Isaac watched in awe as the four sets of blades flew through the air. There were sparks flying through the air as En and Scab continued to clash. From the infant's point of view, it looked like they were evenly matched. But to a more trained eye, it was clear that Scab was being pushed back.

The young demon grit his teeth as he did his best to block and parry each blow. It was the only thing he could do, not being able to find any time or even opening for a counter attack. "You are quite talented for someone so young," En said, spinning around and swinging both of his massive blades at him.

Scab raised his own and blocked them, but was sent sliding back and hit the wall on the other side of the room. "But you're too inexperienced. Your fangs haven't quite sharpened enough yet to stand up to someone of my calibur. Stand down boy. It would be a shame to have to cut down a young swordsman with such potential."

Scab let out a breath and then stepped forward again. "Stop lecturing me. You're my opponent, not my babysitter," he said, getting into a fighting stance again. "And besides, I've already told you I've sworn to protect the kid. You should know better that I'm not gonna walk away. I'm honorbound to defend him."

He charged at the elder demon again, slashing at him as quickly as he could. En easily evaded each strike, but hummed. "Well, I'm impressed to see you so committed to your charge. It speaks volumes of your character. But it still won't change the fact that you can't defeat me." He swung his blades again, at a shockingly blinding speed.

A chill went up Scab's spine, and it was nothing but sheer reflex that made him duck when he did. En's swords were large, and he could tell they had a lot of weight behind them. Yet he swung them around as if they were weightless. How strong was he? "A nice evasion," En said. "Let's see if you can keep it up."

Scab ducked and dodged away from the storm of attacks. Now he was barely even able to get his blades up. Was his mind playing tricks on him, or was En somehow moving even faster than before. He had to hurry up and gain some ground in this fight before he lost all the momentum.

When En swung both his blade at him in a scissor like motion, he leapt into the air. He twisted his body, moving behind him and raising both swords. "I'm in his blinde spot, he won't be able to defend in this position!" he thought as he swung at the back of his neck. "I can end it here, or at least fatally wound him!"

Right as he was about to slash En, the elder demon suddenly ducked down and avoided the attack. "What the-?!"

"You jumped right into my blindspot, where else could you possibly be aiming," En said before kicking his leg up behind him. He sent him flying across the room, hitting the ceiling and then falling down towards the ground. En rushed at him and was about to cut him before he hit the floor, but Scab twisted his body to dodge and swung again.

En blocked it before headbutting him and knocking him to the ground. Scab rolled out of the way just before he stabbed down at him, but the blade nicked his side and cut him. Scab jumped away, but En swung his sword and sent a slash towards him. It hit him in mid air, once again knocking him into a wall.

He landed on his feet, and then saw a handful of blood drop onto the ground. He felt his chest and then pulled his hand back to see it was covered in blood. Then he glared back at En. "The skill gap is too wide, boy. Concede."

"Never…"

Scab suddenly began speeding around the room as fast as he could. He began a blur as he bounded around the walls, floor, and ceiling. Isaac looked on in awe as his babysitter collected more and more speed. "My, impressive. You're quite a quick one," En said. His eyes were darting around the room, locked onto the young swordsman.

"Don't patronize me!"

Scab moved in and slashed at him, but En parried the strike. The younger demon didn't slow down however, bouncing off the wall and then going in again. En parried the strike one more, but Scab still didn't slow down. He kept on picking up speed and going in for slash after slash. En started to use both of his blades to parry and deflect the attack.

"You can't keep this up forever!" Scab shouted. He was sure he was fast. Eventually he was going to be able to outspeed and outmaneuver him. He just needed to keep on picking up speed, and eventually-

"Neither can you."

En suddenly turned around, perfectly matching Scab's speed and slashing him with both blades. The boy went wide eyed, falling to the ground and rolling across the room into the corner. He tried to push himself up, but then felt a stabbing pain in both his chest and side. There were two very deep cuts, and quite a bit of blood was dripping onto the floor.

