AN: I was in Walt Disney World with my Thespian Troupe. We saw Cirque Du Solei. Fun times. And now I'm back taking standardized tests.. big yek. Hope you enjoy this chapter. It was finished before I left... but I witheld it for additional editing. And away we go...
With a flick of his wrist, a menacing scythe materialized in his gloved hand, and realization sliced through the inventor.
400 years ago………600 AD…
……. A notorious wizard.
…………The statue in the cathedral.
Magus.
Never once had she seen him in person, for it was Marle, Frog and Crono who had fought him then. Like his striking monument, he was imposing, commanding, and bizarrely… alluring.
Before any of them broke the ice, Lucca piped, "I request that we take this battle away from them," and gestured to her unconscious comrades.
"Granted," he replied evenly. "You have ten seconds…"
And she did not doubt it. Lucca tore out of there with her adrenaline skyrocketing through her. In addition to keeping her friends from losing a limb or dying while she and Magus duked it out, she was putting distance between herself and the scythe, which had been too close for comfort.
She dashed downhill and did not stop until she was on relatively flat ground. Her mind had kept count precisely, and she had, three,
"Thinking about running away?" he taunted from the top of the crest.
Two, Where's my bag?
"I might consider letting you go," he snickered.
One. Blast it! she cursed.
"Too late."
A purplish blur swooped down towards her at an unholy speed, and she ducked as metal whizzed where her head had once been. Her agility had improved vastly in the past few days, but she could barely match him. He swiped at her again, and she threw herself to the left. Sacrificing maneuverability to shoot energy bullets at him, she moved a little late and felt the fabric along her right side tear open. But it worked, and he backed off a good distance away.
Lucca bit her lip. She could not let him get within ten feet of her, otherwise she'd be stuck on the defensive. And since she had so intelligently left her bag back on the cape, she would have to pray that something useful hid in her pockets.
"Trying for fashion design?" she asked in mock friendliness.
"You seem to be in great need of it. Heard of a mirror?"
He was far too close again, but this time she wielded her mallet. When he swung at her head, she ducked and caught the underside of her adversary's blade with the hammer. Both pulled hard at each end, attempting to disarm the other. Lucca finally got a long, close look into his face and gasped when their eyes locked. His eyes flashed bloody red.
A feral grin overtook his face when he saw her reaction, and with a powerful stroke, he sent the mallet clattering behind him. The action pulled the shocked girl forward. She slammed into his armor and the air was knocked painfully out of her chest. Not a second later, she fell backwards from the collision, and flung a potent fireball into his right side. He was launched forcefully into the air, his scythe soaring out of his hand. While he shook off the flames with his own magic, Lucca dove for her discarded gun and shot at him as he rose. Unused to facing an unpredictable barrage of projectiles, he was forced to dart around. She maneuvered herself to stand above his fallen weapon, stopped firing, and watched him attentively.
"I don't think you've seen yourself quite clearly yet. You do know that underwear goes on before pants, right?"
Magus simply smirked in response, finishing off his shield spell. Let her distract herself, he thought amusedly. Lucca was slightly perplexed at his sudden lack of retort and steadied herself.
He began hovering off the ground, and her eyes widened drastically. No wonder his steps seemed lighter than air. Her breath caught as he rocketed towards her, and she stood motionlessly until… So what, Lucca? So what if he floats? SNAP OUT OF IT, YOU'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF A BATTLE!
She threw her arms up and clouted that trigger like no tomorrow. And then she nearly dropped her gun.
The bubble around him had absorbed all the energy bullets; it had not even slowed him one bit!
THINK THINK THINK! she shouted to herself. Time seemed to be her enemy, and she scrambled for something, anything. Plunging her hand into her left pouch, it found a pair of grenades and wrapped about them tightly. Thank the heavens she had put them on her person.
Bombs away… and she hurled them vehemently at him before diving for cover.
Explosions rocked the earth as her grenades exploded and cut shallow burrows into the ground. Smoke hung in the air as the last blast burst out, and Lucca stared searchingly into the haze. Magus' scythe had been abandoned when she dove to the ground, and was now lost in the dusty clouds. Seconds passed, but she saw no sign of him or his weapon.
"Looking for me?" asked a sneering voice behind her.
