Arcadia's Ignoble Knight: The Sorceress of Ashtown

Train Ride Melee

Twelve. There had been exactly twelve more individuals within the train, aside from the two he'd first defeated. Caspian had been forced to fight fourteen people altogether, all of whom appeared to have been simple commoners and not bandits of any kind. Most of them had been wielding daggers, but several had used more esoteric killing devices. One of them even had a spiked flail, which had taken some tricky work to defeat, especially since he'd been forced to protect civilians during that fight along with himself.

Caspian had learned early on that none of these people would respond to his attempts at talking some sense into them. They didn't talk, and they didn't respond when spoken to. While it was scary to think about, all of these individuals reminded him of the automatons he'd seen in the Temarian province. They were lifeless, robots composed of flesh and blood instead of metal and Spirit Crystals. It was as if their minds had been shattered, their free will taken away, like they'd become mindless slaves whose sole purpose was to fight.

Caspian was left with no other recourse but to fight back.

It had taken him a lot of time and effort to battle his way through all those people. He'd been forced to travel from one side of the train to the other, fighting all the while. It was tough work, made all the more difficult by the fact that he didn't have any time to rest in between each fight. He couldn't afford to. Not if he wanted to rescue all of the civilians before they were injured, or worse, killed. Fortunately, Caspian had reached the back of the train and was on what he hoped would be his last battle.

There had been another person with his current opponent. It seemed these people worked in pairs. However, Caspian had learned from experience—very recent and slightly painful experience—and managed to take out the first one with a surprise attack before they were aware of his presence. That left just this guy, or girl, to deal with.

The individual he was locked in combat with swung at him several times, their blades slicing through the air with speed akin to a buzzsaw, each weapon appearing before him in a flash of light and polished steel. Every slice, slash and thrust was aimed at one of Caspian's vital points: neck, clavicle, between the ribs... this person had a very methodical way of fighting. It was enough to make him wonder how these people, farmers and peasants, were capable of such impressive martial feats. It was almost like magic, some kind of spell, had granted them inhuman abilities.

But that shouldn't be possible unless...

Caspian could think no more as the deadly dance continued. Each attack sent his way missed, or was redirected with his sword. Against someone who dual-wielded shorter, faster blades, he'd gone for a minimalist approach, moving his sword only enough for his blade to meet those of his enemy. This allowed him to block attacks more easily, as he only needed to move it slightly to avoid being skewered.

Sweat trickled down Caspian's brow as he tilted his weapon at an angle. Sparks flew as dirk met broadsword, with the smaller weapon sliding off with a shriek of grinding steel. This did not deter Caspian's attacker, who simply spun 180-degrees and attacked from the other side, their other dirk flashing out in a swift thrust.

Twisting his body and taking a single step to the right, Caspian avoided the thrust that would have impaled him through the chest. He brought his blade up at the same time to parry the attack, arcing both sword and dirk over his head, hopefully removing his opponent's ability to counterattack, and striking at his opponent's left leg with a swift low kick.

His enemy's tanned cloak whipped about them as they leapt backwards. Growling, Caspian renewed his assault, taking the fight to his enemy with a string of attack combinations. His sword moved in a continuous flow, a never ending stream of constant movement. Over and over again his blade flashed out like bolts of lightning striking the ground. Yet despite the speed and ferocity of his slashes, the one fighting him proved themselves to be capable of incredible evasive maneuvers, contorting their body like a snake to sway around his attacks while their blades danced across his, deflecting his weapon like he'd done earlier.