He kept trying to get to his feet, but fell right back down. Isaac looked over at his babysitter with concern, and then began making his way over to check on him. But En suddenly grabbed the back of his shirt, lifting him up. "Your tenacity is again, commendable, but you were far too out of your depth," he said.

Isaac whined and kept reaching towards Scab, but the elder demon blade began making his way out of the room. "If you survive those injuries of yours, I would consider hiding out until the battle is over. You're young, you should survive to see tomorrow," he said as he made his way out of the room. "Whatever is left of the royal family will need warriors like you at their side…"

Scab struggled to steady his breath as he weakly reached out towards En. "G-get back here…"

"He's going for it again!"

"Take cover!"

Bang laughed as he once again prepared to let off another massive explosion. Char, Zafira, and Burnicia braced themselves, but right as the explosion went off Elder Crisp moved forward and raised his hand. The massive wave of fire and heat was stopped in its tracks, and the elderly fire nymph once again absorbed it into the palms of his hands.

When he had finished absorbing it, he stumbled a bit. Char quickly moved forward and helped him steady himself. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine," Elder Crisp said, clearly tired. "I'm honestly not sure how much more of those I can keep absorbing though." He could shoot the heat back out before he reached his limit, but the act of absorbing such sudden and intense heat still in itself took a taxing toll on the body.

Luckily they had managed to lure him away from the most populated part of the battlefield, so the damage was kept to a minimum. But until they could get in close and actually do some damage, this was just going to keep happening. "How long can he keep this up? I mean he can't do it forever right?" Zafira asked.

"No, not forever. But you can be sure he's not going to slow down anytime soon. If it comes down to a battle of stamina we'll run out long before he does," Crisp warned.

Brunicia narrowed her eyes. "Who is this guy anyway? How do you know so much about him?" She thought the Ten were supposed to be bringing back the greatest warriors of the past, so she was surprised to see someone with short hair among their ranks. He looked sort of familiar too, so she wasn't sure he died that long ago.

"His name is Bang. A reckless fool who fell to Margo Lucitor in combat," Crisp said as he gathered a ball of fire in his hand. He packed all the heat and fire absorbed from the last few explosions into the attack, and then launched it at Bang.

The hulking fire nymph smiled and raised both fists. He smashed the ground, letting off a smaller but much more intense explosion. It knocked the ball of fire away, and when it landed it formed a crater a few yards behind him. "Well, you haven't lost your touch, huh old man? But you really should get out of here. You know you can't keep this up for long, and I wouldn't wanna blow you up with the rest of these guys," he warned.

Crisp glared at him. "You wouldn't be in this mess if you hadn't run off and gotten yourself killed. What were the two of you thinking? Leaving him behind and just…"

Bang scowled and crossed his arms. "It wasn't like I planned on not coming back. After we killed Margo we were gonna come back as heroes. She just caught us off guard is all. By the way, how is the kid?" he asked. "Is he strong? I bet he's really strong isn't he?" he asked, smirking.

Zafira looked confused, but then looked shocked. "Wait, is this guy Sputter's old man?!" she asked, looking towards Crisp. The explosions, the cocky attitude, and… yeah, there was a bit of a family resemblance there too. "Holy shit! Is it, isn't it?!"

"We can talk about this later. For now we need to deal with him," Crisp said as he prepared to move in again. "We need to figure out how to get him close. If I can absorb one of his explosions at close range, we'll have a small bit of time to get a counter attack in before he releases the next. I'll absorb them until we get in close."

"Can you handle that?" Burnicia asked. He looked pretty tired already, and she didn't want him dropping from exhaustion in the middle of a battlefield.

"I don't really have a choice."

Char thought for a moment. "Wait, what if we got him to come to us?" he asked. They all turned towards him confused, and then he looked back towards Bang. "Hey you!"

