Noel had to squint to see the man's silhouette approaching them from the darkness. She couldn't quite make out any distinct features. But from the way he stumbled closer and the familiar stink of alcohol that washed over them, it was easy to establish that he was very drunk. He stopped right before the light of a streetlamp could hit him. The silhouette raised a hand to his ear.

"Hah? I thought I asked ya a question, princess." The drunk chuckled. Noel thought it was to himself, but the drunk turned to look behind him and said, "Right, Aoi, din't I ask the princess a question. 

A second silhouette stepped forward and answered, just as drunk, "Yeah, bro, ya totally did." He addressed Noel, "Whyn't ya answering his question? Show some respect to yer elders." 

Noel backed up. Things were getting bad quickly. Where did these guys come from? 

"Oh, no, don't be scared, princess." The closest man, the one Aoi called "bro," stepped closer into the light. He didn't look like a typical Japanese man. Part of it was his clothes, a leather jacket, torn jeans, and a graphic tee depicting a dragon eating what looked like noodles. Most of it was his hair, which was bleached blond. "Me 'n the guys were just hanging out back, enjoying a coupla beers' n stuff when we hear cryin' 'n talkin' 'n all sortsa weird crap. We jus wanted to see what was goin' on, thas all. Honest."

The second guy, Aoi, chimed in, "We heard her talkin' ta someone, din't we, bro."

"Yeah, thas right, we did," said Aoi's bro, "who're ya talking ta, princess?"

Noel glanced at the trash cans where Azrath was, but he was nowhere to be seen. She didn't blame him for running away, but he could have at least warned her!

"I… was talking to myself. Bad habit, you know. Especially when I'm working through some issues." That last part was a mistake; she knew it as soon as she said it. The drunks advanced.

"Issues?" said Aoi, "I bet you havem' if yer wanderin' 'round at night dressed like that. Whaddya get lost on the way to a convention er somethin'?" 

"Or something," said Noel. 

"Well, why don'tcha let us help ya. I'm sure the three of us'll come up with somethin'."

Wait, three? They could have just been including Noel, but by the looks on their faces, she could tell that they didn't. Nor were they willing to help. Not in a good way, at least. A shadow from the corner of her eye alerted her to the alluded third guy, who was standing at the entrance to the alley, trapping her. There was no hope of running. 

There was the possibility that she could jump over the drunk blocking her exit, but after her last blunder with the car, she wasn't sure she had the confidence to try.

"What the—" the third man's exclamation brought Noel's full attention to him. He, too, was dressed oddly, though he looked like he was wearing a fancy motorcycle uniform. His wispy black stubble contrasted with his dyed blonde hair. Noel followed his gaze and saw, to her relief, the winged staff hovering between her and the third drunk. She had completely forgotten it had followed them here. Noel had no idea how long the third man had been there, but it was easy to tell that he, too, had just noticed that the staff was floating. 

"Look at this, bro. This thing is floating like it's magic or something!" Noel could tell he was way less drunk than the others by his lack of a thick slur. That made him extra dangerous. His fingers reached out to touch it.

"No!" Noel cried out as she, too, reached out for the staff. It obeyed her command, flying into her outstretched hand. She held it on the bottom with both hands like a sword, eyes darting between the three men surrounding her. 

"D-don't come any closer!"

"Or what?" sneered the third drunk, "you'll zap us with a magic spell or something. Ooh, so scary!" He waved his fingers, imitating sparkles. The three men laughed.

"Hey," said Aoi, "maybe it is magic. Ya saw the way it flew inta her hand, Goro."

"Yeah, right," said Goro, "it's probably just a trick of the light." They stepped closer. 

Now Aoi was in the light, he had the same bleached hair, but his chest was bare beneath his leather jacket. "Or maybe she's a magician."

"Why don't we find out?" said the first, still unnamed drunk. He held out an unsteady hand, "Just hand the stick over, princess. We don't wanna hurt ya, honest."

A part of Noel's brain wanted to believe him. After all, just because they looked scary didn't mean they were terrible people. People would say the same thing about her papa when he was a young man, what with his piercings and tattoos. But that wasn't true at all. He was a good man who had lost his way in life. So maybe these guys were the same? However, the rest of her brain was in danger mode. Three drunk strangers surrounded Noel at night with no one else around. It was a bad situation, and there was only one option if she wanted to get out of this.

She remembered that the last time she had used a spell from her staff, it had come when she had pointed the blue jewel at Azrath. She shifted her grip to control the top half and pointed it at the two drunks coming from the alley. 

They stopped, looking at her warily. 

"I dunno, bro," said Aoi, "Maybe she does have magic powers."

"Ya might be right," said their bro, his eyes narrowing, "But that kinda makes wannit more." He paused, then looked at Noel with a crooked smile, "Can we have it? To keep?" 

