Laura Verilium was born into a famous house. The only house known to keep a consistent lineage of battle mages. Although sometimes it skipped. It was a trait only present in all of their male heirs. But Laura was different. Not only was she born a prodigy in the sword. A born talent, a genius in some sense of the word. She was not only a prodigy. But a spiritualist. While attaining the power of a master. She also possessed the extremely powerful augment of the Verilium house. Perfected. Lady Luck.
Lancelot kept his distance. Firing spinning spears at her constantly. It took lots of energy for him to even project one. He kept taking steps back. But she was constantly weaving through them. Well. Not even weaving. Just running forward. Every spear. Missing her by an inch. Lancelot knew everything about this augment. Lady Luck. The augment of the Verilium house lead to them being the royal guard captain of almost every generation. Able to turn any situation, any battle, any odd, anything. In their favor completely. An unimaginable amount of luck. Almost making them invincible. Though the augment could be deactivated at their will. And could also had a will of its own. And could renounce a user.
She charged at Lancelot. Her silver rapier blitzed across the air. Reaching Lancelot in almost an instant.
When Laura was 10 years old. She met the emperor for the first time. Before he became a man in solitude. A man obsessed with something she couldn't understand. At 14. She became a member of the royal guard. At 17. She became the captain. And now she remains it. At 20. Her unwavering loyalty to the emperor had never faltered.
Her rapier pierced through Lancelot in an instant. She expected him to dodge. To block. To counter. To parry. But he did no such thing.
"Eh…?"
She looked at Lancelot. But did not see a grimace of pain. Rather. She saw a smile.
"Gotcha."
She tried to release her hand from the blade. But it was too late. Five golden spears, rotating at an incredible speed. Flew into her back.
"It appears…I've been bested."
The augment of Lady Luck only activated upon the will of the user. So in that moment. Laura did not want to activate it. She wanted to lose.
Lancelot staggered back. As Laura fell to the ground. Yanking her sword from his chest. He stumbled forward. And felt a slight shift in the air. A person with incredibly dull senses would've felt it as well. He started walking past her. Much faster than before. Not wanting to turn around.
"You didn't think it'd be that easy did you, Lancelot?"
He heard a chuckle from behind him and turned around. Laura's helmet had flown off. She was…dazzling, to say the least. A woman with black hair and a streak of white. A scar down the left side of her cheek. Two arms made of pure light extended from her back. Each one of her arms held a sword of light.
'…shit.'
She charged forward.
"Spirit Athena! My strength is yours!"
Lancelot dashed back. His wound aching. Laura's swings were impossible to dodge. The space that her normal swings left empty, the arms of light filled. Attached to her back. Was a light spirit. Athena. Two separate beings bound to each other. Fighting in perfect synchronization.
Lancelot surrounded himself with a wall of shields. Giving him a moment to catch his breath.
'This is totally unfair…'
The wall was torn down in an instant. The arms of light picked up and heaved half of the shields. Lancelot used up most of his energy using just that one wall. And used the last of his expanses to make the shields levitate, rotate, and attempt to bury her in them. The shields landed on top of her. But Laura was not there. Instead. She was behind him.
"Shabby. Lancelot. I don't approve."
Lancelot's vision was fading. That was his last ditch attempt at stopping her. The sword energy pumping through his veins was coming to a halt. He faltered for a moment. Almost letting himself stumble back and fall. But he felt it. An odd pulse in his heart.
And then it started to thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. And his pulse quickened. And he smiled. And a voice spoke into his head.
'Is this the end for you, boy?'