Arc 4: Ludus

  The four of us stared bnkly as Ichigo went through her ninth helping of uni don in ten minutes. She was starting to slow down, but was still shoving pieces into her mouth with the same fervor as before.

  It was impressive sidering how lean she was. Where the hell did she put it all?

  Stel, sitting on my left, was watg with an expression of amusement, while Albert and I were both watg in a mixture of horror and awe.

  "Mrghl," Iuttered through her stuffed cheeks.

  "I don't get it. How are you still eating?" Bck Star asked.

  "Me nher grmn phrrrr."

  "What?" he replied.

  Ichigo chewed loudly, and gulped loudly, swallowing her food. "I train four or five days a week. I need calories, damnit."

  "Does your body just not vert sugar to fat?" Stel asked, her eyes wide.

  "Good metabolism. Also, my mana version ratio is abnormally high," Ichigo expined, pointing at her stomach with a chopstick.

  Albert had stayed quiet for most of the versation, his eyes fixated on the empty ptes of sushi, but he finally spoke up. "I still 't get over how weird it is that we're eating here."

  I chuckled and shook my head.

  "I mean, I've never eaten at a pce owned by a super vilin. I don't think, I've never had the head honcho's secretary and enforcer just walk in like she owhe pce, either," he tinued. "That's just, really crazy to me. And it's also kind of scary how easy it was for them to just, like, walk in and out like that."

  I shrugged. "Yeah, well, it's not like we're the ones paying. It was on her."

  "I mean, yeah," Albert replied, "but it's still a lot to process. Like, I feel like I should be more nervous. Or, you know, maybe just freaked out a little bit? Like, I don't think that was normal."

  Bck Star gave him a reassuring nod.

  "You get used to it, buddy."

  I chuckled. "It's a little surreal, yeah, but it's fine."

  He shook his head. "Hey, wasn't your friend Aurora and Ichigo's teammates going to meet up with us? They were supposed to be here by now."

  "Yeah," Ichigo said through a mouth full of uni. "They were. But they aren't. It's no big deal, though! I let my brother know I was fioo."

  I frowned, feeling a pit in my stomach.

  Something was wrong. I just didn't know what.

  "I told them we got away from the thugs and were getting dinner," I answered, staring at my phone.

  Albert nodded and looked back down at his pte. "Oh. Okay. I guess they'll catch up ter."

  I looked up, a sense ency filling me.

  I couldn't expin it, but something was definitely wrong.

  Stel giggled as Ichigo shoved more food in her mouth.

  The look Albert had given me before we'd made our way to the restaurant was ba his face, his eyes were narrowed. I could see his brow was furrowed, his mouth set into a line, and I knew something wasn't right. But I wasn't sure what was going through his mind.

  "Hey, Albert. Is everything alright?" I asked, trying to keep my voice casual.

  Albert didn't respond. Instead, he tio stare at his pte. His eyebrows furrowed further and his lips curled into a frown. He sighed heavily and then looked up, meeting my gaze. His face was filled with and worry.

  "No," Albert answered, shaking his head.

  "What is it?"

  "I don't think we should be here," Albert said, looking around the restaurant with a frown. "I don't trust this pce."

  Bck Star gave him a reassuring smile. "Look, man, I know you're nervous about all the shit that went down, but I swear, we'll be fine."

  "No, that's not it. There's something off about this whole situation. I don't trust it. I don't feel fortable. I feel like I've been watched all night. I mean, we were literally attacked a few ho, and we just waltz in here like everything is fine, but nothing about this is normal."

  He turo Bck Star. "How did Arsenal knoould be here?"

  "Uh... I left her a note in my hideout because I kinda khis was all my fault?" Bck Star said.

  "And yht us along in spite of knowing this?" Albert replied, raising an eyebrow. "I get you guys are on a friendly basis, but you didn't even try to reach out to me or the girls to make sure everyone was safe and okay with it before just ing over to eat sushi."

  "I..." Bck Star groaned, rubbing the back of his head. "You're right. I'm sorry. I just didn't think it through."

  "Damn it, Bck Star," Iuttered. "Now I feel like shit for enjoying the meal."

  Something definitely wasn't right. And Albert had noticed it too.

  Noticed it first, in fact.

  Stel had been watg our exge, and her expression had turo one of surprise.

  Then, she slowly set her chopsticks down, her lips thin.

  She closed her eyes, her aura expanding into a pink haze. It was a faint glow, and it was barely noticeable, but it was there.

  I felt a tingliion run down my spine as she did so.

