“So the purple stuff’s anime?”

“Sure.”

 "It's interchangeable, right? Because I saw some get scooped out of a woman and get put back in a guy when I axed one of your bird-people, let me tell you."

The boy clicked his tongue, watching the viking almost fumble his weapon. Mina stood spectating from the entrance of the lot, trying to figure out what this guy was trying to accomplish. He probably had some kind of plan, right? She felt like she should probably just leave it to him if so. 

“Probably?” The boy answered with a shrug. Everything about his tone and posture conveyed a sense of “ugh, what a drag.” Mina could relate. He waved his hand dismissively. “Of course those aren’t the best I-”

“Because they’re way too good for you, really.”

[i]”Excuse me?”[/i] 

The boy rose to his feet, his eyes like daggers. His right hand gripped around the scabbard of his katana, tight enough to blanch his knuckles white. “Reconsider your words carefully, [i]boy.[/i] If you had [i]any[/i] idea who you were speaking to-” 

“He’s distracted,” the knight whispered in Mina’s ear. She almost jumped at the unexpected voice, nearly giving herself whiplash with the effort it took not to look around. “Look for the ideal moment, then act quickly.”

"I mean, that hair and outfit? Come on."

The boy was visibly shaking with rage, teeth bared like fangs and face turning chili-pepper red. His left hand flew to the hilt of his sword, muscles bulging and the tiles under his feet becoming cracked and splintered. “You… you… you…!!” 

He shot from the roof like a bullet, lunging for the viking in the same instant he began to draw his sword. His face contorted with feral rage was replaced with dull surprise however as a lightning bolt lit up the sky, drawing his gaze off to the side mid-leap. The viking threw his hand out, a cloud of something Mina couldn’t identify flying from his hand and catching the katana boy full in the face. 

“Now, girl!” the knight commanded, pressing a hand against her shoulder. 

“R-right!” Mina had nearly forgotten what she was supposed to be doing, distracted by the sudden flash of lightning from an otherwise clear sky just as the boy had been. She stepped toward the pigeonhead and the urn, sailing across the lot in the same instant. She thrust with her blade as she did so, skewering through the monster and the pithos in the instant the boy went tumbling across the roof, coughing and trying to get back to his feet.

“Y-you…! You…!” The boy shook his head, trying to clear his mind and regain focus, but to no avail as his body became more and more lethargic. His sword fell from his grasp, and with a final splutter of curses and growls, his body hit the rooftop, dead asleep. 

Mina bounced from foot to foot, trying to avoid the anima spilling out of the broken urn as if it were dirty water. It flowed over the ground, hovering ever so slightly in the air as it trailed its way back out to the street, seeking to return to physical form. Out in the neighborhood proper, the remaining monsters began to bulge and bubble before finally bursting into the same smoke as their former fellows. The clouds of smoke from where the creatures had fallen throughout the battle began to coalesce on themselves, becoming denser before finally reforming into a flock of very confused crows and pigeons. 

A silence fell following the chaos, before those who had hidden began to finally creep back out to the street. A few of the fallen, restored sooner than the others, began to stir and rise, rubbing their eyes as if they had just awoken from a nap. The Witch of the Waters stood in the street, a smile playing on her lips as she hugged her staff to herself. This had ended far faster than she had anticipated; the warriors had chosen well, it seemed. 

Her role in the event was not yet over, however; raising her staff into the air, she called the water from the broken hydrant to her once more, sending it up into the sky to form a great cloud over the neighborhood. A brief moment passed in quiet expectation, then, one drop at a time, a rain started to drizzle over the area, lightly dampening everyone caught in the chaos. For the Witch’s summoned warriors and their chosen, it was just an ordinary drizzle, but for the others gathered it would gently dull the memory of the afternoon, allowing them to resume their ordinary lives without fear or panic. 

With that completed, the Witch let her staff turn back into a puddle of water before turning to the fire hydrant and offering it a small bow in thanks for its assistance before stepping off the road and back onto the sidewalk. What a useful tool it had been!