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Snithan leaps into the air, brandishing his blade-arms as he blots out the light of the moon. He brings them down on Scima. Scima steps to the side, letting the blade just barely pass harmlessly by his body. When the blade slices into the stone walkway, Scima slams his fist into Snithan’s stomach. It’s soft, and his body folds over Scima’s fist. Scima sends him flying and smirks.

“So the rest of you is just human! You really are freaks!” Hasu laughs softly.

“Don’t call us freaks, that’s rude.”

“Don’t you start! You’re not like the handless moron or dog-face over there! What, you can’t look people in the eye now? You didn’t need to do that before either!”

“Even still, we all chose to be like this.” Scima looks over at Hund.

“Hey, mutt, is this really what you wanted?” Scima pounces at him, blade at the ready.

“There is nothing I would not do for Lord Hyrtan!” Hund opens his maw and breathes fire at the airborne Scima. Scima reaches through the fire with his sword and smacks the top of Hund’s jaw back into the bottom with the flat of his sword.

“What a boring man. How do you expect to slobber all over the ladies like that?”

As Scima lands, he slashes at Hund’s vulnerable side. Hund tries to get out of the way as he recovers from the previous blow, but is not fast enough. However, Snithan intercepts and steps between the two of them and parries the blow. As Scima’s sword strikes Snithan’s arm, Snithan stares at Scima.

“Hey, I’m the one you’re fighting! Stop looking at them!”

“You’re boring!” Scima pushes Snithan away then dashes away from him and Hund. “If you wanna go first so bad, get the other two morons to get off my back for a while.”

Scima suddenly feels a presence behind him and flips over it. However, there is nothing in front of him when he lands. He grips his sword more tightly as his eyes dart around for what might have caused the feeling. Hasu laughs again.

“Are you looking for a fourth? One who was made invisible, I suppose. Too bad. It isn’t reinforcements for us. This is all just an illusion. That could have been anyone. An enemy, an ally, the princess herself. I’m shocked you could even tell.”

“Well, if I can feel them anyway, might as well just save your energy and drop the illusion.” Scima jumps at Hasu and slashes at him from the air. Hasu takes a quick step back, leaving Scima to cut through the walkway with the consistency of dirt.

“Are you insane? I just told you that there might be any number of people standing around. And even more than that, why have you been talking so much? That’s the real creepy thing here.”

“It’s good to be cheerful. And why shouldn’t I be happy to cave your skulls in? And why should I care about some bystanders? They’re the ones who should get out of my way.”

“You’re this insane, but you’re a knight. It looks like Dracabana really does need to be purified.”

“So you didn’t think so before? Are all you guys so half-hearted and stupid?”

“No, just me. Everyone else is insane or so devoted they might as well be.” Scima lunges forward with his blade, but again Hasu dodges out of the way.

“Hey, since you seem so chatty, why don’t you cut the small talk and tell me how you can dodge without seeing, and that way we can get to the real fun.”

“Sorry. Even if you knew, nothing would change.”

“The same goes for this illusion, so why don’t you just get rid of it?”

“If you’re really this unfazed, then perhaps I should go somewhere even more unpleasant for you? The other two would be annoying about it, but you seem even more irritating here.”

“I feel like I could wager a guess where you want to bring us, so let me just say that if you do, I’ll cut open your stomach and choke you out with your guts.”

“You really think you could? And I would probably die before the strangulation got to me.”

“Have it your way. I’ll hang your rotting corpse from the gates of Clea.”

Scima again slashes at Hasu, taking careful aim at his unarmored stomach. Hasu can’t help but crack a smile at Scima’s antics. As Hasu steps back, Scima reverses his swing on the spot and takes a step forward. Hasu again steps back, then a small burst of fire burns between them, cutting Scima off.

Scima takes a step towards Hund, only to be cut off by Snithan. Snithan lets loose a quick flurry of slices with his arms. Scima parries them all with minimal movement of his own blade. He flashes brightly and grabs Snithan by the head.

“If you’re so desperate for a fight then find a playground, weakling!”

