“What’s this?” I asked.

“It’s a horse,” Guinevere said.

“I know that,” I said. “Why am I looking at it?”

“Because we’re going to ride them,” she said giving me a strange look.

“This isn’t even gifted,” I said gesturing to the horse which was also looking at me with distrust. “I can run fifty times faster than it; It serves no purpose.”

“Its tradition,” Guinevere said. “You know how to ride right?”

“A motorcycle,” I said. “I’m not a caveman why would I know how to ride a horse?”

“You’ve ridden a dragon,” she said.

“Hey,” Exar growled crossing his arms.

“I sat on his back,” I said. “He is an intelligent creature and can steer and do all that other stuff for himself.”

“It’s just a horse,” Guinevere said swinging herself into the saddle.

I sighed and pulled myself into the saddle of my own horse. Kalin was already sitting on the back of his horse and at least I wasn’t alone in looking uncomfortable.

Exar stepped back. “It’s best I don’t try to get on one of those things,” he said looking at the horse that had been offered to him which was yanking at its bridle trying to flee its eyes rolling in terror as it strained away from him. “I’ll just hang back here.”

We rode out of the city, and I got a look at the countryside. More nobles joined the procession, I looked around but didn’t spot Vone. Good I wanted to put that off for as long as possible. I did, however, see Sir Kay and Sir Lancelot and stiffened for a moment before forcing myself to relax.

“Kalin you are to stay by Lady Guinevere’s side at all times,” I said my voice low so as not to carry. “You are her shadow for today, don’t draw attention to yourself just observe and keep yourself safe.”

“Yes sir,” Kalin said.

“I can take care of myself,” Guinevere said.

“Remember last time someone tried to assassinate you,” I said. “We don’t know who sent them or what their resources are.”

“Fine,” Guinevere relented. “We’re going to be surrounded by other nobles though, this is all fake danger on this hunt, not a real fight.”

“Then I hope I’m right,” I said.

The procession continued and I felt my spine go straighter and straighter, the hair along the back of my neck standing up as Lancelot and Sir Kay drifted close to us.

“Lady Guinevere,” Lancelot said, bowing his head to her. “I didn’t think you liked these sort of events.”

“I don’t,” Guinevere said. “I just came out to get some fresh air.”

“And who is your escort?” Kay asked. “I don’t think I’ve met him before.”

“Call me Ismael,” I said.

“How did you two meet?” Lancelot asked.

“She wants me to fight the prince,” I said.

“What?” Lancelot asked, turning toward Guinevere.

“It’s not a secret that Arthur and I haven’t been getting along,” Guinevere said with a shrug. “He’s forcing me into this, I warned him I would seek out someone else to replace him.”

“So, you chose this…” Kay said gesturing towards me at a loss for words.

“Brute, barbarian, hedge knight, savage,” I said listing off suggestions for him.

“Yes,” Kay said flatly. “You don’t seem ashamed of being those things.”

“Society is often disappointing,” I said with a shrug. “Not being accepted by it isn’t the worst thing that could happen.”

“So, you’re going to fight Arthur and win Guinevere’s hand?” Lancelot asked skeptically looking me over. “You think someone like you can take on the Duelist?”

“You Champions,” I said shaking my head. “You think being chosen by some god makes you better than the rest of us “commoners”, but I’ve never seen you do anything truly spectacular or worthy of the esteem you think your due.”

“And what have you done to prove your more than that?” Lancelot asked.

“When you see me face Arthur you’ll see,” I said turning my back on him.

“You seem confident you’ll make it that far in the tourney,” Lancelot said he looked at the other side of Guinevere where Kalin sat on his horse his eyes sharp and warry. “Who is this boy?”

“My apprentice,” I said.

“Why do you have an apprentice?” Kay asked.

“Because I have something to teach of course,” I said.

