Please do note that this chapter has some bloody and gory scenes, considering who Lexxianna is. You know what? Imma make just follow the tradition and say the disclaimer every chapter. I own nothing but the plot and my OCs.
As if fate is mocking Lexxianna, someone managed to nab Steve away from her and not in a way you'd see in those k-dramas but in a way that seems like they have a plan or plans for him. No matter, she was eternal and he was immortal and both were patient people so they could afford to be away from each other. She'll just take her time with the culprit when she finds him or her. But for now, she'll have to focus on the now.
Everything seems well and OK for the Louds and their friends since Lexxianna was not going on a genocidal rampage like they expected a loving wife to be when their man is taken from them. Rather, she was not really affected that much. Lexxianna has always been an enigma. Kind and rude, caring and uncaring, sadistic and not-sadistic, wise and irrational, mature and immature, all rolled into one. For the life of them, they couldn't explain what's going on in that head of hers. Lexxianna was still the same as ever.
Now, the group looks down from their vantage point that appeared since the plain had a large area of it depressed. They look on at Lincoln and Lori, the former having an emotionless gaze at his older sister who had a condescending look on her face.
Play Red Sun instrumentals only
A translucent, orange-colour ninjato appears in Lincoln's hand and takes a stance. Handle levelled at the neck, entire ninjato parallel to the ground, all two hands clutching the handle, the knees and all below spread apart. Lori chuckles weakly and holds her hand out. A charred greatsword, half a head longer than it's wielder, with flames licking it materialises, Lori catches it by the handle and holds it diagonally in front of her, knees bent forward."Let's dance." Lori said with a malicious grin on her face and a hint of sadism glinting off her eyes. Flames began to harmlessly come and go on her form.
Both ran towards each other, intending to draw blood. When they reached each other, blades locked together in a struggle to overpower the other. Seeing as they are going nowhere, Lori kicked Lincoln in the stomach area. Lincoln tried to sidestep to the left but only managed to get himself hit at his right side. He decided to capitalise this by using the momentum to quickly deliver a diagonal slash on his eldest sister's stomach area and a little on her left bicep. Searing pain bursts through the bleeding wound, which was fighting a war between the action to regenerate or to not regenerate. The wound began to regenerate albeit at a slower rate. Blood began to drop from her stomach wound, slower and slower slightly each second. Lori clutches her stomach wound in shock. She turns to Lincoln with a shock and confusion-ridden face, "What the heck was that?"
Lincoln answers emotionless ly with, "Citrine ghostly swords. Wounds I inflict with my swords are irritated as if the wound was exposed to lemon juice and causes swelling. It also slows down regenerative factors."
Lori grits her teeth as the wound throbbed with pain before it fully closed. Her sword was engulfed in flames as she charges. The ninjato in Lincoln's hand disappears as he sidestepped the jumping horizontal swing that sent some very hot flames in the direction of the swing. Even though none of the flames touched him, he still sweated under the heat of it. An orange sword that which can only be described as an "ultra" greatsword, due to blade itself sword being taller and wider than the wielder itself, materialised in his hand. Lori headbutts him out of the power struggle and tries to land a slash to his arm, only to be met with a barrier that cracked under the force of the swing. Lincoln dismisses his ultra greatsword and replaced it with his ninjato.
The impending promise of nigh-excruciating pain warned Lori of an incoming blade which she blocks with her greatsword. In one hand, Lincoln materialises a smaller orange greatsword with a thick blade. This one was glowing brighter than the previous sword though. Lori saw the incoming threat and jumped away. Lincoln still swung in a vertical direction and out came an orange crescent wave of light. The greatsword in his hand was now glowing normally like the ninjato in his right hand. Lori blocked it with her greatsword but found herself now being kept propelled by it backwards. Lincoln took this opportunity and jumped for the elder woman. Once he was within range, he slashed vertically upwards with his ninjato at Lori's face, causing a rather nasty gash to appear. It ran by her lips, grazing her nose, nearly hits her eyes and continued to her forehead that were now irritated by the wound. Lori's left eye was also irritated but not as much.
