As if the battle had already been decided, the villagers stood behind Janna. This made Jeanne a very nervous captain.

Ten minutes earlier.

"Get all the rocks for the construction. And any small round wood pieces. Cut them into small balls."

Janna gave out the order to the guild adventurers and the volunteer villagers. She would not force the weak and feeble villagers to pick up weapons.

Additionally, if Janna were to lose, they would be fine. Since the rule of the Zatiax army is that if you don't hold a weapon against them, then they will not kill you. It was the benevolence of the first Zatiax king to his enemies. But the law says nothing about pillaging and destroying villages along their war paths.

"You're not coming with us."

Janna was staring furiously at a little girl. It was a little girl that Janna had seen around the village all the time. A nine years old girl with dark brown hair and a big scar of her left cheek.

"Someone get little Caity back to her mother."

The little girl was very brave in wanting to fight even if she didn't know how to fight. This was a reminder to the volunteers and Janna herself what they were fighting for. With a resolve stronger than ever, they left to face the enemy army with four to five of the items they had carved with the wood blocks.

Back to the present.

"I suggest turning back."

Janna shouted at Jeanne and her soldiers.

"We can't do that."

Jeanne answered back.

"Stop the chit-chat."

The man besides Jeanne angrily said. A very annoyed and nasty expression on his face.

"Get moving and kill them."

The man shouted. At his words, all the empire's soldiers started moving forwards. At a steady paced march up the hill.

Rennet saw the man shout and he was looking at him closely. He felt he had seen him somewhere before. Rennet shifted his head to look at Janna.

Janna was holding her sword's hilt, still in her sword sheath by her waist.

"Why are your hands shaking?"

Janna's hand on her sword was trembling uncontrollably.

"I can't help it."

"Why?"

"I've never been in a real fight."

"Didn't you say you fought some demons before?"

"I did, but Thea was around back then. And they were similar in strength."

"So now that she's not here, and you're against a strong foe, you're scared?"

"..."

It was true. Without Thea around, Janna didn't have much confidence in herself.

"I'll tell you what. If your hands keep shaking like that, then you'll die here."

It was harsh but true words. A battle was no place to be scarred.

"How can I keep my hands from not trembling?"

"It's easy. You just need courage and determination. Courage comes from testing yourself. Determination, you get from asking yourself 'why am I fighting?'"

"I'm fighting to protect the village and the people."

Janna gave a straightforward answer that was typical of a good person. Not that being typical and virtuous was a bad thing.

"Is that so? Then you only have to test yourself against that captain. Find your limit."

The enemy was running towards the village at this point.

"Throw them!"

Rennet ordered the villagers. The villagers moved their hands immediately. As the soldiers of the Golden Sun Order rushed up the sloped ground, they saw objects flying towards them.

The people at the front raised their shields up to block. Not knowing what they were, they braced for impact. The objects hit their shields and bounced off lightly.

"Huh? What is this?"

One soldier was confused. He saw the objects on the ground. It was wooden balls the size of an adult's finger. It was barely anything dangerous. He took his foot and stepped over it, ignoring it completely.

The hundreds of wooden balls fell on the soldiers. The soldiers in the front avoided it.

"Keep marching."

The dark-blue haired man shouted again. Scoffing at the balls thrown by the villagers. But as he rode forward on his horse, he started to hear sounds of metal clanking.

Looking back, he saw his soldiers falling down.

"What the hell are you worms doing?!"

He shouted at the soldiers.

The soldiers in the middle had fallen down after they slipped on the balls. They were following closely behind the front row of soldiers but they didn't see the balls on the floor clearly. All it took was one person to make a mistake and topple.

"Get back up."

The man shouted at the soldiers.

The soldiers got back on their feet, The bodies of the ones who had fallen down were hurting from the metal armor they were wearing clashing with the others.

They moved a bit far from the other soldiers. Creating some space to look at the ground.

But they weren't given much chance to look at the ground as the soldiers in the front started to run to the left and right. As the shield bearing vanguards at the front parted like the red sea, the spearman behind them saw giant one meter wide logs rolling down from the village's direction.

With no time to escape, they were hit by the logs rolling down the forty meters of distance between them. It was a lot of damage done to them in a single instance. A heavy tree log rolling down a hill side is enough to kill a normal person.

These were the soldiers of the best empire in the world. So they had so some standards to their physics, which allowed them to survive. But that was it. A lot of the soldiers had their bones broken and twisted after the two attacks.

It was the end of these soldiers moving forward. The other soldiers were rightfully frightened. Hesitant to move forward.

These soldiers were not seasoned and trained soldiers. They were young men and women that were taken into the army. They feared for their lives.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"Stop moving forward."

As if to break the silence, Jeanne came down from her horse and walked forwards by herself. She drew her sword from her side. A shiny white longsword.

"I'll fight alone."

