“We should have expected this treachery from the likes of you!” the Order member snarled, his cherry bde glowing brightly as the waves of magic struck outwards.

  “Do not speak of treachery to me!” Jogak snarled, his bde shaking as he cshed with the Aldishman. “You have nht!”

  “Whatever plot you have jured, it will not py out as you wish, savage!”

  “Plot? How dare you!” Jogak flexed his body, pushing through his limits as he cshed with the Aldishman, who stepped backwards from the force of Jogak’s rage. “How dare you kill those precious children of mine and speak to me of plots!”

  “There is nothing wrong with killing vermin.”

  “I agree!” Jogak snapped, g wildly against the Aldishman. ‘Are you watg? My Jarot! My Jirot! You have to see!’

  The Aldishman grunted, but as the fight tinued, he could see it. The Iyrman before him had grown winded far quicker. He shouted out the words to a spell, and as thunder rumbled through Jogak, the Iyrman flew backwards away from the Aldishman.

  “Gah!” Jogak gasped for air, swinging his bde even though his arms screamed at him f to lift his bde to defend himself, barely defleg the Aldishman’s bde.

  “Do you surrender?” the Aldishman called, panting slightly.

  “Surrender?” Jogak panted, gring at the Iyrman through his visor. “Never.”

  “May Lord Zadhin watch over your soul, Iyrman,” the Aldishman said, swinging his bde down cut at Jogak’s neck.

  “I’m afraid Lord Zadhin will have to wait,” said a voice, as steel rang against steel. The yellow cloth fluttered in the air, as the woman forced the bde away.

  Jogak’s eyes fell to the bde, but he reised that voiywhere, in his dreams, and even in his nightmares. “What are you doing here?”

  “I wao look cool in front of my sisters,” Jaygak replied simply, spinning her bde over the bde of her hand.

  Jogak grunted as he stood, the chaos around them loud, a not as loud as his duty. “Step back, Jaygak! It is dangerous here!”

  Steel rang against steel as Jaygak cshed with the Aldishman, the woman and the man engaging in a fierce csh, far fiercer than Jogak’s csh.

  “It is dangerous! I had to cut down an Aldishman on the way to save you!” Jaygak shouted, trying her best to reply as she fought the Oathsworn before her, who was no doubt close to a Master.

  Close to a Master.

  Her father had done well enough, sidering he was an Expert. He had been lucky enough to survive this long, but Jaygak was lucky too. If he had been a Master too, she would have had far greater trouble.

  “What is your he Aldishman asked, struggling against the woman before him.

  “Jaygak,” she replied, while a smile beamed through her visor. “I do not o know your name, since you dared to raise your swainst my father.”

  “Uncle! If you are not too busy, I would like some help!” Laygak shouted from nearby, causing Jogak’s eyes to dart to the side. “Jaygak would take too long with her limp!”

  “What are you doing here?” Jogak shouted, charging towards the young Iyrman, leaping up as he thrust his bde towards the gap of the Aldishman’s visor, but the woman shifted her head to the side.

  “How could I stay back this time?” Laygak replied, his voice light, but it cut deep within his uncle’s heart.

  Faool inhaled sharply, battering his oppo with his staff, but he was feeling the ache deep within his body. He was moments away from falling, but he did not cry out. If he were to die here today, then his sister would grow more powerful for revenge.

  Unfortunately for Faool, his thoughts were cut short as a staff crushed the Aldishman’s neck, and the woman crumpled to the groun.

  “You have fought well,” Kitool said, a chill filling her body, her muscles flexing as the life force of the dead Aldishman strengthened her. “Make sure Katool does not cut herself with Sentinel’s Rest.”

  “Okay,” Faool said, not questioning his cousin’s ridiculous words, the Iyrman slipping away, through the battlefield, doing his best not to interfere iher battles.

  Citool was too busy against her own oppoo assist her daughter, though it appeared to be the case the young Iyrman didn’t . ‘I should not shame our family.’

  Kamool, too, spun her spear around herself viciously, trying to knock back her oppo. ‘I should have trained harder. My poor children, do not watch me fail so.’

  Naqokan’s greatsword cleaved through an Iyrman, but she was fag against someoween an Expert and a Master, and she was only an Expert. The Aldishman’s smites rocked through her body, and though she was a Rage Dancer, she followed a different path than the likes of the Rot family. The thunder rocked through her as it would a Gak.