Noel was surprised that he asked at all. Maybe she had misjudged them. She shook her head, though, hugging the staff to her. "Sorry, it's really not mine to give."

The drunk looked at her with his foggy eyes. Noel could not read his expression. "Thas too bad. An' I wasso polite, too." His eyes shifted to look behind Noel.

She realized, too late, what that meant as a pair of arms wrapped around her from behind. Hugging her arms like she was hugging the staff. She felt ice fill her veins. It had been a lie, hadn't it? They didn't want the staff. Not really.

"NO!" Noel screamed as loud as she could muster, trying to wiggle her way out of his grip, to kick at his legs with all her might. But his arms were like a vise as he lifted her, so her feet only kicked the air. 

No one came running to help her. Knowing what her curse had done before, she knew no one was around to hear her scream. She screamed anyway. 

This was it; she was going to be robbed, murdered, or worse. Either way, Noel's grand adventure was over. 

No. Noel couldn't let it end here. She had the power to fight back. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, focusing on a singular thought: Break free. That thought filled her mind, expanding into her entire being as she concentrated her mind on breaking this asshole's grip on her.

As if on cue, there came a scream, but it was not Goro who was screaming. It was a high-pitched, childish scream that was coming from somewhere above her and getting closer. A familiar scream.

"What the hell is that thing?" Goro said.

Noel opened her eyes and looked up to see Azrath diving towards them, claws outstretched. He was screaming bloody murder. A moment later, his claws had sunk deep into Goro's face. And now it was Goro's turn to scream. He released his hold on Noel, who dropped to the ground and scrambled out of the way as he reached up to rip Azrath off his bleeding face.

"How dare you hurt her!" Azrath yelled, scratching and tearing at Goro's skin.

"Goro!" One of the other drunks cried. Noel didn't care to figure out who. The two of them started to charge. Noel turned her gaze and her staff to them. The two recoiled, obviously stunned by the pure malice that radiated from Noel. Her headache matched the ferocity of her anger. They were just about to do something unspeakable to her. No matter what they said now, there was no escape from her fury. 

Aoi and his bro only hesitated for a moment before continuing their charge. Noel's anger alone wasn't enough to deter them. So, she focused her thoughts on making them, as she had with Azrath back in her room. 

"Stop."

Their feet obeyed, though the rest of their bodies didn't. As a result, the two men tripped forward, their feet coming unstuck for a moment so that they fell over each other and landing in a tangled pile. They tried to stand, but their feet had reglued to the concrete. 

"What the hell did you do to us?" said the first drunk. 

"Giving you exactly what you deserve." Noel's voice was ice within an inferno. The two men visibly shuddered. Noel trained the staff directly into the first drunk's face. He looked up at her. His eyes were filled with confusion and fear, viewed behind a foggy blur of his drunkenness. Noel had no idea what she would do to them. She just knew she wanted to hurt them as badly as they would have hurt her. 

But as she stared into the man's eyes, feelings of compassion rose within her. Those drunken eyes brought back memories of her father. In his youth, he had spent several collective nights in jail for his own drunken misconducts. It was a demon to him, the alcohol, one that haunted him his entire life. One that he would return to before he set himself straight for the sake of his family. And even then, one that he could never, truly escape. 

She didn't know if they wanted to hurt her or just steal the staff, but she did know what they were capable of. She did know that they would use force to get what they wanted. She would never forgive them for it, though it was not her place to be their judge. She was not like the people who judged her father. But they might hurt others; justice had to be served.

Noel adjusted her grip on her staff so that it pointed to both men at once. "I want the both of you to—" The two drunks flinched again, "—go to the police and confess your crimes. Then think about what you've done."

Power flowed from her arm into the staff, making her will into reality. The drunks' legs were freed from the concrete. Without a word, they stood and turned their backs to Noel, retreating into the darkness. They did not look back. 

Noel felt satisfied with that. She hoped they would see the error of their ways. If not, then spend their lives paying for their crimes. There came a scream from behind her, a high-pitched scream. She was about to turn around to help Azrath, but that became unnecessary as Azrath whizzed past her. He bounced off the wall in front of her and landed in a trash can. 

"Azrath!" 

"I'm okay," he said weakly as he used his wings to push himself to his feet on top of an empty ramen cup. Noel was relieved, which was replaced with rekindled anger.

"Why you—" she turned to Goro, whose face was covered in blood. But he wasn't looking at her or Azrath. Instead, he stared into the darkness, trying to find his friends.

"Hey, where the hell are you two going? Get back here and help me straighten out this bitch!" When there was no response, his eyes shifted to Noel, his anger matching hers. "What did you do to them?!"

Noel smirked, "Why? Too scared to fight a little girl without your buddies?"

Goro didn't answer, but his face tightened as he bared his teeth. 