Jeanne said as she moved forward by herself. Telling her soldiers to move back.

"...captain..."

The soldiers were emotional at their captain's bravery and reckless sacrifice to spare them.

Another log headed down the hill. It was easy for Jeanne to dodge at a four star swordswoman. But she didn't as it would hit her soldiers behind her as they backed down.

Jeanne gathered her mana and aura. She covered her blade with the fire element of the Zatiax Empire that she had been taught. A swift strike towards the wood log.

A fire beam flew out from her sword in the shape of her swing. It flew out like fire and struck the log headed down.

A clean cut through the log and onto the ground. A few more sword beams from Jeanne and the log was cut into several pieces. The bright yellow fire burned the log into ash.

Jeanne walked forward into the fire covered ground. Stepping into the fire didn't seem to matter to her. Her silver armor protected her from the fire. But her body was also in tune with the element of fire. A little heat was nothing to her.

"I challenge you to a one on one."

She pointed her longsword at Janna.

"I accept."

"If you win, you can kill me. But let my men go."

"How can I be sure that they won't keep fighting?"

"They won't do that. They're all weak and pathetic."

The soldiers were listening and were ashamed. It was indeed true that they were not up to Jeanne's standard as soldiers. It hurt their hearts still to hear it directly from Jeanne.

"Then, the same thing for the people behind me."

Janna point her thump backwards.

"We wouldn't harm them anyways, but I will honor it nonetheless."

"I sure hope so."

Janna jumped forward to face Jeanne in a one on one. It was unconventional for the most powerful people from the two sides of a conflict to fight while their forces stood back and watched. Although, Janna's side was only a few decent adventurers and some villagers who had no fighting experience.

As Janna and Jeanne were getting ready to exchange blows, the two five star martial artists had already begun fighting.

There was no explosive energy usage on their side. It was all under control, which was just another form of skill expression for them.

The guisarme from the enemy stabbed fast at Rennet's stomach. But Rennet's sword deflected it swiftly. They were almost equally matched.

Sparks flew every time their weapons clashed. And their weapons were clashing a lot. These were martial artists in their peak power as of this moment. No problem with their health, and no injuries hindering their body.

The one who would be victorious in the end would be the one who gained a chance attack.

After a clash of their weapons, the two fell to the ground and stared at each other.

"Tell me your name, at least."

Rennet jokingly asked.

"Do you think you deserve to know my name? Just keep trying to put up a fight and get killed by my hands."

"Tsk, I knew you would be one of those type."

The annoying and trashy type that views others as nothing more than trash they need to trample on.

"Don't die too fast, you bear!"

The man launched himself forward again. His body was covered in a red aura. His Guisarme was once again stabbing forward.

"Ghastly split!"

The man shouted. As his guisarme was heading closer to Rennet, it split in two. Rennet was caught off guard. He deflected one blade, but the other nicked his arm.

"Nasty trick."

Now Rennet's big sword was glowing A silvery grey color like his hair.

"Downward claw."

A swing from above at the man. A powerful swing like the heavy claw of a bear.

"Hah!"

Using the hooked side of the guisarme, he blocked the attack head on with his body. A strong attack that required some physical exertion.

"Is that all?"

The man had a maniacal laugh on his face.

"You?!"

It seemed Rennet finally recognized the man. The maniacal laughing face jogged his memory.

"Lusan!"

"Oh, you know me?"

"Who wouldn't remember a sick bastard like you?"

Rennet recalled a conversation he had with a mercenary buddy of his, Rotser. He mentioned an attack from the Zatiax Empire on the southern end of the beast kingdom, Cleovantra. A man was making a name for himself. This was some four years ago.

"A sick bastard who likes to use his guisarme to cut his enemy's limbs off and pull their head's off."

"Haha. It's an honor to be recognized."

"Can't say it's the same. I'll make sure to kill you today, bastard."

Rennet had a duty to kill this Lusan here, right and now. Lusan became famous for using a mysterious red colored technique to kill the beastpeople on the battlefield. It left the bones brittle and the meat dry. A pretty disgusting technique.

But this was pretty common for the Zatiax Empire who used fire mages in their army.

The exchange between them continued. As the attacks came down, their speed increased. It was impossible for the human eye to keep up with them now. Each second, ten attacks seem to happen. A flurry of angle mixed in the attacks of Lusan because of his ghastly split attack.

Rennet was full of small wounds all over his body.

"Haha, you can't even take my attacks. Are you really on a similar level to me?"

Lusan was laughing.

"Haven't you heard the saying?"

Rennet's body was slightly glowing. A silver glow surrounded him. His hair was becoming sharp like a blade.

"Don't poke a bear."

The blade Rennet was holding was once again above his head. He swung it down.

"Double claw!"

Taking the same attack as before but the power was doubled. Lusan was pushed back by a step.

