Disclaim: I don't own Elsword.

Elsword: Lord Knight

Lu: Noblesse - Crimson Knight(Later)

"Talk"

'Thought'

"flashback memory"

Note: The story bases on Lanox Secret Dungeon named Grand Cavern: The Source Of Demonic Energy. Only Lu joins the mission with Elsword so her power will be limited. So fan Luciel, please forgive me.

After the battle against Scar, the Demon Commander, the El Search Party returned to the Lanox, waiting further intel from Edel. Meanwhile, the group had to cure the injures they got while fighting Scar. All except Lu and Elsword who were fine, although they had to help others. During that, they were no condition to fight.

Right now both Elsword and Lu were running errands since Ciel were under recovery. Elsword had to bear her complains about how her butler suffered and how idiot Elsword was to risk his life.

"Mattaku mou! You should cherish your life instead of others!" Lu scolded.

"Well, it's the job as a knight to protect my team." Elsword replied "I don't want to ruin the title of Lord Knight if I let my friends injured."

"Well, Mr. Lord Knight." She mocked "Even you did, they got wounded by his Void. Those can't be countered easily. Before you realized that, you almost got killed by it."

Elsword looked away, blushed in embarrass. Lu sighed.

They were about to reach their home, they spot Edel's butler, Sebastian, standing before the entrance.

"Sebastian!" Elsword yelled.

The one-eye butler turned around, seeing the red hair knight and white hair demon approaching him. He bowed a little and said "Good afternoon, Elsword, Lu."

"To what do I owe you for your visit?" Elsword asked.

"Edel sends you this letter. This is an emergency." Sebastian told, giving letter to him, which Elsword took from him. "There won't be much time so you two prepare as soon as you can. I will take care from here." Sebastian snapped his fingers and a few maids appeared out of no where and picked the basket of food, much to both knight and demon's confused.

"Wait what?" Lu yelled but no response as they entered their house "What is the meaning of this! How Rude!"

"Lu…" Elsword called "You should read this…"

"What?" Lu turned to him, a little angry. Elsword passed the letter to her.

Elsword

We found out the abnormal phenomenon occurred in Grand Cavern. I believe this is Scar's work. He must have prepared it before your team defeated him. He may plan something that could be a great threat to Lanox. Investigate and stop what they are doing.

Lu gripped the letter, her anger boiling.

"They never know when to stop, do they…"

"I have to prepare. Lu, you should stay." Elsword said.

"Wait what?" Lu stared at him, confused.

"Your butler, Ciel, is recovering. You can't fight without him." Elsword reminded "I can go by myself." He showed a bright smile to her.

Lu stared at him. Her eyes narrowed, not sure if he could be by himself. Part of her said he would be find. However, she didn't know why but her feeling was uncomfortable. She shrugged it off and turned around, entering the house.

"Hn… Do as you wish."

Elsword grinned widely.

Somewhere near the Grand Cavern

Elsword looked around and spotted the alley. He heard voices while walking down and found some flame demons standing on the way.

"Why are they doing here?" Elsword wondered. He soon hid himself behind the wall as he saw other demons appeared. He recognized two of them are Jin an In.

"Make sure you keep this place secure. We don't want our ritual interrupted."

"Ritual… So they did plan something." Elsword mumbled "?!"

While he was peeking at them, he felt the ground started shaking. The earthquake occurred and it shook heavily, making the red hair knight loose his balance and gripped the wall for support.

"What the… In, what is going on?" Jin asked in surprise.

"It came from the ceremony. Let's go. I have a bad feeling about this."

Elsword then saw them both disappeared. He took his chance to invade.

"And where do you think you are going?!"

A voice spoke up behind him. He followed his instinct by withdrawing the sword and turned around to face whoever found him, only to see the silver twin-tail girl with two dark blue horns looking at him while folding her arms.

"Mou, is that how you greet me?" She folded her arms, displeased by his react.

"Lu? What are you doing here?"

She approached him and pointed her finger at his chest, replying "Of course to look after you. I can't let a reckless and idiot knight do the quest alone."

He sheathed the sword back and said "You sound like you are doubting my skill."

"Hmph!"

Elsword stared at her for a moment then asked "How can you be here? What about Ciel?"

"Don't worry. I cancelled his power and transferred back to my body to maintain the soul link." Lu said. Elsword was a little surprise by this.

"Sound new to you?" She asked again, which he nodded. "I'm the queen of Demon. Of course I can do that!" She smirked and puffed her chest, proud of herself.

"… Right." He turned around and still spotted those demons "Seems like I can sneak pass them quietly."

"So what's the plan?" Lu asked.

"... You know what I'm gonna do, right?" he grinned.

