Those Who Smile In Battle

Dust rolled through the ruined avenue. At its center stood Brunhilda Ironheart in a white doctor’s coat, its hem stained with dust from the impact. Long reddish hair fell over her shoulders, and a short scar marked her left cheek. Excitement burned inside her black eyes.

“Ugh.” Brunhilda grimaced. “That thing felt like punching an enormous ball of jelly.”

Then a grin spread across her face. “Now, where are the bastards responsible for this mess?”

Behind her, Evren forced himself upright using his sword. Blood ran from his palm, and every breath made his body ache. “Th-thank you for saving me.”

Brunhilda glanced over her shoulder. “You’re welcome. Now leave.”

Evren blinked. “What?”

“Things are about to get ugly.”

“Ma’am, I can still fight.” Evren tightened his hand around the hilt. “I can’t abandon you.”

Brunhilda turned fully toward him. Her smile vanished. “Do you want me to throw you after that monster?”

Evren stiffened.

“You can barely stand. Stay here, and I’ll have to protect you while fighting them.” Her eyes narrowed. “You’ll only get in my way.”

Evren lowered his gaze. “I… understand.”

He turned and began limping toward the surviving Royal Guards.

“Royal Guard.”

Evren stopped.

When he looked back, Brunhilda raised one thumb. “You did well.”

The words struck deeper than any blow.

Evren stared at her, his eyes shining. “Thank you, ma’am.”

He continued down the avenue with his back slightly straighter than before.

Brunhilda faced the shattered buildings ahead. “Enough hiding,” she called. “Come out and face me.”

A tall mirror rose from the broken street before her. Its surface rippled. Sparks stepped through, adjusting the sleeve of his coat. “You show promise,” he said. “Let's see what you're capable of.”

An explosion erupted to Brunhilda’s right. Jack emerged from the smoke, grinning from ear to ear. “JAJA! That punch was incredible!”

The ground cracked to her left. A massive white worm burst from beneath the street and opened its circular mouth. Yuki stepped out between its teeth, blood streaking his pale face. His crimson gaze moved across Brunhilda’s face and settled upon her eyes. “What beautiful eyes. I wonder how they would look floating inside one of my jars.”

Brunhilda looked from one enemy to another.

Then she vanished.

Her forehead smashed into Sparks’s nose.

He staggered backward, clutching his bleeding nose.

Before Jack or Yuki could react, Brunhilda’s hands clamped over their faces.

She spun once.

Then hurled them in opposite directions.

Jack crashed through the wall of a bakery.

Yuki disappeared into the remains of a house.

Sparks stared at the blood across his fingers. “You insolent brute! You broke my nose!”

Brunhilda laughed. “What happened to that confident expression? I didn’t expect such a crybaby.”

Sparks’s face twisted. “You gorilla-faced woman.”

Mirrors materialized around her. “Mirror Magic—Energy Reflection!”

Beams erupted from their surfaces. Brunhilda twisted between them as light tore through the street. One beam passed beneath her arm. Another scorched the edge of her hair. A third split the ground behind her.

Jack burst from the ruined bakery in a cloud of smoke. “You’re strong!”

Yuki crawled from the rubble beside him, smiling as blood ran from his forehead. “And she will look even better after I cut her apart.”

Jack slammed both palms behind himself. “Explosion Magic—Crazy Jump!”

The blast launched him toward Brunhilda.

At the same time, Yuki pressed one hand against the street. “Parasite Magic—The Magnificent Bloodsucking Worms.”

The earth ruptured. Enormous white worms surged upward, their circular mouths packed with rows of wet teeth.

Brunhilda’s grin widened. She raised one fist and drove it into the street. The avenue shattered.

Mirrors tilted. Worms lost their balance. Sparks stumbled as cracks opened beneath his boots.

Jack continued flying through the chaos. His right fist burned with explosive light. “The Explosive Fist!”

Brunhilda turned and pulled back her own arm. “The Destructive Fist!”

Their fists collided.

The explosion swallowed the avenue.

