The Shadow Sword Chapter 12

Chapter 12: The Trial of Courage pt 1


Kerebly found himself in another room. It was larger and similar to the first two, but nothing like the third. "…Wuff?"

"Hm…I sense a pattern going on here," Zeladanial said.

"First Atem…then Daphnes…now Wuff… I wonder which one of us is next," Kerebly frowned.

"Congratulations, both of you, for making it this far. No one else has made it here yet, you both are the first! This trial, the fourth and final trial, is the Trial of Courage."

"Cool. Do we have to overcome our fears? Do we have to face some big monster? Or…what?" Kerebly asked.

"Shut up and let me finish! Anyways, where was I? Congratulations…no one else…fourth and final… Ah, right! The Trial of Courage! You will have to fight off against one another to determine who will go on to retrieve the Shadow Sword!"

"Uh… I don't follow," Kerebly scratched his head.

"You. Zeladanial. Fight to the epic death to see who shall get the Shadow Sword. HAVE I MADE MYSELF CLEAR?!"

"Loud and clear, SIR!" Kerebly saluted. "…Wait. I have to fight Zeladanial?!"

"Yes, you are. I'm not going to repeat myself again."

"Oh man… I didn't have much of a chance against her when we first met, how am I supposed to fight her now?! She's, like… MADE of magic, or something!" Kerebly shouted.

"Actually, I'm descended from a goddess. I am very powerful with magic, but not made of magic," Zeladanial corrected Kerebly.

"It was a figure of speech."

"Yeah, whatever. No one cares. And…FIGHT!"

"Wait, I'm not- whoa!!" Kerebly jumped to the side as Zeladanial swung a staff at Kerebly. "Where'd you get that staff from?!"

"That is none of your concern," Zeladanial said with a chuckle. The staff disappeared in a veil of light, and she ran at Kerebly.

"Oh crap, no!" Kerebly panicked, running for his life. "Take THIS!" Kerebly conjured up a small fireball and threw it at Zeladanial. It struck Zeladanial, but didn't seem to faze her. "…Oh, crap."

Kerebly skidded to a stop and turned around, sword armed and ready to attack. When Zeladanial got close enough, Kerebly swung. Zeladanial conjured up a staff that blocked the sword and another to strike Kerebly in the chin. He ended up falling onto the ground, dropping the sword. Zeladanial formed a ball of light in her hand, and aimed it at Kerebly.

"To think, I'm a knight and I lost to a PRINCESS!" Kerebly groaned.

"Aw, you haven't lost yet!" Zeladanial winked.

"Yet."

"Come on, you're making this whole thing too easy. At least TRY! You've come so far!"

"Yeah I have, but only because everyone else has been doing the work for me! I had to be taught magic, and that took a week or so. AND I LEARNED VERY LITTLE!! I had to be told how to beat Lord Gendo by some random person. Daphnes helped free me from the Aylagale Castle's dungeon. YOU led me to the cave with the Shadow Sword! Atem, Daphnes, and Wuff so far were the ones who completed the previous trials! Me? NOTHING! I don't even know why I'm still here…"

"…Can't you save the whole sad speech for the last Trial of Courage chapter? We still have so many parts to go through until the last part."

"…What're you talking about?"

"Sigh… nevermind. I'll just finish this off, I guess…" Zeladanial sighed. She charged up the ball of light and then shot it at Kerebly. However…it bounced off of him. "…Huh?"

"…Wait, what just happened? I…I'm not dead yet?" Kerebly stood up, feeling himself. "…" Quickly, Kerebly leaped and grabbed his sword, arming himself ready. "Alright, let's just hurry it up. We have to keep up the…chapter…parts…thing…whatever it is you were talking about."

"Heh…That's the spirit!" Zeladanial grinned. She ran at Kerebly and swung a staff at him, but he blocked it with his sword. "…Hey, I've been wondering…" Zeladanial began, still fighting with Kerebly.

"Yeah?"

"You're a knight…but why don't you have a shield? I mean, Atem does…but you don't."

"…Well… I just don't really use a shield."

"Why's that?"

"Huh… I never really thought about it much. It probably came up with something during my childhood, but for as long as I can remember I never really liked using shields."

"Hm… I guess that makes sense," Zeladanial frowned, not having been given an exact answer.

"I guess I just never really thought about it much. I've always been so used to defending myself with just my sword that I never really cared for using a shield. I guess I just needed one free hand to do other things," Kerebly shrugged.

"Huh…alright," Zeladanial smiled. "Well, you'll have to be extra careful! I'm not going to go easy on you just because you don't use a shield."

"Pfft, I don't expect you to go easy on me!" Kerebly laughed.