My blade swung downward, slicing through the magical shield of the Imperial soldier. I smirked at him.

"Gotcha!" I said almost cutely. I winked at him before I drove my blade through his guts.

"You're getting sloppy!" Taehyung called to me. He stood in the middle of a circle of dead Imperials, watching me struggle with the remaining stragglers. There were only a few left. Taehyung pointed a finger at one of the Imperials holding a brown box, one that would've blended in perfectly with the others here. Except this one was a bomb. Not one that would make a huge fiery explosion, but one that would tear a huge, gaping hole in the Veil, letting all the people who'd ever died in this area cross back over to this side. The box flung out of the Imperial's hand and bounced. My heart fluttered nervously with every bounce. Thankfully, it didn't go off.

"Screw you!" I snapped at him, drawing a knife from my belt. I turned in a circle, blade in one hand, knife in the other. Two of the three remaining had decided to gang up on me. One was twirling a heavy chain around menacingly, blood oozing from a gash on his forehead. The other had a smirk on his face, and no obvious weapons. My heart sunk. "Hey, hurry up with that one!" I called to Taehyung as the third Imperial approached him. "Then make this one a fair fight!"

Taehyung just laughed as he raised a hand and pointed it at the Imperial who approached him. I didn't have time to see what happened. I had to duck to avoid the skull-bashing chain being slung at me. That I could handle. Straight up brutes were easy. Except when they had magical backup. The only reason I didn't immediately activate the magical shield I carried in my necklace for emergencies was because the chain slinger's friend was a Natual. Someone who didn't need a Grim to use magic. Someone far more skilled at magic than I could ever hope to be. Someone like Taehyung. Someone who could get rid of the shield almost instantly.

Despite the fact that the Natural was far more immediately threatening in that there was very little I could do to defend myself against him, I had a hard time deciding which one of them to focus on. I turned in a circle, trying to keep them both in sight. No matter how much I feared the magic of the Natural, I had no intention of dying from anything related to a chain weilded by a guy who looked like a squash made human. Just think of the implications! Taehyung would never let me hear the end of it! He'd make sure of it, too. Cross the Veil just to remind me that I was killed by a lump of yellowish flabs of skin and a chain. "An itty bitty necklace chain!" he'd say to me, even though that's very obviously not what this guy was trying to hit me with.

I heard a crash and a thud, but as it wasn't from either of the two I was currently facing, I didn't pay much attention to it. We were playing the long game, it would seem. Neither of us had tried to make a move, we were just sizing each other up. That is, until Chain Slinger swung the chain down low, aiming for my legs, and I jumped to avoid it.

"Heul!" shouted the Natural, pointing at me, and gravity lost all effect on me. I floated in the air. The Natural smirked, flicking his hand upward. Higher I floated. I glared at him, and threw my knife at him, aiming for his stupid face, but I realized as I threw it how pointless that action was. He could probably stop it in mid air. Or just step to the side. Which he did, still smirking up at me. "Go handle the other one." the Natural said to Chain Slinger. "I don't think she'll be giving us any trouble." I spat at him, and he just laughed.

Chain Slinger turned to go tackle Taehyung, and as he turned, I finally looked for Taehyung myself. I couldn't see him. I saw the now-dead body of the Imperial who decided to face him alone, crumpled against the wall. But no Taehyung. My heart sunk even further down into my stomach, and I glared around at the floor of the warehouse where this fight was currently taking place. He was still here, I knew it. Just on the other side of the Veil, waiting for the perfect time to reappear and save the day. Arrogant jackass.

"Where'd he go?" Chain Slinger asked, looking around. Then he laughed. "Oh, did he leave?" he looked to the Natural to confirm it, who shrugged.

"He probably zapped himself out of here as soon as he realized the jig was up!" the Natural said. It was then that I realized who I was actually dealing with. Low level grunts, probably. Dips who hadn't earned the right to learn how to Cross the Veil. Possibly too stupid to know that you could cross it without dying. Though I hated to admit it, Taehyung had actually done something pretty smart. These two wouldn't be expecting a surprise attack from the Veil. "Which means..." He grinned up at me in a way I didn't like at all. "He left you all alone, to fend for yourself!"

"Oh, don't look so pleased." I said with an eye roll. I wondered... If I activated my shield necklace, would I fall back to the ground? I knew I stood a much better chance of kicking both their asses if both my feet were on the ground.

"Why not?" the Natural asked. "We got time. We're not expected back for a few hours."

"A lot can happen in a few hours." Chain Slinger said.

I laughed. "Please. You think talk like that is going to scare me? I hear worse when I walk to Starbucks every morning!" My now knife-free hand moved to my necklace. I gripped it in my fist and crushed the tiny crystal. I saw the air bend and crackle around me as the shield formed a bubble around me, and the effects of the floating spell the Natural put on me were negated. I fell to the ground, landing as safely as I could. I stood again, holding my blade ready. "But if you wanna play, boys, by all means, let's play!"

The Natural cursed, and in the brief second where he decided what spell to use, I attac