Bang looked towards him curiously. "What?"

"Why don't you stop using those stupid explosion to keep us away and fight like a real fire nymph! Unless you're afraid of us or something?" Char taunted, a smug expression on his face. Crisp, Zafira, and Burnicia looked at him as if he was crazy. It was such an obvious taunt, that no intelligent warrior would ever have fallen for it.

Bang beat his chest and yelled. "I'm not afraid of anything! You can settle this up close and personal, then let's do it! But I promise you're gonna regret it!" he shouted before rushing towards them, fist raised and ready to brawl.

"He fell for it?!" Burnicia said, stunned.

"I forgot how stupid that boy was…" Crisp muttered.

Char smiled before rushing forward to meet him. He hardened his body and raised his own fists, and when they met in the middle they both shouted before they began slugging it out. Char's hardened fist and body going up again Bang's explosive blows. Neither one of them seemed like they were trying to block or dodge. They were just swinging full force.

Crisp looked towards the others. "Now, we have to take him down now!"

Bang punched Char across the face, and part of the hardened magma covering him cracked. The explosive impacts of his punches were nothing to scoff at. But even if you took them away, he was still strong. He quickly replaced the magma, and swung back at, hitting Bang in the gut. The older fire nymph grunted, and then chuckled.

"Well, you're a tough one kid! You got guts! I like you!"

Char brought his arm back to throw another punch. "You're not half bad either. But sorry, I don't have time to enjoy this. My friend needs me!" He had to hurry up and finish this so he could go help Topaz and Cole. He swung up at Bang's face, but the older nymph raised his hand and caught it.

"Yeah, well you're gonna have to be patient, because I'm not going anywhere," he said before looking up. Zafira had dived down at him, her pitchfork held out and ready to pierced him. "Nice try twig." He opened his mouth and then suddenly an explosion shot out. This one wasn't as damaging, but it did knock her out of the air.

She landed and rolled a few feet, then glared at him. "Did he just fuckin' call me…?" So Sputter really was this guy's brat.

Bang turned back towards Char and was about to punch him again, but then a whip snapped around his wrist. He looked back again and saw Burnicia planting her feet. She weighed herself down, and Bang scowled as he tried to pull himself loose. "Shit, how much do you weigh? Let me go you fat little meatball!" he shouted.

"Fuck you, you undead bitch!" Burnicia shouted back angrily.

Bang was going to shout back at her, but then Char began punching him again with his free arm. He landed a few blows to his body, and then one to the chin. "You don't have time to get into a shouting match, old guy! Zafira, get up and finish him!"

Zafira looked around for her weapon, but before she could find it Bang smiled. "I got legs too, you upstarts!" He kicked up and hit Char in the chest. He fired an explosion from the bottom of his feet. A condensed powerful one that sent him flying back. He then shot off into the air, propelling himself.

Burnicia narrowed her eyes. "If you think I'm letting you go then-!" Bang began circling around her. "What the hell?!" He continued circling around her, eventually wrapping her up with her own weapon. Burnicia stumbled as she tried to break loose.

He then landed and laughed as he beat his chest. "Ha-ha! That's what you twerps get for thinking you could beat me! I'm the best out there!"

Char pushed himself back up to his feet and glared. "I'm not done yet!" he yelled, running at him again. He wasn't about to roll over and give up so easily. Besides, he was sure Bang had to be reaching his limit soon. Sputter could only pull off so many powerful explosions at a time, and if he was anything like him all he would have to do was keep wearing him down.

The others got ready to rush in as well, but then Bang stomped his foot and let another explosion around him loose. Crisp quickly moved in front of him, absorbing the explosion again. He stumbled back and then fell, but Char quickly caught him. He was reaching his one limit, and he wasn't sure he could contain another explosion.

"I told you to get out of here old look like you're on death's door already," Bang said, frowning at him. "Why are you so freaking hard headed?"

