Mine

"Because the most dangerous place for me is by your side!" Larika's eyes bulged as she shouted. Her body shivered to conceal what she feels.

Darion disappeared in a blink and Midel's body was flung away to a side. Larika's feet lifted a few inches from the ground. She felt a tight grip on her neck. When she looked in front of her, two purple eyes stared at her silver ones. "If you weren't that 'special', I would have gotten rid of you sooner.

Clang!

Darion's eyes peered behind the empress. His evil smile somehow twitched at the corners as he saw two pale red eyes staring at him. Yllana's swords hit a stone on the ground. "Tch! What a useless weak body."

Thunk!

She yelled an 'ow' after Lucien hit her forehead. He covered her eyes with his hand. When he whispered 'sleep' in her ears, darkness enveloped Yllana's vision and her body seemed to weigh less than a feather. 'I knew it. You were always putting a spell on me.' A tear formed at the corner of her eyes before sleep caught up with her.

Her red hair fell softly on his arm as her head leaned on his chest. Looking at her from his point of view, Lucien could only see a weak little girl. Unlike her image as the North Kingdom's number 1 Holy Knight, that 'her' right now is vulnerable. He noticed her pale skin and her lips turning purple. The poison has already spread yet she was trying to fight when she sensed there is danger around them. Lucien sighed. 'What an idiot,' he thought to himself.

He eyed the blue pendant hanging on her necklace. It shined under the bright sunlight. With determination in his eyes, he bit the tip of his finger and dripped a drop of blood directly into the pendant. The drop glowed when it touched the blue gem. Then he took Yllana's finger and did the same. When her blood disappeared into the gemstone, the whole necklace glowed and floated. From the necklace, the glowing light enveloped her whole body inch by inch until she too was floating in mid-air. Bluish white light covered her from the tips of her hair to her toes.

Yllana's eyelids fluttered for a moment. Then she saw Lucien's face staring at her with a tear in the corner of his eye. His smile was different. It wasn't the smirk he usually gives her when he's being sarcastic. It was not that relief from knowing everything is all right. There was something wrong with his smile. Something she had not seen before from him. But before she could utter a word, she heard him say in a deep voice which seemed almost too familiar to her, "My Yllana…" Her heart pounded erratically. 'It was that voice! That voice which sounded so similar from her memories! It was him!' Before she could protest and ask him anything, her eyes body felt heavy that she could hardly breathe. Her eyes closed again. But in the corner of her thick lashes, a warm clear liquid flowed out endlessly as she floated in mid-air.

"I could sense her life force," Darion's eyes went wide, and he grinned from ear to ear. "She…is better than this trash!" He wildly swung Larika's body to the side and eyed the girl floating in mid-air beside Lucien.

Larika was sent flying into a tree where her back met a huge trunk. Midel rushed to her side and checked on her wounds. "He is this powerful?" His eyes narrowed as he surveyed the life force within Darion's body. This will not end well for them if none of them can stand up and fight the emperor with equal strength. He gritted his teeth and took Larika to a shady tree. He saw Yllana enveloped in bluish white light and urged Larika to walk to that side of the forest.

"You cannot touch her," Lucien's voice was cold and deep. His dark eyes hovered over the man in purple robe. From the emperor's smile, Lucien saw two teeth growing a little longer than the others. And the purple eyes somehow were turning into a brighter shade.

Lucien showed his perfectly white teeth. "Not human," he commented.

"Human or not, I am powerful enough to take down those who oppose." In a flash, the emperor disappeared from where he was standing. "Humans only know how to look up to those who have power!"

Bang!

Darion threw a straight punch to Lucien's face. Lucien raised an arm to block the attack, but he was still pushed a few inches away. He jumped to the side and opened his palm. He was about to summon his staff when he saw a leg rushing into his face. He quickly turned his body slightly to the side, but the kick still hit his jaw ever slightly.

At the corner of his eyes, Lucien could see Midel giving medicine to the empress. When Darion saw where Lucien get distracted, he pulled out his sword out of thin air and plunged it right into Lucien's left shoulder. A piercing cry of a girl rang into the air and disturbed the birds and animals within the forest.

Darion's brows furrowed. Lucien was hit but the cry was from…his eyes searched for the source of the cry. Larika was unconscious and weak. It was not her. Then he glanced at Yllana. Her two red eyes were bloodshot and staring at him. She was clenching her teeth together as she held her left shoulder.

Then he heard a small laughter from the front. His sword was still inside Lucien's left shoulder, "Hurt me and she will feel the pain. Kill me, and you will kill her too." Lucien moved forward, inching a little closer to the emperor while pulling the sword deeper into his flesh.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!" Yllana yelled yet again. She could feel the bitter cold from her bones and now there is a stinging pain on her left shoulder. The pain woke her senses, but she was still muddle-headed. Her eyes searched for the source of the pain, but it could only concentrate on one person as if she there was a magnet linking her into him. And there she saw a man pierced by a sword on his left shoulder. She could see his dark hair splashed by drops of blood. His eyes were empty shells. There was nothing in them. It was as if life had been sucked out from them.

She could not hear anything nor could she think clearly. There was something preventing her from doing so. She could only feel the pain.

Sensing that Lucien was not fighting back, Darion pulled out the sword and leaped back a few feet away from him. He smiled and turned his head to Yllana. The redhead went back to sleep. "Just give me back both the girls and I will let you live." He started walking to Yllana when he felt a grip on his wrist. He stopped walking and gripped back Lucien's hand reversing their roles. He was now holding Lucien's wrist instead.

"She belongs to me," Lucien declared. The whole forest went still. His commanding tone brought a sense of dread in the air. His empty eyes sparked, but he clenched his teeth to prevent his eyes from glowing a different shade. He chuckled and bit his lip. "Blood Staff,"

Black and red sliver of lights came out of his hand and formed a black staff with a palm-sized gemstone wrapped in vines on the tip. The blood staff looked different from before. The stone was glowing both black and red consecutively. There was also a thick red liquid dripping from the gemstone. Darion squinted his eyes when he saw the staff dripping with blood. "You feed souls to your staff to make it more powerful. Demon, you are a demon."

Darion laughed maniacally and eyed the staff. "I wonder how many souls you have taken for that staff to be dripping with fresh blood."

Midel heard the emperor and glanced over at Lucien. He could see the deep wound on Lucien's left shoulder. His left arm is now limp, and the skin has turned pale from blood loss. On his right, the blood staff that Midel saw from the last time gave off a different aura. He could hear cries, screams, and anguish wails from souls that were sent inside the staff. Midel's body shivered at his own realization. 'Lucien killed so many evil people that the power inside the staff was overwhelming. It could not even contain the power that the souls hold.'

When he saw how calm Lucien's face is, he drew in a sharp breath. Maybe he was thinking too much into these things. He could just ask Lucien later what happened for his staff to be overwhelmed with an evil aura.

"Those people wanted to harm her," Lucien stated plainly. He was referring to Yllana as he leaned his head to the side when he mentioned 'her'. "Do you still want to harm her?"

"Are you threatening me?"

"You thought of keeping her when she was in the arena, how about now?" Lucien's eyes did not even look into the emperor's when he was talking. He was asking what he wanted to know. It was simple for him. It was like, 'You like her? Then die.'