Lantern Rite With You. | XiaoLumi

Chapter 1

"Lumine! Look out!" Paimon screeched as a hilichurl lunged towards her. Reacting to her call, Lumine quickly held her sword up as a shield and managed to knock back that hilichurl away just in time.

However, she was also sent flying backwards from the clash with the hilichurl. She rolled on her sides and crashed into a wall, the impact sending a bone into her ribs in the process.

Due to her now broken ribs, she coughed and heaved heavily as blood dribbled down the corners of her mouth.

Paimon screamed at the sight of the girl's injured self, and hurriedly flew over. "Lumine! Are you alright?!" The tiny fairy yelled as she held her tiny clenched fists to her chest and drew back in fright.

Lumine slowly sat back up, but she couldn't muster the strength to stand. All the strength must've left her legs by now; after all, she has been fighting for the past few hours in this hellish abode.

She shook her head, unable to speak a word, and all she could do were let out grunts of pain as she held her chest, struggling to breathe. Every breath she took in sent a searing, burning sensation up her chest and throat, as if she was breathing fire.

Paimon exchanged quick, worried glances between Lumine's soon-to-be-corpse and the dark-greened haired boy. "Xiao! Lumine is hurt! We need to retreat, now!" Paimon shouts anxiously to the boy across the battlefield, who was also clearly in a rut against the possessed monsters.

Through gritted teeth, he quickly replied without looking back, "This is why I didn't want you both following me. This place is too dangerous for you both to be here -"

As his last resort to protect both Lumine and Paimon, he runs a few feet away from the monsters to stall for some time while he donned his Yaksha mask.

The Yaksha mask - the mask that set Gods, demons, and monsters alike tremblingly in their wake. And the ability that comes with it, The Bane of All Evil - an adeptus art that is used to drive away these monsters. It's eyes aglow with emerald green, as it spits a perpetuating black, fiery aura around it. The fiery aura that represents a young warrior's spirit - but jet black that reflects his corrupted soul.

He clenched his fists as he leaped high into the night sky, and as the shimmering of the stars glowed brightly in response to his battle cry.

Against the gravity of his karmic debt, he plunges headfirst downwards with his spear. His movements are elegant that it entrances his enemies, yet swift and deadly to deal the final blow to any enemy that tries to come near Lumine and Paimon. Like a dancer, he perfects his art with visible millennia of experience and practice - and that is a true adeptus for you.

All Lumine could do was stare in awe, as the great adeptus continued leaping and plunging into the abode's despair. However, the vision in front of her started to leak out of her eyes, and slowly, but surely, she was losing consciousness. The pain that was surging through her chest started to feel too intense to bear, and her hand that was clutching onto her chest started to lose its grip.

Paimon immediately took notice of the situation, and tried to hold her attention by frantically waving her tiny hands around the girl's face, "Lumine! Hang on there, alright?! Don't die on me!" She said in a panic.

But the girl was hanging on a thin thread.

All she could do in response was let out a small, final gasp of breath, as her eyes threatened to close before her lips finally pursed together:

"...Xiao..."

...

The light of a new day seeps into Lumine's eyes through the gaps of her eyelids and it forces her awake. She held her hand to shield it away as the rays of light, sharp as a blade threatened to pierce her eyes. Dizziness followed along as she tried to sit back up.