Crisp narrowed his eyes. "You're the last person in the world I want to hear that from. I'm not going to die, you moron. I have to get back and raise the boy you so thoughtlessly abandoned," he said before turning to Char. "I can absorb about one more I think. I don't know if that's enough to get you three in close."

Char nodded towards him as Burnicia and Zafira moved behind him. "It'll be enough. Let's go." The four of them moved in, and Bang cracked his neck before spreading his arms out. He was going to blast away this whole battlefield at once.

He let off an explosion, and they could tell with a glance that this one was going to be far more destructive than the others. Crisp moved ahead of them. "Damn it you reckless idiot!" He really was trying to just blow up the entire area. He raised his hands and began absorbing it, but it pushed him back a bit.

"Elder Crisp!"

"Old man!"

"Are you-?!"

"I'm fine!" Elder Crisp yelled as he continued absorbing the blast. He grit his teeth as he kept on powering through. If he couldn't contain this then there was no way the others would be able to survive it. They and everyone else within the range of the blast would be wiped out.

And more importantly, he would be wiped out.

He couldn't just roll over and die yet. It was his job as an elder to look after the tribe, so he had to make sure these young ones got back safely. And he needed to get back to the tribe to make sure that Sputter didn't end up like this dead reckless idiot in front of him. "When he's finished with this explosion, he won't be able to unleash it again for a long period of time! Close in the distance as much as you can!"

Crisp let out a shout as he quickly absorbed the rest of the explosion, and then fell back onto the ground with a grunt. Bang smiled as he looked down at his old mentor. "Well, still acting like a badass after all these years, huh?" he said amused.

"Move in!"

Char, Zafira, and Burnicia all rushed in towards Bang, who smiled and slammed his fist together. "Alright you runts! Let's do this!" he said as he shot off yet another blast. When it reached them, Char formed a armor around his body and braced himself. Burnicia weighed herself down and then planted her feet, anchoring him, and Zafira ducked down behind them both.

They held their ground, and then began moving again. Bang looked impressed. "Well, look at that? Trying to power on through right to me huh? Let's see if you can!" he began letting off explosion after explosion. The blasts weren't as destructive, but the force behind them was still enough to push everyone else around them back.

The three kept on moving, and as they got closer Char could feel his armor starting to crack. He quickly hardened himself again, determined to make use of the opening that Crisp gave them. "Keep on pushing guys!" he yelled as he slowly but steadily made his way to him.

Burnicia nodded and kept pushing him from behind. If they got pushed back again, she wasn't sure they were gonna get this close. So they had to finish this here and now. She reached back and tapped Zafira's leg, who readied her weapon. They were only going to get one shot at this, so she couldn't afford to miss.

Char finally managed to get within range of Bang, who brought his fist back and prepared to swing at him. Before he could, Char knelt down, and Burnicia leapt forward and jumped off his shoulder. She grabbed Bang's arm, weighing her selt back down and causing him to stumble.

It looked like he was about to fall, but then he stomped his foot down and flexed his arm. "I ain't going down that easily!" he yelled, opening his hand and preparing to set loose another explosion. Zafira flew in, raising her pitchfork and nailing him right in the chest. Bang grunted, but the weapon didn't pierce deep enough to prove fatal. "Ha! You're weak twiggy!"

"I'm not!"

Zafira smiled before moving out of the way, and Char charged, hardening his fist before punching the end of the weapon. Bang's eyes went wide as the pitch fork pierced through his chest. He coughed out a mouthful of blood before stumbling back, and then falling to the ground. Burnicia let go of his arm and moved away from him, and Char and Zafira remained on guard.

They looked down at him wearily, and then jumped when he suddenly laughed. "Man, you got me pretty good just now, didn't you?" he said as he tried to get up. They prepared to move in again, but then he fell right back down. "Ugh, yeah, I think I'm down for the count. That stinks. I was having a lot of fun."

