Kill The Luna

59

The head priestess kept chanting louder and louder, her voice echoing like a roar inside the small basement. Suddenly, a terrifying change washed over the entire room. The twelve robed assistants froze in their tracks, their bodies stiffening as all of their eyes rolled back until only the pure white parts were showing. At the exact same time, Elda’s features twisted into a mask of pure agony. The color in her eyes began to change, turning completely pitch black as she threw her head back and let out a blood-curdling shriek. It looked as if something incredibly dark and vastly stronger than her own soul was violently forcing its way into her body. She kept screaming and screaming, her nails digging into her palms as the dark energy tore through her veins.

Then, completely out of nowhere, a sharp cracking sound cut through the noise. A thick wooden training stick pierced straight through Elda's belly with tremendous force. The impact was so brutal that the pointed wood tore through her flesh from the back, bursting out cleanly from the front of her stomach. Blood instantly soaked through her black clothes, dripping onto the chalk lines below.

Elda’s screams stopped instantly. She spun her body around, a look of total shock and disbelief taking over her pale face as she clutched the bleeding wound. Standing right behind her in the shadows of the doorway was Lucy, holding a second wooden staff tightly in her hands.

I was lying on the freezing concrete, feeling myself dying with every breath, but the moment my blurry eyes locked onto Lucy, a strange storm of emotions hit my chest. I felt a sudden, massive wave of relief, mixed with a bitter taste of pure hatred. I remembered all the horrible things she had done to me, but as I watched her glare at Elda with a deadly focus, I realized that at this exact terrifying moment, Lucy was not the enemy. She was my only hope.

Elda’s remaining two muscular guards didn't waste a single second. They drew their heavy weapons and rushed toward the doorway all at once. Lucy didn't even flinch. She swung the second wooden stick in a wide, lethal arc, catching the first guard directly across the jaw with a loud crack. Before the second man could even raise his hands, she spun on her heel and drove the butt of the staff straight into his ribs, sending him crashing to the floor. She moved like a whirlwind, beating both of them hard, striking their heads and limbs with brutal precision until they lay near to death, groaning in pools of their own blood.

The raw power and anger she was using to fight was absolutely terrifying to witness. I stared in awe, realizing that the title everyone gave her—the best female warrior in the territory—was certainly not a joke or an exaggeration. She was easily the most skilled and dangerous fighter I had ever seen in my entire life. Her fluid movements, her speed, and her fighting skills far surpassed anything Elda had shown in the garden. Watching the effortless way she was dismantling these trained guards right now, a sudden realization hit me. Lucy had just been playing around with me that day we clashed in the forest; she hadn't actually been trying to fight me at all.

Lucy turned her sharp glare toward the priestess's assistants. Seeing the guards drop so easily, some of the robed women panicked, screaming as they tried to run away toward the stairs. But Lucy was just too fast. She leaped across the burning candles, her shadow blocking the light as she chased them down one by one. The wooden staff became a blur as she delivered crushing blows to their shoulders and legs, making sure absolutely no one could escape the room. She was moving with an impossible, supernatural speed, knocking them to the concrete floor one after the other.

While Lucy was occupied fighting the rest of the robed women, Elda dropped to her knees, a look of pure, trembling fear taking over her eyes as she clutched the wooden stick protruding from her stomach. She turned her sweaty face toward the chief priestess, her voice shaking violently. "Did the spell work? Tell me! Is the power inside me?"

The chief priestess backed away into the corner, her hands trembling against the ancient book as she looked at the chaos. "You can never truly know until you try it for yourself, Elda!" she cried out over the din of the battle.

Elda groaned in pure, agonizing rage, her teeth gritting until they nearly cracked. Grabbing the bloody wooden stick with both of her hands, she gave a fierce, guttural yell and yanked it completely out of her belly with force, tossing the stained wood onto the floor. Wanting to test if she had inherited my fire immunity, she quickly reached down, grabbed one of the thick burning candles, and pressed the roaring flame directly under her open palms.

"Ouch!" she screamed, instantly dropping the candle as the fire blistered her skin.

A look of total, crushing disappointment filled her face. Her shoulders slumped, and her features twisted up as if she wanted to break down and cry right there on the floor. The ritual had failed. She didn't have the magic. But as she noticed Lucy finishing off the last of the assistants, Elda’s despair quickly turned back into a desperate, feral survival instinct.

She lunged forward across the concrete, grabbing my half-dead, helpless body by the collar of my jacket. I let out a weak groan as she roughly dragged me across the floor, pulling me all the way to the far end of the dark basement, using me as a human shield.

By the time Lucy had successfully knocked out and killed all of the assistants, the room fell into a heavy, tense silence. The only people left standing were the main priestess, Lucy, and Elda. Elda reached into her back waistband and quickly took out two heavy black handguns. With her chest heaving and her face covered in sweat and blood, she pointed one gun directly at the side of my head and pointed the second one straight at Lucy's chest.

"Step back!" Elda roared, her finger tightening on the triggers as she glared at the warrior. "Come just one single inch closer, and I promise you, someone’s brains are coming out right on this floor!"