Final Poe Cup

The site of the fight between Luke and the hooded people was a mess. There were roots on the ground everywhere, burned parts, and a log lying on its side.

Luke rushed over to Enid. The person who had saved her was Andrew, her older brother. He had used the full werewolf form to get a faster speed. 

Andrew was already in human form, hugging Enid. His condition was not very good. He had several cuts and wounds. 

"Are you okay, Enid?" asked Luke, concerned.

"Luke!" exclaimed Enid, hugging her boyfriend tightly.

"Ouch!" growled Luke at the claw wound he had on his chest. In addition to that wound, he had the occasional broken bone and was out of energy.

Controlling so many roots was a big challenge for him. The tree roots were buried deep in the ground, and it took a lot of concentration to control them. He also exceeded his limit because of his fury and hatred at seeing Enid hurt.

"I'm sorry," said Enid, looking worriedly at the wound on Luke's chest.

"It's okay. Are you all right?" asked Luke, examining Enid's body carefully. Her only serious injury was the burn on her shoulder, and it was no big deal.

"Yes, don't worry about it. Just minor injuries. Thanks for saving me," said Enid, suddenly kissing Luke.

Luke was surprised by the sudden, passionate kiss but accepted it. It was a nice feeling after a battle to the death. His anger was subsiding thanks to that and the fact that his pretty girlfriend was okay.

"Cof, cof..." coughed Andrew several times, and the couple broke apart with some embarrassment.

"Veronica and Daphne were facing two hags. We should go help them," commented Luke.

"Don't worry. Tommy and Brad are helping them. They should have defeated them by now," said Andrew, and Luke sighed in relief. He didn't feel like going to face two quasi-immortal hags.

"I don't understand why no one from the school came to the island. They should have realized something was wrong by now," Andrew added.

"Those guys came prepared. They even had teleporters to get away," Luke said with a grimace. They most likely set up a barrier or something so that no one could enter the island while they were carrying out their attack.

"But who were they? Why did they attack us?" asked Enid.

Andrew shook his head. He had no idea. Luke said nothing. He knew Sabrina's goal was to kill him, and it seems she brought companions to help her on her mission. 

"Is that guy alive?" asked Andrew, looking toward the hooded man, who was pierced by several roots. It looked like he was crucified but with roots.

"I doubt it..." replied Luke. The roots must have gone through several of his organs. He would only be alive if he had regeneration like a hag, and that was not the case. Even a hag would have died since so many roots would most likely have gone through the black heart.

As for how he felt about murdering a person, or rather, a werewolf, Luke felt no remorse or guilt. It was either that or being killed by that werewolf.

"A shame. We could have questioned him," said Andrew, shaking his head slightly. Enid looked at the hooded man, pierced by roots, without much emotion. She didn't seem scared to see a dead person, especially since it was someone who wanted to kill her boyfriend and she didn't know him.

'This is the world of outcasts...' thought Luke, a little surprised and relieved at the same time. He thought Enid would look at him as a crazed killer, but that wasn't the case. 

"You said Sabrina died...?" asked Luke, looking at Enid. 

Enid's face returned to a droopy, sad expression. Her eyes became glossy, on the verge of tears.

"Did those bastards manage to kill someone!?" asked Andrew, gnashing his teeth in fury. 

In his case, because of the fight he was having with Tommy, he was surprised and attacked by a pretty white-haired vampire girl. Because of his distraction, the girl managed to bite his neck and suck his blood. She then swept the ground with him and Tommy and left the scene as she felt a tremor in the earth. Thanks to the half-breed leaving, they were able to recover with Tommy.

"When Sabrina and I saw the crypt in the distance and the fight between Veronica and Daphne against two hags, we wanted to go help them, but we were intercepted by that hooded person. He attacked us, but his focus was on Sabrina..." began Enid, taking a breath.

"In one of his attacks, he completely engulfed Sabrina in the fire until he burned her completely," she added after a few seconds, shedding tears and hugging Luke tightly again.

This time, Luke kept the whining inside and hugged Enid, patting her back to calm her down.

"Let's meet up with the others and head back to the canoes," Andrew said after a few minutes. Enid nodded, wiping away her tears, and they started walking.

In a few minutes, they arrived back at the crypt. Two mangled bodies of hags could be seen lifeless. It seemed that Veronica, Daphne, and Tommy knew about the black heart of these abominable creatures.

The three of them were sitting on the ground, catching their breath, in not at all pleasant conditions. They had cuts on various parts of their bodies and more wounds. The worst of all was Tommy, since unlike Andrew, he did have to get involved in the battle when he was already wounded.

"You two, go ahead. I'll go check on the body," Luke said, turning away. Andrew and Enid nodded. 

A little further away, they could see a burned area and some sort of humanoid figure lying on the ground.

Luke moved closer and was finally able to see the body lying charred on the ground. The skin was as black as night. The skin had contracted and cracked under the intense heat.

An acrid stench from the smoke and burnt flesh permeated the air, permeating Luke's nostrils.

'Disgusting,' Luke thought in disgust, holding his nose.

[This person is not Sabrina] said Luke, looking at Edgar, who hovered and watched the body.

"It's possible. It's hard to find two people using the same skill with the same power. Use your third eye to check it out," Edgar said.

Luke concentrated. In a few seconds, an eye appeared in the center of his forehead. The eye was similar to his normal eyes. It just had a soft, ethereal light glowing around it, as if it were illuminated.

This ability was called the Eye of Truth. A skill that every clairvoyant should learn. It allows the user to see the auras and powers of other people. It is not easy to learn. 

Luke found it more difficult to learn than learning through the detection of intentions for battle, or, as he calls it, the haki of observation.

Looking at the charred body, Luke could see a faint orange aura. With each passing second, the aura became weaker. This was because the person was dead.

[Just an orange aura. No trace of a red aura. It's a double] said Luke, clicking his tongue. His third eye disappeared from his forehead quickly. He didn't want others to see it.

Luke had already noticed at the canoe race that this "Sabrina" had a very weak fire, even for what Sabrina had shown at school. On the other hand, he had sensed many similarities between the hooded person who kidnapped Enid and the original Sabrina.

As to how she did it, he didn't know, but he didn't care. What good did it do him to know how she implanted a double? With the disguises her team chose, it was easy to plant a double, and her manipulation skills allowed people to willingly sacrifice themselves for her.

The person must not have been someone from Nevermore. Surely it was a Spellman minion or something.

With nothing more to see, he returned to the group. When everyone had regained their energy, they started walking to the canoes. No one was thinking about the Poe Cup. What had happened here was a big scandal.

The trip was silent. Everyone was processing what had just happened. A Nevermore student was killed by unidentified people. The only one who seemed unaffected by this was Luke, as he knew it was all a hoax. Even though the dead person was real. 

There were two dead people; only one of those people was one of the attackers. No one counted hags as equal beings to normal outcasts.

Halfway through, they encountered a large crowd of people. The other team members, Principal Weems, and all the teachers.

They were horrified to see the state of the students, and more so when they heard about the attack by the strangers and that one student had burned to death. It was a long day for Luke.

Thus, the 125th edition of the Poe Cup came to an end. Without a winner, the most tragic Poe Cup since the competition was created.

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