Garnt sat on the edge of the hollow tree trunk, keeping his staff rested on the ground, and looked up to the sky. He wasn't quite sure how he'd ended up here. The arts had never been his favourite subject of study, but he supposed returning to the end of his final trial after it turned out to be pointless meant he had a hidden dramatic side even he hadn't been aware of.

That, or he'd gone for one of the few places in the swamp that seemed empty and actively avoided by its many predators. Either or, really. He could even take a few guesses as to why it was avoided so heavily, now.

…If nothing else, this was a good place to sort out what had just happened, and where he could go from here.

His motivation had been rejected by the Imaginary Sword. Or, well, 'motivation'. He hadn't been entirely honest. Nothing he'd said had been an outright lie, because that was a risk Garnt was unwilling to take within slashing distance of someone able and (seemingly) willing to kill him, but it was just window dressing at the end of the day.

But the entire truth hadn't been an option, either. The Imaginary Sword was recorded as a weapon of great heroes of the current Age of Fire, wielded against all kinds of monsters and threats. If lying outright would put him at risk of death, then stating his goals outright was a guarantee. If Garnt was going to be braving death either way, he would at least take the option that let him try to dodge the proverbial rolling boulder.

His gamble had failed, though. 'Get a better motivation', indeed. Garnt wondered if she had guessed at his omissions, if that was what had spurred her decision onward.

As for where he could go from here…

This had been his last resort, if he was being honest with himself. There were other tales of legendary weapons Garnt could pursue, it was true. But none were as concrete as the Empty Sword, and many of them had enough overlap with the Lords' Blades that he couldn't even be sure he was seeking out something of his own, or if his search would drive him back to the grasp of one of the Four Rulers - and with that grasp, capture and Hollowing.

He'd been hunted for a long time now, since his escape, and he was tired. This was supposed to be his chance to turn his fortunes around and make real progress, but instead…

Garnt sighed, and leaned back over the hole in the trunk, keeping a loose grip on his staff to stay propped up. At least the stars were nice to look at tonight. He wondered how often the fog cleared around here enough to see them. If Yusi had a proper, cultural name then there must be inhabitants who cared enough to name it - inhabitants besides Nanami Yasuri, who seemed to belong to a different era entirely. Did they care enough to look at the stars like this, or were the swamp's dangers enough to keep them occupied? He wondered what the people of Yusi called themselves.

Somebody had found him, and a distant part of him noted that if he died now, he would probably go Hollow. It was unlikely he'd get the answers to any of these questions. A shame.

"You're a difficult man to find, Abyss-seeker." a voice came from somewhere above and behind, in one of the intertwined mazes the stone-like trees of Yusi sometimes formed. A decent enough hiding spot, he thought.

"I try. Why give away your position now that you've managed it, though?" he mused. Surely a sneak attack would have been better. Quite easy too, in his current state. He'd been rather distracted.

"Hah! You pretend to believe I've been here for some time, but I could tell you became aware of me as soon as I arrived. You won't bait me that easily, I think." The voice came again, this time from a little further down. It was rough, and coarse, like the vocal cords of the speaker weren't quite meant for human speech.

An inhuman, intelligent attacker… Garnt wished the records he'd studied on the Run-Offs had been more comprehensive. Then again, they couldn't get the place's damn name right, and the legendary sword wasn't even a sword, so the validity of any other information would have been suspect.

"Honestly, though, I wish you could tell me how you did it. Even now it's like you're a hole in space - I knew you'd arrived, but conventional methods of tracking failed entirely. It's a shame, but…" the voice trailed off. Garnt kept his grip on his staff loose. A little further down again. He may as well give his assailant the line he was clearly angling for.

"But?" Garnt asked resignedly.

"But you'll be too dead to tell me soon enough," the coarse voice replied from just to his left, and things started moving very fast.

The distinctive sound of a blade whistled through the air. He didn't have enough time to guess where it was aimed, and he didn't need to know, at any rate - a quick gesture, a small push of his soul, and a wall of crystal was now between him and his opponent.

Not enough to stop the man's sword, it seemed, but the delay as its curved, steel blade sliced through the crystal was enough for Garnt to roll to the side and gain a bit of distance.

