NOVEL NEXT XXIII. ... Old Shades Dance
From Sadduccee's hands, magical glyphs summon forth his own weapons.
Sadduccee: We may be fewer in number in Eclipse, Lunalus... But the combat ability of any of our warriors greatly exceeds that of any of your members.
Lunalus dashes towards Sadduccee, smiling from ear to ear. He thrusts his spear forwards, which is quickly blocked by him. Equipped in his hands were silver claws, which now expertly held the spear in place.
Lunalus: Hahahah! I don't doubt you. But I'm no ordinary member...
From the tip of his spear, a dark explosion separates them. They are projected several feet backward, both landing on their feet.
Lunalus: Let me show you the limitless potential of raw destruction itself...!
From his left hand, Lunalus casts a black glyph that conjures several bolts of dark energy around him. They quickly home in on Sadd.
Sadduccee: Destruction, creation... Mastery over space and time encompasses all. Your primitive magic pales in comparison.
Just before the bolts hit him, Sadduccee holds his hands together, forming a glyph that creates a barrier in front of him. As the projectiles hit the barrier, it's as if time itself begins to unwind, and they get sent back to the attacker.
Lunalus: Tch. No fun.
Lunalus holds his spear up high, attracting the dark projectiles to it. As they hit his weapon, their energy is transferred to it, making it overflow with darkness.
Lunalus: You put too much faith in your fancy spells... At the end of the day...
He throws his spear with all the strength he can muster.
Lunalus: ... Sheer power renders all tactics obsolete!
Sadduccee jumps as if gravity itself did not affect him. The spear passes through his barrier, flying underneath him completely unaffected, and punching a massive hole through the library wall. Dark energy explodes from the point of impact and spreads to the adjacent areas, rotting and decaying the wood around.
Lunalus: Always running away and deflecting attacks... It's so tedious to fight someone who lacks the fire of battle inside them...!
As Sadduccee descends upon him, ready to slash at him with his claws, Lunalus fires torrents of dark energy from his palms straight at the ground beneath, propelling him upward and toward him. The ground beneath him begins to disintegrate, afflicted with the dark magic.
Lunalus: COME! Slash me, Sadduccee! Cut me up, spill my blood! Let our final fight be unforgettable...!
As he comes into contact with Sadduccee, he phases right through him, as his opponent's own physical form vanishes into nothingness. It was a mirage. The real Sadduccee was down below, preparing to strike Lunalus from behind.
Lunalus: SADDUCCEE...!
A sphere of grey energy hits Lunalus in the back, spreading across his body to create shackles around his wrists and ankles, preventing him from moving his limbs. He crashes to the ground, pinned down by his opponent's attack.
Sadduccee: We each fight with according to our strengths. Yours may be brute force... Mine isn't.
Sadducee slowly approaches him.
Lunalus: I wanted to give you a good fight, Sadduccee. I really did...
Sadduccee: This isn't some game. You may kill to fulfil some sick base desire you may have... But I kill to protect. I kill because my mission-
Lunalus: BLAH BLAH BLAH! Save it, you bore me!
Lunalus' eyes begin glowing with dark energy. As they do, the petrified bodies of the maids and butlers begin to break free, regaining their mobility.
Lunalus: You should've killed them...
Sadduccee: I won't make the same mistake again.
As Sadducee pierces Lunalus' neck with his claws, he could feel that the body was already lifeless. He had already transferred his consciousness to another one.
Lunalus: Do you know how many agents I have at my disposal?! Thousands. Kill the ones in this room and I'll just take over the body of some other one, far, far from here! I have plenty of lives, Sadduccee... You have but one. I gave you a chance. But you had to go and disrespect it...
Sadduccee: I care little for your nonsensical codes of battle! I'll kill your agents here. I'll kill the ones outside of here. Eventually, you will run out of bodies to hijack. Even if every last member of Nox has to die for that to happen...
Lunalus: AND YOU PRESUME TO BE POWERFUL ENOUGH TO ACCOMPLISH THAT...?!
