"Do you think he'll ever get over it?"

"Trust me little bard, he won't," Darius said with a sigh.

Darius had only been working peacefully in the office when you barged inside, practically destroying his door and making the whole office shake as you rambled loudly about what atrocities you had committed in Bone marsh yesterday.

"Your head will be served in a silver plate any moment," he said as he looked down on your figure that laid down on the couch unflatteringly. 

Darius is unaware of your vigilante missions. Despite him being your most trusted and dearest mentor, you had to keep the rebellion in full secrecy. 

In his eyes, you were simply fiddling around somewhere in Bone marsh for whatever reason and ended up messing with the golden princeling. Would Darius even be surprised? No. He has seen you do worse, and messing the mission of the golden guard was simply a piece of the iceberg compared to what atrocities you have done before.

"Will he really try to kill me just for one failed mission?" You arched a brow and watched the white marble ceiling. You patted your hummingbird palisman on your chest while thinking of what that goldenbutt would do.

You could feel it. You've crossed his line and had probably gone too far. But hey, it's not your fault you loved annoying him. Maybe it was. But still, nothing in this world would make you regret annoying him.

"No. If it had been me I would have only killed you for breaking the sole glass that I use to tolerate your existence," Darius said.

"What do you mean by that?" You frowned. You knew you were annoying but was it really to that point? Thinking of all your actions combined together, perhaps you were simply just that insufferable.

"I believe you have the intellectual capacity to figure that out, little bard," Darius said.

"Well, what's the worst he could do? Blast me to bits? Nah, he's too weak for that," You smiled arrogantly at your mentor, to which he responded with a raised brow.

"The only advantage you have is being a witch with magic, remember that. Perhaps if that little princeling wasn't born a half-witch, then I doubt you would even compare." Darius arranged his papers and looked down at you disdainfully, discontented of your conceited attitude towards the golden guard.

"Perhaps, but only perhaps," you rolled your eyes.

Tweet. Your little palisman watched back and fort between you and Darius as you spoke.

Darius wasn't wrong for that. GG had already surpassed you in many ways, although you wouldn't want to admit. He is stronger than you in physical terms, he is more agile than anyone you have ever known, and he actually had better tactics in fighting than you. The only edge you had against him was your magic, wit, and your incalculable battle style.

You jumped off the couch and twirled back at your mentor as you readied to leave. "I have something he can never have though,"

Darius raised his eyebrow. "And that would be?"

"My charm."

BOOM.

The fort shakes slightly as you look outside the office with a curious face. Who dares? Not a single witch in this world was in their right mind to damage Darius's property. The sound of blasts did not cease.

You quickly summoned your staff and skated to the source of the explosion leaving your mentor behind. It took only a few turns through a series of hallways to arrive at the cause of the explosion-

Your potion laboratory. Your pupils dilated.

You stood there wide-eyed as you stared at the experimentation room that Darius had built for you. It was his gift that you had cared so much about. One of the most precious places that made you feel at ease, a place to relieve tension, and a place that was close to becoming your home.

It was destroyed. Gone. Blasted to bits.

No no no no.

Your potions.

Your precious ingredients.

Your life's work.

It only took a moment for your body to spark with a considerable amount of electric discharge, making your hair float in disarray. The wrath boiling from deep within the crevices of your murderous mind shaping its way to reality from your overflowing magic.

"Angry?" a voice came from behind. The very voice that belonged to the bane of your existence right now. 

Hunter had finally reached his breaking point. From the moment he met you, you had been nothing but trouble, a relentless thorn in his side. He had tolerated you for Titan's sake, but now, the last shred of his patience was gone.

This wasn't a prank anymore. It was vandalism, impertinence that exceeded the limits of his patience. Being called a failure by the one person he desperately wanted to impress, the emperor, was the final straw. Kikimora and her cronies, eager to usurp his position, used his failed mission to tarnish his reputation.

Annoying antics were one thing, but trying to ruin his life was another. That, he wouldn't tolerate.

He was beyond furious. He was incandescent with rage.

Hunter walked slowly towards your precious laboratory, each step deliberate and measured, his mind singularly focused on one goal: to kill you. But mere death was too merciful.

So, he headed straight to your precious lab, the place you cherished above all else. He knew what it meant to you. He had seen the pride in your eyes when you talked about your experiments, the almost religious fervor with which you protected your secrets.

As he approached your precious lab, memories of your relentless torment played through his mind like a sinister montage. Each prank, each insidious act of sabotage, had chipped away at his resolve, and now those memories fueled his wrath. The closer he got, the more his rage crystallized into a deadly calm.

Calm, deadly calm, he unleashed a powerful, wide-ranging blast, obliterating everything you loved. The walls of your lab crumbled, precious potions sparked and exploded, delicate experiments were annihilated in an instant. The devastation was total, a satisfying and beautiful destruction orchestrated by his unyielding will.

Angry? No. He watched your enraged electrical outburst with cold eyes. You had no right to be angry. He did.

