Chapter 21: Bloodlust

"7th echelon of the Order..."Typhoon" Sobek... Does that mean he's an Order Elite? W-what's he doing in Soula?! Wasn't the whole point of Angel's Crow to prevent that from happening?!"

As an exhausted Noah struggled to digest all of that, Terri spoke up from the stands:

-Sobek? What are you doing here?!

The young man seemed surprise at the question, but gave a big, doofy grin.

-What do you mean, Terri? I'm here to save you from your captors!

-"Captors"..? Do you think Lucy kidnapped me or something?! No, that couldn't be farther from the truth! Please, Sobek, listen to me: I came here on my free will! And you and all of the others have to join us too, to fight Balthazar!

Sobek's expression died down. He looked down, his face filled with disappointment.

-He told me that you'd say that. I didn't want to believe him...You are so strong-willed that you'd never be brainwashed, so there's no other way you'd be betray us like that! But...it seems I was wrong. You are under their control. And here I thought you'd be happy when I showed up...

-I am not under their control, you dumbass! You're always like this, Sobek, jumping to conclusions without thinking! And who's "he"?!

-That'd be me, sweetcheeks.

Everyone turned towards the second voice, on the opposite arena wall above the stands. There another strange figure was sitting down, looking down at them.

He couldn't be much older than Noah, wearing some sort of gi like the Masters, only it was black with a lotus pattern on it and white borders, the belt tying it up close to his chest also being white. His spiky, upwards platinum hair shone so brightly against the sun that it almost looked like he had some sort of halo, contrasting his mocking grin under his black masquerade. Under it, shone a pair of piercing golden eyes. He seemed...familiar somehow...

No one said a word. The appearance of that boy didn't seem like a shock to anyone, despite his intentions to do so. Noah slowly sat up, looking around to everyone, who were either looking at each other, shaking their heads and shrugging in confusion, while others stared at the boy just like he was some random goon.

Well, everyone except...

Lucy. Her face had turned pale and her eyes were wide open. He hands were shaking like crazy and she couldn't even talk, the only thing coming from her mouth being small whimpers, like she was completely terrified.

Terri tilted in head in confusion for a second while she struggled to recognize the boy.

-W-wait...are you---

-No way... Y-you're...

Lucy's voice interrupted her. Her voice was little more than a murmur. She rose her trembling hand towards the boy and slowly walked towards him. Suddenly, tears started rushing down her face as she started running towards him.

-You're back! I thought I'd never see you again!- she cried out, with a hopeful smile on her face.

Well, that was a surprise for everyone. Yes, Lucy had shown her sombre side sometimes while talking to Noah about the twins, but he never had seen her break like that. She could barely run towards him, tripping over her own feet, as large tears dripped from her chin as she kept crying at the boy.

Terri seemed to regain her composure, quickly shaking her head as she reached out for Lucy.

-No, Lucy, that's not..!

The masked boy broke down in laughter. A cold, dark, mocking laugh. That's when it hit Noah. That laugh...it couldn't be, but it would explain so much..!

Lucy stopped on her tracks as the boy curved in laughter, clutching his stomach.

-W-wha--

-Oh boy, did I just see Lucy fucking Crow, the infamous Grim Reaper cry for me?! Hahaha, oh man, that is just too good! It's golden,even!- a second wave of laughter hit him- Sobek, Sobek, Sobek, did you just see that?! "You're back, you're back, boohoo! ". Oh, I didn't know you were a stand-up comedian, Crow. 'Cause that was the funniest shit I have ever heard! Ohohoho, oh gods, my stomach is hurting like hell, it's so fucking funny!

Sobek didn't answer him, turning his head to the side as Lucy looked at him in a midst of shock and confusion.

-Y-you're not..?

The boy clicked his tongue, his mocking grin growing even larger.

-I'm afraid you've got the wrooooong person, Miss Crow. My name is Tal, the "Guardian". I'm the newest edition of the Order Elites and I stand at the 1st echelon, so yeah, I'm a pretty big wig. But don't worry. I'm certain I know the person you've confused me with. Well, knew, to be more precise.

-"Knew"..?- Lucy managed to say.

Tal pointed his thumb down,slowly shaking his head.

-Sooorry, I'm afraid the guy you're looking for is fucking DEAD AND BURIED!- and he broke down in laughter once again.- And guess who you have to thank for that? Yoooooouuuuurs truly~!- and he moved his hands in a upwards curved arc, like he was throwing confetti over himself.

Lucy's face immediately tensed up, her whole body rigid like stone. Her expression still revealed shock, but her eyes had lost all life in them, not being able to shed a single tear anymore.

