“Alright! Huh? Why are you guys just sitting on the floor doing nothing? Let’s go!”

Lucille shot the humanoid snake a flat look as even Hargrave looked at the serpent with mild exasperation. Lucy held up the fruit natural treasure in her hand. “If you want to skip breakfast, then sure, we can leave now.”

Scytale’s expression froze and he hastily ran over to sit down. “No, no, I can be patient. Gimme.” He snatched the food from her hand as if fearing she’d withdraw it, making her roll her eyes.

But it was true that they needed to move soon, so Lucy closed her eyes to concentrate on what she saw in her perception field. She opened up the Tier II Realm Quest to check what objectives they had already completed.

[Realm Quest - Ancient Dungeon Discovery Tier II (Dusky Undercroft Dungeon of Synadis):]

* Investigate the first three zones of the Dusky Undercroft Dungeon of Synadis:

* Kill 50 monsters on the second level of the Dungeon: COMPLETE (50/50)

* Defeat the three zone bosses of the second level: INCOMPLETE (2/3)

* Kill a zone boss with an attack of its element: INCOMPLETE]

Hargrave’s only affinity is blood and I don’t think he’s ever tried to use the other elements, and as a magical beast, Scytale is incapable of using any element outside of light and illusion. Illusion earth magic wouldn’t count to complete the last task.

That leaves it up to me.

She closed the Quest Log and returned her attention to the other members of her party. It was clear the Dungeon either recognised them or recognised Hargrave’s higher level because it hadn’t sent nearly as many monsters after them when they progressed through the explored areas. That meant when it came to the unexplored level, they were faced with hordes of higher-level creatures.

Lucy and Scytale didn’t gain more than one or two levels during the time they had been with Hargrave. Mostly because he had the highest contribution, so he gained a lot of their experience. They hadn’t come down there for experience anyway, and with the Adventurer Quest rewards entering her and her bond’s pockets soon, they didn’t have a problem. What they were doing was taking the time to get used to their abilities better, with Hargrave to help them if the danger got too high.

As for Hargrave… she watched Scytale ask the scarlet-haired man about the combat abilities of Glory Pantheon. Lucille had a very strong suspicion that Hargrave wasn’t that interested in the Quest rewards, but rather in them. She understood why, and couldn’t care less what he discovered as long as he didn’t decide she was to be included in his revenge.

He was a man that even the Hero couldn’t defeat without the aid of hundreds of Guilds.

Although, he won’t be considered a ‘man’ for much longer. In three months he’ll become a magical beast with a draconic bloodline. At least… I think he’ll be a magical beast. I’m not sure if his skill means he’ll only take on their appearance and abilities or whether he’ll go through biological changes too.

She shook her head and stood up as Scytale began to try to argue with Hargrave. The ex-mercenary was rather compliant and didn’t respond in the way the snake wanted, making her bond try to poke at him more. It was a useless endeavour.

“Have you finished your food?” she asked the snake.

Scytale blinked and looked up at her, and then nodded. “Yup. Ready to go and finish up this level!”

Lucy glanced at the third member of their group. “And you, Hargrave?”

He stood up, his spear in hand. “Let’s go.”

She nodded and closed her eyes, concentrating on her spiritual energy. With a quick manipulation of the power, their camp was packed and stored in her dimensional bag. After that, they left the shade of the purifying palm they were under, ready to face the next Dungeon Scion.

…

Scytale whistled as they walked through the damp cellar-like rooms, feeling relaxed after Lucy had told them that she couldn’t detect any monsters approaching them. Hargrave was still wary, yet to completely trust in her perception’s strength, but he wasn’t as cautious as he was when they first began delving. Lucy studied the status pages of her weapons as they walked.

“Apophis excels at draining the power of his enemies…” she murmured. She glanced at Hargrave. “Hargrave, are you familiar with combat styles that are built on the ability to sap an enemy of their power?”

“Hm…” The red-haired man furrowed his brows slightly as he considered it. “To a certain extent, yes. My own blood manipulation abilities steal blood away from the people I’ve wounded, which allows me to further enhance my attacks.” He shot her a look. “Is this something related to you?”

She nodded, taking care to step over the fallen stone pillar in front of her. “My demonic blade can absorb energy from those around me, and power both weapons with it. But I’m not certain whether that changes how I should fight.”

