On a distant hill near the lower coast of the Teih Continent, Dante was taking a moment to relax on the lush green grass. His gaze was fixed on the horizon of the Liberty Sea, where he could just about make out the faint outline of the continent of Eastern Ravenna. It had been nearly a year since he last saw Trela, but he tried his best to push those thoughts aside, even though she persistently reached out to him every day through the Divine Mindlink. He felt it was for the best that she stayed away.

"Rav, have you seen Sir Lysander?" Dante inquired, interrupting Ravka from her reading.

Ravka was engrossed in a book she had purchased from the SouthEast Port Markets, and his question slightly bothered her. Nonetheless, she replied, "He and little Rigathon are training with swords near the river. Sir Lysander intends to groom Rigathon to become the first Holy Knight from the Jagged Equinix family." She smiled and raised an eyebrow in approval.

A memory surfaced in Dante's mind, harking back to a conversation they had at the bottom of a cliff. He and Ravka had suggested to Sir Lysander that they could resurrect Rigathon, but in doing so, he would return as a younger version of himself. The details Sir Lysander had explained were a bit hazy in Dante's memory, but he was too occupied playing with Lil Rig to pay much attention.

Sir Rigathon, the Holy Knight of Teih," Dante mumbled to himself. "I like the sound of that. But none of us can speak Faireenic. Is there some invocation to fix that?"

"Dante, I'm bored. Why don't we watch the two of them swordfight and root for lil Rig?" Ravka suggested.

The sun was high in the sky, and the cool sea breeze had lifted Dante's spirits. "Yeah, sure. Let's check them out," he agreed, sheathing Zylthar's Radiant Blade.

At the riverbanks, the water rushed and gushed as it approached the sea. The clashing of swords echoed in the distance as Sir Lysander sparred with Lil Rig, both enjoying themselves.

Lil Rig showed natural talent with Marialian-sized swords despite his young age. Sir Lysander, the Holy Chaplain Knight, saw the immense potential in the Jagged Beastman, despite their race being considered inferior and barbaric by others such as Elves and Marialians from Western Ravenna.

Cling! Clang!

The intensity and power of each sword stroke escalated with every parry and counter-blow. Words became unnecessary as the display of strength and agility in their sword-fighting served as enough communication between the two.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

After a lengthy round of sparring, lil Rig made a misstep, leaving his left side vulnerable to Sir Lysander's attack. The young Jagged Equinix surrendered when Sir Lysander's blade stopped at his neck.

Splash!

Suddenly, large projectiles splashed into the river, catching their attention. They turned to find gigantic Jagged Beastmen swinging clubs at them. It was the Neighshroud Tribe led by Rigathon's rival. The brown-headed Jagged Equinix, standing tall, glared at Sir Lysander and lil Rig, who quickly readied their defenses.

"They must have sensed your smell, lil Rig!"

Lil Rig didn't flinch and roared with a cute pony's voice, recalling the victories he had over the Neighshroud Tribe and the beautiful females he had won as prizes.

The brown-headed Equinix realized that Rigathon's scent came from lil Rig and attacked without hesitation, not caring if he was the true Rigathon or just his offspring. Nearly thirty Neighshroud Tribesmen surrounded Sir Lysander, with one of their War Shamans suggesting that their target had the power to come back from the dead.

This revelation fueled their rage, and they attacked Sir Lysander and Lil Rig in a coordinated manner, unlike the potential battle at the cliff that would have been one-on-one.

Lil Rig found himself cornered by his colossal rival, while Sir Lysander had his Scriptures stashed away near some large rocks. Unfortunately, the Jagged Beastmen had already covered that spot, leaving no room for Sir Lysander to escape with invocations.

"Aaaaah!" Lil Rig shouted as his opponent landed a blow due to his size advantage.

Determined to save Lil Rig, Sir Lysander gripped his sword, closed his eyes, and focused. He started counting internally.

"1..."

Slash!

Everything seemed to slow down for Sir Lysander as he moved with extraordinary speed, slashing his way through multiple Equinix legs, and tearing them apart with a flick of his sword.

"2... 3..."

With consecutive slashes, Sir Lysander continued his whirlwind assault, taking down the Jagged Beastmen one by one.

None of the Neighshroud Tribe understood what was happening. Almost all of the gigantic beastmen had lost limbs and were bleeding to death, their throats cut open.

"4... 5... 6... 7... 8..."

Sir Lysander became an unstoppable whirlwind of sword slashing and cutting. Destroying the Jagged Beastmen that had ganged up on them, one by one.

Within a few seconds, almost all of the gigantic beastmen had lost limbs and were already bleeding to death with their throats cut off.

The brown-headed Equinix that was after Lil Rig, raised his club as he had now in his grasp a limping Rigathon. And he would finally be able to truly live as the Jagged Alpha of his tribe.

Slick!

A silent whisper of a sword cutting through the brown-headed Equinix's neck. Suspending his victorious expression as his decapitated head slide off his neck, and rolled into the gnashing river where he would eventually be fed to the fishes.

Sir Lysander swiped the blood off of his cheap sword and rushed to Lil Rig who was limping from minor injuries.

"Don't worry, Lil Rig. It's no big deal. You are safe with me, let me just get my-"

The Scripture was handed to him from behind his back.

"Here Sir Lysander. You need this to heal him, right? Though, you didn't seem to need it fighting those Beastmen just now," Dante said.

"Yes... Yes... Thank you, Dante! I didn't know I had it in me after all these years. Always just relying on invocations to survive and all."

Dante smiled in agreement with his cute 4-year-old face.

He then turned to Ravka who was with him this whole time, stopping him from helping Sir Lysander during the fight, like she knew what would happen.

He had realized Ravka had planned it all along so that he would see Sir Lysander's true power.

And Dante could now only imagine the depth of lies that Sir Lysander had been telling him, and what truths he had been withholding.