[You’ve slain a powerful foe, and proved your legend superior…]

[Valhalla recognizes your feat…]

[Your legend grows stronger, and your body grows with it.]

Edward felt a euphoric feeling envelop his senses. It felt like the world became a bit clearer, his body a bit stronger, and his wounds hurt a bit less. It was as if a weight that was always pushing down on him, that he wasn’t even aware of, suddenly disappeared, allowing him to take the first real breath since forever.

*Are you there Edward? Do you copy?*

A female voice, coming from the radio, interrupted Edward’s moment of self reflection. He straightened his back, contorting his face, as the muscles around his wounded side stretched out.

“Yes… I’m here Layla. There’s been some unexpected trouble on my end.” Ed gritted his teeth, each word, and each breath, made a sting of pain go through his body.

*What happened? Why do you sound like that? Are you hurt?*

“Just… a bit. Nothing I won’t heal from… The info was wrong, there was a third Marked.”

*Shit!* A ringing sound of something hard hitting a piece of metal sounded from the earpiece.

*What do you mean by was?*

“I already dealt with her.”

*Good, are you able to help Marcus? I’ll be fine, but the big guy seems like a bit of trouble.*

“Sure… just give me a moment…” Edward started limping forward, approaching his team, gathered around the bleeding body of a rough middle-aged soldier.

*Alright, but you better heal quickly* Another clang of metal got to his ear, before the connection broke.

The young warrior kneeled next to the others, carefully watching over the already bandaged wound. The usual white fabric was getting mostly dominated by a deep red color. It slowly spread throughout the thin fibres, like some sort of sickness. One could hear quiet, strained breaths coming from the man’s chest.

“How’s he doing?” Edward hopefully asked the team, even though deep down he already knew the answer.

“It’s looking bad, sir.” Julia answered without looking away from Joseph. She held her hands against the wound, applying pressure and trying to slow down the bleeding.

“Things like that happen all the time in war, we all know the risk, sir.” One of the other soldiers stood up, trying to avoid looking at his dying teammate.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Ed didn’t respond, he’s heard some Legends are able to heal others, but where could he find somebody like that? Each Legend was already a singular existence, and power of that kind was even harder to find. There was nothing the budding leader could do for this man.

He took a while before standing back up again. He adjusted his shield, and picked up his sword. His minor legend managed to somewhat heal the deeper wounds, at least initially. Straining his ears, he heard clings of metal, interrupted by loud explosions coming from the valley.

Edward took a couple of careful steps, and then slowly picked up the pace, transitioning to a run after deeming the pain acceptable. He reached the top of the hill, and was greeted by a shocking sight.

During his fight with the mysterious woman, the beautiful forest below turned unrecognizable. The trees still left standing were few and far between, many deep groves and craters covered the ground, and in the middle of it all, two bloodied figures were engaged in a fierce duel.

The smaller of the two kept circling the larger warrior, sometimes deflecting the powerful strikes of an axe with his small shield. Marcus smiled provocatively at his opponent, but Edward could see blood dripping down his arm, and his shield didn’t seem to be moving as fast as earlier.

Fortunately the bearded Marked wasn’t unscathed either, covered in shallow, but numerous, cuts. Some strands of his white facial hair were scattered on the side.

When Marcus boldly jumped towards the enemy once more, Edward was already on the way towards the battle, rushing downhill as quickly as his wounded body allowed him to. He slipped on some leaves, and broke several branches on the way, but it didn’t impede the trained warrior much. His body started to heat up, his fighting spirit burned away the nerves and the pain. And finally when the sounds of fighting neared, he cut through the thicket, jumping onto the clearing.

The moment he did, the large warrior turned his head in his direction. His gaze then moved towards the top of the hill, as if searching for something. The man barely managed to block the sword aimed towards his throat from the side. Squinting his eyes, he backed away, trying to keep both Marcus and Edward in his field of view.

The two young warriors’ eyes met for just a moment, with just a nod, in a silent understanding they launched themselves towards the opponent.

Marcus thrust his sword forward, but immediately retreated, when a golden axe smashed into the ground right before him. Edward followed up, quickly swinging upwards. The man moved his head away, the blade cutting off a large portion of his beard.

“Where’s the honor you bastards! I expected a fair duel between warriors, not a street fight!”

He swung his axe in a large arc, forcing some distance between them. The duo started approaching, once again repeating the same pattern, but this time the large warrior jumped towards Edward first. Caught off guard, he tried twisting his body to avoid the huge golden blade smashing down on him, but that’s when the previous wound made itself known once again. His face contorted in pain, making him stop for just a moment.

But a moment was already too long. He prepared himself mentally for what was about to happen, but at the last second, something appeared between him and the weapon. A small shield, wielded by Marcus, somehow withstanded the force of the strike, and the two of them got blasted back towards the trees.

Expecting a follow up, both of them quickly got back on their feet, but what they saw was only the enemy’s back moving quickly away from them.

“Evan! We’re retreating, right now!” The man’s shout was audible throughout the whole valley.

Marcus was just about to give chase, but when Ed was about to follow, his wounded leg gave up under the strain, making him fall on the ground. His friend seemed torn for a moment, looking between the escaping enemy, and the wounded Edward on the ground, before reluctantly relaxing his body, giving up on the pursuit.

He made a disappointing sigh, grabbing Ed on the forearm, and helping him get back on his feet.

“So my friend… where were you earlier?”