Kill The Luna

60

Lucy froze in her tracks, her bare feet halting instantly on the blood-stained concrete. Her sharp eyes locked onto the black barrels of Elda's weapons. "If you do anything stupid right now, I will not hesitate to end your life," Lucy stated, her tone cold and unyielding. Yet, despite her harsh words, her voice carried a strange, empty flatness, almost as if she were simply reciting a mandatory line without any real heat behind it, like she was being forced to say it just to buy time.

Elda’s finger twitched on the trigger, a wild, desperate grin taking over her bloody face as she pushed the metal barrel deeper against my temple. "Move back!" she shrieked, her voice cracking under the pure panic of the situation. "Both of you, get away from me!"

Lucy hesitated for a long, tense moment, her muscles twitching beneath her dark outfit as she calculated her chances. Elda noticed the slight hesitation and bared her teeth, screaming even louder into the dark basement, "I said move back right now, or her head explodes!"

Realizing she couldn't risk a sudden move, Lucy slowly raised her hands to her shoulders and took several careful steps backward, melting into the shadows near the stairs.

Seeing that the warrior was finally retreating, Elda quickly jerked her head toward the corner of the room, making a sharp, frantic signal at the head priestess. The older woman understood the command instantly; she clutched the heavy ancient book tightly against her chest, opened her bruised mouth, and began chanting a brand new defensive spell in a rapid, trembling whisper. A faint, shimmering energy began to ripple through the heavy air around them.

A sudden, soft smirk spread across Lucy’s face, and a low, mocking chuckle escaped her lips as she watched the magical barrier begin to form. "It is honestly so funny to me how you actually thought I came all the way down into this disgusting hole just to kill you," she murmured, her expression turning completely relaxed as she crossed her arms. "You are completely irrelevant, Elda. I was simply sent here with one specific job—to keep the girl alive. The terrifying person who is actually supposed to hunt you down and kill you is already on his way."

Elda let out a bitter, mocking laugh of her own, though her eyes remained wide and frantic as the barrier grew thicker. "And how exactly is he supposed to pass through the powerful barrier we are creating right now?" she countered proudly, her chest heaving as she gestured around the room. "The magic of this room is absolute. Someone can easily go out from the inside of this barrier, but absolutely nothing can ever enter it from the outside! I can just stand safely behind this wall and kill both of you from right here. And as for the girl... I'll kill her too. I'm truly sorry that I lied to you about keeping her alive, Fedora."

Instead of showing fear, Lucy’s smirk widened into a loud, ringing laugh that echoed off the damp concrete walls.

Elda’s pride instantly vanished, her expression shifting into one of deep confusion and irritation as she glared at the warrior. "What on earth is so funny to you?" she barked, her grip tightening on the handguns.

"I lied to you too, Elda," Lucy stated flatly, her eyes glinting with a dangerous amusement. "He isn't on his way down here. He is already standing right inside this room."

Elda’s face went completely pale, her jaw dropping in total shock. "Who—"

Before she could even finish the word or turn her head around to look at the shadows behind her, a massive, dark figure materialized out of the pitch black directly behind her back. Before she could pull the trigger, a heavy, muscular hand forcefully struck Elda’s wrist. It was Michael. With terrifying, supernatural strength, he grabbed her hand holding the gun and flung her whole body hard across the basement.

Elda flew through the air like a ragdoll, her body slamming violently against the solid stone wall. A loud, sickening crack echoed through the room as her spine impacted the rock, and she slid down to the floor in a crumpled, groaning heap.

Michael didn't even waste a single heartbeat looking at her fallen form. He instantly knelt down beside me, his large arms reaching out to scoop my limp, bleeding body up off the freezing concrete. He lifted me gently against his broad chest, holding me as if I were made of fragile glass. My heavy, fading eyes struggled to stay open, my blurry vision locking onto his sharp gaze as he stared down at my face. He was looking at me with a deep, intense expression, like a ruthless king staring at a priceless prize he had finally won after a long, bloody war. At the same time, his handsome features didn't look truly happy or relieved; instead, his lips were set in a hard, grim line, holding a dark, chilling feeling of absolute victory.

He turned his head slowly toward the head priestess, who was still clutching her ancient book in the corner. The older woman was vibrating and shaking so violently from pure terror that the pages were rattling in her hands. Michael didn't even blemish his knuckles on her; he simply ignored her pathetic whimpers completely, turning his back on her and walking toward the exit with my body cradled firmly in his arms.

Behind us, a ragged, desperate cough echoed from the wall. Elda was dragging herself off the floor, using every ounce of her remaining strength to force her broken body to stand well against the stone. She trembled violently, blood leaking from her mouth as she pointed her remaining gun at us, shouting at the top of her lungs, "No! No, I absolutely cannot lose everything! I cannot fail now! The girl belongs to me! She is mine!"

Michael heard her frantic screams clearly, but his boots didn't even slow down on the stairs. He just let out a low, mocking laugh, completely unbothered as he kept walking out of the basement with me. His primary aim tonight was clearly not to stay and fight a petty battle, but to simply take me back under his absolute control.

Realizing she was truly losing her prize, a wild frenzy took over Elda’s mind. She raised her weapon and started shooting directly at his retreating back, the loud gunshots exploding through the small basement.

The moment the first bullet fired, Michael swiftly turned his body slightly, folding me deeply into his massive arms and wrapping his broad shoulders completely around me to protect my fragile frame from the crossfire. He stood perfectly still in the middle of the pathway, using his own back as a solid shield while Elda rained a hail of bullets directly into his spine. The metal slugs slammed into him, but he didn't even groan or flinch; he just stood there calmly, holding me tighter and tighter against his chest until the rapid clicking sounds signaled that her gun was completely empty.

With the shooting finally over, Michael cast a cold, sideways glance back over his shoulder toward the dark room, his voice dropping into a deep, commanding rumble that sent a thrill of terror through the air.

"Lucy... finish every single one of them off, and burn this entire place down to the ground."