Suddenly she clenched her fist,her nails digging so hard against her palm, that drops of blood started dripping down onto the arena ground. Then her fist started shaking violently. Said shaking then progressed into her whole arm, legs, torso... Her whole body was shaking.

"Tal" seemed to notice that too as he leaned in towards Lucy, with his poisonous grin.

-Awww, didn't I make a boo-boo in Crow's pwetty widdle heart? What do you want? For me to kiss it better, bi---

His words were interrupted as Lucy's hand clutched his entire face. His mocking expression turned into one of shock, as Lucy stood atop of the wall, right in front of him, a small trail of dust right behind her feet. How Lucy got up there so quickly, Tal couldn't answer. She had moved, literally, in a blink of an eye.

But what he could confirm is that Lucy was mad. Really, really mad. Her face was rigid, emotionless. Her eyes, wide open, showed but one emotion: hatred.

She kept clutching his face, harder and harder by the second, like her intention was to break his skull with her bare hand. And it looked like she could very well do it.

But her plans were different, as she jumped backwards, off the wall and took him with her. She never lost an ounce of strength, still gripping him tightly, as they both soared through the air,with Tal above her. Swiftly, she turned herself around midair, so that Tal was now on the bottom, as both did a swan dive straight towards the middle of the arena grounds.

They both crashed roughly, rising a cloud of dust that engulfed the whole arena, as the terrified spectators ran out of the arena, aided by the Tera users, that made paths and stairs to guide them all towards the exit. Both Academics and Mercenaries knew that they didn't have a chance against two Order Elites, choosing to leave matters to Lucy and the others. On her hand, Mercedes picked up the unconscious Merceny on her shoulders and quickly ran towards the stands, Master Rye jumping down and taking both in his arms, swiftly jumping back to the relative safety of the stands where Teri, the guys and Master Gee stood with their Blades ready. Up on the arena walls, Sobek didn't move an inch. It was almost like he expected that to happen. By the time the dust settled, Lucy stood above Tal, seemingly unfazed by the fall, as she shoved Tal's head in the middle of the crater their crash made. Any normal person would have his skull made into paste after that, but Lucy didn't let up.

-Lucy!- Terri exclaimed as she, the guys and the Masters were about to jump down to the arena, but were suddenly pushed back into the stands. Up on the arena walls, Sobek pointed his palm in their directions, stopping them from approaching the battlefield with strong blasts of wind.

With good reason, as a slow cackle filled the arena, coming from beneath Lucy.

-Oh, I really hit a nerve, didn't I?- Tal said, grinning. The blood from Lucy's palm running on his face: under his eyes, his cheeks, his chin...

Suddenly, the blood started to shake slightly and began to move slowly along his face. The crimson lines started to divide themselves into singular big drops before taking a funnel-like shape, pointed straight at Lucy. They kept slowly morphing, getting more and detailed, until they looked just like a bullet.

Wait.

"A bullet?!"

-Now, die!-Tal shouted as the droplets shot right up at Lucy. She quickly jumped away from him, Tal's attack missing her by a hair. Tal seized that chance to jump back up and charge at Lucy, but was quickly met with her fist burying itself on his face, flying back,before hitting and dragging across the floor, the blood that had shot out of his nostrils landing on the dusty arena grounds.He didn't let it phase him as he quickly got up and charged at Lucy again. Her face was still twisted by so much hatred, it was hard to believe that was the same woman that had looked after Noah that whole time. She summoned Genesis,holding it with both her hands and roared at Tal, charging towards him, her Blade leaned back. It seemed like she had no intention of letting him leave that arena in no other means than a body bag.

Suddenly, the unexpected happened.

Mid-run, Tal raised his hand at the pool of his own blood and it started shaking violently before shooting back at Tal in thin stripes he quickly caught after interrupting his run and jumping back. He didn't know how the boy had done that but, before Noah's eyes, Tal now held a set of sharp looking knifes in both of his hands. They were tainted crimson and they looked quite real, but the real mystery was how did he suddenly get those knifes. Even Lucy was surprised, stopping his charge and facing him.

Tal snickered.

-You cannot escape this, Crow! This is checkmate!- he exclaimed before throwing the knifes at Lucy with deadly expertise.

-Tch...-Lucy murmured before easily slashing away at the knifes, Genesis becoming a blur. As she hit the knifes, they dissolved, turning back into blood, which zoomed right back at Tal's hands. From there, he'd get a new knife and throw it at Lucy, in an endless cycle.

Tal laughed maniacally while at this.

