"AAH!" Luz screamed in pain, holding her left side.
"The emperor had a hunch you would be here today for the blood, but he didn't think you were foolish enough to come alone." Hunter said.
"Yes, a grave mistake on your part." Eclipse Enforcer said as her hands charged with magic. "Possibly your last."
Eclipse Enforcer ran at Luz, punching her in the head with a powerful magic filled punch. Luz hit the ground with a groan as her jaw was dislocated. Eclipse grabbed her and lifted her up. She hit Luz with a strong knee to the stomach, followed by another, then another two, then another several.
"We're tired of you constantly getting in the way." Golden Guard said, kicking her legs out from under her.
Luz fell on the ground again and Golden Guard kneeled next to her. He held her by the neck and started to punch her, giving her a black eye. Eclipse Enforcer walked over and stepped on Luz's hand, grinding it into the dirt. Luz grunted in pain. Eclipse Enforcer grabbed her by the hair and pulled her up, not stopping until Luz's feet were off the ground. She grabbed Luz with her other hand and threw her on the ground. Hurting Luz's back upon impact. The two Coven elite grabbed Luz by the hands and dragged her over to the other side of the cave. The two lifted her by her neck and slammed the back of her head against the cave wall.
"Gah!" Luz screamed in pain, coughing up blood.
Hearing her cries of pain, Amethyst slithered out of her coat and gave a small roar to them.
"Aw, how cute. A little dragon palisman has come to her rescue." Eclipse Enforcer said before she chuckled at its pathetic attempt to scare them. She grabbed it by the tail and held it up, "How happy do you think the Emperor would be if we brought this rare treasure to him?"
"I wager he would be thrilled." Golden Guard said, looking around, "Put it in that old cage."
She walked over to the small bird cage and put Amethyst in it.
"Now, let's get back to her."
Golden Guard stepped on Luz's neck, making it hard to breath. Eclipse Enforcer walked over and grabbed Luz's hand. She broke Luz's fingers, one by one. Soon her entire right hand had lost the use of its fingers. Luz screamed in pain, choked by both hunter and the blood filling her mouth.
"I thought you were tough? You seem pretty weak now." Golden Guard said, "Bring me the branding iron."
Eclipse Enforcer handed him an iron from her armor. He used his staff to heat it up and then held it inches away from Luz's face, showing her the Emperor's Coven symbol.
"If you think this is for you... you're wrong." Golden Guard said, "It's for your little girlfriends. We're going to make you watch as we torture them in front of you, slowly, until there is nothing but a broken shell."
The got Luz's blood boiling as she clenched her left hand into a fist. She started breathing heavy as her eyes turn a gold color. A large flash of light emitted from Luz's body, blinding both the Coven Elite and forcing them to step back. When the light died down, they saw Luz standing. She was breathing heavily as the Light magic turned to Fire, matching her emotion. Anger.
"Don't. Touch. Them. EVER!" Luz said, running and punching Eclipse Enforcer and sending her across the cave.
She landed on her knee and looked up at Luz. Luz held out her hands and fireballs formed in them.
"How?!" She said before Luz threw the fireballs at her, making her groan in pain while her armor protected her from the magic but not the heat.
"It must be the Monado!" Hunter said before Luz glared at him, her eyes changing to gold.
Luz flashed and appeared behind him, her eyes shifting to blue as ice formed around her fist and she punched into a wall.
"Ugh!" He groaned in pain.
Luz's eyes changed to green and vines rose from the ground. They wrapped the two and Luz held out her hand. The cage started shaking and Amethyst, in staff mode, flew into her hand. Luz spun her staff in her hand before slamming it on the ground, sending a wave of powerful magic. The four colors that indicate her magic melted into a singular white color that made up her entire eye.
"What kind of power is this?!" Eclipse Enforcer demanded.
"The true reason I can wield the Monado."Luz said, "... My heart. My urge to protect those that I love. The will to stand up against someone who wants to hurt others! Something that you can never understand!"
Luz pointed her staff at them, a white glow emitting from it. Luz fired a blast at Eclipse Enforcer, breaking the vines and sending her to the other side of the cave, knocking her out. Hunter tried to use his staff to teleport away, but he was too much in pain to focus.
"As for you." Luz said as she turned to Hunter, pointing her staff at him. "I thought you were a good person. I thought you weren't like Belos. I thought you could be my friend, but obviously I was wrong about you, Hunter. You really are JUST the Golden Guard."
Spinning Amethyst overhead, Luz bathed herself in a healing spell for most of her injuries before turning to leave.
"Ugh! Where do you think you're going?!" Hunter said, struggling in the vines.
Luz didn't answer him as she kept walking, he wasn't worth her time anymore. Though, she shouldn've knocked him out because then, Hunter wouldn't have remembered that Lil Rascal was inside of his cloak. Rascal helped get Hunter get out of the vines and then he used his staff to charge at Luz. Luz turned around and blocked it with her staff.
