Sayed looked down at his broken khopesh as it lay on the ground, its shards dissolving into dust before his very eyes. That blade had seen him through so many battles, not just across the Erth but also through the civil war that raged across Hajh for over a decade. His hand shook as he held onto Abed's khopesh in his free hand. That blade had been a brother to him, a constant companion by his side.

Now, it was gone.

"A life lost," he whispered as the fire in his heart dripped down to an ember. "So many memories, so many stories, all snuffed out in an instant."

"That is this sword's power." Siegfried smiled, raising his blade. "Any metal it touches that can rust instantly does so. It is a cursed sword unlike any other."

"A curse." Sayed closed his eyes. "Such an appropriate name for such a power. Not a blessing that thrives inside you, but a curse within the blade that eats away at nothing."

"I'll take your other blade in a moment." Siegfried swung his sword around his body before coming to rest with the blade before him. "Then you'll have nothing left but your curse. How effective will you be with no blades to channel your heat?"

"You have no idea what I will do to you for this," Sayed whispered, and the ember in his heart sparked. "You do not know the wrath I shall visit upon you through the power of God."

Again, the ember in his heart flared—every word, every second, the anger grew, feeding into his gate. Aether pooled into him as he opened himself to the second level of his blessing. The air around him shimmered as he looked up from where his sword lay and into the eyes of the man who did it. Cold blue eyes stared back.

They were the eyes of a monster. Siegfried had the same vacant stare of the Golden Throne's soldiers from the civil war. He had nothing left to live for, so he was a man who was willing to take petty pleasure out of harming those around him. Truly, if his sword's curse was to eat away at metal, it was a fitting curse.

"Your power belies your truth," Sayed said, taking a stance and pointing Abed's sword toward the ground. "If a sword is a reflection of a man's soul, your sword is as black as your heart."

"I think my blade will prove your petty words wrong," Siegfried said, hefting his sword before resettling it. "You've only got one left, so if you're is a reflection of your soul, then it's split in half."

Sayed let the power of his heat flow around him and closed his eyes. He opened himself up to the sounds of the world around him as he focused on the power of his blessing. The air around him burned as he stoked the flames of his heart into an inferno. Sweat ran down his back in rivulets and dried before it touched the end of his spine.

"Desert Mirage."

Sayed took in a breath as he opened his eyes, his image already shaking around him as he summoned a hazy image where he had been. He immediately began to move, changing the light reflecting off the air around him to show nothing at all as he left his illusory self behind.

His upgraded blessing allowed him to create illusory images like a desert mirage. It was not a power that aided him directly in a fight but allowed him to dazzle and mislead his opponents into striking at the wrong place. In a sword fight, even a single mistake could lead to a person's death. His blessing was a way to take advantage of that fact instead of making him just physically stronger.

"I don't see what the point is." Siegfried kept his eyes on the illusion as Sayed snuck his way around to his backside. "What do you think this mirage will do for you swordsman?"

Krrk.

Siegfried leaned forward on one leg, his muscles bulging as he gathered in aether and prepared to charge. "Cleaver's Cut!"

Sayed stayed silent. The key to his technique was to remain undetected. Sayed would lose his advantage if his opponent suspected that he was attacking an illusion. That was the one real problem with the second grade of his blessing. It was an advantage that could be taken away easily, at least partially.

Whoosh.

"What?"

Siegfried cut through the air, and Sayed's illusion shattered. Sayed stopped, holding Abed's khopesh above his head as he prepared his own technique. He took a wide stance, holding Abed's khopesh above his head as he lined up his attack. He would only need one attack to land to end Siegfried, and it would be a favorite.

"Demon's Thrust!"

Ting. Crunch.

He shot forward like a cannonball, throwing his arm forward as the burning bright edge of his khopesh lit the way. Metal met heated metal as he caught Siegfried's back, the man's armor pushing back against his thrust. The armor might have held him at bay if it had been a normal attack. However, Sayed's attack was fueled by the power of his blessing and the strength of his technique. He would pierce through that armor, even if it killed him.

Metal cracked and broke as he pushed through the armor, and Siegfried fell to the side under the force of the thrust. His blade clattered to the ground beside him as he fell away from Sayed's sword. However, Sayed took little pleasure in the small victory. He had lost his blade in the battle, which had been with him for many years. If he had been less blessed by God, he might have lost Abed's sword as well.

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That would have been unforgivable.

Thud.

Siegfried dropped to the ground, his hand outstretched toward his sword as Sayed stood up from his thrust. Sayed looked down on the man. His long blond hair covered his face as he lay in his armor, and darkness covered the hole Sayed had cut through his side. Sayed squinted in the darkness.

He noticed it at last. There was no blood.

Sayed's heart sank into his chest as he looked down at the man. He pulled back, but it felt like he was trapped in a sinkhole in the desert. His movements were painfully slow as he tried to create some distance between Siegfried and himself. He already knew that the man had some response to his attack. He wasn't going to go down in just one thrust.

"Cleaver's Flip."

Clatter. Thump.

A strong, gauntlet-clad hand caught hold of Sayed's ankle and pulled as hard as a hundred men at once. Sayed's vision swam through the air as he was pulled off his feat and thrown to the ground on his back. Abed's sword clattered beside him as he landed hard against his back on the cold ground.

"Oof." Sayed's breath escaped his mouth, and his vision blacked for a moment as he lay there, completely disoriented.