Lunalus' agents ran towards Sadduccee, while he himself stood behind, conjuring dark glyphs.
Sadduccee: I don't have to do it alone.
Sadduccee joins his index and middle fingers together. He then points them toward the floor beneath, drawing a square in the air. As soon as his fingers return to the initial point, he clenches his hand into a fist. Grey energy shoots from the spaces between his fingers and the palm of his hand, as a square piece of floor beneath his enemies is removed from existence. They fall to the room below. Only he and Lunalus remain in the library still, with Cabdan cowering near a corner.
Lunalus: Outrageous. Disgraceful. You call this fighting?! Where is your drive? Get up close and personal, feel their very lives get snuffed out by your hands...!
Lunalus had been charging up a powerful attack. He joins both of his hands together, as an orb of pure darkness forms inside them.
Sadduccee: I'm too old for that. Aren't you...?
Lunalus laughs.
Lunalus: Every kill should be a thrill... If you grow bored or tired, you're doing something wrong.
He raises the orb to his eye level.
Lunalus: That's a sign it's time for you to get creative...!
He gulps it down, then propels himself toward his opponent once more. As he approaches, his veins begin pulsing with dark magic, as if he's ready to blow up.
Lunalus: And, thankfully, I get to be creative in ways most can't even dream of...!
Sadd creates a shield around himself, but Lunalus' attack is much too powerful. As his body touches the shield, a massive dark explosion destroys the library floorboards, sending Sadd flying down toward the room where the other agents had fallen. Cabdan's ring protected him from the blast, ensuring that the little corner he was standing on remained intact. Even though Sadd was getting tired, he had little time to rest, as the agents of Nox quickly moved in on his position. Moreover, despite Lunalus' body being destroyed in the explosion, he had already transferred to another one.
Lunalus: Every body I take has to learn my shape. My memories. My powers... But you know what it doesn't learn? My pain. By the 100th time you're cut with a sword, your body becomes accustomed to being sliced up. It forgets the pain. But every time I take on a new body...
He approaches Sadduccee, as the other agents stop moving.
Lunalus: I forget what it feels like to suffer. To be hurt. Maimed...
He grabs a knife from the robes worn by the body he had just stolen.
Lunalus: I love it.
He cuts up his left palm, grinning from ear to ear. He seemed to genuinely enjoy the feeling.
Sadduccee: I pity you, Lunalus... Truly.
Sadduccee clenches both hands into fists, as grey magic surges through them. He brings his arms up into a cross, then pulls team apart as he opens his hands. A blast of energy emanates from his palms, freezing the bodies of the enemies in front of him in place... Except for Lunalus' body. It only seemed to slow him down, as if he was moving underwater.
Lunalus: Don't... Friend...
He said, slowly. It seemed all of his movements, even if voice, had been slowed down. Sadduccee begins materializing a cage of grey energy around Lunalus. As it gains material shape, his body seems to be slowing down more and more.
Sadduccee: Stay still and die.
As the cage is fully materialized, Sadduccee snaps his fingers, birthing an explosion of energy inside it. As the grey particles from the blast vanish, Lunalus' clothes appear to have been fully deleted, as has a good portion of his flesh. Even though his movements had slowed to a crawl, it was perceptible that he was in deep pain.
Sadduccee: Stop resisting.
He snaps his fingers again. Another explosion rips more flesh and bone from Lunalus' body. His skin was completely gone by this point. Sadduccee's attack seemed to be erasing his enemy from existence, layer by layer.
Sadduccee: Can you even hijack bodies if your current vessel's movements are that slow...? Or have you already given up? Accepted death...?
Another snap. His muscles and intestines are almost fully erased. A pool of blood would have formed beneath him, if it wasn't also erased with each snap of Sadduccee's fingers.
Sadduccee: Why...? Why don't you let me efface you from existence? Why do you keep resisting...?
One more snap. Two more snaps. Three. Four. Each snap seemed to take less and less from Lunalus' body. Was Sadduccee getting weaker... Or was he resisting more and more as he got closer to dying...?
