Poison and Desires

At his master's order, Lance started telling Hal how a seemingly fun event took a disastrous turn, menace glinting in his hooded emerald irises all the while.

"Allen, wake up! Allen!"

After escaping from an unprecedented ambush, Lance hid outside the gallery and continued shaking his unconscious companion awake for the next minutes to come. That's until he suddenly heard a woman's scream for help. At this, he decided to leave Allen in a safe place for the meantime. He then transformed into his Aristian persona before rushing to the voice's direction.

"Help! Somebody! Help me!"

Lance arrived at a soulless hall, only to find a flummoxing, macabre scene. What came into view was a lone lady getting backed into a corner by a horde of horrendous and gargantuan spiders. The danger left no room for second thoughts, urging him to take immediate action. Then, swinging his spear in one fierce motion, he commanded a strong current of water to pierce through the colossal monsters along with the deadly peak of his weapon. His commencement of attacks was followed by a sequence of thrusts and lunges, finishing them off in a matter of seconds. All the enemies' unmoving bodies then eventually decayed and dispersed into ashes.

"You saved me! Thank you, Mr. Palladine!"

Lance only blinked his eyes at this, surprised and baffled as to why she knew him. After ensuring that the coast was clear, he finally faced the woman who only beamed at him ecstatically. Though the flower hairpin she's wearing made her look more youthful-looking, her juvenile behavior was still somewhat unexpected. She gushed out a few more words of gratitude while he remained still and emotionless, silently planning to erase her memory of him in his Champion form using hypnotism. But then, just when he's about to cast the magic, she suddenly mustered a scheming smirk and narrowed her deceitful eyes at him, catching him off guard.

"...And thank you for falling for that."

Then, darkness.

Lance woke up after being put into sleep for who knows how long. He felt his entire body plummet into a world of pain as soon as he regained consciousness. Looking around, he found himself knocked out cold on the floor of the same hall where he saved that woman whose face was now slowly becoming hazy in his head. That's when he sensed poison in his system. Along with it was a handful amount of dark magic with hypnotic elements.

"Well, well, well... What do we have here? A Champion already on the verge of death after a single trap? How pathetic."

Confounded, Lance tilted his head upward to find an elf-like creature riding on a gruesome, giant winged insect that somewhat resembled a mosquito. The villain was peering at him with scorn and mockery, a crooked smile splattered on his face. Lance took this chance to pretend frail and weak, secretly wielding a disinfectant spell that could rid of the toxins in his body. Little did he know that Lord Caspar already discerned what he's trying to do with a mere glance alone.

"Don't even think about it, Marquess. That's nothing but a futile attempt. Only I have the cure," he sneered heinously, much to his surprise.

"You know me, huh? Just who the heck are you?" Lance snarled, barely managing the stabbing sensation all over his innards.

"I'm Lord Caspar of Amethyst Falls, yet better known as the lord of poisons... You, Champions, have been terminating summoned creatures one by one, but don't think you could always beat us into pulps. We'll definitely spring right back up again and turn the tables on you. After all, that's what we're here for."

"Skip the drama. I don't give a damn about your life goals. Once I get my hand on you, I'll beat you up myself."

Lord Caspar only showed him a scornful grin, amused at his fighting spirit despite being on death's door already, while Lance glared at him in return, the deadliest one he could muster. The summoned creature then descended his chaperone and strode towards him, carrying a malevolent air all the while. Foreboding quietude prevailed for a moment until Lord Caspar suddenly stomped on his hand with brute force, making him hiss in pain.

"You should be begging for mercy instead of acting like a brat. You and your friend are dancing on the palm of my hand right now. If you don't get the antidote, you'll be engulfed by my magic - one that'll force your inner darkness out and ultimately, leave your comrades no choice but to end you themselves..." the villain taunted with a scowl, expression bloodcurdling, before fishing out a small bottle from his pocket and waving it at his face.

"...You see this? Here's the potion that could help you avoid such a compromising situation. But since you're still helplessly hogging the floor at the moment, it might be too late for you to escape the nightmarish fantasy I prepared. You see, once the dark magic took over, all your desires shall pour out and drive you to do crazy, wild things. Like a hallucinating madman or something... But don't worry, the hellish pain will slowly lessen while that happens. It would only resurface once you've been restrained from going berserk. If you'd continue suppressing your desires by sitting still, however, worst is that you'd die at the end of the day."

With how confident he sounded, Lance got the impression that he plotted the whole thing meticulously. Not to mention, the woman earlier seemed to be his ally. It's quite a grandiose scheme to keep his hands from shedding blood since he's planning to make them fight one another instead. Then, as he thought about this, an infuriating realization dawned on him. Compared to the other summoned creatures they confronted so far, this one was indisputably the most intrepid.

"Doesn't it fit well? Desires can be poisonous sometimes, especially when steered by one's incorrigible tendencies and emotions. Other times, they can be deadly. Either way, it's a useful tool to relieve the Champions from their stresses and pent-up frustrations. It's quite tiring to act all good every single day, don't you think-"

Lance didn't let him finish, though.

He abruptly rose on his feet and kicked the bottle of antidote away. Caught off guard, Lord Caspar instantly backed away and watched his figure flail around as he regained his grounding. The villain assumed that he's already under the influence of dark magic by now, but then, he suddenly surged towards him with his spear. He instantly eluded the onslaught, but the move turned out to be a ruse to snatch the potion away. Lance tried to reach for the bottle that rolled on the ground, but Lord Caspar already beat him to it and smashed it with his foot.

"Perhaps, I underestimated you quite a bit. Now that I think about it, you're the only Champion who's not present at the party in my Realm back then. No wonder I couldn't anticipate your moves," Lord Caspar mused out loud, much to his miff.

"Glad I wasn't. I bet it's a shabby one," Lance remarked with derision to which he only snorted.

"You don't look like you're under my magic, I see... Either you have some kind of healing power or hypnotism. That's worth to take note of. For now, though, I'll leave you in your friend's care... Thank you for that exhibition, by the way. I got to eat a lot."

Then, with that, Lord Caspar mounted on his monstrous anthropod before fleeing away. Lance couldn't bear to catch him as the poison was still taking effect. Earlier, he managed to cast a different type of magic without the villain knowing. He was actually fighting the hypnotic spell that came along with the toxins - that one which gave rise to desires. Since he's also a master wielder of this particular magic, he's able to nullify it and thus, kept his control.

"Even if you turn the tables on us, we'll always make sure to turn them right back again," Lance muttered before creating a puddle of water and scooping the spilled antidote with it.

"He really thought I couldn't do this kind of thing."

Using his power to bend water, Lance then drank the antidote in one gulp.