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Year 16 AL, Welcome to San Ilia Part Three: Book Burned
"Fuck!" Alice hissed out, watching in frustration as she burned yet another potato.
The fifth one she had burnt so far, as a matter of fact.
'Come on, baking a freaking potato shouldn't be this difficult!' The disguised Lamia thought, her golden eyes glaring down at the bonfire of books she had made to make a simple baked potato.
Truly, Alice probably should've just waited for Luka to get Four Animists and Their Sources and just had him cook the potatoes instead, but the disguised Lamia's hunger ended up overruling her logic. So here she was, burning potatoes on copies of books centered around Ilias. Burning books wasn't something Alice enjoyed - she actually was quite against the idea - but considering their contents, it was a worthy sacrifice.
Now if she could just get the damn things to cook properly!
"Stupid spuds probably don't cook right because they're grown right here in San Ilia! If they were from anywhere else, I'm sure I wouldn't have any issue!" Alice declared haughtily, angrily placing another potato directly into the open flames. The disguised Lamia was so focused on getting at least one of these to cook properly that she hadn't noticed that the flames of her bonfire of books had started to crawl away.
The fire had begun spreading during the second spuddy sacrifice and only worsened by the time Alice sent the third and fourth ones to slaughter. And so, the disguised Lamia's unintended path of destruction was slowly snaking along the first floor, advancing beneath a very unsuspecting purple-haired boy on the second floor above.
Alice continued to grumble as she poked and prodded at the potato, unaware of the mayhem that was about to occur due to her attempts at baking the perfect potato...
Smash
The giant light-purple fist of the Monster whizzed right by Luka, only missing him by centimeters as it punched the bookshelf behind him. The young Hero heard Kitsu yelp out in alarm as books flew in every direction. The wooden shelves splintered and shattered from the fist's impact, the shards of wood flying off alongside the books. The book-Monster adjusted her glasses a bit, peering over the rims to see the results of her attack. "O-Oops." She stuttered out.
Luka grabbed Angel Halo, quickly slashing the large hand while the Monster was otherwise occupied. A scar formed down the thumb-side of the hand, causing the Monster to pull her limb back. The young Hero's attention was momentarily taken away as he noticed - in mute horror - that the bookshelf the Monster had punched started to tip.
'Oh no. No, NO, NO!' Luka thought as the tall bookcase started falling over, slamming into the bookcase behind it...
...And then that one slammed into the one behind it.
Oh, by Ilias.
Luka, Kitsu, and even the book-Monster watched as the whole line of bookshelves dominoed into each other, hundreds of books falling over onto the ground and scattering about. Eventually, the chaos ended as the last bookshelf fell over towards the marble wall.
Crack
And fractured the pearly marble wall of the Library's second floor.
"O-Oh dear..." Was all that Luka could muster at the sight, feeling as though he was going to hurl his guts out. All those books, most of them probably ancient, now lay in a disorganized heap on the ground. Undoubtedly, a good number of them would have to be ruined now as well. "S-See what you made me do!?" The book-Monster suddenly spouted off, her giant fist clenching in indignation.
"Wh-What!?" Luka exclaimed while recoiling back, "You can't blame that on me!" He argued back. Kitsu, having regained some confidence, chimed in. "Yeah, you're the one that went around swinging that stupid fist around!"
Said fist unclenched and pointed at Kitsu, nearly poking the silver-furred fox in the chest as the book-Monster hissed, "You stay out of this!" The fist swung around and actually prodded Luka in the chest with the same finger, "And I can blame you, because you're the one who threw my precious book away!" The young Hero pushed the hand away indignantly. "That book belongs in the trash!" He exclaimed.
"Well," The book-Monster began as she reared the fist back once again, "So do you!" She declared before aiming another punch at Luka. The young Hero was able to side-step out of the way once again. This time, however, the fist stopped mid-extension and swung back towards Luka and backhanded him towards the second-floor railing!
If the initial swat from the fist didn't hurt enough, the sudden crash into the wooden railings definitely did the job. Luka let out a sharp gasp as he smacked into the posts. The purple-haired boy wrapped an arm around the railings to pull himself up, but quickly had to latch onto it with his sword arm as the Monster's hand shot forward and grabbed him by the legs!
