Reina cracked her neck and sighed.
"Dude," she called into the office, voice flat with irritation, " just come out so you and I can play a little. I'm tired of waiting." She smiled then rolled her eyes.
"You're just making this harder for yourself." She muttered, her shoes crunching softly as the soles of her feet stepped on the fallen paperwork. Broken desks. Shattered monitors. Paper drifting under her steps like snow.
He launched himself at Reina, aiming a punch directed towards her head, his long claws gleaming under the flickering lights.
Reina didn't flinch, mana flared around her skin in a vibrant orange. She leaned backwards, dodging the strike and wrapping her fingers around his arm, with an explosive burst of speed, she met Dora's face with her fist.
Dora staggered backwards, his legs trembling. "The hell!? Aren't you a marksman? I don't know what's up with that power of yours." He rasped, his eyes widening.
"Lil bro, you're like a toddler, swinging around your arms just because you have pure power and speed," She scoffed, taking out a box of cigarettes and lighting the tip aflame. "Do you have nothing in that brain of yours?"
Before he could answer, she closed the distance in an instant. Her first strike was a knee to his gut, delivered with enough force to topple a small building. Dora grunted, the flesh around his torso rippling and absorbing the blow, but the impact still drove the wind from his lungs and sent him through the wall.
She stepped on his foot, planting him down in place, she blew smoke into his face to cloud his vision and followed it with a rapid flurry of punches. Each blow broke a bone in his body, targeting the regenerating flesh, preventing it from fully knitting.
The police station echoed with the sound of crunching bones. Dora's eyes twitched from the pain, but he bit his lips to stifle the noise. His face, half-reformed, contorted into a snarl. "You crazy woman!" He lashed out blindly, his arm trying to reach her face.
Reina stood back, sidestepping his attacks with effortless grace. "You only managed to hit me once with that surprise attack of yours."
[I wonder… Maybe he's acting recklessly to lower my guard. He did that little trick with the cabinet and quickly neutralized the poison]
Her eyes, usually glinting with amusement, were now sharp, calculating. She landed a devastating roundhouse kick that connected squarely with Dora's jaw. The impact sent a visible shock through his skull, his jaw dislocated, his skull shattered. Dora's eyes rolled back, his entire body spasmed.
He stumbled, dazed, slamming into the wall. The plaster cracked, then crumbled.
"Be a good dog and pass out already." Reina chirped, taking another swig of her cigarette and blowing smoke onto his face.
He tried to crawl away, she calmly watched his desperate attempt at escape. "How pitiful, I can't believe someone like you is a level 8 witch."
The overhead lights flickered violently.
Then died.
Sparks hissed once and the room collapsed into pitch-black silence.
Her eyes drifted upward towards the ceiling, then slowly back down, quickly glancing at the rattling desks beside her.
He had disappeared.
[A minor inconvenience]
The blinds suddenly closed, the room became completely devoid of any sunlight.
Darkness swallowed everything.
"How much of a pussy do you have to be to pull something like this off?"
Reina sneered, clicking her tongue, planting her feet firmly on the ground.
Mana drained from the center of her core, flooding downwards, pooling in the soles of her feet before bleeding outwards like an invisible wave, it spread across the room, brushing against walls, furniture and debris. Feeling her surroundings like a fifth appendage, her presence quickly expanded.
"You know I can see you right? Blocking my vision isn't going to do much."
"That wasn't my intention."
[A sickle?]
A sickle slammed into the floor where her head had been a heartbeat earlier, shattering tile and spraying sparks. A boiling sensation scratched her cheek.
Blood trickled down her skin.
She jumped back as the weapon ignited, blue flame roaring to life along its curved edge. The sudden light carved Dora out of the darkness, his fangs were bared, eyes glowing, grin stretched too unnaturally for a human's face.
Reina hummed. "Wow. That explains the speed."
She hopped further back, boots sliding across the floor, like the concrete floor was a piece of ice.
"Hmm, that explains the darkness, you don't really like the sunlight do you? I wonder if garlic would work against you."
Dora's silhouette blurred.
The flaming sickle vanished.
And reappeared inches from her throat.
"Vigil Hexa."
Steel rang as the blade shattered through the invisible barrier, hexagons flashing for a fraction of a second.
Reina snapped her wrist up.
She had caught his hand, her fingernails digging deep into his skin, her eyes stared intensely at the weapon before her.
"A wand?" Reina scoffed. "You're not supposed to have that, you're using stolen gear."
Her sleeve slid back.
With a metallic hum, a steel glock manifested clearly into her palm.
"Those are tools for tools. Professional witches."
She pressed down on the trigger, the muzzle flashed and lit the room in violent white bursts, bullets screamed through the air as a large gaping hole filled Dora's head, neck and chest, each impact snapping flesh apart before desperately stitching back together.
He snarled, skidding backwards as he dropped to the floor, squeezing his chest, as blood dripped from the corner of his mouth.
She fired again, aiming low.
His knee exploded inwards.
Dora hit the ground hard, blood was pooling underneath, the blue flames sputtered, dimming as the mana flickered.
"I thought so," she said. "Your body is automatically casting a healing spell, even if it's efficient, it still consumes mana. But since you don't have any blood.."
She felt another pool of blood that wasn't Dora's, quickly pushing the body away with her heel.
"You're getting desperate."
She drove her foot into his spine, concrete buckled outwards as Dora's face slammed down into the tiles, coughing blood. "I was originally going to let some students catch you but since I've already got you in my hands now. I think there's no need."
"D-damn it!"
"Well then, Dora. You're under arrest for multiple cases of assault, third degree murder, and yadiyadayada." She stood on top of him, chambering another round.
His voice came out, like a gasp, clawing away at his throat. "Zenith of Pride... 'Fluorescent Adolescent'."
Reina's eyes widened as her entire body froze, her fingers shook at the sight, her brows furrowed.