While the red bear was healing its wounds, Roy and Marth were encircled by a group of ten knights. With a sword in his right hand and a staff in his left, Roy felt truly caught off-guard. Knowing that dual wielding his two weapons will only get him killed, Roy put his staff down on the ground and opted to stick with his sword. There was no way for him to use his fireball against targets that were this close without hurting both himself and Marth.

“Traitor and criminal, prepare to be executed!”

The knights’ swords glinted with a red aura as they dashed toward the stranded duo. Marth turned around to face the knights charging at them from their backs, while Roy focused on those in front of him.

The young man parried the first knight’s strike before kicking the second one toward the rest of his comrades. Roy gritted his teeth as his sword had shown signs of cracking from the last clash. From his left, another knight pounced at him with an aura-clad sword.

Shit, I shouldn’t block it

Roy dashed to the side and tripped the incoming knight with his leg. As the man was falling to the ground, another knight jumped at Roy with an overhead slash. Roy gritted his teeth and clashed with the incoming attack using his own sword; it broke.

Seeing his blade crack, Roy’s eyes grew hollow. Fuck it, I’ll blast them off with me. With a desperate look on his face, Roy activated his spell and conjured a fireball atop his palm. Just as he was about to launch it, Marth’s group jumped in with a unified warcry.

Clark, Gerald, and Godwin all pounced at the knights that were overwhelming Roy. The young man smiled and canceled his spell; the fireball disappearing into ashes as he clenched his fist.

The knight that had fallen swiped at Roy’s leg with his sword, but the latter immediately jumped and dodged the attack. As he was falling down, Roy stomped on the knight’s shoulder with the force of a horse.

The knight screamed in pain as his bones were broken and crunched under Roy’s heel. However, the young man paid him no heed. He focused on the battlefield in front of him to find Godwin and Gerald pushing against the knights that were fighting him. Behind him, Clark and Marth were fighting against their enemies with ease. Marth’s green aura was even more potent than the knights’ red, and Clark's strength and agility grew every time a sword wounded him.

With the tides of the battle shifting in their favor, Roy let go of his broken sword and took the weapon of the knight he had been stepping on for the whole time. The man was his own weapon’s first victim in this war.

After killing the knight, Roy was ready to join Gerald and Godfrey when the beastly roar of the red bear shook his spine. The dusty and chaotic battlefield didn’t allow Roy to see much beyond the area around him, but he didn’t need to look far. The mangled and twisted body of Parker flew across the battlefield before crashing into a tree a dozen meters away from him.

Roy was shocked for a second, with his mind blanking out at what his eyes had seen. However, he could only afford that luxury for a short time. With its vitality reinvigorated, the beast rampaged through the battlefield. It did not differentiate between John’s army and Roy’s comrades in the slightest. It only wanted to taste human blood.

Soon, it looked in Roy’s general direction. The young boy instinctively felt the danger and screamed, “Run, everyone!”

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Godwin and Gerald immediately listened to Roy’s order and pushed the knights that they were fighting against before falling back. The young man activated his spell instantly and kept his fireball at the ready.

The knights were confused by the villagers’ actions before they charged toward Roy and his men. However, before they could take two steps, the beast rushed toward them with a primal roar. Using all the energy and momentum it could muster, it slammed its giant paw on one of the knights, crushing him into a paste.

The crater that the beast’s paw had created raised the ground under Roy’s feet and made him along with Godwin and Gerald fall to their knees. The red bear then swiped the two knights that were left with its arm, sending them flying to the rest of their army.

As Roy’s eyes locked with the bear’s, an insane idea took shape in his mind. Fuck you, John!

The young man launched the fireball in his hand at the bear’s face, before running to the left with all his might. After a second, he looked back to see the beast enraged and chasing after him. Roy grinned, his plan had worked.

He then looked back in front of him, at the army of John that filled the clearing and the forest. The bulk of the noble’s army had not joined the fight yet, waiting for the red bear to massacre his friends before they swoop in for the kill. Roy wanted to flip the script on them.

Roy locked eyes with a squad of five knights before dashing toward them with all his power. Their faces morphed from confusion to shock, to outright panic.

“Stupid fuckers.”

By the time the knights understood what was about to happen, Roy had already reached in front of them with the red bear chasing right behind him. With a small jump, Roy shifted his momentum to the right, letting the seven-meter-tall beast crash right into the knight squad.

Roy waited a few seconds for the beast to smash and bite through any survivor of its initial attack before looking back to the rest of the knight army. With the order of John, the knights shifted their attention towards him and charged.

“Come, let’s go in!”

Fred charged past Roy before Alfonse followed closely after him. Roy was surprised at the unexpected reinforcement before feeling relieved. With his high agility, Roy caught back to his two friends in a second; the red beast following closely behind him.

In front of them were two knight squads. The first was charging at them directly from the front, while the other was flanking them from the left. The three friends exchanged eye and hand signals with incredible speed before they split into two groups.

Fred activated his skill before charging at the flanking squad with his barrier. Just as he crashed into them, Alfonse followed immediately after and slashed through their captain’s neck.

On the other hand, Roy kept a pace that the red bear could keep up with and focused on the squad that was in front of him. The distance between the two rapidly closed. Twenty meters, ten meters, five meters, the knights were shocked and confused at Roy’s suicidal tendencies before they halted.

Seeing their reaction, Roy grinned and continued. Just as he was right about to crash into their swords and armor, Roy put all of his strength in one step and jumped above the knights. They did not have any time to process the young man’s actions before the giant beast crashed into them.

With the red bear preoccupied with eating and fighting the surviving knights of the poor squad, Roy turned and glared at his ultimate target. John’s eyes were the epitome of fear and panic at the chaos that the young man had caused.

We’re just getting started, motherfucker!

With his goal right in front of him and renewed vigor, Roy ran toward the lord. He didn’t need to look back as he knew that the red bear would follow him immediately after it finished off the tasty treats that were in front of it.

Roy dashed past one knight squad after the other. Even as they used their aura and skill, the young man’s base agility was that much higher than theirs. With quick movements, he would feint them in one direction before dashing in the other.

Roy clenched his teeth as he reached ever closer to his goal. The terrified look on Lord John’s face only made him push even further. However, with one final dash toward the scared noble, a twisting vine clutched Roy’s ankle and raised him high in the air.

Looking upside down behind him, the red bear was charging at him on all four; its eyes were full of rage.

Oh fuck.