Keeping the nuns from feeling the effects was one of the main problems she’d had in her early testing. Eventually she settled on the wrath rune exclusively affecting humans while targeting nonhumans. She had to strictly define human and nonhuman with runes because while the nuns were human, they had that extra organ.
Hurting kittens because of wayward runic experiments would be unforgivable.
The canceling runes kept Eva and Arachne from both sides of the rage effect.
Eva started to mark test thirteen as a success in her notes.
A sudden roar from the man behind the counter froze the pen in her hand.
He climbed on top of the counter and launched himself at the nun.
Eva activated the disintegration runes. Test thirteen crumbled to dust that Eva scattered with a brush of her hand.
That did nothing to stop the man. He reared back a hand and punched the confused nun in the face.
Several vessels in her nose broke as it bent inwards.
The man tried to follow-up with a second punch, but his fist encountered resistance.
The nun activated her shield.
And promptly used her own fists on the man. He went flying over the counter and into the back wall. The landing was not soft, but Eva could see he wasn’t seriously injured. He collapsed and didn’t make the effort to get back up.
Eva tried to pretend she had nothing to do with anything when the nun turned her harsh gaze in Eva’s direction. She could tell that the nun’s eyes were blazing with their white fire.
“You…”
“Now let’s not be–”
Eva was lifted out of her seat and flew against the wall. The lightning hit her and crackled around her, but it didn’t hurt nearly as much as Sister Cross’s attack. Lower power?
No.
It hit Arachne.
The spider tore herself through Eva’s shirt as she launched at the nun. Arachne twisted into her humanoid form and had her claws out and around the nun’s shield by the time she landed.
Blood leaked out of a massive gash that ran all down her back.
Eva shuddered. If the lightning could damage Arachne that much, Sister Cross was definitely holding back. She did not want to get hit by a full power blast.
“You,” the nun growled again. “You’re the one who killed Sister Stripe. I banished you.”
“You have my thanks for that. Now you are going to die.”
“Arachne!” Eva shouted. This was bad. “We can’t kill her. Too big of a mess. The man behind the counter might wake up. Someone might come in.”
“You’re worried about inconvenience rather than preserving human life?” The nun let out a loud scoff. “So glad I wasted my time being nice to you.”
Eva frowned. She couldn’t remember any nuns being nice to her in any sense of the word. It clicked. “You’re the one from the lunchroom. The one who told me to go kill myself.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“No. Your exact words were ‘I hope you go off yourself. You’re a blight on humanity.’ Then you proceeded to tell me that doctor assisted suicide would be the right choice.”
The nun grit her teeth. “I didn’t say that,” she ground out.
Apparently, Arachne did not believe the woman. She renewed her efforts at puncturing the nun’s shield.
Her efforts abruptly ceased as she went flying across the room.
“You cannot beat me.”
“Empirical evidence shows we can beat you. We just don’t want to,” Eva said as Arachne grew to her full size and charged the nun once again.
Tables, chairs, and food all went flying as Arachne barreled over it all. Eva had to grab her notebook before it got run over.
The nun staggered back within her shield as Arachne rammed into it. She pulled herself back to her full height with a brush at imaginary dust on her shoulder. Her heart rate didn’t even pick up.
“You are not convincing.”
“Arachne! Stand down or you’ll be back in prison for the foreseeable future.”
The spider-demon let out a loud growl. She swiped against the nun’s shield one last time before taking half a step back.
“Now, let’s all just calm down. I’m sure it would be bad for your order to have attacked a schoolgirl unprovoked. Again.”
“Unprovoked?” The nun wiped a finger across her upper lip, pulling away some blood that dripped from her nose. “You call this unprovoked?”
“I don’t remember giving you a nosebleed. Arachne? Did you punch her in the face?”
“I’ll tear off her face.”
Eva sighed and shook her head. “We didn’t touch you.”
“That man,” the nun said with a gesture over the counter, “was perfectly courteous when he served me food. You–”
“You didn’t even think the service was bad and you still threw him over the counter? Is he even going to be okay?”
