“Those footworks… I recognise them. I know what you are, little knight.”Lauren ignored his opponent’s taunts as he slashed forth with his gladius. Mana empowered the strike, turning the steel into a swift flicker of death. The blade failed to find purchase. Lauren’s opponent laughed as his sword missed their neck and cut across their rusted breastplate instead.Fat, tall, and plated in oil-stained armour, the large pirate admiral was nonetheless unnaturally nimble. Whirling a two-handed axe with a flourish, the sea-blue metal hummed dangerously as it sliced the air. From those swings alone, Lauren could tell that the man’s powerful build was not for show.If nothing else, the Ruby Core blazing within the pirate was more than a match for Lauren’s.Another exchange was made. The greataxe outranged Lauren’s shortsword, so the knight captain rushed in. Narrowly dodging a decapitating swing, Lauren spun his gladius around, pivoting into a full turn before he jammed the blade expertly between the plates.Thick liquid burst from the wound, foul and unnatural. The ‘blood’ stung his skin when it dribbled onto his fingers. Rather than sanguine crimson, the caustic bile was pitch black, flecked with starry light.“What the hell?” Lauren hissed. He was pushed back when a brutal uppercut caught him in the chin. It should not be possible. The shortsword embedded in the admiral’s flank should have incapacitated him, or at least slowed him down. Yet, his opponent had retaliated with startling speed, as if the wound or the pain meant nothing.Lauren (...)