The youths all looked relieved, and then Char quickly turned around to go check on Elder Crisp. The older fire nymph was making his way towards them, a drained and tired expression on his face. "Are you alright?" Zarfira asked.

He nodded. "I'm fine. A little rattled, but fine," he answered before looking down at Bang, who still had a blood stained smile on his face. "You three should go. He's not getting up from that, and Topaz and Cole still need you." The three of them looked at one another curiously, but then nodded. They didn't want to waste any more time here than they already had.

When they left, Crisp let out a sigh and then sat down on the ground next to Bang. "I have a lot of things I want to say to you. But I feel like they'd go right into one ear and out of the others. It's like if it doesn't involve making trouble it never sticks," he said, shaking his head.

Bang laughed once more. "Me? What about you? As old as you are, you're still trying to act like a badass. You could have absorbed half of my explosion and they probably would have been fine. You just wanted to show off, didn't you?"

Crisp scowled and then kicked him. "Shut up. I just wanted to be sure. I don't like doing things halfway…" Which is a trait Bang himself had taken and ran with from a young age unfortunately.

"Yeah, I know. Stubborn old flame."

They sat in silence for a moment as Bang continued to bleed out. He could tell whatever magic had brought him back wasn't going to last much longer. He felt tired, like he was going to doze off at any second. "I'm glad I at least got to see you off this time," Crisp muttered under his breath.

"Don't get all sappy on me old man. I fought and I lost. It's as simple as that. Sucks that I lost twice, but hey." Bang would have shrugged his shoulders, but he couldn't even seem to muster the strength to do that. "By the way, how's the kid?"

"Every bit as stubborn, bullheaded, and arrogant as you ever were," Crisp said, earning yet another laugh from Bang. "He doesn't quite have your physique though. He inherited that from Crackle."

"Well, that's good I guess. He can move around a lot easier in a fight. Maybe he won't get caught in the same way I did."

"He won't. He's going to live a long life. All of them are. I'll make sure of it."

En cut down another set of guards as he approached the front entrance of the castle. He sighed as he looked down at his fallen fellow demons. How much more blood was he going to have to spill in the name of that traitor Kruger? He suddenly winced as Isaac began to cry out once more.

The child had been making a fuss ever since he'd taken him from his room. "Please calm down little one. I know this isn't ideal but I doubt Kruger has any plans to harm-"

"Put him down…"

En stopped in his tracks, and then looked over her shoulder to see Scab standing at the other end of the hall, his sword in his hand and blood dripping from his chest. He had a deadly and determined look in his eyes. "You're still alive. And on your feet no less," En said, sounding genuinely impressed. "But do you really think it was wise to come at me again? You should have sought out help. For both the child and yourself."

Scab got into a fighting stance. "You'd be long gone before I got any backup. And even if you weren't, everybody who could stop you is outside," he said before narrowing his eyes. "And as long as I'm here, you're not setting foot outside. Now put the kid down."

Isaac smiled and clapped his hands happily, while En hummed and set him aside. "It seems I may have underestimated you a bit. At least when it comes to spirit," he said as he readied his blades. "Your decision making skills however are still quite lacking. But in order to honor your determination, I will attempt to finish you off quickly."

He rushed towards Scab, who leapt forward to meet him halfway.

Their blades clashed, and soon they were once again blurred in a flurry of sparks and slashes. Scab grit his teeth as he kept on doing his best to keep up with him, but it was clear he was on the losing end of their exchange. He was getting nipped and cut by En's blades, but he wouldn't step back.

En kept his eyes narrowed. He was clearly winning, but… was this boy reacting faster than he was before? This was odd. With those injuries of his he should have been growing duler, not sharper. He spun around, and despite Scab's best effort he got cut twice, on both his shoulder and leg.

Scab grunted in pain, but quickly swung back. En leaned back to avoid it, but the blade managed to knick his cheek. "What in the…?" The elder demon growled and swung both swords at Scab, who was struggling to raise his own blades to defend him.