“Normally, I’d say that for your situation, it would help you win protracted battles, but…” Hargrave studied her. “That might not be best when it comes to your abilities.”

“Slow and steady isn’t my forte,” she said with slight amusement. Lucy closed the screens and sighed. “I’m closer to knowing what type of movement skill I want, but still unsure how to make it applicable to combat.” Then she frowned. “I’ll need to begin doing lots of athletic activities to gain the tertiary skills.”

For some reason, her response made Hargrave give her a strange look. “But Commission Head, aren’t you-”

“Oh, sorry Hargrave.” She unsheathed her two blades and held them out. “We’ve got incoming in the form of flying bat monsters. We’ll have to continue this discussion later.”

He gripped his spear and got into a stance, but he wasn’t going to attack unless Lucy and Scytale couldn’t deal with the difficulty. Scytale hissed as he turned into his Primal Descendant form while Lucille warped her mana around the two swords, planning on trying something new.

“Let’s see if this has any effect,” she said, narrowing her eyes.

The monsters screeched as they flew around the corner, their thick black fur fused with jagged stone shards that could rend flesh. The six giant bats screamed and dived at them.

[Lesser Monstrous Cavern Bat – Lvl. 87]

[Lesser Monstrous Cavern Bat – Lvl. 90]

[Lesser Monstrous Cavern Bat – Lvl. 85]

[Lesser Monstrous Cavern Ba………..]

[Lesser Monstrous Cavern……]

[Lesser Monstrous Ca…]

Lucille accelerated her thoughts for one split second so she could see if anything would stop her attack, and then she extended Apophis. Encasing the long spinning blade in hissing flames of fire mana, Lucy swung the blade from side to side, catching three of the bats in their side and slamming into the room wall. Besides the normal additional damage from Apophis’s half-segments, extra damage was added because of the searing wounds left behind by the heated weapon.

The damage was better than she expected, but she had to grimace and let the flames die, feeling physically and mentally drained.

No, the mana consumption is way too high for something that reduces the fire mana and consequently STR of my own body. I can’t keep the stat amplification while the manipulation is ongoing.

The burnt bats picked themselves up from the wall and flew at her with another screech. She withdrew Apophis and lengthened Ouroboros this time for greater accuracy, as the bats weren’t close enough now for her to injure them all.

The other three uninjured bats had flown after Scytale, instinctually sensing he was weaker than Hargrave. Scytale hadn’t been lax on the trip and had learnt a few buffs from Lucy, enabling him to enhance himself to an extent.

Casting an ice spell on the closest bat with the hopes of slowing it down, she wielded Ouroboros’s oscillating body to strike at its shoulder, putting its wing out of action. It screeched as it hit the ground but before she could kill it the other two attacked at the same time.

Ouroboros snapped back into place, just in time to uncurl and form the reflective dome of her shield skill. The rays of reflected damage she had conserved during the last few days burst out with sky-blue light and pierced through the bodies of the beasts. She was careful to redirect the attack from her party members, to deal more damage to the monsters and to prevent them from getting hurt.

The wounded monster bats tried to fly at her again. Even the one with the injured wing could still attack her, their CON too high for her to deal sufficient damage. Even though she seemed to have the upper hand at the start… if she didn’t have the power to back up her attacks, then it would all be for nothing. A frustrated hiss behind her made her glance at her bond.

“These stupid things! They’re like flies! But… really big flies! Flies that bite!” He swatted one away with his tail but it didn’t do anything to the bat besides cause it to fly back to him. “Crap, my mana is being drained too quickly from the Colossus Armament. Hargrave!”

Lucille rolled her eyes at the dramatic cries of the snake, while Hargrave calmly nodded and walked forward with his spear. His amber eyes glowed red as he raised it and crimson blood mana manifested to coil around the weapon.

The red-haired man gripped the spear above his head and threw it, punching fist-sized holes through three of the bats attacking Lucy in one go. In his other hand, a duplicate spear of blood appeared. He ran forward and then jumped, skewering a bat in the air and then he snatched the demonic spear that had returned to him. The blood spear shattered into splinter-shaped drops of scarlet liquid, taken from the blood of the skewered bat, which with barely a gesture from Hargrave bombarded the two remaining bats. Dealt multiple high-pressure attacks from the drops, they collapsed to the ground with what looked like multiple bullet wounds.