Noel wasn't fazed. "I made them see the error of their ways. They're going to face justice. Their souls were lost in the darkness, and now, they're going to find their way back to the light." She had no idea where this crap was coming from. But it was more than a bit satisfying to watch Goro's still-bloody face shifting between anger and confusion, then back again. So, she kept her speech going. "Now it's your turn to find your own way back to the light." She pointed her staff at him, "Get ready to face justice, Goro."

Goro stood there for a moment, mouth open. His face had settled somewhere between the two emotions. "What the hell is wrong with you?" 

That question was a rich coming from him, but Noel took it in her stride. "I dunno," she said, "why don't you come and find out? Didn't you say you were gonna 'straighten me out?'" Her eyes narrowed. "I'd like to see you try."

And with that, Goro charged at her, producing a pocket knife. He flicked it open as he ran. Noel figured he would have some kind of weapon on him. She readied herself for another command spell.

"Stop!"

But Goro didn't stop. His body lurched like he had been hit with something invisible, but he kept running, moving his knife to the front of his body as he lined up the blade with her stomach.         

"S-stop!" Now Noel was scared. She had talked big but had been banking on her powers to work. Noel wasn't sure why it hadn't. And before she could think of any possible reasons, Goro was on top of her, his blade plunging deep into her stomach.

Noel screamed in pain. Or she would have had she actually felt any pain. Instead, she staggered back, removing a hand from her staff to cover a wound that wasn't there. Her fingers brushed dry fabric. Not even her dress was torn. 

She grinned at Goro as she realized Urzuan's shield must have saved her. If it could stand up to a car, it sure as hell could stand up to a dinky knife. Goro's tilted eyes were wide with shock. He looked down at his bloodless knife, then back to her.

"What are you?" 

Noel exposed her teeth as her grin widened. "I'm the bitch who's gonna straighten you out." Then she swung her staff at Goro's hand, knocking the knife out of his hand with one of the wings. She continued the arc of the swing to return her other hand to the staff, then brought her stance back to pointing the jeweled end at him. 

If Goro were smart, he would turn around and run away after his friends. But apparently, he wasn't smart. In fact, Noel was pretty sure that Goro's brain ceased to function as he instead shot out a hand, lightning-quick, his fingers wrapping around the staff as he tried to yank it out of her grip. There was a hissing sound, and as quickly as he had grabbed the staff, he pulled his hand away, bringing it down to his other hand, cradling it. 

"My hand! You bitch!" he howled. Noel saw blisters forming on his fingers. The staff had somehow burned Goro as soon as he had touched it. The gold handle felt cold to Noel's touch, but not to someone she didn't want to take it. 

 Noel thought this might be the time that Goro ran away, but no. His burned hand only seemed to fuel his rage. He gave a wordless bellow as he kicked at Noel, who was ready this time, dodging out of the way with ease. She even dodged his arm as he followed up his kick with a large swing behind them. 

Noel danced around behind him, giving him her own booted kick to his backside. Goro stumbled forward, head crashing into the trash cans. The plastic cans dumped all sorts of trash onto the ground, Azrath taking flight to avoid joining the garbage. He still looked a bit woozy. Her attention returned to Goro as he rolled over and tossed a green glass bottle at her face. She dodged that easily. The bottle exploded on the wall behind her. Glass rained down on her back, but she wasn't worried about it. If her shield could protect her from a knife, glass was no problem. 

But she realized too late that Goro only intended the bottle to be a distraction as, in one swift motion, he rolled onto his feet, then dove at her, avoiding her burning staff by aiming for her legs. Luckily, Azrath had figured out his plan before her as his warning of "Jump!" alerted her to leap high enough that she avoided him altogether. Goro slid several feet on the ground, which had to be painful as he painted a trail of blood onto the concrete with his face. Yet, he still wouldn't give up. Even as more blood poured from his mangled face, he stood up and turned to look at her, dark eyes shining from his red mask. Noel had no idea where his strength was coming from. 

"I'm gonna beat you, bitch. If it's the last thing I do!" He tried to take a step forward but stumbled, falling to his knees. Yet, he began to rise to his feet again. 

"Eingh de sah, he's persistent." Something landed on Noel's shoulder. She looked over to see Azrath staring at Goro with actual concern on his face. "That's something to be admired, but if he doesn't stop, he's going to kill himself." 

He was right. "Hey, Goro, you've gotta stop," she said, "there's no way you're gonna beat me."

Goro glared at her, "What's that? You giving up? "'Cause I'm not."

Noel was taken aback by this, "No, I'm not either. But if you don't, you're not going to make out alive."

Noel saw that blood stained his teeth as he grinned at her. He spat a wad of red, which made Noel flinch. But his spit was not at Noel like she had expected, just on the ground. Sometime during their fight, Goro's expression changed. There was no anger in his eyes, just a primal… something. Noel couldn't put his expression into words. But she could tell he was one hundred percent serious when he said he was ready to die to beat her. He was crazy. 

