“No… This can’t be… I can’t go down like this. Not alone. I need to bring him down with me… But… I have no strength… I can’t…” Lucius’s eyes slowly darkened as his brain didn’t have much air to work with. While his eyes were on his approaching opponent, he saw a light behind him, right in the center of the reading area. It was hard to tell for him who it was, how the person looked, or what it was. He just knew that something was there. “A… Light?” He whispered.
“I will cut you from that light before it reaches you…” Adrien stopped right in front of Lucius with his knife high above, aimed to stab the man right in the middle of his forehead.
“It was a safe measure against Godan, but it's better time than any. Not much to lose, so I’ll play that card now.” The woman in veil stood up and pointed her finger toward Lucius, he followed her movement in awe. “You wish to slay the man in front of you. Let me help you with that task.
Lucius heard a click sound, but he couldn’t quite locate the sound because it was like it came from all around and yet out of nowhere. He could hear the whisper in his ear telling him, “Show him what the name Strada represents.” The missing air was no longer of concern to him as he felt a surge of power. Something he felt for the first time in his life, yet it was a familiar feeling like it was always beside him, waiting to be unlocked.
“My plans for Strada were different. I wanted to keep him in bay, away from fighting, so more of the family could be born. Sealing his powers was the best solution. At least he has three children. Should be enough to produce more monsters like him.” Suddenly, Strada’s arms began to crack, and from between the cracks a yellow light came out. His skin hardened and turned grey like a rock. “You’re not a Membrakin like most of the humans. You’re of a different race. Your kind is the representation of warrior spirit boiling inside the human soul, erupting in the glory of the battle. You’re an Ignakin!”
Lucius's eyes were as bright as heated metal as his arms came up to grab the attacking hand and the knife. Once he touched the assassin’s wrist, a hissing sound came, and smoke rose from between his fingers. As Adrien pulled his hand away, he dispersed the scent of burned flesh. The sleeve of his black shirt burned, and his skin turned pink, with yellow blisters appearing on its surface. The knife that remained in Lucius' cracked hand began to melt. As the blade became liquid, the rest of the knife fell to the ground, leaving a stain on the marble floor.
“What in the hell-” Adrien let out a desperate curse as he observed his injured right hand. He let out a gasp as he saw a scorching hand moving toward his face. He ducked down and avoided the hand that would melt his whole face, making it a mush of mixed skin, hair, and bone. Lucius didn’t stop as he didn’t intend to; his arm landed in the rubble of wood and books where Adrien had previously lain. His hand turned the wood into charcoal and the books into ash, bits of fire slowly spreading through the flammable material, turning the rubble into a giant fireplace.
“Why are my targets getting stronger as the fight gets longer?!” Shouted Adrien in anger and confusion, throwing one of his knives at the vulcanic man. Strada slapped the blade away with his hardened arm, and his bright eyes turned toward the assassin.
He dashed forward with feral intensity, utterly insensible to reason or empathy. His hands were preying on Adrien’s feeble flesh. The assassin lost his advantage and was forced to run away, avoiding any attacks coming his way, as any contact could end with lethal injury. Lucius switched from grappling to punching as he couldn’t catch his opponent, picking up speed and putting Adrien on edge.
While passing by a bookshelf, Adrien grabbed a book and dropped it between him and Strada. Draining the world of all colors, he used the falling book as a shield from Lucius’s burning hands. The scorching fist stopped once it hit the immovable book. With just three steps, Adrien stabbed a knife into Strada’s forearm and went behind him to strike his back. He couldn’t pierce the skin on his arm and barely scratched Strada’s shoulders as his knife got blunt after meeting stone-hard skin.
“Shit…” Snorted Adrien as he brought up his two daggers to block the stone-hard fist flying toward him like a meteor. As he watched the hand move, he understood that blocking was the wrong move. Before he himself could even think about doing that, he unconsciously dropped both knives and activated his gate, making the falling knives an indestructible shield.
As Lucius hit the knives, sparks flew in each direction like a blacksmith striking a hot iron with his hammer, except this blacksmith didn’t want to create but to destroy. Jumping away, Adrien noticed that the whole arms were grey with cracks in them, light as if lava was running through them. The cracks were slowly spreading to his chest, the biggest source of light was his heart that shone brightly even behind that thick skin.
“He is slowly adjusting to his power. If it wasn’t sealed, he could go all out in an instant, but if I let him do that now, he would burn his life force as a fuel. If it's possible, I’d like to keep him alive…” The woman in veil amusingly whispered, admiring the strength of the man from a legendary bloodline.
Adrien jumped on a bookshelf and used it to reach the upper floor. To slow down Strada’s advance, he threw two knives at the scorching man. Lucius slapped one blade away, and the other melted on his own skin the very moment it touched him.
