Nico gripped his elementium sword tightly as the Alpha removed his coat. two gauntlets with long metal claws hung from his waist.

The Alpha stood at the edge of a large circle drawn in the dirt as per the rules of holmgang, but his men clearly never saw a circle before since they ended up with an oddly shaped oval instead.

"What's your name, little Knight?" The Alpha asked as he strapped his gauntlets to his hands. "Killing someone in a holmgang without even knowing their name is distasteful, even to us Hounds. I'm called Demut."

"My name is Nico Cornaro, and I may look young but I'm not little by any measurement." Nico stared at the ground, patting the ground with his boots to make it hard and flat. "What name shall I put on your grave?"

Demut laughed. "Really? Your tongue is sharp, almost wish we met under different terms. Maybe I could have convinced you to join my pack!"

Turning to face his men, he continued. "Did you hear the name? Lady luck chooses us once again!" He turned back to Nico with a smile that only killers wore. "I came for your cargo, but your death will also serve me well Cornaro. Word travels like the wind, and the wind says the heads of Cerberus want your head."

"Well if it is all the same to you, let's keep my head right where it's at." Nico shot back. His mind raced from what Demut said. How did word travel so fast about the tower? And how did this pack of Hounds find him so fast? He thought about asking but decided focusing on his fight was probably more wise.

"Chatting time is over Cornaro, the night awaits for blood and my wolves await to feast." On cue, the two wolves sitting outside the off shape circle howled in sync like they had practiced it a million times. Demut stood ready, his metal claws held up ready to strike. Nico took a heavy breath, calmed his nerves and took his stance.

Only a second of silence passed before being interrupted by the sound of clashing metal echoing through the air. Demut charged at Nico with a feral rage, slashing and jabbing relentlessly. Strike after strike, sparks flew as the metal clashed and Nico barely parried each blow meant to tear his face apart.

Demut stepped back to the right and charged again, claws outstretched. Nico dodged left, narrowly avoiding a swipe across his chest.

"Stand still, little knight," Demut growled. Nico could have sworn he saw Demut's eye almost glowed an eerie red.

“Not a chance. I rather keep my body free of stab wounds”

As Demut approached for another swing of his claws, Nico swung his sword in a wide arc back and forth with lightning speed. His swing was so fast only the after image of his blade couldn't keep up, forcing Demut to leap back. They circled each other, sizing up their opponent. Demut had a size advantage to Nico, being almost two feet taller—but Nico was faster.

Demut lunged again. Nico parried the claws upward, then spun around with all his strength and slashed at Demut's legs. His sword bit into the Demut's thigh, drawing a snarl out of his opponent. Nico's forehead scrunched up as he pulled his sword out and watched steam pour out of the wound and heal almost instantly.

A booster. Nico frowned. Any normal person would have lost their limb when he swung at full strength. This wouldn't be an easy fight.

Demut backed up and caught his breath. "Don't- remember the last time someone made me bleed."

One of his Hounds behind him chimed in. "You haven't bleed since last winter when you killed that other Crest Knight."

"Oh yea, What a fun fight!" Demut laughed. "Maybe you knew her Cornaro, she could create spikes of ice out of thin air and throw them without even touching them. Friend of yours?"

Nico thought about it between breaths. Sure didn't sound like anybody he knew, it's not like he knew every Crest Knight alive or dead. Other Kingdoms had their own Crest Knights or versions of them. Maybe she belonged to one of them.

It sounded like she was at least tier 3 from her being able to launch ice without physically throwing them herself. Does that mean Nico's chances of beating Demut were low? He was only tier 2, He couldn't launch any projectiles. The closest thing he could do was his flamethrower move he did earlier, and a couple more of those would exhaust him to the point of passing out. Probably not the greatest place to pass out right now.

But what did he know about his opponent? He was a type of Crestborn called a booster, someone who could boost any of their physical abilities. Speed, strength, or has he seen first hand, healing. Nico couldn't remember much from his studies about boosters but did remember one thing, their abilities use a lot of stamina to maintain. Guess he would have to test that theory.

Suddenly a loud screech from Demut broke Nico's thoughts. "It doesn't matter little Knight, You will join her soon enough."

"Getting real tired of you calling me little Knight." Nico snapped back as he charged, sprinting as fast as possible with his sword raised up and prepared to strike.

Demut readied himself, his face looked surprised from Nico's speed. He raised his claws in defense, but Nico had other plans. He slowed his charge, faked like he was going to swing to the right and as Demut started to block that side, he spun back mid-swing. The sudden change of direction was too fast for Demut to react, leaving an opening for Nico to slash the tip of his sword down deep into Demut's right shoulder.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Demut cried out and turned to his shoulder, Leaving open Nico's true goal. Nico pulled out his sword from Demut's shoulder, the wound starting to smoke and heal instantly. He then spun around again as fast as he could and struck the other shoulder, cutting deep into Demut's flesh. Then with a sudden flash of light, Nico summoned the hottest fire he could and engulfed his blade in a blaze of neon green. Demut's shoulder roasted from the flames and Demut screamed in pain, struggling to remove the blade from his shoulder. He slashed at Nico with his claws on his right hand, forcing Nico to pull his sword out and jump back.

"Getting tired?" Nico taunted, feigning a yawn as he made a good distance from Demut.

Demut danced around, ripping out pieces of his tunic that were on fire. "Far from it you arrogant little brat," He snarled, gritting his teeth as he held his burnt shoulder. "You're just,” He coughed, followed by a heavy breath. “ delaying the inevitable."

