The Paladin vs The Knight

"Fuck," a sweaty Count Tyrian was sat on his throne. Both hands over his face, both elbows on his thighs. 

In his throne room lay the bodies of the knights that were supposed to guard him. But the moment they heard of the rebellion that had begun outside of this castle, they drew their weapons and tried to take down Lady Ava and seize the Count.

(Getting some Star Wars vibes here. Execute Order 66, wing any bells here?)

But Lady Ava was a Knight, although she was a disavowed knight from the Republic's Knighthood, she was still a formidable Paladin.

But Lady Ava, despite her strength at the early stage of <A+> rank(Lv.91) and the time in the Republic's Knighthood, did not, for the love of all things knightley, have good common sense. 

Instead of trying to break their way out through one of the tunnels, she thought that making a stand and defeating the leaders of the rebellion would allow them to get back into power.

But, she forgot that she was going up against Reinhard and his new liege. But she did not believe that there was a new liege, instead, she thought it was a farce made by Reinhard to fuel rebellion so that he could crown himself king over the surrounding land.

They both are A-rank fighters and have nearly the same level of strength, speed, and power. She could defeat him with ease, because they fought before but she always gets the victory even without her Legendary-class armor, now this time, she'll face him with her armor that was Smithed and enchanted a few weeks ago.

She was smug. Thinking that she could easily defeat Reinhard because she was Paladin with great armor and that Reinhard was a mere Knight commander.

She wouldn't need to fantasize her death battle with Reinhard for long because the Castle's gates had been breached and Reinhard's detachment was now running rampant all over the halls.

Screams erupted all over the castle's halls as most of the noblemen's retainers rebelled and blood was being shed. 

But Artemis needed the nobles alive to be judged and so, ordered the detachment to stop the violence and capture the nobles. 

Reinhard was now the only person coming with Artemis to face the Count and his mistress in the throne room.

The Door that led to the throne room was large and several bodies laid on the floor around it. 

They were the knights that did not rebel but were killed by their allies by surprise. 

The door behind them was the final boss. The final person to take down and if they do so, the uprising would be successful.

Artemis raised his right palm facing the door and his palms began to glow red.

*Fwuuueee—*

*BOOM!*

He blew the door open. Breaking the door into many large pieces. The Count flew from his throne and hid behind it. Lady Ava drew her Top-class sword emblazoned with Gold and shit tons of magic enchantments. 

"Hello there, Count Tyrian and Lady Ava," Two figures emerged from the smoke. Reinhard and a man in black that stood beside him whose eyes glowed red through the cloud of dust.

Right there and then, Lady Ava was taken by surprise that there was indeed a man in black to whom Reinhard and half of the garrison had sworn their allegiance to. 

"So it was you," Ava said. Pointing her sword at Artemis. 

"Oh yes, yes, it was me, my dear," Artemis said mockingly.

"And you, you traitor," Ava pointed at Reinhard. 

Reinhard frowned, drew his sword and threw his shield away. 

"Milord, please let me fight this whore," Reinhard asked.

"Oh?" Artemis looked at them both. 

After calculating his chances of winning, Artemis decided to let them fight it out. Besides, he could always step in the moment things went south for Reinhard.

"Very well," Artemis said, stepping to the side. 

Lady Ava laughed.

"A mere knight commander going up against a Paladin like me? Surely you jester, do you remember I always beat you in battle?" Ava said. 

"Do I look like a jester to you? What kind of Paladin acts like a whore?" Reinhard retorted. 

"Imbecile!" Without any warning, Ava charged at Reinhard. 

In response, Reinhard also lunged forward, both of them reach at the speed 10 times than sound, as they were now close, their swords met and a shockwave blew the entire throne room, glass windows shatters and servants getting pushed off a feet away.

Both being at A-rank, their strengths are nothing like any other. With each blow they took, the castle shook slightly, they could possibly even move a small mountain if they went all out.

However, both of them knew they had to hold back their strength because their fight could affect their allies and the whole Castle itself.

No choice, they are fighting safely.

In the fight, Reinhard swung his sword from the left with as much force as his body could exert while the Paladin could barely block it.

Ava was surprised, even though she's stronger than the latter, he has gotten stronger than their last battle.

She had underestimated Reinhard.

They fought for long, their speed could reach Mach 10 or probably more but they are a bit equal. But as for Artemis, the battle he is witnessing is like mere child's play in his eyes.

