17 Round Two

"Please…"

Maya closed her eyes at the moment her three companions dashed towards their enemy. Her heart pounded heavy as she tried to control her shaking hands beneath the gleaming newborn sun bearing down on her skin. She couldn't bear to look at them, especially now that Roland told her about their supposed plan. Nevertheless, she took a deep breath along with that thought and with all the strength left in her pained lungs, she blew the horn with all her might and with it came a dominating wave of a familiar yet a peculiar sound.

"This one is pretty solid!" Melvin smiled as he lifted his shield forward with this strange newfound energy welling up inside him. He soon took the lead with Roland following behind him with the same expression on his face.

"Why do hear a piano? And a choir? Oh god, what is this?!" Charles shouted with a broken smile as he stepped away from the two with a short sword in hand and a newly picked up shield protecting him from the dry winds.

They all marched forward with their faces filled with dread to which the knight responded with his own twisted grin as he lowered his body to take his stance. He felt a freeing sense of warmth pulsing through his body and to that, he felt a bit thankful as he tightened the grip of his blade.

"The last ones had a poem for their funeral procession, and now you guys brought a band…" His chest began to tighten as the gap between his lips started to widen. He then looked at Maya in the distance who still kept the sound going and soon enough, something caught his mind. "Wait.. who's the one singing-"

Just when the three warriors dawned upon him, everything beyond the tip of his raised blade disappeared behind a gray mist. He froze, the fervor that ran all over his body was stopped by a sense of fear that choked him. The darkness that he had kept within him wanted him to run but his mind said no. He wanted to jump back or at least move forward but it was as if his legs had already melded itself on the ground and all he could do was wait. So, that's what he did, he held his stance with all the composure that he had but after a moment, he broke it anger as soon as a man emerged in front of him with a smile.

He brought down his blade with a roar filled with panic as a pang of shame rang in his chest and to it, Melvin grabbed his wrist and pushed himself and his shield forward to brace for impact. The force of their collision seemed to have shaken the gray mist around them but his sword managed to bite through Melvin's guard up until it rested its fangs into his collarbone.

With his own blood now dressing half of his right face, Melvin twisted his body to his left along with a sharp breath through his teeth and screamed, "Roland, now!"

The knight was taken aback as the thought of running away flooded his mind once more. He felt a shiver at the back of his head and that's when he realized the next move of his opponent. He tried to yank out his sword in order to cleave his enemy in two but when he tried, he couldn't.

He looked down and there, he met Melvin's bloodied smile as he used his body to latch onto his sword. The knight flinched but even before the moment could pass, he lets go of his sword and he used all of his strength to elbow the incoming soldier that ended up with the sound of metal hitting metal followed by a loud painful crack.

He was about to heave a heavy sigh of relief but to his surprise, the boy that he attacked was the one who announced to him that he was going to stick his sword up in his ass. That's when a greater sense of danger came and grasped his heart.

"Where the hell is the-"

He was interrupted by a shout, a sharp crackle, then a flash of light at the corner of his eye, and by the time that he had the chance to look, there came a huge blow that felt like a mountain ramming itself over to his side. He was forced to shut his eyes in order to cope with the devastating pain that crushed his sides along with his armor, and as he staggered back, he caught a glimpse of a man holding his sword by the blade as he pointed the guard of his weapon at him.

"Maya! Now!"

Roland shouted and just then, the gray mist that surrounded them faded, revealing the girl that caught his attention earlier that was now leaping forward with a war ax in hand. He was sent staggering back with his entire body feeling numb and with his armor blown to bits. He had no way to defend himself and that's it, that that very moment, he felt happy and sad, but in the end, he smiled.

The woman that was supposed to deliver her killing blow was closing in and at the same moment, the knight clenched his fist and then, the noctems hiding behind the trees turned into shadows and rushed into his body. He was able to regain his strength at the last second, and he used that burst of energy to get himself together and receive Maya's attempt with a punch that threw her back along with her weapon what was now left broken. The others were surprised at the knight's sudden display of skill and he used that opening to turn his body once more to sink his feet into Roland's chest as he kicked him towards Charles and finally, he caught Melvin's head and crushed it in his hand like a sponge.

Maya was left unconscious, Charles continued to struggle on the ground with his broken left arm and Roland remained beside him, staring at the clouds with blood running down from his mouth.

"Wow, that actually scared me. I had to give it to you." The knight laughed as he spread his arms wide with the shadows leaking through his body. "To think that even the supposed weakest of the weakest was able to crush my armor when the commander of the walls himself used his men and his life in order just to keep me warm through the night."

"Sir Roland…" Charles nudged Roland with his right hand.

"Yeah." Roland took a deep breath. "That was hella gay."

"No!" Charles knotted his brows. "I was going to ask if you were okay."

"Yeah… let me just get back up no-" He paused to smile. "No, of course not. That kick might've broken something important. I don't know. It hurts to breathe. I can't move… how are the others?"

"Mayas unconscious, and Melvin, Sir Melvin, he's… dead…"

"No, he isn't... " Roland scoffed and closed his eyes. "But then again… it might take a while… I guess this is the end huh?"

"What?"

"Do you have like a special powerup or something that would let you beat him?" Roland said as soon as he heard the sound of footsteps moving towards them.

"Excuse me?!"

Roland let out a chuckle but he soon stopped to cough. "God it hurts so much to laugh… it is just that guys like you tend to have them." He then gave Charles a stern look and followed, "You can run."

"Wha-what are you saying…?"

"You have one spell left right? Use that spell to heal yourself and run. I guess I should've taken him on alone instead."

"But what about Ma-"

"I'll figure something about Maya. I'll negotiate or something, or maybe he likes Melvin. I don't know, but I'll make something work."

"Dude." Charles sighed. "You're like one slap away from death and this guy can run, fast. Melvin's head was crushed like an orange too and I don't know, I'm scared to look but I think he's near. So now what? You're gonna save yourself from shame by buying me two seconds?"

"Well… I can give you about three?"

"I guess this is the end huh?" Charles sighed once more as he turned his head towards his broken arm. "Should've said no when they offered me a front seat to that play. Now I'll never be able to watch it."

"That's pretty unfair, really unfair." Roland looked at Charles with a broken smile before he faced the skies with a serious one. "Anyway, we never had the chance to run so I thought that it would make it look cool if we died fighting just like the plays but naaah, this isn't cool at all. They lied to me but hey, at least, let me do my thing. I'll at least be the kid that my dad was supposed to be."

Charles watched him as he stood up with every fiber of his being telling him to run but, with a heavy sense of regret, he stretched out his right arm and healed him. Roland suddenly felt the pain in his chest disappear along with the other burning sensations in his body and he immediately looked at him.

"What, a side character that's supposed to die for the protagonist's future character development?" Charles let out a bitter laugh as he tried to give him a bottle in his hand. "Take the goddamn potion along with all our shame of dying with you. Let us be the victims here, you bastard."

"Yeah, no, hold on to that since this is better," Roland replied with a smile as he stood from his ground staggered forth with his sword. "This is the greatest, probably… a perfect opportunity to use such an imperfect magic."