Chapter 23. Terms and Conditions of Being the Only One Left Standing

Chapter 23: 23. Terms and Conditions of Being the Only One Left Standing

Without having to continue the conversation. My eyes caught the movement coming from him.

He swung.

The blade left a crescent of shimmering energy that cut across the street like a plow. I threw myself to the side, but the shockwave caught me anyway and flipped me into the wall of a house.

BAM!

Pain exploded through my back and shoulder. "GGHHH...!"

A panel flickered into view as I slid down the stones.

[THREAT ANALYSIS COMPLETE]

[Target: Garrick Voss]

[Combat Rating: A+]

[Energy Crystal Enhancement: Active]

[Warning: Direct combat not recommended.]

[Current Lust: 19%]

I wiped blood off my lip with the back of my hand.

’Great,’ I thought. ’Even the damn system wants me to run away from this...’

’How bad of a knight I am if I have to rely on that fucking low lust, huh...?’

Garrick didn’t come after me right away, which I took as an invitation to think for a second.

But... I do what any knight would do, which was to stand up, roll my shoulder, and watch him, because I had a theory about this upcoming fight.

Every time he’d used the crystal to boost a strike, the red stone on his chest had flickered, and there’d been a small gap before the energy reached his sword.

It was a fraction of a second, maybe less... but I’d been fighting seriously for four days, and I’d learned to look for fractions of a second.

"Come on," he said, and raised his blade. "Surrender now and face it!"

"I don’t have time to kill every man who thinks he’s a hero."

"Sorry, but... I’m pretty sure I’m not the type who gives up on the first try."

"That’s what I like then!" He charged.

I stayed where I was until the last possible moment, then slipped to the left. His sword missed me by a handbreadth and plowed straight into a stone pillar that held up a balcony.

The pillar shattered, the balcony sagged, and a chunk of masonry dropped between Garrick and the soldiers behind him. For a few precious seconds, he was cut off from his own men.

’Got him!’

I went in fast and hit him twice, once on the thigh and once across the ribs, both at the seams of his armor. Then I jumped back before he could retaliate.

He looked down at the nicks in his plate and then at me.

"Ohhhh... Clever knight, eh?" he said. "A pity cleverness won’t help when your body can’t keep up with your plans."

The crystal flared, and a red aura rolled over him like heat off a forge. ’Shit... brace myself!’

When he came at me again, he was twice as fast.

I blocked the first strike by sheer luck. And then I dodged the second by about an inch.

But shit, the third caught me square in the chest and launched me backward through the front wall of an empty shop, where I went through a counter, a shelf of jars, and half a door before skidding to a stop in the dust.

BAAMMMMM!

"Gaagghhh...! Fucking fuck...!" I punched the ground hard out of frustration.

For a moment I couldn’t tell which way was up.

Somewhere outside... I heard Laura scream my name.

I managed to turn my head. Through the hole in the wall I could see her at the end of the street with Sharon’s hand clamped around her arm, and she was fighting to get free.

"Let me go!!!" Laura tried to escape Sharon’s grasp.

"If you run in there without a plan, you’ll only add to the body count," Sharon said. "Trust him on this!"

"No...! He’s going to die if he didn’t get any backup!"

"No... not... yet."

Sharon didn’t sound completely sure. I could tell she’d seen plenty of good fighters fall to men like Garrick, and I didn’t blame her for being doubtful, because I was a little doubtful myself.

Especially with the lust percentage that I have right now.

I got a hand on the broken counter and pulled myself up. My sword was cracked halfway down the blade, and my head was ringing, and when I pulled up the panel... I wished that I hadn’t done that.

But curiosity always kills.

[LUST: 14%]

[AETHER RESERVE: LOW]

[COMBAT INSTINCT: ACTIVE]

[WARNING: Further overexertion may result in collapse.]

I laughed... And it hurt, but I laughed anyway.

"Heh... hahaha... If I keep fighting like this, I’m going to pass out before it’s over," I muttered. "So... why the hell not then if I’ll just have to finish it first?"

I walked back out into the street.

