Maude felt her eyes widen, and her jaw drop. What the fuck? I was never the only sword saint in the empire? And out of all of the possibilities, it was the emperor and he has the same ability I do?

Her emotions were swirling up again. She felt her fists clench, one of them tightening around the sword in her hand. Her eyes pricked with more tears. Did my father know about this? She wondered. While he was insisting that I was the empire’s only sword saint?

She felt ill. She had been convinced that she would be the only sword saint on this battlefield. She could have never imagined that the person with the most power on the entire continent might be another one.

I was never alone, Maude thought. I was just made to feel as though I was alone. As though there was no one else who could do what I could in the entire country. He used me, she thought, feeling her stomach roll even more.

She glanced at the ground, looking around for another place where she could vomit if need be. That’s when she noticed someone very important was laying near the emperor and Jaspar. Prince Erich.

Maude felt her heart skip a beat in her chest, and then sink further into it. No, Prince Erich, she thought. Did the emperor…?

She saw him move just slightly as the thoughts were racing through her mind. He’s still alive?

Maude felt her legs move seemingly involuntarily, over to where Prince Erich was laying on the ground. His once handsome face, now had two long gashes down the sides of it, one on each cheek. He was clutching his left abdomen very closely, and Maude noticed a deep wound in it.

No, Maude thought. Not the crown prince…this country needs him!

She ripped off part of the bottom of one of her pant legs and held it to the wound on his abdomen in hopes of reducing some of the bleeding. He groaned at her as she did.

He opened his eyes and looked at her. “Maude?” he asked. He was slurring his words as though he was drunk.

Not good, not good, Maude thought. He needs true medical attention quickly if he’s going to survive.

“What are you doing here?” the prince asked her. “Jaspar,” he said, gesturing over to where Jaspar was barely holding off the emperor. Prince Erich coughed, clearing his throat. His voice changed to a whisper. “Jaspar needs your help,” he murmured, gesturing to the fight again.

“What about you?” she asked, looking back at the prince, feeling concern fill her gaze.

Erich coughed again. “Don’t worry about me,” he said with a wan smile.

Maude hesitated as she took a step back. Will I be forgiven if I just leave him here? She wondered. He is the crown prince of the country I am trying to gain citizenship of.

She looked up again at the fight between Jaspar and the emperor. She watched as the emperor cut Jaspar’s leg open, and heard herself audibly gasp as she watched him tumble to the ground. There was no doubt about it; if she did not intervene now, she was going to watch Jaspar be killed before her very eyes.

Her legs moved again, seemingly of their own accord. She ran over to Jaspar, drew her sword, just as the emperor was getting ready to strike down on Jaspar’s head with both swords.

Maude managed to get between the two of them, and blocked one of the swords in front of her face with her own sword. Nonetheless, she missed the second one. The second one met her arm, right next to the slice her father had managed to get on her arm.

It was an entirely different experience having her flesh cut open with a sword that was augmented. While all swords cut and bit into her flesh, the emperor’s augmented sword cut burned, amplifying the pain enough for Maude to nearly see white from it.

Is this what it is like to be cut by my own blade? She wondered. Have I been inflicting additional pain on all those whom I’ve cut with it?

She looked up at the emperor’s face which was entirely impassive. Why is he here? She wondered. Why now? The king said that the empire was sending their most elite soldiers in the fight in the war to end it quickly. She searched the emperor’s eyes for any sign of emotion. But what if he is here because the empire is in the same situation Aulbert is in? What if this was a last ditch effort for the empire too, to win the war?

The emperor pulled his sword out of her flesh, and Maude’s world nearly went white again from the pain. He didn’t even seem to mind that who he was fighting had changed, and began quickly assaulting Maude with quick attacks. While she was still using her ability for the augmented strength and speed, she felt completely unmatched once more. She struggled to keep up, and felt slow in comparison to the emperor.

Why now? She caught herself wondering again. Why is he only showing his sword saint ability only now?

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His swords swung at her again, and she managed to block both. His attacks came in fast, quicker than her father’s and she was quickly getting overwhelmed by his two blades. Why has he hid this during the whole war? Maude wondered. He could have very easily steam rolled all of Aulbert’s troops and quickly taken over the territory he was after.

He kept swinging his swords at her, and she noticed that he was almost moving his arms independent of one another. I wonder how much time it took him to maser that, she thought. How handy that would be.

Almost with every strike, the emperor was cutting her hands, leaving little dots of red covering them. Her sword was beginning to get sticky and slippery in her hand form the blood.

This is not good, she thought. I can’t last very long against him. She felt her heart sink in her chest. If I can’t handle the emperor, there is a pretty good chance no one on this battlefield can. Will Aulbert fall because we can’t beat this one man?