She whirled around and threw her weight to the left, the scythe whizzing dangerously near her neck. In her brief glimpse of him, she had seen that he was covered in soot, but seemed otherwise unhurt. As he turned and lunged at her again, she miscalculated grievously and bit back a howl. Blood stained her right side from a small line that burned and glowed black. It was only a graze. She saw her opening in the millisecond that he was bringing the scythe back behind him, and she leapt forward.
"YAHHHHHH!" Pulling back her gun-less fist, she punched him between the eyes.
As he plunged to the ground, she scrambled a good distance away and fired at him. One bullet embedded into his leg before disintegrating, and he winced in pain.
'Click, click.' Oh no… 'Click, click, click.' Don't tell me it's broken!
Lucca growled at her malfunctioning gun and forced it into its holster. Gun or no gun, she was not going to lose to this arrogant, smirking ass… how the heck was he smirking again? Was he made of stone?
"Broke your toy, little girl?" And he was up again, leering at her derisively.
Then eerie chanting floated from the wizard whose now empty arms weaved in a precise and intricate pattern. Smooth ancient words rolled off his tongue and the air became stuffy and electrified. Lucca felt her magic swirl warningly within her, but her muscles were paralyzed. His steady voice suddenly climaxed, and he pointed. Straight. At. Her.
"Dark Bomb."
Shadows razored into her from all directions, taunting her in raspy, unearthly tones. Walling around her, they encased her in a dome of torment; a myriad of nightmares ripped through her head and she writhed in agony. Eternity seemed to have lent its aid to the spell. Before the madness consumed her entirely, a cleansing fire enveloped her and chased the shadows away. He came at her again as abruptly as the spell ended, and she barely rolled away from the scythe when it descended on her. By some miracle, her arm had discovered her last grenade, and she threw it at him desperately.
And his scythe was no more.
"You.. have gone.. TOO FAR!" bellowed a suddenly furious voice. Oh, thought Lucca, so he doesn't care too much when he's been shot in the leg, but he blows up when his farming toy's been broke.
However bad HE thought the battle had been going, it was ten times worse for her. She had just traipsed through miles of snow on the inkling of a premonition that she wasn't entirely sure of. Just as she had found her companions, they fell unconscious and she was left to deal with Mr. Metal Underpants. Miffed was a bit toned down for her emotion.
"Really now? So Mr. Wizard's feeling a bit victimized 'cuz a little girl came and snapped his weed-cutter?"
Magus gurgled and stepped forward, hands clenching sporadically as he imagined them closing around her neck.
"Arcesso Ignis!"
A blazing fireball bowled him over and she took that opportunity to summon forth a large portion of her magic.
"Advoco flamma…"
Magus had already gotten up.
"...terra et caelum."
She began backing away.
"Emergo, exuro, aboleo."
Balls of flame now twirled about her protectively. A look of disbelief crossed Magus' face and Lucca nearly snickered when he registered the explosive strength in her magic.
"Viscus decoquo….
….FLAARE!"
She threw her arms to the sky and her entire army of fireballs disappeared with a pop. Magus' skin suddenly turned translucent as he filled with a blazing radiation and he glowed like embers.
When the spell ended a minute later, he fell to his knees, grimacing, scorched and severely burned. Though he had not prepared himself in time, the attack had given him a vital piece of information. So she plays with fire, eh? While his defensive magic had kept the worse of the flare at bay, he had mentally scryed through the link maintained by caster and magic and confirmed his suspicions. From his spot on the ground, he rasped out an Ice 2 and grinned smugly when it had more effect than his Dark Bomb.
Lucca wobbled on the spot, trembling violently in her drenched clothing. The frigid blocks of Ice 2 had pounded her excruciatingly, but when her defensive magic flared up, she was additionally assaulted by a tidal wave of water. Moaning in pain, she closed her eyes and called out silently for fire. Though she knew that her magic was relatively powerful, she had no idea to what extent it truly reached.
Magus was rather impressed with her; she had far exceeded his expectations and proved to be an intriguing opponent. He had spared no thought of mercy on her when he had thrown both of his spells, yet she overcame them, a bit sloppily, but had done so nonetheless. The pyro's spell had been fiercely powerful, and had it been five or even three years earlier, he would not be standing there alive. With a bit of training, the girl could become immensely powerful; her raw, obviously untrained magic abilities were amazing as it was. Not even he could have had such control over his innate element without a little training.
Still, the battle had yet to end and he was simply not going to lose. As the girl magically dried herself off, he silently cast his infamous barrier spell. There'd be no way for her to counteract it… she might as well surrender now.
AN: Review! You know you want to!