-C'mon, c'mon,Lucy dear~! Just. Get. Hit! - he kept throwing until one window of opportunity between Lucy's slashes arose and he threw the knife. Lucy noticed at the last moment and leaned her head to the side, the knife's blade grazing against her cheek, making a small cut, from where her blood dripped out. To be able to detect and seize that minuscule chance...Tal was a really fearsome opponent!

Tal reached out for her.

-In case you didn't notice, my power is to manipulate blood, turning it into various objects. Not only my blood, but my opponent's too. Like this.- he snapped his fingers and the blood from Lucy's cheek twitched and turned into a nail, it's edge pointed outward. He snapped his fingers again the nail turned around and stabbed itself into Lucy's cheek! She grunted, flinching slightly.

-Now, now, I'll make sure your death will be painless, Lucy Crow. I'll just manipulate the nail stabbed in your cheek and make it zoom through your skull like a bullet, splitting your pretty little face in half!

Lucy didn't say anything, her expression not changing a bit, still twisted by anger. It really made her look like a completely different person, not the ditsy Lucy Crow but the feared Grim Reaper.

-What? Not going to plead for your life, Crow? C'mon, just a little whimper~-Tal taunted her while making the nail spin slowly on Lucy's cheek.

Finally she sighed.

-You're going to manipulate your blood nail and decapitate me? That's going to be pretty hard after I break it.- she simply said.

Before Tal could say anything, Lucy was already in arm's length of him, her movements too fast for the naked eye.

-Break your face, that is.-she simply said before clutching Tal's face and throwing him with incredible strength towards the arena stands, where he crashed, lifting a big pile of dust. Before he could get his bearings together, his face was quickly met with Lucy's foot, which stomped his poor mug against the rubble of the arena wall without mercy.

-I think that what I hate most about you, Tal dear, is you irritating laugh. It's really---

"STOMP"

- ---really---

"STOMP"

- ---REALLY---

"STOMP"

- ---ANNOYING! SHUT! UP!!!- she roared as she hit the top of his head with her heel, making him crash on the floor, a pool of blood forming beneath his face.

She lifted her foot to stomp Tal again but as it crashed down, his hand caught it and held it in place. His irritating cackle could be heard again.

-I can see now why the Order is too chickenshit to face you. You possess incredible power, even when you're enraged and dumb as a door. Hard to believe that you're the same Lucy Crow who was kind enough to take Terri in and is patriotic enough to save her kingdom. Who knew that a measly truth was enough to get the demon inside to wake up. You're really a feeble person, you know that?

Lucy tried to lower her foot, but Tal seemed to still have a lot of strength on him. The boy looked up at her, his face drenched in blood, but his grin and golden eyes still as mocking as ever. Lucy growled at him.

-What are you getting at? Everything about you is a mystery. I know no Element that can manipulate and transmogrify blood into objects, Angel's Crow's intel didn't warn me of a new Elite arriving at the Order and even your identity is unclear.- she said, pointing at Tal's mask.- And then you come barging in with Sobek, managing to arrive at Soula unscathed and still dare to mock me? I really detest brats like you, so can you really censor me for trying to kill you?

Tal grinned.

-You're willing to throw your chance for information on the Order out the window just because of my taunting?

Lucy's face gritted her teeth, her expression becoming more horrifying by the second. Her sole pressed down on Tal's head, crashing into the pool of his blood and she began stomping him again.

-You talk about the person I love most in the whole world like that?! You bastard...and you still expect me to spare your life?! There's nothing I'd like more right now than to turn your skull into paste, you monster!!!

She kept stomping him without mercy for what seemed forever, her own tears dripping down on the increasingly larger pool of Tal's blood. Then, her movements gradually started to die down until she stopped. With her whole body shaking, Lucy's arm reached out for her face, wiping away her tears with one swift and concise movement. Still turned towards Tal's body, she began to slowly step away, her breathing heavy as she did.

Noah looked at Lucy with a horrified expression, seemingly unaware of that merciless side of her too. Who could have been so important to Lucy that would turn her into...that ?

He was about to tell her to come back when he detected movement in front of her...coming from Tal! He was still alive?!

-Lucy get out of there!!!- Terri shouted at her.

Lucy looked at Tal's direction, just to see him already up, a sword arched behind his back.

-Bloodlust...- he said. Was it his Blade? It was completely crimson, just like the knifes he had thrown, filled with little saw blades along its double edge. It was dripping blood, much like Tal as a whole. It seemed like he had also summoned Bloodlust from the pool of his blood. A slow purr came from it as the saw blades started to move slowly along the sword, like a chainsaw. The purring become louder and louder until it became a full on roar.