"Oh.. you and your stupid idea."

- Windmill -

- Armor Break -

- Sandstorm -

- Spectral Spear -

- Soul Sigil -

- Shadow Bolt -

They charged forward and took down horde of demons. Elsword pushed them forward and quickly used the jolt of the sword to break their armor and finished with Sandstorm while Lu sent out numerous soul to eliminate them, combining with Spectral Spear.

"They prove no threat to me." Lu said smugly.

Elsword kicked the demon off and killed it with a slash and blocked the incoming attack from other. He pushed back and stabbed it. "Lu, don't let your guard down."

"Ufufufu~ They are merely a danger to me." Lu just ignored his warning. She raised her claw and chanted her spell, charging her hand with demonic energy and released it.

- Demonic Breath -

The demon got hit and burned to ashes.

"See? You don't have to worry about me."

Elsword just stood in silence and then proceed with her.

Elsword remembered she gripped the letter tightly after reading. He could see the anger showed clearly on her face.

"Lu, about the letter? Why were you angry after reading that?" He asked.

Lu stopped. Her mind rewinded the moment she did to the letter. She answered "As a Queen of Demon, I feel so angry that they killed human and ruined the imagine of the demon."

"Imagine of demon? I don't even know they also have it."

She turned around, her star-eyes staring at him. "Demon us are like human. They act and live as you human." She sighed "I want to be an ambassor for Demon and Human after this. I want a beautiful life between two sides and no war."

"…"

Elsword couldn't say a word about this. He never expected her to make peace with human. She knew that human hated demon from the deepest part of their heart after what they had done to other villages and kingdoms.

"You don't want to be friend with demon, do you? let alone with a queen." Lu mumbled.

Elsword narrowed his eyes and started walking. He said "We should keep going, and then we will talk later."

On the way, they noticed several dark energy floating in the air. Lu sensed one of them out of control and was about to exploded if it wasn't for the fallen stone that buried it. However, she can't be sure that's not the only one will go off.

"Let's go." Lu called.

- Spectral Spear -

- Double Slash -

- Shadow Bolt -

- Assault Slash -

- Soul Erruption -

- Armor Break -

They encountered multiple demons along the way. They had to be careful as the ground was unstable and may be fallen, revealed to be lava. They also got ambused by those demonic chain that struck down from no where.

"They got trick up their sleeves." Elsword smirked.

"If their attacks are this brutal, they know we are here." Lu said "We need to hurry."

The two rushed forward and took down demons, though they were unawared of the demonic energy hovering on them, until Lu found it. However, it already went off and destroyed the ground.

"Watch out!"

Elsword rushed at Lu and carried her in princess style as they both dropped down till he landed safely. Lu was surprised by what happened suddenly and couldn't help but closing her eyes. she felt someone lifted her up.

"You can open your eyes now."

Lu heard Elsword's voice say. She opened her eyes and soon saw his red eyes staring at her. She found her being carried by him. Lu blushed and jumped off him.

"W-W-What did you do?!" She stuttered, hugging herself as her face flushed.

"Calm down, Lu. I saved you from being fallen down. I didn't do anything to you." Elsword protested.

"Hmph! I still don't believe you!" Lu puffed her cheeks in frustrating.

"*sigh* come on, we still have the job to finish."

They continued the mission. Elsword went before Lu, missing the small smile growing on her lips.

They got out the valley and found the ritual in the middle of the Grand Cavern.

"This is it." Elsword said.

"She's right. Those phenomenon was caused by that." Lu said "But why are we on the high ground?!"

"Careful, Lu." Elsword warned "We can't be sure if we are safe yet so watch your step."

"Hmph!"

Elsword walked forward to scout up ahead to check if there's any enemy nearby. He jumped down the small cliff and turned around to offer Lu his hand, saying "Need help?"

The queen stared at him, his smile showing. She knelt down and held his hand and stepped down. Her feet suddenly slipped and made her body fall on Elsword who caught her in time.

"Told you to be careful, Lu." Elsword said.

"This place is not suitable for me to go on foot." She complained.

Upon hearing her complain, he sighed. Her attitude for a queen is a little smug to him. But he shrugged it off again. After that, he had a bold idea.

"Forgive me."

"Wha-!"

He put the sword on his waist for free hand and started what he intent. He quickly place his right hand on her back and left hand on her leg, lifting her up.

"Kyuu!" Lu was so surprised "Wh-What Are You Doing?!"

"You said you don't like walking through this place, so I will carry you. is that alright for you?" Elsword said.

"I-Idiot!" Lu yelled while pushing him off.

"Is that so?" ignoring her protest, he kept moving forward "I believe you should let your slime and beautiful leg rest. After all, you are tired now."

