I Awakened A Divine Curse

"Divine Cadre. Please you do not need to interfere, I will take care of this."

Auren looked at the Knight with a slightly surprised expression. Then he exhaled and folded his arms.

"Well, I wasn't going to."

Knight Armsteir smiled and turned to the intruder, his eyes turning grim.

"Identify yourself? Who are you?"

The intruder glanced at Auren before shifting his eyes back.

"How presumptuous, calling a heretic divine."

Knight Armsteir grimaced and snarled.

"You dare!"

Immediately he launched forward, slipping out another dagger, with two daggers In his hands, he crashed down on the intruder, who manifested a shield and shoved Knight Armsteir's attack to the side, then thrust his lance forward.

Knight Armsteir easily twisted out of the way, the sharp edge of the lance grazing the metallic plate of his armor with a gentle spray of spark.

Immediately, he had picked up himself and was driving a whirlwind of swift attacks from the side. But the intruder's shield rose. It was like a canopy of steel, easily blocking the rain of vicious strikes.

The intruder's shield absorbed every slash, every stab, the metallic clangs ringing through the night like a discordant bell. Knight Armsteir's daggers moved in a blur, striking high, low, feinting left before cutting right—but the shield was always there, an unyielding wall.

Then, with a sudden shift in momentum, the intruder twisted his wrist. The shield's edge flared with a faint, silver glow before he shoved—not just deflecting, but pushing with unnatural force.

Knight Armsteir grunted as the impact sent him skidding back, boots scraping against stone. His arms trembled slightly from the reverberation.

The intruder didn't give him a moment to recover. He lunged, lance thrusting forward like a bolt of lightning.

Armsteir barely sidestepped, feeling the sharp tip graze his side. He retaliated instantly, driving a dagger upward in a vicious arc—aimed for the gap between helmet and breastplate.

The intruder jerked his head back, but not fast enough. The dagger's edge caught his chin, slicing a thin line of crimson.

There was a pause. Then a drop of blood hit the ground.

The intruder stared with a grim expression, even from the depth of his helm, one could feel the heaviness of the atmosphere.

His voice crawled out, heavy and vibrating.

"Why must a providence knight like you be fighting to defend a heretic."

Knight Armsteir didn't dignify his question with a response. He adjusted his grip, muscles coiled, ready to spring again—

—when the intruder's lance changed.

The silver metal rippled, warping like liquid before solidifying into a massive, curved blade—a halberd, its edge gleaming wickedly under the moonlight.

Armsteir's eyes widened.

"Soul Armament?"

Auren, watching from the shadows, felt his smirk fade.

'...didn't Asenya say something similar?'

The intruder shot forward and swung.

Auren continued to observe their battle, carefully observing the intruder in particular.

He was sure about it. This was the bastard Knight that had caught him and gave him one hell of a torment.

As much as he wanted to be the one to kill him, he'd be stupid to let this opportunity pass him up. With this chance, he could observe their swordsmanship and how exactly they fought.

Knight Armsteir was a sharp mover, he was swift with acute precision too. He wasted no movement and had no excess in his style.

His legs moved when they needed to, his body twisted when they needed to, everything was just always very decisive, and practiced as if he had fought this particular battle in his dreams a hundred times.

At the same time, he wasn't faring quite well. Of course, with how polished and seemingly flawless Armsteir's combat style was, almost no one would have noticed it. It took Auren even an extra look to see that the Knight was struggling.

Of course, a dagger against a Lance, first then a Halberd now, the disadvantages were piled up on his head and the intruder had a stalwart defense, and the advantage of long reach.

Knight Armsteir's weapon while it was swift, was not durable enough to break through the intruder's defenses. And so, he had to abandon thar straightforward attack pattern for a more cunning and twisting one, in order to create an advantage where he could bypass the shield without Necessarily having to break through it.

This caused Knight Armsteir, to start to falter in places here and there. And the golden man was not here to assist him this time.

As the halberd came down, Knight Armsteir barely raised his daggers in time. The halberd crashed down with enough force to buckle his knees. He gritted his teeth, arms shaking under the weight, before twisting violently to the side, letting the weapon slam into the ground where he'd just stood. Stone splintered.

