Lucy rapidly accelerated into striking distance and swung the fire iron at Javion’s leg. Her head didn’t go past his waist, so her range was limited. He instinctively parried her attack, but the awkward angle caused him to stumble back. Lucy’s attacks didn’t slow down, only giving Javion time to parry, and he took a step back with each block.
His back reached the wall by the time he regained his composure. This time he didn’t parry but raised his sword back up and swung at her head for a counterattack. Lucy stopped her iron mid-swing and brought it above her head for a parry. His leg for her head wasn’t a good trade.
The two clashed throughout the room, Javion on the assault. His attacks were made up of downward slashes, which Lucy met with a counter-swing. But with each clash, Lucy was pushed back. The leverage partly played a role, but even more than that, there was a vast difference in strength between the bodies their auras were augmenting.
With each meeting of metal, Lucy’s fire iron flew a bit further back, and her recoil time lengthened. Her blocks became more rushed, only worsening the problem and causing her to be pushed back more.
Then, an earth spike shot from the side. Lucy dodged back but was met with Javion’s blade again and two flanking wind blades. She wasn’t able to parry anymore without being struck down. This forced her to perform acrobatics around the room, barely avoiding dozens of near misses between his sword and magic.
“Come on already. The bread is getting stale,” Sol chimed in from the doorway.
Lucy glared at him, then made space between her and Javion using the wall she was backed into as a springboard. She shot between his legs, and the room separated them again.
“You’re too weak for me to actually test my strength against, so I have to make do with him,” Lucy snapped back. Javion used the chance from their dialogue to catch his labored breath and heal himself, the wound on his back slowly forming a scab. Even though neither he nor Lucy had traded a blow, splatters of his blood decorated the room.
“Really? Then why have you still not beaten me in a wind battle?” The battles where Sol cast wind magic at her, and she could only respond by blowing air from her mouth.
“Feel free to take out my brother. I won’t stop you.” Lucy looked to the panting Javion and pointed at the immobile Sol.
“Hey!” Sol shouted, but then Lucy’s stomach grumbled.
“Nevermind, time’s up.” Lucy charged at Javion.
Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
Javion recomposed himself and met Lucy’s charge. Several fireballs fired from his body and flanked Lucy’s sides and back, forcing a head-on encounter as he carried out his usual downward slash. Lucy met his blade per usual. But instead of pushing her backward, Javion’s blade cleanly slid off her fire iron and overextended to the floor.
Lucy leaped forward and met Javion eye to eye. She cast him a damning look as Javion raised his arms to defend. But before he could block, Lucy’s fire iron ran through his throat, shattering the frantically made mana barrier and windpipe and coming out the other end.
Lucy landed simultaneously with Javion’s body. His body twitched on the ground, his appendages unable to move despite life being left in him. His body didn’t stay there long, though, as it was raised up by Lucy lifting the fire iron. Lucy carried the still paralyzed, living Javion and strutted to the active fireplace. She threw the fire iron with him still on it into the flames and turned around, dusting off her hands. Groans, unable to pass his opened throat, blended with the crackling of the fireplace.
Cali paled while watching her, while Sol’s mouth dropped slightly.
“Let’s go.” She ignored their gazes and continued, “We still have the others to deal with.”
Lucy carried on forward despite the lack of movement from the other two. A slight melancholy expression formed on her face as she noticed neither of the other two talked. She looked up and straight, shutting them out of her vision and carrying on, letting out a quiet sigh. She reached the doorway in pin-drop silence.
“Upie?” Sol was reaching out both of his arms to his sister, flashing her puppy dog eyes. Lucy looked down at him and paused. A small smile came to her face, but before Sol had time to notice it, he was kicked in the stomach and sent rolling.
‘Fuck!’ Sol winced from his injury from earlier being kicked. Cali, having watched the scene play out, snapped back to her senses. She hurried over to Sol, who now had his arms reaching out to her with an expectant look.
“As if,” Cali said plainly. Sol watched Cali’s aura with his adjusted vision thin around her body, and the excess portion reached out and surrounded his body, lifting him to hover beside her. Meanwhile, Lucy slugged the bag of food back over her shoulder.
The three thugs were running, having just passed the invisible barrier and beelining it to Nicky’s house. They made it through the open meadow in under a minute. The middle thug took out the red cube from his pocket, pushed onto the engraving, and threw it at the door of the house.
The cube flashed on impact, releasing flames that caught onto the door. The initial flames were minor, no more sizable than the cube, but they almost instantly spread to every piece of wood in contact with the door. Within seconds, the house and all its indoor wooden furniture were one big bonfire. The flames of the bonfire then turned blue.
The trio of arsons cheered and shouted profanities at the inferno, but after half a minute of celebration, one grabbed the other two by the shoulder.
“Alright. Let’s head out.” The three turned around and prepared to leave, but as they started to run, a large explosion blasted in their path.
Through the dust and inside the crater stood Nicky radiating bloodlust. A blue light flashed in a cone encompassing the arsons and the house behind them.
“Where are my babies?”