Lucy tightened the grip on her longsword. The dusty gray plateau around her made for a proper arena. She wasn't debuting on some glorious mountain peak, or a war-torn battlefield. No, her first fight would be in the middle of nowhere. This desolate maze of tight canyon passages and long-forgotten flat tops. It was an insignificant location, and if she died there it would make her an insignificant woman. That's why she was confident she would win, because she was special, a knight of her beloved house Opazyr. It was a knight's duty to bring glory to their family, even in death.

She knew that her comrades standing behind her didn't believe in her strength. They thought she was coddled, sheltered and weak. But she was trained by the best of the best, and she'd show the fruits of their labor with a decisive victory.

The enemy standing before her, Crypt Keeper Nulara, was a little odd. She wielded a large scythe with a sleek black handle. Two cylindrical structures surrounded her hands as guards. Its tang was nothing short of a monstrosity. It was reminiscent of a human spine, with large, malformed vertebrae. The middlemost vertebrae extended into the blade of the scythe, as well as the beak on the opposing side. Lucy couldn't quite comprehend why she was using such an ornate piece of farming equipment as a weapon. But she recalled back on something one of her fellow knights once told her. When the peasantry takes up arms they'll do so with whatever they can get a hold of; pitchforks, clubs, kitchen cutlery and more were completely on the table. She had never trained to fight against such a weapon. But in her mind that meant that it was not a threat. It was merely a desperate tool used by a desperate woman, and Lucy would take advantage of that fact.

Behind her, Maria and Veronica analyzed the situation, quietly trading thoughts out of earshot from the fighters.

"Do you think she'll win?" Asked Veronica.

"Hard to say," Admitted Maria, "I've never seen anyone use a scythe in combat before. But that thing is decorated, and you know what that means."

"I don't. Explain it to me."

"More often than not, A weapon that ornate is only used by someone deserving of that decoration."

Lucy was the first to jump into action, dashing forward with both hands gripped on her blade. She was going for a direct assault. Nulara's stance seemed sloppy, and overly relaxed. She wanted to crush the keeper swiftly, and absolutely.

Nulara bared a vile smirk. She fashioned her hands at each end of her Scythe to maneuver it within a smaller reach. Lucy initiated the battle proper with a powerful thrust aimed at her body. Nulara sidestepped it, but before Lucy could recover she had hooked the blade into one of the many exaggerated vertebrae on the back of her scythe's tang. With one elegant movement, she led her blade in a crescent arc until it hit the floor. This compromised the knight's balance and immobilized her weapon.

Nulara's scythe, on the other hand, was in perfect striking distance, with the back side of the tang locking the longsword down the blade now pointed directly at Lucy. Lucy tried to get her blade unstuck but couldn't figure out the minutiae of the lock, instead deciding to try and pull it out with brute strength. Sensing an opportunity, Nulara let go of her lock with a simple twist and swung her weapon up at Lucy's face. The young knight was thrown back from the force of her struggle, allowing her to avoid the Scythe but landing on wobbly legs.

Nulara pressured her and swiped at her feet to keep her from gaining a foothold. The pressure was simply too much, and Lucy chose to vault herself backward with A mana-fueled jump, narrowly avoiding another sweep to the legs and landing on the cobbled path behind Her. Maria and the others stepped off to the side, clearing the way for the battle to go uninterrupted.

Lucy took a deep breath. She had underestimated Nulara's weapon of choice. If she got her weapon trapped again it would most likely cost her life. She had to be cautious. She made her way down the cobbled steps, letting her sword hang low against her side. Her stride was casual, which made the next moments seem all the more instant. As she neared the bottom of the path, she tensed up and poured a large amount of mana into her sword. She brought it to an upward swing that unleashed a powerful wave of magic. It was quick and left her in a prime position of offense. She trailed behind her own attack as an aggressive rush-down method.

Nulara slipped by the wave of mana with a calm head. Lucy ran in with a heavy downward slash that Nulara blocked with the long handle of her scythe. The Crypt Keeper stepped to the side and tilted her guard to allow Lucy's blade to slide down its length, positioning her scythe's edge at her flank. Lucy pulled back, recognizing another trap in the making. She moved her sword to protect herself. With one hand on her handle and another against the face of the blade, she stopped the horrid farm tool from reaping her like a piece of wheat. She shoved it away from her and went for another thrust, but Nulara parried her with the butt of her shaft before kicking her away.

Nulara pressed forward with clear intent. She stomped the ground and overextended herself to close the distance, throwing out the butt of her scythe in what seemed to be a strike to her face, but when Lucy went to guard the blow Nulara pulled back and slashed with her scythe in one fluid motion. It was a feint in its purest form. The blow was aimed at her neck, but the knight managed to duck the lethal swipe at the last second. From her ducked position she widened the stance and thrusted up at Nulara's sternum. The Crypt Keeper brought in the butt of her Scythe to bash away the strike before resetting her position.

