Knight of Wessex (A Written World Quest)

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" Come at me at once, he says." Audrey thinks, as she prepares her stance for battle. " Really! I'm certain he's formidable, but to think he can challenge both of us at once? Even in the light of the sun? That must be an exaggeration.. Mildred's posture adjusted–a hand kept free instead of tightly gripped on her weapon, the posture of a Knight who preferred to mix it up with melee techniques and the more arcane prowess of Revelations.

This was the first time she was going to see Mildred in action! It would be nice to see how she operates! Especially if they were to be rivals and allies in the future!

It was with those thoughts in her mind that Margh Grouse decided to break the initial stand-off.

Genuinely rocketing between the two Squires at the fore of a solar prominence, Margh Grouse–alight with the Sun's power–clasped his blade tightly, filling it with power beyond reason, the blade sublimating to something more akin to a whip than something made of common–if well-wrought–Iron. With a bold shout, he began to pivot, bringing his weapon forward in a blow that would certainly put the two young Squires on the back foot.

Audrey Eotenslaga wasn't one to be overcome by a single sudden attack, however! Teeth bared and with a cry erupting from the bottom of her heart, she struck! Contrails of Fervour followed her as she charged forward, abandoning the idea of striking with the tip of her sword in favor of a full body shoulder-check, as much an attempt to force him on the back foot as anything else.

Not one to be dissuaded though, the Knight of the Sun–defying all of Audrey's understandings of the ability to retain balance in the heat of battle–simply restrained his power for a heartbeat, fouling Audrey's charge attempt by being a step short of where he should have been at the point of contact–a flash of radiant light ignored by Audrey's mighty plate and the Meditation that shielded her Psyche–and then continuing his stroke uninterrupted. The trees that surrounded the battlefield both ignited and erupted as sap flash-boiled to steam, sending fragments of splinters and pieces of newly dead wood across the landscape, pattering harmlessly off of Knightly Armor and the strange phantom shroud that surrounded the Brythonic Aspirant.

In the first exchange, the field had already become a site of calamity, not a single structure higher than the waist standing tall, save Margh himself and his two foes.

Mildred Schofield–having made good use of the moment's hesitation triggered by Audrey's fierce charge–diverted the portion of the attack that came for her, rocketing back to open the distance, making sure a repeat performance wouldn't be in the cards. She chanted a prayer–the glossolalia of a Revelation echoing strangely through mind and ear as Word and Will invited a Miracle into being. Margh was already turning to face her though, a frisson of excitement emanating from his mailed form as Mildred's invocation completed–a spear of gleaming sapphire manifesting in her free hand only briefly–before a well-practiced throw sent it down the burning fields.

She was a moment too slow, as the Knight of the Sun was already darting towards her, one gauntleted hand leaving the hilt of his blade as he backhanded the incoming javelin on approach, smashing it to splinters as he darted across the landscape to Mildred. The Jeweled Squire was no fool to stand and take it–and with uncommon speed and grace did she seek to open the distance again.

It wasn't enough, as a violent kick rattled her Hama and breastplate, sending her sprawling off into the corner. He grasped his blade with both hands, gathering his strength again as he stepped forward to capitalize on the opening he had formed with violence and power beyond reason.

*SNAP*

Only for the Hama of Audrey Eotenslaga to bear its fangs, jaws of sharpened stakes snapping shut around his leading leg, slipping past both ghostly mail and real material to bite deeply into his leg. He stumbled briefly–but with a flash of radiant light, his arrested balance just stopped somehow, his balance violently correcting itself with sheer muscular strength–and he straightened, turning back to Audrey.

"Well now! I suppose that would be dangerous to let you try unchallenged now, would it?" He compliments out loud. "Very well! Let it not be said that I can't read an invitation to dance, Sir Eotenslaga!"

" Stupid Dumb Boys!' Audrey couldn't help herself from thinking–because, with that one brief moment of peace, Margh Grouse was upon her again. Mildred–to her credit–did her best to punish Margh for turning his back on her, but he was too fast, and what should have been a narrow hit as her blade suddenly sprouted jagged-ruby shards went wide as Margh rocketed towards Audrey. His power swelled, and his blade ignited once more–mercifully though, it didn't start distorting like before.

This should be something she could handle, right?

Audrey was a master of defense, her guard largely unpierced save for the mighty or those burning far beyond their limits. This was only one move, right? She could handle that!

