Path of Lightning

Chapter 1: Fated encounter

Have you ever felt like you were born in the wrong time and place? That you belonged to somewhere faraway? That your life might have been different?

That's how she always felt. She felt it ever since she was born, and found in some dirty temple. She was in the wrong place, therefore she became associated with the wrong people.

That’s what anyone would say. The outside perspective is bound to be different from the one from the inside. They would say that she was an unfortunate soul, forced to kill against her own will.

‘They made you a monster.’ They would say.

Perhaps that was true, and perhaps she would have been different if she never met them.

Perhaps she would have died an infant in a cold and empty temple.

"Hey Liz!" 

She turned to whoever was calling her. The wind was playing with her golden hair. Her ocean blue eyes shone brighter than ever under the moonlight. She was sitting on the ruins of a building. They were on the old and abandoned side of the city, where the only souls that could be found are criminals and gangs.

The man calling for her, Jack stared at her with an annoyed expression. "We have a job to do. If you want a dinner tonight, you should start moving!" He said sternly and crossed his arms. The action lessened the movement of his old brown coat that was causing by the wind. His hair and beard were grey, with no signs of any other color, showing that he was old and probably not fit for this work, but his muscles and built form said otherwise.

Liz smiled and jumped down, then wiped off the dirt from her clothes."Don’t act so grumpy! We’ve done this before!" She replied, then raised her palm as light surrounded it, allowing her to summon a scythe. "Just tell me where to go."

"Our job is to take care of a certain gang in the area. Never underestimate your enemies, there is always someone out there who is stronger than you." The man answered, hoping that his words of wisdom would reach his apprentice, but unfortunately, that hope was crushed as a young man entered the scene, swinging a hat in his hand.

"Dude, she's a beast. I don't think anyone could beat her." Romeo walked towards them, swinging his bowler hat with his finger. “Besides, we’re a good team.” He smiled and put the black hat on his orange wild hair. His clothes matched his laid back attitude and need to show off.

The black hat with the red string matched his black top and white shirt covering it, and for some reason, he was wearing a red tie that was loosened and was out of place, but still matched the overall black and red theme. 

The leader scoffed and walked away, mentioning for them to follow. His two apprentices glanced at each other and smiled, mimicking their leader’s ‘serious’ behavior.

They were a small mercenary group.

But that group was everything she ever had.

Jack was the leader, and despite not having Penergy like them, he was a capable fighter. He always carries small knives with him that he would use for close combat, but mostly, he would aim them at his enemies, and he rarely misses his target.  Romeo on the other hand, was a master of stealth. He had the ability to use his own shadow for hiding and creating copies with it for distractions.

Liz was able to change her scythe into multiple weapons. She could add any melee weapon she touches into her summoning collection.

They were a well balanced group in terms of abilities.

After walking for a good amount of time through the city, they made it to the gang's hideout. The streets were empty and there were no lights on. The blonde leaned forward and squinted, trying to make out something from her dark surroundings.

“Is anyone even here?” Romeo asked, repeating the same action as his companion, which led to him leaning too forward and having to stop his hat from falling.

They both put their hands next to their ears and tried to catch any sound.

“Do you hear that?” Liz whispered to him, and he nodded.

“Ah, yes! The sound of my empty stomach!” Romeo answered, causing the blonde to chuckle, and their leader to sigh.

The three then jumped away, avoiding an energy punch that was thrown at them. Jack reached for his knives, Romeo smiled and fixed his hat, and Liz summoned gripped her scythe with both hands, preparing to fight.

"You think you get to walk around our city?" Their attacker was none other than a member of the gang they’re after. In the matter of seconds, the three found themselves surrounded by their enemies.

"Penergy users. This should be fun." Liz commented.

"Why do we always have to do this the hard way?" Romeo complained.

"Stop complaining, kids." Jack said and quickly threw a knife right in one of the men's head while Romeo sighed and ran towards another one of them.

Three men charged their fists with energy before attacking him, but the attacks went through him, revealing a shadow clone, and it caused them to hit each other instead.

"Losers." Romeo commented as he appeared from the other side.

Another one imprisoned Liz in a fire circle before closing in the flames on her. The blonde looked around, then up, before smirking and causing confusion to show on the man’s features. In the blink of an eye, his prisoner left the circle. He looked up and saw her high in the sky with her weapon. He could've sworn her eyes were sparkling.

She cut him into two halves before swinging the scythe around and killing few others. What came after, was crimson red, coloring the grey and dull street.

She felt alive. The smell of blood, and the pressure of battle made her blood boil. It was the one thing she has always known. But she also felt disappointed. The Penergy users she was facing were too ordinary. Their powers were simple and only forms of energy that never turned into something special.

