[Mild blood & gore warning.]

Some years ago.

“Drop it Yuy!”

“Don’t make us do this!”

“We have our orders!”

My breath quickened pace as my eyes darted between my former comrades as they encroached. I grit my teeth tight, glancing behind my shoulder at the scared faces behind me. I turned my head back at the enclosing forces. Even without the storm and thunder raging around me, my head was pounding. My jaw gaped a little in a vain attempt to swallow as much oxygen as I could. As a bolt of lightning slammed down near our battlefield, I exhaled screaming out a battle cry as I rushed forward, sword raised clear overhead to the sky. Calling it a roar would be too generous with the tears streaming down my face, mixing in with the blood pooling at my chin. I tried to make sense of the events that had led me to this place, facing down my friends.

A week prior.

“Thank you all for joining me at this round table to brief our next mission.”

Captain of the Order, Gregoire Girard spoke to the Apostles gathered for this mission. It was myself along with three other Knights I had served with for years. Despite having a few years on me, I was actually the third most senior knight in the room after Gregoire and Dyne. Dyne was a bit reckless, but his strength was the real deal. While many people considered me the model knight, I believed that title was held by Captain Gregoire. A master with the blade and a pen, at home equally on the battlefield or playing a chess match. Not to mention he upheld the three tenants of the Order to a T. I guess that’s what earned him the moniker the Altruist right?

“We have disheartening news that a group of terrorists are planning an attack on an Imperial research facility near the Free Territories. This facility is researching new methods to treat the ill, but this group doesn’t care. Our envoys, the ones that have managed to make it back, relayed that they cared only that it was an Imperial facility. Now we don’t want to stoop to their level, so I don’t want you four to dispatch them. Instead, please bring them into custody. While such methods are not my favored avenue, we cannot have them continue destroying vital equipment. Once under custody, we will negotiate to an agreement. Unfortunately right now, they aren’t willing to give us the time of day.”

A week later.

My sword clashed against Boyd’s easily forcing his blade tip down into the ground. He stumbled forward, still holding onto the hilt but I couldn’t let up right now. I jumped up, slamming my closed fists onto either side of Boyd’s temples as my knee brought up to his face. I think I heard a crack when my knee made contact with Boyd’s nose, but I was already moving onto the next one to pay too much attention. Boyd wasn’t out, but for the moment he was clutching his face, nursing his presumably broken nose.

As my feet landed on the ground, I bent my waist backward, narrowly dodging an axe blade as it sailed over me. Momentarily I dropped my sword as I noticed a fist flying downward toward me. My knees bent some, forcing me further horizontal as I brought both of my hands up to catch the fist flying at me. I was basically bent backwards as I tried to hold up Eren’s fist. He seemed intent on forcing me down to the ground, but my knees refused to buckle. Still I couldn’t do much like this, I grit my teeth and pulled one of my hands away, holding his fist back with just one. My other hand reached for Eren’s belt, grabbing his sidearm, a blade breaker dagger. I forced the two pronged blade into his thigh, forcing him off balance. I took the opportunity to push up with one of my feet, swinging my other leg around to catch Eren in the back of the head, forcing him to the ground.

I backed up slightly, trying to catch my breath as I panted. Again that wasn’t going to be enough to take him out either, but I needed to slow them down and control the flow of the fight. There was just one thing I didn’t understand, that was until I heard applause. I looked straight ahead to see Dyne standing a few meters away, clapping. There was a crazed look in his eye, as if he was lusting after something.

“Yuy, you really are something aren’t you? That title of yours, D the Defender? Starting to look like it holds up. Truth be told, I’ve always wanted to fight you because of it.”

In the next moment, Dyne had disappeared. Or rather, he wasn’t where he had been standing. Instead, it was as if he had just apparated in front of me, but I knew he hadn’t cast any magic. I couldn’t sense any yet. Before I knew it he had launched a fist into me, throwing me into the air. In fact, I didn’t hear the attack until I was already in the air. The next thing I heard was his laughter.

“I’ve always wanted to break through that /defense/ of yours, but jeez even when you can’t see my attack you manage to catch my punch somehow. This is exhilarating isn’t it?! ADMIT IT YOU’VE ALWAYS DREAMED OF FACING OFF AGAINST C THE CHAMPION AS WELL?!”

I caught his punch? That explained why my hands felt like they were on fire. My body must have moved on instinct. I had barely managed to grab a hold of my senses when Dyne nearly apparated in front of me again, this time in mid air. He had yet to draw his weapon, instead he grabbed me by the ankle, giving me a good spin before tossing me to the ground.

