Mission: NYX || ONC2023 Shortlister

Chapter 12: Ruler of Darkness

Lucinda's ears switched between flipping up and down while her eyes flicked from left to right. Even if the moons still made the place bright, the smoke still covered the entire church. Fortunately, it wasn't thick enough to completely obscure her vision. Despite that, she remained in her place, not daring to even turn around.

She still had no idea what Nyx was fully capable of. Her illusions could be more than visuals—if she managed to make the clones of herself speak, then that meant it was also auditorial. The soft footsteps or mutters Lucinda was hearing may not even be real. And who was to stay that Nyx didn't have any other tricks hidden under her sleeves. She could have been holding back, and she might be stronger than she looked or presented herself as.

Lucinda hated to admit it, but the thought made her nervous. Her grip on the blades were so tight they might shatter, and she could hear her heart thumping in her chest. Despite the chill of the night, she could still feel sweat clinging on her forehead.

Ten minutes. 

Calm down. Slow inhale, slow exhale. Her being nervous wouldn't do anything helpful. Worst case scenario, she would lose focus for even a split second and lose control of her wielding. She needed to—

She turned around and slashed one of her blades. In front of her, Nyx disappeared into a puff of smoke, then reappeared to her right again. Just as Lucinda was about to face it and strike, Nyx snapped her fingers. There were two, now four, now eight of them, all trapping her in a circle.

They all took slow steps forward, but the one in the front was the first to charge. Lucinda dodged her fist and drew an arc with her knife. Like before, she turned to smoke. Before any of the others could make a move, Lucinda dashed to the nearest clone and repeated the same thing. The copy disappeared, and another reappeared behind it.

Lucinda tossed one of the blades. Unsurprisingly, Nyx turned to smoke as well, and it sounded like the knife hit one of the wooden seats.

"Is this your strategy?"

A scream left Lucinda's lips as she felt Nyx grab the loose strands of her hair. For a split second, she saw her face holding a sneer. In the next, her vision blurred, and a dull ache throbbed in her head as Nyx bashed her head against the seat once, twice, thrice. A quick pang of pain in her stomach followed, and soon her right sight burned as she landed on the wooden floor.

Even if her head was still spinning, Lucinda sat up. She couldn't tell if it was a concussion making her see things or if Nyx really did create four more illusions of herself.

Lucinda snapped her fingers and flicked her and flicked her hands towards her chest. Nyx turned around, but she was able to dodge the blade before it could stab her in the face. Despite that, the tip was able to slice her cheek, drawing out her own blood. Lucinda caught it with her free hand, and she spun it between her fingers before holding it properly again.

She shrugged at Nyx. "Who knows."

She charged forward and aimed her blade at Nyx—face, neck, chest, shoulder, face, neck, chest, shoulder. Nyx managed to dodge them all with ease, and Lucinda almost got hit with another punch in the stomach. The edge of the knife was able to create another cut in her cheek, and she lodged the blade on Nyx's left shoulder. Nyx yelled in pain, and Lucinda raised her second blade and aimed it at her chest.

Nyx's other hand grabbed hers. Before Lucinda could tug it away, Nyx drew her arm back and punched her lower lip. The impact made Lucinda stagger back, and darkness filled her vision as her head spun. When she regained her focus, Nyx wasn't there anymore.

She caught her breaths as she looked around. The air was cold, as if ice was prickling her lungs with every breath she took. She wasn't sure if she could take deep breaths; it felt like something was blocking her air sacs.