Lucifer touched down just a few meters from the gates as he laughed with joy at beating his teacher in their race. The guards at the gate only wryly smiled as the watched the actions of the young child running out of the woods with magic aiding him. They assumed he had been chased by some beast and was laughing at his luck to escape back to the borders of the city.
Taking out a iron badge from one of his baldric's pockets, Lucifer flashed his identification to the guards before he calmly walked inside of the giant charcoal grey walls of Jultán. He wasn't completely sure what the iron badge meant but he did know that it was proof of Eric's approval for him. He got the badge after his third visit to the city and two years of harsh training from Eric. It felt like a graduation gift but the deeper meaning and the extent of what it allowed him to do within the city were left unknown to Lucifer.
Walking down the cobblestone road that led to the inner area of Jultán was one of Lucifer's favourite parts of his visits to the city. The morning bakers, butchers, hawkers and grocers always offered him a small treat as he greeted them politely on his way into the deeper parts of the city. The old lady who ran the bakery always made sure to treat Lucifer to a delicious pastry when she saw the handsome youth come to say good morning every time he visited. Thoughts of getting her grand-daughter to marry a boy like him always filled her mind when she saw that even with his age and good looks he still kept kind and polite towards even old folks like herself.
Holding a sandwich of freshly cut roast beef and an apple in one arm, Lucifer began devouring the mouth watering baked apple-cinnamon scone that the old baker lady had given him. The giant butcher had just finished setting out his goods when he saw Lucifer walking bye so he called the boy over and gave him a fresh sandwich of roasted beef and cheese wrapped in a large leaf to keep fresh. And the middle aged lady whose stall was nearest to the gate tossed Lucifer a freshly picked apple when he walked past. Lucifer always enjoyed how friendly the people in the city were to him despite his infrequent visits.
Savouring the delicious breakfast that he somehow got for free, Lucifer strolled through the city making his way to the bazaar. The most active and popular area in the whole city, the bazaar was filled with vendors selling all kinds of goods. From exoctic fruits to even slaves, the bazaar was lively as could be no matter the time of day. Even during the night there were dancers and actors performing and entertaining all who came to watch.
His trip to the city this time was mostly to explore the bazaar without the supervision of Eric who was even more strict when the two were out in public. Lucifer had his own coin to spend from the allowance that Eric had given him the night before so he wasn't worried at all about missing out on the action of the bazaar.
Being so excited for his exploration of the bazaar made Lucifer completely forget about Eric whom he had left behind at the edge of the forest. Wandering into the giant square that housed the bazaar left him in a complete sense of amazement as he saw the sights and sounds of so many interesting things. The olive skinned men with cloth wrapped around their heads and flashy gold chains and bracelets made him wonder how they moved around with so much extra weight. Seeing the huge armoured mercenaries saunter about with their giant swords and axes aroused his innermost feelings. The lust for adrenaline that came with every fight flushed throughout his whole body as he felt their auras for the strongest of the twenty-something band of mercs.
“Hey! Are any of you guys strong?” Lucifer called out as he ran after the group. Yet none of the men even turned and acknowledged him, leaving Lucifer to frown as he sped up to get in front of them. “I said, are any of you guys strong?”
“Brat don't get in our way! We don't have time to deal with a baby still fresh of his mother's milk.” One of the mercenaries shouted at Lucifer. He wasn't too upset with the boy for asking such a question, but he knew how some of the mercs acted when dealing with little ones. So he chose to scare him off with some mean words instead of allowing for the more twisted guys to play with the boy.
Lucifer's face went ugly at the words that came from the mercenary's mouth. He had never had mother or father so the insult stung especially harder than the man ever meant it to. The laughter that ensued as well upset Lucifer even more as he tried to hold back his temper remembering Eric's teachings to not make trouble in the city. He had only wanted to spar with any of the strong mercs but instead he was subjected to insults and humiliating laughter.
“If you are strong, then prove it. Make me move out of the way or does the milk smell so bad that you're too afraid to?” Taunted Lucifer as he fought to suppress his anger and subsequently his better judgement.
“Oi! The baby thinks he’s all growed up ‘cause of that got lil toothpick!”
“Maybe he thinks he's a knight! Defeating the evil mercs before they ravage them tavern wenches!”
“Hahaha boy get the fuck out the way, before I stuff that stick up yer ass and send you back to yer sow of a muther!”
Jeers of all kinds smacked Lucifer as he stood fuming in anger. He had never dealt with this kind of ordeal when he was with Eric and the only lessons he had ever learned about such confrontations was to demonstrate who was stronger. Eric had always said that 'strength is the true law’ and most of his teachings were in someway about how the law was focused on whose fist was bigger. Only the philosophy, arithmetic and etiquette lessons varied from that.
“I wonder do your asses ever get jealous of the shit that you keep spewing from your mouths? I mean I am only a kid asking if you are as tough as you act so I may be wrong, but you seem to only be strong in your ability to talk crap.” Lucifer retorted back before he turned to walk from the astonished mercs. They were completely slack jawed after hearing the words that came out of this youth's mouth.
