Joining Sabertooth! A Luna Nightingale x Sting Eucliffe fanfiction! (BOOK 1)

Rufus Vs Zorax

~Rufus's POV~
It had grown quiet as I heard the battles come to an end. I can recall each battle as they happened. I've memorized the order of each battle. First Cobalt, then Selena, then Evan, and finally Twila. Each battle ended beautifully. And now it was time for my battle. The grand finalè before we took on the head of the operation. We were lucky enough to have the leader of the 5 be taken down by our little sun drop. She performed admirably. Not causing a single dent in her beauty. But perhaps I'm getting ahead of myself. I may have fallen for the new chick but who can blame me. Her beauty is unmatched, her smile, flawless, and her personality was to die for. I may not have been the sentimental type but she had awakened something inside of myself. And I aim to protect that precious drop of sun from being put out. She'll always be protected by me. I'd keep walking as I knew my target was about 6 buildings in front of me. I have memorized his magic as paper magic. Much like the one who's in the rune knights at the palace. If I remember correctly she had quite a few tricks up her sleeve. Her red papers held the power of flames, White was ice, yellow was lightning, Orange was cleansing, purple was paralysis, blue was wind, indigo was protection, and black was love and the final was poison. With each level of the paper blizzard dances the more intense the affect. All memorized. Zorax was about 3 buildings away to the north. I would walk keeping my arms behind my back and my back straight. Sabertooth will claim another victory. They've underestimated my abilities the same way everyone does.
"I know your two blocks to the north. You might as well show yourself now." I'd say as I stopped walking.
He would come out from behind the building. His blood red hair matched his one eye. His other eye was black with a red dot in the middle. As if he'd been possessed. He held more than just paper dance blizzards. He also held water-make magic. However, he didn't have very many spells in his Repertoire. Mainly water-make water snake, and water-make water horse. The rest was the paper blizzard dances. This fight I thought would be easy. However, little did I know he didn't memorize his spells. But made them up as he went along. He'd know what each paper did and that was about it.
"Well I never thought anyone would know where I was. Your the first to get that right." He'd say as he let out a drag of his cigarette. "You've really impressed me. But unlike my "colleagues" who have a tragic backstory I don't. You're probably expecting some amazing story of how I lost my family or some other crazy bullshit that you just won't get from me." Hed smirk as he said those words.
"So you don't have a story... just some punk who thought hey this sounds fun I've got nothing better to do." If day rolling my eyes.
"I have a story. But I've pushed it so far back in my mind that I've forgotten why it's so tragic. So while I have a tragic story to explain why I'm like this. I can't tell you because I can't remember. Or more I WONT remember." He'd say as he took another drag holding out 5 pieces of paper. "Now which dance should I play first? Red dance, white dance, yellow dance, purple dance, or green dance. So many to choose from. Not to mention a different dance I could use that I've well. You could say I invented it. It's still a work in progress but hey. At least this will be my entertainment for the day." He'd say with a smirk as he took another drag.
This man obviously has issues. But whether he's a psychopath or something else will he determined at the end of this fight. I'd hold my hat from the rim of it with a smirk on my face. With my memory-make magic he's in for a surprise. Little did I know. So was I.
Zorax would bend the paper between his fingers then blow it forward into the wind, deciding to start with red dance. The single sheet turned into many, forming a vortex like shape of fire that headed right towards me. I expected him to start with something like this, mostly to test me and my ability early on in the fight. I braced myself slightly, taking in a deep breath before I casted a spell. Thankfully I had taken the time to memorize some spells from Luna and Aurora, definitely giving me an edge to the fight.
"Memory-Make: Moon Dust Shield." I said. It was my first time using Luna's spells, thankfully it worked just how I expected it to. The shield formed around me, saving me from a scorching fate as the attack from Zorax hit. Since I hadn't practiced this spell much, the shield would fall as soon as the fire was gone.
The fact that I had used moon magic gave Zorax a moment of pause. He smirked within the next heartbeat, holding more paper.
"This'll be more fun than I had originally hoped for." He said, his tone rather eire and unsettling.
