Episode 6

The forest turned monster reached into the ground branches surging through the ground, the soldiers not sent flying by the roots passing through the ground were skewered where they broke the ground.

Yards from the walls the roots sprouted and twisted together into one spike, lunging for the gate.

A splintering crack and thunderous reverberations and the whole field. Holy knights let out a cry of despair and the elves cheered, until the dust cleared.

A barrier dissipated with the dust, some saw it, other did not. All saw that the wall still held.

Shiro and the Colossus locked eyes, Shiro charges 
The colossus launches a punch.

Shiro was fast, faster than he ever expected to be, it was only barely enough. He tucks and rolls as the massive wooden first strikes the ground, solid stone rippling like water around the catastrophic force.

Recovering his stride Shiro makes his glaive flash brightly into the golem's legs seeking some semblance of a hamstring to cripple the beast.

He might as well have been using a hatchet for all the progress he made. Thorn laden vines lash out in retaliation cutting and slashing, breaking and chipping his armor.

block block parry, cross block with the pole of the weapon
Drop the weapon as a newly embedded thorn reanimates the wood of the weapon and it joins the assault against Shiro.

As it breaks free of the metal glaive head he grabs it and hurls it in defiance up at the golem. never knowing where it landed.

Dodge, dodge, what to do now, whips out the chopping and stabbing daggers as several armor plates finally disintegrate

stab with the right jack with the left, no training with these in a fight, no barely formed muscle memory to guide the strikes

the blades are hit with a glancing blow wrenching them from his hands and numbing him from the impact

The beast satisfied its opponent is disarmed leaves off the small vine barrage and winds up for another siege attack on the wall

no, no, no, cant let the innocents be hurt , I cant I cant I cant.

the last plate of armor shatters

energy coalesces around Shiro into a shimmering armor of light, a shield and spear in his hand

the thought occurs, there is no weak point here, must go higher.

A song wraps his mind, the notes dropping the world away and clearing his eyes, revealing the crystal in the forehead of the colossus radiating energy like nerves.

The newly visible energy pules and the siege attack is launched again, both arms of the beast buried to the wrist creating a ramp.

Shiro races
Up the arms 
Races to reach the his goal before the siege vines reach theirs

Shiro hurls his spear of light and again
thunder rolls over the battlefield
everyone holds their breath and waits for the dust to clear.

Lilly slumped exhausted, over Shiro's form. The monster's last attack had shattered the portcullis at the same moment as Shiro had shattered its core. As a blessing and a curse the attack had created a giant tree that prevented passage through the the remains of the gate. This was preventing the elves from swarming the fortress but had also limited medical personal to small side doors. As a healer she had joined the retrievals but as soon as she had found Shiro's body and got it inside she sequestered herself and him in their quarters. Spending the rest of the night tending his wound. At one point the northern woman that had been rescued from goblins had entered the room and had somehow with a few lilting words restored a portion of her energy.

From the looks of it most of the trauma to Shiro had been a combination of fatigue and heavy impacts, she had found him without armor. She was perplexed about that. On the one hand, he should not have been stupid enough to join the fight without armor, but on the other hand she could not imagine Shiro putting forward the will and force to get help putting on a strange set of gear. 'is this what is like to care for someone?' she wonders as she brushes an errant lock of hair from Shiro's face 'to jump into life or death situations just to save a life?' a frown passes Lily's face 'or was this a reckless bid for glory that could have lost not only Shiro's life but that of others too if things had gone wrong?' 

She sighed tiredly, running her eyes of over his body again. She was glad he was at least cute given that, in addition broken bones and bruised organs, had mage fatigue. Given what little progress in magic Shiro had reported the presences of mage fatigue had almost been a lethal surprise. 
Mage fatigue caused healing energies meant for the body to be siphoned by the soul. Many novice healers had been killed as they poured more and more energy into a patient, mistaking the lack results for a error in their skill, until the healer died of their own version of the fatigue.

"Sleep now noble lady," a voice came from behind her, the Northern lady had returned "I will watch and rouse you when he wakes. Both a bit suspicious and a smidge to tired to make it to her bed Lily climbed up next to Shiro and slept.

Ezma watched as the warrior and his servant slept as soundly as the babe in the crude sling on her chest. 'who is this man' she wondered for not the first time that night, from her tower vantage she had been able to see that it was Shiro who had cast the barrier to save the fortress. Such power was unheard of out side of the champions of the demi-human tribes. Had the Holy Kingdom finally harmonized with the magic in their land to produce their own champion?
As a bard she could feel the history being made around her and greatly desired to see where this story would go, but what should she do with the child? Following this man surely meant charging into ever increasing danger, and that was not something a responsible person should bring an infant to. As the dawn lit the western horizon Ezma's eyes were drawn to a small glimmer in the eastern trees. Perhaps there was an answer closer at hand than she had thought.
Now if she could just get to it.