It was at times like these that it dawned on her that she was truly a monster.

The strong smell, the rush of adrenaline, the beating of her hearts…

A knife passed by her side, killing a man behind her and snapping her from her thoughts.

"I told you to be more aware of your surroundings!" Jack scolded her, while fighting alongside Romeo.

"Why be careful when I have you?" She smiled as he partners finished the last member. It was a massacre, but there would have been more victims if these criminals roamed freely. That was the excuse they were using.

In the end, they knew it was nothing but a lie, and all they do is for the sake of surviving.

Another job done.

More lives vanished from existence.

Ignoring the harsh reality, the decided to head home, but before they could…

Liz stopped, feeling a strange presence. It was an omnipresent one, unlike the people they just fought. The sound of footsteps confirmed it, and she turned to see a girl standing behind them.

She was about her age. Her dark blue hair was long and tied in a ponytail. She wore a long sleeved black shirt and jeans. There was a golden and heavy looking gauntlet attached to her right hand.

Her eyes were a dark shade of blue just like her hair, and her expression was stoic as she walked past the corpses.

Liz couldn’t tear her eyes away.

There was something about her that was both alarming and mysterious.

"So you are the mercenary group causing trouble?" The girl spoke in a cold tone.

"That girl…! Alright, this is our call! We should go!" Romeo whispered to his leader who exchanged looks with his blonde partner who gave him a questionable look.

The girl didn’t even give them the chance to talk and threw a chain that was attached to her gauntlet towards them. It almost touched Romeo, but fortunately, Liz used her scythe to block it.

"Looks like the pretty ones are always the most dangerous." Liz commented with a smirk. "I know the feeling." She rested a hand on her hip and tightened the grip on her weapon. The girl pulled her chain back and glared at her. Perhaps that wasn’t the best choice of words.

"I'm afraid I don't have time to chat." Nosaru said and launched her chain again, this time catching her enemy's arm and weapon.

"Someone is grumpy…" Liz muttered.

Nosaru pulled her closer and a dagger appeared in her hand, she was about to strike the blonde, but the latter summoned her weapon in her free hand and attacked at the same time. They both moved their heads avoiding the blades and jumped back keeping a distance between them.

Romeo took the chance to come out of Nosaru’s shadow. Noticing his presence, she quickly jumped to the side, and wrapped her chain around his leg before using it to throw him away and causing him to almost collide with Jack who was aiming at her.

Liz attacked her but the latter used her gauntlet to block so she used her free hand to punch her, but of course the other girl gripped it and they both couldn't move an inch, so they head-butted.

Nosaru's gauntlet was surrounded by light and a sword appeared in her grip, attached to the chain. Liz decided to change her scythe into a sword too for a fair fight.

Their swords clashed together in a series of violent attacks, and as they moved back and forth, the other two lost sight of them.

"You're pretty good!" The blonde compliment as she swung her sword only to be blocked again. They found themselves in an alley, and the mercenary took the opportunity and knocked the trash bin towards her enemy to take her off guard.

Nosaru grunted and barely managed to block the next attack. The moment the two were out the alley, She used all her force to push her attacker's weapon to the side, and with amazing speed, she wrapped the chain around it as she tossed her own sword to her other hand and attacked the blonde.

Liz unequipped her sword and leaned backwards as the blade left a cut on her cheek. She did a backflip and her foot collided the other girl's chin, making her stumble backward and hold her chin in pain. Liz then used her hands to push herself forward, she was about to strike with her feet but she was blocked by a big golden shield. She was pushed away which made her lose all balance and slip away as the shield replaced itself by the gauntlet that hit her in the stomach and sent her flying into a building's window.

Her body crashed against the glass before hitting the hard wall. She fell on her knees, gripping her stomach and coughing blood. Her back was in tremendous pain, and her body felt on fire.

She didn't even notice that she started laughing. This was the first time she found herself struggling in a fight. It felt great to know that she wasn't invisible, that she wasn't some kind of beast like her partners said.

She was still human. She could feel pain, she could cough blood, and she could be killed just like any other mortal.

It was as if a huge weight has been lifted off her shoulders. 

"What's so funny?" She looked up to see the girl walking towards her with a bow in her hand. She was about to shot an arrow, but her enemy disappeared in the blink of an eye.

"It's just that…" Liz was just an inch away from her and her fist crashed with her sending her few feet away. She didn't just have the ability to summon weapons, but she also had inhuman strength. "I have never felt this happy."

"You’re insane." Nosaru said and changed her weapon into two dual guns, and another gauntlet appeared on her left hand, both attached by the chain. She started firing energy shots at the blonde who dodged them with ease, either by avoiding them, or blocking them.

