《White Knight》Chapter Five - The Minotaur

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Bitter at the expenses he had already used wastefully, Isaac had sought out a means to reverse his reckless damage as a commanding general. His answer to such situations had been a knight with the unique, highly sought-after ability to heal injuries. Such a skill was only found in one family in which there had been a legendary knight, Grove Cornelius. However, it had not been him who the general had called in. The only successor to Grove's healing magic had been his daughter, Annette Summers, who despite severing ties with her father, had come to gain a high level of ability with her magic.

Annette had been a brown-haired beauty among the streets of Bournington, with her blessed set of hazel eyes sweetly complementing her soft, clear complexion. Her golden-brown pupils would often glimmer against the golden sun, and she had smooth thin lips that covered just enough of her fair face. Her outstanding beauty had made her be viewed irredeemably as a blossom of a flower for her young age. With such strength both within and on her exterior, Annette had decided to keep her circle of friends small, but she had been willing to lend her abilities to the army of Bournington. Annette had been visiting the Festival of Fruit though, going about the streets with her friend, Mary Dusseldorf. Her eyes, however, had soon been forcibly fixed onto a worrying set of sights instead of the delicacies of the streets.

Her attention had been captured by the commanding balls of fire coming from the general, which Mary too noticed. Annette was in a minor dilemma, of whether to remain with her friend or to follow the light which had called upon her. She was left with these two set options, and Mary quietly realised Annette's uncertainty rising. If Annette were to go, she knew she would be subjected to a particular pain which she daunted. She would be asked to lend her healing, which she would not refuse to do due to her generous morality. But while her heart was big, her mana was not. Mana had been the sole supplier of power within an individual, for their ability to use magic. And her minor deficiency to not have as much mana as many others was a cause for concern. It made her tired more frequently, but worst of all, it had meant she was susceptible to letting people down - something which, for her, was absolutely not allowed. The knowledge that she could heal someone, but not another, pained her heart like a hand fiercely tugging at its core.

"Go, Anne, you must go. He needs your help, so go and help." Said Mary, her gentle aura soothing Annette's stressed self.

"I suppose he does, but are you sure this is fine? I don't know if I can meet up with you once I'm done, I'll be..."

"Hush, Anne!" Mary sharply interjected. "It is your sense of duty that must come first, then me." Mary took her hand, releasing a sigh from her friend.

"Very well, Mary. But I will make sure to find you, I will find you later." Said Annette with compassion and confidence.

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"Yes, you will." Said Mary as she drew her in for a hug and kiss, and then allowed her to briskly depart.

Within minutes, Annette was at the scene of the ongoing massacre, ready to help a failing side from falling further. Rushing over to the restless injured on the ground, her eyes had looked over the ailing number of bodies in annoyed concern whilst the general had been waiting in anguish for her thoughts.

"General." She said, her gaze downwards with spite. "You know I will struggle to heal this many!" She stammered out.

"Can you heal them or not? Because if you can't, that is fine. You wouldn't be letting me down, you would be letting them down." Said Isaac, a sly smirk on his sinister face.

"No, wait. I can. I can heal them. But anymore, and I'm afraid my services might not be usable." Said Annette.

"Well, I don't plan for there to be any more casualties. I will be fighting the beast myself now." Isaac said with his fists clenched.

Turning around, his eyes searched impatiently across the wide wall for the minotaur, a monster of larger proportion than him. The general was not scared, nor was he in immediate danger. His splendid set of fire magic gave him a powerful palette of attacks he could use to protect himself, and his skill with a sword was not faint. He had quietly slipped past Axel's great barrier and crept close behind his clueless victim, ready to roast it from the shadows. Cleanly casting his hands into a sight of yellow warmth, his aura crisply changed to a crimson red, as he surged a channel of fiery warmth towards the beast. The beast roared ferociously as its back was no longer a furry sight, but a shell of charred skin that was as hard as a rock. This was a painfully endearing attack for the minotaur, but it was not a strong opening attack from the general.

"Krff! You're quite tough, aren't you?" He thought.

The general and the minotaur paused for a dually accepted interlude of rest. The general was surprised, but not defeated. The minotaur turned to his challenger and snarled like the untamed beast it seemed to appear to be. Except, it was somewhat a tamed beast. It had the basic etiquette of a fight and did not lack the knowledge of how to approach a fight - this was enough to go on, for anyone to know the beast was trained for battle. The two had huffed, puffed and coughed until their eyes finally met half reluctantly, but they met fully for their duty and honour. The devilish monster ahead of the general had jolted into a stance that fiercely pointed its pair of horns towards him. The reckless general had also prepared a stance where his sword faced forwards, ready to attack at the beasts imminent run. The two had both lined up for an attack, with neither choosing to defend.

Thus, a clash was all that followed.

