As the Sword and Strength regrouped and closed in on me again, I took the brief moment of respite to check on Lia. She had pushed Val back towards the throne platform, raining down hellish attacks against the tower shield so ferociously that each blow traced a trail of sparks along the metal. As the assault continued, she shouted increasingly pained rebukes at Val. “We trusted you! You promised you would help us! I thought you were a good person!”
While I watched their battle unfold, another part of my mind whirred into overdrive to formulate a plan of attack for my own combat. Between these two, the Strength is clearly the bigger threat: a single punch from those gauntlets could easily kill me if I’m not careful. I just need them separated for—
My thoughts were interrupted by a wild haymaker aimed directly at my head. I dashed sideways just in time to see the pillar I had been resting against explode into stone shrapnel as the pugilist’s fist crushed through it as if it were made of cardboard. He laughed as he chased after me, knocking his fists together like the echo of a beating drum. “I can’t remember the last time someone was able to block one of my punches!” he cried out excitedly. “You’ve really got my blood pumping now!”
Bingo. Another memory surfaced from my practice session with Val: a lesson I had learned from a moment of introspection. Just like I had grown complacent with my swordsmanship by relying on my combat enhancements, the Strength had grown dependent on his crutch as well. What’s going to happen when I don’t go down in one punch? Will you remember what a real fight feels like? The corner of my lips curled into a vicious smile. Let’s find out.
I turned hard on my heel and dove forward, sliding on my knees underneath a right hook from the King’s Strength to launch a rising attack at his armored comrade. He caught the strike with the flat of his greatsword, and I saw a brief moment of panic through the slit in his helm as he struggled against the force of the blow. The hand holding the dagger darted up the length of his blade and came away with a shortsword, which he swung over the top of our clashing weapons towards my face. I heaved upwards and slipped beneath our blades, dodging just in time to avoid another strike from the pugilist.
It became abundantly clear as our battle progressed that the two Trinity Guards had been fighting side by side for years. Every time I created enough space to engage the Sword on his own, his parries and counter attacks always slowed my movements enough for the Strength to circle and attack me from behind. Likewise, the Strength’s quick movements and devastating punches consistently drove me backwards towards a primed and waiting slice from the enormous pitch-black blade of the Sword. If it hadn’t been for the Detection magic providing a second set of eyes in the back of my head, I would have succumbed to an unseen blow almost immediately.
The two fighters pressed their numbers advantage well by never allowing me a chance to retreat and regroup, and although I could see the strain taking its toll in their movements, my muscles had started to ache as well. Enough of this. Time to show them something they haven’t seen before. I pivoted to engage the Sword alone, drawing out the expected flanking maneuver from the Strength. When he closed in to throw a punch at the back of my head, I spun and braced my sword with both hands as the blow impacted on the flat of my blade. The attack sent a painful, jarring shock up through my arms as I was lifted from the ground and thrown backwards across the hall.
I landed in a low crouch, already prepared for the next coming attack. The pugilist charged towards me in an attempt to capitalize on what he thought was my mistake, leaving the Sword behind in his haste. Mana rushed down my arm as I raised my sword and pointed it at the Strength’s chest, suffusing the blade with energy. I continued the channeling until he was only a few steps away, raising his fist for another devastating punch.
The fire rune on my sword flared to life, and a gout of crimson flames exploded from the length of the blade. I could see the vicious red light reflected in the Strength’s eyes as he desperately tried to escape the inferno, holding up both of the massive gauntlets to cover his face and throwing himself to one side. It was to no avail; the point of my sword followed him as he fell, and the hall filled with the sound of screams and the scent of burning flesh.
There was a wordless bellow of anger as the Sword rushed at me to avenge his fallen comrade, now wielding a massive black spear. I spun sideways, narrowly avoiding the attack, then ducked as he whirled around with a horizontal slash from two longswords. The surface of my sword still rippled with fire as I swung it around to parry his next attack, and I unleashed another torrent of flame as our weapons met. It licked harmlessly around his greatsword and heavy vambraces, but I felt a momentary waver in his resistance as the fire grew.
Another shift in his weapon caught me off guard as the blade morphed into a khopesh, and he suddenly wrenched the hooked weapon backwards. The opposite edge of my sword caught in the hook and was yanked from my hands, clattering to the floor behind the massive wall of raging armor. With another
