EN & FR | Lumine Ship Weeks 2021 | ᴄʜɪʟᴜᴍɪ

DAY 5 - A love that could only be expressed through battle

⇧ EN // FR ⇩

Image at the beginning of the chapter: @J4gGpFjY6n7CdYM on twitter

Prompt 1: Soldier / Kingdom / Fantasy

"You shouldn't have come."

"I know. But I couldn't let you do this."

"Why? Why do you desperately want to stop me up to the point you're ready to risk your life? I thought you were falling in love with me."

"Precisely because I love you I need to stop you before you make this mistake. I won't let you steal Morax's Gnosis."

"Lumine, I'm a soldier deprived of any heart. I have to obey anything Her Majesty the Tsaritsa orders me to do. I have no right to question her authority nor do as I want. I already told you I have to accomplish my mission, whether or not you're on the path."

"I know, and I respect the loyalty you show towards your queen. But I just can't let this happen. Let's fight, Childe-- no, Tartaglia. Let's fight to find out who's going to keep the Gnosis in the end."

Both stared at each other for a long minute, before heading headfirst into the battle. Childe attacked with his bow at the beginning, but when Lumine approached, he dropped his bow to materialize two water blades in each of his hands to counter Lumine's sword blows. They battled, and battled, and battled, from the morning until the night. They were both exhausted, seriously injured, and completely thrilled by all the adrenaline running through their veines.

But when dusk arrived, the adrenaline they both felt finally disappeared progressively from their body, leaving them with all the pain and the ache of their various wounds, and of all the blood they'd lost.

"Why can't you just give up already? Look in which state you're in! You can't even stand upright anymore!"

Childe was still standing in the middle of the Golden House, his water blades stained with crimson marks in his hands. He didn't understand. Why was she going to these extremes just to prevent him from obtaining the Gnosis? Did she really want him to kill her? She was on her knees, completely out of breath, struggling to keep her eyes open and to focus on their fight. No doubt, she was about to faint in a couple minutes. So why was she continuing to say she'd stop him?

"You really... like to... make me repeat... myself... I... can't let you... do this... mistake..."

"You know I'm going to kill you?"

She turned her attention upward toward him with a smile.

A smile.

How could she smile at that moment?

"Please do."

An immense wave of undefinable emotions rushed through Childe. Without him knowing it, he was already closing the distance between them, his blade dangerously getting closer to Lumine's throat.

In an instant, everything was over.

But not the way he thought.

Childe was above Lumine, pinning her frail body on the ground with his own weight. The water blade which was supposed to cut off her throat to finish everything right here and now, wasn't even more stained with blood.

He had more or less deliberately missed his target, the blade stabbed into the ground, a few centimeters away from Lumine's ear.

In the end, he was the one to be defeated today, the one who had lost this duel.