Zara climbed the stairs and entered the entry room of the castle, leaving Calamity behind to clean up the battlefield. The door to the great hall was already wide open, allowing her to see into the room. She locked eyes with Lord Ingvar as he rose from his seat at the back of the room. Looks like I’ll be dealing with him first.

Ingvar was a giant of a man, Towering at over five metres tall. The great hall and the entrance had been purpose built to hold him, whereas the rest of the buildings in the keep were not. Because of this, he spent most of his time spare time in the great hall when he wasn’t out fighting.

He was wearing a set of lustrous white plate armour with a short blue cape. At least, short in comparison to him. The cape was more than big enough to wrap around Zara several times over.

He unsheathed the swords at his waist, giving Zara a good view of what she was up against. He wielded two curved swords roughly half his height in length. The blades gleamed under the sunlight coming from the massive floor to ceiling windows behind him.

His appearance alone would’ve warded off most challengers, but not Zara. His monstrous size posed a great challenge to her. One that she was eagerly excited to face.

With speed belying his stature, Ingvar charged forward, crossing the length of the hall in a matter of moments, practically gliding across floor as he slashed down at her with his swords. His cape fluttered in the air behind him.

She dodged between his legs as the swords came crashing down, sending a shockwave through the ground. She darted out of the way and further into the great hall. She dashed at him and swung her axe at his left leg, hoping to bring him down to the ground, or at the very least, slow him down. Instead, the axe left only a thin scratch on his armour.

She dodged out of the way of the falling cape, not wanting to get tangled up in it. She distanced herself from him, hoping to goad him into another easily punishable strike. This might take longer than I expected.

Ingvar leapt at her, his head nearly reaching the ceiling as one of his swords came crashing down at her.

Zara dodged out of the way, only to be met with the second sword sweeping up at her. She had no choice but to block it with her axe. Her bones creaked under the pressure as she held his sword back for a moment, but he was too strong.

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She was sent flying through the sky and crashed into the wall. She pulled herself out of the wall and shrugged off the pain just in time to dodge out of the way of another charging slash.

She brought her axe back down on the same point as before, this time denting the armour slightly.

Ingvar spun around, slashing the sword in his left hand back at her at the same time. She parried the blow with her axe and allowed the force of it to send her flying back. I just need to keep hitting that spot.

However, Ingvar seemed to know what she was thinking. He used his vastly longer reach to strike out at her while staying light on his feet and maintaining a safe distance.

She batted away and dodged each of his strikes, furious at his actions. But each time she tried to close the distance, He would either step back or unleash a flurry of blows that stopped her in her tracks.

She barely managed to keep herself safe when he did so. Dodging the attacks by a hair’s breadth when she could, and taking the attacks head on with her axe and armour when she couldn’t.

Come on you coward! Furious, she coated her body in a blackish gold glow and threw her axe at him.

The axe ripped through the sky with a baleful scream, forcing Ingvar to block it with both his swords. The weapons collided and sparks flew. Thin cracks started to form on his swords as the energy of the attack dispersed and the axe fell to the ground.

Zara was temporarily left without a weapon, but she had got what she needed. While Ingvar was distracted blocking her axe, she had closed the distance. Sliding between his legs, she pounded away on the damaged armour with her glowing, gauntleted fists.

With each strike, the armour dented more and more, until it could hold no longer. The armour snapped under her repeated fast strikes and dug into his calf and drawing the first blood of the fight.

Grunting in pain, he kicked her with enough force to send her flying through the wall.

Crashing through the wall, she bounced and skidded along the ground, landing in the fireplace and knocking over the cooking pot that was hanging above it. The hot stew that was being prepared for the lord’s meal poured over her.

Utterly seething, she looked around to find a chubby young man cowering under a table, looking at her with fear in his eyes. He paled when she turned to face him and soiled himself.

Ignoring the disgusting man, she jumped out of the fire and hopped back through the hole in the wall to get back in the fight.

~

Staring at the ominous black knight wreathed in flames, Anthony saw his life flash before his eyes. He felt something in his pants, but he couldn’t care less, for he was sure that he was about to die at the knight’s hands.

He almost fainted from relief when the knight jumped back through the hole in the wall. He scrambled to his feet and ran for his life, not caring at all about the fire that was spreading in the kitchen. I need to see if Miriam’s okay.

Running through the exit, he spotted their small house and barged through the door without knocking. Struggling to breath, he slumped down against the door and looked at the woman staring at him while awkwardly wielding her husband’s sword.

“We need to leave. Now.”