Garnt spat a mouthful of dirtwater out, and then fired off three Soul Arrows in quick succession, two at where he thought the swordsman might be and one at the ground between them. A bluff, but even though his ambusher deflected the streams of blue light with the edge of his sword with apparent ease, he did not immediately approach. It was a trick Garnt favored against perceptive opponents - the residue of a Soul Arrow striking the ground was functionally indistinguishable from a mine sorcery of some kind. In this case, it bought him enough time to catch his breath and get a good look at the figure that had come seemingly out of nowhere to strike him down. What Garnt saw gave him a little pause.

A humanoid figure clad in the golden black scales of dragons, his head twisted to reflect the shape of that very same ancient species that hardly existed outside of records, wielding a strange, slightly curved blade of steel. He knew what a katana was, but the Eastern lands were far enough from Caerdiaeth that Garnt guessed they were a little more exotic here. He noted the arced horns as a possible weapon, and made his final assessment.

He had no idea who this even was. Garnt privately decided to dub him the Dragonclad for future reference. It sounded appropriately imposing, and would roll off the tongue well. That said, who this aggressor was, or what Garnt called him, hardly mattered.

He was about to toss a bomb at the man, after all.

The residue of the Soul Arrow faded, and with it so did their pause. The Dragonclad rushed forward just as Garnt stepped back and tossed a Black Firebomb in his path, which detonated with a deafening crack. The swamp's water dampened the fiery conflagration that erupted, but not by much.

It was just enough, however, for the Dragonclad to perform a running cartwheel over the flames, leaving the fire to quickly fade behind him as Garnt summoned a blade of blue light to parry an overhead blow from the katana.

The Dragonclad grunted in pain as the blades collided, and Garnt felt the impact ring throughout his whole body and send him tumbling back into the dirt and mud, and forcing him to continue tumbling as the blade plunged into the ground he had just rolled across. Garnt blindly summoned another wall of crystal and backed up, only to feel his back collide into one of the rough, rocky trees. He threw himself to the side instead, and not a second too soon, as the Dragonclad made another decapitation attempt, going straight through the crystal and stony bark. He heard a grunt of pain again, and then a smash and this was the second time today he was watching one of these trees topple, this time towards him.

He rolled one more time, and blindly twin-fired a crystallising lightbeam across the ground, turning the mud, water and bits of the tree into a translucent, glassy substance. He was rewarded with an 'oof' and a moment to catch his breath again, and took the opportunity to shove some Green Blossoms into his mouth, feeling the reinvigorating feeling spread across his body. He was going to need them, it seemed.

He'd managed to trap a scaleclad foot inside a particularly large gem, even if it hadn't been a direct hit. Well, that was what the second beam had been for.

"So, is that your plan? Make enough noise that something hungry comes along and leave me to deal with it?" Garnt taunted, while keeping an eye out on their surroundings. That would be a good plan, honestly - the Dragonclad was clearly a lot more mobile than Garnt, so he could leave easily. If something did show up, Garnt would have to flee immediately.

"Something like that," the Dragonclad replied agreeably, and, having tested the crystalline substance to his satisfaction, tore his leg free of it.

And triggered the trap Garnt had layered within the second beam, which reacted as soon as the crystal's surface was disturbed.

A blast of pure cerulean light erupted at an angle, engulfing the Dragonclad and firing off through the craggy branches of the surrounding trees and into the sky.

Well, he'd be surprised if that was enough to take someone protected by Dragons out, but it should slow him down a little at least…

It was only his reflexes that saved him, as he just barely called up a blue soulblade in time to block the blade that cleaved out of the lightbeam and towards his side, its insane weight once again sending him flying.

It had indeed slowed him down, Garnt noted, for about half a second. Then he slammed into a tree, and found thinking a little difficult.

Still, he pushed through the pain to see one scaly arm hanging limply at the Dragonclad's side, trails of blue still wafting off like smoke, and the man himself breathing heavily. So he wasn't completely unharmed, then.

Garnt raised his silver staff with one trembling arm, pointing the slightly enlarged cylindrical tip right at the Dragonclad as the other trembling arm reached down into his pouch. The scaleclad man feinted, attempting to rush forward and then to the side, but it didn't matter much in this case, as a barrage of miniature silvery-blue points of light rushed out at him.