Her guard broke and the energy wave hits her, causing a not-so deep cut to appear on her torso that ran from her navel to her right breast. Lincoln finished his combo with a downward smashing attack with his ultra greatsword.
Lori slowly gets up with a hand on her wound on her gut. She grits her teeth at the pain but still manages to speak, "Damn, your relentless. Allow me to repay you in kind. RAAAAAH!"
She charges at Lincoln with speed he was unprepared for. In a single instant, she was already swinging her greatsword at him. Lincoln manages to block it with his ultra greatsword but grits his teeth as the extremely hot embers of the sword licks his arms. Lori launches a series of mad but precise swings that hammered away at Lincoln's guard. Twirling her hellish greatsword, she does one final hammer swing and Lincoln was down on his knees, struggling to break the struggle. Lori's wounds healed, allowing her to double her effort. He made a risky gamble and aims a headbutt on Lori, who was disoriented from the nasty impact on her forehead. With his ninjato, he aims several swings at different points of her body. Horizontal and vertical slash to her stomach, vertical slash to her eyes, horizontal slash to her wrists which makes her drop her greatsword and a final slash to her arms that reaches her shoulders. Lori sank to her knees, on her elbows. She struggles to lift her head to look at Lincoln, in the end, she only manages to raise her head to look at his leg.
"Damn, Lincoln. These wounds takes a lot out of me to regenerate. I should have just transformed instead of swing wildly. I really underestimated you. Guess I haven't learned my lesson. Never look down on a fellow fighter."
With that said, she fell on her sides, gasping for air. She rolls to her back, "Medic, please."
Lexxianna warped to her position and slung the bloody and beaten lady on her shoulder."Come on, let's get you two fixed up and recharged." Lexxianna turned to Lori."My turn to play with you."
One quick breather and sandwich later
Lexxianna stood there simply, cape swishing to the ominous winds and her hands crossed below her chest."Don't you even get me started." Nikki said to Lincoln, who was blushing at what looks like Lexxianna hefting her breasts with her crossed hands. Lincoln's blush immediately disappeared at the threat to what defined his gender. It was all so sudden, the weather was particularly calm with clouds blotching out most of the sky, painting it grey and white. Then suddenly, the remaining blue in the sky was blocked by dark clouds, with the already present clouds becoming dark as well. It was also hot, with the smell of ozone in the air. Lori stood to the opposite of Lexxianna, the former's greatsword slung by her shoulders, embers of the flames covering it being carried away by the wind."Let's see who the one is the true, born leader between us." Lori challenges, a smug smile."Ok. Let's dance."
Lori squats and grips her greatsword with her two hands in a diagonal guard. Lexxianna brought her hands to her side, standing casually.
Play Castlevania Circle Of The Moon Illusionary Dance
A white pillar of light slowly extended outwards Lexxianna and as it disappeared, so did she. Lori's smile disappeared as she went on the defensive, ready to pounce wherever Lexxianna appeared, sword blazing, both figuratively and literally. A second and a half later, Lexxianna appeared to her Northwest. She charges her and in a second, she was nearly upon the caped cyborg, who quickly brought out a lustrous metallic hand instead of a hand with a dark shine. Suddenly, a layer of phantom soldiers with tower shields and phantom spearmen appeared in a formation that effectively circled Lexxianna. Lori swung her sword at the shield phantoms with everything she got to break through the defense. The phantom with the shield in front of Lori and buckled under her swing while the spearman behind the blocking shield phantom extended their spear to poke at the "oldest sibling" who cartwheels backwards.
The phantom guards disappeared and Lexxianna warped again. This time, she appeared behind Lori. She hears the sudden movement of a cape behind her so she turns to see a fireball twice as big as a basketball hurtling towards her. She bats it away to her left with her greatsword. An explosion was heard in the distance. There was that light slowly covering Lexxianna again as she warps. Lori felt a vein in her forehead pulse with irritation. Why was it so slow?!
