Lux rushed at Ferdinand with rage and delivered a flurry of slashes and thrusts at him, chasing him back. Ferdinand sprinted backward, dodging all the attacks, and as soon as Ferdinand saw the opening, he produced a mace and thumped Lux in the head.
Lux staggered away, feeling hazy. Ferdinand leisurely walked toward Lux. After recovering from the haziness, Lux looked back at Ferdinand, only to see him swinging the mace down at his head. Lux blocked the mace with the knives. The weapons impacted, and Lux's knives broke into pieces. Lux examined his knives. He was holding only their grips. Lux dropped the knives to the ground, and they shattered into dust
Ferdinand smashed down at Lux again, but this time Lux produced an axe and blocked the mace with it. Lux kicked Ferdinand away, and threw the axe at him. Ferdinand simply parried the axe and strode to Lux. Lux generated a blue whip and lashed at Ferdinand. Ferdinand parried the lash with his mace, but the whip wrapped around his weapon. Lux yanked the whip, pulling the mace out of Ferdinand's hand, and lashed at him again. Ferdinand grabbed the whip with his bare hand, and jerked it. Lux staggered toward Ferdinand. Ferdiannd spawned a rapier and thrust it at Lux.
Lux bent down, narrowly dodging the blade, created a hand claw and stabbed Ferdinand in the side. Ferdinand looked at the impale, before transforming the rapier into a knife and stabbing at Lux's neck. Lux quickly pulled the claw out and pushed Ferdinand away. Ferdinand shattered the knife, created a scythe, spun it around, and assumed a scythe pose. Lux disintegrated the claw, produced a double-edged sword, swirled it around, and took a twinblade stance.
They charged at each other and started the fight. After they violently hurled their weapons at each other for a full minute, Ferdinand changed his scythe into a spear and stabbed at Lux. Lux dodged the stab, converted his sword into a halberd, and countered him with a thrust. Ferdinand parried Lux, and stabbed at his face. Lux crouched down to evade and swung the halberd at Ferdinand's legs. Ferdiannd jumped, narrowly dodging. They advanced the fight intensely. Lux slashed, and Ferdinand dodged. Ferdinand stabbed, and Lux parried. Ferdinand tried to sweep Lux's leg, but Lux jumped up in time. After a few more slashes, Ferdinand stabbed the spear into the ground and used it as a pole to throw his legs at Lux. He kicked the spear out of Lux's hand. After Lux lost his weapon and Ferdinand's feet returned to the ground, Ferdinand pulled the spear out and thrust it at Lux. Lux ducked down to evade and delivered a powerful punch to his face. While Ferdinand was confused, Lux created a colossal sword, swung it over his head, and brought it down on Ferdinand.
Ferdinand parried the sword with his spear, but his spear broke in half after the impact. He turned each half of the spear into a curved sword and repeatedly slashed and thrust at Lux. Lux tried to parry Ferdinand, but his colossal sword was too heavy and slow, so he destroyed it and produced double katanas.
They slashed, stabbed, parried, and dodged with lightning speed using those double blades. Then, after Ferdinand knocked one sword out of Lux's hand, he transformed one of his swords into a flail and struck at Lux. Lux created a shield, blocked the blow, and banged Ferdinand's face with the edge of the shield.
Ferdinand staggered away before shattering his weapons and making a great two-handed hammer. He slowly approached Lux, while spinning his body around and swinging the hammer in circles. Lux carefully stepped backward as Ferdinand came close to him. Then, Lux thrust the sword into the hammer's storm, but Ferdinand dodged it and struck the great hammer at Lux. Lux produced a shield, blocked the hammer, and slid away from Ferdinand.
After the two warriors separated, they walked in a circle, staring into each other's souls.
"This fight will go on and on and on until you run out of stamina or make a mistake," said Ferdinand, resting the hammer on his shoulder with one hand. "On the other hand, I'm immortal and possess unlimited stamina. I can fight forever. That's why this battle will only end in one way… with your death."
Lux didn't say a word. He was busy planning his next move.
"What's wrong? Thinking of a way to defeat me? For your own sake, stop it. You're wasting your time. You know in your heart that you will never find it," said Ferdinand.
Lux looked away from Ferdinand. "Heart… Heart…" Suddenly, his eyes widened with hope. "Yes, it can be."
"What are you mumbling about?" said Ferdinand.
Lux looked back at Ferdinand. "Your destruction."
Lux created a sword, charged at him, and slashed at him. Ferdinand parried Lux. But while they were in a sword lock, Lux released one hand from the sword and pressed it against Ferdinand's chest. Lux's palm glowed blue. Ferdinand looked down at Lux's hand, before kicking him away.