Zorax kept his smirk before casting another spell. He sent more paper forward, this time holding it between his thumb and ring finger before letting it go. The paper morphed into a large spike of ice, making me think that this was one of the dances he created himself. The spike finally finished morphing, the point glistening and ready to impale me. With a wave of his hand, the spike went forward but it's path was predictable. Instead of moving out of the way, I casted a spell to counter it.
"Memory-Make: Karma of the Burning Land." I said. The spell took effect when I ducked down and touched my hand to the ground, making the earth shift slightly. A massive flame broke through in front of me and around me, melting the ice spike quickly before it could reach me. Instead, all I was hit with was smoke. The fire stretched forward towards Zorax, making it impossible for him to use paper body since paper was rather flammable.
I lifted my chin slightly when the fire consumed him, though he hadn't bothered to move. Once the flame's cleared, Zorax was still standing to my utter surprise. A bit of burn paper littered the ground, making my eyes widen slightly. He had shielded himself with grey dance, but had enough magic power to keep the spell from burning away.
"That was fun." He said, obviously wanting to mock me. Zorax pulled out another paper, a violet one. He threw it forward, the paper then cutting through the air effortlessly. It stuck to my chest, making me look down for a moment. When I looked back up, Zorax held his arms out as hundreds of small sheets of paper would twist with the wind. They turned towards me then covered my body, making it extremely difficult to move. Zorax let out a laugh, stepping forward slightly with more paper. "Now it's my turn for fun." He hummed, holding a twisted smirk.
Zorax used green dance first, creating a poison mist around me. I coughed slightly, the poison cloud invading my lungs and making my chest feel tight. He held a smirk, taking joy in watching the poison take its effects. There was something different about the poison, it managed to turn my limbs numb. Knowing this, Zorax had the violet paper release me so I could fall to the ground, unable to stand within the poison cloud. Like this, I was rendered helpless.
"Forget..." I managed to choke out, making the cloud start to disappear. Zorax scowled but was quick to attack again before I could recover.
Zorax used yellow dance, making a massive flash of lightning appear with the assistance of a yellow paper. It made me need to look away, unable to see from the bright light that followed the strike. Zorax then used another yellow paper, another dance he had invented. It fluttered forward through the air then vanished, a direct bolt of lightning then stiking me. I let out a pain yell, falling back to the ground fully and losing all the energy that I recovered earlier.
"You're a resilient one, I suppose that's good news for me... Means we can have more fun." Zorax said, a smirk stretched across his face. He held a red paper once again as well as a yellow one, sending one out after the other. He was fast, too fast for me to keep up with. He had no attack pattern that I could predict, making each next attack unique. After the red dance I was knocked back again, then the lightning dance he used earlier which made my body turn numb again. "Burn and crack, maybe I'll freeze you next? Who knows!?" He yelled out to the sky, seeming extremely happy with himself.
Zorax then pulled out an indigo card, taking a moment to admire it before using indigo dance. I frowned as the paper trapped me in a dark sphere, making my view turn pitch black. The darkness turned into something else, something he was familiar with. He was back in Sabertooth, old Sabertooth before Sting took charge. It was Yukino's humiliation after she lost during the Grand Magic Games. It was a ceremony that scared me, seeing my friend and guildmate stripped of everything then tossed out like yesterday's garbage. Zorax couldn't help but speak into my trauma, not expecting to see the source was Yukino. He had the spell stopped, making the sphere disappear.
"Yukino..." He muttered out, seemingly sane again. I raised a brow then staggered to my feet, ignoring the burns and bruises that caused me pain. Zorax smiled slightly then shook his head. "I miss you so much." He said to himself.
"You know her?" I asked, my voice feeling rather coarse.
"Yes, she's a dear friend..." He explained. Speaking of Yukino had made him feel like a normal person again, as if what happened a minute ago didn't exist. His answer made me scowl, pretty sure that Yukino wouldn't stand for his actions now.
"You'd think she'd be glad, watching you torture one of her guildmates?" I asked, my tone full of spite. Zorax paused for a moment before he looked confused.
"Guildmate?" He questioned.
"Yes, what do you think she'd say to you right now?" I pressed further.