As the dust settled and the smoke cleared, Hunter stood amidst the wreckage, his eyes locked onto yours. The fury that burned within him was tempered by a steely resolve. He had taken from you what you valued most, and now, you would understand the depths of his wrath.

"Are you serious?" your words bubbled with rage, ready to explode. Your wrists burned and cackled from your extreme burst of emotions. "Are you really that petty?" You clenched your fist.

You knew that he was angry but to think he would pull such a dirty move. 

"Petty? What a funny word to describe me," Hunter chuckled lowly. Petty? Yes, he was damn petty. But you gave him the right to be this petty.

One of the things you treasured most in this world. Gone. Just because of some petty success seeker freak.

You didn't say a word. You summoned your flute. 

He didn't say a word either as he readied his stance. A slight mutual understanding between the both of you that this was the start of a war. You were damn going to avenge your precious lab no matter what.

A high pitch note, higher than normal flutes could play. Then a large soundwave from every direction centering you was unleashed, effectively destroying the windows on the wall. 

He twirled his staff and used a large abomination wall to block the attack. The soundwave didn't pierce through.

Then you felt a small disturbance of air behind your back. You dodged to the side as you nearly got blasted, a bit of the edge of your clothes getting burnt. 

You blew your flute quicker than someone reading this line and a large gust of wind hit the wall, creating a heavy nasty gash that could have cut the golden guard's body if he didn't dodge in time.

He teleported to your side and cast a large red beam that was unavoidable as its size filled the entire hallway. You cast a yellow fire with a few powerful notes that clashed with the red beam. It was a power struggle, both of you blinded with rage.

Bright yellow and red flames clashed violently in the wide hallway. Workers who had seen the fight were clever enough to leave, avoiding the danger of the crossfire.

A huge blast was once again created from the initial clashing of the red and yellow fire tearing up a massive hole in the wall, exposing the golden guard with his red crimson eye seeping out from his mask and your uninviting gaze evident with cold malice.

"I will make sure you never step foot inside of these walls ever!" you screamed.

"That is not for you to decide," Hunter scowled.

He pointed his staff at you as your body was outlined in red and he viciously threw you outside the torn-up wall. 

You were 5 floors high up. You grunted as you whistled for your palisman to catch you in their staff form. 

Your feet landed on the staff as you quickly dodged away from a large red beam that shot the place in the air you had been to a split second ago.

He was fast. You knew that. But he was fucking fast. 

He kept teleporting and going on the offensive in the air, not giving you the time to breath nor counter. You were constrained and you hated that. You were like prey running away from the onslaught of attacks from the predator.

One thing you hated most was being treated like a fucking prey. You were the predator.

You stayed still this time after you had just dodged a red beam.

The moment you sensed disturbance within the wind, your eyes shot in that direction, and you blew the flute in a quick and undisturbed manner. 

A quick yellow lightning bolt shot in the same direction as that beam and pierced through it continuing to the direction of the golde- he's not there.

It took a split second for you to realize that a red beam was about to hit your back creating a hole in your chest. You dodged, no, you barely dodged as your shoulder burned and bled at the same time. 

Fuck that hurt. It hurt so fucking bad.

It wasn't a game anymore. Not a fight between silly teenagers.

It was a bloodbath from the emperor's right-hand man, the superior of the coven guards, between you, the fucking schemer in the underground, and the most powerful bard in the resistance. 

Your gaze hardened as you blew a tune. An ominous melody. Your fingers danced with the tune cascading from your pitch black flute.

The golden guard tried to interrupt by shooting another concentrated beam. You shot your eyes in that direction, and it dispersed. He was surprised, and wary of what you were going to do.

Slowly you released the flute from your mouth, "Go to fucking sleep and die," your words were like a curse.

The moment those words left your mouth, the golden guard immediately wailed in pain and clutched his head, losing balance and falling. "Argh!"

You weren't going to give him mercy, you followed with an attack of a slashing soundwave that would cut him in two. Nothing was going to change your mind about murdering him.

To your surprise, he grabbed his staff midair and barely dodged, his leg was skinned, and it started to bleed. A ghastly sight.

He disappeared again. 

He was too quick for you to dodge this time, and your shoulder was shot and burnt, thankfully the beam wasn't as powerful as before, probably due to the previous attack.

"I've seen worse," he scowled, pointing out the fear inducing spell you had cast.

"I'll make you see worse," you tauntingly replied looking down on him with cold eyes.

The fight up in the air continued for more than 5 minutes. Such a short time but it had worn the both of you down, severely.

You were covered in burns and bruises, while he bore cuts and likely internal injuries. Both of you panted, your messy hair clinging to your sweaty skin. You could sense his fatigue mirroring your own. Though you had endured worse pains before, the agony you felt now was no less excruciating.

"You will regret what you've done!" he shouted as he shot another blast to disturb your melody. You dodged and you unleashed a strong gust of wind that pushed him away, his balance almost giving out.