“Boy you sure you want to do this?” One of the older mercs spoke with ice running through his words. “There ain't no way back once you cross that line.”
“For the love of,” Lucifer complained as he pulled out his short-spear and deftly twirled it around before he leveled it at the last mercenary to speak. “God can't you guys just understand I wanna fight!”
Lunging forward with a powerful thrust to the merc’s throat, Lucifer released his pent up frustration. Surprised and caught off guard the merc was helpless to stop the foot long spear head from piercing his neck and ending his life. Lucifer didn't let his momentum stop there as he pulled the spear back and began unleashing a flurry of rapid thrusts into the crowded group of mercenaries. With barely any room to move the mercs could scarcely avoid the pinpoint accuracy of Lucifer's spear when it came flying at them. Their large unwieldy bastard swords and claymores became obsolete as they couldn't use them without chopping their companions into pieces. Some of the quicker witted mercs drew their daggers and tried to parry or deflect the wickedly fast spear. But it made little difference as Lucifer only targeted the torso so even if his thrusts were parried, they still would injure the large bulky mercenaries who could not move as deftly as he could use his spear.
Three mercenaries fell after the initial assault of Lucifer took down five of their group. His spear point effortlessly ripping apart their throats as he continued his one man offense. Sporadic random thrusts left the mercs bewildered and helpless as the spear slid past their defences and sliced apart the thick leather armour they wore. It only took seconds for over eight of them to die before the remaining dozen of mercenaries formed a loose circle around Lucifer.
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Who only smiled as he slid his right hand to the middle of the spear shaft and held it akin to a sword with a giant hilt. This style of spear wielding was particularly popular when facing large groups of opponents as it allowed for more sweeping slashes and made better use of the bottom of the spear for blunt force attacks. Lucifer's left hand fell onto the hilt of his dagger as he visualised the various ways to take down the mercenaries.
‘Rush right, towards the unarmed merc. Thrust and pivot counter-clockwise while stabbing the merc next to him with my dagger.’
Step by step Lucifer planned out his plan of attack as he began rushing at the mercs to his right.
'Drag spear behind me without stopping to kill the one to try and get at my back. Drop to a knee so that the spear exits the neck easier and I get under the guard of the in front of me. Jump up and forward while slashing the dagger horizontally across the throat then step back into a clockwise spin.’
Seeing the actions inside his head allowed Lucifer to plan three and four steps ahead of his enemies. His spear first thrust straight through the neck of the first victim of his premeditated plan of attack. Sliding his foot along the ground he spun backwards and quickly stabbed his dagger into the unprotected chest of the mercenary next to his first target. With two down, Lucifer continued his rotation while dropping onto his to avoid a diagonal slash from the mercenary directly in front of him. He let the spear carry itself out of the neck of the first merc by keeping the shaft along his arm and back.
The circular motion of Lucifer's footwork made the spear rip clean through the thick muscles of the mercenary before it swung towards the head of one trying to attack his back. Lucky to notice the flash of silver that heralded the spear’s attack, the mercenary brought his arm up to hastily block the lethal spear from claiming his life.
Lucifer felt the this of his spear cutting into the bones of the merc behind him but that didn't matter as he let go of the spear. Opting for less bulk to slow him down he revised his actions.
'Uppercut dagger strike followed by a hook kick to the temple. Retreat back to the spear.’
Forgoing step by step planning, Lucifer chose to handle this more on the fly. He had killed four of the dozen mercenaries left and one had his spear halfway through his forearm. It wasn't bad but it wasn't great. The longer he took the more issues would arise.
Following true to his expectations the situation did get worse as the mercenaries had enough room to start using their bastard swords. Sneering Lucifer used his hook kick to push himself at the mercenary still screaming from the pain of having his arm half severed. With a quick reverse grip and maintaining the same rotation as before, he pulled the spear free of the man's arm while he slid his dagger back into its sheath. Left hand in the middle of the shaft he immediately gripped it with his right and brought the spear into a downward slash as another mercenary charged at him.
Hoping to flank Lucifer the mercenary was unaware of the spear that split open his head. Lucifer didn't let his success blind him from seeing the whole situation, he jerked the spear back into a reverse thrust right into the eye of the mercenary whose arm he almost mutilated. The tempered steel covering the base of the spear caused a sickening squelch as it crushed the eyeball and everything behind it when Lucifer quickly pulled it back.
'Incoming overhand chop, using the shaft to block is best but it stops my momentum. A counter-block would be better then.’
Catching the movement out of the corner of his eye, Lucifer timed his actions perfectly. With the exact same speed he slammed the bottom end of the spear into the side of the massive broadsword. A perfect counter-block. Using a sweeping horizontal swing to offset a vertical slashing attack, a difficult and tricky technique that requires tons of skill and practice. If done too lightly it will be useless, only when similar forces are used will the counter-block be successful. So Lucifer used as much force as he could, using his abdominals, obliques, hips, back, pectorals, shoulders, biceps, triceps and wrists to generate as much power as naturally possible.
Deflecting the overhand chop off to the side gave Lucifer an opening to escape the encirclement of mercenaries, which he happily took advantage of. Without a second of hesitation he dove for the opening and evaded the point of another mercenary's sword as it tore through the space he once stood in.
