165 Red Dawn (1/2)

As my falchion clashed violently against the Dawn Breaker's greatsword, I realized that the hesitation I usually felt when facing off against strong opponents had vanished.

Gone was that troubling feeling of the rookie going one-on-one with the veteran. Gone was the nervous shaking of my hands or the second-guessing of my chosen course of action. Although I doubt the guilt of taking a life would ever leave me which was fine in retrospect. I needed it to remind me that I was still human.

The Dawn Breaker swung his greatsword at me, and it had such a heavy-looking shadowblade that it actually seemed like he was telegraphing his attacks, making it easy for me to dodge to the left.

As my left foot touched soft sand my sword arm swung down, bringing my falchion crashing onto the Dawn Breaker's helmet.

His greatsword came up and he blocked my slash with the flat of the shadowblade which was wide enough to double as a shield.

His steel-clad foot rose up and I pulled away just as the push kick came within inches of my groin. Seriously, the bastard had aimed and just barely missed my crown jewels.

\”Dude… that's low…\” I hissed as we circled around each other.

I heard a high-pitched chuckle that was nowhere near the low baritone I envisioned was the voice of a fairy knight with the monicker of Dawn Breaker.

Glancing behind me for a quick second, I called, \”Luca, are you good?\”

Luca had already risen to his feet and caught a bit of his breath back. He nodded wordlessly.

\”Use Second Wind and rejoin the fight… clear that shield wall for me, will you,\” I instructed.

\”But I—\”

\”—I've got this,\” I interrupted him. \”You're better at breaking through enemy formations than I am…\”

It's not like I didn't believe in my little brother's capability to fight this opponent, but as the big brother, putting Luca in more danger than me was a definite no-no. Not that breaking through a shield wall wasn't crazy dangerous in itself, but just those few clashes against the Dawn Breaker made me realize that he was the most dangerous element in this battle.

It was a few seconds before he replied, but Luca eventually conceded to my order, \”Alright… I'm borrowing Myth Chaser then…\”

\”Go,\” I said.

\”Don't get hurt too badly, Dean,\” Luca said just before he and my mount galloped away.

\”Are you done?\” Dawn Breaker asked in a voice that was too high-pitch to belong to a bulky swordsman.

\”Um, thanks for waiting…\” I replied uncertainly.

We began to circle each other again and I took this time to observe my opponent while keeping our surroundings in mind.

My eyebrow rose at the sight of it. It was a weird fashion choice as I was facing a dude, right?

Now, since my falchion barely left a scratch on the right shoulder pauldron when I hit it earlier, I assumed his armor was at least platinum-grade. Its shiny silver coating also lent weight to this assumption. This meant that random hits to the body just won't do and I would need to be very precise in my attacks, aiming for the chinks between pieces.

The sounds of battle continued around us; a cacophony of voices trying to outshout each other, loud explosions that deafened the ears, and even the occasional rhyming of a magician's chant. And yet, despite the distractions, my focus didn't waver.

Seconds past as we continued to circle around each other, each of us looking for that single opening in the other's guard we could exploit.

I spent another moment inspecting that huge greatsword he kept level in front of him, suggesting that the fairy knight was pretty strong.

The sword itself was huge. It was the kind you'd find Cloud Strife carrying in Final Fantasy VII. The shadowblade had that familiar charred edge all shadowblades had, but there was a distinct golden hue to the molten veins streaking across the flat of the blade.

I guessed that the greatsword which shared the name of his monicker was at least a gold tier, one tier higher than my falchion's current grade. This meant my falchion's vibro-sword skill would be useless against it.

In the background, I heard Ashley's yell of, \”push forward! We've got them on the ropes!\”

The possibility of them winning brought a smile to my face which I guess translated to the Dawn Breaker as me being distracted because he chose that moment to strike.