“Medrauta!”

Viviane’s desperate cry tore through the air even as her knight’s blade clattered uselessly to the ground. The exchange between Medrauta and the Walpurgisknight had lasted mere seconds, the two of them trading blows so quickly that not even Viviane’s enhanced vision could keep up with their movements. At first, it had appeared as if Medrauta was gaining the upper hand thanks to her superior speed, but something had gone terribly wrong.

A sharp, high-pitched snap had rang loudly when their blades last met, and something silver spun through the air only to embed itself into the tower a second later. Despite her eyes being focused on Medrauta the whole time, Viviane knew it had been her knight’s sword that had snapped, and the broken weapon Medrauta now held confirmed that fact. Even from the beginning, Medrauta had been placed at a disadvantage due to the sheer difference in size of their weapons.

While the silver-haired knight had fought many greatsword-wielding opponents with nothing more than her simple longsword and emerged victorious, the gargantuan behemoth of blackened iron that the Walpurgisknight swung was simply on an entirely different scale. Not only was it thrice the length of Medrauta’s weapon, but the black blade was wide and heavy, making it more of a lance than a sword. With nothing left of her shorn blade aside from a stub of sharpened iron, there was no way Medrauta would be able to defeat the Walpurgisknight now.

“...Shit. We gotta run.” Medrauta began retreating rapidly, but she knew the Walpurgisknight would simply charge at her if she created too much distance. Without her sword, the threat of decapitation no longer existed and her opponent was now free to press the attack without fearing defeat. “I don’t think we can win this, Vivi.”

Viviane nodded in agreement. There wasn’t much to debate in this situation. Perhaps if she had a moonsteel bow or even a second bow, it would’ve been possible for Medrauta to distract the Walpurgisknight unarmed while she lined up the perfect shot to blow the armored knight’s head off completely. For a moment, Viviane considered attempting to run back into the tower and retrieve some of the weapons left inside, but she quickly abandoned the idea. There was no way they’d manage to outrun the Walpurgisknight on the staircase.

There was just one problem with escaping.

Before the Walpurgisknight’s appearance, Medrauta had been very willing to grab Viviane and simply jump off the tower if something dangerous appeared after the sphere of black mana was destroyed. In fact, that was exactly what she would’ve preferred to do regardless of what came out of the portal formed by the black crystal. Unfortunately, the Walpurgisknight’s arrival completely invalidated that plan.

At most, Medrauta had expected something like a powerful witchspawn to emerge. Instead, a Sworn who was likely one of Amelia’s most loyal followers and a commander of her witchspawn army had appeared, bearing a mana-charged crystal in the hilt of his sword that would completely reverse their efforts. No matter what, they needed to defeat the Walpurgisknight or at least force him to retreat.

But how...? Medrauta grit her teeth, unable to find a solution out of this mess. They had to win no matter what, but there was simply no way to win. In anger, she threw her broken sword at the Walpurgisknight who simply knocked it aside with the back of his fist with contemptuous ease. The black-clad knight marched confidently toward her, his colossal weapon resting easily on his shoulder, taking his time to slowly corner the pair that had dared stand against him.

“Medrauta! What are you doing!? Didn’t you just say we had to run!?” Viviane shouted.

“Yeah, but...”

Viviane shook her head. She already knew what Medrauta was going to say. The same thing was on her mind after all. “We can just come back afterwards! Come on!”

“And he’ll still be here!” Medrauta swore loudly in frustration. No matter how hard she tried, she simply couldn’t think of a way to win because there just wasn’t one. Weaponless and outmatched, the Walpurgisknight was an insurmountable opponent in her current state. “Damn it!”

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At last, Medrauta was forced to accept the fact that she’d lost. For the first time in her life, she had tasted defeat even while bearing a Crest. There was nothing to blame other than her own lack of skill, or perhaps in this particular circumstance, the weakness of her equipment. After all, she had been rather close to taking the Walpurgisknight’s life on multiple occasions. Fully committing herself to the retreat now, Medrauta burst into a rush of motion, arriving at Viviane’s side in a second and wrapping an arm around the noblewoman’s waist.