[User Hargrave has slain Lesser Monstrous Cavern Bat – Lvl. 87]

[User Hargrave has slain Lesser Monstrous Cavern Bat – Lvl. 90]

[User Hargrave has slain Lesser Monstrous Cavern Bat – Lvl. 85]

[User Hargrave has slain Lesser Monstrous Cavern B…..]

[User Hargrave has slain Lesser Monstrous Cav…...]

[User Hargrave has slain Lesser M…..]

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

[+24 xp]

Lucy shook her head wryly.

The System didn’t even bother to show me the experience of Apophis and Ouroboros. He has to have impeccable control over the blood element to create a blood weapon as strong as that. A true ‘Patriarch of Blood’ indeed.

She was shaken from her musings when a strange noise came from the winged serpent of the group. Scytale was twisting his head back and forth, trying to inspect his white-gold wings to see the extent of the bloodstains on his feathers.

“Nooo! My beautiful feathers! My precious plumes! They’ve been dyed with the disgusting bodily fluids of those horrendous monsters! And now that there’s blood mana mixed into them I can’t even get rid of it with my light element bestial aura!”

Hargrave hesitated, looking awkward. “Uh… I’m sorry, I should’ve-”

“Don’t you dare apologise for making sure Scytale got out of there alive.” Lucy walked past the nonplussed red-haired man to whack the back of her bond’s head, who had turned back into his human form. “And quit pretending to make such a fuss about blood. I didn’t see you caring about it last time we were here, so don’t bring it up now.”

The snake clicked his tongue. “Let me have my theatrics! You always get to be showy and draw attention, why can’t I get to complain about my wings getting dirt-” His words were interrupted by a splash of water from the spell Lucy had cast at him to clean off the blood, making him cough and splutter.

As Lucille walked past Hargrave, she jerked a thumb in her bond’s direction and cocked an eyebrow at the man. “I told you, didn’t I? He rarely has anything important to say.”

“…hmm,” he replied, eyeing the snake with bemusement.

Lucy stretched her arms above her head, relieving them of the tension they had been under during the fight. She gestured to the doorway ahead of the other two. “Shall we continue?”

They nodded and began following her again through the tunnel, the stone floor slick with water trickling down from the walls. With only an hour’s journey left until they reached the boss's room, Lucille decided to continue discussing her movement skill with Hargrave.

“I recall you were about to say something before the monsters interrupted us,” she said to him, looking at him curiously. “If you can remember, I’d like to know what it is you were going to say. As an experienced warrior, I’m sure you have a far better idea of how to gain better movement skills than I do.”

“Oh, well…” He gave her a strange look for some reason. “I was remembering what you told me about how you always act a certain way to play into other people’s expectations even when you don’t need to. I originally thought that a skill that did that explained why your movements are highly exact, but if you’re saying that’s not because of a skill…”

Lucille froze on the spot, staring at him. It was only after Hargrave took another step that he noticed her reaction. “…Commission Head?”

Scytale cocked an eyebrow at her and checked her thoughts to see what was wrong. Then he threw his head back and laughed.

Lucy quickly gained a scowl and glared at her bond, but he leaned on his knees as he continued laughing. “The genius Lucille Goldcroft never considered the fact that she’s been using a movement ability this entire time! Oh, how funny is that? She’s been irritated this entire time thinking about how to make this work without using battle skills, and then all it takes is someone who does use battle skills and killing intent to point out she’s been doing something similar all along!”

“Scytale just shut it.” She frowned and rubbed her temples as she considered it. “I suppose my mental constructs that maximise the efficiency of my actions could count as a form of movement enhancement ability, but as I’ve never gained a skill because of it, it didn’t occur to me…” Lucy placed a hand on her chin as she began to pace in deep thought. “After all, it’s something I’ve built up over time through very small increments. Changing my pace, learning how to breathe better, planning the procedure for each of my motions before they’re carried out…”

Just as Scytale was planning on stepping forward to take her out of her thoughts she snapped her fingers and smiled. “This will be far better than what I had originally planned. I’m familiar with it and it only needs the metaphysical enhancement from influence to ensure the efficiency of my movements is amplified beyond what I can do with my mind.” She turned to the confused Hargrave. “Thank you for bringing this to my attention, although I’m sure you’re still very confused as to why I’m reacting this way.”

“…you could say that,” he said with bemusement.

