Kai staggered backward as Yumina stared at him.
"So," Yumina began, cracking her knuckles, "you were with Damon Bowers on that plane that got transported here, right?"
Kai blinked. "Huh? Yeah, I was...wait. How do you know that? Don't tell me…you were one of the people who got left behind?"
Yumina's grin widened, but not pleasantly.
"You really didn't care about those people, huh?" she said as she slowly stepped toward him. "Maybe I should take care of you right now. Consider it a message for Damon."
Kai broke into a cold sweat. "Y-you'll regret this!" he shakingly said, stepping back.
Yumina bent down, scooping several smooth rocks into her hand. She twirled one between her fingers.
"What better end for a jerk like you than getting pierced by rocks?" she said with a mocking tone.
But Kai laughed.
"Hehehehe…lucky for me, Bowers is very pragmatic."
"What?" Yumina's eyes narrowed.
"He always dispatches us in pairs. Just in case one of us gets overwhelmed."
Two hundred meters away, at the top of a stone guard tower, a woman lay prone on the cold surface. Her short and smooth black hair fluttered in the wind as she adjusted the enormous rifle resting on her shoulder. Her finger curled around the trigger.
Kurena exhaled slowly.
Target acquired.
She pulled.
*PANG*
The bullet tore through the air at the speed of sound.
It hit Yumina in the torso.
Blood sprayed. Yumina toppled forward, unmoving.
"Miss Yumina!" Alice cried, rushing toward her collapsed form.
Kai burst into manic laughter. "HAHAHAHAHA! Serves you right! This is what happens when you mess with our guild! Nice shot, Kurena!"
Kurena smirked from above as she reloaded her weapon. "That was easier than expected."
Kai turned his gaze toward Alice. "You're next, brat."
Alice, trembling, was too focused on Yumina to even acknowledge him.
"Ignoring me, huh?" Kai snarled. "Let me teach you how to respect your elders..."
He reached for her.
And then...
*POP*
Blood exploded everywhere.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAH"
Kai let out a bone-chilling scream.
His hand…was gone.
Kurena's eyes widened through her scope. "What...?"
Kai fell to his knees, shrieking. "M-my HAND! My HAND!"
A shadow rose behind him, slowly and menacingly.
"Well, well, well…" Yumina said, standing upright as if nothing had happened. "That hurt a bit."
Alice's eyes sparkled with relief. "Miss Yumina!"
Kai stared at Yumina's torso…unharmed. Not even a scar.
"H-how…?" he said with his voice trembling.
Yumina brushed dust off her outfit. "I turned my wounds into 'zero'," she said casually. "So now I'm not hurt anymore."
She then pointed at his mutilated wrist.
"As for your hand? I just threw a rock at it. Granted, that on its own wouldn't be enough to do the damage that it did. I simply turned the rock's inertia and mass resistance to zero, so it effectively had infinite piercing power after I threw it."
She winked. "Science is terrifying, isn't it?"
Kai's eyes quivered with terror. "K-KURENA! HELP ME!"
Yumina cracked her neck. "I'm done entertaining you. You should sleep for a while."
She instantly vanished and reappeared behind Kai.
She flicked his head with her index finger.
*THUD*
The man fell on the ground unconscious.
Kurena felt every hair on her body stand on end. She swallowed hard, forcing her shaking hands to stabilize her sniper.
"I'll make sure you stay dead this time," she whispered, activating her weapon's magic enhancement core.
She pulled the trigger.
*BrrrrrRROOOOOM*
Hundreds of magically-accelerated homing bullets burst forth. They streaked across the air at near-lightspeed.
The shots collided with Yumina.
Her arms.
Her torso.
Her legs.
The final bullet, a massive anti-material round, hit her head with surgical precision, launching her backward and slamming her into the stone street.
She didn't move for a whole minute.
Kurena exhaled with a relief. "That should do it…"
If Yumina's powers required only her will to activate, the most efficient method to take her out would be destroying her brain before she could think of any other countermeasure, Kurena thought.
Kurena shifted her aim to Alice.
"No hard feelings, kid. I'm only following Damon's orders."
Her finger tightened on the trigger...
A soft *THUD* sounded behind her.
She froze.
Slowly, she shifted her aim back to where Yumina had fallen.
Empty.
The body was gone.
Kurena's heart plummeted.
"No!"
"Wow!" a voice chirped behind her. "The view from here is great!"
Kurena's instincts screamed. She spun her body instantly while simultaneously taking out a knife and stabbing Yumina with it.
*CLINK*
The blade hit Yumina's skin.
But it didn't even break it.
Yumina tilted her head. "That tickles."
Before Kurena could react, Yumina grabbed her arm, lifted her, and slammed her into the tower floor.
*CRACK*
Kurena coughed blood, vision blurring.
Yumina lifted her again and slammed her down a second time.
Then threw her into the tower wall like a discarded ragdoll. Kurena fell to her knees with multiple fractures, unable to get up.
[She has super-strength too?] Kurena thought, trembling. [She is a monster...]
Yumina planted a foot on the floor triumphantly and struck an absurdly dramatic pose.
"Hehehehe! You might be thinking: 'Does she have super-strength?'" she said theatrically, hands on hips. "The answer is NO!"
Kurena blinked weakly. "Wh…what?"
"I simply turned your weight to zero before lifting you," Yumina explained with a smug smile. "Then restored it right before impact, making it seem like I hit harder than I really did."
Kurena quickly realized that she never had any chance.