Rune of Mischief

Lucivar called out Delilah's name in a whisper, his voice trembling uncontrollably.

He received no answer in the form of words.

As opposed to words coming out of her mouth, his eyes widened further when he watched a cascade of blood pouring out—the flow worsening, with each passing second. The blood fell to the ground, creating a crimson pool that was becoming bigger and bigger.

Eventually, the crimson pool touched Lucivar's hand.

It was fresh and warm, and the warmth felt scorching against his skin.

Seeing this, Ravenna gritted her teeth and kneed the Fire Primordial in the stomach.

She did it repeatedly—trying to weaken the Fire Primordial before she let out a fierce cry, as she maneuvered to its back. Grabbing its arm and chin, she exerted all her might, pulling the Fire Primordial back along its arm out of Delilah's chest.

Splash!

A bloody, gaping hole on Delilah's chest was left behind.

As the arm was freed, Delilah's body weakened with no support, and she fell to the ground.

Lucivar stared ahead in a daze, he saw her fall but his eyes remained straight ahead.

He was stunned in his place, unable to move.

Even if he wanted to, he couldn't—his body was frozen.

Time seemed to dilate around him, and everything happened in slow motion.

He saw the battle between the others and the Fire Primordial before him unfolded at a crawl, and the background noises, faded away—leaving only the sound of his pounding heart. It did not last long, turning quickly into a ringing sound that overwhelmed all other sounds.

Like a stab to his heart, what he feared had come true.

He didn't want Delilah to come back because of this exact reason.

Despite the others holding onto the Fire Primordial's arm and body, attempting to stop it from striking Delilah—they had all failed. The Fire Primordial's explosive movements had caught all of them off guard.

'What happened...?' Lucivar pondered as he lowered his gaze.

As he looked to the ground, he was greeted by Delilah sprawled on the ground, bleeding.

Her life force was slipping away.

'I already bought time, why did she come back?'

Upon seeing that Delilah was not moving anymore, Lucivar's breath grew heavy and his own vision blurred. The world around him felt distant—and all he could do, was hold Delilah in his arms, embracing her tightly.

Several tears fell from his eyes as he hugged Delilah's weak body firmly.

His embrace was an excuse for him as he couldn't bear to see Delilah's current state.

'My chest... it feels so tight. Did I also get pierced...?'

As he thought of that, a sudden scream pierced his eardrums through his dull senses.

'I hear screaming. It's so loud, so... raw. Did the others get hurt too?'

'Or did someone witness this horror? I could hear the agony and sadness in their scream'

'Their throat must've hurt from screaming like that, wait, my throat... hurts'

Just then, however, Lucivar came to a heavy realization.

'It's not someone else. It was me. I'm the one screaming...'

Overwhelmed by the shock, and grief at Delilah's death, that happened so quickly, Lucivar's body acted on its own. He screamed at the top of his lungs, tears streaming down profusely to soak Delilah's clothes.

His cry showed no sign of stopping as tears consistently fell.

Lucivar had never screamed this loud, he never screamed to this extreme extent.

Even now, his voice was already hoarse, and blood was flowing out of his mouth and nose.

Having been starved of any form of love from his family, he had finally found a glimpse of the love he had unconsciously sought—only for it to be cruelly snatched away. He was not ready for this, but it had already happened.

Meanwhile, Ravenna and the others were still battling the Fire Primordial.

She was the one leading the attack and bringing the battle to a standstill.

Due to exerting her power and pulling nothing back, her body already morphed inhumanly.

Ravenna grew whiskers, her fingernails were now sharper, and she even had a red tail.

It was the display of the Crimson Rakshasa bloodline.

Parrying a strike from the Fire Primordial, and kicking its chin with a nimble somersault—she glanced sideways and saw Lucivar's condition. Recognizing the peril, she urgently shifted to Mirel on the side, "Mirel, go to Lucivar and make him snap out of his shock! We can't win, we should retreat and regroup with the others!"

Killing the Fire Primordial is possible, but Ravenna chose not to do that.

'If a Fire Primordial is here, there must be an open portal nearby' She pondered, frowning.

Surely, the Fire Primordial came from somewhere.

Knowing that there was a possibility of a nearby portal Ravenna decided to retreat first since if there were more Primordials, they would be in trouble and trapped in a fight to the death. If it was her alone, she would be fine, she could flee but the others might go down.

She couldn't risk them dying to kill the Fire Primordial, the best way is to retreat first.

Delilah was gone—they failed to protect her, but they could not afford to lose more than her.

And that includes Lucivar.

Otherwise, this attempt at rescue would be in vain.

Upon hearing this, Mirel nodded his head and darted away.

Reaching beside Lucivar, Mirel felt a deep stabbing pain in his heart when he saw Delilah's lifeless body. His pain deepened at the sight of Lucivar—tightly embracing her body, while screaming and crying as if he had lost the most important thing in the world.

He knew how close Lucivar was to Delilah.

It was definitely heartbreaking for him to watch Delilah killed in front of his eyes.

A few tears forced their way out of his eyes—but he quickly recovered, knowing that Bakar and Ravenna couldn't hold off the Fire Primordial for long. Reaching out to snap Lucivar out of his trance, Mirel's hand stopped midway.

"L- Lucivar...?" He called, tilting his head in confusion and worry.

Pshh...

He saw thick green energy begin to steam out of Lucivar's body, making him glow subtly.