  "What are you doing?" I whispered.

  She opened her eyes a mihe glow around her vanishing as quickly as it had appeared.

  "It's fine. I just wao che something," she replied.

  Albert furrowed his brow, and he clutched his head. "I've been trying to my head around it since we sat down. Feels like my brain's been going into some kind of logic loop whenever I think about this stuff, but the pieces finally fit. Why didn't we ght back to the academy?"

  What was he talking about?

  Bck Star was trustworthy, wasn't he?

  Bck Star had a fused expression on his face, and I couldn't bme him. I was fused as well.

  "Because we needed food," Stel said ftly.

  "Exactly," Albert replied. "That's why. But why? Because you guys were hungry? Because Bck Star wao get us to eat?"

  Bck Star scratched his head, looking around at the four of us. "I mean, yeah? What are y to get at, man?"

  "Did any of you sider tag the academy to report the i? Whenever I think about it, it feels like there's some force trying to vince me that everything's okay," Albert tinued, his eyes narrowing.

  Bck Star looked at me and then at Stel, and then at Ichigo. "Uh... I guess I just didn't think of that."

  Ichigo groaned and covered her face.

  Stel looked at me, her eyes narrowing.

  "That's what's off about this," Stel said.

  I looked at her, my eyes widening. "You feel it tht?"

  She nodded.

  "I don't uand," Bck Star muttered. "What's off?"

  "Hang on..." Stel closed her eyes again. This time the glow of her magic was brighter. I could feel the warmth of her power wash over me, a tingliion running down my spine.

  And then, it was gone. Her aura returo its normal state, and her eyes snapped open.

  Albert and Ichigo looked between us, fused. "What's going on?" Albert asked.

  Stel's eyes were filled with worry. "We're promised. All of us. It's too subtle to detect passively, and the only way to notice it is by actively searg your aura with an enhanced magical sense like mine. But we all have the same imprint of fn magical energy in our aura, a sign of some form of curse. Everyone except Bck Star has multiple yers, meaning we were probably cursed multiple times by the same source. There are just some... razor thireaks running through Bck Star's aura but nothing like us."

  My blood ran cold as she spoke.

  "How?" Ichigo asked, narrowing her eyes. "When? A spell that affects a knight internally would trigger an aura csh. There are no traces of that in my aura, or the irls. I know that for a fact."

  "Could it have been El Mago? Sanguine Sorcerer?" Albert turo Bck Star. "What did he do, exactly?"

  "El Mago's blood magi be subtle," Bck Star said, frowning. "But I've never heard of him being able to do anything like that without you realizing it. He'd have to touch you or have your blood to be able to use that kind of magi you."

  I gulped, thinking back tht with Huntsman, and then Warden and Hypertroph.

  There were only three people who had touched us, that I knew of.

  No, it had to be... be... a what?

  My thoughts were muddled, and I shook my head.

  "He... they did something," I said, the pieces starting to fall together in my head.

  Stel sighed and closed her eyes again. "Guys? We have pany."

  A scream and gunshot outside the restaurant cut off our versation. We heard a series of gunshots and shouting from outside the sushi pce.

  Ichigo got to her feet and dashed towards our room's door, peeking outside.

  "Ah, fuck," Iuttered.

  Footsteps echoed from behind the ter, and I scrambled beside her, turning to look at the kit.

  The wait staff were all carrying hi-tech ons.

  "Protect Master Enrid his friends!" the manager shouted, cog a shotgun with electric blue lines running through it.

  "Aw, double fuck," Ichigo groaned.

  "Something big's outside," Stel muttered, closing her eyes and using her aura sense.

  "Ichigo? Sienna? you guys do your invisibility trick?" Bck Star whispered.

  "Yup, I get us out," I replied, tapping into my aura. "Just o stay quiet."

  Everyone around us nodded.

  I grabbed Stel's arm and disappeared. The rest of us began to follow. We slipped out of the side room, past the hostess desk, and headed for the exit.

  Just in time to see a gangster get flung through the front windows.

  The gss shattered, and he crashed down onto the sidewalk outside. The few patrons all started to panid flee the restaurant in droves, their screams filling the air. The gangsters in the restaurant had taken cover behind tables, and they were all firing on someone in a red suit outside.

  "Shit! This is sooo not good!" Bck Star excimed.

  "Too muoise!" I hissed. "Shut up, let's get the hell out of here!"

  "Too te," Iuttered dryly, her ears and tail appearing in a fsh of pih my veil.