"Am I, though?" Nico replied. "Question though, what is your kind doing down here in Italia? A little far from home are we?"

Demut winced in pain before taking a second to respond. "The Holy Roman Empire doesn't-'' His breath sounded shaky as he breathed in. "Accept my kind, and soon they will come for you too. Boosters, Elementalists, whatever kind of Crestborn you are, it doesn't matter. They will kill us all."

"Venice will not lose to the franks." Nico retorted. " Our Crest Knights are the greatest in Italia and our legend reaches every corner of the world. The Kingdom of Venice will bring peace to every land she touches!"

"Enough with your nonsense! Venice will fall just like every Kingdom the Franks have touched. Let's end this holmgang, your good boy knight attitude is starting to get on my nerves."

Nico stood ready. He held his sword perfectly still, the tip pointed directly at Demut's throat.

Demut's right shoulder was visible through the hole Nico had left in his tunic. The part of his shoulder that moments ago held a blade in it was completely healed.

The left shoulder showed a different result. The deep cut had healed, but the burnt flesh was still there. Smoke was coming from the burns but nothing healed. Nico noticed Demut's face, even though it was harder to see in just the moonlight, looked paler and covered in sweat.

Nico figured Demut didn't have much stamina left after healing three major wounds back to back. This was the difference between Nico and Demut, Nico trained for years to grow and maintain his stamina, always careful not to pass out using his abilities. Time for all that training to pay off.

Nico pushed forward. Sprinting as fast as he could straight at Demut. Demut started moving to the left but clearly was struggling, his movement looked sluggish. Nico quickly closed the space between and thrusted his sword forward into Demut's chest. Demut was able to react quick enough and caught the blade with both hands, inches from piercing his chest. Nico screamed out with all his might as he pushed as hard as he could. Steam rose from Demut's arms as they grew larger, his arm veins so huge they looked like they could pop any moment.

"Why- Why. Are you so strong??" Nico whispered as he pulled back his sword, breathing hard. Fighting a booster in a strength match was pointless. But Demut wasn't the only Crestborn. Nico rushed Demut again before he could gain his breath, thrusting his sword at Demut's chest again.

Demut laughed " Again? You must be the dumbest knight I've ever fought, I'm stronger than you." He caught the blade again, boosting his arms to help keep the blade from cutting him.

"I may be reckless, but I'm not stupid."

And with a deep breath, Nico began heating the blade. As he focused, the temperature of the blade grew hotter and hotter, glowing a bright red. The blade's bright color looked like it was just pulled out of a blacksmith's forge. The night was silent by the blood curlily scream coming from Demut, his hands boiling and healing only to boil again. His hands were burnt enough for the blade to slide past, Allowing Nico to thrust it into Demut's chest.

The Hound leader stumbled back, gasping in pain as the two wolves behind him began barking wildly at Nico. Demut struggled to get the sword out of his chest as his body began healing, steam filling the area around them. Nico never released pressure as he pushed. He could see past all the steam that the body was trying to rapidly heal and push the sword back out. Burns seemed to be the only thing Demut's healing factor struggled with.

With a final push, Nico summoned massive green flames to erupt from the blade. Demut's arms let go of the blade, having been fully engulfed and now useless. The rest of the blade slid into Demut, piercing through and sticking out the back.

Demut dropped dead hard like all the blood in his body turned into rock. He laid there lifeless, covered in small fires around his arms and a small fire in his chest burning away the rest of his clothes. Nico took a deep breath and looked around, feeling the sudden silence. He noticed then that the rest of the Hounds had been watching quietly from afar, every one of them with a weapon in their hands. He could feel the anger radiating off them, as they started pressing forward.

Nico knew he had to act fast. The looks on their faces said one thing: they would not honor the Holmgang. He kept his sword out and ready. Slowly he took small steps backwards, keeping his eyes on the crowd of thugs in front of him. The Hounds slowly pressed forward in the shape of a half circle, outpacing him and starting to circle around.

Nico started yelling out. "I stand as victor of the holmgang! The agreement must be honored!"

"Screw the holmgang!" Called out someone from the left.

"Demut was weak! We wanted him dead!" Another shouted from right.

"We didn't come all this way just to leave because of a dead man's promise." The Hound in front of Nico said.

The group of thugs had encircled Nico, all about two swords lengths away. They were all bumping shoulders, Nico couldn't see any openings to escape. "So, does anyone want to sit out of this fight?"

No one answered.

Well, so much for becoming Venice's most famous Knight. No famous knight has ever died by mob.

Nico gripped his sword tight. He was tired after summoning so much fire, but he was sure he could cause a big enough explosion of flames to at least cook the first wave of thugs.

He took a big breath.

He just started to move when he heard the screaming. Everyone including Nico turned towards the men standing closest to the convoy. The screaming was only the beginning, immediately after was explosions of fire and electricity. The heatwave from the explosion rippled through the air, splinters of wood and debris hurtled in every direction. Gang members were thrown off balance, some clutching their ears in agony, while others lay on the ground, dazed and injured.

The whole crowd began running from where the fire was coming from, leaving an opening for Nico to see what was happening. Nico's face almost hit the floor with what he saw. There stood Rosa standing on the roof of one of the wagons, next to a unconscious Hound beside her feet. She stood absolutely still, with a drawn bow pointing straight at Nico.