"What did you do?" asked Ferdinand.
"Tried to steal your heart," replied Lux.
"Real Funny."
Ferdinand charged at Lux, and repeatedly slashed at him. Lux dodged and parried him. When Lux saw an opportunity, he kicked Ferdinand in the stomach, sending him flying. Ferdinand fell to the ground. But before he could get up, Lux created a crystal knife and threw it at Ferdinand's hand. The knife stabbed Ferdinand's hand, locking it in place. Ferdinand quickly grabbed the knife and yanked it out. But when he looked back at Lux, he saw him jumping at him with a sword in his hand. Lux dropped on Ferdinand, thrusting a sword at his heart.
Ferdinand stopped it with his bare hands.
"Do you really think a mere stab to the heart will kill me? Think again."
"You're right, I can't kill you just by stabbing your heart."
Ferdinand grinned with triumph.
"But I can kill you by destroying the thing inside it," said Lux.
After Ferdinand heard those words, his face turned pale. He looked at the sword above his heart and realized what Lux was trying to do.
"How did you know?" asked Ferdinand fearfully.
Lux didn't answer.
Ferdinand searched his memory and found the answer. "That hand. You touched my chest to check if I have the stone or not."
"You're smarter than you look," said Lux.
Lux pushed the sword closer to Ferdinand's heart.
"Wait! Stop! I yield! I yield!" shouted Ferdinand in fear.
"You drew the power of immortality from the Ender's stone in your heart. Without it, you're just a mere mortal."
"I never thought you could detect the Ender's stone with just a touch of your hand. I underestimated you."
Lux pushed the sword closer.
"No! Please! I… I surrender!" shouted Ferdinand.
"What's wrong? Afraid of death?" said Lux.
"I… I'll tell you everything! I'll tell you what Farsilon is planning to do and where he is! Please, don't kill me!"
"You don't have the guts to do that. Farsilon will kill you as soon as the first word of his secret slips out of your mouth."
"I'll die later, if I tell you about him. But I'll die now, if I don't."
"You're smarter than you look. But I won't trust a word from you. Do you really think I will believe that the chosen of the god of evil is afraid of death and willing to sell out his master for his own life?!"
"Yes." Ferdinand nodded repeatedly.
"Then, you're a fool. You deserve to die for what you have done to those innocent people."
"Please, I… I'm sorry!"
"Tell that to all the people you killed!"
"NO!"
Lux slowly pushed the sword to Ferdinand's chest, and Ferdinand tried to push it away with all his strength.
The blade slowly approached Ferdinand's chest but stopped just before it reached his skin.
Lux tried to push it down, but the sword stuck in place. He couldn't beat his strength, so he shattered his sword, created a new one and stabbed Ferdinand in the heart. Lux released one hand from the sword and touched his crystal.
"O' great father, O' great mother, grant me your strength! Give me the power to cleanse this evil from the face of Arteon!" prayed Lux. His eyes and heart glowed brighter.
The blue energy gushed out of his crystal and formed into a blue orb in his hand. Lux removed his hand from his heart, showing Ferdinand the item that will end him.
"Please, Prince of Light, spare my life. I'm aware of my sin. I'll change myself, and be better. You swear on my life," begged Ferdinand.
"I forgive you for everything you've done," said Lux gently. "But remorse can't wash away the sins."
"Please, give me another chance."
"Everyone can have a second chance."
Ferdinand slowly cracked a soft smile.
"But not everyone deserves it."
The beam of hope turned into a gasp of horror.
"Farewell, friend."
Lux drew his arm back, preparing to shove the orb into Ferdinand's heart. When Ferdiannd saw that, he roared at the top of his lungs, and crushed the blade into many pieces. He yanked the tip of the sword out of his chest and thrust it at Lux's heart. The shard turned red, darting straight to Lux's heart. Lux blocked the blade with his hand, but Ferdinand thrust was so powerful that it pierced through his hand before coming to a stop. Lux slammed the orb against Ferdinand's chest, pressing it against his wound. The blue energy flowed out from the orb, into his heart, through the stab wound. Ferdinand tried to close the wound with his power, but it wasn't fast enough. Ferdinand tried to shake Lux away, but failed. After all the blue energy flowed into his heart, Ferdinand managed to Lux away. He quickly got up, and checked his chest in panic.
"What have you done?!" yelled Ferdinand, after seeing his chest glowing blue.
"Sending you to where you belong," answered Lux.
Brilliant blue light shone out of his chest and orifice. He screamed, before exploding from within. His body was still in one piece, but hot steam coming out of the wound in his chest.
"You bastard," said Ferdinand faintly, reaching for Lux before falling to the ground and lying still with his eyes open. The red light faded away from his eyes.