What Elsword didn't know that his words had reached the heart of the Queen of the Demon. Her eyes stared at him, didn't know why her heart beating so fast and loud.

'Why…' Lu thought 'How can a merely human be so nice to me… I thought he was like other human who hate me too… but, why didn't he…'

Her hand acted on its own and gripped his shirt, unawared that she got his attention, but she didn't care and closed her eyes.

"Baka…"

In Lanox,

The El Search Party minus Elsword and Lu was gathering in the meeting room in their house along with Lanox Chief, Edel and her butler. The team was called for a meeting by Edel as she had news to tell them.

However, everything went chaos as they protested that only those two can't deal with the situation alone. Edel had a doubt in her mind as them. She was planning to send a team to scout and help them, but with the damage Scar had done to Lanox, it's hard to send the army out and let the Lanox defenseless. The El Search Party are not fully healed yet.

Back to Elsword and Lu, Elsword had put her down after she told him to stop. They spotted more demons around the ritual.

"So what's the plan?" Lu asked.

"There's two ways. We sneak in and destroy the ceremony or we burst in." Elsword said, looking around.

"Well, I don't think sneaking is the good idea." Lu said, pointing her finger at those demons "They are the sensor type, the scouting. They will alert others before we could reach there." She lightly punched his shoulder "Why not old way?"

"just make sure you are safe." He replied, making Lu blushed, but ignored by him.

"Hmph! I can take care of myself! I'm Not A Kid!"

"Right… right.."

Lu jumped down at the moment Elsword did before her. The red knight charged forward with his sword pushing the front line of demons.

- Windmill -

- Shadow Bolt -

- Spiral Blast -

- Spectral Spear -

- Sonic Wave -

- Swift Smash -

From above, Jin and In watched the battle occur.

"Hn… It seems like they found out." Jin said.

"Jin, we have to activate 'it'. We don't have much time." In asked.

"Tsk." Jin turned around, facing other minions and ordered "Activate Dark Star!"

"Haii!"

Elsword and Lu were too busy to notice that something was floating in the air above them. The demonic star spreaded the dark energy onto the ground, forming the sphere.

- Air Slash -

"Lu, something isn't right." Elsword suspected, slashing down one of demons.

"What?!"

"Where did those spheres come from?" Elsword asked, staring at the darkness sphere.

"…!" Lu suddenly realized she missed something. She watched as those sphere deattached the ground and connected with the Dark Star. The sphere spreaded aura of demonic and comsumed the demons.

"Kuh!" Elsword blocked the incoming attack from the mutated demon "Those demons! They are stronger!" Elsword kicked back and stabbed it.

Lu looked around and saw multiple demons and fire birds charging at them. She clicked her tongue in annoyed. She raised her palm and chanted spell, summong souls from the Neither World and ordered them to attack demons.

"Elsword, I'm gonna take care of that thing. The souls will help you." Without another words, she parted away from him and rushed at one of the fire birds.

"I can do this."

Lu stepped on the charging bird and formed a barrel roll while dodging another one. She withdrew a spear and stabbed the bird after she stepped on it and jumped off for another one.

- Swift Smash -

With high speed, she gathered all Flame Birds in one place and set number of souls binding them.

"Get out of my way, you low demon." Lu said and jumped up. Once she reached the same level as the Dark Star, she quickly chanted the spell, concentrating the energy on her claw. The claw glowed brightly as its react to her spell.

- Eschaton -

She released the demonic energy to the Dark Star. The Eschaton collided with it and caused mass explosion. Lu couldn't withstand the blast and were pushed back. The demonic star corrupted the demonic aura within the vocanoic demons and caused instant dead to them.

"They are down. That mean…" Elsword, seeing them fallen, quickly looked up and saw Lu falling. He shealthed the sword back and ran after her. Elsword halted for a moment as the ground was shaking heavily and had visible cracks on it.

He ran forward as fast as he could before the ground is completely destroyed. He climbed from cliff to cliff, on top and dashed to the end of it. Elsword jumped over the gap between the cliffs and caught Lu before she fell down on Lava. He hugged Lu tightly before the impact as his body landed on the ground and hit the wall.

"Kuh!"

Lu, being on top of him, looked up and saw Elsword groaned in pain.

"Elsword?!" She was panic by his condition and got up. The queen took out the blue portion and poured it into his mount.

"Elsword! Wake up! Elsword!" Lu called. She shook him lightly, then she found his body covered with injures. She took off his armor and healed them.

Lu had learned healing ability from Aisha to heal her injures in case she over-trained and got herself hurt.

"Kuh… Lu…"

"Don't move. You are injured." Lu told, still healing.

Elsword ignored her and lifted himself, leaning his back on the wall.