"A-AH!" Luka yelled out in both surprise and pain as the hand squeezed down on his legs and started trying to pull him towards her.
"I'm gonna make you regret ever throwing that book!" She declared, before smirking. "Luckily, I remember enough from what I've read to know how to reenact some scenes!" The book-Monster began wrenching harder, causing Luka to grit his teeth in pain. The purple-haired boy kept his arms wrapped around the railing, but he already knew that he could only keep this up for so long before his arms gave out.
Luckily, once again, Luka got help from a certain silver-furred fox.
"Let him go!" Kitsu yelled as she charged from behind.
This time - instead of blunt-force trauma via book - Kitsu jumped on the back of the book-Monster, grabbing her odd horns and jerking her head back! The Monster let out a shocked cry, furiously trying to grab onto the Kitsune. The struggle caused the Monster's hand to loosen her grip on Luka, easing the young Hero's pain just a little bit. However, it did not let go just yet.
Luka's pale-blue eyes widened as an idea came to him; it was another very risky one, but past experience was enough to know that it would work. The young Hero hesitantly dropped Angel Halo onto the floor and pulled himself closer to the railing in order to bring his hands together.
"Shield of Heaven!"
The dome of energy encircled Luka, cutting off the hand in one clean cut!
The book-Monster jerked and screamed as her light-purple limb retracted back into the book, leaving the hand to go limp and release Luka. The purple-haired boy dropped his shield, having to pull himself up with the railing as the pain continued to shoot up through his legs. Luka retrieved Angel Halo off the ground and pointed it towards the Monster whose horns were still being yanked by Kitsu.
"Demon Decapitation!"
Luka charged forward, taking the opportunity given to him by the Two-Tailed Kitsune - who quickly let go of the Monster's horns to scamper away - and he slashed the book-Monster's neck. The sealing effect was immediate, her body starting to fade away into the book she had appeared from while the book itself shrunk to normal size once more.
The Monster's sealed form came to rest on top of Four Animists, now completely harmless.
A sigh came from Luka's mouth as he placed his sword on his back and dropped to the floor, falling into a crisscross as he did. 'These Monsters just keep getting weirder and weirder, what type of Monsters even are these?' He wondered as Kitsu kicked the sealed Monster off of Four Animists and Their Sources and brought the book to Luka.
"Are you alright?" The Two-Tailed Kitsune asked, her bright red eyes full of worry as she sat down beside him. Luka paused, looking over Kitsu for a moment. It only struck him at that moment how much different she with him from when they first met. At first, the silver-furred fox didn't even want to sit next to him but now here she was, coming to his side to see if he was hurt or not.
A small smile came to his face, despite the soreness of his legs and back. "Y-Yeah, I'm fine. Mostly." Luka said, looking down at the leather-bound book Kitsu was holding. His smile fell some, knowing that their work wasn't done just yet. There was one more Monster left, and then they'd be done.
Luka lightly sniffed the air, his nose scrunching up as he looked back up to Kitsu again. "Hey, weird question, but do you smell potatoes?" He asked, spurring Kitsu to sit up energetically. "I thought I was the only one!" She exclaimed, "I've been smelling it for a while now." Luka felt a bit relieved that he hadn't been imagining things, glancing around the Library in confusion.
That confusion quickly turned into shock, as he noticed that the smoke that had entered the room was significantly darker now. Luka reached out and grabbed Four Animists from Kitsu, "C-Come on, I think that fire's getting worse. Let's get this last Monster!" He declared while standing from the ground. Kitsu followed him, watching as Luka opened up Four Animists and began flipping through the book.
"Yeah, the last one can't be that tough anyways!" The Two-Tailed Kitsune proclaimed, seemingly trying to raise his spirits some.
Oh, how wrong she would be.