Far from the Royal City, steel rang across the ruins of Oakheart Castle. Malvern and Haze moved through the dust, their swords colliding faster than the eye could follow.

Haze swung for Malvern’s neck. Malvern leaned beneath the blade and answered with a thrust toward his ribs. Haze twisted aside.

The ground beneath Malvern erupted. Two enormous fists of earth rose from below. Malvern leaped backward as they crashed together where he had stood.

“RAPAPA!” Rappa laughed from across the ruins. “Not bad, blind man!”

Malvern landed. A shape entered the edge of his mana perception.

No footsteps.

Nothing.

Too late.

Pain cut across his cheek.

Malvern turned as Mitch passed behind him, a wavy knife in one hand. A thin line of blood appeared beneath Malvern’s blind eye.

Again.

He had not heard the boy move.

Malvern increased the distance between them.

Haze rested his broadsword upon one shoulder. “You’re handling the three of us rather well.” His smile sharpened. “But you still haven’t shown us everything.”

Malvern touched the cut on his face. “True.” His fingers came away stained with blood. “But I never thought I’d live to see the day a child drew my blood.”

He unfastened his silver armor. The breastplate struck the ground. The shoulder guards followed. “That armor was slowing me down.”

Malvern rolled his neck, then stretched both arms. “Much better.”

Rappa blinked.

A grin spread across Malvern’s face as he lowered his body. “All right. Time to take this fight seriously.”

Rappa pulled the enormous hammer back. “RAPAPA! TAKE THIS!”

He hurled it straight at Malvern.

Malvern threw his sword. The two weapons collided in midair. Metal screamed.

Rappa charged straight at Malvern, driving his fist forward. Malvern planted one foot on Rappa’s forearm and immediately swung his other foot into the right side of Rappa’s head, directly over his ear.

A piercing ring swallowed every other sound.

The impact sent Rappa flying to the left. He spun upside down before slamming into the earth, his upper body buried beneath the ground.

Before he stopped moving, Malvern had already formed another sword and rushed toward Mitch. Mitch raised his knife.

Malvern vanished from his perception.

Haze rushed toward them. “Mitch! Behind you!”

Mitch turned.

Too slowly.

Malvern’s blade was already descending when Haze reached them and caught it midway with his broadsword. Sparks flew from the collision.

Haze pushed against Malvern’s weapon. “Would you satisfy my curiosity?”

“No.”

Haze laughed. “I haven’t asked yet.”

“I know what you want to ask.”

Malvern’s smile returned.

“How does a blind man fight as though he can see?” Haze asked.

“Why would I reveal my secret to an enemy?”

“Fair point.”

Malvern tilted his head. “Then answer one of mine. Who are you really, and what do you want from the King?”

Haze’s grin widened. “Why would I reveal my secret to an enemy?”

Malvern laughed. “Fair point.”

Mitch stepped onto Haze’s shoulder and launched himself into the air. His mouth opened.

No words emerged. Only a low hum.

It rose sharply until the air around him trembled.

Fury’s Scream.

The hum erupted into a violent sonic blast. Haze jumped backward. A wall of sound struck Malvern and tore a trench through the ruins. Dust swallowed him.

When the dust cleared, Malvern remained standing behind a translucent blue shield.

The Shield of Valor!

Haze’s expression changed.

That’s my technique…

His gaze dropped to his own wrist. Malvern’s fingers had brushed it when their blades collided.

“I see.” Haze smirked. “You touched me, and now you can use my magic.”

Malvern said nothing.

“So that’s how your Imitation Magic works.”

“Maybe.”

Haze raised his broadsword. “Then I’ll cut off the hands you use to copy my magic.”

Blue aura flooded the blade. “Knight Magic—Successive Justice Domination!”

He swung again and again, unleashing a storm of blue slashes across the ruins.

Malvern lifted his sword. “Imitation Magic—Knight Element: Successive Justice Domination!”

His own barrage rushed forward. Blue energy collided between them. The sky flashed. The earth split.