Before the intruder could recover, Armsteir pivoted and kicked—his boot connecting squarely with the man's ribs. There was a satisfying crunch, and the intruder staggered.

But he didn't fall.

Instead, he grinned behind his helmet and yanked the halberd free, spinning it in a wide, deadly arc.

Armsteir barely ducked. The blade whistled over his head, close enough to shear off a few strands of hair.

He retaliated with a dagger thrust to the thigh—

—only for the intruder to melt backward, his form blurring like smoke.

"What the—?"

The halberd came again, this time from the side. Armsteir blocked, but the sheer momentum sent him crashing into a pillar. Breath exploded from his lungs.

Auren's fingers twitched. The fight looked like it was getting to the point he needed to interrupt, however, he didn't want to Knight Armsteir to watch him fight.

So, he still stood there.

He wasn't worried about anything the intruder was going to say to the Knight. He was kind of sure that Knight Armsteir was very convinced he was a Divine Cadre, it wasn't difficult to know, Auren could see it plainly in his eyes.

So, he couldn't prove himself to be anything short of what The Knight would expect.

While Auren was sure he'd stand his ground with his old friend, he wasn't sure if he could avoid a blow or two. Now, that was going to be a stain on the reputation of a Divine Cadre, so…

Auren watched as the intruder stepped closer to Knight Armsteir, folding his hands with an indifferent look in his eyes.

The Knight was stunned, and out of it for a couple of second, although still trying to enforce stability.

The Intruder raised the rim of his shield and slammed it on Knight Armsteir's head, causing the Knight to collapse Immediately. At this point, the scanty keep was already coming alive bit by bit.

Most of the soldiers were at the wall, repairing the damages so there was no way, they would have noted them. But the noises seemed to be attracting a tiddy bit of attention.

Auren finally unleashed his hands, he grabbed his cloak and vanished. At that moment, the intruder was turning, but Auren appeared behind him, with a long sword in his hand. He smashed the pommel of longsowrd on the nape of the intruder, the tiny gap between the collar Of his armor and his helmet. Then as the intruder staggered forward, both of them vanished together into the darkness.

Now, both of them were surrounded in darkness. Auren had teleported then to one of the corners of the keep that was cloaked in thick darkness.

Auren slowly extended his long sword and grinned. Even though none of them could see it.

"Hello Old friend. Took you long enough."

"You heretic! What evil have you pulled to be here?!"

Auren did not answer immediately but moved quickly through the darkness and swung his sword. A shield moved and blocked his attack.

He hissed with a soft Smile.

"I'll make sure I kill you before we part this time around. I have not forgotten the pains you inflicted on me."

He twisted his sword and moved again, this time his movement was sharper.

Auren felt the resistance of the shield yet again. But this time it arrived belatedly and seemed have barely made it, because there was no rigid strength behind it like there had been just now.

The intruder staggered back, his shield arm trembling. The darkness was suffocating, swallowing sound and sight alike—but Auren moved through it like a specter, his blade whispering through the void.

Clang!

Another strike, another desperate block. But this time, Auren didn't let up. He pressed forward, his sword a blur of controlled fury, each slash forcing the intruder deeper into the abyss.

"You're slow…"

Auren taunted, his voice a low hum in the black.

"Or is it just that you can't see me?"

The intruder snarled, swinging his halberd blindly. The weapon cut through empty air—Auren was already behind him.

A boot slammed into the back of his knee, forcing him down. Before he could recover, cold steel pressed against his throat.

"Last time," Auren murmured, "you had the upper hand. But now?"

He leaned in, breath hot against the intruder's ear.

"Now, you're just prey."

The intruder tensed—then exploded into motion. His body twisted violently, his elbow jamming backward into Auren's ribs. Auren grunted but didn't relent, his grip tightening on his sword.

A pulse of energy rippled through the darkness.

The intruder's halberd shifted again—this time into a jagged shortsword. He drove it upward, aiming for Auren's gut.

Auren barely twisted aside in time, the blade grazing his side. Warmth bloomed across his ribs despite his sinister armor's defense, but he didn't flinch. Instead, he smiled.

"Good," he breathed. "I was hoping you'd make this fun."

He vanished.