In the moment before Rio's feet touched the ground, the third knight lunged like his shadow, the silver blade slicing through the air toward his exposed back. But Rio, in an attempt to simulate his flow with the wind—as in his mental exercises of the present and the past—was betrayed by his body's flexibility; his foot tripped in the scattered snow, causing his body to fall downward in an unintended movement.
The sword passed inches above his head, cutting air instead of flesh.
The third knight regained his balance immediately, standing before the fallen Rio with features full of resentment, blood dripping from his split mouth behind the helmet. At the same time, the second knight skillfully slid to surround Rio's fallen back.
The third knight spat blood and spoke in a raspy voice:
"There is no esc—"
Before he could finish his sentence, Rio's white aura exploded all at once. He didn't stand up; instead, he used the air pressure emitting from his palms as a jet thrust, causing his body to fly sideways with terrifying fluidity. In mid-air, his body twisted in a rotational acrobatic move, launching his EIU-charged kick like a hammer toward the third knight's head.
BAM!
The helmet shattered and metal fragments flew, and the knight fell onto the snow, his body trembling violently in involuntary convulsions, unable to move a single finger.
But the second knight gave him no respite; with a swift movement of her hand, a metallic-colored aura gathered around her hand and the metal shards of the helmet began to fly in the air. Then the shards launched like arrows, and despite Rio's attempt to evade, a shard left a bloody scratch on his arm.
The fighting stopped suddenly when the leader stepped forward with heavy strides toward the second knight.
The knight cried out in a sharp feminine voice, revealing her identity for the first time: "You will help us, Lord Bayren! This mercenary—"
She didn't finish.
Bayren's EIU Channels opened, and a flaming red aura ignited, surging in his veins like a dormant fire that had suddenly awakened. The energy rushed toward his palm, and before the female knight realized what was happening, his iron-hard fingers had clamped around her neck.
She tried to resist, but his grip was a furnace of hell. The metal of her helmet began to soften and then melt under the heat of his flaming hand. her movement ceased and she fainted, but Bayren did not let go. The pressure and heat continued until her head beneath his palm turned into a distorted skull with burnt skin, and she fell as a lifeless corpse when he released her.
To the side, the third knight was crawling feebly, reaching out with his hand toward Rio, his eyes overflowing with terror as he begged for survival;
"Please don't let him burn me! I have a family, please!"
Rio looked at him with deathly coldness, trying not to intervene:
"You were trying to kill me a moment ago, and now you ask for help?"
the knight's wait did not last long. The leader Bayren picked up a sword from the ground and hurled it coldly toward the forehead of the crawling knight. Due to his exhausted body, he could not dodge; the blade pierced the skull bones until the sword's point emerged from the other side. His eyes turned completely white, and his corpse fell upon the snow that was stained deep red.
Bayren raised his hand and removed his helmet, revealing a face that sent shivers down the spine; his right half was disfigured by old burns, his skin was a pale yellow, and his black hair was styled sharply upward like a saw blade, extending from the top of his head to the middle of his forehead.
He spoke with a voice full of blind confidence:
"You will be the reason for my promotion to a full Team Leader! I will burn you down to the last atom in your body!"
Rio whispered to himself while watching the scene:
"Overconfident... he doesn't even wonder if killing his allies was a mistake... another stupid prey."
Then a provocative, mocking smile appeared on his face:
"Do you know that you are a coward?"
Bayren flared with rage, screaming with a flushed face: "I'll make you see who's the cow—"
But Rio interrupted him with provocative sarcasm:
"You want to fight me with a sword and armor while I am bare-handed without protection? What a coward you truly are."
Then Bayren replied quickly and with vanity:
"Who said I would fight you like this?!"
He stepped toward the corpse of the third knight, pulled the sword from its forehead, and threw it forcefully toward Rio, who caught it professionally and smoothly. Before Bayren could move to fetch armor for his opponent Rio, Rio interrupted him:
"I don't need armor, for I am not a coward."
Bayren stopped upon hearing Rio's words and looked at him with equal defiance:
"And I also don't need armor."
He stripped off his heavy iron armor, revealing a muscular upper body full of prominent scars and burns, wearing black trousers with wide white stripes, and gripped his sword tightly.
Rio whispered to himself: "The wind grows the fire.."
Rio took a ready stance and spoke confidently: "Show me what you have, you idiot, in a battle of chivalry!"
Bayren rushed like a flaming hurricane, directing a violent side-strike with his sword, but Rio anticipated the path and parried it solidly. Rio initiated an attack with a series of stabs, but Bayren was an expert; he parried them all with his blade. The swords clashed and sparks flew, strike after strike, and the speed increased without either of them succeeding in hitting the other…
Every strike resulted in the sound of the two swords clashing… Whenever one of them thought he had outperformed the other, the other would anticipate the attack and parry it with his sword and skill…
But suddenly, Rio jumped back and stripped off his brown coat with a swift movement, revealing himself in his loose black clothes that gave him absolute freedom of movement.
Bayren shouted while pointing his sword at him:
"Don't think about running, mercenary!"
Rio replied with sudden seriousness and a sharp tone:
"Don't call me a mercenary.. I am the son of the wind, Rio!"
Rio launched like an arrow in a straight line, and when Bayren raised his sword to defend, Rio suddenly disappeared from in front of him, jumping to appear behind his back, directing a strike that left a superficial wound on Leader Bayren's back.
Before Bayren could turn, Rio had begun moving with his superhuman speed, jumping between tree trunks in random, unpredictable movements. Then, like a falcon, he pounced from the side and wounded Bayren's shoulder once more, as drops of blood fell onto the snow.
Bayren lost his temper and shouted impulsively: "Come down and face me face-to-face!"
Rio descended slowly onto the snow, his eyes watching his opponent's bleeding blood:
"Alright.. get ready!"
Rio took the ready stance once more, and Bayren did the same, his eyes burning with the desire to kill.
To be continued...