  Uwajin tio csh with her own oppooo, managing to strike mighty blows against the Aldishman, but even she could feel the exhaustion creeping into her arms. The exhaustion told her she had done enough, but she refused to drop her bde. She wouldn’t fall before Naqokan, at least.

  ‘Damn it,’ Amokan thought, his body red with rage, but his mind focused upon the fight nearby. He and his oppo were both about to fall, the pair feeling the world darken around them. ‘Sorry, Naqokan, it might take me a while.’

  Timojin, too, had thought to help his cousin, but the Aldishman before him was not quite as weak as the Aldishmen he had cut down previously. ‘I ot fall here. I do not have the privilege of being weak.’

  “Thank you, cousin,” called a voice, as Amokan’s oppo’s head fell to one side, and her body dropped to another side. The one armed Iyrman then spun, using the momentum of her bde to cut through the neck of Timojin’s oppo’s neck, the lightning crag.

  “There is no need for thanks,” Tarukan replied, keeping the two Aldishmen at bay. “I was growing bored against one.”

  ‘Just who is this Iyrman?’

  ‘Damn it! How is this no name Iyrman s?’

  “Since Rajin has cimed Hammer Hand, killing you two should be good enough?” Tarukan mused, but though he had mentioned Rajin’s name, he did not swing his bde to beat Rajin. Well, it was not the sole reason, since he couldn’t allow Rajin to show him up.

  He was a Kan, after all.

  ‘Look, dado!’ Inakan pointed into the distance. ‘Butterfly.’

  ‘My eyes are too old to see that far,’ Tarukan had replied.

  The girl removed her gsses, the rge gsses with thin frames, apparently in a popur style from Adam’s nd. ‘Here, dado.’

  The Iyrmen, each possessing great titles across Aldnd, noted just how red Tarukan had bee, the old man threatening to lose his mind, and his bde blurred, threatening to cleave the Aldishmen in half.

  “You are truly as strong as the rumours stated,” Hammer Hand panted, his hand throbbing wildly for one of the first times in his life, his greatsword shaking within his hands.

  “If you die too quickly, Jajin will not see,” Rajin said, his voice barely a whisper, but his throat strained with rage, his voiing out more insidious than he expected. “Jijin may not watch, since she likes to trouble me.”

  ‘How are they so damn strong?’ Hammer Hand thought, uo give a thought to his panions as he engaged with the Iyrman once more, his magic exploding outwards, ahe old Iyrman did not react, threatening to bisect him.

  “You are more impressive tha Viander I faced,” Tonagek admitted, barely letting out a pant as he cshed with the Viander wearing the cherry cloak. “My heart is still so heavy, so please, do not fall so easily.”

  “You will o try harder to unnerve me, savage,” the Aldishman replied, easily ten years the Iyrman’s senior, but so evenly matched with the Iyrman. ‘Who is this?’

  Tanagek cried out, pushing back the Aldishman who was almost twice his age, and though the Aldishman was a Master, the Aldishman could feel the duty behind every blow.

  “Why is your bde so heavy, Iyrman?” the Aldishman asked as the pair cshed, and they both took a ce to speak.

  “I met them a few days ago, those nieces and nephews of mianagek admitted, his eyes gring at the Aldishman through his visor, while the grief filled his heart. “It is a shame, for little Jarot, uhe Mad Dog, is so sweet.”

  ‘Mad Dog?’ the Aldishman tensed up slightly, for who didn’t know the name of the Mad Dog in Aldnd, especially someone from his geion. “What is your retionship to him?”

  “My aunt married his son,” Taated. “While my nephew does not match his name, I do.”

  “What is your name?”

  “Tanagek. I was named after the Dutiful.”

  ‘Who?’ the Aldishman thought, but for some reason, he was certain he had heard the name before. Unfortunately, if he was wise enough to remember the name, he wouldn’t have been here.

  “Step back,” a voice called, causing Tao pull away from the Aldishman without thought.

  “What are you…” The Aldishman panted, his eyes darting to the Iyrman nearby, who rested his silver sword over his shoulder casually, with the body of Viander Harrow slumped to the side. “Who are you?”

  “Shagek, Silver Sword of the Wastes,” the Iyrman replied, followed by a pause.

  ‘Who?’ The Aldishman thought, certain he had never heard of such a name before.

  Poor Shagek.