In another second, they would reach the edge of the tower and leap to safety. But Medrauta wasn’t the only knight present. Just as Medrauta had committed herself to retreat, the Walpurgisknight had committed himself to attack. Even as the silver-haired knight reached Viviane’s side, the Walpurgisknight darted past them, blocking their way and closing the distance they’d created within a mere moment. With his sword at the ready, all he needed to do was make it descend and end Viviane and Medrauta’s story prematurely.

“Farewell. You were worthy opponents.” The Walpurgisknight declared as he allowed the colossal blade to descend.

Viviane closed her eyes, burying her face in Medrauta’s chest as she whispered a prayer to Aluvsha. Similarly, Medrauta took one last look at her lady’s delicate features before shutting her own eyes, embracing Viviane tightly. At the very least, she wanted to die with Viviane in her arms, shielding her to the very last second.

The gargantuan greatsword descended, its stygian steel casting a long shadow over the pair as if a sinister eclipse obscuring the sun. Medrauta and Viviane fell silent, focusing only on one another in their final moments. Their journey had been a brief one, but it had been fruitful and perhaps most importantly, it had been passionate.

“Medrauta...”

“Viviane...”

“I—”

“Zephyr!”

CLANG!

The Walpurgisknight’s gargantuan blade had been halted mere inches away from Medrauta’s head. He didn’t understand. The silver-haired knight’s fate had been sealed along with her lady’s. Their journey was supposed to end at his hands. All he needed to do was allow his blade to complete its arc. Behind his helmet, the Walpurgisknight’s eyes widened in both confusion and fury.

The Walpurgisknight was far from the only one shocked by this sudden interruption. The moment she heard that single word being shouted, Viviane’s eyes had snapped open, their golden depths drowned in disbelief. There was only one person in the entire empire That voice... Can it really be...? But why is she here? How is she...?

“Who dares stand against me!?” The Walpurgisknight roared, losing control of his emotions at last. Not even the threat of death when Medrauta nearly beheaded him had truly managed to phase him, yet the sensation of his so-close victory being wrenched from his hands abruptly had managed to infuriate him to no end. Even he did not truly understand the reason why, but perhaps it had something to do with the arrogant smirk that adorned the lips of his new opponent.

Click.

The sound of an exquisite pair of heels alighting on the stone floor of the tower’s top rang through the air, silencing all other sounds in the vicinity. Approaching from across the Walpurgisknight, a black-haired woman holding an elegant hand fan smiled serenely at the scene laid out before her. She wore a crimson dress that tastefully showed off her bountiful assets, an image that was wholly unfit for the battlefield, yet she still walked across it like a veritable goddess.

Viviane’s eyes grew wide as she laid eyes upon the woman who should not be here, momentarily forgetting the danger of the Walpurgisknight who was only being held back by a hair’s breadth.

“Is that really...?” Medrauta could barely believe what she was seeing, blinking rapidly as if she were trying to banish a daydream. But the woman standing before her would not be banished, for she was more than just a fantasy despite her goddess-like appearance.

“L-Lady Scarlet!” Viviane cried, her voice filled with equal amounts of relief and disbelief.

“Eris.” Scarlet’s voice rang rife with authority, a playful smirk dancing on her dainty lips. She thrust her hand fan toward the Walpurgisknight. “Remove this scum from my sight at once.”

The blonde-haired knight barring the Walpurgisknight’s way appeared to shiver in pleasure as she received her lady’s order. Her emerald eyes narrowed, the confident smirk on her face only widening as she shoved the titanic sword away with her crossed daggers, displacing her larger opponent and forcing him to stumble back.

She was about a head shorter than Medrauta, bringing her height level to that of Viviane’s. Her small frame appeared frail, but a closer inspection revealed hard-earned muscles that gave her a well-built figure that was highlighted by the tight clothes that she wore. Standing across from the monstrous figure of the Walpurgisknight, the knight named Eris seemed to be woefully outmatched, but there wasn’t a single inkling of doubt in the knight’s eyes.

“By your will, Lady Scarlet.”