Scima pulls his arm down, smashing the back of Snithan’s head into the dirt. The stone, as Scima sees it, shatters apart under the weight of the blow. Scima continues to walk towards Hund unimpeded.

Scima slides forward, appearing beneath Hund, and thrusts his sword straight up. Hund just barely claps his hands around it, stopping the tip of the sword right before it can draw blood. Scima begins to quickly charge up a burst of light to pierce cleanly through Hund’s chest. However, before he can shoot it out, Hasu slams his leg into Scima’s arm.

Scima’s arm shakes from the force, knocking him around just enough to break his concentration and have the spell fizzle out. Hasu continues his assault as Scima attempts to pull his sword free. Scima takes one hand from the hilt, pivots strongly and smacks Hasu in the jaw just as Hasu punches him in the back. As Hasu is staggered for a moment, Scima digs the tip of his shoe into the side of Hund’s knee. As Hund’s leg buckles, his hold on the sword loosens.

Scima tears his blade from Hund’s hands and stabs at Hasu behind him. However, as before, Snithan holds out a blade-arm to stop his sword. As Scima’s sword bounces off, he smiles.

“If you wanted a fight so bad you should’ve led with this!”

Scima swings his sword strongly, as though he intends to cleave through Snithan with a single slash. However, rather than that, Scima takes a quick step back, letting his blade pass by Snithan, and instead going around Scima’s body towards Hund behind him.

Snithan lunges forward deeply, his face nearly pressed into Scima’s chest. He flicks what functions as his wrist, the attached blade shooting up to misdirect Scima’s sword. As their blades clink against each other, Scima shoves his knee into Snithan’s stomach. As he recoils from the blow, Scima brings down his sword.

Hund begins to open his maw. Pivoting on one leg, Scima raises the other and swings it into the air. He smashes it against Hund’s snout. The fire shoots off harmlessly in another direction. As the fire burns the hidden grass, Hasu throws a punch over Snithan’s bowed back. Scima catches Hasu’s wrist with the guard of his sword, raising Hasu’s arm into the air. Snithan recovers and again slashes from deep inside Scima’s range. Scima pulls his sword back down sharply and glances the blade-arm off the metal face. Hasu’s face contorts with displeasure.

“So even the three of us at once cannot take you down so easily. So be it.”

Scima sees nothing but darkness, as though he were standing in a void. The feeling of dirt beneath him disappears, as does his sword in his hand. Scima tightens his grip as he begins to lose his footing on nothing and trip. Then he feels a sharp pain in his side, then a burning one in his shoulder.

His senses return all at once. He sees Hasu, clearly fatigued, shuddering and heaving as a drawback to whatever he had just done. Scima looks down and sees a blade arm plunged through his side, and a scorched bite mark on his shoulder.

As Hasu gasps for breath, the world returns to as it should be and the illusion vanishes. Standing nearby are Eva and Anima, both unoccupied. It is now that Valere arrives and joins the fight. He pierces deep into the heart of the battlefield, coming right to Scima’s side. Scima pulls himself off of Snithan’s blade-arm and looks at Valere.

“You know how strong we are, so go anywhere else.” Valere sighs.

“You and Sion both… Fine. If you want to be the strongest so bad, then show off however much you can.” Valere walks off and Hasu begins to question Scima.

“You sent away your own reinforcements?”

“You wouldn’t ask some random kid off the street to step on ants for you, would you?” Hasu smiles.

“Hund, take the princess. I’ll keep this other girl occupied.” Hund begins to move towards Eva, as does Hasu towards Anima.

“You morons really think I’d just let you walk away from me!”

“Snithan—” Snithan walks in front of Scima and begins to yell, ignoring Hasu entirely.

“Come! Come! We can finally have our duel! Don’t worry, I’ll kill you before they interrupt again!”

“Hey, when I cut off your head, which part will grow back? If you don’t know, then get out of my way or you’ll find out.”

“Do you think I fear death! How stupid! How stupid!” Scima calls out, ignoring Snithan.

“Lady Eva, Anima, don’t worry. I’ll be running those other two through soon enough.”

The three of them face down their monstrous opponent and prepare for a fight as the sounds of violence rage on around them.