Lucy nodded. “Right.” She smirked and turned back towards the doorway, beginning to walk again. “I’ll have to use your help to realise this skill.”

“I’m sure you’ll- wait, my help?”

Hargrave stared at her as she happily continued forward, feeling much more content now she could see a path forward. “No time for that discussion now. We have a Dungeon Scion to kill and a Quest to finish.” Her smirk grew wider. “But before we do anything, we’ll need to deal with these intruders I’ve just spotted with my perception field. And this time, it’s the human kind.”

…

They walked as silently as they could through the hallways, not knowing what type of abilities the party ahead had. All Lucy knew was that they weren’t allowed to be in the Dungeon yet. They were illegal entrants. Then Scytale sent her a mental message.

‘I’m pretty sure you could’ve dealt some decent damage to those bats from all the stats Ouroboros has been collecting from these high-level monsters.’

Possibly, but the stat collection ability of my blades is something I don’t want to reveal just yet. It wasn’t what we originally came here for anyway.

‘That’s not to say it isn’t a massive bonus.’

Well…

She had been gaining a significant amount of physical stats on the last level. She supposed that anything she had even the slightest part in attacking allowed Ouroboros to drain the stats of the dead creature. But Apophis could also drain the mana and spiritual energy of those she was fighting, so did Ouroboros’s ability to reconstitute stats and skills from those she killed to use the same drain element of the demonic weapon’s skills?

If she could get an item that allowed Apophis to transfer the drained mana to Ouroboros, it might allow her spiritual weapon to gain skill shards from anyone she fought. It was a small possibility, but it was there.

It was something to think about later. They had approached the final room before the boss room and now had to consider how they would deal with the adventurer party of three within that room, fighting the final boss of the level.

“So, from what I can see…” Lucille raised her fingers to count on them. “There are three men and one woman, four people total. The woman is a fire mage, two of the men are warrior-manipulators, one fire and one earth, and the third man is a rogue with the dark element. As for the Dungeon Scion, it’s another bat. They’ve got it down to half its health.”

“Can you estimate their average levels?” Hargrave asked seriously.

She hummed as she analysed their auras. “Roughly Level 80. The boss is Level 90.”

Scytale glared at the door separating them from the room beyond. “Great, so if they kill that thing then we’ll have to wait.. what, three days until the Scion reforms? All our work to get through the Dungeon quickly will be ruined and we’ll have to wait to finish the Quest.” He frowned slightly. “How did they get past us without us finding them either?”

“They probably took the path of most stupidity and used an item to dig down here,” she replied dryly. “Now that the Dungeon knows of that weakness, they won’t be able to repeat the process, nor escape without fighting their way back through the upper level.”

“…what do you want to do about them?” Hargrave asked.

Lucille smirked and spread her arms in a shrug. “We’ll wait and see. When the monster’s health gets low enough, I’ll cast an earth spell and steal their kill.” She glanced at the door. “I think they want to obtain the first kill Adventurer Quest reward.”

Scytale grinned. “And then what? We attack?”

Lucy crossed her arms and leaned against a nearby wall. “Only if they don’t regret their actions. Scytale.” She gave him a wide smile. “Leave this one to me.”

He snickered and shook his head. “As you wish.”

Her eyes moved over to Hargrave, who was looking uncomfortable. She had her suspicions as to why he was acting that way, with him likely knowing how the adventurers would react and what would need to be done.

But Lucy hadn’t enjoyed relying on him for protection the last few days, so if there was one thing she wanted to do, it was to prove that Hargrave didn’t need to step in when it came to her specialty: the races.

…

“Ravelle! It’s your chance!” shouted the fire warrior.

The red-haired fire mage smirked and raised her staff. “Flamebolt!”

The coiling beam of fire rushed towards the giant monstrous bat, its body covered in numerous gashes. With a powerful roar of heated energy, it looked like it would turn the beast to ash right there on the spot.

But then a cool, female voice sounded out behind the party. “Arcane Blockade.”

The hexagonal blue shield that appeared in front of the Dungeon Scion absorbed the impact, its runes glowing red. The shield fractured, revealing that the spell didn’t manage to hit the bat.

The female mage and two warriors turned to see a young woman with dark hair and one strange violently violet eye watching them, the other hidden behind a mask. The woman raised a black-gloved hand to point at the beast.