My body bounced off the ground as my back slammed against the ground, knocking the wind out of me. I scrambled to my feet, gasping for breath. Luckily as I was clawing at the ground for a grip, I found the hilt of my sword from earlier. I grabbed it, sensing someone approaching from behind. I swung in a horizontal form before hearing the clanging of metal as my sword stopped mid swing. Eren had caught my sword in his side arm, the blade breaker. With a twist of his wrist my blade snapped in half, leaving me with little more than a dagger’s length. That was right before he brought down his axe with his other hand. I was so caught off guard by my blade breaking, that blade of the axe bit into my shoulder before I managed to grab him by the forearm.

“What’s the matter Yuy, you look like dog shit.”

Eren cackled back at me before plunging his sidearm into my forearm. My grip on his own forearm loosened some as his two pronged blade pierced my armor and my arm. I heard a screech behind me at the same time, as I saw Boyd approaching the tribe we had been sent here to capture. These were no terrorists. There was some other reason why Gregoire wanted them. These people were strangely advanced for a tribe of the Free Territories. He must have wanted their secret knowledge.

I took a deep breath, pulling my head back some. I then leaned forward slamming my forehead against Eren’s, in the process driving the axe deeper into my shoulder. It paid off because it was enough to force Eren to let go of both the axe in my shoulder and the blade breaker dagger in my forearm as he staggered back. I pulled the axe from my shoulder by the handle, grunting out in pain as blood poured freely from the wound, running down my armor. Without wasting a moment, I used my good arm to throw the axe as hard as I could, hoping it would reach my mark before he reached his.

The screaming of the frightened tribe increased for a moment, before subsiding into quieter whimpers. Eren’s eyes were wide as he stared behind me before narrowing his eyes at me. Dyne also held a look of surprise for a moment but began laughing as I heard a thud behind me. Boyd’s body crumpled to the ground, Eren’s axe planted squarely into the base of his neck. I had killed a Knight of the Order. I continued panting as I spoke up.

“I’ve nev… I’ve never dreamed of fighting my comrades in the order. But I also never dreamed Knights could enslave innocent people just for commendations.”

I tore the cloth imperial insignia from my chest before ripping the embroidered cape from my back. Through beleaguered breaths I continued, forcing myself to step forward. I had just killed one of my former comrades, I couldn’t stop now.

“You bastard…” Eren muttered starting forward. Dyne simply laughed, smashing his fists together, as if the fun was just beginning. I grit my teeth, pulling the two pronged dagger from my shoulder. Eren approached first, having pulled a spare standard dagger. I managed to bring the edge of my blade against his dagger’s. The blow deflected his, but this did nothing to stop his other forearm from smashing into my face. I stumbled backwards, just barely reacting with enough time to catch his dagger between the prongs of my blade breaker. Unfortunately the dagger was a little too small to effectively break. I opted instead to yank hard enough to dislodge both of our weapons from our hands.

I breathed deep, trying to bring some oxygen to my system as I hunched down charging forward. I grabbed Eren by the waist and began pushing him back towards Dyne. In response, Eren began slamming his elbow at my back. Luckily my armor absorbed most of his blows. He wasn’t able to get much leverage from his angle. But while I was able to move Eren, once I pushed him up against Dyne, I couldn’t force their combined weight to budge. Instead I heard a sickening crack as I felt an immense force slam down on my back, knocking the wind out of me.

“You sure are sturdy aren’t you boy?”

I blinked, trying to catch my breath and make sense of what happened. I was just hit with an immense force across the back. I could tell that much. And while I was in a shit ton of pain, I could tell my bones weren’t broken, at least not yet. I felt something dripping on me, as it came down the back of my head and dripped down the side, I managed to glance at the crimson liquid. Regaining some more of my faculties, I managed to turn my head enough to notice the mangled corpse of Eren across my back, his head hanging at an odd angle from his neck. Had Dyne hit me, through Eren? Was I a hypocrite for being angry at him for killing Eren?

“WHOOPS! So much for R the Resilient, right?”

Before I could even respond, I felt the wind knocked out of me again, this time accompanied with a sickening splattering sound. Dyne had coupled his hands and slammed them down against my back. The splattering continued as Dyne repeated the motion a few times. I grit my teeth and shut my eyes tight. I tried to use the pain from the attacks to distract me from the sound of Dyne’s fists against Eren’s corpse. Eventually I heard a thud, noticing the bottom half of Eren’s body laying on the ground. It was around that point that my legs finally gave out. I fell to my knees before my body finally slumped forward against the ground, my arms falling to either side of my head.

To be continued…