Tal began to laugh again, swinging the Bloodlust at Lucy's neck. Fortunately, she was able to jump back and dodge the swing but, before she could even land, Tal was already on top of her and swung again, the saw blades hitting Lucy's stomach. She screamed and fell back, rolling on herself and jumping back up again. The attack didn't fully hit her, but still caused a nasty wound along her abdominal area, which she clutched with her hand.

Tal charged at her again, thrusting the Blade towards Lucy's chest, but she summoned Genesis and easily deflected the sword to the side. Tal spun around himself and swung again with both hands. Lucy let go of her wound and held Genesis with both her hands to clash with Bloodlust, sparks flying from the contact as both BladeMasters tried to out-strength the other.

-How can you still be alive?!- Lucy shouted.

-I'm so sorry to say, Lucy, but you cannot kill me even if you stomped my face aalll day! That's just the nature of my powers: the more I got hurt, the more powerful I get! I'm immortal!

Lucy tsked. Tal's powers derived from manipulating his blood and Lucy's beating had given him quite the amount of blood to work with, but even so...No normal human would be able to take such a beating and still fight like that..!

Tal seemed to guess that that was what was going through her mind as he grinned at Lucy.

-Of course, mastering these powers has quite the drawback: it relies on me getting hurt more and more. A normal human being's body wouldn't be able to unlock a fraction of this power without giving out due to injury, but this body of mine...is supreme ! It can take unlimited amounts of punishment!

-What the hell are you talking about?! Make sense, already!- Lucy shouted and suddenly ended the clash, diving under Bloodlust and sweeping Tal's feet, making him trip and fall. She spun around herself and delivered a powerful roundhouse kick right on Tal's face, sending him flying. But, if his claims were true, such an attack wouldn't be enough to phase Tal.

And it seemed that was the cause as the boy quickly spun in mid-air and landed safely, his feet dragging on the arena grounds. He reached for the pool of blood formed by Lucy's stomping and a big mass of the liquid shot right at him. He caught it and quickly morphed it into giant crimson axe. He charged towards Lucy, holding the axe and Bloodlust on each of his hands and arched them behind his back. As soon as Lucy entered his range, he swung both at the same time in a curved arc but Lucy managed to quickly lean back, like she was playing limbo and safely avoid the attack. Tal didn't waste any time and jumped above Lucy, swinging down at her, but she managed to cartwheel out of it, Tal's attacks hitting nothing but air. Just as she regained her footing, Tal unleashed a barrage of attacks, dual-wielding both weapons like he was handling simple cutlery. Lucy easily blocked and deflected all the attacks but her movements started to slow down bit by bit. After she blocked Tal one last time, the boy pressed his feet against Genesis and pushed her back. She safely kept her footing but she clutched her wound again with a groan.

Tal stopped his attacks and pointed Bloodlust towards Lucy.

-Aww what's the matter? I thought the Grim Reaper could take a little more pain. A little cut like that should be an everyday occurrence to you, right?

Lucy gritted her teeth.

-Y-you bastard..! You're doing something to my blood, aren't you?!

Tal shook his head in disappointment.

-Oh, you just noticed that? Man, you're slow. Now if everyone would please direct your attention towards Lucy's wound!

Lucy looked at it and, beneath the ripped black fabric of her uniform, a line of nails dug deep into Lucy's wound, sadistically rotating in place,just to increase her pain.

-And now, for the finale...- Tal snapped his fingers and the nails zoomed inside the wound and, as quickly as they disappeared they appeared again, shooting out of Lucy's back! She opened her mouth in shock but all that came out as blood as she knelt on the ground, coughing up more blood.

Tal casually walked towards Lucy, the blood that was covering his face his clothes dispersing off onto the ground, making him look perfectly fine. The axe on his hand turned back into blood and fell on the ground with a splash and he pointed the spinning Bloodlust towards Lucy.

-And here I was hoping all that bravado and rage would amount to a good fight but I'm not even sweating.

Lucy didn't answer,looking to the ground.

Tal tsked and spat on Lucy's head.

-Well, no matter. My sole objective is to kill the Alpha, so I have no time to deal with small fries like you.

"W-wait...! 'Kill the Alpha'?!" Noah thought, his eyes widening. The Alpha...that was what the voice was talking about!

-Adios, Grim Reaper !- Tal exclaimed as he swung his Blade down on Lucy.

-Apocalypse...-Lucy suddenly muttered.

