All For the Girl: A Request Prompt

2015
Beta Belt
The Otherworld

Luxuria’s eyes gleamed as he looked the man over.

“This will be fun,” he remarked. Roots sprung up from the ground beneath them and shackled Mathias, his ice-blue eyes widening in shock. “Come here to rescue your girl?”

“Don’t make me mad,” he spat. Luxuria could only chuckle as he watched Mathias struggle with the roots, a few more starting to climb up his legs. “I’m warning you–”

A vine covered his mouth, silencing him. The Setomion yawned.

“It’s nothing personal. You have to do what you’re told to do,” he remarked. “And sadly, this was an order addressed. Besides, I have no interest in her. Invidia might.” With that, he saw Mathias’ eyes flash a dangerous shade and the Setomion frowned.

Stop him from getting her back.

That was what was instructed to him.

Arzen Venura was contained a room away, and the door to that room was just behind Luxuria. To get to that room, he would have to beat Luxuria. For the time being, he decided to taunt his opponent a bit – to gauge a reaction and test his limits.

Bored, he glanced at the vines wrapping around Mathias’ legs. “She has good memories of you.”

This made his head snap up.

“The first time she saw you, she could hardly believe that you were real.” He said slowly, closing his eyes and thinking of the memories he had managed to break into. “And then she saw you. Again,” a heavy root wrapped around his torso, “And again,” another around his arms, “And again.”

Mathias sucked in a sharp breath. A vine, this time, had started to squeeze.

Right around his neck.

“It’s admirable, actually. How someone from the Otherworld can watch over someone from the Mortal Realm without difficulty. She doubted you, you know. She thought that you were being pressured to watch over her.”

“I wasn’t,” the man managed to reply. Luxuria ignored that.

“But you were able to convince her otherwise. And she started to believe. And the more she believed…” the Setomion trailed off, “…the more she began to want.”

Mathias tried to focus on Luxuria’s words – to find a lifeline in them.

Even if the binding was starting to burn uncomfortably and the vine around his neck threatened to kill him in a millisecond.

“Do you know what she thought before impact?”

A different pain seared throughout him, this time not inflicted by the vines or the roots.

“She wanted to see you.”

The remaining words, although unsaid, hung thickly in the air.

One last time.

“A Setomion has its own unique ability, depending on the sin or feeling they represent. If I touch you without this glove,” he lifted his hand, “There’s no choice but to fall under.”

With that, Luxuria let his own Setomion-y side come out. His eyes glinted.

“What else did I see?” He walked forward to Mathias, who struggled to keep his eyes open. “Her memories, her thoughts, her feelings. And how did I see them?”

Luxuria smirked and decided to test the waters, leaving the question unanswered.

“I never knew someone could be so passionate for you–” Luxuria heard a crash and spun around, seeing the firm walls shatter and splinter into many tiny pieces. The Setomion growled a curse and looked back at his captive, seeing nothing but a person wrapped head to toe in roots and vines which had started to grey.

From brown to grey, as if winter had started to come.

A blue radiated from Mathias’ skin and he staggered back, staring in disbelief as ice suddenly shot up from the ground around him, rising around his body.

He’s an idiot, there’s no way he can rip those off without injuring himself –

He thought he saw Mathias give a small flick of his wrist.

Immediately, the ice tore apart the roots and the vines, twisting around his body elegantly and ignoring coming to contact with the Glacier Original. In a flash, Mathias was set free and the roots and vines lay discarded on the ground, dead as could be.

Instead of the illusion of a grove, both of them were locked in a field of ice.

“I told you not to make me angry,” Mathias said lowly, bearing pistols in his hands. Luxuria grinned and summoned his own weapon, a moss-green sword with a twisted blade.

Mathias aimed his pistols. Luxuria pointed his sword.

And they charged towards each other.

Mathias shot at the Setomion but he deftly dodged them, the other attempting to drive his sword into the man’s neck. The man’s pistols disappeared and a glyph instead took place, taking the impact of the sword. Mathias leaped back, managing to carefully wield the glyph.

Luxuria gave a hiss and lifted his hand, sharp daggers appearing and flying towards Mathias. Mathias gave his own hand a wave and was shielded, the daggers dissolving as they struck this time a spherical shield colored blue. While inside, he muttered words under his breath and the shield shattered into shards, landing all over the flooring.

The Setomion summoned his own guns and aimed at the ceiling – and shot.

Mathias instantly looked up and dodged the falling glass, Luxuria smirking victoriously.

“I tend to wonder how people always fall for that trick,” he admitted. Mathias blinked.

“Trick–”

Backed against the wall, a root sprung and wrapped around Mathias’ chest. The Technikan choked; he could feel the life literally being squeezed out of him –

He dimly heard Luxuria step towards him.

“Can’t summon now, can you?” he asked softly. Velvet. His voice reminded Mathias of velvet. “It’s a shame that she won’t be able to…carry out what she desires the most for you.”

He snapped his fingers. A thick vine appeared right before Mathias’ eyes.

“Don’t worry.” Luxuria watched lazily as the vine wrapped around his neck, slowly yet surely, roots keeping him in place. “I’ll be sure to fulfill all her desires and her wants. She can just imagine you in my place.”

A hazy black vignette wrapped around his gaze.

I won’t mind at all – I’ll just give your little darling to Invidia afterwards…after I take her for myself.”

Mathias coughed something. Luxuria frowned. Last words, the Setomion thought, and momentarily loosened the vine. Why does it seem to be that I know those words…?

But once the man gave a forced laugh, Luxuria knew that he had committed an error.

A very fatal error.

Only then did he comprehend what the Technikan had said, even with oxygen depleting his system. He whispered them to himself.

Forme et grève.

The shards lifted themselves off the ground. Luxuria didn’t even turn around to look at them. He merely met Mathias’ unfocused gaze and bowed, as if granting him the win.

The shards formed into a spear, and they struck.