"Help! A burglar!"
"Laedingr!"
The glove snapped fully into place just as Nagi was already moving.
"Matt, let's chase!" she called.
She touched her choker, and her loom responded instantly. A white kunai formed in each of her hands, their ringed handles tightly wrapped in violet threads.
I nodded and took off after her.
The burglar bolted through the crowd, shoving past pedestrians and leaping over a vendor's cart, sending produce scattering across the street.
Nagi followed without hesitation. Her movements were fluid and effortless. She vaulted onto a railing, flipped cleanly over it, and hit the ground running, barely breaking her pace.
I tried to keep up.
Keyword being tried.
My feet pounded against the stone street as I dodged stalls, carts, and startled people who shouted in protest as I passed.
"Hey! I'm walking here!!" the pedestrian complained.
Ahead of us, the street narrowed and climbed, buildings crowding closer together as the city rose upward.
"Fuck!" At this pace, I won't be able to keep up.
Nagi adjusted first.
She hurled one of her kunai upward. It embedded itself into the edge of a balcony with a sharp crack, leaving a trace of violet thread. Without slowing, she yanked herself forward, swinging beneath it and releasing at the last second to land several meters ahead. She repeated the motion moments later, running briefly along a wall before using the tension in the thread to flip over a cluster of pedestrians below.
Show-off....
I glanced upward again.
An idea struck.
I snapped my wrist forward, and a chain shot upward with a metallic hiss. It latched onto a reinforced support beam overhead with a heavy clang, and suddenly the ground vanished beneath me. Momentum carried me forward as I swung across the street, signs and the neon advertisement lights blurring past my vision.
Oh. Oh! This was working.
I released, landed hard, and immediately fired another chain. I swung again, higher this time, weaving between glowing cables and suspended signs like a very untrained Tarzan. Wind roared in my ears, adrenaline drowning out everything except the rush of movement.
This is actually awesome.
Ahead, the burglar glanced back and panicked. He raised his arm, and the device on his wrist flared a violent red.
Fireballs erupted toward us.
"Matt!" Nagi shouted.
I released the tension on the chain and dodged the incoming strike, but now I was becoming a living pendulum ball. The first blast slammed into the street behind me, sending sparks and shards of stone flying. Heat washed over my back.
Nagi twisted mid-run and hurled her second kunai. The violet threads snapped outward, intercepting the next fireball and redirecting it into a wall, where it exploded in a flash of light and smoke.
I swung again, trying to cut the burglar off from above, but the earlier shift in momentum threw off my timing, and I misjudged the turn.
My chain released a second too late, and I flew past the corner in a wide arc. I slammed into a stack of crates, pain blooming through my side as I tumbled onto the ground.
"urk!!..gah....Ah. Yep. That's on me," I groaned.
By the time I scrambled back to my feet, the burglar had gained distance, fireballs lighting his escape as he ran.
Nagi glanced back at me, but I shouted that I was fine, and she immediately continued the pursuit.
She kicked off the side of a wall, her foot barely touching stone before she launched herself forward. Another kunai flew from her hand, embedding itself into the street just ahead of the burglar. The violet thread snapped tight, and she used it to slingshot herself.
The burglar swore and veered sharply, darting into a narrower alley where the buildings pressed even closer together.
"He is choosing a narrow alley to cut our mobility. For a burglar, I guess he is quick on his feet." I muttered, pushing myself back into motion.
He raised his wrist again, panic written across his face, and fired blindly behind him. Fireballs streaked through the alley, scorching the stone walls and forcing me to duck as heat blasted past.
But Nagi faced it head-on. Her eyes and violet highlights glowed as they illuminated the dark alleyway.
She threw a kunai high. It struck a cable overhead, the thread wrapping around it instantly. She swung upward, ran two steps along the wall, then hurled the two duplicated kunai forward.
The blades landed perfectly.
One struck the wall to the burglar's left. The other embedded itself into the ground just ahead of his feet.
