His sword feels heavy, as he lays on the ground covered in wooden debris, mud and some blood the only thing Arthur can focus on is the weight of his sword. He has swung it day and night all his teen years at the training yard..... maybe a little less once he joined the city guards but even after the most grueling training day in and out he never thought he couldn''t even lift up his sword.


    "Kill Them All! Every last men, women and child who holds a weapon with the intent to use it kill them!" He heard a screaming voice from across the street. Even in this situation Arthur almost felt like laughing as most of the current city defenses are made up of old men, women and even some young boys given spears and bows as the soldiers had left with their city lord to answer the call of Lord regent''s "call to arms".


    Arthur turned and tried to crawl his way out of the debris successfully but what he saw didn''t help his moral. There was a giant flaming boulder sitting inside a crumbling house, while his fellow guards were still fighting the enemy soldiers outnumbers them 3 to 1 as the rest of their forces were scared villagers dying standing scared frozen or trying to help here and there.


    Crawling near a wall, Arthur sat up leaning onto it looking at the battle in front of him. For some reason he didn''t feel the urgency to rejoin the fight or even run away. At age 21 all he knew was the confines of this city and its nearby areas but seeing it burn down didn''t resonate any emotions inside him. He was a orphan taken into the guard''s training and had spend last 5 years of his life being the bully for the nobles and the rich of the city. Any grand dreams about becoming a great renowned fighter or champion and long perished and what remained was nothing but a lot of pent up bitterness.


    As he was willing to accept his fate and simply await his death he felt sudden warmth. Even before he opened his eyes to see where it came from he could hear the cries of the enemy as they burned and screamed and those still standing started to take few steps back.


    There stood a women in blue scholars Robes with a witch''s hat and a wooden staff. Her long black hair waving as she raised her hand and another small ball of fire formed and flew straight from the tip of her staff and straight at a enemy soldier''s face.


    "FIREBOLT!" She shouted sending one after another little balls of flames at the enemy. Seeing the opportunity the city guards saw the opportunity to benefit from the sudden chaos in enemy ranks and to gather in small packs and flank the enemy 2 to 1 to take them down faster.


    Amelia, that was the name Arthur had heard others discuss when they said a young witch had come to the city and joined the adventures guild. If what he heard was true she is a Witch who can cast tier 4 magic, not even the city guard''s only wizard can cast a spell that strong. He thinks he had even seen her passing by the city for some time now but he was not sure.


    "Maybe we got....." before the words could even come out of Arthur''s mouth he heard a roaring war cry from across the street and saw another Orc barbarian charging straight towards the ongoing battle. Arthur had already put in all the fight he had left to take down a single orc which nearly killed him and his allies and it seems they have more than one.


    The Orc recklessly swung his axe cutting through the guards as if they were made out of paper running straight to where Amelia was standing. Arthur had a uncanny talent for reading how a battle will go. Always knew which fights can be won and which fights are a lost cause. He knew what this Orc''s addition to this current battle meant.


    Amelia raised her hands and started chanting some words and pointing at the orc but nothing happened while the other guards tried to get in the orcs path but that only gave an opportunity to the remaining enemy soldiers who cut them down as they tried to run away from their fights to help the Witch. It was mere seconds but Arthur knew exactly what was going to happen, The witch was about to die. Another death which could had been avoided, nothing Arthur has not seen before or at least today. She should had left the city with the other adventures when they were given the chance by the enemy captain.


    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    "Did you love mother, father?"


    For some reason Arthur felt a surge of energy, his sword didn''t feel as heavy as it did before. Using this second wind he dashed straight next to the witch and intercepted the incoming Orc''s swing making him miss her by few inches.


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Never before in his life Arthur has ever screamed like a feral mad man as he swings his blade right now but never before he felt what he was feeling right now. He struck the orc with all of his might putting his all into it, and then as if digging in further than that he struck him again with same vigor and force surprising himself and those who saw the blood struck sword cut through the orc''s chest and wonder at Arthur''s sudden surge of inhuman strength.


    Exhausted Arthur couldn''t believe it himself what he just did, but even more important than that his mind couldn''t think of anything else but to check if the witch was hurt. come to think of it he hasn''t even seen her face or if he had he couldn''t imagine what it was like in his head.


    "Finally a human with some fight in it!" the words as Arthur heard them filled him with dread as it was the Orc who spoke raising his axe still looking injured but still ready to fight.


    As the axe came swinging down directly for Arthur''s head he heard Amelia whisper something which felt.......wrong.


    "??????? ?????" As soon as Amelia whispered those words the orc axe missed Arthur by a wide margin as he looked confused and dazed while Arthur felt a sudden pull on his arm as if he cannot miss his next attack.


    Once again He swings his sword drawing the Orc''s blood who shouts some words at Amelia which Arthur dose not understand except for the words "Witchcraft" and "Coward".


    "Carry on this hatred into your next life and rue your action today Orc" Amelia said in harsh tone as she raised her staff and chanted some words and lightning shot straight from her staff piercing through the Orc''s chest where his heart would been and the building behind him.


    The enemy soldiers started to run shouting for reinforcements, the guards and villagers began trying to pick up the injured and check up on the wounded and Arthur stood still as he finally looked at the Witch''s face.


    A sudden realization hit him now that the battle was over as his adrenaline started to come down.


    "Did you put me under a Charm?" Arthur said looking at Amelia who had the look of annoyance but tried to avoid eye contact.


    "Wait were the other guards charmed too and the reason why they tried protecting her throwing away their lives?" as these thoughts ran inside Arthur''s mind he heard the city bells ringing.


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    Authors note: Am writing on this site or in general after a very long time so do apologize for the rusty work but hope could at least grab some of the readers attention.


    Arthur in dnd terms would be a lvl 2 fighter who had action surge and second wind.


    Amelia a bare minimum of lvl 5 wizard (more on that in future) and the spells she casted in this chapter were fire bolt(cantrip), Charm person upcasted to target multiple people, and Slivery barbs as a reaction