"I'm still fine, Lu…"

Lu just picked up the portion on the ground and pushed it on Elsword, saying "Like you are fine. Drink now."

Elsword stared at her, worry shown clearly in her eyes. He slowly took it from her.

"Mou… You always make me worry." She complained, sitting near him "How can you survive?"

He gulped the portion, slowly easing the pain. He stopped drinking and replied "Because I have precious friends, so I have to survive to protect them." He smiled, a warm smile to her.

Elsword gave her half of the portion left "You should drink too. I bet you are exhausted and probably in pain too."

"No, you should drink it. After all, you barely lived after those demons attacked you." Lu pushed the bottle back.

"I insist." Elsword said "I noticed you were exhausted after you used - Eschaton - to destroy that thing."

The queen stared at him, feeling the warm and caring from the human boy. She had never received this feeling since her mother passed away. No one could give this feeling to her as her mother had done. Her father wasn't that kind as her. He always forced her to study and study to become the next heir of Demon World.

She took the bottle from him, didn't want to refuse and emptied it in one drink.

Elsword chuckled, seeing how tired she was.

"Ne…"

Hearing Lu call, he turned to her.

"Did you consider me… as your precious friend?" She hesitated.

He stared at her, the nervous queen who was waiting for his answer. He just smiled.

"You are more than just a friend to me, Lu."

He stood up, picking the sword walked forward to the upper floor, leaving the confused girl.

"W-Wait! Stop! What Do You Mean?!"

In Lanox

The El Search Party without Elsword and Lu was waiting for their return. They had left for almost 5 hours and no news from them. The team growed worried and scared,

Raven decided to form a small team to find them in the Grand Cavern. Some of members volunteered to follow him.

Ciel prepared his gear and gunblades on. He also had a bad feeling about this and worried for Lu's safety.

Back to Elsword and Lu…

"Stop right there! Jin, In!"

"Kuso! You Again!" Jin said angrily.

"It's time you all will pay for what you did!" Lu yelled.

As they were about to engage, suddenly,

"Jin! We Got A Problem!"

In called, drawing attention of both sides. The ritual became unstable. All demonic spheres moved wildly in the air and struck on them. Jin and In had to dodge and floated while Elsword and Lu stepped back.

"Is it failed?" Jin said.

"It appears so."

"Tsk! To be barraged like this! It's hard to withdraw."

"We have to choice! Toss them away! And let that thing kill them!" In suggested.

"… Sound good." Jin agreed and they both teleported away.

"Wait!" Lu threw the spear at them but missed as they already disappeared.

The ground became unstable. Elsword and Lu found the demonic mutates floating. They gathered before the ritual and slowly formed its shape and became something that Lu feels disgust. But that wasn't as. The shape became larger and larger until it's 2 times higher than Elsword.

"Watch out!" Elsword hugged Lu and rolled away as the mutated demon form suddenly swinged its arm at them.

"Kyuu!"

Elsword released her, seeing that she's fine. Elsword got up and withdrew his sword. "We have to take it down now, or Lanox will be in trouble."

"Hmph! I won't let that thing alive!" Lu also got up "Attack!"

- Armageddon Blade -

Elsword's sword became larger and blocked the imcoming attack from mutated form. Lu appeared above it and started her fiery attacks.

- Spectral Spear -

- Shadow Bolt -

- Soul Sigil -

- Swift Smash -

- Soul Erruption -

- Demonic Breath -

Elsword pushed its arm back, seeing it took all damage caused by her. He made his turn.

- Rolling Smash -

- Armor Break -

- Unlimited Blade -

- Spiral Blast -

- Assault Slash -

- Double Slash -

He attacked the mutated form endlessly, leaving no chance for it to counter. The mutated became angrier and blasted the demonic energy wave around him. Elsword got hit and pushed back as it slammed its arms on the ground, causing shockwaves and earthquake.

"Be careful, I sense its demonic aura stronger." Lu warned.

"I got it!"

- Soul Erruption -

Lu sent out her demonic souls to strike the mutated, which were wiped out in one move by its arm. She then threw the spear at it but no use as it caught her spear and crushed it.

"It can't be…" She gasped.

- Rolling Smash -

- Spiral Blast -

Elsword charged his attack but shared the same fate as his sword was blocked by it before being blasted away back to demon queen.

"Kuh!" Elsword stabbed his sword on the ground, stopping himself from being forced back "it's stronger than us."

The mutated suddenly consumed demonic energy and charged at them.

Both Elsword and Lu dodged to opposide side and jumped at the same time the mutated slammed its head to the wall. Elsword gripped the sword and struck down while Lu transformed her hand into a giant claw and slashed it. However, they didn't expect it blocked their attack faster than them.

