Ezra Phantoms: The Cursed Sword

15

I slowly started to get up from the rubble, pulled the sword out of my chest with ease, and headed for Zero. His underlings began yelling that I was alive trying to warn him once they noticed I wasn't dead. My friends, and Zero all turned their heads towards me in the middle of their fight. I couldn't exactly read what emotions they were feeling from their facial expressions, but I assumed they weren't expecting me to be walking around with my wounds all healed. Usually, I would explain to them why I wasn't dead, but we didn't have time for that. We would have to deal with Zero before we could get to the explaining part.

Fueled by what looked like to be fear from his face, and frustration I'm guessing from not being able to finish the job, Zero rushed at me with his trident tight in his grasps. With great speed, he used his trident, and blasted me with a beam of dark energy right through my heart. I fell to the ground, and coughed up lots of blood. Once again, I died. Well, "died." I got back up quickly, and smirked.

"I can't die, dumbass," I said, as I stared directly into Zero's enraged, scared, and shocked eyes.

"H-How?!!" Zero bellowed. "T-T-This doesn't make sense! You should be dead!!!"

"Well, I'm clearly not."

"I'll just keep killing you then!"

And that he did. For the next three minutes or so, Zero attempted to permanently murder me countless times. Each time, I felt immense pain, but then just came back to life. I didn't like dying over and over again, but it was funny seeing Zero's face as he was purely in disbelief. Eventually, after the thirtieth attempt, he gave up.

"You're done?" I teased. "My turn then." Relishing the mental advantage I had over Zero in that moment, I sprinted as fast as I could towards him, powered up as much ki as possible into the sword I was holding, and sliced through the air, blasting a huge stream of cursed ki at him. He blocked the blast, but it still sent him back a little. Using the distance I just gained on him, I quickly went to my friends.

"We have to get out of here!" I said.

"Y-You're...a-a-aliv-"

"I know Alex I know! I'll explain everything later, but for now we have to go!"

I didn't know how it finally worked, but my Cursed Sword finally came back to my hand as I stretched my right arm out. When it did, I imagined Outer City to the best of my ability, and quickly said the command for opening up rifts. With that, a rift opened before us, and we all prepared to jump through it. Everyone else jumped in before me, and I was the last to go. Even through all the commotion as I was blocking laser blasts left and right with my sword, I hesitated. I had to grab one more person before I departed. Charging up all the remaining cursed ki I could muster up, I zoomed to Lucy, and grabbed her by the legs.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!!" she yelled, squirming.

"Saving you, that's what," I said. "I don't know how, but I can tell this isn't who you are."

"You don't know me-"

"Don't care. You're coming with me." Sprinting at a speed that made me look like I basically teleported, I went back to the rift with Lucy in my arms, jumped through, and closed the rift right before one of Zero's underlings got through.

...

We got to Outer City, and took Lucy to an abandoned warehouse that some people in Outer City used as a hangout spot. I tied her up to a chair with some rope Phoebe let me borrow, and prepared to interrogate her.

"Tell us everything you know right now," I ordered, strictly.

"Ezra, I thought you wanted to bring her over to our side, not hold her hostage," Hailee said.

"I do, but I still have some questions. Don't act like you guys don't either."

"I definitely do," Phoebe said. "I say we get as much information about Zero's plans that we can get."

"What makes you guys think I'll say anything?" Lucy replied.

"Look," I started. "We're not going to try to torture information out of you. That's not our style. Something inside me is telling me that you're not as bad as a person that you're making yourself out to be. That you're actually good."

"Get whatever's telling you that from inside you checked then, because you're completely off the mark."

"Am I?"

"Yes. You are."

"I know it was just an act, but then why did I feel like you were genuinely having a good time when we danced together at the party?"

"You guys danced together?" Alex asked.

"Long story short, she made it seem like she liked me, we danced, kissed, and then she drugged me."

"Yeah, and I had a genuinely good time doing the drugging part," Lucy smirked. "Can't say the same for everything else though."

"You say that, but I saw it in your eyes, Lucy," I said. "Just tell the truth. You're working with Zero because he has something on you, right? Or did he promise you something?"

"You don't know me at all so stop acting like you do!" Lucy shouted.

"I know," I retorted. "That's why I'm trying to get to know you."

"Well, stop. I'm not telling you anything."

"Lucy, I know you're holding out some information. You can trust us."

"No leave me alone! You don't know anything!"

"I know that Zero has something on you that's making you work with a evil douchebag like him."

"No he doesn't!"

"Just tell us!"

"He doesn't!"

"Yes he does!"

"No!"

"Lucy let us help you!"

"Fine! I'm working with him because he promised once he got full control of the Cursed Sword and the Trident of Destruction that he would get rid of my mother's deadly disease as long as I do what he orders!! Happy now?!!!"

We all stood there in the room frozen for a while after hearing Lucy's depressing reply to my incessant pestering. It took me a minute before I was able to speak again.

"B-But couldn't he have done that when you brought me to the Dark Phoenix headquarters? The sword was right there up for grabs."

"The power needed to do things like healing my mother requires all ten Cursed Stones to be in the sword."

"Oh."

"Yeah, 'oh,'" she huffed.

"Well, I can't promise that I'll be able to get the trident from Zero, and all of the ten Cursed Stones. But, I can promise that if I ever get my hands on both, I'll utilize the power to save your mother. And I'm not going to make you agree to anything weird. I'll do it out of my own free will."

"Why should I trust you?" Lucy asked. "What kind of person would help a person who drugged them, kidnapped them, and kicked them in the face twice?"

"I don't know? A person like me, I guess?" I decided to free her from the rope, and extended my hand out for a handshake.

"What do you say?" I started. "Friends?"

"...sure," Lucy responded. She didn't shake my hand, and just got up from the chair. I was a little hurt, but I could tell I was making a tiny bit of progress despite her being distant. Maybe I wasn't able to get her to put her guard down completely, but I was sure I'd be able to in the future.