A dead quiet silence, and then an exasperated sigh of frustration eventually came out. Both parties were on the ground, bleeding from their single hits - one of a horn, and one of a fiery sword. The minotaur was still able, but it breathed more weakly and it gasped for air frequently. The general was not as able, he had encapsulated all of his energy into a single hit that carried little damage. It was intended to kill the beast, but it only bruised it slightly. His eyes were now slowly closing into a long sleep that would be a sleep for restoration and rejuvenation, but a speck had caught his pupils attention.

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"Tell my knights to kill it. Tell them to kill it right now!" He was hot-headed, as the cool winds of Magnolia's judging eye sat above him.

"No, you must be reasonable. They're tired too." Replied Magnolia.

"Does it matter? It needs to be stopped!" Isaac implored.

"I agree, but you have no knights left to fight such a battle for you. I have called for the assistance of a guardian." Said Magnolia, her arms crossed in disappointment.

"You didn't - you didn't need to - to do that..." Isaac drearily said, his eyes finally drifting off to rest.

Rushing over, Axel was quick to his feet after being hit with some newfound energy and brought his powerless mentor to the aid of Annette, who looked taciturn at the sight of him. She had been tending to the fallen, with her white dress providing a sense of comfort for the eyes of her patients, as they carefully gathered a look at their helping hand. She had been hard at work, with her white skirt receiving a few stains of dirt against the wet grass, and her leather jacket had been taken off for ease of access with her caressing hands. Her eyes had eventually ceased to ignore the quiet Axel, who had patiently waited for her to become free of work.

"Axel." She sighed. "I don't know what business you have with him, but he is not a friendly fellow. I can't deal with him right now." She said.

"Why not?" Asked Axel inquisitively.

"I'm afraid he has something that can't exactly be healed." Annette smiled to herself.

"Really? What would that be?" Axel's eyes had drawn closer to the jewel of information that was beside him.

Annette had gracefully gazed upwards to her admirer, whom she had known for many years prior. Her eyes had known the denseness that Axel had fortified over the years, and thus she could all but chuckle upon seeing his bushy, black-haired visage of emptiness. And with this, Axel had blushed, for he felt a compelling need to.

"I'm just teasing you, Axel. I can heal him but what good is healing stupidity?" Annette tilted her head with a smile that warmed Axel's heart.

"Oh," Axel had come to realise, "I see." He laughed with her in their brief moment of comfortableness.

Within a few seconds, Axel had glanced at his friend with a smaller, shyer set of eyes. Her hair had been braided in a special manner today, one which tightened the strands to lattice across her shoulder. And for a brief moment, Axel had wanted to commend her beautifully styled hair, no doubt done for the Festival.

"You know, you look really -!"

Axel's words had been painfully cut short as soon, a thunderous clap had deafened the skies with urgency. The Guardian of Wind, Maxwell McClane, had arrived at the scene with a tone that vastly opposed the joyous picture he would have put on for the celebratory streets of Bournington. Something had bothered him, terrified him even. He no longer exasperated his gentle, calm and assuring tone anymore as his crystal eyes had been tainted with a flicker of darkness. His landing was an instant impact, having been quick like a lightning bolt, he pummelled straight into the minotaur and blasted his fists into its chest. With a valiant cheer of relief soaring across the waves of injured knights, Axel was stunned at how quickly such a beast was taken down by Maxwell's magnificent might. But Maxwell was in no mood to welcome any gestures of gratification as his cold demeanour was solely intent on one objective for his arrival.

"Anne. I need you to come with me." He had said coldly, his hand held out ready for her.

"Maxwell McClane, what is the matter?" Magnolia had quickly interrupted.

"The city, it's being attacked. This, all of this, it's a decoy." Said Maxwell.

"What!? Attacked, what do you mean?" Axel cried out.

"The least of our worries should be here, is what he is saying. We, or the general rather, has been tricked here." Magnolia looked down to the resting man in charge.

"So, what do we do?" Asked Axel.

"I need Anne to help heal civilians. As for you two, please rally up an effort to help fight against this attack." Said Maxwell.

"Okay, of course, yes. I will lend as much healing as I can, but I'm weak Max." Said Annette, her hand clasping his firm grip.

The two had briskly taken flight with Maxwell's wind magic propelling them into the skies. Annette had tightly snugged onto Maxwell's back where a sharp thought pulsed through her mind with panic.

"Max, I need to see Mary. I have to check up on her, I left her out here on the streets." Said Annette.

"Yes, that's fine, I need to find Alsop. Hopefully, the pair are safe. I need you to heal anyone you can, is that okay?" Asked Maxwell.

"I – I might not be able to. I've used so much of my healing today, it might fail me soon." Said Annette.

"That's fine, just do what you can." Said Maxwell, his eyes levelled to the streets.

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