Defeat

The night was as dark as dark could get since the crescent moon above barely gave out any light. At the northern outskirts of the city, lay a pond- surrounded by trees and bushes.

The closest residence was a few hundred meters away. The lights were off as it was the middle of the night.

The dark surface of the pond, which was as still as still could be, suddenly rippled. Above the centre of the pond, a fifteen year old girl hovered horizontally- with her legs, arms and long black hair hanging.

The unconscious girl reclined on the arms of an entity- which was shades darker than the dead of the night, and taller than any living being ordinary humans witnessed. The tall humanoid being scooted.

It drifted through the air, still carrying the girl, and landed on the bank. The tall creature gently put the unconscious girl on the wet ground and stood straight. It pointed to the ground not far away. Several dry branches and leaves appeared out of nowhere and stacked beside the girl.

Two small rocks popped out of thin air, shot against each other, collided and flamed the stack of branches. The fire illuminated the close surroundings, but the creature retained its pitch blackness.

It turned to the girl, waiting for her to wake up.

The being, noticing something, suddenly disappeared from the spot and appeared a few meters away. Eulene stood between the unconscious girl and the two-storey tall creature, her hands gripping the hilt of her thin sword.

Xavier arrived a second late. He crouched down and checked the victim's vital. After ensuring that she was out of any health risks, he took her onto his arms and dashed away.

Eulene, on the other hand, had her eyes fixed on the hostile being.

It was nothing like she had ever seen before. Yes, she had fought against Dragons and rode on Phoenixes. But they were beasts. But the tall creature before her- which was skinnier than villagers struck by famine, had limbs longer than Fred the Giant, and was too dark to mesh into the night- did not emanate and wild aura.

Clearly, it was not a beast. And she had enough common sense to know it was not human either. What surprised her a little was the fact that it was not giving out any signs of life. Was it dead? Or was it never alive to begin with?

Eulene threw the questions to the back of her head. It was not the time to ponder. Her spiritual senses detected an overflowing amount yin energy from the being. It was not pure as the one she sensed from the meteor, but dirty and evil.

Moreover, Eulene's instincts told her that the entity was dangerous- not as dangerous as that bastard, but enough to hurt herself.

A couple of seconds later, Xavier manifested beside her.

"What is that?" Eulene asked, her eyes still fixed on the being.

"A 'Paranormal'," Xavier answered with nonchalance, "'Curse' to be precise."

"How strong is it?" Excitement flickered on Eulene's eyes.

"Just know that Curses are not completely bound by the laws of physics. Hence, the term- Paranormal. They have their own laws. Don't let it escape. The more we understand the laws of its powers, the closer we get to finding its host- the perpetrator." Xavier tipped his hat, ready to fight.

Eulene brandished her sword and charged toward the lanky Curse. But the Curse disappeared in an instant, appearing several dozen meters away. It swung its arm at Eulene.

Eulene frowned. No matter how long and whiplike its arm was, it was still a long distance away from her. But suddenly, her instincts screamed at her to move. She dodged to the right. A pitch black arm with snakelike fingers slashed through where she just was, barely missing her left arm. She could sense the tear in space it just caused.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you," Xavier's carefree voice rung in her ears, "the Curse has spatial powers. Such distances mean little to him."

"You son of a bitch!" Eulene yelled. She almost lost her arm- again. But excitement on her face belied her raged shout. Spatial powers? The ability to manipulate space? She had read of such magic in books. She had fantasised herself fighting against such beings. Never had she thought that she would actually fight one.

She charged at the Curse again, only to miss for a second time. The Curse teleported a few meters away. Some spiritual swords appeared surrounding Eulene. They shot against the Curse one by one, missing everything.

Xavier stood away, observing the battle with utmost attention. He measured every distance of the beings teleportation, every one of its attacks along with their ranges- everything. When the duel reached too far away from the pond, Xavier flashed to the other side, not letting the Curse escaping from the place.

Not even ten seconds passed, but Eulene and the Curse had exchanged dozens of strikes already. While the Curse was losing power, moving shorter and shorter distances with every teleportation- Eulene sped up more and more. Finally, her slash scratched the Curse's body.

But contrary to her expectations, the blade only passed through- not damaging the Curse's body in any way.

But Xavier noticed something. [Slow down. Give it some rest]

His order baffled Eulene. But she decided to trust him. After all, among the two, she was the otherworlder with facile knowledge.

[Don't let it dodge] Xavier took out his silver revolver and shot at the slender Curse's torso. Tens of consecutive explosions boosted the bullet to hundreds of times its normal velocity.

Eulene knew what to do. Tens of bright golden spiritual swords surrounded her. All of them were made of the purest of Yang- the nemesis of the Curse's Yin. She decided to go all out. They began to move in a mesh surrounding the Curse with breakneck speed, blocking all of its escape path.

The bullet flew past the swords and charged towards the trapped Curse. But before the projectile could pierce into the blackness incarnate, the bullet disappeared.

Xavier peaked his senses. He detected his bullet reappearing at the exact time a few meters past the Curse.

A smile appeared on Xavier's lips. His hypothesis was thus proven.

Eulene had no idea what just happened, but she knew everything went according to the bastard's plan.

[Anything else?] She asked.

[You can continue. Don't kill it or injure it too much. It's the only lead we have against the perpetrator]

Eulene nodded. The glowing swords disappeared and she charged against the Curse like before. It was clearly weakened from before- managing to teleport only a couple of meters away and its whiplike attack lost its previous lethality.

Eulene only managed to scratch it twice before she came to a halt, sensing something. A ghastly screech left the Curse's head. And suddenly, it disappeared.

Eulene was flabbergasted. She used her senses to max and it was nowhere to be found. She turned to Xavier and raised a brow.

"Well, that is rare," Xavier said as he rubbed his chin, "it's sort of a fail-safe mechanism. I am sure it came at a price. It's safe to assume that it's not coming out to abduct anyone for the foreseeable future."

Eulene nodded.

Xavier suddenly clicked his tongue.

Eulene sighed. Ah shit, not again.

"Freeze! Put your hands up in the air." David entered the scene. Thunder crashed right beside him and the long haired Thompson appeared. Cassius surfaced from the ground.

Xavier put his hands up in the air. Eulene followed and played along.

"What now, detective?" Xavier asked with the same smile he showed that day at the warehouse.

"Don't even think about playing any games today." David took out a few photographs from his coat. There were coloured pictures of Eulene swinging her sword, Xavier shooting his revolver, and a spherical mesh of golden light.

He continued, "if you are thinking of silencing us, forget it. We have already hidden a photo crystal with all the evidences. And if anything happens to us, my colleague will send a message to the Detectivete headquarters in Aramon."

"Looks like you came prepared," Xavier replied. "But I believe you are also aware of the fact that we were fighting against a paranormal- a Curse. And according to the Secret Act-"

"Curse?" David frowned. He turned to his colleagues and asked, "have you witnessed any Curse while watching them fight?"

Both Thompson and Cassius replied in unison. "No, sir."

"I am afraid we have to 'escort' you to the Detectivete." David turned to Xavier and gave him a smile.

Eulene raised her brows in acknowledgment. She transmitted a whistle to Xavier. [Looks like you are losing. What are you going to do now? Fight?]

[I am too young to die. Just follow me] Xavier's tone was as calm as ever.

"Indeed," Xavier said. "This is not the best place for business."

The smile on his face widened.

"Let's proceed with the transaction somewhere more lavish, shall we?"