Huntress of the Galaxy

Chapter 58: Trials of Marmora

Keith is alone in a new room, wearing a suit similar to those of the Blades. He holds his knife in his right hand.

A panel opens in the center of the floor, revealing a single Blade. "Surrender the blade." He drew his sword, twirls it around and got in a defensive pose. "You cannot win."

Keith growls as he rushes forward. He clashes blades with the Blade, who easily blocked and deflected his attacks.

Jumping, Keith does a roundhouse kick, but the agent ducked under it and moved to the side as Keith goes in for a hit.

Twisting his blade, Keith would have hit him in the neck if the Blade hadn't stepped back.

As the Blade blocks another attack, Keith tried to punch him with his free hand, but the Blade held it, and knocked Keith back.

Rolling across the ground, Keith quickly recovered and got to his feet.

Now put on the defensive, Keith blocked multiple blows before getting cut in the shoulder.

He screams, using his left hand to apply pressure while holding the knife out in his right.

Elsewhere, Shiro was watching Keith on a screen with Kolivan. "Come on, Keith."

Getting knocked back again, Keith groans in pain but kept getting back up.

As the Blade rushed forward, Keith tried to hit him but is quickly grappled and effectively disarmed, his arm pulled behind him and his head forced down with a yell.

The Blade's sword rests on the back of Keith's throat. "Surrender the blade and the pain will cease."

"I won't quit." Keith replied.

"Then the pain continues." The Blade removes his sword from Keith's neck and let go of his arm. Keith falls to all fours, gasping.

He gets to his feet, looking at the Blade in confusion.

The Blade steps aside, pointing to the door across the room. "You are not meant to go through that door."

Keith looked at him in suspicion but took a chance and slowly walks towards the door.

Once he saw that the Blade was not attacking, he ran towards the door.

He was led to a similar room, however, this time there were two panels that open and revealed two Blades.

Shiro frowns as he watches Keith fight the two blades, obviously put at a disadvantage. "This is not a fair fight!"

"Nor is taking on the Galra, yet that is the fight we face." Kolivan stated aloofly.

Keith tried to fight back but he was quickly beaten and had fallen to his knees with a sword at his neck.

"Surrender the blade and the pain will cease." Blade #2 said.

"Never!" Keith rejected.

The two blades step aside. "You are not meant to go through that door."

Going into the next room, Keith was forced to fight three Blades this time.

And it was the same thing, Keith was beaten and due to his stubbornness was sent into another training room, forced to fight even more Blades.

At this point, Keith had reached Seven, and Shiro was starting to get worried. "How long does this go on?"

"Sometimes, the greatest challenge is knowing when to stop." Kolivan replied.

"He'll never quit." Shiro stated.

"One way or another, this will end. Knowledge or death." Kolivan replied.

Standing up, Keith clenched his knife, steading his shaky hand.