The column of horses entered the tree line and began fanning out. Squires and pages began beating the bushes to flush out prey. A group of knights rode in-between us and my horse spooked and ran off into the trees. I jumped off but was already separated from the group.

There is a lot of focus on you, Voidra said. Hungry, aggressive, and anxious as well. I think you might be the target of this assassination this time.

“Well, it’s nice to spread the love around,” I said brushing pine needles off as I stepped into the brush. The forest around me was familiar and I was reminded of the vision a few nights ago. The dark leather armored assassins, having to go all out and Merlin arriving and killing me.

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Bending down I scratched an enchantment into the side of a tree filling it with mana infused gem dust and activating the enchantment. The sounds of the other hunters faded as I went from tree to tree setting up the anti-scrying to cover a wide swathe of the forest. The distant hunting horns grew farther and farther away, and I was actually getting a little bored.

Cymanthia Bush: Type; plant, Rarity: Rare. The berries of this bush contain a mana nullification poison. When a single berry is ingested, for the next twenty-four hours, the target cannot gain, lose, or utilize their mana pool in any way rendering all abilities active and passive that require mana inert for the duration.

The poison was interesting, I couldn’t think of an immediate use for it. Even so I had survived various circumstances thanks to always keeping a wide variety of herbs on me, I uprooted the entire bush placing it into my storage. There were a few hundred of the berries on it and keeping the plant alive would help to keep them fresh for longer. I kept moving for a little while but eventually I’d created a large enough anti-scrying area that I was satisfied.

Finally, I sat cross legged and waited.

They are here, Voidra said.

“You can stop hiding in the shadows now,” I said without opening my eyes. I couldn’t feel them with my tremor soles yet or see them with my foresight, but I didn’t doubt Voidra.

“You must have very keen ears,” a swathe male voice said. The voice was familiar, and I felt the pieces slowly falling into place.

“Something like that,” I said standing up.

Versu the Bladelord; Gifted- humanoid/human, Exarch, Rank: 1348

“Did you lose the Undefeated title or just equip a different one?” I asked as I examined his description.

“Who are you?” Versu asked uneasily as the dark clad assassins surrounded me.

“I believe a demonstration would explain better,” I said as black mist surrounded me.

Red lightning forked out from my left hand and Clarent snapped into my right hand. I jumped forward slashing down as Versu retreated from me. The assassins around me lunged forwards but limbs of void energy formed and lashed out spilling their guts out onto the forest floor.

“Warlord,” Versu said. “We should have known it was you.” He slashed down with his sword, and I blocked sliding across the ground as his higher strength and Attributes clashed with mine.

“Not surprised to see me alive?” I asked as I casually ducked and twisted around his spinning sword.

“Reports of your survival have reached us, you were spotted on the battlefield a few days ago,” Versu said blocking a thrust of my spear and a slash of my Thorn and Clarent.

“Who sent you after me?” I asked.

“Sorry,” Versu said, and I could tell he was smiling even if I couldn’t see his face. “That privileged information.”

I blocked the strike of his sword deflected an arrow shot towards my back. Elemental attacks and abilities were unleashed against me some I just tanked others I dodged or turned incorporeal for letting them pass through me. Versu spun around me trying to get at my back, but I had grown far stronger since the last time I had fought him.

“You’re an Exarch so you wouldn’t serve someone weaker than you,” I mused as I blocked the strikes of his sword. “And the weapon you had was a Camelot artifact implying you have access to someone with high security clearance here.”

“Careful,” Versu warned me. “You don’t know what your pushing against.”

“Merlin,” I said and watched his eyes widen in shock for just a moment.

Versu went faster and faster now as he tried to overwhelm me with his speed and strength. “And now you have to die for sure,” he growled.

“Were we just dancing before?” I asked.

The two of us were alone now, the other assassins smoking corpses on the ground. Versu launched himself at me his sword a blur as it sang through the air with each slash and swipe. Only Foresight and activating the speed boost on my boots let me stay ahead of the sword and I went all out against him. As the fight ramped up the time to complete it went down, one way or another one of us would probably be dead within the next thirty seconds.

