Luna stiffened, her eyes going wide in utter disbelief at what just happened.
"W-What just…?" She whispered as she didn't even realise what happened.
One moment she had him hostage and the next, he was the one with the dagger in his hand
And what was worse was that he didn't even look smug about it.
That somehow made it worse.
He was calm. Completely calm. Like he hadn't even tried.
Her pride as a warrior took a direct hit. But it seemed Lulu herself was much more offended by what she saw.
"Hey! What the hell, Luna?!"
Lulu's voice rang out from behind, still muffled by the dirt as she tried to peek up from her miserable position on the ground.
"I thought you were to protect me! But what kind of protection is that?!...He just snatched your knife like it was a nut from a squirrel!"
"Sh-shut up, Lulu!" Luna snapped, her voice cracking slightly as she tried to recover what little dignity she had left.
But Lulu was not letting go.
"No, seriously! At this point, you might as well just let him devour me on the spot and run away! At least one of us would survive!"
She cried dramatically, waving her hands in the air before wincing as the movement tugged at the arrow still embedded in her rear.
"Ow! Oh, for the love of—! My butt is killing me! And my sister's busy losing duels where she had the advantage!"
"LU-LU! Stop saying things like that!" Luna sputtered, glaring furiously at both her sister and Luca.
But the damage was already done. Luca let out a soft sigh and twirled the dagger in his hand with effortless grace before offering it back to her, hilt-first.
"You can relax." He said lightly. "If I wanted to hurt either of you, it'd already be over."
His tone wasn't arrogant, just matter-of-fact.
And that scared her even more.
For the first time, Luna truly grasped the difference in power between them.
His movements were silent, invisible like air shifting around her. She hadn't even seen him reach for the dagger. One blink, and it was gone from her hands.
Her heart pounded in her chest as she looked at him, realization dawning.
He wasn't bluffing.
If he wanted to, he could kill them both before they even screamed. No magic. No effort. Just a single motion.
Even if they ran, he'd catch them. Even if they fought, he'd disarm them again. And even if she tried to shield Lulu...it wouldn't matter.
He could hunt them both down like shadows.
The realization of how helpless she and Lulu truly were still weighed heavily on her, so much that she instinctively took half a step back, bracing herself for the worst.
But instead, to her utter confusion, he did something she couldn't have predicted in a thousand years.
Without warning, he took the very dagger and slowly—placed it back against his own neck.
"W-What are you—"
"Here." Luca said calmly, pressing the blade lightly against his throat. "If you're going to hold someone hostage, you do it like this."
Both sisters blinked at him in disbelief. But he just went on, his tone shifting from casual to oddly instructional, like a teacher correcting a clumsy student.
"You see, when you hold a dagger against the neck, you don't keep it at a flat angle like that. The point should press right beneath the jawline, angled inward. That way..." He gestured faintly, his voice even. "...the tip sits directly over the carotid artery. One small push, and it's over. Quick. Clean."
Luna stared, completely thrown off balance.
"W-Wait, you're actually teaching me how to—?"
"Yes." He said simply, ignoring her question. "And don't grip it too tight, either. You'll tremble, and trembling makes you sloppy. Just firm enough to control the edge."
"The moment your opponent moves, you push inwards—not sideways. That'll slice clean through the artery. If you press too low, you'll hit the jugular instead, which will bleed more but take longer. Not efficient."
Luna could barely keep up. One moment he was lecturing them for being untrained; the next, he was voluntarily showing her exactly how to kill him properly.
"H-hold on!" She exclaimed, flustered. "If I hold it like that, the blade would cut your skin! You'd start bleeding instantly! And if you made a sudden move, you'd die!"
He looked her dead in the eye and nodded.
"Exactly. That's the point. If the blade's not close enough to draw blood, then it's useless. A hostage should know that one wrong move means death. That's how you make them obey."
His tone was calm, eerily calm. And the way his eyes met hers made her breath hitch.
Then he slowly pulled the dagger down from his neck and handed it back to her, still speaking in that quiet, instructive voice.
