Spirit Fighters

By: Areona Ward

We are in the middle of a pandemic called COVID-19. The virus cases have been increasing fast every day since the lockdown was lifted in America. The death toll has affected a lot of people, especially their loved ones. Many people lost their jobs, and some can’t feed their families or pay bills. On top of the pandemic’s madness, the demons are running loose, causing despair and death to humans.

The college is on lockdown and some students are able to stay on campus. I’m on campus because my mom and little brother are quarantining for the virus. I make sure to call them every day to make sure they are okay. My friend Shane is on campus, because his home state of Ohio is on strict lockdown and he can’t go home to his family. He doesn’t seem bothered about it. Hopefully, we get out of this pandemic strong, because we can fight through anything.

Elisa puts her pen down on the desk once she finishes writing in her journal. As she stretches in the chair, someone knocks at the door.

“Come in,” she shouts.

Shane comes into Elisa’s dormitory, and he leans against the wall with his mask on.

“You’re writing in your journal again, Elisa?” he asks, not surprised.

“Yes, it’s for recording my everyday life. I like to remember the good and bad times,” she explains with a soft smile. “Don’t you like to remember your memories, Shane?”

“Not really. It depends on what memory I want to remember,” he says.

“Ok, what’s the best memory you ever had?” Elisa asks.

Shane begins to reminisce about his favorite memory.

“The day that both of our lives changed was when we met an angel who came from Heaven to warn us about the Devil’s plans for world destruction to gain more people for Hell. Then God gave us powers because he believes we can change the world for the better as his warriors,” he says.

Elisa notices Shane is smiling. She remembers how much time they have spent together, and he has not ever smiled at her or anyone else.

“Shane, you’re smiling!” she says with glee. “You look cute when you smile.” 

Shane blushes and says with attitude, “Shut up.”

“Don’t get mad. It’s a compliment,” Elisa laughs as he looks away in embarrassment.

Elisa gets up from her chair and walks up to Shane. She looks at him in the eyes and says, “Smile more. You have such a beautiful spirit, and I would love to see the other side of you more.”

Shane looks at Elisa, and he shyly says, “I will try…”

Elisa smiles and hugs Shane out of happiness, and Shane blushes at her sudden hug. After hugging, Shane and Elisa sense something sinister on the campus, and they both become fully alert. Then, suddenly, there is a loud boom on the campus grounds. Shane and Elisa run out of the dorm room and run down the hallway. They go to find the evil source that is in the building. Shane begins focusing on where the creature could be until an ear-splitting noise of loud screeching fills the air. Elisa and Shane cover their ears as the noise continues to torment their ears. Shane tries to focus on its presence by sensing its location and successfully finds the source.

“I found it–it’s on the seventh floor,” Shane says.

“Let’s go!” Elisa shouts.

The demon is on the seventh lurking to find its next victim to kill. As Shane and Elisa arrive on the seventh floor from the stairs, they see a giant hole in the wall and debris scattered on the floor with bloodstains on the school’s floor and walls. They get their weapons ready by summoning them from within their spirits. Shane has a red and sliver double swords with sharp edges, and Elisa has a scythe with white rose symbols embedded on the stem of the weapon. Suddenly the demon’s aura disappears as they are looking for it. They both wonder where it is.

Shane figures it knows they are close, so it masked its presence. Elisa wonders if the demon is making a surprise attack or if it is afraid of them. Shane highly doubts Elisa’s second guess. Suddenly, they hear an old man scream from around the corner. They run around the corner and see the old man standing in front of a top-level demon with a horrifying aura and appearance.

The demon is eight feet tall with sharp teeth and sharp claws, a dark blue muscular body, and demonic light blue and yellow eyes. The demon’s face looks like a mixture of a twisted clown and a genie. It looks as if it used to be human.

The demon quickly grabs the old man by the neck, stabs his hand through his stomach, rips out his entrails, and drags his hand up, passing his head and cutting the janitor in half. The demon turns its attention towards Shane and Elisa. They both charge at him with full force with their weapons. Shane tries to slit him in the throat, but he blocks it quickly with metal armor that appears on his neck, and that takes Shane by surprise. The demon tries to stab Shane in the side, but Shane dodges by an inch before the demon can get him. Elisa tries to cut his legs, but he disappears and reappears behind Elisa cutting her back’s surface with its sharp tainted claws. She screams in pain and she quickly moves out of the way.

“Are you ok, Elisa?” he asks with a concerned look.

“I’m fine. It doesn’t hurt that bad,” Elisa says.

The demon comes to Shane. Shane tries to swing his swords at him, but he quickly dodges his attacks, and he the demon uses his metal fist and punches Shane in the gut, making him puke up his blood. Shane gags.

“I’m surprised you didn’t puke your guts out. That is what usually happens when I punch my victims in their stomachs,” the demon says, laughing.

The demon tries to attack Shane again with a direct attack while he is down. Shane quickly swings out his swords to block his attack and surprises the demon. As Shane struggles against the demon’s strengths, he begins to ignite his swords with fire. The fire settles down into the heated red glowing color. The demon feels surprised at this new trick of Shane’s and jumps back. The demon morphs his hands and arms into swords. This new trick surprises Shane, but he doesn’t lose focus.