“Mountainous Descent.”

Earth mana beamed from the ten-layered spell she cast, directed to the air above the monster. They watched as a jagged boulder of stone formed above the beast, and with the woman pointing a single finger downwards, the colossal rock smashed into the Dungeon Scion. They stared at the smashed, bloody remains of rock and beast as the earth mana rocks dissipated back into pure energy.

[Users Lucille Goldcroft has slain Lesser Monstrous Cavern Bat Leader – Lvl. 90]

[Dungeon Scion Lesser Monstrous Cavern Bat Leader of the Dusky Undercroft Dungeon of Synadis has been killed]

[Exploration Progress +0.05%]

[New! Exploration Progress: 2%]

The room descended into silence as the party took in the appearance of Lucille. She smiled and tilted her head when met with their gazes.

The leader of the party, the fire-element warrior, scowled and looked around for the rogue among them. “Hey, Skail! Oi! You were supposed to be on the alert for any more monsters or people here!” He scowled deeper when there was no response. “Skail?!”

The party’s attention was drawn when the sound of two more pairs of footsteps was heard from behind Lucille. A young boy with gold, slitted eyes and a tall, well-built man with choppy and uneven red hair walked in, a spear in his right hand. Lying across the man’s shoulders was a third person, dressed in dark gear and unconscious. Hargrave dropped the man to the ground where he slumped, eyes rolling into the back of his head.

“Lucy, I dealt with the rogue! I can’t carry him in my human form or snake form though so I got Hargrave to help!” Scytale yelled.

Lucille smirked and placed a hand on her hip as the rest of the party members slowly turned to look at her. She withdrew Apophis and lazily spun the dagger in the air and caught it again, waiting for the enemy party to say something.

The brown-haired fire warrior stepped forward, frowning at her. “Who are you lot?”

Lucy smiled wider. “Who are you?”

The fire mage shot her a glare as the warrior frowned again. The second warrior, the user of the earth element, was just studying her solemnly.

“Fine then. If you won’t answer me…” He raised his sword and pointed it at her. “What do you want? You’ve already stolen the first kill reward. No Heretic item has formed. There should be nothing else worth doing in here.”

“What do I want?” Lucy narrowed her eyes. “I want to know what you are doing in this Dungeon.”

The red-haired woman scoffed as the man in the front rolled his eyes. “Isn’t it obvious? The same reason as you.”

Lucille smiled. “Ah, then let me clarify. What I want to know is why you four are standing in my Dungeon. That I discovered and now own.”

“A little girl like you claims to ‘own’ this Dungeon?” the fire mage mimicked mockingly.

Lucy spared barely a millisecond to give the woman an odd look before returning to smile at the other two men.

Why is she being so confrontational? We don’t even know each other.

…is she being antagonistic because I blocked her spell and cast a better one? Ugh, fire mages and their overwhelming need for attitude adjustments.

At the front, the earth warrior with a greatsword walked up to the other man and whispered into his ear. The fire warrior suddenly looked solemn as he gave her another scrutinizing look.

It seems one of them is well-informed. That earthen warrior must be aware of the details of the Dungeon discovery.

“Well then, ladies and gentlemen, it seems I should make myself clear.” Lucille bowed low, a smirk on her face. “My name is Lucille Goldcroft, the owner of the land and Dungeon on which you stand.” She straightened up and with her smirk still present, she spread her arms. “And I want you trespassers to leave my private property.” Her smile went cold. “Now.”

The two men exchanged glances but the woman burst out laughing. Flipping her hair, the fire mage sauntered up to Lucy and smiled as she looked down at her.

Lucille didn’t say anything and watched as the woman crossed her arms with a vicious grin on her face. “What a cute little noble girl. You must’ve only been a User for less than three years! I like your attitude.”

The fire mage turned away and walked back to her group. “Unfortunately, you need to get a handle on reality.” She glanced back, looked at Hargrave, and winked. “How about you ditch those two kids and come join us over here? I’ll make it worth your time.”

Lucy didn’t look behind her as she had her perception field, but she nearly burst out laughing when she saw the look of utter disgust that briefly crossed his face.

The fire mage stared at Hargrave, not expecting that reaction at all.

Lucy smirked, making the woman glare at her. “So, will you leave, or not?”

The two warriors wordlessly held out their weapons once the fire mage was behind them. Lucille clicked her tongue. “So be it. All you, attack.”