As her sword moved to parry–she had only a heartbeat to realize that no she really could not before Margh's bar of sunfire slammed through her attempted parry unslowed, cleaving through Hama, and digging deep into Audrey's plate before her hasty evasion could draw her out of reach. The ground below flash-hardened to glass, and Audrey begins to understand that yes, in fact, Margh Grouse does live up to his reputation

He had struck only once, and she already felt rattled! This wasn't even a blow like the one he had begun with!

She would still win, but it was… Frustrating, to know that it wouldn't be because of her superiority, but entirely because she brought friends and he didn't have one by now… Because of her actions of course.

Maybe that means she could feel better about it. Was this good tactics?

The Black-Red Lightning began to crackle as she ignited the Blood of Eotenslaga, fractures forming around her extended blade. " So be it then" Audrey thought to herself–her self-created technique now wreathing her family sword. " I am Audrey Eotenslaga, I will not be easy prey even to the mighty!'

The signature power of the Eotenslaga unleashed was enough to leave Margh wary–it seemed even the Knight of the Sun was concerned about experiencing the Giant Slaying Blow–Audrey feinted left, and struck right, fouled by Margh's superior footwork and speed. He struck back–a meteor in the form of a hand slamming for her helmet, only to be sidestepped.

Mildred wasn't one to be ignored either, her distance confirmed and the full attention of Margh Grouse now on Audrey, she was free to continue incanting her Prayers, and spears of sapphire rained down upon him. With his back turned and the brunt of his focus on Audrey's destructive force, even the Aspirant of Gawain couldn't evade every blow–and shattered spears met spectral garb and wore it away bit by bit.

But in the end, for all her glory, for all of her training, all they did was keep her in the fight. Margh Grouse was stronger than Audrey, he was faster. A step too slow to react, Margh pounced–locking her parry into a pin and delivering a fierce knee-strike to her sternum, solar flame burning through her Hama and fracturing Knightly Armor. Her defenses still held for now, despite the occasional slips, but how much longer would she hold? Would he tire, unlike his brother? Would she even last long enough for this to matter?

Audrey slipped out of the pin, riding the wave of Margh's knee strike to recover her defensive posture–just in the nick of time, as the Cornishman's two-handed chop was a little too eager to capitalize on Audrey's lack of balance. A fierce stab to his hand forced him to halt his blow–and for the first time in this battle, she could see a vulnerability in his otherwise flawless posture.

She could hit him!

Naturally, Audrey Eotenslaga wouldn't let that opening go to waste!

The Black-Red Lightning crackled through the void, leaving fracture marks through the atmosphere as it concentrated its hunger into her blade. She felt Margh's eyes lock on, wary of the Giant-Killing Blow, and she already saw him repositioning to be out of the reach of her sword.

But this was the Black Scratch! Audrey's first Original Technique in the Hard-Fall Style!

It didn't need a Weapon to be executed!

Audrey released a hand from her blade, clenched her fist, and gathered the Black-Red Lightning in her hand. Margh seemed to realize his mistake at this point, and began to adapt his defense–but the distance involved was too short, his reaction too close in to avoid her bladepoint a mistake.

And so she plunged her fist–dripping with Zeal–right through his Phantom Armor, scorching surcoat, fracturing mail, and halted for only a moment before reaching his flesh.

But her blow–mighty as it was–did not reach his flesh.

It didn't need to, because Audrey Eotenslaga did not fight alone!

Mildred's next javelin clanged off of simple iron–the jeweled spear quivering in place as the tip found itself rooted between chain links, the rest fracturing. Audrey could feel the satisfaction wafting off of her comrade, despite the lack of damage. What was the deal with that anyway?

Audrey's Blood screamed in warning–a feeling she had tasted before, but Never so strongly! Her attention moved from her companion to her foe–and she understood the reason behind it.

This blow could kill her.

Maybe not now, not so easily–but it was lethality incarnate. This was the strike that downed Estienne Bonhomme. Was this what it felt like when she turned the Giant-Killing Blow on a foe? This sensation of the Reaper's scythe upon her throat?

There was no time for thought, no time for reasoning, no time for anything but to trust her instincts and MOVE!

Her mind goes blank as the two actions clash. A superb attack, delivered with all the primacy and power of the lifegiving Sun at its zenith. Shielded by the instincts inherited by a Giant-Killer, who danced with immediate annihilation every time he challenged the primordial rulers of the Land.

