Red String {EDITING}

The One Who Conquers

"You're not the only one who's been blessed with powers, dummy." Vladimir smirked, flipping backwards as Lyra leapt back off her horse, her gaze scanning every inch of him. "Only, unlike you, I had to earn mine..."

"Is this the part where you divulge your tragic backstory?" She tilted her head, quickly recovering from her shock as her blades of lightning made a reappearance.

"Hardly." He said. "This isn't a movie, Little Devil."

"I think I gathered that much."

"Sassy?" He mumbled. "I think I prefer this newer version of you, Lyra... I'll have plenty of fun breaking you again... Especially now I know what you are..."

"You can't beat me."

"I earned my powers, Red." Vlad said. "I had to train for years on end with sword and shield, just to even gain a little bit of the strength that's swirling around in that pathetic little body of yours."

"So you admit you're weaker?"

"I've been practicing with this power, and these weapons for years... and with age, comes power..."

Lyra gritted her teeth, watching as he pulled a purple bladed white sword that crackled with purple lightning.

"Better get serious again, if you want to delay the amount of time which you're out of your cell." He said, a sadistic smile weaving its way across his face. "But make no mistake, Lyra. You will end up in your cell, exactly where you belong."

"We haven't got all day, Vlad." One of his two companions said, appearing at his side. "The boss's orders were to grab the girl and report back to base."

"Of course." Vlad nodded, seeming unusually meek.

Alarm bells went off in her head. "Another hotshot of Omega Taurus...?"

"A. K." Vlad said, closing his eyes. "The woman who ranks just below Frost in the Upper Echelon of our wonderful organisation."

"A. K?!" Lyra's eyebrows rose. "What kind of a name is that?"

"A very awesome one." He said, watching as the woman raced around the battlefield, rescuing the few remaining soldiers left in battle.

His feet blurred before Lyra could blink, his purple sword slicing right through her crackling blades, lopping off a few fingertips while he was at it.

Lyra didn't even flinch.

Maybe it was the adrenaline. Maybe it was because she was used to pain. Maybe it was because they were soon regenerated.

She didn't know or care.

All that mattered was beating the man in front of her senseless.

Her feet were already moving on autopilot, sprinting around the man who looked like he was frozen in time. She skidded to a stop behind him, her legs sparking with her own purple lightning, her hand closed around the hilt of her purplish white sword – which was far prettier than Vlad's. Well. That was her opinion.

She drew her sword at a speed that surprised even her, a wild grin curving on her lips as she spotted the blood welling up in the cut across his back. He wasn't even able to dodge, or even heal himself.

"You can't regenerate?"

"Only when I first activate this power, which is why I only tend to use it when I'm on the verge of death." Vlad said, scowling as he touched his back, feeling the warm sticky liquid spilling down his unarmoured back.

He had been too confident – thinking he hadn't needed to wear armour to face off against Lyra – a decision he now regretted. Immensely.

Any scrapes and scratches he inflicted on her healed in an instant, whilst the number of cuts he had across his body only increased.

The tables were turning.

Vlad shook his head.

No.

The tables had always been turned, ever since Lyra had become aware of her own power.

A foggy haze entered the corners of his vision, his sword slipping through his numb blood-drenched fingers as he teetered on the verge of unconsciousness. He'd lost far too much blood, and now he was paying the price.

"Idiot." A. K. scowled, ice streaming from her hand as she splayed it in Lyra's direction, having spotted the blonde who had promptly flopped to the ground. "I have to do everything around here, don't I?!"

Blue flames crackled to life around the dumbfounded redhead, a pair of reptilian blue eyes meeting her own briefly before they turned to the last two soldiers of Omega Taurus. "Your fight is over, Lyra." He said. "I don't know if you've realised it, but with each battle between you and this organisation, that purple power of yours grows stronger... and much more dangerous..."

"Who the bloody hell are you?!" Purple eyes burnt into his, purple lightning crackling around her fingers as she stared at the vaguely familiar black-haired figure.

"Lunaria trained you with that other ability for a reason, you know." He said, striding through the blue flames away from her. "So you wouldn't have to use this other Gift of yours..."

"You?!" Perry's voice made Lyra turn, blinking when she realised he was still there. Fury burnt in his purple eyes. "You think you can stop us?!"

Flaming blue chains wrapped around him in an instant, reptilian eyes burning into his own. "Try me, horsey."

"We will ride."

"No you won't." He said, spinning away from the bound man, not bothering to watch as he vanished in a puff of purple smoke. He was far too busy calling out to the two remaining soldiers of Omega Taurus. "You should be able to guess who I am, so don't bother trying to kill me – it won't work... Well, not with those piddly little weapons you've got, anyhow." He said, staring at the gigantic broadsword the other man was holding ready. "That little redhead is under my protection, you hear me?" His glare darkened. "So, in the interests of protecting this world, and your own lives – which I'm sure you cherish – you should forget about this little Rider over here." A thumb jerked in Lyra's direction. "I'm sure I don't need to tell you what'll happen if you try to go after dear Lyra again, do I?"

The two vanished.

"Brilliant." One hand slicked back his black hair as the flames around Lyra faded, leaving behind a load of singed grass.

"Who the bloody hell are you?!" Lyra repeated her question, backing away slowly.

"That doesn't matter, First." He sighed. "All that matters is that you don't try and use those purple powers of yours again... You've ridden your horse once now... You've started the chain of events that'll decide this world's fate, and trust me, Flix won't be pleased if he has to start over with this world again."

"That doesn't answer my question." She said, summoning Perry again with a single thought, watching as the horse raked the grass with one hoof. A bow was in her hands in an instant, a white arrow on the string this time as she pointed it at the blue-eyed man.

"Tch." Reptilian eyes rolled.

"That horse..." Blaine stumbled out of the forest, his eyes fixed on Lyra. "That white crown..."

"I had hopped my eyes were tricking me." Thorn said, folding his eyes. "But from the books my mother gave me, I'm fairly sure I know what he's doing here."

"She's the one who conquers, isn't she...?" Blu whispered, shock written across his face as he stared at the purple-haired Lyra.

"The First of the Four..." Blaine mumbled. "Pestilence..."

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ILLENIS HERE

Two chapters left.

See you then.

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