“Hah, hah, is that the best you lot can do? I have seen better from old grannies!” Not forgetting to enrage the few surviving mercenaries, Lucifer continued to spit abuse in between his heavy panting. Using up so much prana earlier and fighting in such unfavorable odds was becoming increasingly taxing on his young body. Others his age wouldn't be able to stand let alone fight after expending so much prana, this was one of the most indisputable facts that Lucifer was becoming an Apex. His speed, stamina, cognitive functions, strength and reaction time was leagues above those around him.
'Six left. Four to the left and two on the right,’ changing his grip on the spear to a standard grip with his left hand leading and right hand supporting. 'Low sweep, counter-clockwise pivot step, rising thrust, overhead 180o slash to, 45o lunge to the left, eight step run, jump as high as possible and twist, javelin throw.’ Visualising his actions made Lucifer slightly more relaxed as he felt the anxiety building within him. Killing the mercenaries was of little consequence to someone like him who lived alone for most of his life, the only issue was that Lucifer felt his stamina draining faster than normal. A sign that he had overdrafted his prana executing that last spell.
Dropping his body low to the ground he bolted towards the group of four off to his left. Using his body like a fulcrum he swung his spear in a low, wide arc directly at the ankles of the mercenaries. The first two were too slow to avoid the debilitating strike to their legs and buckled instantly. The other two quickly leapt backwards so as to avoid the same date as their comrades.
Lucifer stamped his foot into the ground as hard as he could forcing his dash to come to a halt. While he simultaneously drew his back foot into a wide arc and made a perfect pivot away from the two collapsed mercs and into the direction of the two approaching mercenaries. Bringing his spear close to his body he thrust towards the groin of the foremost mercenary before he brought the bladed spearhead up and over his head so that he could use the extra momentum to crush the mercenary flanking him.
Gutting the first mercenary like a fish, Lucifer's spear sailed through the air leaving a gore and bloody trail in it's wake as it came smashing onto the collarbone of the mercenary flanking him. The added momentum and the weight of the spear allowed it to cleave through the thick bone and tear through the chest of the mercenary. Keeping his body constantly moving Lucifer took advantage of the great force behind the spear to move his body off to the side, narrowly avoiding a sword keen on bisecting him.
'Three left,’ Lucifer noted as he somersaulted from tossing his body off to the side. The two he had injured were starting to get up and there was one mercenary still standing glaring at him furiously. “Hey why don't we call it quits now? I killed most of you, you insulted me. Sounds fair to me!” Lucifer was barely able to keep the fight up so he thought to provoke them into doing something stupid.
“ARGGGHHHH I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!” One of the mercenaries roared as he tried to charge at Lucifer only to fall flat on his face. His leg couldn't hold his weight after Lucifer slashed his ankles.
An evil grin covered Lucifer’s face as he saw the idiot try and run at him. His left hand dropped to his dagger and in a flash of silver, the foot long dagger reappeared piercing through the skull of the mercenary as he fell.
'One down, two to go.’ Lucifer stated in his mind as he raised his spear up to block the broadsword of the uninjured mercenary before it cut him in two. Using the shaft of the spear to meet the heavy blow of a broadsword was foolish but Lucifer wasn't an ordinary spearman. As the two weapons collided, Lucifer dropped his right shoulder causing the horizontal spear to fall into a diagonal position. This act caused the weight of the blade to fall along the shaft and towards the ground while Lucifer's spear head came smashing into the face of the mercenary.
'Two down, one left.’ Lucifer lightly tossed his spear into the air and caught it in a perfect javelin grip before he tossed the spear like a rocket towards the back of the last mercenary before he could crawl away.
Sending shivers down the backs of all those in the bazaar Lucifer calmly walked towards his spear and very slowly pulled it out of the lifeless corpse it impaled to the cobblestone ground. No one said a word for fear that this bloodthirsty youth would continue his rampage and murder them as easily as he did those mercenaries. The blood splattered all over Lucifer gave him a demonic appearance, coupled with his sharp pointed ears and unnatural heterochromatic eyes made him appear to be a devil in human skin. The white of his shirt was stained crimson so much so that it looked more like a tunic of blood then anything else. Lucifer paid none of these things much attention only walking towards the corpse that held his dagger, where he placed his foot on the shoulder of the body and abruptly yanked the dagger out of the skull.
“Anyone got a rag?” Calling out completely oblivious to terror he caused, Lucifer asked rather innocently for a rag to clean his weapons. Eric had always made sure that he knew the importance of keeping his weapons clean. A elderly man trembled as he pulled out a handkerchief out of his pocket and held it forward for Lucifer to take.
Smiling brightly Lucifer skipped over to the man and politely thanked him for the cloth with a slight bow. He then found a place where the blood had yet to cover where he then proceeded to sit down and start cleaning his weapons without a care for the twenty something bodies that lay scattered all around him. The city of Jultán would soon shake with the news of this event. It was also this one sided massacre that pushed Lucifer towards his destiny and fate, not that he would know of this till much later in his life.