Escape

“Lady Scarlet!” Viviane exclaimed happily, dragging Medrauta along as she approached the proud noblewoman.

Medrauta grimaced, clearly displeased with leaving all the work to Scarlet’s knight, Eris. As a fellow knight herself and the Walpurgisknight’s initial opponent, Medrauta felt she had a duty to finish what she started. Unfortunately, she would be nothing more than a hindrance to Eris without a weapon, and the worst part was she more than understood that fact.

“Lady Viviane. Dame Medrauta.” Scarlet curtsied elegantly, her disposition nonchalant and serene as if everything was happening according to her plans. “It’s a pleasure to see the two of you once again.”

Medrauta simply nodded in response, remaining silent and taciturn in stark contrast to Viviane’s overjoyed and energetic greeting.

Although Medrauta and Scarlet’s relationship had a slightly rocky start, the two had become more familiar with one another throughout her intermittent visits to Avalyne Academy before Medrauta and Viviane departed on their mission to the former Revelo duchy. As Viviane’s knight, Medrauta had no choice but to accompany her lady whenever Scarlet dropped by, forcing the two to come to some kind of an understanding. Neither Medrauta nor Scarlet saw the other as a friend, but they had enough tact to at least wear a veil of mutual respect in front of Viviane, someone that they both cared about.

“You as well, Lady Scarlet! What are you doing here? Has the civil war in your duchy concluded? Where’s Dame Let—”

Medrauta cleared her throat rather noisily, interrupting Viviane’s barrage of questions. She tugged on her lady’s hand lightly, signaling for the noblewoman to relax for a moment. Viviane blushed as she mustered the self-control required to restrain herself, allowing Medrauta to pose a more appropriate question in lieu of Viviane’s silence. “More importantly, are you sure we should be standing here and letting your knight handle everything, Lady Scarlet?”

Scarlet merely smirked, her gaze drifting away from the pair before her as she observed her knight’s lightning-fast movements. Not a trace of worry dared tarnish her eyes despite the massive disparity in size and strength between Eris and the Walpurgisknight. “Of course. Eris would never lose against an opponent like that.”

“Is that so...?” Medrauta murmured, her eyes settling on Eris and the Walpurgisknight as well. She didn’t know whether it was intentional or not, but Scarlet’s remark had managed to wound her pride, albeit only slightly. Scarlet claiming that Eris wouldn’t lose to an opponent who had managed to defeat her made Medrauta keenly interested in how the battle would play out. After all, she’d never seen nor heard of Eris until now.

Sure enough, the diminutive knight was weaving through and between the Walpurgisknight’s attacks with an almost contemptuous alacrity, darting in to strike with her daggers whenever there was an opening and then quickly disengaging before the black-clad knight could issue a counterattack. Even after observing the fight briefly, it was obvious that the Walpurgisknight would never be able to land an attack on Eris unless she somehow slipped up.

She’s strong. Medrauta frowned. In terms of skill, she and Eris were roughly the same. As much as Medrauta hated to admit it, Eris was indeed talented, and possibly amongst one of the most skilled knights Medrauta had ever encountered, even including senior knights. However, the reason behind Eris’ ability to succeed against the Walpurgisknight despite Medrauta’s failure was not because of her skill, but her fighting style and choice of weapons.

Very few knights chose to wield or even bear daggers. A dagger’s main advantage was its short length and its lightweight nature which allowed even the weakest person to wield one. However, such qualities brought little to no benefits for a knight. Gifted with physical abilities that far surpassed the normal person’s it was much more advantageous for a knight to use a shortsword instead if they wished for a shorter weapon as weapon weight was rarely an issue for knights, explaining the widespread usage of greatswords amongst the empire.

In fact, even Medrauta could feasibly wield a greatsword if she so desired, but the silver-haired knight had decided that a longsword was far more fitting for her technical fighting style compared to the brutish, head-on approach that most knights employed. One such example was the very Walpurgisknight who was slowly being overwhelmed by Eris’ storm of dagger attacks. While daggers normally would’ve been ineffective against an armored opponent, Eris’ speed and precision more than compensated for that, allowing her to target the gaps in her opponent’s armor with ease.

In terms of fighting style, Eris was definitely a far more evasive individual compared to Medrauta who relied on perfectly timed parries that offset the route of her opponent’s attacks and allowed her to counterattack with minimal effort and wasted energy. Both styles had their advantages and disadvantages, but when it came to fighting against an opponent like the Walpurgisknight, even Medrauta had to admit that Eris’ approach was far better.

Medrauta’s ability to instantly issue a deadly riposte after a parry was what made her style so effective, allowing her to end a fight regardless of the weapon her opponent wielded. Unfortunately, the Walpurgisknight was subject to no such threat. Only capable of succumbing to death through decapitation, the Walpurgisknight could simply ignore the threat of Medrauta’s counterattacks while continuing to advance. Meanwhile, Eris’ evasive maneuvers forced the Walpurgisknight to expend extra energy in an attempt to catch her off-guard as she continued to avoid his attacks with ease, and her small size certainly helped Eris slip out of more than a few close calls.

Of course, it wasn’t as if Medrauta hadn’t considered swapping her focus to avoiding the Walpurgisknight’s attacks instead of parrying them. As a highly skilled warrior capable of adapting to new developments and threats on the fly, Medrauta was more than familiar with switching up her strategies when needed. Unfortunately, her weapon of choice placed her at a disadvantage when employing such evasive tactics.

Wielding a longsword that was slightly thicker and longer than the standard issue weapon, Medrauta’s blade would have been awkward to wield when attempting a hit and run strategy, and it certainly didn’t help that the Walpurgisknight’s weapon was so wide and large. Had she tried something similar to Eris’ tactics, she would be hard pressed to make meaningful attacks without wielding her weapon in a half-sword grip, something that would make any last-second parries an impossibility.