  A hulking man with red and bck power armor stood in the shattered windows of the sushi pce. He had a rge shotgun in his hand, and his body was glowing with a dark, ominlow. He wore a skull helmet with a red glowihat looked like some kind of hi-tech camera. A small blue cape was attached to the shoulders of his outfit.

  I turned my attention outside, where Arsenal was jumping around the street — two pistols drawn as a sword-wielding figure with a white cape and domino mask cshed with her in a blur.

  "Fuck off!" Arsenal shouted, dug under a wide ssh.

  A series of gunsh out from behind her as mangsters poured out from vans parked nearby.

  The swordswoman leaped backwards, a pair of glowing daggers appearing in her hands as she dashed forward defleg the bullets with her glowing bdes. She twirled the daggers and cshed with Arsenal in a flurry of attacks, sparks flying as metal struck metal.

  Bullets ricocheted around the street, destroying streets mps and store signs alike.

  Arsenal ushed bad the swordswoman followed her. I could briefly make out Arsenal dropping her pistols in favor of a pair of sawed-off shotguns pulled seemingly from nowhere.

  She fired a salvo of rounds at the woman, and she vanished into the cover of night.

  I turned my attention to the restaurant. The red armored man had stomped his way to the front, and the waitstaff and the gangsters alike were firing on him, to no avail.

  I immediately look toward Albert. He had gone pale at the sight of the man in the red armor.

  He had frozen in pce. His eyes were wide, his mouth en, and his breathing had bee ragged.

  "Triple fuck, Ichigo," Albert hissed as he snapped out of it. "This is going to be bad."

  "Who's that?" Ichigo whispered back. "He looks like he walked out of an edgy sci-fi video game!"

  The man in the power armor rolled out his shoulders, and then slowly raised a fist. A rge glowing bde made out of red and purple light emerged from the gau. It was about two meters long and had a wicked curve to it.

  "Aw'right, y'all!" the man in the red suit shouted with a drawl. "This is yer' one and only warnin' to drop them fancy guns 'he he outta here!"

  He poi the group of wait staff. "You, there! I'm here to speak to yer' manager, 'n' that there manager o give me the kid they got back there! It's gonna be easy 'n' quick, 'n' no one'll get hurt if y'all don' make things more plimacated than they gotta be."

  "He's one of the best and most feared iire business," Albert expined quickly. "He's not just a merary. He's also a bounty hunter. We got a heads-up about him whee at the cafe st week, remember? All the uppercssme after him. Css 8 Artificer, with a Team Buster designation like Red Masque. Scrapper Scuttler."

  "The girl in white. That's White Rose," he said. "Also bad news. Css 6 Striker."

  The gangsters in the sushi restaurant started screaming, and I turo see one rush in from the back with a heavy, futuristic-looking mae gun.

  "Fuck you, creep!" the man shouted.

  The merary shook his head. "Yer' not makin' this easy."

  With that, the armored merary dashed forward. The man with the heavy mae gun screamed and opened fire, a barrage of bullets pelting the merary.

  He moved quickly, his feet stomping against the ground as he dashed in a blue and red blur, and he swung his glowing sword. The bde sliced through the gun, cleaving it in two.

  Then he drove the bde through the gangster's chest.

  The waitstaff and gangsters started shooting at the armored man, who was uhe man turned until the skull helmet's single glowing red eye was fag directly at us.

  I looked over to Albert, and then at Bck Star and Stel. We were still invisible, but I had a strong feeling he could sense us somehow.

  "Well, dang it. Yer' makin' this hard for me, ain'tcha?" he said, his voice dripping with amusement. "I hate when they make me do that. I'm gon blood on this niew armor."

  Ichigo and I shared a look of fusion. I could hear her growling, and I could feel the fur of her tail and ears standing up. Her aura was swirling around her like a typhoon.

  "Run?" I whispered.

  She nodded, aurned around as she yanked Albert by the shirt, ign his yelp of surprise as she scooped him in a fireman carry.

  "Run!" I yelled, grabbing Stel's hand and dashing towards the back exit.

  I kept my eyes trained on the front door, and could only throw my hand up out of reflex as a partment in the merary's armor opened up and fired a series of small missiles. They shot through the restaurant with a trail of fire behind them.

  I could only scream as they smmed into my hastily-structed barriers, shattering them with ease and exploding.

  My world became fire, smoke, and dust. I heard Ichigo screaming. I heard the sounds of gss breaking and debris flying through the air.

  And then I was ft on my stomach, hearing nothing but ringing.