Yorshka found herself staring at the broken moon through a broken ceiling. For a moment, its shattered beauty held the knightess in a trance until a sharp burning pain pulled her back to the immediate surrounding. She pulled herself up from the shallow crater of debris, clutching the wound on her chest, courtesy of a point-blank sunlight spear. Her lips muttered a soft hymn for a healing miracle while her eyes scan the room for the undead whom she was fighting.

Almost immediately, within his own crater of broken monitors and debris, Yorshka found him, Fina's unwitting champion, standing a short distance away with embers dancing on the edge of his form.

He was standing under another shaft of moonlight in full plate armor with a zweihander in one arm and a dragon embossed kite shield strapped to the other. It looked like he got ready just in time for her to wake up. Yorshka had always wondered how undead can change their clothes so fast, no matter what they were wearing or trying to put on, and the ones she had spoken to didn't even know how they did it themselves. Something will always remain a mystery.

What Bach was currently doing right now was not mystery, however. The rapid and unnecessary chugging of an Estus flask signifies a specific course of action. For a moment, the thought of rushing the imbecile while he's drinking crossed her mind, but she instead moved to stand in front of him with sword and daggers in hand. Yorshka and her ravens had signed off their freedom to a devil of a goddess, but their sins be damned, she still has her pride and honor as a Knightess of the Moon. A quick chant reduced her size to slightly taller than his. She chuckled bitterly while wondering who was the bigger fool: the one who asked for a duel in the middle of a raid or the one who accepted it?

Steel armor rattled and creaked as the undead pulled his visor shut.

Silver blades hummed as the knightess coated them in magic.

Both adversaries bowed and immediately dove into each other.

Yorshka's silver dagger parried away a diagonal swing that carved deep into the ground besides her greaves while her own lunge was deflected by the kite shield. She made 2 more quick but ineffective swipes at the undead before stepping back, slipping through his follow up swing.

He kept swinging.

The undead kept a steady advance as the massive two hander sailed through the air in a constant rhythm, rending computer terminals caught in its path apart like a knife through butter. Yorshka was facing down a small and relentless cyclone of rattling steel, pushing the giantess back ever so slightly. She tried to leverage her height and reach advantage, but every lunge was either batted away by the sword or deflected by the shield. It was disciplined and oppressive.

However, as the captain of a knight company, Yorshka knew more than a few ways to crack this shell.

After a probing lunge with the sword, she slipped right through the next swing and, predictably, Bach raised his shield. Immediately, Yorshka hooked her dagger to the bulwark for leverage and vaulted herself behind her opponent for a swift strike. The magical coating on the silver sword bypassed the armor and cut deep into his exposed back. Her dagger was again poised for a follow up when the undead spun around with blinding speed and she caught a flash of steel in the corner of her eyes.

Yorshka barely had time to slide the flat side of her dagger between her shoulder and a blow that had so much force the giant was thrown off her feet sideways. She was slammed against a computer terminal and barely clear headed in time to spot Bach twisting through the air. Ignoring her aching shoulder, the knightess rolled away just as the blade came crashing down and made a quick lunge with her longsword. It tore right through the undead neck and blood flowed freely.

However, Bach quickly twisted his body and slapped the silver sword away with his shield, leaving her back exposed. Yorshka tried to dive away from the inevitable swing. However, she was only quick enough to throw off the angle that the edge was hitting the back plate of her cuirass. The metal shrieked and whined as her body was sent tumbling through a few computers before the knightess regained her footing. By then, the undead was already renewing his advance with his shield raised and sword poised for a swing.

Yorshka hastily took a few step backs to ready herself and put some more distance between the two of them. Feeling the bent metal digging into her back, she mentally chastised herself for her assumption that he would only fight like a Berenike knight, who would always try to keep their shield facing the enemy. The unusual pairing with the great sword should have clued her in. The knightess chuckled bitterly at how she was facing both a lumbering knight and a wild Abyss Watcher at the same time, such is the boon of a chosen undead.

The zweihander was slowly carving a path forward again while the dragon embossed on the kite shield dared her to try the same maneuver one more time.

Yorshka muttered a short incantation and materialised six orbs of pure magic, rotating above the crown of her head. With a flick of the dagger, they were sent barreling toward the undead who braced himself behind the shield. The missiles exploded in a cloud of the purple smoke, perfect for the Knightess to fade into invisibility.

She circled the undead and went in for another strike at his back, but her ears caught the sound of low chanting. She braced herself just in time for the sound wave to explode outward from Bach, throwing the smoke and debris about. The blast drew a dust outline of her invisible form and the knightess knew the jig was up.

A vicious lunge from the zweihander barely missed her shoulder followed by a forward leap that brought the undead right behind her. She turned and parried the greatsword aside with the dagger only to have her sword arm trapped against her chest by the edge of his shield. Yorshka quickly dismissed the invisibility and called up another set or orbs. They immediately smashed against the undead and this time, packing more power than smoke. They knocked the greatsword from Bach's grip and launched him across the room.

