had prepared. The second attack went straight for Ricky’s legs and battered through his barrier a second time, shattering it. The blast collided with Ricky’s lower legs, knocking his feet out from under the youth. As his legs were flung backwards, Ricky collapsed forwards, his arms flailing even as he hit the ground, his face smashing into the path beneath. A loud crunch sounded out as the youth’s nose and broke, forcibly cutting his chanting off.

Stepping back, Sain just shuddered, his body shaking from its over exertion. His breathing was ragged, and he was having trouble standing now, quite exhausted. He watched as Ricky staggered to his feet and stumbled backwards, a hand being held out before him, blood running down his face from a broken nose. He was busted up bad and he just staggered away, falling over a few times.

“Wait!” Ricky groaned thickly, his voice barely audible, his hand still held outwards, as if to stave of Sain.

“l am a gone, I’m gone” he spluttered, little drops of blood running down his chin.

Nodding, Sain took another shaky step back, and let his friend stumble down the alley, away from the scene. Well, likely a former friend now. Looking around him, Sain surveyed the carnage and destruction. He scowled as he didn’t see Jalel anywhere. He guessed the man had run when the magical battle had begun, the only evidence of him being there at all was a smoking cigarette on the ground. Grimacing, Sain stepped over and ground the cigarette out with the heel of his boot. The smell disgusted him.

Looking around, Sain surveying his surrounds. He noticed there were now two gaping holes in the walls that flanked the pathway. On top of those, there were downed lamp poles, proving just how strong a foe Ricky had been. No doubt he could have been a powerful caster if he had been afforded a proper education.

The youth Sain had flung against the left wall was sprawled un-moving on the ground not far from where he had collided with the wall, a few limbs bent at odd angles and a pool of blood seeping from his head. The dark liquid was beginning to trickle between the pavers of the walkway and down into a drain. Right before him, lying in the middle of the path was another figure, his arms and legs splayed out awkwardly and his neck bent at a very unnatural angle. There was blood all around his head and it looked horrid in the gleaming moonlight.

Suddenly, Sain was hit with a sort of high-pitched sound in his head, and a sudden weakness, like he was about to pass out. A lightheaded feeling accompanied by a sudden and strong urge to throw up. Sain lifted a horribly shaking hand to his mouth, trying not to think about what he had just done.

Turning away he stumbled as he kicked an object. Looking down, Sain saw a corpse, burnt and blackened, still smoldering, and as the sickly smell of roasted flesh rose to his nostrils, he gagged and staggered away from the corpse. Casting a panicked gaze around the alley as the light headedness got worse, the high-pitched sound even louder, he found his fourth victim, sprawled on the ground only meters away, the blackened shape un-moving and at one with the darkness.

As the final stab of guilt ran through him, Sain dropped his hand from his mouth and bent down, on hands and knees, he heaved the contents of his stomach into the street. Three of the youths were clearly dead and the one against the wall most likely would not survive the night. Eyes burning with tears and shame, Sain hurled a second time, the splatter of his vomit and his retching the only sounds around him. The air was simply still, and silent as Sain remained there. After a few moments, his retching stopped, and he coughed, then sniffled, snot and tears running down his face. He stood up on shaky feet, and feeling pain in his left hand, Sain lifted it to his face, and finally unclenched it. He saw the other crystal he had brought, still in his hand. He had been holding onto it so tightly that it had cut into his hand, and blood now coated it, and pooled down his wrist, into the sleeve of his coat. Letting out a single hiccup as he saw the crystal glint and gleam in his hand, he threw it to the side and bolted, fleeing the area. As he went, he slammed into objects as his tears blocked his vision, the light headedness and high-pitched sound suddenly gone.