GHOST OF YOU, luke castellan

⁰²the side effects of sword fighting in hot weather

chapter two!
「 four days before 」

❝ alabama row! „

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NOT ONLY WAS HER TERRIBLE LYING A DEAD GIVEAWAY that she couldn't beat Luke in a duel, but the fact that she couldn't sword fight for shit reinforced that statement. 

The sun was beating down on her and the heavy armor she was wearing didn't help her cool down. Alaska and Ethan usually switched off practicing with Luke (when he wasn't teaching the others), since Alaska was the closest to him in seniority and experience and Ethan was the closest to matching him in skill out of their cabin.

Compared to Alaska, who was majorly struggling, Luke seemed invigorated and the cloud of purple around him danced around in excitement as the two dueled. She didn't feel confident enough to make any offensive moves so she mostly stuck to defense and blocked Luke's hits, ducking and maneuvering around him.

She definitely had the advantage with agility, being smaller and all, but that barely did anything for her when Luke parried the only offensive attack she had done so far and knocked the sword out of her hand.

"Oh come on!" she exclaimed in exasperation as she scrambled to pick up her weapon again.

Luke laughed a little and although it was a playful laugh, there was something sinister that seemed to come from it. Maybe she was imagining it, but his aura seemed to darken and get stormier—colder—before it rippled back to its original color.

As soon as she stood up and brandished her weapon once again, he immediately swung and she attempted to deflect to no avail. She became disarmed again and she heaved a sigh as she heard the clattering of her sword on the ground, though she couldn't see where it had gone with her eyes solely trained on Luke.

She was scrambling back to avoid his blows when he crouched down and before she could react, he swept his leg behind her feet, bringing her to the ground with a soft thud.

"Is that even legal?" she complained, squinting from the bright sun shining on Luke's back and to her face. The sun produced a glare off of the sword he was pointing to her chin.

"I'm sure monsters aren't questioning the legality of their attacks," Luke said.

Alaska scoffed playfully. "I'm pretty sure no monster wants to attack me. I'm just about the weakest demigod here—not exactly a bad thing though, since now I probably won't have to ever use a sword in a legitimate fight."

He chuckled, dropped his right arm back to his side, and held out his open left hand to help her up. With a sigh, she sat up and reached out to take his hand. As soon as his skin made contact with hers, she felt an overwhelming coldness and emptiness hit her and his aura darkened and it seemed to jump out at her, engulfing her in a thick cloud of navy haze.