"That's more like it."

Lusan was enjoying the fight.

"You won't fall too easy, right?"

Lusan asked Rennet.

"Because I want to try a thing."

But he didn't want an answer. A new red color glow enveloped his body and guisarme. A darker blood colored red.

"What is that?"

Rennet felt a sense of danger from this dark red aura. It was like a crawling feeling up his arm.

"Huh?"

It's wasn't just a feeling. Rennet looked at his arm and found that the blood from the wounds earlier was wiggling a bit.

"Blood magic?"

The dark red aura was actually controlling the mana left in the wound Lusan made on Rennet's body.

"Pierce!"

Lusan said softly. The blood around the wounds felt like needles as they pierced into Rennet's body. It was painful across all the wounds the previous exchanges had made.

"I recently acquired this useful technique."

Certain of his victory, Lusan started walk up with his guisarme at the side.

"It lets me leave mana in the wounds I make. And then I can do this."

The blood in the wounds pierced again into Rennet's body. It seemed there was nothing Rennet could do.

"In the end, you only amounted to this much in front of me."

Lusan had a satisfied grin on his face.

"Time to cut you put."

Lusan's face was slightly flushed. He was a perverted bastard that loved cutting the limbs off of his enemies.

"...haa..."

Rennet let out a long breath. The breath was hot.

You have to remember. Rennet taught Janna the Berserk King's martial arts. There is no reason he himself wouldn't have learnt it. And when do berserker's become powerful?

It's when they have taken a good amount of damage. Like Rennet had right now.

"Breaker sword."

"What?!"

Rennet's sword was covered in a hardened silver light.

"Stone break!"

Rennet swung his sword from his crouched position. It was much faster than before and much stronger.

Lusan was able to raise his guisarme is defense. But he was launched away by the sword.

"I'm not done yet. Steel break!"

Rennet appeared right next to Lusan in a flash. It was another technique that made him super fast on his feet. He swung his sword againt.

This time, the guisarme that Lusan was hold broke. And the sword struck his chest. Lusan was plummeted into the ground. His chest was bleeding heavily.

"...cough, cough....what...was...that..."

Lusan had no time to attack back or even react to Rennet. He looked at Rennet who was covered in a red aura.

"I told you you're dying today."

Rennet said as he smashed Lusan's face with his sword. Putting an end to his life.

With the fight over, the red aura around Rennet calmed down. His body also started to become thin. His huge structured body became like that of a young adult. And also like he had been starved.

On the other side, Jeanne was attacking Janna relentlessly. Janna was being pushed back very easily by Jeanne.

"Why are you standing in my way with only this much power?"

Jeanne was questioning Janna.

"You're the one who attacked us!"

"I have to follow orders."

Jeanne did a side slash at Janna. A cut formed on Janna's arm.

"Why don't you just move away from this place?"

Jeanne continued to attack Janna. Multiple cuts formed on her body. One thing that Janna had over others was her body. A sturdy and durable body that wasn't like others on the same level of swordsmanship.

"Move away."

Jeanne told Janna to stop fighting.

"No."

But was met with only a single word.

"Get out off my way!"

Jeanne was getting impatient and angry.

"Get away!"

And a little desperate.

Every conflict had a reason. Janna had a inner conflict because she was scared to lose her life. Jeanne was desperate because she was in a conflict of her own. These two had something in common.

The reason they kept fighting was they wanted to protect the people behind them.

But it seemed like Jeanne would be the victor in the end.

"Why can't you fight back?!"

Jeanne was shouting at Janna.

"I....will..."

Janna's mind harked back to words that Rennet had told her.

'You're one step away from reaching the next level. All you're missing is the courage to abandon your old self.'

How does one abandon their old self? They find motivation. A fat person finds motivation to become healthy. It could be just about their health or something else like they fell for a girl. Motivation can lead to change.

Janna thought about it a lot before this fight with Jeanne. Why was she fighting? Why was she crossing swords with Jeanne when she was so scared of losing her life? She came to the conclusion that she was fighting to protect the village, the homes built here and the people that lived here.

So there was her motivation. So why wasn't she going past the three star swordswoman rank? Why wasn't her aura becoming a complete aura?

What was it?

Jeanne stood there waiting for Janna's sentence to end.

A sudden image popped up in Janna's head. The little girl she saw before coming into this. The nine years old girl with dark brown hair and a big scar of her left cheek. Little Caity.

Janna remembered the smile little Caity would have as Janna walked past her during the day. The little hand she would wave in the air towards Janna in excitement.

"I will protect them!"

Janna realized that it was the happiness of the people that she really needed to protect. The homes could be rebuilt, the village could be rebuilt. But the people couldn't be. Their happiness couldn't be replaced in another place. That was what Janna really needed to fight for.

Like a raging river, Janna's life energy started to swirl violently in her body.