Daisy and Riley

Riley was quick. At the last possible moment, she rolled aside. Bang! A sharp spike two meters long erupted from the floor where she had stood. If she had reacted a heartbeat slower, it would have skewered her like a candied hawthorn on a stick.

Cold sweat broke out across Riley's skin. She squeezed her legs together as a chill crept between them.

Clack, clack!

Bones clattered and scraped somewhere down the corridor. A shadowy figure approached, two clusters of soulfire burning in its eye sockets. As it drew closer, they made out a tall body clad in fine standard-issue leather armor, with stark white bones showing at the joints.

"A Skeleton Warrior!" Daisy and Riley recognized at once that it was no ordinary Skeleton Soldier. Under normal circumstances, they would not have feared even the stronger Skeleton Warriors. The two of them could have fought their way through ten, let alone one. But everything about this place felt wrong. Skeleton Soldiers usually moved in groups and rarely acted alone. For this one to appear by itself and show itself so openly, there had to be a trap.

"Damn it! We'll fight our way out!"

Daisy was anxious, but she kept her composure. Without hesitation, she pulled a gun from the pack on her back, one much bulkier than an ordinary revolver.

Riley took two steps back at the sight of it, plainly wary of the handgun's unusually thick barrel.

Daisy gripped the gun, her expression resolute, and fed a little psychic energy into it. Dense runes immediately appeared across its barrel, and a fierce aura burst from the weapon.

"Huh? What a powerful Enchanted Pistol!" Green caught sight of Daisy's revolver through the Skeleton Soldier's eyes and started. Beside this pistol, his Silva's Malice was little more than a