Play dumb and try not to die

The white knight’s declaration sends a chill down your spine. You recall the dreams of the void. The light that carried a voice, calling out to you. You recall the angel who prophesied your demise. She promised that her ‘sister’s forces’ would come to kill you; true to her word, here now is a mighty paladin aiming to claim your head.

My time’s up, you think. The cavalry has arrived.

You’re not the only one who’s shaken by the holy warrior’s entrance. The instant she turned around and saw the walking suit of armor, Lia’s legs gave out and you had to catch her around the waist. It takes her a few moments to steady herself, and in that time you decide that this situation is entirely too chaotic for your liking. Time to play dumb and get some answers.

“Hello, Miss… Emilia, was it?” you say, putting on your best confused tourist impression. “Thank goodness you showed up! My name is John Doe, and this is my wife, Jane.” Lia, still wrapped in your arms, tenses up and goes red in the face. “I heard you call out to a Demon Lord just now. Are we safe here? What was that explosion earlier?”

The paladin, now a mere twenty paces away, comes to a halt and responds to your farce. “Your lies do not fool me, Demon Lord Evan Reynolds. Your face is known all over the empire. Since your last sighting in Evris, nearly a month ago, adventurers and holy servants alike have been hunting you.” Lia twitches at the mention of Evris, and you feel her tail wrap itself around your leg. “Yet, this entire time, you were hiding right under their noses. In a hole in the woods.” Emilia Diana levels one of her twin blades in your direction. “I destroyed the seal to this place and found you inside, all according to my lady’s instructions. Now, in accordance with Her will, and the will of the Goddess, prepare to die!” The sword pointed at you swings down to the armored woman’s side, and she bursts into a sprint in your direction.

“Roar, searing blaze! Ignition!” You lob a fireball Emilia’s way. Any normal person would be burned to a crisp by the spell, but the paladin easily disperses the flames with a swipe of her swords. She doesn’t even break her stride.

“Evan,” says Lia. “Run!” Immediately after the word leaves her mouth, Lia breaks out of your arms, turns on her heel, and sprints down the sand bar away from the approaching foe. Not seeing a better option, sans {if@ sword = true}sword{elseif mace = true}mace{elseif spear = true}spear{endif} as you are, you follow suit.

We can probably outrun her in that heavy armor, you think. Hoping to slow down your pursuer a little more, you occasionally lob fireballs in her direction. The fireballs don’t do much, but you do seem to be faster than her. It won’t save us forever, but if we can just buy enough time to find Blythe, then it’ll be three on one. Blythe might still have her rapier, too…

Your thoughts are interrupted by another sudden onset of weightlessness. This time, as you’re currently mid-sprint, the sensation causes you to stumble and fall. You get up as quickly as you can, but a backward glance shows that the paladin has gained ground on you. On top of that, more strange glitches have appeared in the surroundings: conspicuously polygonal sections of the sky are now random shades of blue; the loose, dry sand beneath your feet is now crunchy, like compacted snow; the wind has picked up considerably, and you feel bizarrely lighter. You continue to run after Lia, despite the worrying changes to the landscape.

That is, until the cat-eared woman slams head-on into an invisible wall. “Shit!” says Lia, after bouncing off of the barrier and landing flat on her ass. She slaps the crunchy sand to emphasize her frustration. At a glance, she doesn’t seem too hurt by the collision, so you offer her a hand up. Once she’s back on her feet, Lia presses against the invisible obstruction with the palm of her hand. You do the same, and sure enough, there’s something stopping you from going any further down the beach.

“Can’t go this way anymore,” you say to the catkin before turning to face the looming threat. Now that you’ve stopped running, the white-armored warrior is closing in fast. With Lia at your side, you both brace to meet the oncoming charge.

When the paladin arrives, she puts the momentum of her sprint into a diagonal slash. You jump backwards before her blade can make any purchase, but she’s not done yet. Her charge attack continues with a horizontal strike that tears straight across your chest, followed by an upward slash that you dodge by falling to the ground. Lia then zips around behind the warrior and kicks the back of her knee before leaping outside the range of a counterattack. Even so, Emilia spins around to retaliate, giving you the opportunity to blast her from behind with a fireball. The spell looks like it’s going to hit this time, but the paladin swings one of her swords blindly behind herself at the last possible moment and disperses the flames.

“Do not interfere with the will of the Divine, catkin.” The words of the paladin travel quickly to your ears, despite the full helmet and high winds that should be muffling them. “My mission is to slay the Demon Lord, not you.”

“I won’t let you kill him!” Lia yells, running into the warrior’s range and then rolling under the oncoming attack. Ending up between you and the paladin, Lia starts fighting the holy knight on her own. Meanwhile, you use a healing spell to calm the searing pain in your chest. You have to cast it twice before you can think of anything else, and three times before you can get up to continue fighting. You’re getting close to your mana limit, but there’s no time to worry about that now. By the time you’re back on your feet, Lia has also taken a couple of hits. She’s got cuts on one of her arms and across her back. Despite that, she’s still doing everything she can to keep the paladin away from you. Lia dodges one attack, then another, but can’t outrun a third; she takes a heavy pommel strike to the shoulder and collapses. As she tries to get up, the white knight places the tip of her blade an inch from Lia’s throat.

“Surrender and repent, and your soul may yet be saved,” says the holy knight. Both you and Lia freeze. The catkin looks to you for answers, but there’s nothing you can do. You only have the mana for one or two more fireballs before you would pass out. If you charge at the armored woman, she would kill Lia and then you’d be next.

You shake your head, and Lia’s eyes return to the sword aimed at her throat. A few seconds tick by, then Lia exhales and lays herself flat on the sand. “…I surrender,” she says. “May the… May the Goddess forgive me…”

“I do pity you, catkin. You’ve been blinded by the glamor of a demon.” For a moment you feel relieved, thinking that the paladin will actually spare her and come for you. Then the sword aimed at her throat flicks up the left side of Lia’s face, and you hear a scream. Your companion leaps away from the knight and curls up into a ball on the sand. “Worry not,” says the holy woman as she moves to follow after Lia. “Once this is over, you’ll be freed from its influence.”