Chapter 90: Healer’s Flame vs Bloody Flesh (2)

Ebony, with her fists wrapped in greenish fire, began to feel her magic draining with every passing second.

The blonde rushed forward in an impulsive leap and, aiming with her fist, tried to land the first direct blow to the assassin’s face.

“Coagulate!” the assassin shouted through his plague doctor mask shaped like a crow’s beak that covered his entire face. Even with his voice distorted by the mask, his tone still sounded excited, almost happy to see Ebony charge like that.

{{Blood Magic: Bone Spikes}}

In an instant, the body of one of the maids burst apart, releasing her ribs, which sharpened immediately.

Propelled by reddish magic, they shot through the air toward Ebony’s body, stabbing into her shoulders, legs, and even her back. The impact shook her completely, filling her with pain before she could even finish her charge.

But far from stopping her attack, the blonde only shouted louder and, with no choice but to endure the pain, aimed her burning fist at her enemy’s face. If she was going down, she at least wanted to break something on him first.

The assassin was surprised by this action and tried to dodge the blow. For the first time since he appeared, his body reacted with real urgency, moving aside without the mocking calm he had shown until now.

By just a few inches, Ebony’s attack missed. The green fire brushed past the beaked mask and left a trail of heat beside his face, enough to scare him, but not enough to touch him.

Laughing in battle-fueled ecstasy, the assassin drew a dagger and, without thinking twice, aimed it at the girl’s throat. Everything about him seemed to enjoy that exchange, as if both his own pain and others’ fed him.

But the blonde, furious and full of pain, reacted by instinct when she saw a weapon so close to her face, opening her mouth and catching the blade with her teeth. The metal dug into her gums, but she still managed to stop the cut.

“Hahaha, you’re a real wild beast, you little shit. I love that!” said the assassin.

The twisted admiration in his voice made Ebony feel even more disgust, as if fighting him also meant giving him exactly what he wanted.

Releasing his dagger, the assassin jumped to the side and moved away from his enemy. He moved quickly and lightly, knowing that at that distance he could still keep the advantage while she bled from half a dozen wounds.

In a hurry, the assassin flexed his fingers and then exited the room. He didn’t want to continue exchanging blows in close combat and preferred to take distance, trusting that the bodies he still controlled would buy him time.

The lifeless maids that remained lunged at the blonde. They moved clumsily, broken and unnatural, but they were still several bodies piling onto her while the real enemy escaped the room.

Ebony started punching everything that came near her without thinking. She didn’t need to think anymore, not with the dizziness worsening every second her magic burned away. She simply threw punches, elbows, and kicks until she forced a path open.

After pulverizing the women’s bodies, the small blonde, covered in fresh blood, ran out of the room determined to chase her enemy. Her steps were unstable, but fury still pushed her body forward.

She extinguished her green flames and began pulling the bone spikes out of her body. Each one came out with a sharp yank, and the pain rising with every movement nearly made her lose her balance in the hallway.

“Heal!”

{{Life Magic: H▨alin▞}}

The girl’s body began to recover as she tried to concentrate, sensing the life around her. The magic closed wounds and pushed the poison back, but it did not restore clarity to a mind already too battered.

She sensed one nearby. A life, weak and close to dying, inside a closed room. It was not a strong or hostile presence, just a fading spark, enough to force her to approach.

Ebony stopped in front of the entrance. She didn’t know if it was her enemy or someone new, but she knew she didn’t have many minutes left with her spell still active.

“(Damn… my head, ahhh… I can’t think clearly… I can’t handle this alone… I should go get Veronica… nah… I can still do this)” the blonde thought.

With a kick she burst the door open, smashing the latch with her strength. The wood flew inward and Ebony stepped inside ready for another attack, shoulders tense and breathing still uneven.

Inside was Lucian, injured and with his torso bare. Clear marks of torture covered his body. The image stopped her for a second, because the body, posture, and even the exhausted expression looked exactly like her real companion.

“Lucian!” Ebony shouted in horror, running toward her friend to help him.

Once beside him, she began examining his wounds. Her hands moved quickly across his chest, arms, and the torture marks, trying to understand how badly he was hurt and how much time he had left before collapsing.

“You… came… I thought no one would come…” Lucian said weakly, spitting blood.

The voice, the tone, even the way he breathed seemed right—just enough to make anyone else lower their guard completely.

“Easy, easy… of course I came… if I didn’t, who would kill you?”

“Huh?”

In an instant, greenish fire engulfed Lucian while Ebony smiled with a proud look at her own work. There was no compassion in that expression, only the satisfaction of catching something that had been far too confident in its disguise.

“You’re an idiot. I guess you don’t actually have Lucian. If you did, you’d have done a better job with those ears,” Ebony said confidently, because the fake Lucian’s ears weren’t pointed—they were normal.

“Interesting, so he’s an elf. I hope Xavier does a good job with him,” said a voice echoing through the room.

The voice did not come from the fake Lucian, but from somewhere hidden in the room, using magic or some kind of artifact.

On one of the walls, a seashell was nailed in place, and the puppeteer assassin’s voice came from it. The small shell vibrated with each word, becoming a borrowed mouth from which that bastard continued speaking calmly.

“For now, girl, let’s see if you survive this.”

A magic circle began glowing on the wall behind the burning body. At the center of the circle was a scroll with letters written in blood.

{{Water Magic: Geyser}}

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