For now though, Eva just shook her head again. “Not worth it. Also don’t say anything secret while around here,” Eva said, glancing towards Srey. He gave a small nod of his head. “They might hear through it; they’re still watching us. And watch for ambushes.”
As soon as Eva mentioned the possibility of ambushes, Juliana dropped into a combat stance. The metal molded from mostly covering her to completely encasing her. Her head swiveled around as she looked for any sign of impending attack, making her neck look odd where the hard metal of her head and shoulders flowed into liquid metal.
Eva doubted the actions were really necessary. She could see humans through walls for a decent distance. If anyone was around the immediate area, she would have warned them. However, it was good that someone was vigilant. Arachne barely glanced around and Vektul just cocked his head to one side.
Just because she couldn’t see anyone around didn’t mean that they couldn’t attack her. Teleporting in was a possibility. So was some attack dropped on them from above. It was good that the Elysium Order took a ‘not my job’ stance on demons.
Eva did not really want to face that laser beam from the sky again.
But how to destroy the emblem? Her explosions might be good for wood and other, more fragile materials. A small bit of metal would probably just be knocked around rather than take any real damage. And she doubted that she would be able to form a flame hot enough to melt it much.
Since Sawyer’s death and the events immediately after, Eva had become far more wary about using her own blood for frivolous tasks. Especially if she thought she might be fighting soon, which was a possibility at the moment. She had almost passed out after rescuing Lucy from the demon hunter’s clutches.
Of course, she did have a few vials of Arachne’s blood. Again, the possibility of a fight in the near future was quite high. Best to save it for immediate threats.
Demons all used their bare hands to fight. So long as they were counting out touching the emblem, the demons were out as well.
Leaving just one person.
“Juliana,” Eva said, glancing in her friend’s direction.
The sudden sound gave the girl a small start, but she quickly got over it.
“Yes?”
“Can you pull this apart into small pieces?”
Even if it wasn’t violently split apart, it should be enough to destroy most magic on the metal.
Juliana crouched down and reached out towards the emblem. She paused, pulling back after a moment with a shake of her head.
“I’d have to touch it. I can’t– My mom could. We’d have to go–”
Eva put a hand on Juliana’s shoulder, suppressing the wince as her hand started melting. She only kept it there long enough for Juliana to stop talking. Removing her hand was almost as painful. Wisps of smoke came off Eva’s hand.
She ignored it for the moment. Clenching her fist shut solved the problem. Her own natural healing—something Eva had discovered in the recent weeks since her last treatment—would take care of it. It wouldn’t be quick as she wasn’t quite on Arachne’s level of regeneration, but a few boils were well within her ability to heal.
She doubted that she would be able to grow back a full limb.
“Try. You’re the best student in our class. You’ve been using magic since long before school started. You decided to specialize in ferrokinesis. If anyone can do it, you can. No fancy shapes. No delicate molding. Just break it apart.”
If she had thought that learning pyrokinesis was a nightmare, air was another monster entirely.
While Eva was considering their respective specializations, Juliana had stretched her hand out again. The metal around her face had partially melted away, revealing a face scrunched up in concentration. Her eyes were open and narrowed in a tight glare as she chewed on the edge of her lip.
Eva almost offered a few more words of encouragement. She refrained, choosing to remain silent. As it was, she didn’t want to break that intense concentration.
Instead, Eva concentrated as well. Maybe if she could get the walls to start bleeding, she could use that blood. It was odd that she could use it at all given that it hadn’t ever run through the veins of a living being—to her knowledge at least—but Eva wasn’t about to complain. The greatest limitation to blood magic, aside from the cost of bloodstones, was actual blood. If she could get around it, all the better.
A metallic ting echoed through the alley.
“Ah,” Juliana said, accompanying the ting. A wide grin grew on her face. “I did it!”
Broken out of her thoughts, Eva smiled at her friend.
The emblem had a clean split straight down the center. All without Juliana even moving her hand closer than a few inches.
“Good job. Can you split it again? Maybe a few more times?”
