Chapter 701: Knight vs. Champion (Part One)
The skies overhead wore a blanket of gray clouds, casting a gloom over the stretch of country road as Carwyn took his place before the powerful demon-knight. A soft rain began to fall, as if the Holy Lord of Light himself couldn’t bear to watch what was about to transpire as he hid himself away behind the darkening skies.
"You stand against Barsali," the flat tailed demon shouted as Carwyn took his position. "Champion of fifty battles, Leader of the Triplet Tails, and Captain serving Commander Tausau’s Third Army!"
As the demon read off the list of impressive sounding titles, it shot a glare at the proud demon-knight as if it resented the spectacle it had been forced to participate in. Still, it delivered its lines loudly enough that even the soldiers behind Carwyn could hear them and by the time it ended, it was looking at Carwyn as if it hoped to see him waver.
"Name yourself, human!" the flat tailed demon commanded bitterly when he didn’t see any sign of cowering or even fear from the young knight.
"I am Sir Carwyn Belvin," Carwyn shouted without bothering to raise his visor. Since the demon-knight had no intention showing even the minimal amount of courtesy to reveal the face behind the cage of his helm, Carwyn saw no reason to be polite as he continued his introduction. "Knight Protector of Raek Village, Slayer of Demons and Commander of Belvin’s Hounds."
He had no great victories to boast of and it might be an exaggeration to call himself a ’slayer of demons’ when he’d only fought the occasional stray demon in the wilderness and the one he’d killed today but Carwyn didn’t care. He added the title as if it were a layer over his heart, guarding his courage even as his heart began to pound in his chest and sweat trickled down his back.
Every instinct in his body said that he should run far away, that he had no business facing such a powerful foe in single combat and that he should get as far away as he could before the fight began. But Carwyn refused to listen to his body’s desire to flee just as much as he ignored the pain in his ribs and the aches in his arms.
His battle had finally found him and he refused to run from it!
The small demon took a moment to translate Carwyn’s introduction, prompting the demon-knight Barsali to raise his strangely hooked sword and spear in the air, shouting in the demon’s language and banging his weapons together before taking a fighting stance of his own.
"Fight!" the flat tailed demon shouted before it scampered backwards off the road.
Barsali wasted no time. As soon as he heard the command to fight he charged forward, slithering on his long tail in a rapid dash toward the waiting knight.