A small dark figure kept running through a large battlefield, slipping in the mud with every other step. Its body was surrounded by a faint glowing aura barely keeping the bullets away from his skin. Sometimes, one of the projectiles managed to reach a bit further than the others, leaving a painful bruise on the man’s back. Falling down once again, he quickly gathered himself, grabbed his sword and shield from the ground and kept running, covered in dirt.

‘That’s definitely not what a field test is supposed to look like!’ Edward grimaced in pain.

The cold evening air brought with it a smell of something burning in the distance. Preoccupied with outrunning the enemy, Edward had no time to investigate its source. With a lingering taste of blood in his mouth, he once again turned to look at his pursuers. While the soldiers armed with guns surely weren’t a welcome sight, his eyes mostly stuck to the group with medieval weaponry catching up to him with unnatural speed, their body covered in an aura similar to his own.

‘Let’s hope that at least the rest of the squad is doing better than me.’

He heard loud explosions blasting from the main battlefield. Two fighter jets flew above him in the night sky. It was supposed to be a relatively unimportant area of the frontlines, where Edward and his squadron were sent for their first practice in the field. But for whatever reason, today the enemy happened to launch a powerful assault. To make it worse, a Legend from The House of Lu Bu led the strike force. Edward heard a lot of stories about the Legends growing up. They were a fearsome force on any battlefield, recognized by Valhalla or inheritors of powerful feats, they drew on the power of their legend, manifesting miraculous abilities in a fight.

Naturally, Edward didn’t want to be anywhere close to this guy. He kept rushing in the direction of nearby mountains. As expected, regular soldiers couldn’t keep up with his pace, but the small group of enhanced warriors was chasing ever closer behind. Noticing an opening in the rocky cliffs he turned towards it. While the entrance to the valley was drawing closer, his legs struggled to keep up the pace any longer.

‘Come on, have to keep moving at least a little longer.’

Forcing his body to listen, he finally reached the narrow passage. But hearing the steps getting louder behind him, he knew a fight was unavoidable. The only hope was to somehow survive until the reinforcements arrived. With a heavy breath, he turned around. His ethereal aura, feeble like a candle flame in the wind.

In his eyes, five opponents had already assembled into a fan-shaped formation. Three men with swords and shields like himself, another wielding a greatsword, and a woman holding a spear. As Edward slowly backed away towards the valley, trying to reduce the possible attack paths, the opposing group approached.

“I wasn’t aware the House of Alexander was filled with cowards these days” the woman said, brandishing her spear. One of the warriors on her left stepped in with a slash, his sword bouncing off of Edward’s shield.

‘Right now they’re just probing me, but in this scenario, the only chance I have is if I create a way to deal with them one by one, before the others can exploit the opening.’

Edward tried to control his breathing, focusing on calming his shaking body. He tried to squeeze even more energy from his empty reserves. Sharp pain grasped his heart, leaving him breathless for a moment, but his aura regained some vigour, now much brighter than before. He felt his body filling with strength once again.

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[Your predicament has gained the attention of a Valkyrie.]

[She looks closely at your next actions.]

A calm ethereal voice sounded in Edward’s mind. He didn’t even pay attention to it at the time, under the pressure of his situation. His mind worked on overdrive, analysing the surroundings, and preparing for battle. He stood perfectly still, not even blinking. The moment another opponent took a step closer than his allies, Edward lunged forward with a lightning-fast slash across the neck, before the man could even swing his sword.

A lifeless body fell to the ground, sword and shield still in hand. Edward’s face made an ugly grimace. As a novice warrior, his mind was steeled towards these things from a young age, but actually doing it himself for the first time, still left an unpleasant taste in the mouth. While the group was recovering from unexpectedly losing their ally, he turned around and ran deeper into the valley.

“Get yourself together people, quickly after him!” one of the warriors shouted. Giving the last look towards their dead comrade the group resumed the chase. Cold determination covered their faces.

While Edward managed to get some breathing room again, he still couldn’t see any way out of danger. Desperately searching for a way out, he noticed a thin path branching to the right. It led between two rocky cliffs, creating a thin corridor just wide enough for a single person to fit through. Hearing rushed footsteps getting louder behind him, he made a split-second decision to take the path. Once inside the passage, he turned back towards the entrance, and blocked the way with his shield.

The pursuers arrived just a second or two after him.

“Come on asshole, you know you can’t stay there forever, don’t make us crack open this turtle shell of yours,” one of them said.

Seeing no reaction from Edward, the group set up a formation. One shield bearer took the front blocking most potential attack paths. Behind him stood the woman with a spear. Further back were the two other warriors, allowing their allies space to move.

The group advanced, putting pressure on Edward. With no way to attack, he pushed against the enemy’s shield, engaging in a contest of pure strength.

Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his thigh. Looking down he saw the bloody tip of a spear quickly disappearing behind the enemy’s shield. Then it appeared again, this time from a different direction. He quickly moved his shield to block it. The female warrior kept finding gaps in his defence, striking him repeatedly while he couldn’t counterattack. More wounds started appearing on his body. The spear seemed to completely ignore Edward’s aura.

‘Just like teacher Caesar said, traditional weaponry seems to be within “the rules”.’

Edward grimaced from the pain. He’s been getting pushed back for a while now. It was impossible to both defend from the strikes and resist being pushed at the same time. Each time the woman struck from the backline, the shield bearer pushed harder, and Edward had no choice but to take yet another step back.

After 15 minutes of this draining struggle, which felt like an hour to Edward, he got pushed back to a point where the path opened up to a wider space. It looked like a circular cave with an open ceiling high above.

‘A dead end… just great’

With nothing but rocks around, and rays of moonlight shining from above the tall cliffs, Edward positioned himself with his back against the wall. Leaving bloody footprints where his feet touched the ground.

“Nowhere left to run, what are you going to do now?” said the fighter, walking out from the crevice with a smile, holding a greatsword. The other three warriors were already positioned before him, shaking off their limbs to alleviate some fatigue.

‘Well, looks like today is the day I die. Not how I’ve imagined it, but you rarely get what you want. But I bet I can at least take one of them with me.’

With a wry smile Edward took a fighting stance.

[The Valkyrie admires your fighting spirit.]