She swallowed back the other thoughts that were clambering up into her mind about her and Jaspar’s future if she couldn’t defeat the emperor.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jaspar moving. He had ripped off a piece of cloth from somewhere, and was tying it tightly around the wound in his leg. Is he going to try to fight again? She wondered. He really shouldn’t.

She paid for the distraction with one of the emperor’s swords in her arm again, cutting between the one her father had made and the one the emperor had made earlier.

Her vision flashed white again, this time, nearly causing her to lose consciousness. Holy shit, she thought. I cannot get distracted by a single thing in this fight. I’ll die if I do. She glanced up at the emperor’s face. He seemed completely impassive. He didn’t seem to care at all what he was doing. Oddly enough, he didn’t even seem angry that they were fighting.

The emperor removed his sword from her arm again, and she focused on both of his swords, blocking both of them.

Maude glanced up at his face again, and for a moment, she thought she saw the tiniest twinge of frustration. She moved her eyes back to his swords and noticed hat he was now doing something different with them. His footwork changed, and the way he was moving his swords around was entirely different than any sword movement she’d ever seen in the empire or Aulbert. He thrust his sword at Maude, and she jumped off to the side, as she felt the blade bite into the cartilage of her ear. If she had stayed still, the blade would have found her eyeball.

What the fuck? She thought. What kind of…

The other blade came shooting towards her, causing Maude to jump the other direction. The second blade narrowly missed her, and she heard it swooshing past her.

Focus, focus! She commanded herself, blocking the first blade that he wielded. Next to her, she heard the ting of two swords hitting one another. She glanced over and saw Jaspar standing next to her, sword in hand, blocking the emperor’s second sword.

“What are you doing?” she asked him, her voice sounding shrill.

“It looked like you were struggling,” Jaspar said with a cheeky smile. She had to look away to block the emperor’s sword again.

“You saw that?” Maude replied, having to throw her body weight at the emperor to block the strength of his blows.

“Unfortunately for you, I did,” he replied. “Figured I’d give you a hand since you seemed to be in great danger.”

From the tone of his voice, she could tell that if they were in any other situation, that he would have been disappointed if she did not laugh.

Maude nodded at him, not looking in his direction. “Appreciate the help,” she said.

“It’s my pleasure,” he answered.

Now that she wasn’t having to block two swords from the emperor, she glanced over at his face, and noticed that he was still not reacting, even to her and Jaspar’s banter.

What’s wrong with him? She wondered, blocking another slash from his sword. Is that why he insists that no one looks at his face?

She focused her attention back on the sword that she was fighting, noticing that the emperor was fighting her and Jaspar nearly independently.

He’s too good, she thought. What is going on?

His attacks seemed to pick up speed. Maude’s arms and legs were beginning to feel like lead. Having walked for several days, rode a horse for a few more, and jumping into battle immediately after, was beginning to take its toll on her body. The emperor’s sword was beginning to nick her hands, arms and even shoulders more often as the result of her slow down. Neither her, nor Jaspar, nor any of the other soldiers who had fought the emperor before them had successfully gotten a nick on the emperor.

Maude’s stomach was slowly lowering further into her belly. If this keeps up, she thought, Jaspar and I are going to die.

She kept watching the emperor’s sword looking for an opening. But unlike people who only fought with one sword, the emperor was able to close openings he might have had with the second sword.

If we can’t win this fight against the emperor, Aulbert will lose, she thought. No one else on this battlefield will be able to defeat this man single handedly. Hell, Jaspar and I can’t even beat him two against one! The emperor could have singlehandedly destroyed all of Aulbert’s armies.

Still, she thought. Keep trying. Even though the two of us are struggling to defeat him and are growing tired, the fact that we have yet to fall just is a testament to our strength.

The emperor continued to slash at both of them, adding nicks and cuts all over both of the pair, when finally, Maude saw it. The opening.

It was quick, and she would have to put every ounce of her strength and speed into the movement, as it lasted less than a second. It would risk her life if she failed, but she also recognized that both her and Jaspar’s lives were at risk if she didn’t at least try it.

She swallowed hard, bile filling the back of her throat. She carefully watched the emperor’s movements, and as soon as he started the next move that would open up his defenses, she lurched forward at him, feeling his blade cut into her cheek, but her own sword sunk deeply into his abdomen.

The emperor flinched, and she felt his whole body recoil under her blade. But he seemed to try to continue his assault, and Maude felt his sword cut into her bicep.

It didn’t last for long, as Jaspar found an opening of his own, and pushed the emperor to the ground, Jaspar’s sword at his throat, and Maude’s sword was still buried into his abdomen, which was quickly turning red with his blood.

The emperor dropped both of his swords, knowing he had lost. Maude could only hear the rapid pace at which both she and Jaspar were breathing under the rainy sky. Her heart pounded in her chest from the fight.

Jaspar put his sword very close to the emperor’s jugular.

“Wait!” Maude called out.

If I don’t ask now, I’ll never know, she thought.