He should have expected it. He should have reacted faster to withdraw after his strike. God above, he should have finished off the man while he was on the floor with a second cut of his blade. However, he hadn't done that. He had been too confident in his strike, and now he paid the price.

"A pity." Siegfried rose, his massive blade balanced in one hand as he looked down on Sayed. "I'll take both of your blades and then you're head. All of your pomp was really for nothing."

Sayed's eyes flew to see Abed's blade resting on the ground far from his hand. Siegfried paced over to it, his sword in one hand with the tip pointing down as he approached Abed's khopesh. Sayed's eyes widened as he reached out for the blade. He needed to move. He needed to stand. By the grace of God, he needed to reach Abed's sword before it was too late.

"You will not take him, foul demon." Sayed threw himself up and away from the ground on one hand, throwing himself at Siegfried's blade without a second thought.

He slammed against the flat edge of the sword and sent it clattering against Siegfried's armor. This was no technique fueled by aether but sheer desperation on Sayed's part. He slammed hard into the flat edge of the sword and threw his arms around Siegfried's legs. Truly, he only wanted to tackle the man to the ground. Everything else was sheer instinct to keep him away from Abed's sword.

However, something happened that he didn't expect.

"No!" Siegfried yelled as the metal of the blade touched his armor. "You fool!"

Siegfried's armor immediately buckled under the blade's touch. From the point of contact, the metal turned dark brown before crumbling away into a dust cloud that spread across Siegfried's body. Sayed pulled back from the man, his eyes wide as the entire armor was reduced to dust.

All that was left was Siegfried, the man, standing in white cloth as he glared at Sayed. His gauntlets and boots remained, but the chest piece that made up his central armor was gone. Truly, the man could not control his cursed sword's power, which had to be his greatest weakness.

"You can't turn off a cursed item," Siegfried sputtered as he gestured down at his absent armor with one hand. "Do you know how careful I had to be to ensure they never touched?"

"A harrowing feat, to be sure." Sayed stood, holding out both hands as he stared down Siegfried.

Sayed kept himself between Siegfried and Abed's sword. He didn't try to draw the blade but had a new idea. He would not take down Siegfried with a blade but with his wits and skill. If Siegfried's cursed sword did not discriminate at the user's whim, then his blade was as harmful to himself as it was to his opponent. Sayed could use that to take him down.

"You'll not pick up your blade to face me?" Siegfried eyed Abed's sword. "Or are you too afraid you will lose it?"

"I merely do not wish to see my friend's memory sullied by such a deplorable weapon," Sayed said, holding out both arms. "So come for me, fiend, and I will show you why I am known as 'Sword Saint!'"

Siegfried gave a wicked smile, raising his blade as he stepped forward. Sayed welcomed him to come closer. His strategy would only work if he allowed the man to try and strike him down. Sayed took a deep breath, hoping his plan would work. If it didn't, he would be cleaved in twain, and Abed's sword would be destroyed as he died.

"I don't see the shimmer of your illusion from before, so you are there, flesh and blood. You plan to take my sword head-on and empty-handed." Siegfried said. "You're a madman, but I will not say that I won't enjoy repaying you for taking my armor."

"I will not witness you destroy my friend's sword," Sayed said, closing his eyes. "God itself will see me through my convictions."

"Then take the blade," Siegfried's voice raised. "Cleaver's Edge!"

Whoosh.

Sayed felt the air cleave in twain before the blade reached him. He opened his eyes, seeing the sword coming to cleave him from tip to bottom. He had to time his strike perfectly, or he would indeed be cut in half by Siegfried's sword. Sayed trusted in his instincts. He trusted in his skills honed through years of fighting with his swords. At the last possible moment, he unleashed his final move.

"Demon's Fists!"

Boom.

His arms bulged as he threw two punches together along the line of the sword's arc. A noise like thunder rippled out from where they caught the flat of the blade, and Sayed threw all of his strength into hitting the sword from both directions. Pain rippled up his arm like he had punched the great wall surrounding Hajh. His muscles screamed as the vibrations raced through his entire body and caused his teeth to clatter.

He wasn't the only one to experience the reverberations of the blow. The metal of Siegfried's blade shook itself up the man's arms and through his gauntlets. His body blurred as the vibrations went through his body as well. Both men stood there shaking in the aftermath of the attack.

"What is this?" Siegfried's voice shook as he struggled to pull his sword from between Sayed's fists.

"Your sword's end." Sayed grunted.

Crack.

As Sayed planned, the sword cracked at the point of impact, a line forming across the half of the blade as he applied pressure to it. Siegfried fell away from Sayed, only the hilt of the sword with half of the blade in his hand, while the other half clattered to the ground.

They had a moment of pause to recover from the vibrations, but Sayed forced himself to reach down and grab the remaining piece of the sword. Without hesitation, he picked up the edge, letting the blade cut into his palm as he thrust out into the remainder of Siegfried's sword.

He didn't know if it would work, but he didn't care. He needed to try. The sword that would rust any metal it touched came into contact with itself, and Sayed watched as both halves of the blade quickly turned brown and crumbled to dust. Said and Siegfried staggered back, both men now empty-handed, as the sword faded away.

"What have you done?"

"I have beaten your sword." Sayed took in a breath. "Now it is time that I defeated you."

"No!"

Before Sayed could pick up Abed's sword to finish the job, a vine reached out from the shadows, grabbing Siegfried by the ankle. He was pulled to the ground immediately before being dragged away. Sayed raised an eyebrow as he looked out over the shadows.

"What in God's name was that?"