"What are you supposed to do if someone is stronger than you?"

Margo looked down at Scab, who was laying down on the ground after another day of rather harsh training. She grew an amused smirk. "I don't know. What do you usually do when you spar against me?" she asked.

He scowled. "Not funny. I'm serious," he said before sitting up. "If you know you're just totally out matched, what should you do?"

His father had always talked about the battle between him and Margo. Always mentioned had there as just a point and time in the fight where he just felt completely outmatched. And as much as he hated to admit it… he felt like that a lot when he was sparring with her.

His demon physiology made him faster, and he was sure strength would come with that too eventually. But the difference in pure skill and experience was far too vast for him to make up for it with brute strength and speed.

"Well, most warriors would use a strategic retreat," Margo explained.

"So run away? Are you serious?" he asked, scowling. She shrugged her shoulders in response. "Okay, but what if you can't run away? What if you have to stay and fight, or you're cornered? What then?"

The idea of running away left a horrible taste in his mouth. Maybe it was the smart thing to do, but… he was a swordsman. And turning tail and running just seemed shameful. His father always told him that a scar on the back was the greatest shame any master swordsman could suffer.

Margo hummed and looked down in thought. She knew what he meant. While she would always encourage her students to survive over anything else, she knew there were times where running away just wasn't an option. "If you can't retreat, if you one hundred percent have to stand your ground…"

She grabbed her sword and then unsheathed it, pointing it up in the air. "You just fight as hard as you can and win," she said.

"Fight and win? That's it? That's all you got?" Scab asked. "I thought there were going to be some more words of wisdom from you or something."

Margo laughed. "Well, sometimes the answer you're looking for is simple. Not easy mind you, but simple," she said, sheathing her sword again. "Sometimes when you're backed into a corner you just have to fight and claw your way out. And, even though they're a lot harder to get through, those moments are when you can reach a new peak."

"There's nothing to motivate growth than a life or death situation. Not that I want you to end up in a situation like that," she said, patting him on the head. He groaned and swatted her hand away. "If you do though, make sure to win. I really don't want to have to track down a new babysitter."

"Huh…?"

En blinked as red filled his vision. He reached up and felt the cut above his head, and then looked down towards Scab, who had a rather intense aura coming off of him. En kept staring at him for a moment, and then burned the cut closed. "He managed to cut me. Was it another fluke, or maybe…?"

He rushed at him again, and swung at him again. To his surprise Scab managed to dodge and parry each of his attacks. "So, it wasn't a fluke after all," En said as he stepped forward and slashed at his feet. When Scab jumped up to dodge it, he swung his other sword. Scab blocked it and was sent flying back.

Rather than crashing into the wall behind him this time, he kicked off of it, shooting himself right back at En. He slashed him across his side before he could react, and then landed and turned around before swinging again. En reacted quickly, parrying and swinging back at him.

They stood off again, but this time seemed to be much more evenly matched. "Being forced towards death's door has stirred something in you it seems. You have even more potential than I imagined. But do you have enough to save yourself from me?" En asked before jumping back.

He got ready to send a slash at him, but Scab sped towards him before he could finish swinging. En looked surprised at his speed, and Scab yelled out before swinging up at him. En blocked it, and they struggled to push one another back. "I don't give a shit who you are, or who's controlling you! I don't care if you're stronger than me either!"

He spun around, and before En could react, he slashed his arm. "I promise I was gonna protect that kid, so I'm gonna do it," he said as he began spinning around. En blocked the assault of blades that came his way, but was knocked to the side when Scab threw his leg out and kicked him. "And I'm not gonna die until I become the next Demon Blade!"

En quickly balanced himself in time to defend against Scab's attacks. Scab wasn't trying to give him any room to breathe. He was sticking to him like glue. The attacks came one after another, but this wasn't like his little speed stunt earlier. He wasn't just swinging wildly and hoping to hit something. Every movement was calculated.