---

The distant rumble of thunder was barely audible over the thunder of horse hooves as they harried the Erymanthian boar. Guinevere’s eyes slid back to see Kalin awkwardly yanking on the reins of his horse and keeping close behind her. Mordred had disappeared but she wasn’t too worried about him, the sound of that thunder was probably his doing.

Lancelot and Kay were busy luckily charging the boar with long couched spears. She pulled her horse to a stop and watched as the spears hit the boar. It let out a bellow of pain as the boar three times the size of any of their horses tossed the two men off their horses into the air. They weren’t using abilities to hunt it, the boar was only Veteran rank and outnumbered as much as it was abilities would have taken any of the little challenge still left in the hunt.

Lancelot rolled to his feet holding out his hand and catching another spear. The boar charged him again and he braced the spear in the ground. The boar hit the spear and then Lancelot sending the champion flying. He hit a tree and it cracked at the base of its trunk. He pushed himself up and staggered forwards before straightening his back with an audible pop.

The boar was dead, and the nobles applauded Guinevere joining in for appearances sake. She didn’t feel any real joy in this, the boar wasn’t a hostile monster and had never had a real chance against them. It had known it was dead the moment it saw the hunting party but had struggled and fought to the very end and for that she actually admired it.

The gathered around Lancelot congratulating him until their heads twisted the sound of thunder continuing.

“What is that sound?” Kay asked.

---

My back hit a tree and I ducked Versu’s sword slashing through the trunk above my head. My spear stabbed and my swords slashed out and my claws tried to grab the man. Our blood dripped from several wounds across mine and his body.

Our movement had slowed down as both of us had our stamina pools almost completely gassed. He slashed down at me from above and I ducked under his slower strike and rammed Clarent through his chest. He looked down at the crimson lightning blade and glared at me.

“This isn’t the end of this Warlord,” he said. “Merlin will learn of your presence.”

His body turned to a red mist and began to fly away.

“Not this time,” I growled holding out my hand. I gripped the particles of mist with Telekinesis drawing it back to me.

It was like trying to grab an eel as Versu tried to wriggle and twist out of my grasp.

“You can’t hold me,” Versu said his voice somehow still audible even as a mist. “This form is immune to all damage, already your fellow hunters will be coming here. Your running out of time.”

I believed him, this escape method was likely immune to all damage types. But I didn’t plan on blasting it with lightning or fireballs.

“Hell-dragon’s Armory,” I said.

Subject is a living creature and cannot be altered by this ability.

I ignored the notification pushing ethereal through ability and into Versu. Whatever had allowed him to speak also let him scream as the void energy flowed through his mist form as I drew it together compressing it into a single solid mass.

--

Guinevere followed the rest of the hunting procession as they moved towards where the source of the thunder had come from. They came across a clearing, the bushes and foliage torn up scorch marks marring the ground and trees huge chunks missing from several trunks.

“What happened?” Kay asked, riding forward to survey the scene as Mordred stood up from where he had been kneeling in the dirt.

“There was a fly,” Mordred said casually.

“You did all this,” Kay said gesturing to the clearing around them. “Because of a fly?” he asked disbelievingly.

“It was an annoying fly,” Mordred said with a shrug. “Did I miss the hunt?”

“Yes,” Kay said flatly turning his back on him and riding off.

Guinevere rode forwards holding the halter for his horse. Mordred and the horse glared at each other for a minute, but he reluctantly pulled himself into the saddle.

“What did you find?” Guinevere asked.

“I figured out who tried to have you killed last time,” I said. “They were after me this time, but I got some stuff out of them before… you know.”

“Who was it?” Guinevere asked as we rode alone deeper into the forest farther away from the rest of the hunting party.

“Not here,” Mordred said. “You’re going to want to be somewhere private when I tell you.”