They were shock by the abnormal strength the mutated had until they were thrown behind it a few meters.

"Kuso!" Elsword cursed, trying to get up "Lu… You alright…?"

"I-I'm fine… you should worry about yourself!"

Even though she said it, Elsword noticed her right arm was bleeding. One of the rocks had hit her badly and left a cut on her arm. Her blood stained the sleeve and dripped on the ground.

'She lost a lot of power without Ciel, almost vulnerable to any attack.' Elsword thought worriedly 'At this rate, she can't survive any longer, I have to protect her.'

Elsword stood up using his sword as a support. He summoned Armageddon Blade and engaged the muatated form again. He noticed it went berserk and attacked him furiously.

'Let try this!'

- Mortal Blow -

He stabbed the sword on the ground, creating crack of flame to the mutated which charged at him. He gripped the handle tightly, channeling his mana into the sword and to the underground. When it stepped right on the crate, he bursted the energy and caused a giant - Flame Geyser - on it.

The mutated roared in anger while being burned by the flame. It went berserk and slammed the gound once again. Its arm was stronger and caused massive crater. Elsword couldn't approach it as the shockwave it caused stop him from doing that. He turned back and rushed at Lu. He caught her when she lost her balance and stepped back from the lava erupting from where she was 5 seconds ago.

"Kuh! At this rate! We won't be able to survive longer!" Elsword grunted.

The mutated form sent out multiple demonic spheres and attacked Elsword. The red knight had to dodge them while carrying Lu while those dark energy charged at him, causing scratchs and wounded over his body by them.

- Sonic Blade -

He withdrew the sword with his right hand and swung around him, dismissing all the spheres away. His arm was badly injured that he couldn't hold the sword longer and dropped it.

"Elsword…" Lu whispered "Just.. let me go." She was in fear, fear of losing him. Her eyes widened as she saw the mutated consumed all dark energy around it.

'It gonna blast us!'

"Elsword! Run! It gonna kill you!" Lu yelled in terror, trying to get off him "I'm nothing but a burden to you! You only get yourself killed if you still protect me! Let me go!"

Despite she tried, Elsword never let go of her. He held her closer, not caring what would happene to him. At this, Lu was in tears. Her hear was ache, not understanding why he could go that far for her. She couldn't figure out.

She then heard the whisper of red knight in her ear "I'm the Red Knight of Velder. My job is to protect the civillian, my precious friends..." She felt her cheek touched by his hand. She looked up and saw him staring her eyes, smiling sadly while wiping her tears.

Lu watched as he spoke something, something that she couldn't believe. He let out his final smile before Lu saw nothing but darkness as he covered her from dark plasma.

Meanwhile, the small party had reached to where Elsword and Lu were and was horror as the mutated form shot dark plasma on them. The dark plasma caused destruction on the cliff and fell on them.

"Elsword! Lu!"

Rena screamed. She rushed at them while Raven and Chung encountered the mutated form.

- Shockwave -

- Scare Chase -

Ciel quickly removed all the stone along with Rena, fearing for their life. They soon found Elsword but…

"Elsword! Are you alright?!" Rena called, while she pulled him up, but quickly withdrew her hand. Her face showed horror.

"What wrong?!" Ciel asked.

"Elsword… he…" Rena couldn't speak, her eyes watering.

At this, his eyes widened. He quickly took care of all rocks around Elsword and found his body was lifeless. He also saw his body was hugging someone below him, and that was Lu.

"Lu!" Ciel called, but stopped as he heard sobbing from the demon queen. He came closer and saw her crying on Elsword's chest.

Rena took care of the injures on Lu, trying to get her off Elsword but she couldn't. Lu's hands gripped on Elsword's shirt tightly.

Ciel looked at Rena before he shook his head, telling her not to bother Lu. The elf lady nodded, turning around fast, not wanting to see this painful scene.

"Go and help others, I will protect them." Ciel said.

Rena stared at him silently and left.

- Wonder Wall -

- Hypersonic Stab -

- Land Demolision -

- Assault Slash -

"Kuso… This thing is so tough." Chung cursed, shooting missile at it.

"Don't give up." Raven said "It's coming!"

- Freezing Arrow -

Rena shot at mutated form, freezing it.

"Guys, we need to defeat it fast. I sense a lot of demonic energy inside. If it roams free around, it will be a disaster to Elrios." Rena told.

"But how?! Our attacks are useless to it." Chung asked as he saw the ice arounds its leg slowly melted down.

"The only way to stop it is using demonic power as a counter on it!" Rena explained "This way, it won't absord. But…" She turned around, staring Ciel who was comforting Lu "With Lu in her bad mental condition, we are nearly unable to kill it."