Hargrave’s eyes widened. “Commission Head, wait-”

“There’s a limit to arrogance, whether you own this Dungeon or not.” The fire warrior stepped closer. “I’ll take you on.”

“Didn’t you hear me?” Lucille grinned as she extended Ouroboros, the snake-sword’s blade coiled around her. “I told you. I’ll fight all of you.”

Then she dashed forward before they could respond. Ouroboros multiplied in length and width as Lucy whipped the sword towards them. The blade rippled with a force that the two warriors could barely defend against, gritting their teeth as they used the flat of their blades to avoid being beheaded.

The fire mage at the back yelped and ducked down, Ouroboros slicing her staff clean in half.

Lucy’s smirk was wicked when she saw that. “Oh dear, the little fire mage lost her magical stick? Whatever will she do? I hope you’re not the type of mage who relies on their items to cast. Wouldn’t that mean you’re defenceless?”

The mage paled but the warrior of the fire element charged forward with a yell and swung his sword down. Lucille quickened her thoughts to analyse what moves she needed to take and took one step to the side. At the same time, she withdrew Apophis with her other hand to ram the end of the dagger into the man’s side. She knew she wouldn’t have had the time to stab him properly.

The greatsword wielder of earth ran up behind her and rammed his blade into the earth, casting a skill as jagged rocks spat up from the ground and headed towards her. Without turning around, she assembled a spell with her mind and calmly spoke, “Arcane Barrier.”

The skill crashed into the shield and the warrior gritted his teeth as he forced the earth through the spell. But by that time Lucy had already taken a few steps out of the firing line, aiming to stab the longsword warrior with Apophis’s dagger blade.

The fire warrior’s STR was too high and he swiftly knocked the demonic blade from her grip. She didn’t even stop to register it because she knew she wouldn’t win a test of strength if their blades clashed.

If they stopped to look, they’d notice all of their stats are much higher than mine. They’re just panicking because they’re faced with an unfamiliar weapon. I need to manipulate the order of events to weaken them.

Purposely letting her eyes wander over to the fire mage, she changed her body language to suggest she planned on attacking the mage, who was physically the weakest. She knew they wouldn’t think twice about it because the mage was the easier target and due to the antagonism of the woman earlier Lucy had a motive to attack her.

Then a cry sounded as Apophis in his longsword form slashed the arm of the greatsword wielder. Startled, the fire warrior looked back and his eyes widened. She had wanted to attack the fire warrior as his attacks were more intense, but something had made the fire warrior hesitate slightly and hold back from stabbing out again. Inwardly, Lucy clicked her tongue.

It’s my killing intent. He noticed I wasn’t showing any intent to kill the mage. But I can’t show any intent anyway so he was caught off guard by the other guy getting injured.

Now tasked with deflecting Apophis’s strikes, incapable of actually incapacitating the blade in any way, the greatsword warrior was occupied and couldn’t team up with his party members against Lucille. She swung at the two warriors with Ouroboros again, shortening the blade slightly to give her greater accuracy, but both warriors easily dodged the attack.

Lucy pretended to ignore the fire mage so she could fight the party leader, but the woman in the distance narrowed her eyes and held her arm out. Five orange balls of fire launched themselves towards Lucy, who didn’t even react when she blocked them with another spell, this time cast without bothering to say the name.

Lucille glanced back and smirked. “Are you even a true mage? A physical combatant just blocked your spells twice. You’re quite pathetic.”

The woman’s face went red with anger and she summoned more fireballs this time, seemingly intent on proving Lucy wrong. Lucille casually leaned to the side to dodge most of the fireballs and the fire-enhanced slashing attack of the fire warrior, and what she didn’t dodge she blocked with the flat section of Ouroboros’s longsword form.

Keen to move onto the next stage, Lucille reverted Ouroboros to her dagger form and dashed towards the earth warrior. She ignored the man chasing her from behind and reached up with her free right hand. Apophis suddenly opened up into his spinning half-segment form, cutting across the earth warrior’s face and making him step back in pain. Blinded by the blood flowing down his face, he couldn’t react when Lucy grabbed Apophis’s handle and turned him back into a dagger. Lucille held the serrated edge against the man’s neck and faced the other two.

“Cease your attacks or I’ll kill this man!” she shouted.