Luka continued flipping from faded page to faded page, getting quick glances at small passages every now and then. At one point, he nearly stopped himself upon reading a title that simply read, "Chi Pa Pa!" but he was able to steer his burning curiosity for the moment to focus on the task at hand. 'I'll be looking for you later though...' Luka mused as he finally went past the first quarter of the book.
Upon doing so, Four Animists and Their Sources flew out of his hand for the third and final time.
For a few moments, the room was silent. So much so that Luka began to wonder if something had gone wrong. Where was the third Monster at? The young Hero took a step forward to prod at the book with Angel Halo but stopped as a head of dark blue hair started to rise out of the book. The face of the head was very pale - almost snow-white - and was framed by a pair of very long and odd-looking ears.
The Monster's dark blue eyes were steeled, staring right at Luka as she continued to rise out of Four Animists. The young Hero felt a pang of concern rise in him as the Monster silently continued to leave the book. Her Librarian-like attire was actually quite modest for a Monster, so much so that if Luka didn't already know she was one, the only indication of her nature would be the odd ears.
On top of the brown button-up vest she wore, was a cute little nametag that had her picture - without glasses - on the front, and by that picture was written "Cornelia" in dark blue lettering. "By order of the Monster Lord, I will not allow you to read this book." Cornelia stated lowly, giving Luka a hard look that offered no room for argument on the matter.
"Y-You see, I really need to read it." Luka stated, finding his nerves rising just a bit for whatever reason. "So, I'd appreciate it if you just, l-let me read it anyways?"
The tense stare down continued, but the Monster did not budge even a centimeter. "As I said, it is forbidden. I'd recommend you forget about doing such a thing, lest you wish to suffer the consequences." Luka gulped, again feeling a strange sense of foreboding. This Cornelia didn't appear to be all that dangerous, but he knew better than to go off appearance alone.
Evidentially, Kitsu did not have this same sense of danger.
"Well, he needs the book, so just hand it over!" She yelled, causing the purple-haired boy she was trying to help to look at the Kitsune nervously. "We already beat your other two friends, so I say you run away while you still have the chance!"
Cornelia did not appreciate this recommendation, her face morphing into a glare.
"I despise loud little brats like you, running around and ruining the wonderful silence of Libraries. I'll make sure to punish you two properly." Cornelia said. And then, the Monster began to rise out of the book again. Slowly, the severity of the situation started to dawn on Luka as the Monster's torso rose and rose, more of her gray body mass being revealed.
Luka gasped as some of the gray gave way to show a fleshy mound of dark red, and with it came numerous pairs of gray tentacles.
Soon, more and more of the tentacles appeared, many of them holding various books inside of their grasps. Luka idly felt as Kitsu shuffled up behind him, having realized the egregiousness of her mistake. However, the worst had not yet come as finally, the horrifying centerpiece of Cornelia's body somehow came out from the book.
That centerpiece being a very large and pulsing vulva.
The horrible sight turned his stomach inside out, Luka feeling his body start to tremble all on its own. Cornelia noticed his distress, adjusting her glasses for a moment before reaching out and grabbing a book from one of her tentacles. "Don't give me that look. You've made your choice, now suffer for it." She stated dismissively, not even watching as her tentacles started to snake over toward Luka and Kitsu.
The young Hero shuffled backward a bit, inadvertently bumping into the silver-furred fox standing behind him. Luka glanced over his shoulder, seeing Kitsu's fear-filled gaze. "G-Get out of here, I-I mean it this time!" He hissed and after a half-second of deliberation, the Kitsune silently dashed away behind a bookcase. Luka quickly turned his attention back to Cornelia, nearly jolting as he noticed that the tentacles were only a few meters away now.
He took a few moments to slow his breathing, fighting against the waves of anxiety that threatened to overtake him. Luka couldn't let the tentacles - or the Monster's large clit - bother him, he needed to get a grip and focus. 'Just ignore it, I can't keep letting that bother me so much!'
Luka's pale-blue eyes darted between the offending limbs, forcing himself to stay calm and wait for any movement. Not even a second later, one of them shot out towards him and Luka cut at the tentacle without hesitation, cutting deep into it. The large Monster let out a small hum and pulled back the limb in response but did not even glance at the young Hero, keeping her dark blue eyes on the book she was reading.
