Equivalent Exchange

After several rounds of their "game."

"Lucia, behind that crate this time!" Wise pointed to one side, his voice weary but certain.

"Got it, Proxy!"

Lucia raised Dreamforge Furnace Song. Light flared at the tip of her staff like a kindled star. "Death God's Concerto: Dawn."

A dreamlike beam pierced the corner.

The purple mist of Corruptive Breath slowly thinned, revealing Little Lucia and the Wandering Hunter. After round upon round of hide-and-seek, their strength had dwindled to almost nothing.

Bang!

The Wandering Hunter, the Ethereal that had dominated the battlefield moments ago, crashed to its knees under a combined blow from Yidhari and Mato.

It braced both arms against the ground. Each labored breath shed a cloud of glowing fragments.

"Looks like Daddy lost after all."

Little Lucia emerged from behind the Wandering Hunter with her hands clasped behind her back, her voice as young and cheerful as ever.

She stopped beside the Wandering Hunter, rose on tiptoe, and laid her little hand gently, tenderly, on its enormous head.

"Is it finally over?"

Yidhari lowered her hammer and exchanged a glance with Mato. The Wandering Hunter's body had begun to break apart, purple motes dissolving into the air.

"Yes. Almost." Lucia stepped forward and gently set her picture book and staff on the ground.

The picture book had accompanied her through childhood and witnessed her become a Night Demon Messenger. The staff had been a gift from her clan's chief.

But none of that mattered now. Lucia rose and walked slowly, step by step, toward the Wandering Hunter and Little Lucia.

As she walked, she hummed softly.

"One star, counting stars—two stars, counting stars—"

"Count to three, little one, hide away..."

"One star, counting stars—two stars, counting stars—"

"Count to three, where could you be?"

As she sang, her