Vanguards Of Aetheria II: The Solace Rune

Chapter 11: The Halrun Requiem

Reltkin ran towards Keith. Even in his clunky armour, Reltkin was quite fast and agile. He swung his sword vertically and quickly followed up with a horizontal swing right after. Keith blocked the swings, and retaliated by delivering a flurry of slashes from his scimitars. Reltkin raised his shield, and completely blocked Keith's onslaught. After Keith stopped swinging, Reltkin bashed the rim of his shield into Keith's face. This caused his nose to break and bleed profusely. Keith being staggered gave Reltkin an opportunity to land a serious attack, so he thrusted his sword towards him and stabbed him through the chest. He pressed his foot against Keith's chest and used the extra force to rip his sword out of his chest, and kick Keith a few feet away. Keith then tumbled backwards and rolled across the floor as he got kicked.

"Shit..." Keith thought.

As Keith was about to stand back up, Reltkin slammed his knee against Keith's face. This knocked Keith backwards and making him hit the back of his head against the wall. Reltkin then picked him up and punched him in the gut, he then proceeded to throw him aside. Keith landed on his back, and quickly reached into his trench coat for his shotgun. He was able to grab it and aim it towards Reltkin. But there was one issue, he was wearing armour on most of his body...

...but not everywhere.

"Eat this, you bastard." Said Keith.

Keith aimed at Reltkin's right arm which held his sword, and fired. His arm bursted into an explosion of blood and flesh, staining his silver armour.

"Agh, fuck!" Reltkin yelled in pure agony as he looked down at his missing arm.

Keith stood up, and reloaded the shotgun. He proceeded to aim at Reltkin's other arm and fire, completely eradicating it.

"Y-You worthless little shit! You blew off my arms!" Reltkin yelled.

"Oh really? I never would've noticed!" Keith joked.

Keith then kicked Reltkin to the floor, and kicked his helmet off.

As Reltkin continued to yell, Keith raised one of his scimitars above his head.

"No! Stop it!" Reltkin begged.

Keith didn't hesitate, and swung downwards. His scimitar dug through his head, ending his life. He looked down at Reltkin's mutilated corpse in disgust, and spat on it.

"What a pathetic excuse of a comm-"

Before Keith finished, he felt a vile pain in his chest. Almost like something had penetrated through his torso. He looked down and saw the end of a green blade poking through his chest, his blood dripping from the tip of the blade.

"Keith!" Elijah yelled in shock.

Keith heard a maniacal laugh from behind him, but he couldn't see who that was. But Elijah could see exactly who this person was.

"Stellaria..." Thought Elijah.

Stellaria had stabbed Keith through the chest with her katana. She proceeded to rip it out and push Keith down to the floor.

"You bastard..." Muttered Elijah.

Stellaria would slowly turn to face Elijah. She would swing her katana to the side, flinging the blood off.

"You're the last one standing, Elijah." Said Stellaria.

"What did you do with Cal?" Asked Elijah.

"He's not dead, I can assure you that. But I can't guarantee your friend Keith will share the same fate." Replied Stellaria.

"You piece of shit." Said Elijah.

Elijah wanted to attack her, to make her pay for what she'd done to Cal and Keith. Even if he was unsure if it was worth it. But as the seconds passed, it became harder and harder for Elijah to hold back the urge.

"If you surrender now, maybe I'll spare-" Stellaria stopped talking when she saw Elijah charging towards her in a fit of rage. He yelled at the top of his lungs as he raised his swords. Once he was close enough, he aggressively swung his two swords at her. Stellaria acted accordingly and blocked all of his hits, and then followed up by stabbing him in the gut.

Elijah didn't feel the pain, he was filled with so much rage that he couldn't feel anything besides that rage within. So he continued to unleash swarms of attacks over and over, and he didn't seem to be getting tired.

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Back in the hallway outside of Stellaria's quarters...

Cal woke up, his vision trying to readjust after being knocked out. He looked around, and Stellaria was nowhere to be seen.

"That's not good..." Cal groaned.

He stood up, and stumbled out of the hallway and into the main hall. As he observed the area, he spotted Elijah facing off with Stellaria. But what stood out the most was Keith lying on the floor. At the sight of this, his mind started to race with despair.

"Is Keith... dead?" Cal wondered.

While Stellaria and Elijah were unaware of Cal's presence, he managed to sneak past the rest of the guards and reach Keith. Cal crouched down and felt the side of Keith's throat, checking for a pulse.

"It's faint. I need to get him somewhere safe." Cal thought.

He lifted Keith onto his shoulders and ran down the hallway, Cal entered an empty room and sat Keith down against the wall. Cal began to search for medical supplies in the room, but it looked like he was going to be out of luck.

"Damn it..." Cal muttered.

Keith's eyes slowly began to open ever so slightly, and he was able to utter some words to Cal.

"C-Cal...?"

"Keith?" Cal replied.

"What are you... doing?" Keith asked.

"I'm trying to save you." Replied Cal.

"No." Said Keith.

"What? Why?" Asked Cal.

"There's no saving me anymore, it's too late." Replied Keith.

"Don't say that, Keith. You are making it out of here alive. And when we regroup with the girls, we'll all come back here and put Stellaria down together." Cal said.

"No, you guys don't need my help..."

"...I believe in you guys, I trust that you can handle this." Replied Keith.

"You helped us before, now let me return the favour!" Cal exclaimed.

"Cal..." Keith muttered.

Keith would remove Cal's sword and sheath from his back, and slowly hold out his shaky hands and return it to Cal.

"Take your sword, and do what's right." Said Keith.

"I..." Cal was too stunned to speak properly.

"...I can't just leave you here." Cal spoke.

"Go help Elijah..."

"...that's my last request." Said Keith.

"If that's what you wish, then I can't say no." Said Cal.

"And Keith..."

"Yeah?" Asked Keith.

"...you were one hell of a vanguard." Said Cal.

Keith nodded.

"Thanks." Keith replied.

Cal nodded back, and slung his sword sheath over his shoulder and walked out of the room. He drew his sword as he walked down the hall and back to where Elijah was facing off against Stellaria.

He had vengeance and motivation flowing through his veins. He felt like nothing would be able to stop him now that he had his sword and the pure determination to put an end to Stellaria.

"Alright, Stellaria..."

"...Time to show you how a true vanguard fights."