"Are you underestimating me?!" shouted Lori. Lexxianna appeared again in the same spot."What? What gives you the impression of that?" Lexxianna calmly asks, everyone was confused at the eldest lady's outburst."Why is your warp so slow?!" answered Lori with another question."Oh, well that's just me being casual. So you want me to speed up, is that right? Then HAVE AT YOU!" as those last four words escaped Lexxianna's mouth, she warped away, the light extended outwards in half a second as she disappeared. There wasn't even a waiting time for her reappearance, because as soon as the last drop of light disappeared, another one appeared with the same speed. The pillar of light appeared behind Lori, she wasted no time as she sent a flaming crescent wave at Lexxianna, who intercepts that with a shield phantom. She aimed her palm at the lady in front of her and immediately a searing energy beam shot out of her palm ports. The attack grazes and left a burn that really stings.
She had no time to ponder about it further as her opponent already warped closer towards her and stomped her metallic foot down and out of the ground in the area was short-lived flame pillars spawning randomly everywhere along with a wave of flame pillars that headed for her. Lori rolled out of the way as a flame pillar erupted below where she once was. As soon as she got up, she sent a flaming diagonal crescent wave of fire at the caped cyborg, who was surprised as she was struck by the attack as she was unable to see the attack coming due to the flame pillars. She was sent to her behind as she reels from the hit. She got up and inspected the parts where she was hit, which was her shoulder that was not damaged by the hit then came her right breast and finally by her left abdominal area. The edge of the wound was burned to a crisp that made her hiss and she bled a small bit.
Her regeneration factor was definitely at a standstill."Heheheheheh. Brother Andrew definitely outdone himself." Lexxianna remarked to no one in particular."Brother Andrew? Who is he?" Lori asked.
The Loud siblings that were watching turned to Maggie and Haiku, who shrugged, being as confused as they were."He was a blacksmith from the past. He dabbled mostly with weapons and giving them elements that could be brought out with a thought of the wielder they are bonded too and costs absolutely squat on your energy reserves besides swinging the blade itself. That sword you got there, was the weapon of a fallen angel, looking to redeem himself. That maiden was a master of using it. That weapon is the culmination of master weapon work which allowed physically weaker warriors to wield it easier, the demonic flames used by the king of hell himself that burns everything it touches even it's own wielder and the holy energy used to stop the flames from burning it's master and smite men and creatures of darkness. Which leads me to complimenting it's creator, Brother Andrew. Note that he was also a priest."
The spectators could do nothing but stand in awe at such weapon being wielded by none other than their sister. Lori started to see it in a new light, to honor it's purpose to smite the oppressors of the weak that was the men that work within the shadows with less than desirable goals."But enough of that. I'll stop with my current method of fighting and fight like I always did back in the days."
Hearing that, Lori was now looking at her opponent, confused. Her question was answered by the caped cyborg taking of her cape, revealing that she wore what she wore during her spar with Lynn. A dark vortex opened up in Lexxianna's hand and her other hand reached in and pulled a long handle of something. When it was revealed, everyone's eyes nearly bugged out of their sockets. This was not because of the sheer length and size of it. The handle was as long as a spear while the blade was as long as Lori was tall. The blade was thick at it's base and thinned out as it gets farther from the base to form a rudimentary stabbing point. That wasn't the shocker, it was the fact that Lexxianna was holding it with one hand and not fumbling around."Surprised? You shouldn't be. As a cyborg, my handwork is nigh-perfect. Makes sense that I can hold this big boy with one hand easily. Now, come at me!"
Play Champion Gundyr's theme
Lori shook off her shock and charged Lexxianna. Her greatsword was practically roaring as it blazes at this point. She swung at a downward direction as she uses it's weight to help gain momentum but it was all for nothing as Lexxianna blocks it with the side of her sword staff with one hand. Creaking can be heard as the two blades quiver at the pressure. With a twirl of of her sword staff, the struggle was broken and Lori was sent flying backwards and landed on her back. She immediately got up and ran for the cyborg. Instead of just standing there, Lexxianna reciprocated the action and smashed her sword into the ground, causing the earth to break with a thundering sound.
