17 The Crusader's Oath

Justicar looked at the black haired woman dressed as a warhound, while she typically looked like the average warhound there was no mistaking it, that this woman was a monster... Lucia Vindicta. The moment, Justicar saw her figure among the crowds, she immediately excused herself from her friends and chased after this monster. There is no doubt that Lucia was responsible for this incident. She already cut a swathe through the chaos beasts swarm just to catch up to her. Lucia was the one responsible for the academy's incident years ago that took lives and ruined many others. The incident that permanently crippled Justicar's brother and killed her sister. From what Justicar knew, Lucia used to be a simple student like many others, the only thing differing her from others was her trait "Hatred." While at first others were cautious of her they eventually accepted and became friends with her. Among those friends were Justicar's siblings but inexplicably, she suddenly turned on them all, killing many in the process.

In fact, Lucia's history reminded Justicar of a certain someone else but that wasn't important right now. What was important was that Justicar brought Lucia the justice she deserved. Why did Lucia do the horrendous things she did? Justicar was too young to know then and perhaps she may never know. She didn't care. All that mattered was that the monster responsible for taking away everything Justicar ever cared about was standing right in front of her.

"Kufufufu, now what do we have here?"

Lucia, dressed up as a warhound, replied in a sarcastic, arrogant tone. Her smug smile revealed her sadistic desire for carnage. She appeared as if she only just washed recently. As if it was the first time she washed in years. Apparently this day was a special occasion where even monsters have standards...

"To think that the last sibling of that rotten family would come to me herself. I thought I would needed to have gone looking for you myself..."

Justicar gritted her teeth as she listened to the mocking tone of the savage monster. However, those mere words were of course nothing more than mere words. [You think this will end the same as the time you tried a stunt like this before? Unfortunately for you I've come prepared]. During Justicar's first couple weeks at the acedemy, another hatred magic caster happened to be in her class. Justicar not only stayed vigilant and 'kept an eye' on said magic caster to ensure an incident wouldn't occur like it did with Lucia but she also studied her magic by watching her perform it in-class.

Now it was time to put those studies into practice. Performing a battle stance, Justicar held her sword closely to her right hip. The edge of the blading pointing towards the floor. She knew of the enemy's powerful ranged attacks, but raw power means nothing if it can't hit the target. While Justicar knew that the speed of the destructive beam generated by hatred magic was inherently fast, the action itself was very telegraphed and as such it should theoretically be easy to predict and dodge the beams while closing the distance.

Justicar focused her eyes on her foe, her cruel smile still etched deeply onto her face. Her eyes filled with sadistic joy like an overeager beast that finally caught it's prey. Her amateur and relaxed stance boasted an air of arrogance. [You think you can look down on me? You'll pay with for such insolence with your life!]. Putting strength into her legs, Justicar sprinted at an inhuman speed towards Lucia who on the other hand kept her relaxed pose, as if nothing was happening at all.

Angered by her opponents attitude, Justicar put all her strength into her sword, imbuing it with her powerful 'justice' magic which is said to be nigh unbreakable.

A loud crash echoed through the halls as the edge of her blade collided with her opponent. What surprised her was what Lucia used to block Justicar's attack, her very own hands... except not exactly. Looking very closely she can see that her blade was not actually touching Lucia's hands but rather a force was holding it back. To say that the force was invisible would be a lie. Emanating from Lucia's hand was a crimson-red ball of light which Justicar's sword embedded itself into. Red light and lightning cackled from where the two forces collided followed by streaks of golden light. All that Justicar could do in the situation was simply put more strength into her strike, forcing her sword almost halfway through the ball of light.

Lucia's face distorted at the sudden turn of events, apparently this was a surprise to her too. Her eyes were filled with wrath as she charged another red ball of light in her other hand. The red ball of light quickly grew in size and the room was drowned by an imposing heat.

"You think I'll let you do that!?"

Justicar shouted as she kicked Lucia's shins with all her might, forcing the latter onto her knees. The sudden attack caused Lucia to misfire both of beams of light, one was sent flying into the nearby wall while the other unleashed itself onto Justicar. Instinctually closing her eyes, Justicar shortly opened them to find that she was unharmed. While she was pushed back away from Lucia, she was still standing and she seems to have suffered no noticeable injuries except for the slight pain in her legs. What Justicar soon realised was that her sword was intensely smoking but still relatively intact.

Imbuing more of her magic into her sword, Justicar once again took a battle ready stance, waiting for her opponent's next move. Lucia was once again on her two feet. Smoke filled the air from where the stray beams of light struck while Lucia's body although not taking a battle stance was a lot less relaxed compared to before. Justicar could not see Lucia's expression because for some reason, she kept facing the floor. Her hands gripped so hard that her knuckles turned white and blood slowly dripped out of her palms.

A low but threatening growl filled the hallway. Gripping the hilt of her sword harder, Justicar kept her focus on Lucia who was now slowly raising her head. Her once smug smile now replaced with a vengeful frown, her pitch black hair seemed rugged and unkempt but the most alarming feature where her eyes. Her eyes were completely bloodshot and her formerly black eyes were dyed a crimson red. Her expression seemed full of malice, there was no other way to describe it. Looking at her crimson red eyes, Justicar got the bone-chilling premonition that she was about to experience the true power of hatred.