Yorshka dashed forward as the kite shield was flung in her face. Deft hand knocked the piece sideways with a flick or the blade, but not what was behind it. The knightess barely saw the crimson and heard the crackle before her whole body convulsed with pain.

By the time the electricity had run its course and her vision cleared, the knightess was staring up at the undead coming down from the zenith of his leap, greatsword already back in hand. There was no room nor time for fancy parry and ripostes. She tightened her grip on the long sword and brought up against the blow that was coming down. And came down hard it did, the flat side of his zweihander crashed against the enchanted edge of her blade with the full weight of a steel-clad typhoon. The metal shrieked and groaned and Yorshka felt pain reverberated along her right arm while the dent on her back plate dug further into her as deris pushed up against it.

Bach rode the momentum and went for another downward swing before she could do anything else. Then another and another… Each blow echoed throughout the broken room. Each too fast to do anything but block. Each blow heavier than the last until finally, something gave.

There was an audible crack followed by a piercing scream as Yorshka's right arm was bent at an impossible angle. However, the zweihander was also similarly snapped in half, giving brief pause to the assault as Bach tried to take in the jagged remains of his sword. That brief moment was all Yorshka needed as she plunged the silver dagger into his waist, right in the gap just below the chest plate. The magic coating pierced right through the chain mail underneath and tore through the undead's spine, eliciting a scream before the knightess slammed a foot to his chest and kicked him back across the room.

Peace briefly descended upon the room as both combatants tried to pick themselves up. The knightess felt her veins burned with the aftermath of the lightning bolt as her feet tried to find their foot. She glanced at her limped arm, felt the pain shooting up from it before her left hand picked up the silver longsword laying nearby. On the other side, Bach just ripped the dagger out of his hip, letting his cursed blood flow freely. The jagged remains of the zweihander had now switched to his left hand in a reverse grip like a dagger while in his right was now a long estoc.

They both lowered their stance sword tips pointing at each other. Then came the rush.

A quick low feint drew the makeshift dagger out for a premature parry. The silver sword twisted upward for the gap in the visor only to be caught by the estoc. Blades were locked to their crossguard as the both sides were pushed together by the momentum. Then came the blow.

Yorshka gasped when she felt the jagged dagger plunged into her side. Then it was viciously ripped out in a twisting motion and her legs collapsed from under. It was done.

Her back leaned against one of the more intact computer stations as the blood sapped whatever strength left in her body. She found the undead looming over and closed her eyes.

And she felt warmth.


Bach stood over the knightess, making sure the pyromancer was actually working and her wounds were slowly healing. Only after seeing the nasty hole in her hip closing did he slowly sit down next to her, groaning all the way due to his own injury. He sat there in silence along her for a while and enjoyed the warm ember until it burned out, leaving both stable enough to not die in the next few hours.

"I wounded thee thrice, fatally and thee...only did need once", she said, eyes still closed, sounding a bit miffed.

"Ha-", he laughed, only to choke on the dry blood in his throat for a solid 10 seconds, "...I guess undeads need a fourth one."

"Thou shouldst have killed me.", she said after a short chuckle.

"Maybe, but that's just not me. Those white fangs were an accident I never want to repeat."

"Then thou shalt regret not knowing what is to cometh", her tired eyes opened and turned slightly to him.

"C'mon, I really don't have to kill anyone to find out what's coming", Bach tried to get more comfortable on the debris, unsuccessfully, "And I don't think you, or at least the Yorshka I remember, deserve that."

"How kind of thee…", she rolled her eyes dismissively.

"By the way…", Bach leaned slightly as he fished around the bottomless box in his right pocket, "Here's something to pass the time while we wait for the cops to scoop you up."

He held the scratched smartphone up and she took it hesitantly. There was no password so a few quick swipes later she was in the main menu of a pokemon game on an emulator. The sigh of relief was audible when the save list was opened up.

"What? You'd thought I'd just delete someone's saves?", Bach scoffed at the implied accusation.

Yorshka rolled her eyes and carefully placed the phone down before grabbing something else from within her robe with her good arm.

"Giveth me thine hand", she said curtly.

Bach eyed her with a raised eyebrow for a moment then decided to extend his right hand out slowly, figuring that it was just a show of thank or something. She quickly placed something that felt like a thin stick in his palm then wrapped his fingers around it before he could see.

"A thank would suffi-

She squeezed his hand and there was an audible snap. Bach opened his palm to find a broken bone, a broken homeward bone.

"Sonuv-

He reached for the wounded knightess but a sound wave blasted him right out a nearby window. The last thing he saw before being whisked away mid air was Alma trying to punch the faceplate off a giant four-armed version of a pursuer.