"You shouldn't show any mercy to the one you're holding hostage." He said. "Once the knife is at their throat, they are the enemy. Nothing else. The moment you hesitate, you lose control. The next second, the blade's turned on you and your sister ends up dead."
His voice grew solemn, sharp with weight.
"Do you want something like that to happen?"
Luna swallowed hard. She couldn't answer. The shift in his tone, it wasn't something she could ignore. It was sharp, grave, and heavy enough to silence even Lulu's whining.
For a moment, neither of them said a word. The only sound was the faint rustle of leaves overhead.
Finally, Luna managed to whisper,
"Why...Why are you doing this?"
Her hands trembled slightly as she held the dagger, eyes flicking between him and her sister.
"You're supposed to be the one taken hostage here. There's no reason for you to...to teach me all this. Why would you show me how to hold a weapon against you?"
To her surprise, Luca just chuckled softly, his expression easing into that familiar, unreadable calm.
"Because..." He said simply. "My job is to guide you. To make you better. To teach you how to defend yourselves against whatever is to come."
"To...guide us?" She repeated uncertainly.
He shrugged it off.
"We'll talk about that later. For now..." He said, glancing down at the dagger in her hand. "...I still think you should keep me hostage while I treat her. But..."
He pointed at her hand.
"You're still an amateur at using that thing. That grip won't save you in a real fight."
"Then what do you expect me to do?!" Her brows furrowed.
"Well..." Luca said, turning to look at the bow lying nearby. "I was going to tell you to use your bow instead, to keep some distance and threaten me with that."
He paused, giving her a dry smirk.
"But considering how dog-shit your shooting skills are…"
"H-Hey! You don't have to bring that up again!"
But even Lulu snorted through her pain saying,
"He's not wrong!" which made her glare at her sister for not having her back.
Meanwhile, Luca glanced at Luna's bow that was hanging on her shoulder and then snapped his fingers.
"Wait. Actually, that gives me an idea."
He extended a hand toward her.
"Give me your bow."
"My bow? Why?" Luna blinked in confusion.
"Just trust me." He said simply. "You're out of arrows anyway. I'm not about to shoot you with it."
Still hesitant, she slowly handed it over.
Luca took the bow, turning it in his hands thoughtfully. He pulled at the string once, testing its tension, before nodding approvingly.
"Good." He murmured. "Nice and strong."
Then, to their complete shock, he unhooked the bowstring entirely.
"W-Wait, what are you doing?!" Luna exclaimed.
Ignoring her, he stretched the string in his hands, feeling its sharpness.
"Perfect." He muttered again, before wrapping the string once—around his own neck.
Both sisters gasped.
"NO SERIOUSLY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Luna shouted, taking a step forward in panic.
"Relax." He said calmly, adjusting the tension until it pressed snugly against his skin. "Just testing something."
He pulled on the loose end of the string and handed it to Luna.
"Here. Take this."
Luna looked at it like it was a venomous snake.
"What am I supposed to do with this?!"
"Hold it tight." He smirked faintly. "This way, you can keep some distance and still have control. If I try anything, all you have to do is pull."
She blinked. "You mean…?"
"Yeah." He nodded. "The string will slice right into my throat. Quick, clean, and efficient. Easier than waving a dagger in someone's face, especially for beginners like you."
"You can even use the same trick in the future, by the way. Works nicely against anyone stronger than you. After all, a bow string is sharper than it looks."
Hearing this, Lulu and Luna stared at each other in dismay. Then, finally, Lulu whispered in complete bewilderment:
"…I've heard so many stories about humans…"
Her voice was trembling, not with fear. But pure disbelief.
"I've heard they're depraved creatures who feast on blood, and steal children, and cause plagues, and commit every sin imaginable—murder, thievery, cannibalism, defiling holy places—basically every horrible thing under the suns!"
She jabbed a finger at Luca.
"But NEVER—never once—did anyone tell me humans were THIS. DAMN. STUPID."
"Lulu!" Luna almost choked.
"I'm serious!" Lulu cried. "What kind of lunatic tells us—the enemy—to strangle him with a bowstring if he twitches?!"
"If all humans are like him—maybe, MAYBE we'll actually win the war! Because we won't have to fight them and just have to put them in a mental asylum!"