16 Round One

"So what's the plan?" Melvin sneered. "I doubt you'd say you'd hit him till he dies…"

"Funny…" Roland scoffed with his eyes still wide. "I want that too, but sadly… that won't work."

All of them stood silent before the black knight in the distance. The air was heavy with the dry dusty wind carrying a dense smell of blood. Charles and Maya did not dare to open their mouths but the other two stepped forward with a prideful smile filled with spite as if they were entering an arena made out of charred debris from the walls casting its shadows on the ground.

Roland continued to move his feet until he found a blade among the others like silver flowers sticking out of this barren battlefield. Its hilt was bloodied and its blade has been dulled, and to that, he smiled. "I got around two spells left… what have you got?"

"None," Melvin replied.

"About two…" Maya said as she held onto her battle horn. "I can limit his vision for a minute and I can increase your strength if that's what you want."

"One," Charles replied. "One heal left and two stamina potions in hand."

"Oho… are you expecting me to wait?" The black knight shouted and raised his sword, rousing the handful of noctems sitting behind the trees in the distance. "You... you're making me wait?"

Roland took a sharp breath and lowered his head. "Guys, we just got a dead end and we have two choices. The vanguard is now fucked so technically, we failed our mission. It means that whatever we do right now would have no real value."

Maya and Charles tightened their grip on their weapons as the knight drew in closer and closer. The felt an unnatural chill with the wind as if the sun had turned dark and with the every metallic sound of his footsteps ringing in their ears, they could feel their hearts being bashed in.

"So we have two choices…" Roland followed as Melvin, with a bloodied shield in hand stepped forward with a wry smile. "Run… or kill that bastard right here and right now."

"Running is for pussies… ain't that right you black ass knight?" Melvin shouted.

"I do not know what that means but I feel like I could use it to describe your other friend right there!" The knight responded as he turned his head to Charles.

Charles raised his brow. "Hey shut the f-"

"As if we could run anyway… so I guess…" Melvin followed but he suddenly stopped to twist his mouth into a smile. "You're a cheeky one aren't you? We never had a choice, to begin with."

Roland fell silent and as the knight continued to take his steps one at a time, Charles closed his eyes and gave himself a strong slap in the face with his trembling hand. It rang so loud that it caught everyone's attention and by then, with his right cheek red and swollen, he smiled. "I'll go shove my sword on that guy's ass."

"Dude." Melvin chuckled as Roland stood silent with a broken grin.

"What… the…." The knight stopped in its tracks to tilt his head but after a moment of silence, he broke into a sprint while screaming and he ran towards Charles at full speed.

At that same moment, Melvin raised his shield and moved in to intercept him. The knight's sword ripped through the air with a whistle but it found itself bouncing back with a loud ring as soon as it met his shield. Roland, on the other hand, did not let that opening go to waste so with the other two watching him, he planted his right foot forward and swung his blade towards the knight's neck.

The knight was then pushed back but instead of making another move, Roland and Melvin stepped back and retook their stance.

"Oh man… you'd better think twice about putting your sword in his ass, Charles," Melvin said as he turned his head to Roland. "This is bad."

"That swing was strong…" Roland let out a brittle laugh. "Merely a graze huh?"

The knight smiled and patted his armor. "Just when I thought that I would be able to see my life flash before my eyes. What a disappointment but oh well, I did feel the killing intent behind it. At least I know who to kill now…"

The knight leaned back and as if he was his body was whip, he pulled himself forward with a snap and threw his black blade towards Charles.

"Shit!" Melvin jumped to the side towards the blade and at the same time, the knight conjured himself a blade out of the darkness flowing from his hands and dashed towards Roland.

Roland managed to stop his heavy blade before it made contact with his right shoulder as he gritted his teeth and before he could do another attack, Melvin came in and tackled him. Charles followed Melvin's lead with a jump, letting his blade loose towards the knight's eyes which he dodged easily by the second. It wasn't long before Roland found himself performing with the others in this dance that reeked of death where their blades were swung with an intent to kill and where a single mistake felt like it would cost them their heads.

The swift exchange continued with their party trading a few strong blows and sharp pained breaths for some attacks that only managed to ring his armor in exchange for some grazes on Roland's side, a deep wound on Melvin's stomach and a cut right below Charles' fearful eyes. Stopping only to regain their footing and to breathe, the three managed to hold their own against the knight's relentless blows with Melvin taking most of the hits as Maya kept her attention on them with the tip of her horn sitting in between her trembling lips.

The cycle moved on with Melvin taking the hits to create an opening, with Roland stepping next to deliver a two-handed blow and Charles to deal a few slashes at his supposed blindspot that he had always managed to dodge without looking. And finally, as if he was fed up, the knight stepped back to let loose a wide swing the forced the three to jump towards their safety.

"Bummer… so, you have any other plans yet, or are we still gonna hit him till he dies?" Melvin knelt down as he brushed his cold sweat dripping from his chin. "I mean… I probably can if you-"

"Dammit... dammit… dammit…" Charles's eyes trembled as he tried to touch the burning cut with his fingers. "I don't want to… I don't… we c-can't do much with that armor, dude even feels like he has eyes on the back of his head."

"True enough so Charles, pass me a stamina potion." Roland took a deep breath and turned his head to Maya. He drank the potion without taking his eyes off of her and once he's finished, he threw the bottle with a sigh and followed, "I have a plan… play me a boss battle music to limit this guy's vision and then, I'll bust his armor."

"Then?" Charles asked as he looked at the knight looming over them.

"Well…" Roland smiled. "Do you trust me?"