We Are A Family

"!?"

The knight Draugr couldn't see the beam coming before he was struck by it. Signals flared in the creature's mind as if its body knew it wouldn't survive another attack of the same magnitude.

"Graaagh!" An ear-splitting crack reverberated across the room the moment the Draugr crashed into the concrete wall. Without question, it couldn't withstand the beam of light and was sent flying across the room like a ragdoll. What was this difference in strength?

"...I've never met a Keeper this powerful. How fortunate."

The knight Draugr swung its sword at thin air and approached the Keeper with a slow gait. Why did this creature still intent to fight her? Why was it unfazed by the previous attack?

"...Strange that you still intend to test my strength after what I just did," said the Keeper as she held her head high. "With your level of intelligence, you should be able to understand that you can't win against me."

"Or are you keen to seek death? Do you wish to return to your origins? Answer me, spawn of sin."

"...I don't like how you address me, Keeper. I am alive and so do you. We are all spawns of sin."

"!?"

"We succ.u.mb to emotions, and thus, we are all spawns of sin."

With one swing, the Draugr's silver blade sent a crescent-shaped energy towards the Keeper. She rolled to the side and avoided it, but the Draugr had taken a step ahead to close the distance between them. These two were too close to each other that either one could get hit with a close-ranged attack easily.

"!?"

The Draugr thrust its sword downward and cracked the floor beneath. That Keeper had sidestepped to avoid the attack, and she countered with another beam of light. However, the Draugr's trusty blade managed to block it.

"Graaagh!" With one foot planted firmly to the floor, the Draugr used its monstrous strength to cut through the light and slashed.

"...!"

The creature thrust its blade forward and swung upward, but none of these attacks hit the Keeper at all. While the air rippled from the force generated from each swing, the Keeper kept her poker face intact and dodged them with relative ease.

She stepped back to avoid a horizontal swing and jumped to escape from a forward thrust. For a normal human, it would be near impossible to dodge these attacks completely, especially when the blade carried along a powerful force when it was swung. Even if that person was able to keep the blade's tip away from oneself, the force generated by the blade's movement alone would rip the person apart.

Nonetheless, the Draugr was fighting someone that was tasked to protect the Dimension's Crown—a Keeper. Her task demanded her to be strong, and she had no difficulty meeting that expectation.

"Hm?" The Draugr slashed once and the Keeper distanced herself from it. "My swings did nothing to you. As expected from a Keeper of your caliber."

"I don't need your compliment."

Attempting to end the fight as soon as possible, the Keeper unleashed another beam of light from her finger. The attack flew past the knight Draugr as it dashed towards its foe ready to swing its blade.

"!?" The Keeper fired another beam but the Draugr jumped into the air to avoid it. Enthralled by the winning image in its mind, the Draugr descended while thrusting its sword downward.

While it did miss, it didn't stop its attack there and swung wildly hoping that at least the blade would cleave the dainty girl in half. It slashed with more strength and the force created along with it ripped a part of the Keeper's blonde hair.

"?" Surprised, the Keeper s.u.c.k.e.d in air through her teeth and leaped away from the blade's reach. She was certain that she had put up quite a distance between her and her opponent beforehand, but it appeared that it wasn't enough. A shadow loomed over her figure as the Draugr continued its relentless assault.

Slash.

Cut.

Cleave.

Thrust.

Little by little, the silver blade cut the Keeper's flesh though the connected attacks were shallow. This couldn't be happening. The Keeper felt like the Draugr in front of her was becoming stronger and stronger as the fight dragged on.

She didn't feel troubled by it as much as one would since Draugrs do tend to get stronger while fighting. But even with this fact known to her, the speed at which the knight Draugr gaining strength was quite incongruous.

Could it be that this feat was the Draugr's ability?

"Faust."

"!"

Upon uttering the name with pretentious tone, the Draugr's movement became faster and before the Keeper knew it, her right arm was cut clean from the elbow down.

"!!!" The Keeper tried to escape incoming slashes from the Draugr and by doing so, she managed to come out with only a mutilated right arm. Her heart thumped against her c.h.e.s.t at the realization that she could be taken down by this sinister foe. How could this be happening?

That creature should only be as strong as a C-rank Draugr, but it overwhelmed her in no time. When it came to speed, the Draugr was the fastest. Not to mention, the Keeper had no method to defend herself against an onslaught of close-ranged attacks.

"..." There was no other choice for her. She didn't want to use her Oubliette until Klaus came over to fight her again, but the situation at hand demanded her to fight at full strength.

In a way, she wanted to wait until Klaus had gained enough power to claim the Crown. She really wanted to survive to meet the human again. And in order to do that, she had to eradicate the opponent in front of her no matter what.

"...The First Flame originated from a man's wish and scorched the mountains."

"...Burning everyone foolish enough to defy the will of their creator."

"...The mighty crumbles into dust, the weak rises from ashes."

"...O' Flames, what is the truth behind your power? What do you gain from punishing the sinners?"

"...If you hear my call, I beseech you to come forth and burn the devil's advocate."

"Ravage the path before you, O' Great Flames!"

"Oubliette."

A phantom bell rang across the room as a blade of white fire appeared before the Keeper. She used her left hand to grab the hilt and the flaming sword erupted in response. Upon seeing the weapon, the Draugr stopped in its tracks.

The temperature in the room increased drastically to the point where the Draugr's armor began to melt slowly. At that moment, it was as if the Draugr had stepped into hell itself.

"Spawn of sin, Faust, I'll burn your very existence," said the Keeper as she raised her sword with newly found confidence.