Lucy was getting frustrated, the curves and angles of the scythe made it hard to predict the angles of attack and defense. She was fighting something completely foreign to standard swordplay. "So this is what it's like to truly fight another human being..." She lurched over, holding her blade tight enough for the grip to cry out in protest. "How fascinating! I've never been so irritated!"

Maria was struck with amusement and disbelief. "Wow, look at that. She's a little psychopath in disguise."

"Just like you?" Veronica quipped.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Yesterday, when we fought that blond woman, you were basically a monster."

"Yeah well, fighting does that to you. There are two types of people in this world. People who fight because they have to, and people who fight because they like it."

Their conversation was cut short by the reengagement of the battle. Lucy stood tall and proud as she pointed her sword towards the Keeper. "That weapon is really weird! It's so Vulgur, eager to kill with the cheapest of tricks."

Nulara rested her weapon on her shoulder. "There's no such thing as a cheap trick, girly! Just strategies."

She stepped backward and took a deep breath. Mana burst from the blade of her scythe and settled with a low hum. She grinned ear to ear and swayed back in forth with a careless cockiness. "But if that's how you really feel, I'll show you something cheaper than a sack of potatoes!"

"Fine by me. But don't think I'll fall for it!" Lucy dashed into action, dust and rocks flying in her wake. She charged her sword with Mana and swung it horizontally. Energy flew from its tip and barreled towards Nulara.

Nulara backstepped, using her own magically reinforced blade to cut through the attack as a defensive measure. Lucy swung again and again, forcing her to deflect one large sweeping attack after another.

"I get what you're aiming for, but I'm not that simple," she howled. Nulara knew that each wide arc of mana was a way to force her hand. It was too wide to move out of the way and keep her feet planted, so she would have to either close the distance, keep deflecting, or leap over the arcing mana blasts to avoid it. She was more than confident in her close-quarter combat ability but she suspected that Lucy was already scheming around her fighting style. Jumping over would be a death sentence as the next attack would be hard to avoid. Even if she could protect herself the first time she would essentially be forced to dance. Lucy thought she had Nulara trapped with this long-distance ploy, but Nulara knew better.

She continued to backpedal deflecting blow after blow. Her smile never faded as she backed herself over one of the thin gorges that separated the plateaus. She allowed herself to fall into the rocky split as another crescent mana blast flew past the top of her head.

Lucy eagerly pursued her, mistaking her fall as an accident from lack of awareness. She jumped down into the gorge, it was a rail-thin crack. It was merely 10 feet wide but snaked forward for what seemed like an eternity. She landed with grace, her eyes honed in her target.

Nulara stood with one hand on her scythe. She looked almost surprised that Lucy had chosen to follow her. She laughed an ugly laugh, broken up by hysterical snorts and chuckles. "I can't believe it. You dumb bitch!" She hooted.

Lucy met her ugly laugh with a delicate giggle. "Why the mockery? Did you lose your mind? You can't avoid my attacks in this place."

While the two postured and jabbed at each other, Maria and the others looked over them from the top of the cliff. Anise was completely focused on the battle below. "Do you think Lucy will win?"

Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

"No," Responded Maria with a cold and sharp tone. "Lucy intends to engage in ranged, magical combat. What she doesn't know is that she's played into one of Scythe girl's strengths."

Anise lasered her focus onto Maria. She was met with the Mercenary's serious, deadpan gaze. "Explain!"

"Have you ever tried to flourish that halberd of yours? It can go real fast. Scythe girl will have a far greater output of attacks compared to little Lucy."

"But that shouldn't matter! Quality over quantity! If she spreads her mana over that many attacks then Lucy's should cut right through."

"And they will, but Nulara already proved she can defend against Lucy's attacks. So she plans to overwhelm her with a death of a thousand cuts. It's a battle of attrition." Maria picked up a rock, bookending her explanation by dropping it over the edge.

"Damnit All!" Anise tried to leap down to intervene, but Veronica caught her and held her back in a tight hold.

Anise rabidly tried to break free. "Traitor!" She screamed.

Veronica shook her head and hit Maria with an intense, questioning glare. She was asking if Maria intended to do her job.

Maria nodded, "Calm down Blondy. I'm not gonna let her die. But a knight is hardened by steel and scars. Not spars and manuals."

The rock that she had thrown hit the ground between the two combatants with a loud crack and shattered into dust. The noise broke the stand-off and sent Nulara into a flailing frenzy. She spun and twirled her scythe as fast as she could, whipping Mana out the blade's tip with reckless abandon.