Two more tentacles flew towards Luka, and he was able to successfully slash at both of them, cutting a part of the end off of one of them in the process. The purple-haired boy watched in confusion as Cornelia kept her eyes down, flipping through the pages almost nonchalantly as Luka defended against her attacks.
'She's just messing around with me.' Luka thought, watching as her tentacles began to leisurely slither in his direction. Just then, it dawned on him how similar this felt to when he fought Nanabi. The Seven-Tails had begun similarly, using more tails each time she attacked him. If Cornelia was indeed using a similar tactic, then she would certainly keep adding more tentacles with each subsequent attack.
Except this Monster had much more than just seven tentacles.
Luka was put on the backpedal once more as - like he had deduced - Cornelia sent three tentacles towards him. However, the young Hero wasn't about to let her dictate the pace.
"Thunder Thrust!"
Using what was quickly becoming one of his most effective techniques, Luka charged past Cornelia's tentacles and aimed Angel Halo right for the Monster's torso. Unlike his other attacks, Thunder Thrust elicited a gasp of pain from the much larger Monster. Before she could react, the young Hero quickly darted around her tentacles, only stopping once he was well out of Cornelia's reach.
"So," She began while closing the book. "You aren't nearly as weak as you appear to be..." Luka frowned at the backhanded compliment but did not respond, instead keeping his attention strictly on Cornelia's writhing tentacles. One of these drew closer to the Monster, holding out a book to herself. Cornelia exchanged the two, opening the new book in earnest. "...No matter, you won't be getting much farther than this."
Luka watched as the Monster glanced over the book's passages, mumbling quietly to herself. The young Hero felt a bit confused as Cornelia made no attempts to attack him. Luka very nearly went in to attack but was stopped by her sudden closing of the book. "Now, let's end this." She said, adjusting her glasses once more.
"Eye of Paralysis."
The young Hero watched as Cornelia's eyes flashed bright-blue, the spell washing over him in an instant. However, while Luka felt his mind and body become sluggish, Luka was not paralyzed. Not knowing to the contrary, Cornelia assumed that the young Hero was now trapped and moved in to attack. Not even bothering to watch, the Monster reached to another tentacle and swapped out books once more, "Now, where was I?..." She asked out loud.
Luka - unknowingly with the aid of his dormant Angelic power - fought against the effects of the spell, being able to move his limbs to a certain degree. However, it almost felt as though he was wading through chest-high water.
The young Hero grimaced as the tentacles drew closer, having to strain just to raise Angel Halo up to waist-level. Luka glanced up at Cornelia once more, finding that the book-Monster was - once again - paying him no heed. Luka managed to muster enough strength to place one foot forward and called upon another one of his techniques.
"Demon Decapitation!"
The power of his attack briefly caused him to break out of the Monster's spell and sprint right for her! Cornelia snapped from her reading, and her dark blue eyes widened in alarm as a purple blur leaped from the ground in front of her and swung up toward her head! The Monster felt Luka's blade cut along her throat, leaving a large ugly scar running across her neck.
Luka tumbled on the ground after flying past her, not having nearly enough control over his body to make a proper landing. Instead, the young Hero started skidding across the ground, coming to a stop only once he collided with a stray bookshelf. A pain-filled grunt left Luka's mouth once hit the bookcase back-first, but the purple-haired boy swiftly began fighting to his feet.
Cornelia began to turn, her furious gaze settling on the slowly rising Luka. "That's enough! I'm through playing with you, boy." The blue-haired Monster grabbed yet another book from one of her tentacles, reading through it as Luka finally got to his feet. The young Hero felt himself in dire straits, now waiting for whatever the Monster's next move would be.
In no time, Cornelia slammed the book closed and peered at Luka with a sinister gleam. "Now this will put you out for good." She stated before her eyes flashed once more.
"Eye of Submission."
Luka froze, this spell having a much stronger effect on him than the last. "Haha..." Cornelia chuckled, gradually crawling towards the now-panicking purple-haired boy. "...Now you're mine. Let's see, how about I have you drop your sword?" Just like that, Angel Halo dropped from Luka's hands, clattering onto the floor below. This elicited another laugh from the Monster.