As the fight raged on, their swords began to wither because of their superhuman strengths of A-rankers and each swing one of them took, the other would return favor and their swords would clash. The amount of force they were exerting was too much for both of their strong magic swords to handle.

This also came as a surprise for Ava. She always beat Reinhard over the months, but now, he is getting stronger, or was she getting weaker? The odds are either. And the reason he was getting stronger was he studied her every move during their previous battles and knew her openings and fighting skills. He trained every day so he would be able to beat her one day.

She also did not think that the mere High-class sword could go against a Top-class sword of a Paladin, made with the best iron, cast with gold, and enchanted with few great enchantments. The sword she held was created a few weeks ago after her promotion of her military ranks.

Artemis, on the other hand, had scanned Ava's sword for less than a second. While the magic enchantments seem to make the sword stronger, the gold that was in her sword was what made her sword weaker than intended. 

If her sword was made of pure iron that was improved by magic, then she would've easily broken Reinhard's sword and won by now but it had gold, gold wasn't sturdy, at all.

The two kept fighting at great speeds, their fighting kept moving in other areas around the throne room every second. As Ava swung towards Reinhard's neck. Reinhard stepped backward and with quick thinking, kicked Ava in the torso with enough force to hurt her through her golden armor and knock her back a few meters. 

"Hm, a liver shot," Artemis said. Knowing the pain such a shot could cause.

Lady Ava and Reinhard were on par with each other but since Ava was too confident over beating Reinhard in their previous battles, she failed to see through Reinhard's new skills and attacks. 

But Ava wasn't down just yet. She picked herself and stood but her body shriveled with pain.

The blow to the liver was painful but her pride being shattered overtook the pain she felt.

"Kya!" She charged at Reinhard with even greater speed, this time, she had a trick up her sleeve.

Magic.

Unfortunately, even she has large amount of mana in her, she only learn few spells because she didn't learn a lot of spells when she was still enroll in the International Arcane University when she was young, she only mostly learns fighting and Martial Arts instead than learning more about Magic, but she still has few powerful Holy Magic but she never usually uses it ever since she was disavowed in the Republic's Paladins.

But there was indeed one simple magic she usually used to delay her opponents, a simple 2nd tier and very easy to cast without any efforts.

Pointing at the ground beside the Knight Commander, Ava cast a magic circle under Reinhard's feet that caused him to slip. Reinhard lost his balance and fell down.

He forgot about that trick when he fought against Ava, there was a time when he nearly defeated Ava, but she always uses that simple, weak, and annoying spell which is one of the reasons why he never gets a single victory over her.

"Damn it!"

"Haha! Like what I told you, Reinhard! I always win!" 

"Because you always used that spell while I didn't even learn one magic!"

"Oh well, it doesn't matter anyway when it was a battle to the death… Now die!"

And as Ava was about to strike her sword into Reinhard's chest, Artemis appeared in front of her, faster than her eye could see.

"What th—!?"

Before she could notice something was wrong, a large thud sounded and Lady Ava was sent flying to a wall. She crashed into the wall, creating a large crater, the magic enchantment on her armor instantly broked and her armor shattered the moment she made impact and she fell dead on the floor. 

When Reinhard regained his footing, he saw the motionless corpse of Ava lying on the floor near the wall where she was sent to.

A pool of blood surrounded her. 

Artemis had walked to the back of the throne only to find the Count knocked himself unconscious with his fear.

The rebelling forces outside were victorious. They stormed the castle and made their way to the throne room.

When they found the doors shattered, they poured in.

They saw Reinhard kneeling in the middle of the red carpet that was now dusty and torn.

Sitting on the throne was the man in black.

The knights and the mages, seeing Reinhard, put away their weapons and knelt before the man in black.

"We hereby swear our allegiance to you," Reinhard said.

Artemis now had vassals of his own but he needed to complete his mission entirely.

He stood from his throne and announced. 

"People of the City of Diadel, on this day, remember this day, when the fist of tyranny was torn down and the banner of freedom and justice took its place!" He said.

"Aye!" The soldiers shouted. 

"But don't be misguided, I am merely a vassal of someone who will become your king," Artemis said.

This shocked the troops and Reinhard.

"But I know you know this man, he is a man of honor and justice, a man overflowing with kindness, a short man, but a fine man! A man who will bring you all the prosperity and the justice you all have yearned for!" 

Hearing the man in black's words, Reinhard and the rest immediately realize who he was referring to, what he describes made them only knew of one man.

And that man was not a man.

But a dwarf named Wart.