Sadduccee: WHY DON'T YOU DIE?! YOU HAVE NOTHING LEFT! NO REAL REASON TO FIGHT ON...!
He snapped his fingers once more, but it was no use. It seemed to have no effect anymore. Sadduccee ceases his attack, as the cage of energy dissipates. Within, Lunalus' body was unrecognizable. There was barely any meat holding onto his bones. His vitals had been damaged beyond salvation. His skull still seemed relatively intact, even though his teeth and tongue were already gone. He tried his best to speak, but the blood flooding his insides paired with everything else he had lost made it impossible for him to do so. He just shambled towards Sadduccee. Strangely, his black eyes seemed entirely unaffected.
Sadduccee: Is it killing...? Is killing what keeps you going? To take the lives of others? Or is it pain itself? Your own, and the pain you inflict? Is that your motivator...?
Lunalus was getting closer, but Sadduccee didn't seem to mind.
Sadduccee: All these years... Is that what keeps you going still...? Are you truly that twisted, Lunalus...?
Blood starts dripping from Lunalus' eye sockets, as if he was crying. However, it was unclear whether it was tears or simply the injuries his body itself had sustained.
Sadduccee: Enough. Enough of this.
Sadduccee walks around Lunalus' shambling figure and targets the other agents. With his claws, he slashes their throats as they are petrified in time, ensuring there are no more vessels around that Lunalus could use. When he gets to the last agent, their eyes begin to glow. Lunalus was taking over, as was confirmed by the sound of his destroyed body collapsing to the ground.
Sadduccee: So... You truly haven't given up...
A dark explosion sends Sadd flying backward. Lunalus had stolen another body.
Lunalus: All of these years, and you still don't get it. You don't understand that you and I are different sides of the same coin...
Lunalus' body begins glowing with a dark aura. He appeared to be as strong as when the battle had started, if not stronger... It seemed that switching bodies made him restore his stamina.
Lunalus: Why do I persist...? Because people like you exist. You are still here. Stuck.
The floor beneath his feet turned to ash. It seemed that anything that touched him was instantly destroyed.
Lunalus: You are a prisoner. We all are. Prisoners of reality itself, of the very universe who gave us life.
Sadduccee: You haven't learned a damn thing after all these years...
Lunalus: You're the one who's fighting to protect a universe unworthy of protection. You're so attached to the only reality you know, that you fight tooth and nail to preserve it... Even though it gives you a body that bleeds. Breaks. Grows old, sick, then dies... Even though it can take everything and everyone you love in the blink of an eye. Even though it cares little for you or anybody else... Despite bringing you here to live in it. You have fallen in love with an uncaring, infinite colossus. You're objectively fighting to preserve your suffering... All because your biology itself floods your brain with enough chemicals to convince you it is all worth it.
He dashes towards Sadduccee with unmatched speed.
Sadduccee: And after all this time, you still can't see that.
Exhausted from battling, Sadduccee puts up a defensive barrier, but it is of no use. Lunalus crashes through it, taking Sadd with him and driving him against a wall. When his body comes into contact with it, Lunalus crushes him against its wooden boards, with black spikes protruding from his aura and piercing several of his organs. Sadd falls to his knees, barely conscious still.
Lunalus: It was nice to see you one last time, Sadduccee. My biggest regret... Is that it had to be as enemies.
He takes aim at Sadduccee.
Lunalus: Any final words? Last requests...?
Sadduccee's eyes look straight at Lunalus'. He seemed to have something important to say, before dying.
Sadduccee: Yes... You're not-
Lunalus fires a torrent of dark energy at Sadduccee. His entire upper torso is vaporized.
Lunalus: ... I'd prefer you die without giving you the pleasure of sharing.
What was left of Sadduccee falls to the ground, motionless. Lunalus sighs.
Cabdan: You... You did it! You killed him!
Lunalus looks at Cabdan, standing above.
Lunalus: This? This is nothing. This is only the beginning...
He looks at the room's exit.
Lunalus: Now, come on.
Lunalus begins to leave.
Lunalus: You and I have plenty of work to do.
Cabdan follows behind.