Garrick had been waiting with his sword on his shoulder, and when he saw me, one of his eyebrows went up. "Ohh...? You’re still standing?"

"I’m a stubborn hero... heh. Get it, since you still call me a playing hero."

"That’s not an advantage... and that’s also not funny."

"It’s been working so far."

He lunged again. But this time, I didn’t back away.

I stepped into his reach, which is the last thing anyone expects, and let the blade skim past my cheek by a hair.

Then I slammed the pommel of my sword into his wrist. It wasn’t a hard hit, and it didn’t injure him, but it knocked his strike off line, and the point of his sword gouged a trench in the cobblestones.

At the same moment, I kicked a loose chunk of rubble straight at the crystal on his chest.

He did exactly what I’d hoped. He threw up his arm to protect it.

"...!" I raised my eyebrows.

’I fucking knew it... what a coward...’ And that was the moment where I could see an opening.

I cut upward and severed the strap on his shoulder plate, and the armor dropped away with a clang. The crystal’s glow stuttered like a candle in a draft, and Garrick’s rhythm broke for the first time.

"Feeling powerless now, are ya?!" I smiled widely with both my eyes widened.

I hammered my blade against his sword with everything I had left. His fingers loosened and the weapon flew out of his hand, spinning end over end into the dust.

CLAAANNNGGGGG!

He staggered. And then without giving him a chance to move, I put the point of my cracked sword against his throat.

"Hah... hah... It’s over," I said, trying not to wheeze.

He stared at me. "You’re not even an... official knight."

"Correct."

I pressed the blade a little closer. "Which should make it even more embarrassing for you, right?"

Behind me, I heard heavy footsteps. Sharon had stopped a short distance away.

Her sword was lowered, her face unreadable, and she was studying me with the stillness of someone seeing a thing for the first time. I’d like to think she was impressed, but I was too tired to check.

A squad of royal guards rushed up, clamped a set of iron cuffs around Garrick’s wrists, and strapped his chest piece down with chains.

And then I walk back for a second, just letting myself lean on a wall for a second for a long breather.

"Fuhhhh..."

I had just started to think we might actually survive the night... but I thought too fast at that moment when an explosion rattled the whole street.

BAAM! BAM! BAAAMMMMM!

It came from the direction of the control tower, and it wasn’t a big blast, only a thump, like a barrel of lamp oil going up a few streets over.

But the black-armored soldiers who had been regrouping at the edge of the square suddenly broke away and sprinted for the tower, and I knew right away that I’d been right about the distraction.

’So readable, but I have my own problem to deal with...’

"They’re going for the main crystal!" Sharon shouted.

"Laura!" she added, spinning. "Hold the avenue! Don’t let them cross the bridge!"

"Yes, ma’am!"

Laura took off with a dozen guards behind her.

From the other side of the square, I saw a flash of gold hair, and my chest tightened with relief. Alicia was there, directing a line of guards into the side alleys, pulling them out of the open street so the black-armored soldiers couldn’t hit them all at once.

She had them in a tight, interlocking pattern that forced the larger enemy force to come at them in twos and threes. I’d have known that style anywhere, because I’d helped build it back when we were kids.

Sharon went after the largest knot of soldiers, and she did it the way she did everything, like a falling building. Her huge sword came around in a shining arc that scattered a row of men like leaves, and a second blow sent a shock of pale energy rolling down the street.

Soldiers were thrown through the air. One of them hit a wall so hard that he left a dent.

I watched her cut through them in a way I couldn’t have copied if I’d practiced for ten years.

’That’s what SSS-Rank really looks like,’ I thought, and felt a quiet thrill. ’Holy shit.’

Then I spotted it.

At the base of the control tower, three soldiers were kneeling around a small device clamped to the foundation crystal, a tangle of copper wire and small glowing stones.

As I watched, a fourth soldier raised a lever. If that thing went off, the barrier would collapse, and the monsters at the gate would pour into the city.

I looked at Sharon, who was being swarmed. I looked at Laura and Alicia, who were holding the avenue.

Nobody was free.

And so... I forced my whole body again just so that I ran as fast as I can.

"ROLAND!" Laura screamed behind me. "Roland, NO!"