Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

Lucius looked down at the body of the bandit leader that had nearly beat him to death. By all rights, he should be unable to stand, but he was willed to move by his own anger and stubbornness to have the last laugh at the man who laughed at him throughout the fight.

He could not understand what the bandit thought was so great. It was just a fight after all. He probably had many, just like Lucius. What enjoyment was there in fighting? It was only a means to an end and when it was over, only one of them was left living. So what was the point?

'To protect.' A warm voice echoed in his head for a moment. It felt comforting and warm.

Then like a dark whisper a different voice came through, 'To prove your strength.'

For a moment the second voice sounded like Grimm and Luz but despite his attempts to call out to either of those beings he had been ignoring for years now because they no longer spoke to him, nothing responded. He sighed, just as confused as before.

The adrenaline flowing through his body, keeping him conscious began to fade and he began to stumble. Thankfully Jen was there to catch him and gently helped him to the ground. Lucius could not see more than a few inches in front of his face.

Pain made up most of the totality of his existence, it was enough to make him pass out, but despite how close he was to blacking out, he stayed just conscious enough to sit on his own.

"Damn, kid…you okay?" Jen asked carefully. She had one hand on his shoulder, likely to try and keep him steady even though he was not at risk of falling over anymore.

Lucius tried to speak but realized that his jaw was broken and his face was so swollen that even if it wasn't he still probably could not speak. Instead, he merely pointed his hand towards the sounds of battle which were still raging. He could still hear even though he could not see or smell anymore.

"Alright, I'll go, but don't move."

Lucius simply waved her off and laid down on the ground. He concentrated on slowing his breathing and calming his heart rate. It was likely that people would just think he was dead. Not that he could do anything at the moment to fight back if someone wanted to make what he looked like, a reality.

*****

Jen quickly left Lucius' side and watched from her peripheral vision as he simply collapsed backwards onto the ground. She realized that she would have to protect him from any more enemies so they did not actually finish the job.

Thankfully, none of the remaining bandits seemed interested in the unmoving boy while there were several living and moving targets trying to end their lives. At this point the numbers had dwindled to almost twenty. Renton, Lynn, and Lethen looked exhausted, but continued to fight.

Jen was also feeling exhaustion start to settle in. By now, they were supposed to be receiving archery support from Mia and Paul, but something must have been keeping them from being able to take a position where they could shoot over the walls.

Jen was able to notice that some of the enemies who tried to climb over the walls fell backwards with arrows sticking out of them, so they were definitely alright and participating.

"Well…looks like it's up to us!" She shouted as she ran back into the fray.

She decided to join up with Lynn since she seemed to be the most exhausted. There were at about six men targeting her and they were starting to corner her. They seemed to have figured out some of her retreating and counter techniques so they did not seem as effective anymore. They began closing off openings that she had exploited previously, leaving less opportunities to even try and counter.

Jen rushed up and slashed one across the back. He screamed and fell to the ground, this attracted the attention of the others, which gave Lynn a chance to grapple one of the men who turned his attention from her. She wrapped around his back and pulled him into a hostage hold with her hands held around his head, ready to snap his neck.

He tried to struggle, but then her left hand glowed and instead he started to claw at his face. "My eyes! I can't…I can't see! Help! Someone!"

Jen had been wondering why she was not using her mark until now, but it seemed it required physical contact to function. Lynn backed away from the group, holding the man hostage. He was too busy panicking to really fight, so she was able to hold onto him with minimal effort and gain a bit of stamina back.

Jen continued making strike after strike at the remaining four. Every strike was a power attack so that way if she struck home, it would kill, if not, the recoil would push them back enough for her to strike a different target.

She was able to take down a second man by slashing across his torso, opening up a torrent of blood. He fell to the ground screaming. Another yelped as he broke a wrist trying to hold up against another of her attacks and backed off to try and nurse his wound.

Jen wanted to use another Art, but her mana reserves were running low and she did not have the stamina to recover it enough to use too many more. She had to save it for an emergency. Honestly, that Grand Slash earlier should have taken her out, but she thought she could pull off one more before it became a serious problem.

"Sorry about that!" Lynn yelled before she snapped her hostage's neck. He crumpled like a puppet without strings and she returned to a ready position. "Let's get back in this."

Lynn stepped forward into a swing by another attacker. She used her palm to deftly push the flat of his blade away from her as she stepped directly into his personal space and headbutted him straight in the nose. He recoiled automatically, but she remained on him and threw a throat jab followed by a stomach jab.

He grabbed his throat and doubled over at the same time. Lynn stepped to his side, cradled his head under her arm for a moment and yanked upward with a twisting motion. A sickening crack echoed across the battlefield as the man fell to the ground as well.

"Damn, girl. Nice moves." Jen admired. That left only two more to take on. Jen figured her ally could take them on alone, so she turned around to check Lethen and Renton. They had started to clean up the remainder of their own groups and were fighting back to back against a remaining eight enemies from their original group.

Thinking she had nothing to lose, Jen shouted, "[Sword Arts: Grand Slash]!"

A golden arc of mana flew outward in an arc, matching the swing of her sword. It flew towards the group and slashed through the back of four of the men. Her lips turned blew and her vision narrowed as though she were looking through a tube.

She felt the sudden urge to vomit and fell to one knee. Lethen glanced in her direction and with a look of rage on his face, bashed one of the two remaining people he was fighting in the face. He followed it up with a kick, forcing the man to fall backwards. Lethen swiftly turned around and swung his sword with reckless abandon at the other one.

Overwhelmed by the sudden onslaught, the bandit fell to one knee as Lethen slashed, slashed, and slashed again.

A loud crack reached Jen's ears as she watched the bandit's sword break in half and Lethen's blade continued through it and slashed into his neck.

He then turned around and kicked the bandit he had knocked down just a second ago back onto the ground before stabbing his sword into the man's chest.

By the time Jen's vision cleared, Renton and Lynn had finished off their opponents as well. Lynn whistled the all clear signal and the wall of earth and stone and the wall of ice dissipated into a smattering of light that looked like someone scattered glitter thrown into the air.

Mia, Paul, Marie, and Rena ran through the now open gates. Jen watched as Rena scanned the battlefield, but she could not see the person she was looking for amongst those standing or squatting.

"The kid, is over there. He's alive…I think. But he does not look pretty." Jen managed between ragged breaths. "Damn…why does mana exhaustion hurt so much. It doesn't ever get easier…"

Rena's eyes widened as she panicked and her eyes laid upon the boy laying in a small puddle of blood. She yelped and ran over to his side. Jen couldn't keep herself up anymore and let herself fall flat onto the ground. Even if she wanted to, she could not muster the energy to stand back up.

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