Mirel took a step back unconsciously when Lucivar began to chuckle forebodingly, the sound growing more intense—until it turned into an all-out laugh. Even though he was the closest to Lucivar, he had never seen the look in Lucivar's eyes like this.

It was as if Lucivar was not the same person.

He could see a palpable wickedness in Lucivar's eyes that sent shivers down his spine.

A yearning for malice that struck fear into Mirel's heart.

'Ah... I should've known that it would end like this. In this world, the good was punished while the evil was rewarded,' Lucivar pondered, laughing aloud, as his mind began to break. 'Focus on the good? What benefit would that bring? Fuck that, I am going to repay what it had done to Delilah. I'm going to make it feel what she suffered'

'Karma...? Delilah was wrong. Good people didn't gain fortune, they were punished instead'

Upon being determined for revenge, Lucivar witnessed something forming before him.

A gathering of radiant light that forms a symbol.

Looking at this levitating symbol, he came to the realization that it was the Rune of Mischief.

Soon, the light vibrated and shed its golden brilliance into a beautiful emerald color, catching and enchanting Lucivar, with its beauty. He felt a substantial pull toward the rune, as soon as it fully formed, beckoning him to grasp it.

Enthralled, Lucivar reached out, and to his surprise, he could hold the rune.

He could hold it as if it were a tangible object.

Putting strength into his grip he crushed the Rune of Mischief in his hand—shattering it into green smoke, dense with ether that infiltrated every part of his being, rejuvenating his body with newfound power.

Swoosh!

In an instant, the pain he felt across his body from the fall lessened greatly.

Lucivar didn't know if his wounds were healed or if his body becoming numb.

Mirel watched in astonishment, as Lucivar's eyes glowed with a sinister green hue—signaling something massive was about to happen. He instinctively created distance from Lucivar, and that proved to be the right move.

Crack!

With a sudden, violent burst, the skin on Lucivar's back tore apart, revealing jagged, skeletal structures thrusting outward with a sickening crack. Bones splintered from his flesh, each of the shards dripping with blood.

Sinew and muscle latched onto the growing bones right before Mirel's eyes.

It formed the gruesome beginning of a wing.

Each movement was accompanied by the sound of tearing flesh and snapping cartilage.

Ultimately, feathers began to grow, covering the entire structure.

Swoosh!

Mirel's eyes widened as he bore witness to a magnificent green wing on Lucivar's back.

"I thought he was a Gargoyle Hybrid but this? This is not a Gargoyle's wing," He gasped.

Just then—Mirel used both of his arms as cover when a gush of wing brushed past him, and in the next second, he found Lucivar was already gone from his spot. He glanced to the side and saw Lucivar going straight at the Fire Primordial.

Clang!

Meanwhile, Bakar got slapped away and was hurled to the tree on the side.

Seeing the Fire Primordial was aiming to deliver the final blow, charging a fireball to blast the disoriented Bakar—Ravenna nimbly came from below, and pushed the Fire Primordial's hand up, causing the ball of fire to be fired into the sky.

Both of them were locked in a power struggle, with Ravenna being slowly overpowered.

In terms of raw strength, she would lose out as her bloodline was not gifted in strength.

However, her eyes widened when a green light came approaching from the side.

Bam!

Crash!

Ravenna was startled when the Fire Primordial was suddenly replaced by a foreign figure.

It got body-slammed by the figure with a single green wing, sending it crashing into a big boulder, in the distance. Looking at the figure attentively, Ravenna recognized him, it was Lucivar who had changed drastically.

Paying no mind to her shocked gaze, Lucivar advanced slowly toward the Fire Primordial.

His eyes dripping with murderous intent.

The Fire Primordial, initially surprised to see Lucivar alive, when he should be in his dying breath, quickly pointed its hand and fired a fireball. In response—Lucivar raised his hand, halting the fireball mid-air, and with a flick of his finger, redirected it to the side easily.

Confused and alarmed, the Fire Primordial launched more fireballs.

Boom!

Boom!

Each met the same fate, being deflected away before they could reach Lucivar.

Having enough, Lucivar flapped his single wing, closing the distance swiftly and grabbed the Fire Primordial's wrist—maintaining eye contact as if he was staring directly into its soul. In a panic, the Fire Primordial summoned flames with its other hand.

But Lucivar caught that wrist too.

And to its horror, the Fire Primordial saw its flames shift from a blazing red to a sinister green, as Lucivar exerted control over the fire, somehow. It tried to regain control over the fire, but it was impossible to do.

"Feel it... feel the pain she endured because of you..." Lucivar rasped.

With a final, overpowering move, he forced the Fire Primordial's own flaming hand to move towards its chest. Under the stunned gazes of the onlookers—the green flames, scorched through the Fire Primordial's chest, causing it to scream in agony.

"Raaarggghh!" 

Taking pleasure in its scream, Lucivar continued.

He made a gaping, fiery hole in the Fire Primordial's chest, giving it a slow and painful death.

Only when the scream receded did he stop.

As soon as he did, Lucivar grabbed the Fire Primordial's head and ripped it off its body.

Blood squirted like a fountain as he looked at the Fire Primordial's head in his hand.

Upon doing that, Lucivar stood back up and glanced over to the others.

His eyes were still glowing emerald, and more importantly, they were still murderous.

A palpable change happened, the realization changed him—and now he was not the same.