"Good, now be a good boy and take off your pants for me." Cornelia commanded. Luka's pale-blue eyes widened in fear, his mind internally yelling at himself to stop despite the buzzing that filled his head. The young Hero felt his arms move on their own, reaching down to his belt before they suddenly stopped. Luka looked down, seeing his arms tremble as they hung there, halfway to his waist.
Somehow, he was starting to fight off the spell.
Cornelia noticed this with a touch of alarm, "W-What? Did you not hear what I said? Take off your pants!" The urge to obey the Monster's command hit him once more, but again his hands stopped just short of completing the act as Luka's Angelic side forced away the command.
"N-NO!" Luka was able to force out of his gritted teeth, desperately trying to will the Monster's spell off of him. However, this only proved to infuriate Cornelia.
"You little urchin!" She yelled out, sending out a tentacle to rush him. A scream came from Luka's throat as it wrapped around his leg, the limb painfully ripping him off his feet and lifting him into the air with ease. Cornelia held the purple-haired boy upside down, keeping him high above the ground while she pulled him close. "I don't know how you've been resisting my spells, but it won't do you any good now!" The Monster proclaimed, lifting her many writhing limbs into the air.
Luka could do little more than watch as the tentacles neared, the sight of their writhing creating knots in his stomach. The young Hero felt himself nearing the edge of hysteria as the awful tentacles drew closer, the sight reminding him of the awful sights that would plague his nightmares. Except this time, the sight was all too real, and there wasn't any hope of waking up right before he was violated.
"Fox Ninpo: Spinning Wheel!"
From out of nowhere, the white nightshirt-clad form of Kitsu flew up to Cornelia's head. The book-Monster - who had been focused on overwhelming Luka - had not noticed the Two-Tailed Kitsune warily climbing onto one of the still-standing bookshelves nearby. And so, Kitsu was left with an open shot of Cornelia's unguarded face.
The silver-furred fox ended a quite graceful spin with a stiff kick to the bridge of Cornelia's nose, shattering the Monster's reading lens in the process and sending the glass shards into her eyes.
"RAAAAA!" The agonized scream of Cornelia filled the second floor of the Library, the sheer volume of it even capturing the attention of a certain Monster Lord down below.
Luka was quickly released from the grip of Cornelia, who was now frantically grabbing at her face, though the damage had already been done. However, this did not mean all was well for the young Hero either, as his fall to the ground wasn't much better of an injury.
"A-AH!" The yell left Luka's mouth as he smacked back-first onto the unforgiving ground of the Library, the meeting of flesh and floor. The young Hero tried to move but his limbs reacted painfully slow to his commands, the combined effort of Cornelia's attack and his crash to the floor making any movement incredibly difficult.
The sound of flailing tentacles that had already been filling his ears became accompanied by the sound of quick stomping, and then the anxious face of Kitsu filled his eyesight. The silver-furred fox didn't waste any time getting down to Luka's side, hurriedly trying to pull the boy to his feet. "Get up, get up!" She pleaded, wrapping her arms below his arms as she attempted to lift the larger boy up.
Luka struggled to his feet, his breathing coming out quick and sharp as pain flared in his back. The young Hero practically hobbled as Kitsu tried frantically to lead him away from the thrashing Cornelia, the pair able to make it behind one of the farther-off bookcases. Luka slumped back first against the bookcase, closing his eyes in exhaustion.
"W-Where's my sword at?" Luka asked, opening his pale-blue eyes to glance at the Kitsu. The Two-Tailed Kitsune is question stared at the young Hero incredulously, "Y-You're gonna go fight her again after that!?" Kitsu surprised Luka by stepping forward and grabbing him by the shoulders. "Are you freakin' insane!?" She exclaimed, shaking him vigorously.
"K-Kitsu, I can't let this," Luka stressed, nodding in the direction of Cornelia, "I can't let this go on without doing something. I'm a Hero, so if I can do something to stop her, I will!" The young Hero tried to move but Kitsu did not let go, "B-But you can't!"