"Kuso! This couldn't get worse, can it?"

Ciel was staring at the young queen who was crying on Elsword's body. He knew that Lu harbored a feeling for human but she never told him who. Moreover, a demon in love with a human is against the rule of demon world, which was set by her father, but she didn't accept that.

'So this is the human you have a feeling for, Lu…'

Ciel knelt down beside her, placing his hand on her shoulder. Lu slowly turned her head, revealing her red eyes from crying too much. Seeing this, he could feel the sadness and sorrow inside her.

"Lu…"

Lu just stared at him, sobbing.

"Let him go… You can't hold him forever." Ciel said quietly "You should get up and fight. Don't let his death haunt you."

"*sob* it's my fault… he's dead…*sob*" She sobbed "I'm so weak. *sob* I… let him die… protecting me…"

"Lu…" Ciel called "I know how you feel to lose someone you cherish. It's painful, right? But look, he protected you from that thing, and now you have to finish it, finish what you and Elsword haven't done, if that's his wish."

He stood up, loading his gunblades and spoke "It's your choice, Lu." He rushed at the battle happening.

Lu just stared at where he was heading. She watched as they engaged the fiery mutated form mercilessly, then turned back to the lifeless body.

"Elsword…" She mumbled his name "Please forgive me… for being weak and not useful for you. I can't be strong as you thought of me when we first met each other."

"You are very strong!"

That was his impression after Lu and Ciel showed their skill on William, the Phoru thief when he stole his and his team's weapon. The little girl was embarassed by his praise and looked away, blushing.

"T-Thanks.."

"I'm nothing but a demon, a queen at the least. You shouldn't be with me. Those rumors, those voices, they said bad things to you, because of me. But you didn't…"

"Demon…"

"You again…"

"Get out of this place…"

Those are the voices Lu heard from the village as they saw her in Lanox. She glared at them angrily who looked away, pretent not seeing her.

"Let's go, Lu."

Elsword called her. Lu snapped back and followed him. A moment later, she heard a faint voice somewhere.

"Demon lover…"

She once again turned around, seeking for the source but no sight. She felt those words were not for her.

It was for Elsword.

Her hand gripped itself in anger.

"They are just ignorant people. Forget them."

Elsword, on the other hand, didn't take it seriously.

"How can you accept it so easily?! They insult you and your name!" Lu yelled at him.

Elsword stared at her, through her eyes. Lu could see something similar inside his eyes, a familiar feeling.

"They don't know what you and I have been through. They just said without thinking." He approached her and placed a hand on her shoulder "If you prove them that you are not like them, you can change their mind to the bright side. Patient."

"You didn't care what they said about me, about you. That made me trust you, more than anyone else." She patted his chest "My feeling, I couldn't understand this strange feeling inside me, but now I do…"

"You are more than a friend to me, Lu"

"I have a same feeling for you, Elsword."

She reached his face and kissed him on his cold lips.

"Please lend me your strength, and become one with me, my knight."

"Kuh!"

- Twightlight Judgment -

- Ignition Crow -

- Pandemonium -

- Guild Arrow -

"It's not strong enough!" Raven yelled.

"Damn it! Is it the end..?" Chung said persimisically.

"Not like this!"

The team was surrounded by demonic sphere which they had to block from its strike.

- Wonder Wall -

"This will buy us some time *cough*" Chung said but then coughed to blood.

"Chung!" Raven held him not to let him fall.

"I'm fine…" Chung replied weakly.

"Tsk!"

As they thought they gonna get killed by it.

- Demonic Strike -

Out of nowhere, numerous spears attacked mutated spheres, instantly destroyed them. The team and mutated form turned to where it came from and saw what the El team couldn't see in their eyes.

There stood a twin-tail red hair girl floating in the air. Ciel regconized her but her article of clothes is different from what he thought. Armor plates covered her shoulders as her noblesses' clothes turned to crimson, with an addition of one long pieces dress around her waist. Both of her wrists wore silver bracelet with Elsword's sword on her right hand. Her once blue star-eyes now became red one, staring through their soul.

She pointed the sword upward and called out.

- Infernal Spear -

A crimson burning spear appeared above her and struck down on mutated form. It crossed its arms to block the incoming spear and shoved it away, which it didn't aware that the spear was just a distraction as Lu attacked with her sword. She slashed down so fast that she managed to cut down its arm.

- Evil Claw -

She used her left hand to call out a giant claw below the demonic form and binded it. The demonic form tried to escape the claw.

"Are you alright?" Lu asked while walking near the team.

The team was speechless. They stared at her new form and power they sensed from her, similar to Elsword, the Red Knight mixxed with demonic aura.

"Lu… is that you?" Rena asked, not believing in her eyes.