The burglar barely had time to scream before the kunai thread trails ensnared him tightly.
They wrapped around his arms, legs, and torso in rapid succession, pulling him off his feet and slamming him hard against the alley wall. The fireball forming in his palm fizzled out as the threads bound his wrists together.
Nagi landed lightly in front of him, tugging once on the threads to make sure they held. The violet glow tightened, locking him in place like a cocoon.
She exhaled and straightened.
"Got him."
I jogged up beside her, hands on my knees, still catching my breath.
"Okay," I said between breaths. "Remind me to never challenge you for a game of tag."
Nagi grinned brightly, chest puffing out with unmistakable pride. "Naturally. You shouldn't, or else I'd leave you in the dust." She pulled the violet threads taut, dragging the cocooned burglar closer with an enthusiastic tug.
"Drop it," she ordered.
The man whimpered, fingers spasming as the bag slipped from his grip and hit the ground. Nagi unraveled the bindings around his wrist just enough for me to work. I knelt beside him and carefully detached the device strapped to his arm.
The moment I held it, recognition hit me.
The moment he quickly fired that fireball without an incantation, I already expected that the device he was holding really was one of Roy's sick lab toys.
But something was wrong.
The burglar's body began to convulse violently. His limbs jerked against Nagi's threads, foam gathering at the corners of his mouth as his eyes rolled back. The cocoon strained, threads screeching under the sudden force.
"Get Back!" I screamed.
With a sharp recoil, the threads snapped apart.
The shockwave sent both of us skidding backward across the stone, boots scraping as we barely kept our footing. When I looked up, the man standing before us was no longer the same person.
His frame had swollen unnaturally, muscles bulging as if stretched too tight beneath his skin. His eyes burned a violent red, pupils trembling. Black veins crawled across his neck and face, pulsing grotesquely. Blood dripped steadily from his ears, splattering onto the ground below.
He opened his mouth and let out a deafening growl.
The sound hit like a physical force. I clapped my hands over my ears as the air vibrated, teeth rattling in my skull.
We were forced into a defensive stance, unsure what exactly we were dealing with now.
Then, slow clapping echoed through the alley.
"TSK. TSK. TSK."
A voice followed, calm and amused, carrying the weight of hidden irritation and disappointment.
"How truly unfortunate," it said. "One would think that tasting freedom even once would teach a low-life vermin to fear the trap. And yet, here it is, caught again without having learned a thing."
A chill crawled down my spine.
A small figure stepped forward from the shadows.
A child, no older than ten by appearance. Short black hair, streaked with faint purple highlights. His eyes were sharp, far too sharp for someone so small.
Ariel.
Another pawn of Roy. Unlike Snow White, this one had not been forced into servitude. He chose it willingly, drawn not by loyalty, but by an obsessive hunger to feed his vile and sadistic fantasies.
After all, under Roy's wing, he could indulge every cruel whim without consequence. He no longer had to hide the darkness inside him.
He could let it grow, sharpen, and stretch its claws as far as he pleased.
"How do you suppose Lord Roy will react when he learns of this, hmm?" Ariel continued, tilting his head thoughtfully. "I would imagine he will be quite displeased."
He glanced at Nagi and smiled.
"Young lady," he said kindly, almost gently. "Watch carefully. This is how you truly bind a low-life vermin."
Ariel extended one small hand.
The burglar froze mid-convulsion.
No threads appeared. No chains. No visible force at all.
Yet the man moved.
His limbs twisted unnaturally, jerking and bending as if pulled by invisible strings. His snarls turned into whimpers as he was forced to kneel, then crawl, then finally lower himself obediently to the ground.
Ariel stepped forward and sat on his back as if claiming a throne.
The transformation was complete. The rabid beast became nothing more than a seat.
Ariel crossed his legs and looked at us, chin resting on his palm, eyes gleaming with interest.
I leaned slightly toward Nagi and spoke as quietly as I could.
"Whatever you do," I whispered, voice tight, "do not anger him. And do not even think about fighting him."