The Nightblade

Chapter 1: The Glade

Today was another sunny day in Grimgar; there wasn't a cloud in the sky, and a cool, refreshing breeze whistled softly in the air. It was a beautiful day, but in Grimgar, that clearly didn't mean it'd be a good one, especially not for the Nightblade.

There was an entrance to a large cave, just in front of a cleaning at the edge of a thickly wooded forest. Harhuhido, Ranta, Mary, Yume stood in this clearing, preparing to enter the cave in search of a large group of goblins.

As Yume scanned ahead, she noticed someone coming out of the cave heading towards them. He definitely wasn't a goblin, but the fact that he was alone didn't seem too good. He continued on slowly towards them, clearly not in any sort of hurry. His left hand held his blood-covered lower right side and he hunched over slightly, still getting closer. Yume alerted the group, then oddly noted that this person looked a lot like Monato. By this time, he was close enough fully see his condition. He was mean, nasty, and tired, with little idea of what was going on, judging from his muttering.

"I've come too far...you can't kill me."

He stood more upright before letting go of his side and drawing his sword, and as a challenge, giving a salute and a flourish while looking Haru directly in the eye.

There was a brief, silent, pause which lasted for a few seconds before a fireball left the Nightblade's offhand and barreled its way towards them. They dodged it of course but were not given time to recover. He came on fast, thrusting his blade into Haru's flank, missing by mere millimeters. Mary's staff flew towards his head in instant retaliation before being caught and thrown aside, striking Ranta in the leg. Before she could react, he picked her up and telekinetically threw her at Shihoru, temporarily taking both out of the fight and prompting Ranta and Haru to go on the attack again. They had to be cautious, as every time a strike came his way, it would be dodged or parried before an even faster thrust of his blade would return to them, breaking their assault. Yume, slightly distanced from them fight, contemplated using her bow before discarding it and entering the frey, dagger drawn.

Once Yume entered the fight, it started to become quite obvious that he wasn't going to be brought down unless one of them took a stab, and the likelihood of this increased as he revved up his intensity. Thrust, parry, recover, advance, parry, retreat, parry, parry, advance, thrust...He was like a meat grinder with one blade that followed you and would shred you if got too close. This was too close for comfort. Growing tired, he pushed the three of them into trees or on the ground with telekinesis, breaking off the engagement.

He continued walking like before until reaching Shihoru, who'd just recovered. She expected him to try to finish her off, but was left suprised when he dropped his sword and fell unconscious into her arms.