“They’re here.”

The princess had been staying in this small village without being noticed for the past few days. She knew that there would be an attack here soon. No guards were stationed anywhere close to here. It’s been a few months since she had set off on her journey. Lux had already executed a couple hundred bandits by this time. Her fear of killing was long gone as she massacred those who terrorized the innocent. Although, nothing could have prepared her for what was going to happen today.

She didn’t realize in time so as a result the village was damaged already and many were injured and some of the villagers even died. She started to clean up as she killed bandits left and right. After about an hour she had slain over 100 bandits. The last few bandits were cornering a man and his family. He stood bravely against them and ended up being severely injured. In an instant she decapitated the 3 bandits and went to heal the man. She then began to use her magic to heal him so that he wouldn’t face the threat of death.

Salus on the other hand, noticed a viscous presence heading towards the village at an alarming speed.

“Lux...RUN!”

Unfortunately, her words were falling upon deaf ears, as Lux was fully concentrated on healing the man in front of her. No matter what, she wouldn’t leave this man to die. It was her fault for not dealing with the bandits premtively and therefore the blame rested on her shoulders for the injuries and deaths among the villagers.

The presence was around 100 feet away before it stopped cold in it’s tracks. Even so Lux continued to heal him until he was able to stand. His daughter and wife rushed to him and then Lux spoke to them in a hush voice. “Leave the area for now. Something’s come up and I don’t want to put you in any more danger.”

All three of them held back tears as they all said the same thing simultaneously. “Thank you Princess.” The couple took their daughter away from what was left of the village and it became quiet again. Only the fire that was consuming the village was audible.

Only after the family had disappeared from her sight did she look behind her to discover that the menacing presence was a man. The man was standing there, without a shirt, with wings protruding from his back. He had long unkempt silver hair, which reached his shoulders. His eyes were icy blue as he stared at Lux unintentionally. His whole body looked like it was built for combat. His muscles were toned in the perfect way to match his entire physique. There was no extra fat on his body at all. With his arms crossed, his contract marks were clear exposed, or so she thought as she realized she was only looking at part of it. They were on the back of his arms and held a familiarity to them.

“So it was him. That boy sure has grown.” Salus recognized him immediately, while it took at second for Lux to put two and two together.

“That’s Noctis?” The boy she saw that day had a resemblance to the man standing in front of her. Only the man had a much more imposing demeanor, and an air of strength radiated around him.

“For the sake of this world, he must die here.” Salus urged.

With a hint of sorrow, Lux knew this to be true. She willed her helmet to appear and drew the holy sword Excalibur. She had received it as a gift from her father before she went on her travels.

Without warning she charged at Noctis. Completely unaware of what was happening, Noctis was still staring at Lux until Exedium woke him up from his daze. He summoned his black armor and also charged in.

The two forces collided against each other and generated a shockwave large enough to make some of the building topple. When the smoke cleared it was apparent that neither side had an advantage. Lux was striking Excalibur as hard as she could against Noctis’ arm. The spine protruding from his armor intercepted the blade and dispersed most of the energy from strike. He chose not to counterattack and instead opted to use the remaining force from her strike gain some distance from his attacker.

“I don’t want to fight you.” Valiant word, but they were not taken well as Lux once again prepared to strike. Noctis figured he would try it once more. “I don’t want to fight you.” This time his voice was much more stern and his cold stare pierced her eyes.

The shock she received from a single stare was enough to temporarily offset her attack but then she once again prepared to charge at him.

“Dark Domain,” As those words left his mouth an overwhelming pressure was being emitted from his body. It was the very same pressure that prevented her from moving that day. An enormous weight was preventing her from easily moving.

“Shield of Light” This time around Lux was prepared for this type of pressure. Shield of Light prevented any magic from hindering her movement. After casting the spell she propelled herself forward at Noctis. But this time Dark Domain was still active and her sword was easily dodged and he caught her arm, preventing her from escaping.

“I don’t want to fight you.” He once again reiterated this statement in hopes of getting the message across. To which she responded with, “But you’re suppose to be the demon to bring about the end of this world, if I don’t kill you, isn’t that the same as dooming the world?” Her voice was heavy and she was on the verge of tears as she proclaimed the boy would be the one to destroy everything she cared about.