'That man is insane. He just sliced that woman in half—holy shit! I have to get away from here as soon as I can,' Taiga thought to himself.
"Silver, run! He's distracted!"
The two ran as fast as they could, Taiga hiding behind one of the nearby pallets, unaware of where Silver had run off to.
*CRASH!*
Taiga's soul jumped out of his body as the man imploded a nearby crate. However, aware of how important it was to keep his composure, Taiga bit his tongue hard in order to calm himself back down.
'She's probably hiding in one of the few aisles left standing. She should be okay,' Taiga thought as he peered over the crate to steal a look at the man, who was now fighting off the ineffective security guards.
Taiga elbowed a hole in the pallet and emptied out its contents in the hope of finding anything he could use to fight back.
'I felt a strong gust hit me when that man first appeared, and then that lady's jacket fell off her body when she was killed. Not to mention, her hair was being shot backwards as if she were in freefall. If I had to make a bet, this guy's ability has something to do with manipulating wind or air.'
Taiga was greeted with a sun umbrella designed to be taken to Emberstan, a nation known for its fiery-hot weather all year round, along with rolls of tin foil and tape.
'If this guy's power truly is wind-related, I should hopefully be able to redirect the wind back at him with this umbrella. I'll line the inside with tin foil and tape to reinforce it, then I'll shoot it out right at the moment he blasts air at me. The air should harmlessly travel down the sides of the umbrella, and then I'll aim the umbrella down and to the side, repelling it right back at him.'
As Taiga was manufacturing his defence, a bullet ricocheted and hit him in the thigh.
*Ting.*
"Shit!" cried Taiga.
The sounds of gunshots surrounding Taiga's thoughts were replaced by the loud reverberation of the man's boots slamming against the floor as he made his way closer and closer to Taiga.
The man kicked down Taiga's sanctuary before staring dotingly into his eyes.
"To think the feds would hire someone so young. How low will they go?" the man spoke empathetically, as if he truly wished better for Taiga.
The man took a step back and threw out a punch aimed directly at Taiga's chest.
At the moment of release, Taiga shot his umbrella out from behind his back and began to push forward. His plan was working, as the wind was being redirected to his sides, saving him from any direct damage.
'Now I have to force this umbrella down and redirect all this wind straight at him,' thought Taiga as he grimaced, the gunshot wound still clawing at the back of his mind.
At the peak of the onslaught, Taiga slammed the umbrella down and waited for the man to fall back from the impact of the repulsion.
The wind stopped.
Taiga slowly raised his head over the umbrella he was kneeling behind, hoping to see the man dazed on the floor.
The man stood before him, grinning from ear to ear.
Taiga, still clinging onto his weapon, froze.
"That was a pretty smart idea, kid. On any other day, I'd be a dead man. But you missed one little detail."
The man stuck his finger through a hole in the umbrella—a hole that had been formed by the very same bullet lodged inside Taiga's thigh. Before the ricocheted bullet landed in Taiga's thigh, it had passed through the tin-foil-reinforced umbrella, leaving a gaping hole that Taiga hadn't noticed due to the pain of being shot.
"You know, besides the fact that you're a shitty agent trying to stop me from saving my family, you remind me a lot of my son. Not ba—"
*SLASH!*
The man was cut off as his arms fell to the floor, detached from the rest of his body.
The man let out an unholy scream of pain that resounded throughout the store, blood cascading out of his shoulders and polluting the glossy white floor as wind spread it across the now lifeless aisles.
Behind him stood Silver, both hands raised, her whole body collapsing into a weak tremble. The same white ribbons from the night before circled her like living bandages, their black text shifting too quickly to read.