Not only did the ground break but also the nearby ground cracked. Lexxianna immediately twirled her sword staff forward, sending rocks towards Lori, who was unprepared but nonetheless blocked it and ran forward, intending to bash the pommel of her weapon into the head of her opponent. When she just raised her sword, she was rammed by a metallic shoulder, followed by a forward kick to the face as she landed on her rump. Lexxianna twirled her sword staff, covering the blade in white light. She swung it downwards, causing a white crescent wave of light three times as tall as a person and as wide as a human to spawn and as it travels, leaves a burning indent on the ground. Lori was forced to take the hit and was being dragged by wave while simultaneously being burned. A loud scream came out of Lori's throat as she finally had enough and forced herself out of the wave's path.
Lori looked at Lexxianna with an angered look. She waves her sword out of existence, causing the cyborg lady to do the same. The former blurs out of existence and before they know it, she cuts off an arm cleanly, only the shoulder remained. Sparks were seen from where the appendage was cut off. Lori grins smugly at Lexxianna and drops the arm behind her. Fatal mistake because she was impaled by the same arm, which was flying via thrusters on the stub. The arm, now covered fully in blood, flew back to it's body to rejoin. Lori stumbles for a bit before she regains balance."That won't work."
The gaping hole in Lori's stomach began to disappear, first her spine regrew it's missing pieces then reconnected, then her stomach regrew it's missing portion, the missing intestine regrew and reconnected, then uterus regrew and reconnected and finally, her torn muscles and tendons and skin regenerated, making it as if she was good as new."Tch. That's an annoying feature. Guess I'm going have to stick with martial arts."
Play Bang's theme: Martial Arts
Lori assumed a stance in which her legs squatting while her knees are facing the opposite direction and her left hand raised towards her opponend and is curled in the manner of claws while her right hand is close to her chest facing forward and fingers straight and touching their adjacent other fingers.
Lexxianna also assumed a stance. Her right leg perpendicular to the ground while her right thigh is nearly parallel to the ground while her left is behind her, left leg 45 to the ground while her left thigh is mirroring her right. Her right arm is raised straight towards Lori, fingers outstretched and touching adjacent fingers while her left arm is close to her body, levelled to where her diaphragm is and fingers also outstretched and touching adjacent fingers. Her body faces to the side.
"So you also practice in martial arts, hm? What is it's name?" asks Lexxianna calmly."Bare-handed Sculptor's Fist." answered Lori simply."So my martial arts live on, huh?"
Lori's eyes widened a bit but hardened immediately."What? You made this?" "Tell me, what is the main emphasis of Bare-handed Sculptor's Fist?"
"It doesn't emphasis in anything. It's offense is also defensive and it's defense is also offensive." Lori answered with a mildly nervous tone."Very good. While I can already see you are very proficient in our martial arts, I can also see that your stance is stiff, making it harder to switch from offense to defense and vice versa while I have trained to easily switch between the two at a moment's notice and to do that, your stance must be relaxed, like water. Now, why don't we stop going back and forth with our mouths and start going back and forth with our fists, hm?"
Lori didn't say anything but just ran forward without the stances of her hands changing. Her very footsteps were leaving an indent on the the hard ground due to her stiffness. When she was within range, she moves her right hand for a palm strike, a metallic fist not only slaps it away but also punched her. A series of fast barrages of punches showered Lori's body, cracking and breaking some bones. Through the extreme pain she was feeling, she grabs the offending hands, turns around and swings Lexxianna to the ground. However, before the cyborg could impact the ground, she was struck by a leg at her gut. The cyborg lady landed on her two feet after that but found her arms grabbed by a single hand. Lori was about to literally kick Lexxianna's butt, specifically where her tailbone is at, but was swiftly thrown away.
Lexxianna runs forward but cartwheels when she was nearing Lori and uses the momentum of the cartwheel to land a downward smashing heel to her opponent, who manages to dodge by jumping with her arms. A fortune for her since as soon as the heel touched the ground, 50 meters of ground was shattered. Lexxianna followed Lori and engaged in a rush attack struggle.
With the spectators, the Louds plus Nikki was in awe at the show of martial arts."Woah! Look at them go! Lexxianna's beating Lori in martial arts." Lana gawked."Lori was the best user of the 500 chosen students of Bare-handed Sculptor's Fist, one of the two absolute greatest martial arts in the world. She even beat the former master, he's also the boss man of our organisation, by the way." Luna explains while still having an awestruck look. Lynn was next to speak up, "So how is Lexx beating Lori at martial arts?"