"Stop it..." He mumbled at first, turning his gaze away. Zorax's hands shook slightly, unsure what to do now. If I was a friend of Yukino then that meant he was indirectly hurting her, if he killed me then he'd be shrouded with guilt for the rest of his life.
"You'd disgust her, make her question why she ever had a friend as barbaric as you." I spat.
"N-No... She wouldn't do that." He said.
"Wouldn't she? If you know anything about Yukino it's that she's a kind and gentle soul, the complete opposite of what you've shown me here." I said.
Zorax's eye started to twitch, realizing I was right. He grabbed a handful of random papers, staring at them for a moment before turning his gaze to me. Zorax seemed to be dealing with a mix of emotions, like two sides fighting each other at once within his mind. "Stop talking!" He yelled, throwing the mixed handful of papers forward. Casting so many spells at once made them all sloppy, giving me an easy time now. I took in a deep breath, rather confident that I could end the fight.
"Memory-Make: Shrine of Turbulent Fang!" I called out, making a handful of whirlwinds appear and catch all the papers. Zorax's eyes widened when the papers were thrown back at him, the spells throwing him back slightly. An indigo card was the last to land on him, encasing him in a large sphere. I took a minute to relax now that he was trapped before curiosity got the best of me. Having memorized most of his spells as we went on, I let myself peak into his trauma, wanting to see what turned him so insane.
I saw what he saw, at first it was peaceful. Yukino was there, she seemed extremely young but so was Zorax. When I looked closer, it was easy to tell they were scared.
"We need to move..." Yukino whispered, obviously hiding from something.
"But they'll catch us!" Zorax whispered back, the worry obvious in his tone.
Yukino peaked out of a window turned back to Zorax, grabbing his arm to force him to go with her. Once they left what seemed to be a small house, I saw a village on fire. Yukino ran forward, careful not to be caught by one of the many men who were busy capturing children that had lost their parents already. Zorax followed her, keeping close. They ducked behind a pile of rubble, only for Yukino to be pulled away by her hair. "Got another one!" A man called.
Yukino kicked and screamed while Zorax starred in terror, taking a moment before finally taking action. He jumped forward and held on to the man's arm, biting down hard which made him drop Yukino. Yukino then ran off at Zorax's yell, Zorax now caught by the man.
Suddenly the scene was different, it was Zorax working at the nightmare that was the Tower of Heaven. He was covered in small scrapes and scabs while he worked, being knocked over by a passing guard by a kick to the side. The guard yelled at him for being too slow then moved on, Zorax now sitting on the ground while he shook slightly. He hadn't seen Yukino again, it worried him. Her fate was unknown, spiking all types of emotions within his head. Zorax wasn't sure if she was safe or not, if she escaped or if she was captured later and taken to a different part of the tower. He was scared, tired, worried, angry, and most importantly, vengeful.
The papers cleared, leaving Zorax a shaking heap on the ground. He had tried so hard to forget about what he lost, tried so hard to ignore his own pain and inflicting his frustrations on others. Now he felt like a scared child, his mind unable to shake the memory he was forced to relive.
I walked forward, not worried he'd hurt me now since he seemed extremely shaken. He had obviously had a hard life. I couldn't possibly imagine living in that hell hole. I've heard the stories of it. I can see how he lost his sanity.
"I can help you see her again you know..." I'd say closing my eyes.
His body seemed to stop shaking. He would hold his hand over his one possessed eye. "Y-you'd do that for me? After all I've just done to you?" He'd ask.
"I'm sorry that I judged you without knowing your past. I can help if you'll let me." I'd say holding out my hand.
He'd look at me warily and confused. He was thinking about seeing her again and how happy he'd be.
"A-alright..." He'd say slowly grabbing my hand.
We have finally successfully defeated all of the so called "body guards" of the guy named Lucas. I knew it would be hard for Aurora and Luna to face their dad but. I'll always be by Aurora's side just like Sting will always be by Luna's. Now it's training and then the grande finale will begin.
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Thanks Free_Doodlez ! I couldn't have done this book without you! Only three chapters left! Hope you guys are pumped and ready! ENJOY!