Luka shook his head, "I have to! I can't leave this Monster to rampage in here, she'll end up killing people!" He argued, trying to move from her grip. Again, Kitsu stopped him, nearly shoving him back into the bookcase, "B-But if you go back out there, then you'll die!" Kitsu fired back. Luka paused, only just now noticing how much the silver-furred fox was trembling.
"A-And I don't w-want you to die." Kitsu admitted, her fingers practically digging into Luka's shoulders with how fiercely they were balled up. Luka couldn't muster a reply for a while, having been stunned into silence at the Kitsune's unexpectedly emotional response. "K-Kitsu..." Luka tried to begin but was quickly cut off by Cornelia.
CRAASH
Luka and Kitsu both jumped as a nearby bookcase was flung into the marble wall of the Library, the sheer impact shaking the entire second floor of the Library. "Where are you, you vile fox!? I'll strangle you with your own tails for what you did to my eyes!" Cornelia howled, striking out at another bookcase and sending it flying as well.
The two forgot about the tense moment they had just had, both of them peering around the bookcase to see the rampaging Monster.
Indeed, Kitsu's attack had to have done significant damage to Cornelia's eyes, as the Monster kept one of her white sleeves - now stained red with blood - up to her face. Nevertheless, the brutal wound didn't keep her from sending out her tentacles all around, doggedly searching around the second floor of the Library. However, this was not the only sight that Luka saw, for the smoke filing into the room was starting to darken.
'This isn't good, the fire must be getting even closer to the Library. I need to get us out of here!' Luka thought, his anxiety rising even more by this discovery.
Luka didn't stop to muse it for a moment longer and turned around to face Kitsu. The silver-furred fox looked up at him, her bright red eyes practically begging him not to go. The purple-haired boy chewed at the inside of his mouth before grabbing her hand and pulling Kitsu away from Cornelia. Kitsu didn't object to this, following quickly as he led them toward the opposite side of the raging Monster behind them.
On the way over, Luka caught sight of Angel Halo and suddenly turned to retrieve his sword.
The duo of Hero and Kitsune stumbled as another crash was heard, Cornelia having smashed another bookcase in her search for the two. Luka gritted his teeth, silently lamenting how many ancient books were being destroyed in the onslaught. The purple-haired boy quickly grabbed Angel Halo, pulling Kitsu behind him as he turned to face Cornelia.
Luka ran his anxious pale-blue eyes over the Monster's flailing tentacles, trying to figure out some plan of attack. Surely, the now blinded Monster wouldn't be able to easily counter any of his attacks, but the ferocity of her tentacles made any head-on attack seem unwise. 'However, if I was able to get high enough...' Luka mused, looking to the tops of the bookcases around him.
The young Hero turned to the silver-furred fox beside him, who was already looking like she was going to object. Luka's mouth went thin, trying to figure out a way to placate Kitsu. Eventually, he settled on doing something he had sworn not to do.
"Kitsu, I'm going to go finish this, so don't try and stop me." Luka said, putting a hand on her shoulder to keep her from arguing further, "But I promise that nothing bad will happen to me." The words felt awful coming out of his mouth, Luka knowing well that making such a promise was a terrible idea, especially in this situation. However, he couldn't have Kitsu trying to stop him.
The Two-Tailed Kitsune searched his face for a while, not seeming very comforted by his words. Even so, she gave him a nod all the same "O-Okay, I believe you." Luka felt his stomach stir terribly as he turned away from her, quickly dashing to the nearest bookshelf and climbing up its side. Kitsu watched on as Luka scaled the bookcase, her uneasy ted eyes looking between him and Cornelia.
Luka made it to the top, shakily coming to his feet after pulling himself up. His pale-blue eyes glanced up to Cornelia, who was lurching closer toward his position. "When I find you horrid cretins, I'll wring your necks out!" The Monster bellowed, one of her larger tentacles wrapping around a bookcase and squeezing down, shattering its wooden frame and shelves. Luka watched the sight warily, imagining how painful it would feel if it was him.