Soul Spear Barrage. Each attack was mediocre at best on its own, making up for it in the sheer quantity. Garnt drank deeply from the Estus Flask he'd hastily fished out, and watched as the Dragonclad advanced through the impenetrable storm, with impeccable skill.

That was fine, though.

Garnt finished drinking, and cut off the barrage early, concentrating dark purple light at the edge of his staff.

The Dragonclad's blade, knocked to the side by an earlier parry, was positioned exactly where Garnt needed it for this next part. A massive, iridescent blade erupted out of the staff, and Garnt carved a hole in space with his swing, light trailing behind it. He was frustrated to find the Dragonclad had gotten his blade up to guard again, but that was fine too.

That was what the third part of this had been for.

The hole in space and the arc of light converged into a projectile that launched itself at the Dragonclad, and detonated as Garnt finally landed his second clean hit. The Dragonclad was the one being thrown around the swamp this time, he was satisfied to notice.

Garnt breathed a sigh of relief. He couldn't relax yet though. He fired off a Soul Arrow at where the Dragonclad was lying. It impacted with a thump, pressing the scaleclad man further against the tree he was slumped against.

Garnt fired off three more Arrows just to be sure, and then a Heavy Soul Arrow to make certain.

The Dragonclad really wasn't moving though. It couldn't be that easy, right? There was no way. Dragon scales were noted for both their durability and regenerative properties, and the draconic being before him had seemed, if not unaffected, then at least perfectly capable of wading through great deals of damage.

Still… Garnt had failed to acquire one legendary sword today already. He was reasonably certain he knew the trick to this blade, now - the Dragonclad would grunt in pain after every blow, and a sudden release of explosive force followed at the point of contact. It might not have been a blade straight out of myth, but acquiring a useful weapon and dealing with some mysterious mercenary who had likely been hired to attack him would make today a little less of a failure. Encouraged by the thought, Garnt stepped forward.

But he'd learned his lesson about pulling swords out without triple-checking it was safe to do so. It would be a little awkward to decapitate somebody with their head slumped down like this, tongue awkwardly hanging out and all, but whether most or all of the head was cut off made little difference to making somebody dead.

He raised his staff, allowing dark purple light to coalesce at its tip, and that was when the Dragonclad lifted his head and breathed black flames all over him.

Flame was the wrong word for them, though. That implied heat, burning of some kind. This wasn't hot, and it wasn't cold either. It was concentrated exhaustion, being dumped all over his being. It was nothing, and he was being reduced to nothing right alongside it. He couldn't even spare a thought for defending himself, because there was nothing to have that thought, not until the sensation ended as suddenly as it began.

Garnt found himself weary and kneeling, unable to think of a reason to stand. Something poked at his throat, and he looked up to see the Dragonclad pointing his katana, just shy of spearing Garnt.

"So, before I finish this, I do have something I want to ask, if you'll indulge me." The Dragonclad man said in a friendly tone.

Garnt tilted his head to one side. Maybe he'd answer and maybe he wouldn't. It wasn't like hearing the question made any difference to him.

"Since you're here, Abyss-seeker, I can make a guess as to why you visited the Run-offs. I want you to hear me out, and then tell me if I was right or not, alright?" The Dragonclad continued, and Garnt nodded. Him knowing or not knowing made no difference, and he couldn't summon up the energy to bother resisting.

"I'm guessing you heard about that crazy woman and her strength from some travellers, and decided to try and persuade her to work with you. Too bad that's now how it works with her, huh? I guess not even she wants what your Age entails. It's all trials and tribulations with her, so I'm guessing she tried to kill you and chased you off. Is that all about right?" The Dragonclad finished, sounding vaguely pleased. Garnt frowned, and shook his head.

"No, I… did the trials. We met, and she asked me about my motivations. I hid my real ones. She… judged what I told her. Found it wanting. Told me to go away…", he trailed off. Answering really was pointless too. Coming here had been just as pointless as most of his life so far.

A complicated look flashed over the Dragonclad's face. A dragon's emotions sure were difficult to read.

"You passed the trials…? No, that's not how things work with her. If you passed…" The Dragonclad muttered, and then his eyes widened as he hastily raised his katana into a guard, as something he couldn't see whistled through the air and the sound of metal screaming rang throughout the swamp. The Dragonclad slid back, and then stopped a hefty distance away from Garnt.

