“Here… I want you to have this.” Luna told her son as her weakened body lied on the bed.
Taking the small token of marriage from her ring ring finger, Luna’s hand quivered as she slid off the fragile ornament crafted out of pure amber—kept in near perfect condition. She extended her arm slightly towards the youth sitting next to her bed, holding the ring in her palm. The young man’s eyebrows furrowed, his lips curving downwards into a frown.
“I can’t…” he said.
Luna softly chuckle, keeping her trembling hand raised as she continued to offer the ring. “I want you to have it, Loewe. This ring was…”
A strong series of coughs interrupted her before finishing her sentence, almost dropping the fragile ring—which her son managed to save by holding her hand, carefully pressing her fingers together to safeguard the token inside her palm.
“I… You can’t just…”
“I’m fine, Loewe.” Claimed Luna, offering a weak smile. “Take it,” she opened her palm once again. “It belonged to him before he offered it to me… this ring was once hers too… before she gave it to him.”
“Hers? Who?”
A warm smile filled with pain drew itself in Luna’s expression, the pacing in her breathing become longer. “Lionheart…”
The mention of a familiar name caused the youth to open his eyes wide, instinctively leaning forward as a reaction. “How do you… did you watch the news?”
Luna shook her head—pacing her breaths with longer times to blink. “Not her… I’m sure you know what I’m talking about.” She told him. “You’ve mention her before, but no longer remember. That was a long time ago, Loewe… long before we arrived here.”
Taking a deep breath before clenching his jaw, the young man’s uncertain hand took a hold of the small amber ring in Luna’s hand. “I got it, but… I’m just... confused about these visions, dreams, memories…”
“I know, Loewe.” Luna smiled at her son. “Just remember that you are my son… and his too. Yeon will take care of you for me, alright?”
“What? Wait, you can’t just leave me yet!” Loewe almost jumped out of his sit, afflicted with distress and anxiety at his mother’s words. “I’m sorry! I… I shouldn’t have run away on you like that, just…”
“It will be fine,” Smiled Luna, gently placing her hand on top of his. “You already knew what was going to happen… I was meant to wither a long time ago, but I couldn’t leave before I saw your face even once.” A loud cough escaped her lips, forcefully stopping herself with a giggle. “I was given more than I ever hoped for... when I finally saw come to life. I’m so happy I was given the chance to see you grow.”
“But I’m… I’m not ready yet… I don’t know what to do.”
“You will be fine,” she reassured her son with a smile. “You have everything with you… take care of Yeon too, okay? And… protect Lionheart as well. One day you will remember, and if you ever feel your mind slipping away… then look no further than this ring. This is the color you’ve been chasing after for so long… don’t forget.”
Northern Region of the Deadlands: 936, August 12th, Sunday, 3:30 PM.
Clashing sounds of steel echoed throughout the region, an even battle between the order’s champion and the demon god specter unfolding within the crimson fog. Both fighters traveled across the Deadlands as neither warrior gave in on their assault, looking for an opening with every inch of movement from the other.
As his stamina depleted however, Loki’s arm failed to respond after a wide swing of his sword—leaving him open for an attack. Specter took the opportunity, planting the sole of his foot on the knight’s chest. Loki was flung across the battlefield on impact, grunting in pain as he was forced to fly a great distance away. As his momentum slowly came to a halt, his back lowered enough to scrape the scorched earth underneath—sliding across the dirt, and leaving a path of dust behind.
“Grah!” Loki forced himself to roll backwards, planting both hands on the ground to stop himself from flying further away. “Tch! Lucky hit…”
Wasting no time in seizing the opportunity, Specter leaped at the knight from within the fog with a frontal assault. He crossed his right arm over the left shoulder, keeping a tight grip on his broken sword. Unlike a common weapon however, the shattered steel of his blade had been extended with a crimson light—a similar look to Claire’s crimson blades from Juno&Jupiter.
Despite the ambush however, Specter’s attack only served to split the earth around it as Loki teleported far from harm’s way—vanishing in half a second. Specter safeguarded his weapon into the sheath he carried in his left hand, the crimson energy that extended the sword disappearing as it entered the sheath—which size could only hold the size of its broken steel blade.
“Running away?” Specter taunted—slowly turning around to face the injured knight.