The demon begins to run toward him with a direct attack, and Shane blocks it by swinging his swords. The two fighters begin having a sword battle fighting at a fast pace, moving to many spots in the hallway, jumping wall to wall, to the ceiling, and the floor, reappearing and disappearing amidst the fight. Shane is taking multiple blows.

Elisa watches as the two fight at high speed. She begins to feel dizzy, but she doesn’t know why she is feeling this way. Elisa figures that the demon tainted its nails to poison her through a direct attack to her back. She also figures that the demon has the will to use poison or not. Knowing her condition, she keeps her composure so Shane won’t lose focus on the battle because of her condition. Shane does a double sword tornado spin in the air only to force the demon against into wall with no damage. Then Shane starts to create fire slices to attack the demon, but it does not affect him. The demon appears in front of him and smacks him into the wall, causing the wall to collapse. A loud cracking fills the air. Shane coughs up blood as he shouts in agony and falls to the floor. Worried, Elisa calls his name.

“He’s going to kill him if I don’t do something, but I feel so dizzy,” she says, encouraging herself to fight. “The poison is getting to me, but I’m not going let it stop me from helping Shane.”

The demon laughs at Shane’s physical state. He sustained cuts and bruises from his enemy. Shane gets up slowly with his swords as he still has the strength to fight. The demon wonders why he is still able to get up and begins to walk towards him slowly. Shane realizes he’s at a disadvantage against the demon’s strength. The demon closes in on him, but suddenly a white rose wall comes in between Shane and the demon.

“What’s this!” the demon says, surprised.

“It’s you and me now. No one will take Shane from me,” Elisa says with a serious expression.

Elisa calls out Spring’s power and uses tree roots with holy aura to bind the demon against the wall. The tree roots bind his whole body leaving his head visible. Elisa tries to cut into his head with her scythe, but he uses his iron skin to shield his attack. She tries multiple times to cut him with force. As she tries, the demon laughs at her futile attempts. Elisa uses her rainbow strike as the last attack, and it doesn’t work against the steel-headed demon. Elisa begins to get frustrated.

“I can’t even cut him! What the hell!” Elisa shouts in frustration.

The demon hysterically laughs as he hears Elisa’s frustration.

“I’m the devil’s top best demon in his line of thirteen demons, and I’m the thirteenth one you are facing,” he says confidently.

“When I am done with both of you demon slayers, I will eat you alive and rip you to pieces from the inside and out. I will leave the heads because the Devil wants to add it to his display case of failed demon slayers.” He hisses with a wicked grin.

Elisa feels scared out of her mind, but she tries to stay calm. Shane stands by her side and tells her with hope, “Remember why we are here, stay strong.”

Elisa smiles and nods at Shane. She thinks of an idea to defeat him. Elisa tells Shane in his ear. Shane nods. Elisa uses her scythe and calls out the power of Winter. Ice begins to cover the walls and floors, making everything look like a frozen tavern.

“You’re trying to freeze me to death? Nice try!” The demon laughs.

“That’s what you think,” Elisa says, smiling.

Shane and Elisa begin to call out the power of fire and ice from their weapons. The fire and ice combine into one attack aiming for the demon with full force, and the demon screams with an ear-splitting sound trying to cut off Elisa and Shane’s concentration. They both focus on the battle as they ignore the scream. As they use their power to the limit, the demon dies within the blast, leaving a huge hole in the wall; nothing but silence and smoke fills the air. Shane looks to the spot where the demon died and hears a voice of a human spirit say thank you. Then Shane hears someone fall to the floor. He turns around to see Elisa lying half conscious on the floor, staring back at him.

“What happened to you? I thought you were fine,” he says, concerned.

“I was, but I found out that the demon put poison in me, and it started spreading through my body. Now I feel the poison trying to attack my heart all at once,” Elisa says, struggling to speak.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t want you to worry about me while you were fighting him,” she says, genuinely.

“You dummy! You didn’t have to do that for me!” 

“I wanted to because I care about you, dummy,” Elisa says, feeling happy as she struggles to speak. “You’re my friend, and friends always stick up for each other no matter the situation. Despite all the battles you have to face, I want to let you know that I will always be by your side. I know you’re still hurt from your past, but I want to be able to fix that hurt with my support to you, Shane.”

Shane feels emotional; he tries to hold back his tears, but they start slipping down his face.

“Wow, I made you cry for the first time. I’m on a roll,” Elisa says, smiling softly.

“Don’t you die on me; you have to hang on Elisa.”

She smiles at him gently and falls unconscious.

“Elisa!”

Shane feels concerned about Elisa’s condition until he realizes that she is unconscious. He checks her heart rate, and he notices it’s decreasing at an alarming rate. Shane worries even more and starts to think of what to do until suddenly Shane’s sword begins to glow. He begins to wonder why his sword is glowing. Then Shane hears a voice tell him to wave his sword above Elisa’s body. He does as the voice says, and he waves his glowing sword above Elisa’s body, and Shane says, “Flame meadow,” and feels shocked by the words coming out of his mouth as if someone said it for him.

Elisa’s body is beginning to blow like many fireflies flying together in the night. It is so radiant that Shane stares at the soft light. Shane passes out as he notices Elisa is fully healed but still unconscious. As he closes his eyes, the last thing he hears is the sound of police sirens near the school.