Haze laughed through the explosions. “You have incredibly annoying magic!”

“I know!” Malvern answered, smiling just as widely.

Their final slashes collided and threw both men backward.

Haze landed in a crouch.

Malvern slid across the broken ground, breathing harder now.

“That was good,” Haze said.

Malvern’s smile faded. Something large moved beneath the earth toward him. It made no sound, but the shifting void within the surrounding mana revealed its approach.

Malvern looked at Haze. “You were keeping me busy.”

Haze laughed. “You noticed late.”

Malvern leaped into the air. Rappa’s massive hands burst through the ground where Malvern had been standing, grasping at empty air. A moment later, Rappa pulled himself from the earth between them and looked around in confusion.

“Rapa?”

Above him, Malvern raised two fingers.

A small sphere of concentrated flame formed at his fingertips.

Haze pointed his sword frantically toward the sky.

Rappa squinted at him. “What is that move? Are you warming up?”

“Above you, you idiot!” Haze screamed.

Rappa looked up. The fiery sphere struck the top of his head. A colossal explosion swallowed him.

Haze slapped a hand against his forehead.

Malvern landed as the smoke began to thin. Rappa stood motionless, his entire body blackened. Smoke escaped his mouth.

Then he collapsed face-first.

“One down,” Malvern said.

Haze sighed. “I warned you, Rappa. Try looking up once in a while.”

Mitch nodded solemnly. “Mmm.”

A massive thumb rose from the smoke. “Okay!”

Rappa pushed himself upright as though nothing had happened. He tore an enormous root from the ground and squeezed it over his head. Water poured across his burned skin. “RAPAPAPA! Refreshing! That attack was strong! You two should have warned—glblblbl—”

Haze stared at him. “Move the water away from your mouth, idiot.”

Rappa tossed the root aside.

Malvern studied him. “You endured that without serious damage.”

Rappa struck both fists against his chest. “RAPAPAPA! My body is the strongest on earth!”

“Is that so?”

Malvern raised both hands. “Then let us see whether it can withstand your own magic.”

The ground shook.

Two colossal palms of stone rose on either side of Rappa and slammed inward. Rappa caught them with both arms. His feet sank into the ground beneath the pressure. “RA-PAPAPA! As expected from my magic! It is incredibly strong!”

A vast shadow swallowed Rappa. He looked up. A third enormous hand of earth descended between the other two, its fist clenched.

The stone fist crashed down on him from above. The earth exploded beneath Rappa.

Back in the Royal City, smoke burst apart. Brunhilda and Jack flew from the explosion in opposite directions. Both landed on their feet. Both were smiling.

“Again!” Jack shouted. He launched himself forward.

Brunhilda met him halfway. Their fists collided again and again. Every impact produced another explosion.

While Jack held her attention, Sparks moved his mirrors into position around them.

Yuki watched from behind the worms, transfixed by the determination burning in Brunhilda’s eyes. In his mind, he saw those same eyes floating inside a glass jar. He cupped his cheeks with both hands, trembling with excitement. “That determination… that fearlessness… With eyes like those, my collection will finally be complete.”

Jack swung at Brunhilda’s jaw. She caught his wrist and drove her forehead into his face.

At that instant, light flashed inside the nearest mirror. A beam shot toward her.

Brunhilda released Jack and twisted aside as the beam shot past her and entered another mirror.

“Move away, Jester,” Sparks said.

Jack retreated to his side as the beam emerged from behind Brunhilda. She dodged again. The light struck a third mirror and returned from above.

Brunhilda looked around. Three mirrors had trapped her inside a triangle of ricocheting energy.

“Heh.” She ducked beneath another beam.

“This is bad.”

The next beam cut off her retreat.

“Really bad.”

Brunhilda bent her knees and leaped out of the triangle.

A colossal white worm burst upward to meet her. Its jaws began to close around Brunhilda’s body.

Yuki stood upon its head, trembling with excitement. “Slowly,” he whispered. “Chew slowly. Do not damage the eyes.”