Garnt heard the rustling of cloth to his side, and with great effort turned to look. Then he stared.

"Close your mouth, you'll let flies in. And didn't you know staring is rude? You were so polite earlier, too." Nanami said, standing atop the water like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"…why are you here?" Garnt whispered. Hadn't she done enough today already? Had she heard what they were talking about? It wasn't like the Dragonclad needed allies to execute someone on their knees.

"I'd intended to follow you around for a bit until I got something more substantial to work with for your plans, or maybe wait until you were in a spot of trouble so I could save you and leverage that. I got a little lost, so it's a good thing your fight made so much noise… Or maybe it's a bad thing, with all the weeds you were attracting. Still, you passed the trials, did you not? It's not like I would just go back on something I put all that effort into setting up."

Garnt couldn't quite keep the disbelieving look off his face, and it seemed Nanami noticed.

"I heard some pretty interesting stuff when you two were having your little chat there. We'll be having a proper talk about what it is you intend after this, if you don't mind. Don't hide anything this time, okay? But first," she turned back to the Dragonclad, looking like she was on nothing more than a casual stroll, "I do have an interloper to take care of. Trespassing here without even completing the other trials is forbidden, you know. You went and broke my string, too."

The Dragonclad, Garnt realized, hadn't moved from his spot, still keeping his position and his guard up.

"Sorry about that," he replied, still not moving an inch. The scaleclad man seemed a little stiff to Garnt, which brought him a pinch of pointless joy, and beneath that joy, a little bit of unfamiliar warmth.

"Apologise with your life," Nanami said, still strolling softly along the water, arms swaying softly at her side.

Nanami got close, and the Dragonclad launched into a series of lightning-fast thrusts that she stepped around. He swung at her, and she reached out with a palm and gently brushed the swing to pass harmlessly over her head.

The air changed, and the Dragonclad assumed a peculiar stance, sword raised perpendicular to the ground. A familiar black flame started spreading across his blade, and he turned the stance into an overhead swing that Nanami stepped to the side of. The ground cratered and black flame erupted in a forward stream from the point of contact, but the Dragonclad was already swinging again, with a horizontal slash that Garnt was sure she was too close to dodge.

That was, until she bent forward, underneath it and into the Dragonclad's guard. She gently reached out, gently grasped his side, and gently spun around, before gently letting go, throwing the Dragonclad into the sky, above the trees and over the visible horizon.

"Honestly," she sighed, "If you're not going to show me anything new then I'm just not going to bother."

Then she turned around and approached Garnt, looking at him expectantly.

'Don't hide anything this time', huh? That would be pretty difficult. He'd been hiding as much as he could for a while now, anything to shake his hunters off his trail for a little while longer. He'd bet everything on coming here, for an advantage that would let him throw them off, start making real progress. He'd thought that chance lost, but…

Right. So that's what that warmth was. Hope was an odd feeling, and one he really wasn't used to. He had nothing else to act on at this point, and so Garnt finally chose the truth.

"What I said before wasn't a lie, but you were correct about me leaving something out. I shall tell you the long version later," Garnt began, "But the short of it is as such; I seek the Lord's Blades in order to end the stagnation of the Age of Fire and the Undead Curse that accompanies its' end. To that end, I am going to snuff the Flame out entirely, and let what comes after finally arrive. There's more to it, but those are the most immediately relevant details. Will that suffice?"

Nanami said nothing for a while, long enough for the silence to grow a little tense. Garnt was too tired to feel truly threatened at this point though. If she wanted him dead, he was in no condition to stop her. And… something told him she wouldn't.

He was proven right a moment later, when Nanami smiled and gave her verdict.

"I think you'll do just fine as a wielder… … Garnt."

Empty Sword Emblem

A hexagonal block of wood, with an intricate map carved into it. Proof of a person's completion of six trials, and of their skill in assembling puzzle pieces.

Allows one to summon Empty Sword, Nanami Yasuri in certain fights.

A/N: I've decided to try to stick to a schedule for the first time in years, so this is all for today. I have just enough of a backlog to be able to post regularly if I push a bit, and I'm hoping the pressure of announcing this publicly will keep me moving things along.

As with last time, any and all comments are welcome.

Next time: Daffodils 2•2, on the 13th of January.

Toodles~