She looked to Azrath again, "He's not going to stop."

"I know. I can hear." Azrath sounded more worried than annoyed. He paused. "He won't survive much more physical damage, but a good amount of Eingh energy might just knock him out long enough for us to save him."

Goro had gotten back to his feet and managed to keep his balance as he lurched toward them, his fists raised. Now Noel was concerned. 

"How?" she asked.

It's just like everything else with Eingh," he said, "concentrate on what you want, breathe, and let your instinct take over. He looked anxious about something, but Noel didn't think she had time to worry about it.

She nodded, then looked at her bloody opponent. "Hey, Goro."

Goro, who had been watching his feet to make sure he didn't stumble, looked up at her. His unfocused eyes sharpened as they locked onto the staff that she was pointing at his face. 

"I guess you were right," she said, "I am going to zap you with a magic spell."

Noel concentrated and took a deep breath. On the exhale, words popped into her head. Ridiculous words; stupid words. But they were words she was shouting before she could think of something else to say: "HOLY LIGHT BEAM ATTACK!"

And light erupted from the jewel. Pure, white light, so blinding that Noel was forced to shut her eyes. But, before she did, she saw Goro's silhouette raise its arms to shield its face as he was engulfed in the light. His scream echoed in the alley. Then it suddenly stopped along with the light. 

A few seconds passed before Noel felt it was safe to open her eyes. Even after she did, the afterimage of the light still burned into her retinas. She blinked rapidly to try and adjust her eyes to the darkness. When they did, she saw that Goro was flat on his back, limbs splayed around him, and his eyes closed. 

For a brief moment, Noel thought the blood on the ground had been caused by him hitting his head on the ground. She ran over and fell on her knees to get a closer look, dropping the staff beside her. She sighed in relief as she saw that he was only lying in the dried blood trail he had made earlier. Then Noel looked at his unconscious face, as peaceful as if he were asleep. She was surprised at how young he looked; only a few years older than her—maybe 17 or 18—and her jaw dropped. There was not a scratch on him, not one drop of blood. No way. She reached over his chest to pick up his right hand, the one he had burned on her staff, and saw no mark or blisters. 

"Amazing…"

Azrath hopped off her shoulder to land on Goro's chest. He sounded on the verge of tears. "This man is completely healed. Urzuran's grace knows no bounds!"

"What do you mean?"

Azrath turned to smile at her. Noel saw that there were actual tears in his eyes. "Urzuran's teachings dictate that all life is precious. So, to use His power for violence—I was worried that we would have no choice but to use it to end a man's life."     

"But he's a scumbag!" Noel protested. 

"Yes, he is," said Azrath, "But even you, in your heart of hearts, knew it was wrong to kill him. Otherwise, your attack would have."

Noel had nothing to say to that. He was right. As bad as he was, she was not willing to kill him. Not for the sake of revenge.

He beamed at her, "Thank you, Noel. For being a good person."

Noel blushed and beamed back at Azrath.

Azrath giggled, "Though I have you say—your choice of words. 'Holy Light Beam Attack?' Really?"

Noel's blush deepened, "It was the first thing to pop into my head, okay?"

"Sure," he said, "but if you keep naming attacks like that, no one's going to take you seriously. Plus, it's way too fitting for someone named Angel Knight."

"Hey! You said you wouldn't call me that again!" 

Azrath laughed as he took flight. "Maybe I will if you stop giving your attacks angel-related names."

Noel puffed her cheeks angrily, "Fine then. I'll just leave without you."

Still smiling, Azrath said, "Oh no, you don't. We may be almost there, but you still need me to guide you." He paused, smile fading a little, "We've wasted a lot of time with these men. It's time to go. Hidaar's waiting."

"Yeah, yeah," said Noel. She held out her arms for Azrath, who resumed his position within her hug, "The sooner we get there, the sooner I can get rid of you."

His smile masked his fear, but Noel could still hear it in his voice even as he quipped back. "Oh, you don't mean that. I'm far too cute for you to abandon."

She had a suspicion that Azrath was not telling her something. He was afraid of the Hidaar, sure, but it was more than that, she could tell. It took her a moment to figure out what it was. While the fear was there, he had lost any sense of urgency. He was no longer in a hurry to get there, which could mean a lot of things. 

With one last look at the sleeping Goro—fighting the urge to break his nose with her boot—Noel ran past him, back into the streets of Tokyo with Azrath leading the way and her staff trailing behind her. 

As she ran, she considered why Azrath was less in a rush to meet the Hidaar. Then it struck her. She remembered what Azrath had said earlier: The Hidaar's waiting. Noel had thought he was being dramatic, but no, he was being literal. The Hidaar knew they were coming and was waiting for their arrival. Noel slowed down just a little so that she could delay their arrival for a bit longer.