Chapter Text
Luz buried her face into her old mentor’s jacket for comfort, threw it over her shoulders and took a deep breath. Bubble around her was going to disappear any minute and she couldn’t waste a second of preparation.
“What, no fight left? Or did you learn your lesson from last time?” Mocking voice hit her from above and she immediately slapped the prepared invisibility glyph on her chest, disappearing from Belos’ gaze almost as soon as he undid the protective spell.
“You wish.” Her thoughts shot back at him. She knew she had no chance to overpower him in his own game, one he had hundreds of years of experience in, yet her spirit was unrelenting and her legs quick, carrying her behind a pillar nearby. As quiet as she could, she took a quick peek to see Belos standing in the middle of the room, slowly turning his head around in confusion. Luz pawed at the ground in front of her, closing her trembling fingers around a small rock. He was, no doubt, listening for where she could be hiding right now and expecting her to use magic to get him, so all she could hope for was a distraction to leave an opening for her attack, even if it was something as simple as this.
With every muscle in her body tight, she flung it across the room, sound of it crashing against something brittle immediately followed by loud explosion telling her he took the bait. Panting, Luz released her invisibility and rolled from behind the pillar, fire glyphs in hand, enough for a whole wall of inferno to hit Belos in the back.
…He was nowhere to be found.
“ Belos? ”
She briefly considered throwing glyphs on the ground and letting them release, burning them both and everything the room contained to ashes.
“Come out and fight me, you coward!!” Luz cried out, her own voice looping back at her. “Or I’m burning this place down!!” She raised bundles of glyphs in the air. “Now!!”
“A rock, Luz? Really?”
Long, green tendril whipped against her leg, making her yelp, then wrapped around her ankles. Luz’s world briefly shook and turned upside down, forcing her to come face to face with the extremely unamused Emperor.
“First of all, it’s Philip. Second, I know well you won’t have the gall to set yourself on fire.” He shook her in the air again with a smug smile. “Even for my sake.”
Luz couldn’t tell if her face was burning harder from the fury that made her press her teeth together so hard they hurt or from all the blood that rushed to her face from hanging with her head down.
“And you know why, my fellow human?” Man raised his eyebrows, eyes opened wide, looking like a python ready to swallow his catch whole. “Because the only coward in this room is y--”
Luz screamed and hit him between the eyes, chain of glyphs activating and engulfing both of them in a scorching blast of fire.
Belos made an uncharacteristically high-pitched sound and threw her away from him, closing his hands around his face with a loud, painful wheeze. Luz’s back hit the table and she squealed, rolling on the ground. Water glyphs she prepared for this exact scenario laid stuffed into her pocket, forgotten. Her opponent still stood where she attacked him, muttering curses under his breath, this time actually distracted, but she wasn’t feeling like playing a hero anymore.
Luz scrambled to her feet and bolted.
She was able to cover maybe half of the way to the exit when a paw as big as her entire torso hit her between her shoulder blades and forced her onto the ground, rest of Belos’ weight joining it in a moment, almost crushing her ribcage to dust. Luz made an attempt to shriek, but found that any air left was completely knocked out of her lungs. Whatever form was currently on top of her noticed her pathetically flopping in his grip, trying to breathe, and laughed.
“I guess I must admit, you aren’t as much of a coward as I thought, my dear.” He shifted, allowing her to take a few shaky breaths and cough. “And I’ll be damned, you even managed to land a significant blow on me this time!”
Man wrapped his arms around her and rolled to his side, pressing her into his chest.
“Still… A rock.” Girl felt him inhaling against the back of her head, wetness spreading where his face made contact with her. “I am less offended at you burning half my face off than at your judgment of my character. Are you injured anywhere?”
Luz was glad she couldn’t see what he looked like.
“N...No. I’m fine.”
“Good, good.” Belos dreamily replied, one hand settling around her neck and the other traveling down to press against her crotch. “You know, no matter how many times we redo this, it always, always excites me endlessly …”
Luz kicked back at his legs with nearly feral force, but it was no better than trying to break through a brick wall. In response, his grip on her neck tightened.
“Come on, we’re finally at the best part. Do you have to still act mean, now?”
“Go fuck yourself . ” She thought and for a second, wondered if she should actually say it since fucking him was inevitable again .
“ Won’t you give me a kiss, instead?”
His fingers hooked onto the holes in Eda’s old, tattered jacket, turning her over to face him.
Luz’s ears split at the sound of an animal caught in a bear trap and then she saw nothing but stars.