Steven wondered how bad of a sign it was that he was becoming intimately familiar with the tension that came before a fight.

It hung in the air, a taut string just waiting to be cut.

The pounding of his heart in his ears, of his Class in his head.

It was almost comfortable in its familiarity. Almost.

While that was undoubtedly a bad thing, it meant Steven was ready as the knight stood and, in one smooth motion, drew its sword and struck.

Steven had started calling his Tower-Shield the instant the knight moved, so when an arc of ice launched from the sword, it only crossed half the room before his shield crashed into place.

The ice struck, and his shield cracked.

Steven blinked, the shield straining in his mind.

If the backlash from a Hand-Shield breaking was like an ice pick to the brain, what would his Tower-Shield breaking do to him?

No time to wonder about that now, move!

Steven bolted around his shield as the room exploded into motion.

Buford and Markus ran to the left as Del and Noodle went to the right.

Steven took the middle, running straight for the table and the closest snowman.

Said snowman had a dagger at its side and a black scarf around its face.

It leaped from its seat and rushed him.

The knife flicked out, almost too fast for him to track, and stabbed for his chest.

Steven blocked the knife with a shield before slamming it into the snowman's chest.

The snowman rocked back, then rebounded and came in swinging.

Steven called a shield behind its skull and pulled. As he did, he used Compass Push to shove it directly toward him at the same time.

The shield raced through the air, not as fast as if he'd used all three Augments, but it still slammed into the snowman hard enough to knock its head from its shoulders.

Steven ran to the next snowman, only to lock gazes with the knight.

He ran to the right, towards a clear section near the fireplace.

The knight followed its gauntlets tightening around the sword's hilt as it pulled back to swing.

Steven's mind went into overdrive.

To strong to block with Hand-Shield, and Tower-Shield is on cooldown.

Despite the cold fear that rose as the knight drew back, relief rose with it.

If the knight was targeting him, it wasn't targeting the others.

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And if he could keep it busy, the others would clear the snowmen quickly, and they could all mob the knight.

Simple, easy. All Steven had to do was not get cut in half.

...Shit.

The knight swung, and Steven resorted to an old trick.

He called a Hand-Shield against the knights arm and pushed.

The knight, unsurprisingly, was monstrously strong, and its arm wasn't thrown off by much, but it was enough.

Steven slipped around the icy projectile and stuck his right hand out.

He pulled on the shield, smacking it into the knight's arm again as it recovered.

It was a little off balance from its missed swing, so his pull made it miss a step.

Not much, but he'd take it.

Steven added more shields, slamming them into the knight only to dismiss them and do it again

He’d gotten good enough with his timing that it almost felt like the shields were moving as he summoned them.

The moving line of shields battered the knight, staggering it further.

But after a few seconds, it righted itself, weathering the onslaught and making a throwing motion at Steven with its offhand.

Steven dodged, and not a moment too soon.

An icicle formed in the knight's hand and shot out, smacking into the wall behind Steven with a sound like shattering glass.

He kept summoning shields, forcing the knight to adjust its balance to avoid tripping.

The sound was deafening, a steady clang that never faded, like an industrial machine.

The knight made another throwing gesture, and Steven dodged another icicle.

Seeming to grow frustrated, the knight planted its feet against the hail of shields and gripped its sword In both hands.

Steven started charging a shield and aimed at the knight‘s chest as it drew back.

Steven switched tactics. While one shield was charging, he split his focus, calling his other two shields under the knight’s hands, and shoved them away from himself with Compass Push and A Lot Goes A Long Way.

The sudden force overbalanced the knight, and just as it staggered, Steven released his charge shield.

It connected with the knights breastplate with a crash and sent it toppling backward.

Before the night could recover, Steven was there, calling a shield an inch above its stomach, another above its collar, and another against its hips.

The knight tried to move, but Steven pushed each of the shields straight down, grinding them against its icy armor.

It struggled, it's armor clinking as the massive figure shoved back.

The shields began to crack, so Steven reached out and pushed.

Not with his Augments, but his will.

The shields paused, the cracks slowing.

He wasn’t able to make them fix themselves, he didn’t have the desperate need he’d had when he managed that trick before, but it was still enough to hold the massive knight.

Buford and Noodle appeared on the knight's left, and the smaller dog bit at its wrist, his shadowy teeth sinking into the armor.

The knight’s hand spasmed, and it dropped the sword.

Markus ran up and snatched the sword, then slid to a stop and raised the blade with both hands.

“Del!“ He snapped. “Strength buff!“

The woman gestured, and white light rolled through the old man as black shot through the knight.

Markus’s entire body tensed as he brought the sword down.

It shattered against the knight’s helm in an explosion of noise. But so did the knight.

There was silence, and then the System’s voice shouted into Steven’s mind.

You have cleared the snow fort! Arthurian fantasy variant!

"Good job, though a little slow, if I do say so myself.”