Outside of the cathedral of Ava.

The sun was beginning to be hidden in the sky. A storm was rolling in. The clouds started to turn black and thunder could be heard. Soon, the sky turned darker and rain began to fall.

Once Ingrid, Leon and the silent mercenary stepped out of the cathedral, they found a trail of blood, likely from the female knight that came to alert them. They hurried to face the intruders, ready to earn their keep.

By them was Dana, sword in hand with an enraged expression. Behind her was a male and female knight, both bloodstained and wounded, the male knight held his female comrade up with his shoulders. Both were exhausted and weakened, looking like they may pass out from blood loss any second.

The two knights, under Dana’s orders, retreated into the cathedral to get treated by the priest.

Obviously, a vicious battle occurred here, and it was more than likely that the group of five bandits in front of them outnumbered and overpowered the three knights. A few of the bandits had cuts and scratches but they were in much better shape than the previous knights that blocked their way.

A bandit with a bandana and eyepatch looked at the princess’ entourage and gave a wicked grin.

“Oi, lass!” yelled Desmund to Dana, “Yer friends there gave me and the lads ‘ere a bit of trouble. All we wanted to do was play with them, so don’t blame us for having been a bit rough!”

The four other bandits laughed at their boss’ mockery.

With the wounded knights out of her sight, Dana calmed her anger and showed a colder expression.

“How distasteful to have run into bandits in front of the cathedral,” Dana said to herself.

“Surrender the princess to us! If not, I’m sure my boys would be more than happy to treat you as their new toy!” shouted Desmund.

The bandits laughed and grew excited thinking of getting their hands on a serious beauty like Dana.

Ingrid stepped forward and looked around searching if any other bandits may be hiding, “A frontal assault? Or not? These bandits… fools one and all.”

“Then your services would be wasted on the likes of these,” said Dana as she brandished her sword. More specifically, her rapier. She held it in front of herself, close to her chest, the tip pointing towards the heavy clouds spitting rainfall. Then she quickly swept her rapier in a half-crescent, unseen by those around and unknowingly cutting raindrops in half, entering a fighting stance. She exuded confidence and control, her freehand folded behind her back to keep her balance.

“Hah! I’m sure of it, but there’s no coin to be made in that!” claimed Ingrid. She reached behind her and grabbed the heavy sword strapped on her back. Though it was big and weighty, Ingrid wielded it with a single hand as she licked her lips. She casually swung in front of herself, but the force generated from her swing was strong enough to be felt from where the bandits were standing, moving the water around them.

Despite this, the bandits weren’t worried and kept their hands on their weapons and their eyes looking forward.

“Look, lads! Three pretty ladies, we’ve got here! A beautiful lady knight, a curvy tanned amazon, and a charming raven-haired lass! Let’s kill that quiet man and take the girls back to the den and share them with the rest of our brothers!” howled one of the bandits as the rest cheered on.

Immediately, Leon’s calm expression became distorted. He knew when that bandit said “other man” he wasn’t referring to Leon but the silent mercenary with them. A fire was lit in his two beautiful black eyes. He drew out his longsword and took on a stance.

The two sides faced each other for a long while, the storm wetting their armor as they looked for any movement that would signal the ensuing battle.

“Let’s move boys! Make sure they breathe their last!” ordered Ingrid. Leon and the mercenary prepared themselves, ready to kill.

“Are you mad? You’d have us taint the cathedral with their blood?” questioned Dana cynically.

“Better their blood than ours, I’d say” retorted Ingrid.

“Hmph. Fine then, just try not to spread their innards everywhere,” Dana ordered.

Ingrid rolled her eyes and shook her head, deciding not to humor the knight.

Thwak!

However, in a single moment, a lone arrow flew by everyone and landed itself in the silent mercenary’s head, effectively killing him. The arrow was shot quick and cleanly went through his head with his blood spraying onto the ground. The body fell immediately, no longer able to move.

“Damn!” Ingrid looked back and saw her now dead teammate.

Her suspicions of an enemy hiding were correct. She looked at the dead body with grief on her face, probably saddened by the death of her comrade….

“I already paid the bastard! He said he sent his share back home! How’s a dead body give return to the gold I paid him?!”

…Or not.

Leon quickly looked around for the hidden enemy. Immediately, he saw a white figure walking away from the two groups. He couldn’t get a proper look at the person due to the storm rustling the branches of the trees by the white figure. But from what Leon could tell, it seemed instead of going through the front like the bandits, the unknown attacker was going to take a different route. Their goal was probably the same as the bandits, capturing Princess Sylvette.

Although Leon didn’t spend much time with the other mercenary when he was alive, he was determined to chase the cutthroat that killed him and give peace to his death.

“Leave him, Leon!” shouted Dana, “the other knights in the cathedral should be somewhat healed by now. The three of them should be more than enough to take on that unhonourable bastard!”

Leon shortly hesitated then agreed with her and put his focus back onto the bandits in front of them.

“Hmph! It’s five on three once again. And just like the previous ones, we’ll have our way with ya!” threatened Desmund, trying to demoralize them.

However, that only served to fan the flames of battle within the three of them.

And as the storm continued, the battle had begun.