The assassin panted, heavily noisily through the mask. Loud and obvious, yes, but at this point? They honestly didn't care anymore with how doggedly frustrating this woman was!

  There she was again, hot on their tail and giving them not a single chance to recuperate. "Stop and surrender!" Petula yelled, leaping forward with a sword thrust that the assassin had to heave their entire body to the side to dodge. "You won't get away with this!"

  They cursed and tried to flee down another route, frustrated that they couldn't have the chance to fix their crossbow and try to snipe the heir again. Worse of all was that there was some sort of commotion in the bailey, something going on between the invaders and the defenders. They hadn't the chance to take a look, but it didn't sound like the forces of Viszal were quite winning so comfortably anymore. More and more, this was looking to be a failed endeavor.

  The Broker wouldn't be happy.

  Argh. They should've asked for ten times the price if they had known it would lead to this mess!

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  Gunther parried a sword swipe, or at least tried to. Rather than simply bouncing back the swing like he intended, he simply just lopped off the blade entirely to the shock of both him and his opponent. But there wasn't time to take it in and he slashed back.

  It felt wrong and unnatural, the way the blade bit through the layers of gambeson and brigandine, not stopping until it reached bone. He jerked the sword out and his attacker cried, staggering back and clutching at their maimed shoulder. That would've been the end of a mercenary career if it wasn't patched up swiftly and effectively.

  In reality, Mordred's lance idly swung by and took off the head to render such worries irrelevant for the now-dead sellsword. "How's the new sword?" she casually asked while parrying and gutting two more with only a single glance their way. "Does it feel good? Ah, [Vein Ripper]."

  "It's...it's a bit too light," he faintly told, watching her remove arms, legs, then head in a few scant seconds. It wasn't the first time he'd seen her do something like that, having dealt with a rather ornery bear that way before. But it was the first time he'd seen her do it to a screaming mercenary with cold precision. "I do like a bit of weight to my swords."

  "Oh, I'll pass it onto Noel. They could probably adjust the weight for your sword pretty easily, or just make an entirely new one if you're not satisfied-"

  "I'm very satisfied, thank you very much!" Gunther barked with a near hysterical laugh. When another mercenary decided to try their luck and run at him instead of Mordred, he cut them down so effortlessly again. "Not going to lie, this thing is already going to be my new heirloom treasure-!"

  "Huh? Well, sure I guess if you're happy with that. [Serpent Step]!" Mordred's skill let her dash back to evade the maddened swings of a greatsword, her eyes narrowing in focus. The moment her latest opponent overextended, ducked in for a powerful punish that involved ramming her lance into their exposed threat. Blood sprayed out from the open killing wound, sending speckles of crimson to dot the woman's face. "Ugh, ew! Knew that going without a helmet was a bad pick," she said, disgusted while she kicked the corpse off her lance and wiped at her face.

  "Maybe this Noel could make one for you," he suggested grimly and she paused.

  "Probably. But I also like the freedom to look at everybody in the face." Her weapon seemed to dance around her as Mordred returned to a ready stance, meeting the stares of the horrified mercenaries. "Don't mind me, I'm just getting a little bit worked up. Been a while since I've had some good exercise and really stretched out some of these muscles!"

  Exercise. Was that was this massacre was for the woman? He'd almost feel bad if it weren't for the fact that they killed the Eber Marauders.

  So Gunther would just say these wicked souls had it coming as Mordred literally leapt back into the fight with a battle cry that sounded more like a dragon's roar.

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  The [Holy Ray] that impacted against Kuch's body had an impact that I would describe akin to a heavy shove, one of those that might leave sores and bruises behind. Were it back in FLOW, I suppose the equivalent would be something like an attrition attack- something that, when applied repeatedly over time, could make that chip damage wear down even the strongest attack.

  I was sure though it'd be a very long time though, given the quality of my dragon bone armor.

  I mentally flexed and checked. [Pain is Power] didn't activate quite yet, I'd probably have to take another couple of [Holy Ray] casts on me for it to even start giving a return. But I also didn't know if the shocked paladin in front of me was sandbagging or not- for all I knew, he actually could push himself a fair bit more and unleash the same skill with stronger potency. Best play it carefully.

  "Who the- what devilry is this!" He shouted, pointing his sword at me. Hm, probably the most half-decent one I've seen around that I hadn't made! I wanted to see if I could study it later. "You, black knight! What are you doing, interfering with righteousness!"

  "Righteousness?" I spoke through Kuch, straightening up and staring straight at the one who brought an invading army into the city. I spoke hard, putting in a little bit of Isabella's flair for dramatic lore showdowns into my voice. "Is that what paladins of this age do now? Commit wanton destruction in the name of the divines? If so, then even an oathbreaker like myself must be the heights of true nobility."