“You haven’t seen anything yet,” Loki replied, his azure tunic mostly torn to shreds.
“I’ve already seen it all, knight.” stated the silver haired man, his crimson eye glowing fiercely as he observed the tired knight with neutrality. “You will pay gravely for your mistake.”
Being the first to strike, Specter charged Loki with a frontal assault—leading his right hand just above the hilt of his sheathed sword. Before he could reach his target however, the knight suddenly vanished into particles of azure—disappearing from view in an instant. Anticipating his adversary’s next move however, Specter rapidly stepped to the side to avoid the slashing blade of Loki—which sliced his cheek open with a vertical motion.
“Gh…”
The knight faded from view once again, quickly reappearing behind is opponent to slash at him with a horizontal swing—forcing Specter to jump back in a hurry. Close to connect successfully, Loki’s blade cleaved open the arm of his foe—spilling large quantities of blood from the wound. Keeping Specter on his toes, Loki vanished and reemerged repeatedly as he exploited his teleportation ability to its maximum—slashing at the silver haired man with both azure swords in his hands.
Stolen novel; please report.
“Grah!” Specter stumbled backwards, blood spilling into the air as his chest was cut open in a mere instant—feeling the burning sensation all over his body. “Gh…” he grunted in both pain and anger, dropping to his knees.
Despite having gained the advantage for a quick minute—dealing great damage to Specter with every successful strike—Loki’s strategy depleted his stamina after the abuse of his abilities, and forced him to show himself in the battlefield once again.
“Hah… huff…” he huffed air through his mouth in fatigue, the before insignificant influence of the Deadlands weighting him down as his pathway weakened. “You… will die by my hand…”
Gripping both weapons tightly in his hands, Loki gathered an absurd amount of azure energy that still flowed within his body. His veins glowed strongly inside his body, the power that ran inside them crawling out to envelop his body with an intimidating aura of azure.
“…!” Specter scrunched his brows downwards, feeling the ground tremble by the sheer amount of strength gathered by the lone knight.
Clearing the red fog around him—as the azure light emanating from within his body rejected the crimson influence of the Deadlands surrounding him, Loki’s eyes sharply glanced around the field to spot a large horde of demons approaching rapidly from the distance—a desperate action from the beasts to protect their god.
“With this move…” the knight growled—sparking waves of electricity flaring all over his body. “I’ll wipe you off the face of the planet!”
The horde of specters lunged at Loki from every direction, their sharp fangs, teeth and claws gnawing and slashing at the knight to stop him in his tracks. Just before the demons could reach him however, Loki pressed his fingers tightly on the grip his twin swords, pulling both weapons together like magnets of opposite poles—joining together into a single blade.
“Say goodbye!”
Releasing all the condensed energy gathered within his sword, Loki swung his arms downwards with a vertical slash towards his opponent—releasing a powerful ray of azure that incinerated everything in its path.
“Ngh!” Specter took a quick step back by pure instinct, his eyes opening wide in pure shock at the colossal beam that approached him.
The ground shook violently underneath them, traveling across the entire hellish zone. The ray of light ripped the earth open in its path, disintegrating everything that crossed it. The specters caught in the attack quickly became nothing but dust, while the ones that evaded its touch simply melted under its heat and turned into embers.
Such power remained unstoppable as it traveled directly at Specter, razing everything in between him and the knight—eventually reaching its target after pulverizing everything in its way. The ray of light traveled far, disappearing with the same amount of intensity it appeared with. It suddenly erupted into particles of azure that cleared up quickly after, leaving a catastrophic crater behind—similar to the one left at Cerberus after Loki’s battle with the exile.
“Huff… huff…” Loki puffed air in fatigue, dropping his shoulders as his sword burst into thin air—leaving small particles of azure behind.
Hissing steam emanated from the burnt ground, exhibiting Loki’s destructive power. The before vast and powerful horde of demons had now become nothing but embers flying in the air—evaporated completely in a single attack. The atmosphere fell into a deadly silence, leaving only the whistling gust behind. What seemed to be a victorious scenario for the order’s champion, filled the knight with boiling rage within—gritting his teeth with scrunched brows.
“Gh… bastard!” roared Loki, sharply turning around to propel his fist against the surviving demon that lurked behind.