True to her words, more of Lexxianna's attacks were going landing while none of Lori's. This was when Haiku decided to cut in, "Lexxianna is the inventor of Stone Pulverising Waterfall Fist and the other greatest martial arts, the Stonecutter's Fist. While the former involves in blunt, crushing attacks, the latter focuses on slicing with winds from swinging your hand or simply trying to slice things with your hand. Yeah, Lexxianna had a lot of free time as an immortal. She has perfected the two martial arts. She hasn't even shown the greatest move of the two martial arts nor the combination move."
Everyone turned to them with shocked expressions then they turned back to the fight. Lexxianna landed a particularly strong hit on Lori's face and sent her back, breaking the struggle."Damn, you really are the inventor of the Bare-handed Sculptor's Fist." says Lori as she rubs the blood of her face."Indeed, I would show you the secret offensive move of the Bare-handed Sculptor's Fist but I don't even know if your body can handle it, look at you. You're panting. I don't want to risk killing you due to extreme exhaustion. This move attacks with the force of a magnitude 9 earthquake. Not only will it destroy your body, but the force of the attack itself manifests as an invisible wall that moves forward, destroying the surrounding area it travels through. This is a bane of creatures with high-speed regeneration."
"Geez, were humans really capable of doing things like that?" Lori asks, more of as a reaction to the shock."Humans were always capable of doing such things, they either haven't been training the right way, they haven't been training enough or both. Now do you surrender?" Lexxianna asks with her hands on her back.
"...Not yet, I still haven't bring out my trump card." was Lori's response."Who says I have to beat you at martial arts?"
Without another word or waiting for a response, a bright pillar of light covered Lori, eventually growing in size. When it reached it's peak, it disappeared and an explosion that dwarfs all that have occurred in the area combined occurs above her position, kicking up a storm of dust, not that anyone can see anything since they had their eyes closed and were turning away. When the smoke clears, it reveals Lori has transformed into a red dragon with white underbelly. She had a long snout, akin to a combination of a crocodile's and an alligator's. Three spikes were present on her face, the front being the larger, the middle being half it's size while the innermost was like a mere stub. It's neck was long, with more spikes running in the middle of it's body. Yellow veins were present between her scales. Her legs were short and had three, bear-like claws on each of them. That form was clearly not for running. Suddenly, the air around them becomes blistering hot. This prompts Luna to activate her powers a bit, causing the air around her to cool down."So that's her transformation. We've never seen her use it before." says Lana."Kinda fitting for her to transform into a dragon, if you get what I'm saying?" Lynn said while glancing at her siblings and bobbing her eyebrows up and down with half-lidded eyes and a smile. Her siblings snickered amongst themselves while Maggie and Haiku turns to Nikki for an explanation. Nikki also doesn't know.
"Got a final form, yourself?" came Lori's distorted voice."You insult me."
Lexxianna raises her arms to her side. A pillar of light similar to when she warps only larger covers her for a second at that last word. At the same time, a translucent and blurry humanoid but monstrous form overtook her. Another flash of light and they stare at a hideous monstrosity. Their attention was briefly turned away from the abomination that flew above them as the surrounding area around them peeled away to reveal a sea of murky water-like ground. It waved just like a normal sea but what was unnatural about it is that it was tinted with a royal shade of purple while a red mist blankets the horizon. The sky was pitch-black with a few thin lines of light tinted with bloody-red. The sun, which appeared to them was eclipsed by the moon. The ring was tinted by a blood-red light. It seemed as if the eclipse was crying blood. In the middle of the moon that covered the sun was a blood-red ring that was faded but still noticeable.
