Welcome back, good Reader, it's good to see you again. You know, I've been thinking that we consider children as inoffensive, innocent, and harmless creatures. We believe them to be incapable of atrocities and horrible acts, violent or otherwise. Oh, listen to me, going on in another one of my ramblings, how about we get back into the story?

The fight between Ava and the cold assassin continues on the roof of a house in the slums. The air around has grown heavier, determination can be felt coming from her, while the desire to kill emanates from Borin. When he said that he was going to kill, he really means it, and wastes no time in taking the initiative. He dashes forward, and keeps just enough distance to stay out of the Ava's reach. From there, Borin starts checking the child's defenses, where is the strongest, and where are the cracks to exploit. Every moment is small, and there are no big swings for her to use as an opening. On one occasion, Borin takes into consideration the position of Ava's shield, so he tries a downward slash, in an attempt to hit her left shoulder. She notices this, and pushes the attack away with the shield, right on time to avoid taking damage.

The next tactic that Ava uses, is to redirect her focus on landing an attack, to simply close the distance between them. She starts walking forward again, and Borin tries to stop her with his attacks, but she keeps moving. He moves around to Ava's right and tries to attack the area without a shield, but she always kept in mind that her right side was exposed. Therefore, she was ready to parry it with the rim of the shield, enough to make it miss its target. Borin keeps this course of action, and keeps Ava in complete defense mode, but she takes a single step whenever possible. It takes a few minutes, but under such a barrage of attacks, time seems to go even slower. Borin notices that he was being pushed, even if it is one step at a time, and tries to escape, but is cut off by Ava getting in his way. They get closer to the edge of the roof, until the assassin is trapped and leaving him no space to get out of Ava's way.

“You would have made a good assassin,” says Borin.

“Don't you mean knight? I'm using a shield, not a dagger or knives,” says Ava.

“A waste of your skills, to be at the beck and call like a servant.”

“You know, it's weird that you're saying this when I'm about to give you a beatdown.”

“You trapped me, but you're still not seeing the difference between us.”

“That you're an adult and I'm ten? Yeah, as if that wasn't obvious.”

“Allow me to demonstrate.” Borin stands straight, sticks his weapon on the floor, and waits for Ava to approach him. She can feel that something has changed about him, and starts moving closer to her enemy. She gets close enough to try a quick thrust with her sword, but Borin quickly parries the attack, grabs the blade of his sword with both hands, and hits Ava in the face with the pummel. She takes a few steps back, he takes the opportunity to grab her shield's side with the cross-guard, moves it out of the way, and lands a punch on her face. It sends her rolling back, but quickly recovers and stands up, while Borin walks forward with confidence. He stands straight, relaxed steps, and carrying his sword on his shoulders, one hand on the hilt, while the other on the blade.

“So, taking me seriously now, aren't you?” asks Ava.

“Feeling flattered?” asks Borin back.

“A little, I can't believe a literal child have pushed you so far.”

“I'm surprised that you're still able to mock me despite your situation.”

“Hey, I might have more surprises up my sleeves.”

“Why don't you prove it then?”

After being challenged, Ava starts walking forward without changing anything about her stance or guard. It matters little for the assassin, and once she's in range of his attack, he attacks with a left swing. However, it is parried without any difficulty, followed by Ava rushing forward with her shield, striking him in the body, and a quick stab in the chest. It catches Borin by surprise, and he takes a step back to recover, but isn't given any moment to compose himself because she keeps close to him. The assassin tries to fight back, but she moves past him to avoid his attack while landing another cut on his side. Surprised, but not fazed, Borin turns right on time to parry another thrust aimed at his stomach. He's quick to grab her shield using both hands, dropping his sword on the ground, and uses all his strength to throws her to the ground. She rolls away from him, he takes the opportunity to pick up his sword, and takes a stance with the sword pointing forward.

“I'll admit, I didn't expect that,” says Borin.

“What did I tell you? Tricks up my sleeves,” answers Ava.

“True, but it comes with risks.”

“Well, some risks need to be taken to achieve your goals.”

The risks that Borin was talking about, is that Ava has to reduce the strength of her barrier in order to increase her speed. A clean cut from the sword won't be fatal, but it will leave a wound behind. For the next round in their battle, Ava decides to take the initiative and moves forward, still keeping up her speed. Borin responds with a small thrust to her face, but is parried with her sword, and continues to push forward. He circles her sword and aims for a cut to the top of her head, but she pushes it up with her shield. Then, she tries to throw another thrust to his body, but he spins the sword and parries the attack. That's when he lands a diagonal cut across her chest, which forces her to stop her attack and takes a step back. She groans in pain and looks at her brand new wound, which isn't deep, but blood can be seen coming out. He considers her to be distracted and tries to land an attack to her right side. She notices it quickly, turns her body to block it with her shield, and attacks with an overhand thrust to his chest. It was made as a single move, and lands successfully, but it doesn't faze him in the slightest because he's determine to put an end to this fight. Ava seems to the same idea as Borin because, while she still stays alert, her defenses seems to be more mobile instead of static.

Borin pushes the sword away and hits her with the pummel of his sword. He tries to bring down his sword on her head, but she parries and lands a vertical swing on his body. Borin responds by kicking Ava in the chest, which almost pushes her down to the floor. They take only a second to catch their breath, the length and the damage is starting to show on each one of them. Borin's barrier is starting to look dimmer than before and his forehead is showing a sheen of sweat. Ava is no better than him, the wound on her chest still hurts her with every breath she takes, and while her barrier is weaker because of her increased speed, she shows signs of exhaustion. At this point, a heavy strike, a clean cut have the potential to bring either one of them down, and they know it. In this one final attack, they will decide who comes out on as the victor, and they steel themselves for it.

They both move forward at the same time, and Borin is the first to be at the right range for his attacks. He once again tries a thrust to her face, which Ava parries with her shield and tries to land her own thrust on his abdomen. Borin takes a step back, strikes her sword down, and tries an upward slash. She parries with her shield and tries to counterattack with another overhand thrust to his chest. He takes another step back, blocks it with his sword's cross-guard and starts halfswording, with the left hand on the hilt, while the right hand on the blade. He brings down the sword on Ava's face, but she quickly ducks, comes back up, and bashes him in the face with her shield's rim. Borin is forced back, giving Ava enough room to cut him, from his left shoulder to his right hip, with a diagonal slash. That leaves him with very little mana to continue the fight, and brings him down to his knees.

I think this is a good moment to end this chapter of our story. I like to think that this was a lot of excitement and action for the day. Now, would I end this dramatic moment like this, or would it continue into something more serious? Something to make you, good Reader, come back for more of our story.

Until next time, good Reader.