"I will fucking make you pay, you petty goldenshithead!" you growled.

You didn't like this fight. 

He was strong, so fucking strong. You couldn't beat him and he's close to beating you if it weren't for your natural instincts and adept use of bard magic. You were losing, you are going to lose.

"Fuck this shit," you cursed; he had the advantage up in the air.

You blew your flute, practically making a high pitch whistle. A strong gust of wind from above surprised the golden guard and effectively made him lose grip of is staff as he fell.

Hunter grunted again as he was pushed off balance from the strong gust of wind you had cast. He was getting tired of you making him fall down from his staff multiple times.

You took the chance to go down to the ground and catch your breath for at least 5 seconds. You watched with heavy breath as the guard caught his staff and landed safely on the ground.

Seeing your uneven breaths, he chuckled lowly.

"I will destroy you this time," he threatened in a low voice. You didn't miss his heavy breaths though.

"Try me bitch."

You blew your flute as several spikes of hardened land went up in the air, he dodged and rolled to the side. His blood was practically tainting the dirt.

He quickly pointed his staff at you. But his figure was outlined shakily in the color of green. You were playing a shaky tune with your breath; you could feel your lungs losing air.

"You," The guard said with a panting breath. He was stuck, he couldn't move. It was one of those typical bard magic that compels the body when subjected to their music. The most annoying magic they had.

His hands slammed to the ground as he heard you play your flute roughly. You quickly approached and kicked his staff to the side.

You stopped playing the flute and kicked his head as he pulled one of your legs and you tumbled down, losing your flute. 

You groaned as his heavy body towered against you, readying to punch you repeatedly like those usual gangster fights. Before he could do so, you whistled loudly with your convenient emergency whistle necklace you always had. Like they say, an emergency whistle a day, keeps death away.

As you whistled, the golden guard was pushed away by a strong soundwave, making him grunt in pain as he landed roughly on the ground.

You stood face to face with him.

"You will die here today, monkey," he scowled as he picked himself up.

"No, you." You were too tired of playing the flute and wasting breath on your words.

"You always think you can do whatever you want just because you can don't you?" 

"And what's wrong with that?" You cracked your neck. "Look at how pathetic you are, trying so hard to impress the emperor with your pathetic attempts."

Hunter scowled, "You are beyond help."

You laughed lightly. "What can I say? You can't reason with crazy." 

He tried to punch your head, to which you dodged to the side. You took his arm and pulled it, while also kicking his feet making him lose balance. 

You caught his body and fucking threw his body with your lower body strength rooted to the ground and your upper body full on throwing him down.

He grunted in pain as he fell on his back on the dirt.

That fucking golden guard beat you the last time you fought with him in a hand-to-hand combat. But not this time. You were full high on adrenaline, and he was about to die of blood loss.

You stomped heavily on his face to which he rolled to the side and straightened his body up.

Both of you looked at each other right in the eye. Your movements were starting to get sluggish as the fight ensued and he was not doing any better either.

He kicked his feet to your head, and you ducked but to your surprise he did a full 360 and followed up with another kick to your chest. You lost all the air in your lungs for a moment then you coughed.

"You deserve to die you fucking golden prick!" You punched with all your might letting down your defenses and putting all your strength in your shoulders and arms.

He did the same. "I will kill your vicious monkey!"

Your knuckles effectively chipped off his mask again. It stuck to the bones of your knuckles. Again.

His punch was fucking heavy, and you were fucking awesome for surviving that without blacking out. Your cheek was going to fucking bruise now.

You tackled each other to the ground as you shouted a battle cry like a barbarian.

"Die bitch!" you screamed as you pulled his hair.

"Get off me!" Hunter cried out only to hear your maniacal laughter as a response. 

"ENOUGH!" A booming sound cried out. 

Both of you turned to see the full transformation of Darius towering both your bodies. His tone and angry expression spoke of what you both needed to know.

"Both of you little rascals have gone too far," Darius's cold and angry voice reached your ears.

"I am done tolerating your delinquency," he said in an infuriated tone while observing both your sorry figures, bruised and bleeding from the initial fight. 

"You've caused my fort enough damages. And it is time for the both of you to learn an actual lesson," his voice was seething with furiousness. But wasn't what made you nervous.

Darius is never a person that would beat you head on for offending him. He would consider the worst possible ways to slowly make you suffer until you repent. He called these, his lessons.

"You will both learn to live in each other's skin. Your actions today, I will make sure that you regret every bit of it." He raised his hands and abomination goo covered both your bodies like a cocoon.

As the abomination goo engulfed you completely turning your vision dark, you faintly hear Darius say, "I will be the one to kill both of you someday,"

The dawn of battle heralds its call, as the struggle now unfurls its wings.

Author: This chapter is relatively short. Anyway, I'm going completely rogue from the TOH plotline for the next few chapters. Just the next few chapters. 

Btw, thanks to the readers who has made it this far:)