  "Oathbreaker? Oathbreaker?!" He laughed and flourished his blade, getting ready. Ah, I recognize that stance. "Hear that! Mercenaries hire knights who broke their noble oaths and turn to evil deeds! Upon my name of Eifer the Chosen, I will strike such blackguards down! [Shield Rush]!"

  I waited, watching as he launched himself forward, tendrils of energies almost forming something like glowing wings stretching from his back. Wait for it. Wait for the commitment I knew all to well as a paladin main-!

  Now!

  "[Shadow Rend]!" I bellowed and drew one of my greatswords in a single smooth gesture too. The dark crystal pulsed and I unleashed a blast of dark-aspect energies that collided into the committed noble. He flew back and slammed onto the ground hard, letting out a pained cry through the helmet. [Shield Rush] giving him a small barrier that probably absorbed the worse of the hit, but still when he staggered back up, he was heavily leaning on one side and his shield had been destroyed.

  Eifer, was that his name? He glared at the shredded protective gear and tossed it aside, demanding a new one from a subordinate who reluctantly surrendered theirs. I rested my sword on the ground and watched while he strapped it across his arm, likely a furious scowl beneath that helmet of his.

  "Oathbreakers aren't actually villains, like you claimed us to be," I mentioned to help fill the silence. I suppose either Ann-Li or Faust would've loved to take this moment to indeed explain or clarify misconceptions. "We are named so because as knights, we bore witness to suffering but could not act, bound by vows of chivalry. Yet what use are such ideals when they cannot help those in front of us? So we cast aside our honors, and drape ourselves in darkness- to bring justice where the light cannot reach."

  Well, that had been the lore reason in FLOW anyway. It even had a very engaging storyline, and everybody in Lighthouse had at least one oathbreaker build because of it. None of the Ten Lights ended up being particularly specialized in that job though.

  "Hah, name yourself whatever you like." Eifer growled and picked back up his sword once his shield was back strapped on. "I know what you are- a heretic. Somebody who shall be smote by the Ten Lights when I am through with you!"

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  I couldn't help it.

  I laughed.

  It carried across all my bodies, wherever they were. I was openly and shamelessly amused by this declaration. Okay, even though my friends having been apparently turned into gods was awkward as heck, that sort of irony was so worth it. I'll even offer up a prayer to them if that was the entire point of the transformation, a joke in gods-knows how many years in the making.

  "You sound like you're enjoying yourself," somebody behind me muttered and I glanced back. The two nobles of House Cordis had managed to finally get back onto their feet and taken a few wary steps back. I supposed that my rather intimidating appearance was a little overwhelming. "But can you beat him?"

  I pondered on whether or not I should let out a quip, then decided they looked a little too high-strung for that. "Yes."

  "Then- as much as I do not know and cannot trust- I must put my faith in you," the young vampire that looked entirely too serious said. The older woman had a much looser response.

  "Give him a whallop for me."

  I rolled my shoulders and gripped my drawn greatsword. "Sure." Ah, good ol' PvP- it wasn't my favorite, but neither was I going to shy away from the challenge.

  "[Holy Ray]!"

  "[Shadow Rend]."

  My slash of darkness overwhelmed his beam of light with ease and Eifer was forced to roll to the side, over a few dead bodies that laid strewn about in the bailey. The soldiers of both sides were watching now, too enraptured by the apparent duel to continue fighting themselves. Ah, it was really bringing back memories now- sometimes, when one of my friends had gotten into a really close match-up, some of the more honorable guilds had offered truces to sit back and watch our best duke it out.

  "Heretic! I will be the will of the gods!" my opponent roared and clasped his sword with both hands. Oh, I recognize that pose; like I'll let that buff happen! "I call upon-!"

  "[Shadow Rend]!" Another blast of energy erupted from my sword and he was forced to break off his cast to dodge again. I advanced right behind my attack, not willing to exhaust myself with repeated skill casts. Time for some actual swordplay-

  "Protect the chosen! Come and fight my champions!" Eifer barked and some of his shook themselves out of the stupor of awe to join in the fight. Tch, guess I'll settle them first. When I noticed some of House Cordis troops readying to come to my help, a hand shot out to hold them back. There was a chance that it could restart the melee, and I didn't want more to die.

  "They are mine," I intoned and reached to draw my second greatsword. Murmurs ran through the gathered when I hefted them both, wielding two large weapons at the same time. Ordinarily high impractical- but the oathbreaker could do it, especially when they were made of dragon claws.