Meanwhile, Eris’ twin daggers suffered from none of those disadvantages. While the Walpurgisknight’s full armor normally would’ve been a strong deterrent against light arms like daggers, it was obvious that Eris had taken the time to master her art, allowing her to deliver continuous attacks that made it seem as though her opponent’s armor didn’t exist at all. The only issue was whether or not such short weapons were up to the task of cutting through the Walpurgisknight’s thickly muscled neck.

The Walpurgisknight staggered backward, propelled by the weight of his own sword as he attempted to raise it to issue an attack, only for Eris to dart in and cut apart the tendons of his underarm, preventing him from stopping his arm’s upward movement before they regenerated. Although the blonde-haired knight was unable to deal any real, meaningful damage to him, the Walpurgisknight was becoming increasingly annoyed by Eris’ troublesome tactics.

Not only did the smaller knight favor an evasive fighting style that negated the massive weight and width of the Walpurgisknight’s gargantuan blade, but she also employed tricks that most knights eschewed out of pride.

The Walpurgisknight’s eyes narrowed behind his horned skull helmet, bringing his sword up just in time to act as a shield against the four knives that Eris threw at him. They bounced off the flat of his blade easily, serving as nothing more than minor nuisances. But that was enough for Eris. When the Walpurgisknight lowered his blade, his opponent was nowhere to be seen.

“Guh!” The sound of steel striking stone echoed through the air as the Walpurgisknight fell to his knees. While he had been preoccupied by Eris’ fan of knives, the blonde-haired knight had slipped behind him with her superior speed and eviscerated the tendons in his legs, targeting the joints of his armor and sending him crashing to the floor. While the damage was negligible and temporary, it ultimately left him vulnerable to Eris’ follow-up.

The blonde-haired knight vaulted over her kneeling opponent, executing a neat flip in the air before landing squarely in front of the Walpurgisknight. She brandished her twin daggers nonchalantly, placing them on either side of the black-clad knight’s neck.

Eris expected the Walpurgisknight to at least struggle in the face of death, but the black-clad knight did no such thing. Instead, he simply remained kneeling as he awaited the final blow.

“Any last words?” Eris asked.

“...Annoying gnat.” The Walpurgisknight spat. “Your arrogance shall be your downfall.”

Eris merely grinned and shook her head. There was no need for her to be on guard anymore now that the Walpurgisknight’s life was quite literally in her hands. With one smooth motion, she pressed the razor-sharp edges of her daggers into the Walpurgisknight’s neck, beheading him in one smooth motion.

At least, that was what she thought would happen.

“...Huh?”

“Didn’t I just tell you?” The Walpurgisknight rumbled. “Your arrogance shall be your downfall.” A gauntleted hand pierced through the air, grabbing Eris by the throat as the black-clad knight rose to his feet. Eris’ daggers clattered to the ground, the blonde-haired knight’s face twisting into an amalgamation of confusion and pain.

W-What the fuck!? Eris flailed as she struggled to break free from the Walpurgisknight’s iron grip. This development made no sense to her. There had been no armor where her blades rested mere moments ago, and she was sure they were cutting into flesh.

“Zephyr!” Scarlet’s voice cracked like a whip, forcing even the world itself to obey. The space around Eris distorted briefly before the knight vanished entirely, reappearing in front of Scarlet’s feet. Eris collapsed to the ground, touching a hand to her bruised neck and gasping for air.

“Teleportation...?” The Walpurgisknight mused, his inimical gaze falling upon Scarlet’s elegant form. “How unusual. Almost... blasphemous, no?”

The noblewoman met his blazing crimson eyes unflinchingly, her air of assured victory still prominent. “I am sure you will find that I can do much more than that, vermin.”

The Walpurgisknight chuckled, a deep throaty sound that reminded Scarlet of a bullfrog’s croak. “Perhaps. But such surprises can wait. My lady calls, and I know when I have been bested. Your knight was quite skilled, but perhaps she should learn to curb her pride.”

“Y-You...!” Eris snarled, picking herself up from the ground. Despite being disarmed, she looked no less eager to dive right back into battle. The shame of needing her beloved Lady Scarlet to bail her out fueled Eris’ rage, after all.

“Calm yourself, Eris. We will have another chance to lay him low.” Scarlet spoke with an even tone, noticing the crimson circle that was forming beneath the Walpurgisknight’s feet. With the power of her Crest, it would be possible to catch him before he could be whisked away, and had both Medrauta and Eris still been armed, that was exactly what Scarlet would have attempted to do.

As it stood, it was far more advantageous to allow the Walpurgisknight to escape and claim victory over the tower. It seemed that the armored knight knew this as well, giving Scarlet an almost imperceptible nod of respect as he was slowly swallowed up by the circle, descending into its crimson depths before it finally closed.

“...It’s over.” Viviane breathed a sigh of relief.

“He escaped.” Medrauta pursed her lips. She was slightly frustrated at the outcome, but she couldn’t exactly complain either. After all, her lady was safe at last. “I suppose we’ll be seeing him again soon.”

At that, their expressions seemed to darken briefly, but Scarlet quickly intervened to prevent the mood from souring further.

“Lady Viviane, perhaps I might answer your earlier questions.” Scarlet began. “Shall I tell you the tale of how my knight and I ended up here?”

Viviane nodded emphatically, a smile spreading across her face as she quickly dispelled any further thoughts of the Walpurgisknight in favor of giving Scarlet’s story her full attention.

“Yes, please!”