Before the jaws could close completely, Brunhilda caught two of the enormous upper fangs and planted her feet against the lower teeth. The muscles beneath the worm’s slick flesh contracted around her, trying to crush her while she forced its jaws apart.

Brunhilda’s smile returned.

Violet aura engulfed her. “Destruction Magic.”

Brunhilda suddenly released the fangs. The worm’s jaws snapped shut, swallowing her in darkness.

Then the upper side of its head exploded outward, hurling Yuki away with the force of the blast.

Blood and torn flesh rained across the street as Brunhilda tore through the opening and dropped to the ground below, covered in the creature’s blood.

Brunhilda wiped blood from her mouth. “This is so disgusting.”

Sparks stepped through a mirror behind her. “I admit that you are strong,” he said. “But look around you.”

His gaze moved across the fallen Royal Guards. “A woman stands where the men of this city should have stood. They died and left you to clean up their failure.”

His lip curled. “Pathetic. No wonder Leader Neven intends to purify this place.”

Brunhilda went still.

Then she dropped to one knee, drove her fingers into the broken street, tore an enormous boulder from the earth, and hurled it into the sky.

She leaped after it. Her fist struck the boulder. It shattered into hundreds of fragments. Stone rained across the avenue.

Sparks raised his mirrors and fired beams into the falling debris. Jack blasted fragments apart with his fists. Yuki hid behind the body of another worm as stone hammered its flesh.

Brunhilda descended through the destruction.

“Those men died protecting people they did not even know.” Her voice shook with rage. “You do not get to call them pathetic.”

She landed with violet aura covering her body. The street cracked beneath her boots. “Destruction Magic…”

Something changed in the air. The laughter disappeared from Jack’s face. Yuki’s smile weakened. Even Sparks took one step backward.

Pressure rolled from Brunhilda’s body. It felt like standing before something that had already decided to kill them.

Sparks swallowed. It is like facing a bloodthirsty monster…

Brunhilda charged across the avenue before Sparks could blink, but a mirror appeared between them and unleashed a concentrated beam of light.

Brunhilda drove her violet-aura-covered fist straight into it. The beam split around her arm, scorching her skin as she forced her way through. Pain twisted across her face, but she did not slow down.

Sparks’s eyes widened. “She punched through my beam?”

Her fist continued toward his face. Sparks threw himself backward through another mirror an instant before the blow connected. Brunhilda’s fist shattered the mirror as he vanished through it.

Brunhilda stopped and drew a ragged breath.

Across the street, Jack stared at her. Yuki’s fingers twitched. Sparks emerged from another mirror several meters away, his face pale.

Brunhilda fixed her black eyes upon him. “You’re the pathetic one.”

Far from the Royal City, above the clouds, the flying creature revealed itself to be a gryphon continuing toward Valenharth. Its eagle head cut through the wind while two enormous wings stretched from its lion’s body.

The two figures stood on its back. One was a man with long red hair neatly combed to the side, giving him a noble appearance. Vulcan Ashworth stood with his arms crossed, unmoved by the violent wind.

“Umm… Guys, I think you’re close to where my raven sensed King Kane,” Revon said through the raven perched on Vulcan’s shoulder, his voice almost shy.

“Copy that, Revon,” Vulcan replied.

Beside him stood a woman with yellow-blond hair. Morgana Ironheart’s features closely resembled Brunhilda’s, though no scar marked her cheek. Worry remained fixed upon her face as she stared toward the distant kingdom.

Beneath them, King Oceanclaw flew in his gryphon form. “That fool Dante,” he said. “Should we not have waited for him, Captain?”

Vulcan did not uncross his arms. “His presence or absence will not alter the outcome we came here to secure.”

“The Sardar ordered us to move without delay,” Morgana said. “Dante will catch up once he wakes.”

King laughed. “Assuming he wakes before the battle ends.”

The clouds opened ahead of them. Far below, the ruins of Oakheart Castle came into view. King faced forward. “We are almost there.”

His wings spread wider. “Prepare to jump.”