Lux stared at Ferdinand, panting with exhaustion. After recovering, he fabricated a sword and carefully stepped to Ferdinand. He scanned his body, checking if he was truly dead. Lux slowly knelt down, and placed his hand on his chest, inspecting his heartbeat and the Ender's stone. Lux no longer felt the pulsation and the energy in his heart, which meant the stone must have been destroyed or disabled. But at the moment he was about to lift his hand, Lux sensed his heart start beating again.
Ferdinand's lifeless eyes shifted to Lux and shone with red light once more. He seized Lux's hand, and a creepy grin spread across his face.
"Ouch," said Ferdinand casually.
Lux's eyes widened in shock. He tried to pull his hand back, but it didn't move at all. Then, fear began to creep into his heart as he sensed overwhelming power emanating from Ferdinand's heart.
"That's hurt," said Ferdinand, before unleashing a powerful red energy out of his chest, blasting Lux away.
Lux flew away from Ferdinand and dropped to the ground.
"What in the?!" shouted Lux, rapidly getting up from the ground.
The blast created a hole in Ferdinand's shirt, and Ferdinand covered that hole with his hand. "Nice try, but not nice enough. I haven't possessed the mere Ender's stone as you thought, my friend. I have something far better than that. I give you… the Heart of the Ender!" Ferdinand removed his hand, revealing an illuminating red triangular crystal in his chest.
Lux looked at the crystal in shock. "How could you?!"
"A gift from my master." Ferdinand tapped the crystal. "A replica, of course. But still as powerful as his."
"That's impossible! The Hearts of Arteon can't be replicated!"
"Well, my master can. Now…" Ferdinand smashed his heart with both fists, and an immeasurable surge of red energy flooded out his heart and dispersed throughout his body. His body emanated a powerful red aura. His devilish eyes and heart glowed even brighter. His garments and hair violently flapped in the gust of wind that flowed from his body. "Witness the true power of the Ender!" Ferdinand spread out his arms.
Lux fabricated a crystal knife and threw it at Ferdinand. As the knife was about to hit him, his body flashed with red light and vanished into thin air. The knife darted straight to the building behind Ferdinand and stabbed the wall instead. When Lux saw Ferdinand disappearing, he was surprised. He quickly created the crystal sword and adopted a defensive stance. He casted his eyes around, searching for Ferdinand.
"Looking for someone?" said Ferdinand behind Lux.
Lux instantly wheeled around and slashed at Ferdinand. Ferdinand vanished and reappeared behind Lux.
"Who were you hacking at?" said Ferdinand.
Lux spun around to strike at Ferdinand again, but Ferdinand kicked him in the stomach first. Lux flew away from Ferdinand and dropped to the ground. But before he could get up, Ferdinand teleported to his face, and said, "Playtime's over!"
He clutched Lux's helmet and yanked it out of his head. Lux kicked Ferdinand away, rapidly got up and charged at him. He rained Ferdinand with swift slashes and thrusts, but Ferdinand dodged all of them with even more agility than before. When Ferdinand saw the openings, he countered Lux with a jab straight into his face. Lux was dazed for a split second before resuming his attack. Lux couldn't land a single hit on Ferdinand, but Ferdinand could land all the punches on Lux.
While Lux and Ferdinand were fighting ferociously, the mysterious man in the yellow cloak arrived at the scene. He hid behind the roof and craned his head up to observe the fight.
Ferdinand punched Lux in the chest, pushing him away. Lux dropped down to one knee, exhausted and in pain.
"What's wrong, Vanderer? Burning with rage because you can't land a single scratch on me? Where did those precise moves and forceful attacks go? On a vacation?"
"Mock me all you want. In the end, I'll be the one who laughs."
"If you say so, then let's hear you laugh!"
Ferdinand blinked to Lux and threw a punch at him. Lux clenched his sword and swung it up, cutting off Ferdinand's hand.
"Not this time!" Ferdinand's hand instantly grew back. He punched Lux in the head, sending him to the ground. "You think you're strong! You think you're smart! But in truth, you're nothing!" yelled Ferdinand, kicking and stomping Lux.
Lux clenched his fist and swept Ferdinand's leg with his arm. As soon as Ferdinand collapsed to the ground, Lux bestrode him. But before he could attack him, Ferdinand grabbed Lux's face, threw him back to the ground and mounted him instead. Ferdinand threw a punch at Lux's face. Lux blocked the blow and kicked Ferdinand away from him.
Ferdinand floated up from the ground, flew to Lux and stormed him with punches and kicks. Lux blocked and dodged the blows, but some bypassed his defense and hit his body.
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