Neither side made a mistake.

In the end, against the strongest blow of Margh Grouse–it was just enough that Audrey escaped the cutting edge of the Sun's Wrath Unleashed.

What little of the landscape hadn't been glassed succumbed as a tiny piece of the Sun manifested for a heartbeat at the point of contact. All that remained was ruins and obsidian where once had been a thriving forest glade.

This was the strength of an elite cultivator–achieved before time by a holy blessing. It wasn't something that could be challenged head-on by someone in the same generation as the chosen one.

Yet Audrey Eotenslaga still stood!

The Black Scratch sang out once more, and it took everything Audrey had to not spit as Margh defied balance and all understanding of how champions fought to raise his shining blade in challenge. He once again released a futile burst of light to try and blind her, but how was he still maintaining his stride after unleashing that much power in a single instant? That's unfair! It's unreasonable!

"Gotcha" She heard a whisper from the distance–and instincts drilled into her from her training as a Page saw her moving to position Margh Grouse between her and Mildred. She could feel that this wasn't going to be small.

Fervour erupted, ephemeral as always–a veritable torrent compared to what Audrey was used to spending, greater even than the Giant Killing Blow. A jewel of finest amethyst tossed up in her free hand-extracted from the near-empty pouch at her side–and Audrey could sense its true nature now. Nothing short of Zeal shaped into physical form, to serve as an external vessel–to prepare a technique days in advance for the moment it would most be needed, so that it could be released without regard to the careful husbanding of resources that any aspiring Knight needed to concern themselves with.

Black Flames ignited, coating a spear forged of darkest Jet. This was no javelin to be tossed and abandoned–this was the all-out attack of Mildred Schofield–the original technique that blended Martial Style and Revelation into one cohesive opportunity–the convergence of martial skill and enlightenment into a single art.

This was the Jet Spear, and as Mildred couched it, Audrey finally understood what she had used to bring down her opponent in the final exchange of the last round–her ultimate trump card.

It was not something to be hurled, but nothing short of a Roman Siege Engine–aimed and directed, but not controlled. And with the tip pointed directly at the Knight of the Sun, there was no hope of evasion, not without exposing himself to Audrey's attacks.

Perhaps he was confident in his protection against flame, perhaps he was still wary of the Giant Killing Blow–but he chose to focus his attention on Audrey still.

And so it was that the Jet Spear unleashed its fury–a cataclysm of black fire spilling forward–the malice of the burning depths of the earth harnessed by Faith and the Reason of Man. Even Margh's confidence against flames found no defense–for what authority did the Sun have on that which burned beneath the skin of the Earth?

If Audrey hadn't positioned herself just so–if she hadn't trusted her training in Alfred the Great's reforms, she would have been caught up in this catastrophe. As it stood, Margh Grouse himself served as her cover–taking the brunt of the devouring flame and heat, his armor melting and skin bubbling in heat–a dangerous blow to begin with, but this was infused with Zeal beyond that.

The Jet Spear's fires waned after a moment of this immolation, Mildred dropping the spent construct–shattering into fragments of obsidian as it fell. "Well fought, but once you had broken off from me, it was just a matter of waiting until your shroud was broken. Your defense is excellent, but you can't accelerate it more than once every four heartbeats, I just had to wait until those two conditions were fulfilled, and your defeat was a certainty."

She nodded to herself then. "I believe that makes you our prisoner?"

Margh Grouse laughed–an odd feeling, given how he looked more like a charbroiled victim of a flashfire than an aspiring Knight. "Well done! Well done indeed! That was an excellent combination! If I was anyone else, this would certainly be my defeat!"

The light of the Sun gathered over his head, light erupting from his pores, shining through his tattered armor and battered flesh.

It was as though time itself turned back its hand–fine mail repaired, flesh mended–in one fell swoop, that hammering of an intense battle turned aside at a gesture.

"I'd be a poor hero though if I fell at a single misfortune, wouldn't I be?" He laughed, as his surcoat mended itself. "That was an excellent warm-up though, but I believe you'll find I'm far from finished!"

He saluted with his sword. "Shall we continue?"

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AN: Giving you this to chew on, for now, the remainder of the doot coming later tonight!

Nothing like beating the boss' ass into next week, reducing him to a nub of health, and then…

Spoiler: Meme