Luka shook as he began shuffling towards the end of his bookshelf, lightly hopping from its top to the top of another one. He kept up this steady path, getting within meters of his target. Cornelia, with blood still pouring from her cut eyes, was unaware of the young Hero's approach, growling to herself as her tentacles kept searching low for him and Kitsu.
Finally, Luka found himself at an adequate distance and began honing his magic in preparation for his next attack. He forced his breathing to slow, aiming Angel Halo down towards Cornelia.
And then, he jumped.
"DEMON SKULL BEHEADING!"
Cornelia attempted to respond to the attack, turning to face the general area where Luka's yell had come from, but the effort would be in vain. Angel Halo came crashing onto Cornelia's head, the rounded tip digging deep into the Monster's shoulder. The sheer power of the impact actually shook the second floor as Cornelia yelled out a curse.
Creak
In fact, it was powerful enough to rupture the floor below.
SNAAAAP
The supports of the second floor actually snapped, causing the very floorboards beneath them to buckle and give out! Both Luka and Cornelia fell through the floor, Kitsu watching in horror as the whole thing unfolded. At some point during the fall, the young Hero bounced off of the much larger Monster's body, flying off to the side and into another bookcase.
"AAAAHHHH!"
Before he had time to even register his pain, Cornelia's screech assaulted his ears, and he turned to see that the Monster was quickly becoming covered in flames!
'Wait, flames?' Luka glanced around, noting in confusion that the first floor of the Library had a trail of fire going through it. 'Oh no, that must mean that the fire has reached the Library! Is there even a way out now!?' Before he had time to think about this further, the purple-haired boy heard Cornelia's flailing stop and turned his head just in time to see the Monster fading away, somehow having become sealed.
"L-Luka, LUKA!" Kitsu's yell broke him from the strange observation, and he glanced to see the worried face of his fox friend staring down at him. Luka raised a hand to his mouth and replied, "I'm alright, just get down quick!" Kitsu quickly disappeared from sight, spurring Luka to move to his feet. It was a difficult process though, due to his overwhelming exhaustion.
The purple-haired boy eventually made it to his feet, having to awkwardly bend his back due to pain shooting through his body. Luka pushed through it, stumbling out from underneath the second floor of the Library while placing Angel Halo on his back. As he did, the young Hero glanced up to the entrance of the room...
...Which was completely fire-less?
"H-Huh?" Luka stuttered out, having expected to see smoke and flame at the entrance.
"Fuck, fuck, FUCK!" A very familiar voice cursed quietly.
Slowly, Luka turned his head to the side, his whole body freezing up in shock to see Alice. His traveling partner was attempting to stomp out a small section of fire that had erupted in a pile of books. At the center of this bonfire of papers was a clearly overdone potato. Luka twitched, remaining silent for only a few more moments before snapping from his stupor.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Luka screamed, his uncharacteristic loudness actually causing Alice to yelp and turn to the purple-haired boy.
The two stared at each other in shock for a few seconds before the disguised Lamia offered a rather meek reply. "Well, I got hungry, so I grabbed some potatoes from the kitchen. And, erm..." Alice glanced back at her handiwork, the flames only rising higher. "...It's not working out so well." She finished, turning back at Luka.
Luka - unable to hide his frustration now - grabbed at his hair with both hands. "S-So you decided to burn down the Library!?" Again, Alice had to take a few moments to reply, the severity of the situation perhaps a bit clearer to her now. "No, that wasn't really my intention. It just kind of happened."
Alice's reply left Luka speechless, his physical and mental exhaustion becoming too great for him to overcome at this point. The purple-haired boy gazed around, taking in the complete and utter wreckage done to the once proud Library of San Ilia.
The second floor was in ruins, more bookcases being knocked over than not. That, combined with the rather large hole in the floor, made the upper level completely devastated. Then there was the fire spreading below, the flames having covered a third of the bottom floor already. Even worse than that, was the fact that this fire was slowly crawling up the support beams to the already ruined second floor.