"It's me." Lu nodded.

Ciel looked up and down at her "You changed a lot. Where did you get this power…?"

Lu stared at the sword she was holding then back to Ciel "Elsword lent me. He passed his strength to me, to protect my precious friends."

"Lu…" Ciel wanted

"Rest, I will handle from here." She told. The team just watched as she turned her back on them, walking toward the free mutated form.

They couldn't help but thinking one thing 'What happened to you, Lu…?'

She looked at it, the mutated form, the one which killed Elsword, the one Elsword protected her from. She entered the battle stance, inhaling deeply and charged at it.

- Soul Sigil -

- Assault Slash -

- Stomp -

- Sonic Blade -

- Spiral Blast -

- Shadow Bolt -

With the combination of sword and claw, she summoned multiple souls to surround demonic form, then she rushed at it using sword to stab its stomach. She charged demonic energy on her claw and stomped on where it stood to spread out more souls to slow it down. She successed in causing damage to its form by the sword though she didn't practice much in physical training as the result, she launched it not far and had to summon shadow bolts to buy her some time.

The team was stuck in awe, not knowing when she used the sword very well.

She stepped back, watching as it suffered from demonic bolts.

"Elsword, you could use - Sandstorm - to deal with it or other demons so easily, and yet you didn't…" Lu complained as she remembered he didn't use any Sandstorm.

"I noticed you didn't use… what was it… Sandstorm? Right, you didn't use Sandstorm."

Old memory came back to her.

"We are in Ruben. I can't use that when I see no sand around me."

"That means it's useless."

"Not really." Elsword said as he swung his sword again "I only name Sandstorm when I combine the wind with sand. It's not a perfect skill by replacing sand with other element. For example,"

She smirked. His lecture sure was useful for her. She gripped her left hand and stomped on the ground. Soon, lava erupted from the crater.

"This should be enough." Lu said. She pounted the tip of the sword on it.

At the same time, demonic form was charging at her with its head.

"Combine storm with lava, we have"

- Infernal Storm -

She slashed upward, drawing lava into the storm created by sword. The flame storm consumed demonic form, burning it with lava.

"Yosh~ Let's finish it!"

"Hey!"

Lu turned around. She saw the El team stand before her.

"Don't go and steal our scene!" Chung smirked.

"Let us finish it at once! For our friend!" Rena said, holding her bow.

"Ojou-sama, let me lend you my power." Ciel also joined with his Marbas loaded.

"Time to revenge for our comrade." Raven smirked.

Lu stared at them silently, seeing how caring they were. She smiled.

"Do as you wish."

Taking their chance as it's weak, the El team used their last strength to use final attack. Crushing the El's essense, they yelled.

- Shooting Destiny -

- Burning Buster -

- Doom Strike -

Lu passed Ciel the dark blue El's Essense and said "Use this, I will be on my own for a while."

"I got it."

- Castle of Abaddon -

Ciel crushed it with his palm and summoned giant gate, sending multiple arrows and a big one at it.

Lu, watching the mutated form weaker and weaker, began her final strike.

"Elsword, watch me. Watch me as I use your power, to protect the innocence, my precious friend. Watch me, my love."

- Crimson Punishment -

From above, number of red spears floating down stabbed the weak form and jailed it. Lu covered herself with red aura of strength and rushed at it, slashing through it, again and again.

"This is for you, Elsword."

She appeared before it, her sword consumed by both aura of armageddon and demonic.

"Begone. Your existence is no longer required in this world."

*slash*

Her final slash had completely destroyed the demonic form. The body shattered into pieces and disappeared without a trace.

But that was also her last strength to carry Elsword's power as she reached the limit and fell down, her trasformed back to her old form and unconscious.

Lanox Hospital - 7:00 PM

Inside one of the rooms, we found the queen of demon slowly woke up from sleeping. Her eyes met white ceiling and narrowed by the light.

"…Where am i…?"

"In the hospital," the voice replied.

She turned her head slowly to the source of the voice and found the purple hair mage sitting near her.

"Aisha…"

"You scared me, Lu…" Aisha sighed "We thought we lost you too."

"How long have I been here..." Lu asked.

"Two days since Rena and her team brought you and Elsword back to Lanox." She replied quietly.

"Elsword…" Lu mumbled "…Elsword!"

"Wait!" Aishas held Lu down who was trying to get up but whining in pain "You are still injured. Don't move too suddenly."

"Kyuu… But Elsword…"

Aisha looked the worried Lu before she stepped aside with sorrow on her face "Why don't you take a look at him?"

Lu stared at her for a moment before she turned to the certain red hair knight who was sleeping soundly on the bed.