Too weak to even put a dent in his palm, Specter caught Loki’s punch in his left hand before applying pressure on his fist—forcing a painful grunt out of his foe. The god was now enveloped in sturdy armor, his left half exhibiting the black exoskeleton of a demon—glowing crimson veins running within its fissures. In contrast to his right half—which displayed a thin human body, Specter’s left side exhibited a stronger and rugged appearance—protected by his sharp demonic scales.
“Have you now realized…” the demons voice was greatly distorted—a heavier and tougher pitch mixing with the voice of Sovereign somewhere within. “How outclassed you really are… champion.”
“…!”
Releasing his grip from the knight’s fist, Specter pulled his left arm backwards before thrusting a powerful punch against Loki—clobbering his face with the sharp knuckles of his spectral hand. Blood erupted from the knight’s nose and mouth, the force of the impact propelling him away from Specter.
“Augh!” He ricocheted off the ground multiple times, rolling across the burnt dirt before sliding into a stop—forcing himself in one knee with heavy breaths. “Agh… you…” growled the champion, his head shaking in pure rage. “You… have seen nothing yet—agh!”
His injuries, combined with the now heavy influence of the Deadlands in his body. Loki found himself struggling to stand back on his feet, arms and legs failing to respond to his commands. Deeming the fight over, Specter approached his pray calmly—looking down at the kneeling champion in front of him.
“First you fall…” the god extended his left hand towards Loki, opening his demonic palm. “And then I finish what I started thousands of years ago… when I finally send your entire race to the pits of extinction.” The vein’s running across the god’s hand glowed fiercely, gathering their energy around his palm—closing his hand into a fist before…
A blinding light from above suddenly turned everything into a white void of nothingness, robbing all around its blazing strike of their sense of vision—a live display of the difference between the speed of light and sound. Only a small fraction of a second after—with the blinding light fading away, an earsplitting roar that deafened all across the region struck the earth with a powerful golden bolt—landing in between Loki and Specter, which forced the god to jump away from the electrifying attack.
“Gh!” Specter covered his face with one arm as he retreated further.
Waves of electricity traveled through the scorched earth and into Specter’s feet—gold sparks of lightning that crawled from inside the body of the woman kneeling down in front of Loki—who directly faced the god. Her armor and mask were just as golden as her hair—falling down below her knees. She carefully stood up on her feet, looking behind from over her shoulder to nod at the injured champion kneeling behind her.
“Hey…”
“Tcha!” Loki clicked his tongue, forcing himself to stand with trembling legs—prompting Atalanta to move in closer as he leaned on her shoulder. “Get out of here!” he snarled at her. “I don’t need you… I don’t need anybody!”
“That’s enough!” retorted the blonde knight. “We are both in borrowed time here… neither of us is a fan of becoming a daemon.” She stated, pressing her hand down on Loki’s to lock it on her shoulder. “Let’s just work together…”
A frustrated frown was drawn all over the knight’s face, peering holes into Atalanta’s mask as he pressed his lips. Finding himself out of breath however, Loki exhaled loudly through his mouth before relaxing the muscles in his face. “Damn you…” he stepped away from Atalanta, a calmer—yet still filled with frustration, frown in his expression. “It will be me…” he muttered. “I will put an end to all of this, just don’t get in my way, get it?”
“Hmph!” chuckled Atalanta. “What do you say… like old times?”
Loki glanced at The Golden Lightning, baring his teeth with an irritating snarl. “Whatever...”
Steeling themselves for battle, both knights stood side by side to confront the god on their own. One that was once capable of putting down an entire army of gladean knights, one that even their goddess Gladea feared, one that had almost succeeded in bringing the extinction of their race.
Atalanta prepared her glaive, twirling the weapon with both hands above her head—taking a fighting stance by keeping the glaive behind her back with one hand, pointing its blade towards the ground. Next to her—with sluggish and weakened movements, Loki was able to materialize one of his azure swords in hand—huffing air through his lips to relax his agitated artery network.
Both gladean knights stood back-to-back as they faced their greatest opponent with resolution, a threat they were both conceived, raised and trained to one day eliminate from the face of the earth, and bring peace to the world once and for all.
“Let’s do this, Loki.”
END OF CHAPTER