Though, such a maneuver had forced Kise to stay in place long enough to cast both spells. She was the perfect target.
"Lance of Light!"
With teleport on cooldown and at this range, the lances were near impossible to dodge. They shot forward in rapid succession, slamming into Kise with brutal force. She took the full hit, multiple lances punching into her small body. One pierced her wing, another hit her side, and a third hit her leg.
She scread, blood spraying from fresh wounds. But she didn’t fall. When a magician had a mana barrier, they were surprisingly tanky. She grinned through the pain, blood dripping from her mouth, clearly considering the injury worth the trade.
Lena had nearly reached lee range, and was finally close enough to see Kise clearly. She raised her wand. "Holy Arrows!"
The arrows launched at close range, streaking toward Kise in a tight burst.
Kise teleported away instantly.
She reappeared directly behind Lena, her claws already in motion. Her expression was wild, a triumphant grin spread across her face. Just as Kise predicted, before Lena could turn or react...
Tear~
[HP -201]
Her attack landed, tearing a chunk of flesh as the brutal impact caused Lena to crash into the ground face first.
[HP -143]
They landed against the cold hard ground at the speed of a car crash. Her nose shattered, and her ribcage cracked under the impact. Lena gasped, pain shooting through her entire chest. She tried to push herself up, but her arms trembled and gave out. Her body wasn’t responding properly.
"B-but... but... When I..."
She tried raising her arm, yet nothing.
Kise turned her attention back to Lumi imdiately. He was still poisoned, still wounded, still struggling to breathe through the toxins ravaging his lungs. Perfect.
She grinned. "Didn’t think this would happen, did you?" She flicked her hand, revealing the sharp claws. She lunged forward, claws fully extended, going straight for his throat to finish him off.
BOOM!
Kise suddenly exploded.
The blast tore through her midsection, shredding her small body from the inside out. Flesh and blood sprayed outward in a violent burst.
"Mhhhhhghhh..." An arm shot up.
She was still alive, but barely. Her wings were torn to shreds. Her body was bleeding heavily from the gaping wound in her torso. She stared up in shock, unable to comprehend what had just happened.
Lumi didn’t waste a single second. "Lance of Light!"
The lances shot forward, slamming into her broken body. Lena, too, raised her wand. "Holy Arrows!"
The arrows followed imdiately after, punching through what remained of Kise’s flickering barrier and into her body..
Kise’s body twitched and spasd as she was hit. Then she went still, her eyes losing their light.
[EXP 1383]
Lumi exhaled slowly, lowering his wand. The fight was over.
Lena pushed herself up slowly, wincing with every movent. She latched on to Lumi as tight as he could possibly do so. "Heal..." The spell wafted over them, healing them by a considerable bit.
She looked at the remains of Kise, then at Lumi. Her face was pale, but she managed a weak grin. "That was... but, right? We did good? Right? Please?"
Lumi looked at her, then at the pixie’s corpse. His expression shifted to admiration and pride. "That was brilliant."
Lena blinked, then her grin went wider. "Thank you! Really?"
"Really." Lumi nodded. "Attaching a bomb to her while she fighting you at lee That was perfect execution."
Lena’s grin widened, despite her entire body radiating pain that even heal didn’t remove. "I was just following your advice."
"And yet-" Lumi replied, spacing out his words. "You did it. She never noticed a thing. It’s one thing for the plan to exist, but to execute it..."
"Yeah." Lena nodded, still grinning. "I guess I did do good! You told to think for myself, so I did! I ssaged you that idea so she wouldn’t hear, and..." She gestured weakly at the corpse. "She was so focused on you, I figured she wouldn’t notice doing anything subtle. So I stuck a bomb on her when I got close."
Lumi stared at her for a mont, then smiled. "You’re learning fast."
"Thanks to you, darling." Lena replied softly.
She looked down at the notification still lingering in her vision, notifying her of the experience gained. 1383. It was a lot, it was the most any singular enemy had given her, ever..
But Kise had been an intelligent soul despite being an enemy. She had thought, planned, adapted. She had tortured for fun, sure, but she’d still been a thinking being.
