Luth ran away inside the darkness, maintaining his caution to not get caught by the bandits who followed behind him. Steps after steps, the voice of foots kept consistently lodged behind his ears, while Luth did his best to speed up and increase his pace, even mildly, enough to out-pace them but there was much his muscles could bare.
Eventually, he hid behind a small gap between two buildings, which was too narrow for the bandits, and it seemed that they lost his trace in the darkness. He heard voices come, and then go. A sense of relief overcame him when he took a deep breath to calm himself down.
He could barely see his hands in the darkness but decided to moved further into the gap to be as far as possible from the bandits as he could. his steps mounded in silence, but in further distance there was a faint light visible which sparked something inside the boy as he reached for it.
A man was visible in the distance at the end of the gap which seemed to lead to be an end of a road, the ground as everywhere cad in snow. Luth exited from the narrow space, gladdened to be in a lesser claustrophobic environment.
Slightly in the distance Luth's eyes could see a man with the Order's cloak, with his longsword drawn out of his sheath, stood in front of another man. His figure exuded confidence, and a sliver of anger present on his features, matching with his wrathful grip upon his blade. Luth did not know what was going on in the distance, but he was sure he did not want to figure out.
The knight turned his eyes towards Luth, meeting his and then hollered, a hint of anger still there,
"Boy, what are you doing here!"
And to his he did not wish to reply, but seeing that his only routes being the risky, narrow gap, the wall at the right side of him, there was only behind the knight where safety could be found.
Luth just wanted to walk past him but then, suddenly, the hooded man who faced faced the knight turned his neck, meeting them with Luth as well.
There was a certain madness in his eyes, and a smile spread across his face which streaked ugly wrinkles along the madman's face, almost—almost—as it it had been tapered to his face. He clutched an curved sword, which was bent in an almost crescent-shape with an edge sharpened on the inner edge of it—which, the pristine edge, shone with a brilliant white colour while the body seemed to absorb all the light that fell on its surface. Veins became visible through his temple and forehead, pupils completely dilated. His hair were long and filthy, and yellow eyes of his carried a clandestine insanity which Luth recognized quickly.
In a flash of moments, Luth found himself between the wall and the madman who leaped in an unnatural speed towards his direction, aiming to slice him off, cleanly in a single stroke.
The boy in his instincts managed to divert the path of slice, as the madman dashed at him mid-air. With a quick duck he saw above his head, the blade lodging in the thick wall, tearing it apart, in a pulverizing force.
The knight came to his aid and pulled back Luth by gripping his wrist, soon he raised his own sword he sliced at the madder one. The madman with fair pace of his own dodged it by dislodging his blade from the wall in an instant and smashing his blade against his, cleaving straight through it.
Both Luth and the knight stay astounded by the ease with which the madman decimated the knight's long sword. They took several steps back, causing the man to burst out laughing maniacally as his irises seemed to spin in frenzy. He extended the crescent blade in front of his face, speaking in fascination,
"S-s-scared? A-absolutely ye' a-are. Y-ye'll ne'er defeat me. Th-the Sword in undefeat'd."
He licked his dry lips rapidly, and kept that crooked smile upon his features.
"Something is up with that sword." the knight muttered, the words reaching into the Luth's ears.
"But what?"
"What indeed." there was an indication in that statement, and Luth had gotten it clear in his mind that there was no leaving this place when the madman is present here aiming to kill both of them, or at least he made it seem so.
"It just seems like there will be no break for my bones here, would it?"
The knight gave a humorless chuckle and threw away the broken blade he held in his arms, clenching his fist tightly. "There is not a way you belong to any order, much less of Notis. But for now I will not question, we have a different peril to deal with."
"Of course we do." the latter grumbled.
The knight weighed his options, and came to his conclusion, "No choice, I will have to use my Miero. Stay careful while I caste."
Luth, partly curious to see what Miero really is nodded and stepped back, trying to find a way to take out the madman, and majorly the strange case with his sword.
Again, like before, the man leapt fiendishly in their way, his sword pointed at the knight's chest, when he finally casted it, his Miero.
Clenching his fist, the hands started to tremble and then something feel from between his fingers. Luth noticed the soft dust that sifted through his hand, a flurry in appearance, kinetic in motion. He crossed his fisted-hands, causing the dust to fly and land over his face, ripping through it spontaneously, seeping inside its cheek, halting the man in motion.
The madman feel to his knees, uncontrollably scratching his bleeding cheeks, nails ripping through his already worn muscles. His wrist and waist gave unconditional writhes as the dust seeped its way towards his eyes,
"W-w-what did ye do-do? Pai-n-n and Pain. Pain a-a-and pain! It's burning, burning my skin. Li-ight, dar-k and All-all-all."
The knight observed his moments for a while before he gave a sigh when he saw his fall to the ground wailing loudly. "This man really gets my nerves bursting."
"Who even is he?" asked Luth, a bit surprised at seeing Miero in combat for the first time. It was frightful really, what had happened to the madman.
"Wrong person to ask, boy. But I would assume it is jus a wandering madman, probably escaped from a prison maybe. Though what intrigues me is the blade. It is impossible for a person to source such a weapon. I would say even a royal couldn't source it."
Luth thought for a solid moment, and the knight focused on the still-writhing madman. He gave another sigh in annoyance before he looked back at Luth, "I'd report it to the commander perhaps and then we'll have some clue. But for now," he said as the same dust sifted through his fingers, "I'll finish this matter, a little less merrily than I expected."
Both strayed their eyes back towards the madman who had now stood up, a little but of convulsing still in his joins, the dust had stopped to his eyes, now his right socket was left in a bleeding straight, dripping, yet he stared at both of them callously.
"Y-y-you want to k-know what this sword does?", he laughed, frantically as he stood up with fluttering moments, "Di-dissector, that is the n-name. It has the a-ability to cut a-anything clean t-through."
The knight growled though it came out more in reluctance to continue than actual anger. "I would say 'anything' is a bold choice of words, but if you are so insistent, let the ashes consume you whole."
He shot the soft ashes through his hand and they launched themselves quick at the madman, he avoided them in the same fashion, with a fast sidestep and then ran towards him, extending his sword forward at his target.
He had an victorious expression on his face while on his way, thinking obviously that he had tricked the knight and was about to land a strike.
The ashes looped back when they struck the wall, retaliating with greater force and shoved themselves inside the rough back of the madman.
The particles molded themselves into spearheads while they protruded through his upper chest. the movement of the sword ceased mid strike. The madman's muscles halted at the feeling, he turned his gaze downwards at his chest and slowly walked back, slowly.
The knight made no effort to do anything, knowing that the man was as good as dead in his state. There was only an amount of wait that needed to be passed for the madman to pass away along with the ashes of his Miero. His mouth began to bleed and blood came out in a darker hue, mixed with small particles of the same ash.
"A weapon is worthless, if the wielder is." the knight spoke, stepping towards the madman who stumbled back further, on fear or caution perhaps, "Even a stick is fearful in the hands of Athen. But neither are you Athen nor are you worth while."
Luth observed the scene without a word, the man continued to stumble back in a shaky manner. Though through all that, through all that, Luth saw the little shadow of a little smile.