Faster than a blink of an eye, Lucy stood behind Tal, her left hand still clutching her wound. Bloodlust sunk itself into the ground. Tal looked back at her with a shocked expression, and opened his mouth to talk but the only thing that came out was a torrent of screams as his body started to be slashed up everywhere out of nowhere.

Lucy turned back and circled around him, a faint black aura fading out of her right hand as Tal kept getting rapidly slashed and slashed by apparently nothing, gushes of blood shooting out of him and landing on the floor but he was unable to do anything about it as the slashes kept coming.

-You said that your body can take any punishment, right? Well, let's test that,then.- she casually said as she kept limping away from him.

-You...bitch!!! What did you do to me?!- Tal screamed in absolute pain.

This kept going for a few more moments but, eventually, both his screams and the slashes stopped, Tal falling onto the ground without another word. Even Sobek seemed shocked. Lucy looked up at him.

-Sobek, let's stop this madness at once! There's no need for us to fight!- she exclaimed at the azure young man, who stood at the opposite end of the arena wall.

Sobek gave her a sombre expression.

-I'm sorry, Lucy. You're powerful, but...he's scarier than anything you can possibly imagine. I cannot defy Balthazar's will!

He looked down towards Terri:

-Terri, you must come back! Even if I have to use force, I will get you back home!- he exclaimed.

Terri was fuming.

-Sobek, you idiot! Just what do you think you're doing?!

But, her words were ignored as Sobek shot another blast of wind towards the stands, it hitting the group, making their bodies fly away like paper dolls.

-Sobek! Don't you dare--- - Terri started to say, but she was cut off as her flying body hit the stands again, the back of her head crashing onto the rock seats, the Titan loosing consciousness immediately.

Sobek seized this chance and jumped down the arena wall, his leap covering alot more distance than a normal human, it softly gliding through the air. Suddenly, he leaned in towards Terri and shot like a bullet in her direction. He crashed on the stands, rising a cloud of smoke, but before anyone could react, he broke through the smoke, jumping over the arena walls with Terri on his arms. Shortly after, the screams of the civilians started to be heard outside.

Mercedes coughed and looked up.

-Damnit, he's moving on to the civilians! We must go after him!

Lucy jumped onto the stands, sitting beside her, panting.

-It's probably his way of saying that he's not up for negotiations. Terri is his goal, not an hostage. He really means business and it appears we have to fight him.- she looked at Noah- Noah's out of commission, so I'll fi-- - she couldn't even finish her sentence before coughing up more blood.

Eldus turned towards Lucy.

-Lucy you're not in any condition to fight! You must stay here and let me tend to your wounds.- he approached her, with his staff ready.

- But who's going to fight Sobek?!-she exclaimed, slapping his staff away.

-We will.

Lucy looked over and saw Axel staring back at her with a determined expression, alongside Guy and Zeke, who shot at him a look of confusion.

-G-guys?!- Noah exclaimed.- No, it's too dangerous!

-Yes, Noah's right! You're still too green to fight him alone!- Eldus exclaimed.

-Who said they'd be going in alone?- Master Gee jumped besides them with a grin and Master Rye joined him.

-Yes, we will combine our efforts to stop Sobek. Mercedes, should bring any injured civilians outside here so that Eldus can tend to them while we chase Sobek.

Mercedes looked a little unsure of leaving Merceny's side but nodded at them.

Lucy sighed, not liking that idea one bit.

-Fuck...ok, if the Masters are accompanying you, I guess that's fine. But don't you do anything rash! Don't try to be heroes!

Axel smirked at her.

-We? Heroes? You must be confusing us with someone else. We're part of the Lucy Crow's Fabulous Anti-Order Brigade! We're more menaces to society than heroes! Ok, everybody, let's move out before Sobek causes any more damage!- and with this, he and the guys jumped out of the stands.

-H-hey, who are you to start barking out orders to me ?!- Gee exclaimed, before he and Rye chased them and they all left the arena.

Lucy watched them go and let out a tired smile.

-Your friends are good people, Noah...- she smiled at him, her twisted, enraged expression gone but still seemed a bit shook up.

Noah smiled back at her, sitting up.

-Yeah, they really are---

-Guys, look at Tal!- Mercedes suddenly shouted.

Everybody looked at where Tal's supposedly lifeless body was and saw it sinking inside the pool of his own blood.

As he sank, they managed to see his piercing golden eyes mocking them while he laughed maniacally and flipped them off.

And, before they could do anything about it, he was gone, the various pools of his blood evaporating from the dusty arena along with the masked boy, his words lingering in Noah's mind.

"His sole objective is to kill the Alpha?

To kill...me?!"