Lucy was confident, she raised her sword and sent out a slash of mana of her own that cut through most of Nulara's, but each collision weakened Lucy's attack, and what arrived at Nulara's doorstep was nothing but a shadow of what it should have been. It was nothing to bat away. Meanwhile, Nulara's inconsistent flourish patterns allowed attack after attack to slip past the stronger attacks of the knights.

Lucy realized she wasn't going to get anywhere, so she tried increasing the output of her attacks. Angling them to cover each other's weaknesses. But the same problem arose, by the time they reached Nulara it was nothing for her to bat them away.

Nulara's output was high in volume but low in power. The cost on her mana reserves was minimal at best. She surmised that she could keep going until the sun fell. But Lucy immediately felt the impact of trying to maintain consistent high power output. It was like they were both on a treadmill, but Lucy was being forced to sprint, while Nulara was lightly Jogging. She was doomed to fail.

Lucy relented that she would not be able to win this battle of mana, but she wasn't out of options. She put her blade in front of her and turned her upper body to the side as much as she could to reduce her profile. She redistributed her mana focus over her entire body, forming a thin shield. In normal circumstances, a shield like this would have been worthless against any concentrated attack. But Nulara's energy was spread thin enough that it had trouble piercing the mystic armor. It offered just enough protection so that the steel that covered her body could protect her from the rest. The only real thing she had to focus on reinforcing was her head.

With her body armored to the best of her ability, she charged forth, trucking through slash after slash as they pounded against her body. It was nothing to shrug off. She only needed to close the distance a little more and then she could unleash one powerful attack, one too strong to block, and too fast to dodge. Her victory was assured...

SLASH!

Hot blood poured from Lucy's body. One long slash trailed from her shoulder to her hip. It was deep, just a few breaths shy of bones and organs. another came for her legs and cut them in the same crippling manner. She fell to her knees in agony. She was too stunned to speak.

Nulara's wicked grin stretched from ear to ear. "You seriously didn't think I would raise my output given the first opportunity?" She raised her scythe to finish her off. "You were fucked the moment you followed me down here!"

THUD!

Nulara sprang away from the rubble created by whatever just thwacked into the ground. She felt across her stomach, a shallow cut ran through her robes and managed to draw blood.

"You know, you guys should really invest in some armor. Then again you guys probably weren't expecting confrontation here. Lucky us I guess." The smoke dispersed as Maria stood with Lucy tucked under her shoulder. Her red aura smoldered and popped. It was a threat that she was ready for action.

Nulara gripped her scythe with white knuckles. Her first instinct was to get angry. But reality set in quickly. This was bound to happen. "So what? You and your friends are gonna jump me now?"

Maria raised a confused eyebrow. "Girl, you think I need to gang up on someone like you? I'd turn you into pig feed in an instant."

"Prove it bitch! I'll cut you down just like I did your friend!"

Maria raised her sword and pointed it at her. Her mana dripped from her curved swords like venom. Nulara prepared for another fight, her confidence a fraction of what it was before. She could tell that Maria was different. Nulara was looking at a monster in human form.

Maria, without warning, leaped from her standing position. She propelled herself from one side of the gorge to the other, catching herself by digging her hand into the stone for the briefest moment. Her speed was baffling, by the time Nulara was able to comprehend the situation Maria was already at the top of the cliff.

Maria set Lucy down in front of Anise. "There, I didn't let her die. Just like I promised."

Anise knelt over her and held her close. "But she's injured! Damnit. Keep that farm girl away while I heal her!"

Veronica approached Maria while looking over the ledge to keep an eye on Nulara. "Do you think it was worth it?"

"Oh definitely. Everyone needs their first loss. She'll have a nasty scar, but we all do," explained Maria. She watched as she dragged Lucy away from the ledge and began to pray over her body. She began to mumble a long-winded story of a goddess coming back from the brink of death. Anise used Clerical Incantations, the third school mana usage. By reciting the tales of the gods she worshipped and using her mana as a sacrificial offering. She could manifest aspects of their divine tales into reality. It was slow and costly, but the results were miracles that far exceeded any human ability.

Nulara made it to the top of the cliff, ragged and out of breath. "Damnit, you made that look so easy." She rasped.

Maria drew both of her swords and stepped forward to protect the group. She motioned for Veronica to take up a defensive position and guard Lucy's recovery. "I know I did. Making shit look easy is par for the course when life's been nothing but hard."

She took a step to engage in the confrontation but stopped with eyes widened by surprise. "Shit..."

Nulara looked behind her. Her eyes softened at the glorious sight of her comrades. Six Crypt Keepers stood ready for battle, among them was their leader, Hiri. She clutched her dreaded dagger as she elegantly crossed the gorge.

"Finally found you," hissed the leader. Her eyes were full of hatred, only softening when they settled in her ally. "are you alright Nulara?"