At that moment, Kitsu came rushing down the staircase with his traveling bag over her shoulder. The silver-furred fox came rushing up to Luka, stopping just short of smashing into him as she took notice of his and Alice's expressions. Kitsu followed Luka's gaze, beholding the utter chaos going on in the Library.
"W-Well," Kitsu started, "At least everything's still-..."
Creak
SNAP
And like that, the support columns collapsed and the whole top floor collapsed. Numerous bookcases came sliding down, the thunderous crash followed by a large cloud of dust and smoke. The sheer ferocity of the impact shook the ground floor, rattling the trio. Eventually, the shockwave subsided, leaving Luka and his party to watch the dust settle.
"...-standing." Kitsu finished with a low murmur.
Funnily enough, the collapse of the upper floor had snuffed up most of the flame, leaving only bits and pieces of Alice's original fire behind. However, this did little to make Luka feel better. The young Hero couldn't muster out a short, dismayed whine at the sight, his disposition at an all-time low. He slowly turned away from the sight, shaking his head as he did.
Luka's gaze met Kitsu's as she shuffled up, holding out his traveling bag. "I-I made sure to grab this for you." She offered, holding out the bag to him. The purple-haired boy took the bag with a quiet "Thanks" and put it over his shoulder. As nice as the gesture was, it didn't really make him feel that much better. And just as he thought things couldn't get worse...
"Come on, I think that crash came from the Library!" A voice yelled from behind.
All three tensed up for different reasons, Kitsu being the first to move as she quickly unzipped Luka's traveling bag and dove inside. The young Hero himself whirled around to the entrance with wide eyes. The Captain of the guard rushed down the stairs with a few more men. "B-By the Goddess!" The Captain exclaimed, the others behind him holding similar expressions of shock and horror.
The man's disbelieving eyes fell onto Luka, and he quickly marched down the rest of the steps. "Hero Luka, what happened here? Why is the Library in ruins!?" Even though the man wasn't accusing Luka, the purple-haired boy felt as though he might as well have been. Luka glanced back to the flame-riddled Library. For a split-second, his gaze met Alice, who actually seemed to look somewhat regretful now.
Luka frowned and looked back to the Captain, "W-Well, you see..." Luka began, mind racing as he tried to find a decent explanation. He couldn't just tell them that he fought Monsters that had been placed in the Library by the Monster Lord herself, that would certainly cause significant and widespread panic. He also didn't want to rat out Alice, for blaming everything on the disguised Lamia just wasn't true or fair.
But he had to give some sort of explanation and so, begrudgingly, Luka had to double back to his previous lie about Granberia.
"...M-My suspicions from before were correct, you see. F-For I found Monsters in here that had come with Granberia! Th-They already had the place half-wrecked when I got here and unfortunately our battle made things even worse. I-I'm sorry, sir." Luka fought the urge to slap himself for making up such a terrible lie. His heart couldn't justify such a blatant lie, even if it was about someone as terrifying as the Heavenly Knight of Fire.
Nonetheless, the Captain of the guard seemed to accept it, "No need to apologize, you did everything you could and then some..." The Captain said, his sorrowful eyes rising to the growing fire. "...Alright, men, put out the fire first and then we'll save what we can!"
Luka sighed as the men ran past, feeling his heart fall even more now. 'To lie so easily like that to an authority of San Ilia, what would Ilias think of me?' The thought only helped to make the purple-haired boy even more disheartened, the frown that had been growing getting even deeper now. Eventually, Luka decided that it was time to leave, making way for the Library's doors with his head hung low.
Alice watched him leave with a frown of her own, suddenly not feeling quite so hungry anymore.
And so ends another chapter, this time with Luka and Alice on somewhat uneasy terms now. Kitsu, on the other hand, is successfully making herself more useful to Luka while maybe showing signs of caring just a bit more deeply than before.
But don't worry, things will smooth out between our two protagonists soon enough.
F14M3RZ: Having so many Monsters around certainly is starting to eat away at Luka, slowly but surely. That combined with Ilias breathing down his back, this struggle will eventually start taking a toll on his mental health for sure. Especially as he eventually starts getting even closer with Alice.