The air grew cold as the air of the night and sent shivers to their backs, even Lori. Lexxianna was immune for obvious reasons. Luna turned off her icy aura off at this. They turned to see Lexxianna was now a monstrous being. She had bat wings and flaps of skin drapes by her waist like a cape, which the interior of said cape was red. Her skin was now black and she had claws on her toes and fingers. She still had the same amount of cybernetic parts though. A fleshy crevice was on her chest, showing a dark orb. She had the skull of a demon lord on her shoulders while her head was skinless and was that of a dragon skull with two pairs of horn, the outer pair being that of a demon lord, which had a base that points upwards then curving downward forward like a slope then curving upward again and ends with a blunt point while the inner pair was that of a regular demon, which were shorter and had less pronounced curve. Her teeth were otherwise normal but her upper canines turned into pointed tusks that curved vaguely like a like the letter U. The eye socket had her golden iris and black pupil in them
"Shall we begin?" was Lexxianna's question."Nope, absolutely not! I surrender!" was Lori's answer."Oh, OK then."
The two of them transformed back into their original form and, as if time turned itself back, the surrounding that peeled itself away to reveal the nightmarish surrounding glued itself back to reality, turning the environment to normal. The two combatants landed back down to the ground, while Lori sank to one knee."That aura was overwhelming. I couldn't find it within myself to fight." says Lori and started to inhale and exhale."Quite anticlimactic, eh? But it's understandable, you didn't bear the sign of the cross. If only you wore rosary beads and regularly attended to the church then you won't be able to feel the aura." said Lexxianna with a disappointed look.
"Wait, you go to the church?! That's crazy!" barked out Lori."Of course I do, you guys just never ask where I'm going during those Sundays. You may think that I hangout with my friends, that's only half of the truth. My soul isn't corrupted by the sheer magnitude of my dark power because it was made to house such dark power." Lexxianna answered.
They both head back to the group."Dudes, that was a SICK fight! Sad that we didn't get to see the final part." Luna praises but was saddened by the turn of events."I may have turned away from the dark, it still made me shiver in delight." added Haiku."I really love my big sisters' transformations. Especially Lexx's. Reminds of the second phase of the final boss in one of the greatest installments of the Demon Manor game. So nostalgic." was Lily's two scents. Lincoln turned to Lily, "You and me both, little sis'."
The middle child and the youngest child high-fived each other to further their agreement."Actually..."
Everyone's eyes turned to Lexxianna. Seeing this as a signal to continue, "The Demon Manor series was based on my adventures with a family of demon hunters, a family of sorcerers and yours truly. The canon installments was a vague retelling the adventures of me, the current best demon hunter and current best sorcerer with their names changed to what you two know. The only true difference is the names of the demon hunter, sorcerer and me, then the two Sadness games. You two know how those two games tell the story of the reincarnation of the Dark Lord? They didn't happen, I requested that they hide what truly happened, which is me gaining lordship of the undead legion and the construction of the castle, which explains why the 200 year timeskip. The Dark Lord never had a castle, he was situated in hell."
Lincoln and Lily gawked for a bit before gaining skeptical looks. The other Loud sibling, as well as Nikki, Maggie and Haiku didn't have a clue as to what they were talking about."How can we believe you?" asks Lincoln, getting a "Yeah!" from Lily. Lexxianna merely pointed to a top of a hill that formed from the flattening of the landscape from the fight."Man, we really did a number on this place." Lynn said while the others fidgeted in place. The hill turned into a full-fledged mountain in mere seconds. When the hill stopped growing, a massive pillar of light came down on it's side. When it disappeared, it revealed a massive castle was sitting on the mountain's side via a stone formation."Woah, it looks like the one in the Orchestra of the Eventide but in a different location." muses Lily, Lincoln nods. The others who were unfamiliar with the game merely gawked at the sight of the castle."Shall I give you the treat of being one of the few people who has entered the castle as guests and not enemies?"
"Hey, Lexxianna?" "Yes, Lincoln?" "Why did it take you more adventures before you inherited...this?" "Let's see you try to bite off a piece of a guy who keeps on teleporting." "Fair point." "Man, who cares about that? Let's get in!"
Lexxianna warped away. The telltale pillar of light was seen at the front of the castle. Everyone dashed for the castle. A minute later, they arrived."Friends, i present to you, Monkey's playground. This was made for the purpose being the playground of my long-dead ape friend and being my base."
Here are the list of references in this chapter. First of, the Sadness games referred in this chapter refers to the Sorrow games. And secondly, Orchestra of the Eventide refers to the Symphony of the Night.