“RUN! JUST RUN!”

Krieg struggled to keep the gaping maw of the angelic beast away from his face as it tried to devour him and with the greatsword locked in place against its hulking arms there was nothing he could do if not shout to Leona.

“Kr-”

She was dumbstruck, the sight of the death angel was much more than she could handle and every fiber of her being was screaming of danger as she hit the reins as hard as she could to take the frightened horse and herself out of the situation. Upon seeing the bigger prey leave, the death angel turned directly to the fleeing Princess.

“No you won’t!”

As its head moved towards her, Krieg managed to dodge the hulking fist aimed at his upper body by ducking beneath it and drawing the blade while moving to the right side as he left the scabbard behind to wind up the greatsword over behind his right shoulder. Taking a close look at it, the knight noticed its left side was torn to pieces, exposing the purple flesh, organs and dark ichor that came out of it in pulses. He swung down the blade with all his might as the weapon carved into the exposed flesh, hacking away part of what seemed to be the ribcage and splashing dark ichor everywhere. The knight’s strike was so powerful that sent the beast stumbling to the side, after that it turned around at him with both arms open as the thorax opened into what was a cruel death sentence. Before it could try anything, three arrows pierced its mouth in quick succession, making it go into a wild flailing giving time for Krieg to take a few steps back.

“Sire, are you alright?!”

Phoebe’s voice came from somewhere up behind him.

“Thanks to you.”

He lifted his blade perpendicular to his body with the left leg slightly bent in front while the other stayed at an angle to leverage the next strike. He took a deep breath before shouting to the elf.

“Let’s hold off this beast for a little while longer before we retreat, got it?”

“Aye. I’ll keep it busy from afar!”

Krieg grasped the handle of the greatsword tighter in his hand before dashing in.

A few hundred meters away from the initial struggle, Leona was still desperately trying to lead the frightened horse through the muddied road in a dangerous full throttle gallop. She could feel the biting cold wind hit her face and enter her lungs and with each step the steed was dangerously close to skidding on the slippery mud road.

‘I can’t let either Krieg or Phoebe die in this wretched place…! I won’t!’

She bit her teeth in anger and grabbed the reins even tighter, her mind couldn’t think of anything else. While Krieg was much stronger than any knight she knew, it was not another man he was up against but a monstrosity capable of decimating an entire city on its own. She couldn’t bear to lose another person, not someone like Krieg. Nothing could be left to chance, if she did, she was risking everything she fought for to achieve, a world without those she loved around her was not a world worth living in and much less fighting for.

‘What was the point?! Why am I fighting if I can’t be anything but a burden to those around me?!’

Her fingers dug into the leather rein, making her fingernails start to bleed from the pressure and just like them, she could feel the taste of iron infest her mouth as she kept it shut to not accidentally bite off her tongue from the harsh movement she was putting her body through. Her head was spinning and an urge to vomit started to rise, her body was not accustomed to such violent shaking and before she could stop, her steed skidded in an agonizing squeal. Its right front leg suddenly slipped to the left, turning the horse’s body sideways as it violently threw Leona off the saddle.

“Gah!”

She fell on her right side as the impact took out all the air from her lungs, both her dagger and longsword was flung away from her makeshift belt in the first spin, before she repeatedly hit the ground, rolling about ten meters before coming to a stop head down in the mud. Her vision was blurry, the only thing she could see was the dark ground and the wet sensation was being overpowered by a strangely warm pulsating feeling all over her body. Her ears were ringing with the sound of the horse’s squeal.

“Kuh…”

A burning stinging sensation started to creep up on the right side of her ribcage, her eyes wavered around looking for the right way as the sound of rain started to fill her still ringing ears.

“The citadel… I need… to get to… the citadel…”

She tried to bring her right arm to lift herself off the mud but to no avail, not only she couldn’t muster the strength of her body, but her arm wasn’t responding.

“Aargh!”

The extremely sharp pain in her shoulder kept her from trying a second time, but she couldn’t just stay there, she needed to reach the dwarven citadel no matter what it took. She then managed to bring her left arm in front of her albeit in great pain.

“Huh…?”

Her left thumb was crooked in an unusual position, it was definitely broken. Upon seeing it, her breath became erratic, it was the first time she ever saw part of her body broken like that and at that moment she started to feel the pain which seemed to not have affected her until just now.

“Aaa… Haaa…! My hand…! My hand!”

She cried in agony. Her entire body was screaming in pain, she could barely move her legs even though her natural reaction was to flail them, nothing happened, only weak twitches in her muscles could be noticed.

The rain started to fall once again, for better or worse at dampening the squeals of pain and the unfortunate fate of the screaming Princess. Pain, it was something that all living beings would come to experience one time or another. For an individual who never fought, who was never hurt, that pain was much worse than anything she could fathom.

“Aaaaaaaaagh!”

But even so, she was determined. Even with her broken thumb she started to drag herself through the mud with her left hand, pulling her battered body towards the stone walls in the horizon. Her teeth were clenched in pain, each grain of sediment that got between her bleeding nails sent a stinging pain to her brain, but she continued, dragging herself out of that green hell.

“Krieg needs me… I can’t die here… I won’t! I can’t!”

Upon extending her hand one more time on the mud, her fingers touched a cold smooth surface, steel. She grabbed and lifted whatever she touched and it was nothing more than the double edged dagger, a gift from a certain god.

She smiled bitterly. Upon grasping the handle with only her four fingers, she used it to stab the mud in front of her and pull. Part of her vision started to blur red, with a warm sensation on her forehead, she probably cut it on the fall.

Seconds, minutes, time seemed infinite, whatever progress she was making appeared to be pointless. The great walls of the citadel still far away from her, rain and the agonizing squeal of her horse was slowly fading away as the beat of her heart became more apparent, her body felt colder.

‘I’m dying...’

She thought for herself. Oftentimes she would hear tales of knights on the brink of death, they would stop hearing everything if not for their own heartbeat. A bittersweet end.

Leona couldn’t help but wonder what would happen from there, would her death be pointless? What of Krieg and Phoebe? Would they survive? And if they did, would they blame her? Questions, questions… but no answers, was her story destined to end there?

“Hey! I found someone!”

An unrecognizable voice rang her ears. Her eyes widened as she mustered her all to look towards the voice. A blonde male man with long ears just like Phoebe was kneeling in front of her with what seemed to be a mace, his clothing consisted of a vibrant yellow gambeson that was mostly blurred in her eyes.

“You’re a mess! What the hell happened to you?”

Hands, more than a pair touched her body and in a group effort, she was turned on her back though the sharp pain made her breath short bursts of air out of her lungs in pain, she was offered something made of glass on her lower lips. A female voice this time told her.

“Come on, drink it, it’ll help you recover.”

A cold liquid started to come in her mouth, it was sweet with a hint of honey in it and slowly her cold body started to become warmer, even with the rain constantly pelting her.

“My friends…”

Leona said in a weak voice as a blurred image of a second person looking at her was looming above her face, apparently paying attention to whatever she could mumble.

“They are being attacked by a death angel… on the road… please… help them…”

The Princess lifted her left hand and a warm sensation enveloped it, as a soothing voice finally calmed her heart.

“Don’t worry, we’ll save your friends. Rest for now, you deserve it.”

With a short sigh of relief, Leona smiled weakly before passing out.