A Fairy's Tale (Eustass Kid & OC)

Chapter 34: Winged Victory

The art above is brought to you by the illustrious shibalove ! It's an alternate book cover that I utterly adore. So much skill, thank you!

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No... no! Not now, damnit...!

It was for the conditions of her power that Shanks, Rayleigh, and Mihawk made sure she was so thoroughly trained. They knew she would need to rely on her own skills to defend herself when she had no one to protect. Unfortunately, there were times that the damned thing prevented her from doing even that much; even if she managed to fend off an adversary, her own powers sometimes betrayed her by randomly activating to heal their wounds in the middle of battle. It was frustrating how often she was forced to flee as a result.

And now it was happening again. Loklynn could have screamed with frustration as the scenario she so dreaded was realized.

A splitting migraine slammed at the walls of her skull as she was brutally torn between Killer's wounds and her original objective of Hanma. The conflict manifested in a few dangerous flickers of her Aurora Shield as she struggled to retain the traitorous flow of energy. The effort was meaningless in the end; It slipped through her fingers like sand, fleeing her grasp to aid one of the deadliest threats she had ever faced.

It took Killer less than two seconds to make her truly regret letting her guard down.

Too occupied with her own inner battle to focus effectively, Loklynn was unprepared for the large scrap of torn blue fabric that obscured her vision. It unfolded as it caught wind, hanging briefly in the air before her to veil her opponent from her sight. Killer's shirt, she distantly realized.
Before she had a chance to swipe it away, the job was done for her as two familiar metal objects tore through the cotton on their way to her. She blocked them reflexively despite the conniving distraction, recognizing them instantly: Killer's scythes.

Switching each blade's alignment to the sharpened inner edge, Loklynn struck forward and outward in a wide horizontal arc. She sliced through the remainder of the bothersome fabric to target what she assumed was his wide-open abdomen... only for her swords to be met with empty air.
The scythes she'd just blocked crashed to the deck on either side of her as the tattered remains of the mutilated shirt dropped limply down to rest between them.

Loklynn's heart dropped an instant before Killer's hands shot out from behind her like a lightning strike to seize her wrists in a bruising grip that she wasn't nearly quick enough to avoid. Two seconds. Two seconds was all it took for him to render her an utter fool.

It was at that horrible moment that Loklynn felt Hanma slip out of the boundaries of her protection. Her abilities were drained in seconds to a mere quarter of their full strength, dimming her lights to a fraction of their powerful glow. As a result she was suddenly left weakened and too dazed to even control her own wings properly as they slumped to the deck, hanging off of her like limp curtains.

A panicked gasp tumbled from her lips as she tried to kick back at her captor. His response was to hook his foot around her ankle and shove it back to restrain her leg with his own, leaving her balancing on one foot and half hanging from his fists. She found herself struggling to breathe through her panic as Killer's mask came to rest against her cheek.

"I enjoyed that, Loklynn," he chuckled darkly, looming over her from behind. "It was fun to finally see what you can do with your body."