19 The Unyielding Crusader

Justicar and Lucia had been having an even power struggle for quite some time. For every beam of light fired from Lucia's hand, Justicar would simply deflect it with her sword or move out of harm's way. The only change in status quo was that Justicar can now fully confirm that as long as her sword was imbued with her justice magic, she can nullify the beams of light. Panting heavily, Justicar felt beads of sweat on her forehead as she once again sized up her opponent. Justicar remained fully vigilant on any sudden moves that Lucia may make when suddenly.

"Ah... ah... ahahahahahaha"

Lucia was laughing like a manic. Naturally, Justicar could sense something was off. It was as if that laughter wasn't joyous at all, but rather something forced and unnatural. Before Justicar got more time to think, Lucia finally stopped laughing, her crimson red eyes still filled with malice and ill will.

"Yes... That's just like how your bitch of a sister would have fought when faced with such a situation... I see that cowardly blood truly does run thick in the family."

"What did you sa-"

"You disgust me."

Putting a lot of emphasis into her words, Lucia continued.

"I'm going to cripple you. Then I'm going to kill you. Slowly. Very... Very slowly. Maybe I'll drop your severed head off to your sister as a final parting gift. She can continue to live her life in regret while you get a ticket into the afterlife."

Her face warped into a hideous mad smile, and her eyes displayed her feelings of sadistic joy. [What a monster...] Monster... That was the only thing that Justicar could use to describe the person in front of her. For moment the two stood at a complete standstill, neither daring to move a muscle.

Deciding that this was going nowhere, Justicar for the last time went on the offensive.

Justicar's sword glowed a blinding golden light as she imbued more magic into it than she ever had before. In quick reaction to this sudden offensive, Lucia's mad smile warped even further as she charged another ball of red light in her left hand. Firing the beam before Justicar could close the distance. With one hand tightly gripping the sword's hilt while the other supported the blade, Justicar shielded herself from the terrifying magic unleashed by her opponent.

Gaining her footing, Justicar put all her strength into her arms and legs as she painstakingly forced herself forward, pushing the beam backwards with every step. Red lightning cackled throughout the long hallways as Justicar continued her struggle against the savage monster. Justicar squinted as blinding rays of golden and red light filled the corridors, it was so bright that Justicar almost lost her sense of location as she edged herself closer towards Lucia.

"Yes! YES! Struggle on in vain! I want to see whatever stands of hope you mustered up leave your eyes! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Amidst the power struggle, Lucia once again laughed madly, her insane laughter echoed throughout the halls. Justicar ignored her incessant laughter and pushed onwards.

"Still struggling? What a pathetic little worm!"

Justicar ignored Lucia's insults and instead focused on the origin of her voice, gaining a general idea of her location. [I just need a good idea of where she is and I can end this]. As Justicar continued onwards, the moment she was looking for arrived.

"Your sister was a coward and a hypocrite, and you are no different. You think you fight for honor... for justice... oh please you only fight for yourself and your own selfish pride."

The pretentious mini monologue Lucia gave Justicar the perfect moment to strike. Abandoning her sword, Justicar ducked and rolled out of the beams path before breaking once more into a sprint towards the bewildered Lucia. This time imbuing magic into her gauntlets, Justicar swung a heavy hook at Lucia, who responded by barely block it with another ball of red light. Justicar ignored this and continued the offensive, while the attack was blocked it staggered Lucia enough to force her onto the defensive. With her free hand, Justicar swung a quick jab forcing Lucia to block with her other hand. Justicar predicted this, swiftly pulling back her other fist before burying her gauntlet deep into Lucia's belly, forcing her backwards. Justicar went to continue the attack when-

"STOP!"

A quick but weak beam of light struck against Justicar's chest knocking her backwards once again. Lucia's face seemed somewhat pale before-

"eeeuuuugh!"

She vomited, a putrid smell filled the air as a sticky fluid stained the floors. Her sadistic smile now completely absent while her crimson red pupils glowed even brighter than before. Justicar now on the winning side smiled, taunting the beast.

"You aren't much without your hate magic now are you?"

Justicar went to continue the attack on the weakened Lucia when a chilling laughter filled the halls. Justicar's eyes went wide as she discovered the source of the laughter, Lucia herself.

"Your sister..."

"Wha-"

"Said the exact same thing"

Before Justicar could even say anything she felt a sharp pain in her chest before she found herself flying across the hallway. Groaning in pain, she found herself lying on the cold hard floor, staring at the ceiling. She tried to get up only to find that her body won't obey her orders. Shortly after she saw a figure looming over her.

"How did I hit you? Is that what you were wondering? Why don't you take some time to remember that magic is a force that can be freely manipulated by it's user, like how you used your so-called 'justice magic' to empower your sword and gauntlets, my hatred magic would be no different."

Looking into Lucia's eyes, Justicar found that while it was still bloodshot it was no longer glowing a crimson red colour. Lucia smiled with glee before closing her eyes. Opening her left eye, it quickly became dyed in a red colour before immediately returning to its original form. Lucia was at first confused by this action when suddenly she felt an stringing sharp pain in right hand. Unable to do anything Justicar could only continue to lay on the ground confused as she watched Lucia's eyes glow red before returning to normal again followed by a sharp pain in another part of her body. However, that was when she saw it.

A thin, fine red string made of light that appeared whenever Lucia's eyes returned to normal. That was when Justicar understood what was happening. The hate magic instead of being compressed into a small ball of light in her hands was instead being compressed into fine tiny balls within her eyeball. While it's destructive power fell, it's deathly accuracy multiplied. However, knowing what was happening didn't change the fact that it was still happening. Justicar could only lie on the floor, enduring her brutal torture. [Please... stop...] Justicar wanted to speak but her mouth failed to even move.

She could feel herself slipping into unconsciousness but the sharp stinging pain of another body part being pierced kept her awake. How long had she been suffering? She didn't know. All she wanted was for all of it to end. Her body had already been pierced many times over but with every string that digs into her body, a vital organ is narrowly missed. She felt that the blood loss would eventually kill her but like the normal beams of light, the strings of light burns its targets to a crisp, clotting the blood and stopping her from bleeding out.

In sadistic joy, Lucia finally stopped with her savage treatment. Lifting her hand up and charging another beam of light, before delightfully announcing her leave.

"Well it's been fun but I've got business to attend to"

Faced with her impending death Justicar closed her eyes... However, nothing happened. Before Justicar could even do anything she heard a short shriek and the sound of something hitting the floor to her left.

Opening her eyes she saw Lucia grimacing in pain to her left before turning to her right to find figure with bronze red hair before Justicar's sight was consumed by darkness.