"I'm fine, I did well even. Got one of them down for the count all on my own." She pointed to Lucy lying on the ground as Anise desperately invoked her holy magic.

"Well, let's finish them off. We will take their bodies as proof of concord kept." All of the keepers crossed over the gorge, ready to pounce on the group.

Maria backed up slightly, a nervous smile on her face. "Hey now, let's not get too hasty. You wouldn't all want to leap to your Death now, would you?"

Hiri scoffed. "Are you insinuating that you could take on all seven of us?"

"Yeah, one on seven, I'm feeling kinda confident in those odds."

"Bullshit!" Exclaimed Nulara. She brandished her scythe with frustration. "You're bluffing and you know it. Just lay down and die, will you?"

"Oh, so you think I'm full of shit?" Maria revealed a white Crystal with a flick of her wrist. "'Cause I got one hell of an equalizer in my hands."

The keepers halted their advance. Nervousness strangled their ranks.

"You wouldn't!" Snapped Hiri.

"Why not? I saw the burst of power it gave you. It would give me one hell of a fighting chance." Maria grabbed the bag and tossed it over her shoulder. Veronica caught it and pulled out a crystal of her own without hesitation.

"You can't! You'll go mad you might even end up tearing each other apart!" Claimed the blond Crypt keeper, Linette.

"On the other hand, I could just let you kill me. I don't know, it sounds like it's worth the risk." She began to squeeze on the Crystal ever so slightly.

"Don't get cocky, w-we can use them too!" Nulara looked at Hiri in hopes that she would be carrying some crystals on her. She looked hesitant but pulled one from a hidden within her robe pockets.

Unsatisfied with her response, Nulara reached into the hidden pocket and pulled one out for herself.

"Nulara no!" Hiri tried to snatch it away from her, but the redhead jumped away, separating from her group entirely. She stood alone, ready to crush the crystal at any moment. Hiri had completely lost focus on the enemy. "Nulara you can't. We don't-"

"-You don't know if you could subdue her frenzy?" Interrupted Maria. "If I had to take a guess, you're the only one who can use these things and keep a lick of your senses intact, am I right?"

Hiri's silence was more than enough confirmation.

"Well, that's the best news I've heard all day. Seems like there's no way any of us are walking out of this unscathed. So why don't we get this show on the road." She held the Crystal out, ready to crush it.

Hiri had no choice but to respond in kind, trying to hold hers out as a deterrent. She would crush it only if Maria crushed hers. The air was still. Sounds of hard swallows and tightening grips whispered everyone's thoughts. They were seconds away from a disastrous Frenzy of destruction.

Right as Maria was about to sign away her fate to chance, a Keeper gasped with eyes locked on the peak of the cobbled path. The mercenary turned around, expecting to see reinforcements, but was met with a volley of mana streaking towards them at high speeds. She ducked for cover, tackling Veronica in the process. The missiles flew over them and struck the ground with violent explosions.

"Everyone alright?" She groaned.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Anise coughed and waved the ash and dust out of her face, "Lucy's healing is done too, but she's not going to be conscious for a while."

Veronica looked up, straining her sight to see the figures perched on top of the hill. It was the same mage they let slip past yesterday, with a large group of people. "The Purlikins!?"

Maria got to her knees and put her head on a swivel. The Keepers looked like they managed to avoid the attack as well. "The damn wizards? What happened to the reinforcements?" She was able to get a good look at the mage at the head of the pack. It was Ingrid, the same woman she had let walk the other day. Their eyes met, and Maria could feel the disdain and ill intent. "This ain't good..."

Ingrid stepped aside as one of the Purlikin's raised a large magical circle, into the sky. Red blades of Mana appeared one after the other, hanging over their heads like Swords of Damocles.

Anise held Lucy in her arms huddled close to others. "Time to scatter!"

"On it," Maria and the others began to retreat off in the first direction they could think of. Maria charged her scimitars with Mana and slashed at the ground, cutting it deep and unleashing a wave of suffering souls. They spewed out at an angle that covered them like a tarp against the hail of swords while they slipped into one of the many canyon cracks.

A mage amongst the Crypt keepers protected the entire lot with a shield. "We should retreat too!"

Hiri snarled and began to backpedal with the rest of her soldiers. Her eyes locked onto Ingrid with a passionate disgust. "I knew I'd regret letting you slip away!" She cursed the situation with all her heart.

Purlikin Naesha prepared to cast another spell. "Should we get them?"

Ingrid responded with a firm "Absolutely not. We don't know the real abilities of the blue robes. We need to focus on purifying the crystals first."

As the Crypt Keepers retreated, Linett moved in closer to Hiri. "What now?"

"I don't know!" She hissed. The venom in her voice made Linett recoil. "This place just turned into a warzone. I'm going to have to see Azylith about this."