"I see you still have some fight in you left." Luz said, forcing him back with her staff.
Hunter skid against the ground as he glared at Luz, wanting to defeat her so he could put these feelings and doubts behind him. Lil Rascal agreed as it flew into his other hand and transformed into a staff, allowing Hunter to dual wield his artificial staff and palisman staff.
"I've got PLENTY of fight left!" Hunter said to her.
"So do I." Luz said as she grabbed the Monado, wielding it in her right hand while Amethyst stays in her left hand as her eyes glowed white. "Bring it on."
The two charged at each other, their palismen slamming against each other. While their palismen staffs were intertwined, Hunter swung his other staff at Luz. Luz blocked it with the Monado. They pulled away and Luz kicked Hunter in the stomach, making him hunch over. She hit him with a knee, sending him to the ground.
"Give up!" Luz said, "I don't want to fight you, but I will!"
Hunter didn't listen as he used both staffs to fire magic blasts at Luz, forcing her to dodge at light speed as she moved further into the mine tunnel.
"Grr!" Hunter growled before teleport rushing after her.
Luz ran so fast she broke through a cave wall. She made her way to area where Titan's Blood was. It filled an entire lake area. Luz looked out and saw it.
"My god." She said, "This is what I need."
She heard Hunter quickly approaching and got out of the way. He teleported to the spot Luz was standing, as Luz ran to the other side of the cave.
"Nowhere to run now." Hunter said.
Luz held up her sword.
"Who said I was running?"
Luz charged at him and her sword collided with his mechanical staff. Rascal disappeared, allowing Hunter to use two hands and push Luz back. Amethyst also disappeared, which gave Luz more movement. Hunter swung his staff at her head, which Luz dodged by falling on her back and putting her hands on the ground, allowing her to cartwheel backwards.
"All that cheerleading finally paid off." Luz said.
"Do you ever shut up?!" Hunter said, charging at her.
Luz got her sword ready, waiting for the right moment. Hunter got within her range, and she swung the Monado, cutting his mechanical staff in half.
"NO!" Hunter shouted in horror before Luz punched his face, his mask breaking before he was sent flying to the wall.
He coughed up blood and tried to stand up, in pure pain. He started to back up as Luz stood there with her sword up. Hunter walked backwards to the ledge, unaware of it, and fell into the Titan's Blood lake. He fell with a scream and plunged into the blue liquid. He tried to swim up, but swimming in blood was nearly impossible. His vision started to fade as he figured this was it... until a hand grabbed him and pulled him up. Luz placed him on her staff and brought him to the ledge. He started to cough up blood... not his.
"Why?" He asked.
"Why, what?" Luz asked.
"Why would you save me?" He asked, looking at her.
Luz looked at him as the white magic in her eyes faded away, showing her normal eyes again.
"Because I'm someone who helps anyone that needs it, even if it's an enemy." Luz said to him.
"You should've let me drown." Hunter said.
Luz looked at him in shock.
"What?"
"You heard what I said." He said, "There's nothing for me in this world. I'm magicless, I have an Uncle who treats me like a disease, and ever since I met you, I haven't been able to make a difference between what's right or wrong!"
"Then what was right and wrong for you before?" Luz asked him.
"Anything the emperor says is wrong, is wrong! And his coven system and laws were right! That's what I believed!" Hunter shouted before he glared up to Luz. "I never questioned any of it until I met you!"
"Well, maybe it's because you are finally realizing that you don't want to be what someone else wants, maybe you want to be yourself." Luz said.
Luz felt her scroll vibrate and she looked at it, seeing several new messages from Amity and Boscha, all angry and telling her to get to Boscha's Manor.
'Well, I'm spending the next week as a couch.' Luz thought.
Luz put it away and looked at Hunter.
"Listen, you don't need to follow him blindly." Luz said.
Hunter looked at the lake.
"Knock me out." He said.
"What?"
"Knock me out, make it look like you beat me." He said.
Luz listened and delivered a strong punch, which knocked him out. Luz collected several vials of Titan's Blood, a thing of Fool's Blood for Boscha, and then flew away on her staff. Meanwhile back with Odalia AKA the Eclipse Enforcer, sh had regained consciousness and looked around to see where she was.
"The mines, right." She said as she got up, rolling her neck. "That human just keeps becoming stronger, more annoying too. Hopefully Golden Guard took care of her."
Energy came from her feet as Odalia flew through the mine in search of her partner, she could see the signs of battle around her before she reached the lake. There she found that Golden Guard was unconscious, his mask and staff destroyed, and the human nowhere to be seen.
'Damnit! She escaped! Possible with some Titan's Blood as well.' She thought as she gazed at the lake. 'But it doesn't matter, we'll finish her later. Right now, I have to get the blood and the boy back to the emperor.'
"You managed to get away this time, Human, but you'll get what's coming to you... very soon."
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