  Said material cut through the charging bodyguards with ease, to my surprise. They weren't exactly clad in full plate, more like a mix of that and some other hardened leather- but my blades felt no resistance in cutting through them. The last few ones did, but mainly because they activated [Bulwark] to resist just a bit, like a tougher piece of meat, but falling anyway to my flurry of sword strikes. I guess whatever their armor was made of, it was weaker than claws taken from dragons. Not one of their swords managed to break through my dragon bone armor either, so I was still pretty much untouched.

  But they had done their job in buying time. At the end of his chant, Eifer's blade suddenly was enveloped in blinding light, a direct buff that would enhance all his strikes for the next little while. "Behold [Sword of Light]!" he bellowed and swung at me. "Be smote! Be smote! Be smote!"

  [Sword of Light], that was actually something that could maybe start chipping away at me like [Holy Ray]. But it was a multi-hit skill, which was actually something I didn't want to get hit by. Minimum damage was still damage, and I hadn't any defensive skills to mitigate. Time to do this the virtual reality way with timed parrying.

  Now I had to deal with the awkwardness of the greatswords- they couldn't parry very well. I managed to use both to ward off the first strike, relying on my prior experiences to manage that. Then came the second, which hit my armor in just the right way to bounce off. A lucky deflection.. But the third was a direct hit to my helmet, slamming straight into it and leaving my senses ringing along with feeling a bit of my head rattle.

  Ugh, what a wicked headache. That explained why everybody was sour when I used it to win in PvP. It wasn't a catastrophic or bad blow, but taking hits like that was definitely not ideal. Or well, unless you had a skill that benefited from taking damage.

  [Pain is Power] was finally triggered and I punched blindly. My fist apparently connected and Eifer was sent sprawling back again, slamming against a wall to stop his flight. The mix of pain and discomfort faded, and I took in the paladin staggering back up with a new fist-shaped dent in his pauldron. He reached into his belt and took out a health potion, pouring it right through his visor to drink.

  I wasn't going to let him get another dose in. "[Shadow Rend]!"

  "[Noble Aegis]!" His bent shield lit up brilliantly and though he took the even empowered hit head-on, he was still standing. Ah, so he had that very useful paladin skill; it directly reduced incoming attacks by a significant amount to let them be an effective party tank. "Argh...you are strong, I will concede. But I. Am. Righteous!" He dumped another potion and reached into his bag, making me blink.

  That was definitely risking overdose. But maybe he was so convinced on his own fumes that he'd be lucky enough to roll that dice. Hm, I suppose that had this been a proper PvP match in FLOW, I would actually let him do so for the heck of it- sometimes, you enjoyed see those high rollers go all or nothing. But when there were actual lives at stake, I think I was going to look to finish this now.

  And I knew how, if [Noble Aegis] was his best defensive skill. If he had another- well, that's my own gamble too. With the significant lead I had, it was a roll I judged worth risking. "[Evil Twin]."

  Shouts of shock echoed through the castle as my shadow came to life, creating a perfect clone of Kuch, sans the weapon. For that, I tossed my paired greatsword at so that we were now halved, but whole. Then with them, active, I used my gap closer. "[Walk in Darkness]!"

  Both me and my shadow disappeared into the ground before emerging before the panicked Eifer. He was barely about to bring [Noble Aegis] to bear before our blades slammed into it. Soon, the fear turned into triumph on his face as we battered away at his glowing defense. "Haha! You waste your efforts- I have the protection of the gods with me-!"

  Then the energized shield broke and both greatswords embedded themselves in his lungs, driving a gasping wheeze from him.

  Yeah, about [Noble Aegis]? I knew the ins and outs of that skill, and the many others used by paladins. That particular defensive skill was best used to withstand big attacks, the sort that could normally wipe someone out in a single hit. It even got more effective the more powerful the attack was.

  However, the trade-off was that it also happened to drain very quickly from repeated attacks. That was why I had used [Evil Twin]- by halving my actual raw attack power in exchange for rapid swings, I had basically chipped away at it until the things was overwhelmed and failed. Honestly, even if this had been an actual PvP match in FLOW, that was a more technical optimization that had set good paladins apart from the best ones.

  Eifer wheezed, then his sword glowed brightly. Oh, dammit! He really rolled the dice and got lucky to get a dying pity hit?!? I growled and didn't hesitate, not letting him realized he activated [Sword of Light]. My free hand, and that of my shadow, reached up to latch onto the helmet.

  Just as he could have realized the gods might have given one last chance of grace, we squeezed with the dark might of [Pain is Power] and crushed his sheltered head within his paladin helmet.

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