13 The Knight and His Blade

"Wha-what happened?"

Charles asked as he looked around him. The moon was still high in the starless sky and beneath it was the sight of broken tents dressing the shaded grass along with a few gnawed bodies of men sitting beside the corpses of those black beasts. In front of him lies a sanctuary filled with a bright white light shining atop a feeble tower. It had two guards standing by with spears in hand and behind them were a few other men along with Maya who's drenched with blood.

"Well, we were all just talking then we got attacked. Some were too drunk to fight sadly, Melvin lost his head a little but he got it back together so no worries," Roland raised his flickering white blade and walked towards their company. "Also, yes, this is the Flickering Holy Sword of the Thunder Emperor if that's what you want to ask."

"Oh yeah!" Charles shouted as he got on his feet. "Sir Melvin! Sir Melvin was-"

"Relax… that guy is alive…"

"How can you be so sure… he challenged one of those guys to a fistfight. I mean, I honestly thought that it was too dumb to be heroic bu-"

"Charles, the guy is an immort-"

"Sir Roland, the second wave is coming!" One soldier from the tower shouted. "I see four-no five!"

"What did you just…"

"Stand back… It's your first time seeing those monsters right?" Roland said as he waved his sword. He stepped forward and followed, "Hang back and take care of Maya and the others… I'll trust you to protect them If I managed to screw up and I'm so sorry for what happened, I can understand how terrible that experience was."

"Yeah," said Melvin as he stepped into the light with his body covered in sweat, dirt, and blood. He drew a self-conceited smile on his face and with a smug tone, he said, "I saw him coming home one day with his pants wet because of the same encounter… man, those were good times."

"You're unhurt?!" Charles shouted.

"So? Got some news about the horses?" Roland sighed. "You could've at least brought a sword or a dagger to make things quicker, you're getting too old for this."

"Hey, I never grew past my prime and besides, all I needed was these two partners of mine!" Melvin retorted as he flexed both of his biceps.

"T-they're coming! Please!" One of the soldiers shouted once again. Charles drew his blade as he went to Maya's side.

"Yeah, yeah… I'll take care of them alright," Melvin replied as he stepped beside Roland. "The horses are doing fine, we got about five of them left and surprisingly none of them died. So, what's the plan?

"Well, half of us are dead including Neil, so bummer. Some survived, though four of them are injured including Maya, one is manning the tower and the others are keeping the others at bay…"

"I asked about the plan boy, not a goddamn summary," Melvin scoffed. "Unless you want me to go in there and punch them till they die."

"Sounds dumb enough to be yours honestly but like I said, at least grab a spear or two to make things quicker," Roland said, stepping forward as he took his stance to meet the shadow of five noctems looming over them. "But, make sure to tackle their leader and I'll take care of the other four."

"Did you just understand me?" Melvin asked with a heartfelt smile.

"Yeah…." Seeing the five noctems coming into the range of the faint light sitting on top of the tower, Roland took a deep breath and ran towards them with Melvin at his side. "Smash!"

After that word, Melvin moved in front of him and with a maniacal smile, he opened his arms wide and tackled the noctem in front of him. Roland, on the other hand, jumped over them, twisting his body to let his white blade loose and cut through the thick black hide of one noctem's neck like butter. Its head fell back along with its lifeless body and without even stopping to take a breath, Roland dodged another incoming slash from the second monster before stepping in at the right moment to cleave its body into two.

Charles couldn't help but hold his breath as he watched Roland chain his moves as if he was merely flailing his sword in this quick yet seemingly a slow dance in the dark. Compared to him, Melvin's fight looked like two silhouettes of trees fighting as they continued to strike to see who falls first. It's as if every movement drew him in until he heard a shout coming from his back.

Roland continued to juggle the two noctems by dodging and sometimes kicking them away, and when the other one got impatient and jumped at him with its arms spreading like a bird's, he took a sharp breath and launched himself forward to bury his sword in its chest. It let out a loud shriek that made Roland's ear ring but he didn't stop there, he used the noctem's body to shield himself from the fourth one's claws and with that as an opening, he planted his feet forward and tore their bodies apart with one swing.

"Phew, done and done…" Roland smiled as he lowered his blade with a smell of burnt meat lingering around him. He walked towards the tower once more along with the silent cold breeze as he continued to hear Melvin still pounding the what sounded like a bag of meat behind him.

"You were…" Charles stepped forward to meet him but unlike last time, he looked more beat and there was blood dripping from his hand. "You were pretty strong huh?"

"And you…" Roland tilted his head with his eyes filled with concern. "What happened?"

"Oh, two ran at the back and tried to attack us… took care of it in the end." Charles replied. He looked down and with a bitter smile, he followed, "One died though… I'm sorry…"

"But how are the others?"

"Safe… I guess," Charles replied, pointing him to Maya and the others. "Dude just got half of his face torn off… I mean I can't heal that but… but still…"

"It bothers you huh?" Melvin walked in with the head of a noctem dangling in his hand. "It's like, it's the only thing that you can and need to do but still failed huh?'

Charles nodded with his face starting to crumble.

"But naaaaaaaaaaah!" Melvin smiled and placed his hand over his head to which Charles responded with just a sigh as he closed his eyes. "Don't worry about it and I'm pretty sure that their last thoughts were their families or loved ones or just them screaming instead of how dumb you were. Besides, they gave their lives to protect others too and if it were Roland or me, I'm sure as hell that I'm not gonna blame you if I die."

"Wow, that's so rich coming from you…" Roland scoffed.

"Yeah, yeah, thanks…" Melvin smiled back and removed his hand away from Charles' head. "But, the point is you still saved some people with their deaths and these are the people you could still heal…"

"I… I… well thank y-"

"But not right now cause you better heal Roland first."

"What?" Charles glanced at Roland and raised his eyebrows. "Why?"

"Hey buddy, give release that spell and show him your hands… I don't want to touch you while you're all electric."

Roland then replied with a sigh. The light coloring his sword soon faded and as if his body was frozen, he dropped his sword and raised his arm with a grunt, revealing a charred trembling pair of hands.