Liz equipped a knife and threw it right into the gun's opening, which caused the girl to panic and change her weapon, but she wasn’t fast enough to summon anything to block the upcoming attack, which led to her blocking with her gantlet instead.

Liz equipped her scythe and Nosaru was ready to stop the attack, but what surprised her was the scythe disappeared at the last moment and Liz delivered a blow with her knee before summoning her weapon again. Nosaru tried to dodge but the blade injured her shoulder. Liz was about to land the finishing blow, but her weapon collided with a hard golden armor that now protected her enemy's body. That armor disappeared as soon as it came, and a sharp blade went through her side causing her to collapse against the ground. She groaned in pain as her wounds tried to close themselves.

"Regeneration?" Nosaru wondered as she watching the minor wounds healing slowly, the deep ones however were taking more time. She was panting, and her palms were sweating. She was almost a goner.

Taking a deep breath to calm her raging heart, she stood over her enemy. "I'm sorry. I have to do this." She said, and her face showed remorse before she equipped a gun and pointed it at her.

"I don't mind dying. Go ahead." Liz smiled, as she put a hand to her wound. "I  have never felt this alive, so thanks."

Death didn’t scare her, because all she had going on in her life was being a mercenary, and one of these days, she would have gotten herself killed.

The more she lives, the more lives she would take, so it feels fair that she would accept her death and spare the world another killer.

However, Nosaru's finger was shaking around the trigger as she stared at the girl, and after a couple of tense minutes, she lowered the gun and let it disappear before starting to walk away.

"Wait!" Liz yelled and tried to get up only to fall again due to the pain. "Aren't you supposed to kill me?" She asked and stared at the girl in shock. Wasn’t she about to kill her when she first appeared? Why would she spare her life all of a sudden?

The blue haired girl stopped, but didn't turn. "It's what I'm supposed to do. But I'm going to follow my heart on this one." She answered before walking away. She couldn't kill her. She wasn’t a killer, she could never become one, even if it meant disappointing him for not finishing her mission.

Liz watched her go, she then noticed a necklace next to her. It seemed to belong to Nosaru, but it must have fallen off during the battle. She gripped it before everything faded into darkness. Few moments later, she heard someone calling her name, and she recognized the voices as Romeo's and Jack's.

They might seem like heartless mercenaries that would kill anyone in cold blood, but they never abandoned her.

She was in the wrong place, therefore she became associated with the wrong people. However, these people were her family.

-P.O.L:Origins-

Liz opened her eyes and was almost blinded by the light coming through the window. Her body wasn't hurting her anymore, so she assumed that her wounds have healed already. She turned to her side and saw Jack sitting on a chair reading a book. He was wearing glasses which made him look a little older.

"You're awake. How are you feeling?" He put away the book and looked at her with concern.

"Does alive count as an answer?" She asked and sat up slowly, she then noticed the necklace she picked up before losing conscious. It was on an old nightstand.

"You had that with you. So we thought we should bring it with us." He explained then got up and headed to the door. "Romeo is preparing lunch, so come join us once you freshen up."

“I’ll be right there, Dad.” She said teasingly, making the man roll his eyes.

“I’m not your ‘dad’.” He muttered as he left the room. “These kids will be the death of me.”

She chuckled, then turned her focus to the pendant, and when she opened it, she was met with a family picture. She stared at it, and her fingers touched the small picture frame. She couldn't help but think that the Nosaru in the picture was different. The coldness in her eyes was nowhere to be seen here.

She shook her head and put it on the desk before heading outside the room. She was met with the beautiful smell of the delicious food, and it made her grin, excited to start eating.

"Lizzie! Come sit at the table! Food is ready!" Romeo called from the other room.

"On my way!" She sat next to Jack as their partner served them the food and took a seat as well. She took a bite and all she felt was bliss. "This is so good! You're the best cook ever!" She complimented before attacking the rest of the meal. She was really hungry after the fight.

"It is delicious, but don't waste all our money on food." Jack said as he ate in a more polite manner. Despite raising them both, they never learned any manners from him.

"Don't worry! I always buy the best ingredients with the lowest prices! I am a professional." The young man replied, puffing out his chest.

"You're such a housewife." Liz teased him.

"Now, darling, don't talk while you're eating! And make sure you eat the vegetables!" Romeo said in his best feminine voice which made the others burst out in laughter. "I'm good, aren't I? I am the best actor the world has ever seen!"

"I don't know about that. But you can always be a cook." Jack said with a warm smile while Liz just watched with amusement.

It was hard to remember that they were mercenaries when they had moments like these.