"Elsword…"

"Rena told me everything. The hospital managed to recover his body but his soul was taken by Shinigami himself. I have Angkor to ask him if he could let Elsword back to the mortal world. However, it comes with a price, that is you." Aisha explained.

She got Lu's attention as she continued "His soul has been shattered into two. He holds half of its while another part is inside you, which explains why you can access his power of the Sieghart swordsman. The price of his soul equals two mortal lives, including Ciel's soul, so I tell him to hold it until you wake up and let you decide." She raised her index and mid finger.

"He will extract Elsword's half soul from you and attach it with another part and return to his body, but his life expectancy will be shortened as a price to ressurect him."

"Or you can trade his half soul for Ciel's. Death will recover his life back to normal, but then Elsword will be in his place. That means he will share the same soul with you and become a demon. If you die, he dies as well."

Lu went silent. It was a most difficult for her to decide the fate of her red knight, to be a part of her as a demon or to be a normal human like his friends and sister.

She hugged her knees, crying. She loved Elsword with all her heart. She wanted him to be on her side forever and became a demon king to rule demon world with her, but she didn't want his race looked down at him. She didn't want to ruin his life if she chose to recover his life as he wouldn't live longer as others and she couldn't see him anymore.

"Follow the heart."

A faint voice whispered in her ears.

"Follow the heart of yours. It will tell you the right path for you. Whatever you do, I will always be on your side, no matter what."

She raised her head. The image of red knight appeared before her, giving a sad smile.

"Elsword…" Lu spoke his name "… You are such an idiot to me. You always cause trouble to yourself and make me worry, even you make me fall for you. It's all your fault."

Lu turned at Aisha, giving her the answer, which the mage nodded.

"So is it then…"

15 years later - Ruben village

"Hora! Misaki! Don't run around the house!" The silver hair woman yelled as she tried to catch the 10 year-old girl as she giggled.

"Catch me if you can, mama!" Misaki laughed.

The little girl had red long hair tied in twin-tail with two little horns, blue star-eyes like her mother. She wore a dark blue dress with white bow on her chest.

As Misaki rushed at the door, she saw it opened and a man entered the house.

"Papa!"

She jumped on him suddenly that the man dropped his sword down to hold her, chuckling.

"Hey there, my little girl."

"Welcome home, darling." The woman greeted.

He put Misaki down, who walked back to her room. The silver hair girl approached him, wrapping her arms around his neck, a smiled formed on her lips.

"Have trouble with her?" he asked, also smiling at her as he hugged.

"She takes a lot from you, almost like a copy of you." She replied, rubbing his red hair.

He chuckled "But she has her smart from her mother."

"I know, right?"

Then their lips clasped each other. The silver hair woman pulled him closer, licking his lower lips, begging to enter his mount which he gladly opened. Their tongue dominated, tasting each other for minutes until they broke the kiss for air, their forehead still touching.

"I'm glad that you are here for me, Elsword."

"Same here, Lu…"

15 years ago, Lu chose to replace Ciel's soul with Elsword's and merged it with hers, thus they became one. Elsword's body changed physically, his hair grown wilder as his ears shapeshifted into demon ears. The knight returned to the living world and then got tackled by Lu who was overjoyed to see him back to her. Ciel's soul had been recovered thanks to Aisha and became a normal human, but he's still able to access demonic power Lu had given to him. The gang was shocked by the news Aisha told them. Elesis never accepted Lu as she was the queen of the queen whose race had killed and slaughtered her people, but Elsword stood up for her. He persuaded his sister to let him be with Lu.

One year later, the El Search Party managed to meet El Lady and attemped to recover the power of El. The team returned to their perspective home. Elsword and Lu went back to Ruben to find a way to open the gate to demon realm, her home. Once they did, they found the demon realm was in the worst stage. Her kingdom was invaded and destroyed by the other kingdom when she disappeared.

As the result, she lost everything, from the fame, her people to her home. This struck her mental extremely painfully, but Elsword were there to comfort her.

They returned to Ruben and planned to stay there. Luckily, Ruben had people who understood the feeling of the queen and let her live as a normal civillian.

The next 2 years was the unforgetable day. Elsword and Lu announced that they engaged and got married hold in Ruben with its villagers and Hagus as the witnesses. Of course we can't count the old members of El Search Party out. Elesis, although she held the anger toward demon, finally accepted her into her family.

Even they gave birth to their first child, Misaki, the daughter who had her stubborn from her father and intelligence from her mother.

"You should go shower. I prepared warm water for you." Lu told.

"Alright. I will be back soon."

He said and entered the bathroom. Lu watched her husband for a moment before she went to prepare dinner.

This is the story of the demon queen who needs love and a knight who wishes to protect the queen.