Is that all their lives ca to? Experience points?
Lena’s expression shifted slightly, staring at the corpse for a mont longer.
Then she shook her head sharply, physically forcing the thought away. There was no point dwelling on it. She crouched down beside the body and pulled out a knife. "We should take the head."
Lumi blinked, pulled from his own thoughts. "What?"
"The head." Lena repeated, already working. She cut through cleanly. "I promise I’m not psycho. Well, I am, but not now. I an like, Proof of kill. We go back and present it to the other pixies."
She stored it in her inventory without another word.
Lumi nodded slowly. "Yes. Thank you." That made sense. Seyen would want confirmation.
It only montarily took him by surprise because he had been deep in thought, his mind elsewhere entirely.
Was Alton not a mini Dark One?
It sounded crazy. Absurd, even. But the more he thought about it, the more the pieces aligned. The Dark One knew light and dark. Alton knew light and dark. The Dark One wielded both in harmony. Alton wielded both in harmony.
It sounded like a desperate comparison. But the facts were, almost no one used light. Almost no one used darkness. No one used both except the Dark One. And recently, as Lumi finds out, Alton.
Given that those were the only users of both that he knew of... what did that imply? He shook his head. It wasn’t important. Not right now. He could think of this while falling asleep.
"Lumi?" Lena’s voice cut through his thoughts.
He looked at her. "Yeah. We go back to the pixies."
Lena nodded. "Should we just walk back and show them?"
Lumi’s expression shifted. "No. We will prepare first."
"Prepare?"
"Battles aren’t won by sheer chance." Lumi said. He began to pace slightly, his mind already working through possibilities. "You know this. After all, planting the bomb on Kise was not re chances. That was your skill and our intellect. We’ve killed Kise. That satisfies the agreent. But Seyen isn’t our friend, either."
Lena tilted her head. "You think she’ll betray us?"
Lumi shook his head. "I don’t think she’ll try. However we cannot simply operate on what we think. We should turn possibilities into a certainty. How can we make certain she doesn’t even try?"
Lena processed the statent. "But we want pixies dead? Don’t we want her to betray us?"
Lumi stopped pacing and looked at her. "She would never attack first if she didn’t have the advantage. Rember, we can strike her whenever we feel."
Lena nodded to that.
Lumi continued. "We make it clear that betrayal would cost more than it’s worth." He raised a finger. "There’s various ways to do this. The point is that we openly show her this."
Lena nodded slowly, following his logic. Lena stared at him. "You’ve thought about this a lot."
"I have to." Lumi replied. "Every encounter is a potential fight. Every agreent is temporary. That’s how it is in this world, especially with Pixies."
Lena was quiet for a mont. Then she smiled faintly. "You’re scary sotis, you know that?"
Lumi looked at her. "Scary?"
"In a good way." Lena clarified. "Like, you think of everything. You’re always three steps ahead. It’s impressive."
Lumi shook his head. "I’m not three steps ahead. I’m just preparing for what might happen."
"That’s the sa thing."
"It’s not."
Lena laughed softly. "Okay, darling. Whatever you say."
Lumi let out a small breath. He glanced back at where Kise’s body lay, then at Lena. "Are you ready?"
Lena nodded. "Yeah. Let’s go."
They made their way back through the trunk, retracing their steps. The path was quiet now, unlike when they ca in. The monsters they’d passed earlier were still gone, driven away by the sounds of battle.
As they climbed back toward the entrance, Lumi continued outlining his thoughts. "When we et Seyen, we present the head imdiately. No preamble. Just proof. Then we wait for her response."
"And if she attacks?"
"Then we fight." Lumi replied simply. "And we try to win. But as I already said, she has little reason to attack. Especially once we make it obvious we’re dangerous."
Lena glanced at him. "I still have spare bombs. I can show them off. Kinda like, attack and I can detonate these all in you?"
"That?" Lumi considered. "She wouldn’t care about her pixie followers. Make sure she feels a threat to herself if you do that."
Lena pursed her lips. "She’s heartless."
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