And En was being pushed back.

Isaac continued to cheer as he watched the dual. En grunted before he refocused, and began matching Scab blow for blow. He didn't want to do this. He didn't want to betray the royal family or kidnap one of the heirs. But if he was being honest, he probably wouldn't stop himself even if he could.

He wanted to see just how far the boy was willing to push himself. How much this situation was going to pull out of him. Scab was completely focused on trying to cut his opponent down. He was pretty sure he'd be feeling a lot of pain right now, but it seemed adrenaline was pushing him past it.

Not that he really cared. The only thing that mattered right now was making sure he couldn't get away with Isaac. And the only way to do that was to bring him down.

Scab shouted before swinging up, and though En managed to block him, his arms were knocked upwards. Scab leapt up into the air, so gracefully it looked like he was almost floating. "Springing Crescent Strike…" He swung both blades, and the cuts were so clean it took even En a moment to realize what had happened.

But when he heard the clang of his blades hitting the ground, along with the thud of his arm, he snapped out of it. "You-?" He felt a piercing pain, and then saw both of Scab's blades stabbing out of the front of his chest. He coughed, blood spilling from his mouth.

Scab struggled to catch his breath as he drove the swords deeper. "Sorry, I'm not giving you a chance to come back. I'm making sure you're down for good," he said. He was pretty damn sure if he somehow got his arms back or something he wouldn't be able to pull this off again, so he had to end it now.

En blinked, and then smiled. "A wise decision. A wise decision indeed." He looked up with a fond expression on his face. "You intend to become the next demon blade, do you?" he asked.

"I already told you I was," Scab said simply.

"That's a bit reassuring. The Lucitor family will be in rather safe hands if they have guards like you watching over them. You have my respect, little one. From one demon blade to another."

Scab hesitated for a moment, and then sighed. "Go back to sleep. You earned a good rest you old geezer." He twisted both his swords and then swung, cutting En clean in half. His body hit the ground and then quickly began turning to dust. The spell had been broken, and there was nothing tethering him here anymore.

As he vanished, Scab let out a sigh and fell to his knees, exhausted. Had he still been able to talk, En would have told him to keep his guard up. There were sure to be more enemies lurking around. But he supposed that might have been asking too much of the boy. He truly did hate the fact that he'd been brought back only to be a puppet for that traitor. But he supposed if there was anything to gain out of it, it was watching a future demon blade take his first few steps.

The last of En's remains crumbled away, and Scab panted as he sheathed his swords. He was barely managing to stay conscious, and he wanted to just pass out and sleep. But he had to make sure Isaac was okay.

"Da!"

He felt something tugging on his shirt, and then glanced down to see the prince smiling up at him. When Scab didn't respond, he tilted his head to the side in confusion. "I'm alright," Scab said, reaching down and patting his head. "Just tired… and bleeding, like a lot. I hope you enjoyed the show."

Isaac laughed and tugged on his shirt some more, and Scab looked up out of the castle entrance and towards the gates. He could hear the fighting still going on outside. And as much as he would have liked to use being so close as an excuse to jump into the frey, he knew he'd only get in the way like this.

"You wouldn't happen to know where the doctor is, would you kid?"

"Da!"

A/N: Scab manages to being down a former demon blade! He takes his job as Isaac's protector pretty seriously! And Char, Zafira, and Burnicia manage to take down Bang with some help from Elder Crisp! Now you see where Sputter gets his recklessness from! I thought about having Sputter in this chapter, but I just couldn't think of a reason anyone would bring him to the battlefield. He'll learn about his father and his history with Margo later, but I felt like putting it into the main story would feel a little forced.

Next up, Topaz and Cole are going to have to deal with their lost loved one! And Scorch is going to have to deal with someone who's got a wit as sharp and dangerous as her magical ability! Hope you guys enjoyed!