Reaching for the shelf, the world went back to normal, and his hand burned through the wood, making him fall back down to the ground floor. His breathing became heavier as more wrath got out with each breath. His panting generated hot steam. The cracks moved down his legs and up to his throat, changing his entire body into stone armor. The heat spread in parallel throughout his body, leaving burn marks on the ground wherever he stood or touched the floor.
Lucius kneeled, and the heat moved down his legs. Once he gathered enough strength, he leaped up toward the upper floor where Adrien was hiding.
At the beginning of the fight, Adrien was the predator, but later it changed ways, and now Lucius gave time for the assassin to prepare the area to his advantage, keeping himself hidden from Strada’s wrathful eyes. Again, becoming the hunter in this fight.
The eyes as bright as heated metal moved around, turning to each corner, looking for the assassin. That’s when he noticed that the colors disappeared from his vision. Feeling the upcoming danger, he dashed toward the bookshelf, his back pressed against it. Where he used to stand, two marble balls bounced off the ground. As he took a step forward to look for Adrien, he turned around as he heard something hit the ground. A marble ball rolled down toward the edge of the floor. His own heel got chipped, and a small chunk of it was missing.
“While my knives can’t price your skin, it is a different story when it comes to my gate.” Adrien pushed a whole bookshelf that would crash Strada and leave a bloody mess. Lucius was about to run away, but his path was blocked by falling marbles that were placed on top of the falling bookshelf. His choice of paths was limited between going right or left. Not sparing a moment, he dashed the opposite way from the handrail of the floor.
Right in front of his face appeared a knife, ready to prey at his neck, and he raised his hand in time to grab the knife. Before the shelf could hit him, the colors came back, and where the polished wood touched his body, it burned away. Seconds later, the colors faded, and the knife he was about to grab got heavier; his hand fell to the ground, and the rest of his body followed. Once the knife hit the ground, his stone-hard hand crumbled into bits.
Even without one hand and fingers on the other, he didn’t stop. His entire focus was on his assassin, barely acknowledging the missing limbs. His wound quickly sealed as his own flesh burned and hardened into a stone-like structure. Within his vision, he saw a flying cape run behind a bookshelf. He wasn’t thinking like a man, more like a beast, and the quickest path was to climb the bookshelf. As it was frozen to his touch, he got on top, where many marble balls were placed, another trap prepared by Adrien.
The assassin waited patiently for Lucius to appear from the corner; he didn’t expect him to attack from the top. The scream of a warrior made him flinch in surprise and watch the massive man fall down toward him. Adrien deactivated his Monochrome Mirror gate and dashed back. Like an arrow, Lucius went through the floor, creating a massive hole, and with the force he put in, most of the upper level began to collapse.
Adrien had an opportunity to kill Strada with falling rubble, but he didn’t want to risk it. His own life would be in danger if he activated his power right now. With each step forward, the crumbling floor got a step closer to him. All the traps he prepared were for nought.
Being focused on running forward, he didn’t expect a hand to rise from the ground and grab his leg. The scorching hand was so hot that Adrien didn’t even let out a scream in pain as his nerves were burned in less than a second. Trying to free his leg, his own flesh began to melt, slipping through Lucius’s grasp. Once out of the man’s grip, he stumbled forward after using all his might to get away. As he placed the injured leg on the ground, he lost his balance and fell to the ground. The muscles in his left leg were melted together and not responding to him.
The breaking wood reached him and gave him only a second to shout one curse “SHIT!” as he fell down to the rubble. Half of the library got destroyed, and countless original books with no copies were destroyed. As the dust settled to the ground, Adrien breathed a handful of it, making him cough in response. A sound that gave out his position to Strada.
He could hear the warrior’s heavy breathing as he ran toward his position, reaching toward his chest where his belt was attached with the whole arsenal of blades. He looked for a knife, but he lost them all in the fall. Scattered all around beyond his reach. The thought of death didn’t scare him, but he didn’t want that, not yet. With the rush of adrenaline, his mind split into many thoughts at once, trying to figure out what to do. He snapped his head toward the upcoming beast, Strada’s both arms ready to prey on his throat.
Adrien picked up the nearest broken plank and threw it at Lucius. Following the flying wood was the realm created by his gate. With a slight move, Strada avoided the piece of rubble. The last sound that came out of this fight was a loud thud.
“In the end… It came down to luck.” Whispered to herself, the woman in veil, taking one last look at the scorching corpse of Lucius Strada. Through his head, there was a hole left by a single splinter from the damaged plank.
“The task has been accomplished… But I don’t feel satisfied with that outcome…” Grunted Adrien with bitterness in his mouth. From all the skills he possessed, he couldn’t bring down the man on his own. As he heard the doors open, he quickly activated his gate and hid in the mirror realm.
Behind the doors stood the same maid who was ordered to bring bandages to the library. Her eyes couldn’t believe that almost the whole library got destroyed. Taking the sight in, it took her a moment to notice a body between the rubble. She couldn’t recognize it at first, but as she got closer, she knew who that was. Her fearful scream gave space for Adrien to open the door and escape the scene of the crime.