Avada Can't Take a Life

Boom!

Nelson slammed on the brakes. The heavy wooden crate strapped to his back crashed hard to the ground. He shifted slightly to the side, dodging a dark curse almost impossible to make out in the night. The ink-green spell shattered the stones by his feet, then sprang violently upward. Like those monsters in myth that split into countless copies after being defeated, it burst into leaping arcs of green lightning, weaving an dense, chaotic net across the ground in almost an instant.

Nelson frowned and flipped up, bracing one arm on the wooden crate as he vaulted into the air. Before the rebounding curse could tear him apart, he changed into an agile White Cat, becoming a blur that shot through the gaps in the net toward the city wall. The curse pierced the White Cat's chest, but it only flickered faintly for a moment, its body turning illusory and transparent as it easily avoided what should have been a certain-death attack.

The next second, the wooden crate and the surrounding road and woods were swallowed by ink-green arcs. Layer upon layer of wails rang out from the forest, which had already been clinging to life. The instant Nelson turned back into human form and landed, an unsettling green light erupted in the canyon. The radiance that shot into the sky almost dyed even the dark clouds green, and also illuminated the shadowy ghosts hiding in the clouds, staring fixedly at Nelson with greedy, hungry gazes.

Nelson landed in a crouch, his right arm holding his wand lifting to shield his eyes. A lingering curse shot toward his back from a blind spot in his vision, but he turned sideways and deflected it with a transfigured shield.

He straightened and looked around. The forests on both sides of the