Sean gawked at Mark but kept an eye on his slowly recovering stamina. He wanted to help but couldn't just yet. Like Honor, Sir Duncan looked like he was made entirely of solid blue crystal. Even his armor took on the appearance making it almost impossible to tell his skin from his armor. Every opening or seam that the armor had was highlighted in a glowing white light like the glowing veins that Honor had. Sean used his down time to watch the knight's actions closely. Every boss had patterns or openings that were meant to give players a chance to get a combo off. He just had to find his. The knight adjusted his large crystal shield to hide behind it as Mark's blows wildly wailed into him. Every blow dented the shield and then ghosted through it to hit the knight's face and shoulders, chipping his health away. Every blow forcing the knight to back up in an attempt to keep his life from falling so quickly. Mark's tattoos faded back to their normal color as his blood rage ended, causing Mark's stamina to fall to half in recoil from using it.

Mark gasped as he felt his stamina deplete rapidly, his body weakening enough that he had to put his arms down like his great sword weighed too much to hold up anymore. Sean eyes widened as he saw the knight take notice too. Lifting his chin, the knight changed his fighting stance and moved his shield away to kick Mark square in the chest. Mark took the powerful hit and fell back across the ground, his sword skittering across the floor away from him. Sean used his stamina to get up to his knees, calling out to Mark desperately. It made Sean a bit jealous that Mark had taken a hit but could recover faster than himself. Sitting up, Mark checked his stamina bar and smirked. The blow had depleted his stamina bar and took a chuck off his health, but his stamina was recovering fast due to him being in combat. The knight lowered his shield and spun his crystalized short sword to loosen up his wrist as he approached Mark. Mark stayed propped back on his elbows, his eyes locked on the knight.

Getting in range, the knight lifted his sword and charged up for a lunge with his shield held up to protect his front. His sword glowed white, then he lunged forward with his sword striking out toward Mark's chest. Sean finally rose to his feet in a panic, watching helplessly. That's when Mark surprised him. Rolling over onto all fours, he avoided the sword and caused it to stab into the crystal floor. Then rising to his knees, Mark punched the knight in the face so hard that it sent the knight into the far wall. The knight slammed into the wall, creating a crystalized spiderweb crater in the wall. Sean jerked from the wind that rushed over him as the knight flew by him. While Mark rose to his feet and excitedly stated aloud. "Damn! Did you see that shit?!" Releasing the breath that he had been holding; Sean shot a light glare at Mark before turning his attention to the sound of the knight getting up. Raising his bow, he shouted out to Mark seriously. "Here he comes!" Mark flexed his fingers, stomping toward the knight as he told Sean sternly. "Stay back. I've got him."

Sean scowled at Mark but obeyed. Backing up quickly, he didn't have the health to take another hit from the knight. To his surprise though, Mark's health was slowly recovering the longer he was engaged in combat. Proving how strong of a tank the Aesir race was. The knight swung at Mark with his sword, but Mark caught his wrist and kicked the knight back into the wall. The knight grunted, then used his shield to bash against Mark's face to stun him long enough to recover off the wall. Slamming his shield into Mark to stagger him away from him, the knight adjusted his position quickly and raised his sword for another attack. Mark fearlessly started to move toward him, when the knight suddenly went into a roll and jumped back to put more distance between himself and Mark. Mark grunted, but Sean called out to him loudly. "Mark! He's going to use his special! CLOSE THE DISTANSE!" By the time Mark heard him, he had already gone to retrieve his sword instead. Allowing the knight to raise his sword high.

Mark cursed and they watched the knight's sword crack into smaller shards before showering over them like shimmering shooting stars. Thinking quickly, Sean dashed over to Mark and raised his bow high above them and called out the spell written on one side of it. From the bow a magical dome formed over them and took the barrage of falling golden shards. Sean's hand shook as he felt every hit against the magical dome. Mark raised an eyebrow, calling out over the noise. "What is that?" After the falling shards stopped, Sean lowered his bow answering a little shaken. "It's my shield. Keep on him!" Mark raised his sword, huffing out confidently. "Relax. I got this. He's not so tough. Oh..." Mark's face fell, and Sean turned to see what else the shards had done. It hadn't just been an attack against them. It also allowed him to revive a fallen ally. Honor was sparkling with golden shard dust and getting to his feet. Shaking his solid crystalized body of the golden dust, he turned to face them before growling loudly at them.

Sighing, Sean mumbled out reluctantly. "A divine knight spell... Shite!" Mark blinked asking bluntly. "A what?" Sean quickly raised his bow and fired an arrow at Honor. Honor dashed away with inhuman speed, baring his diamond teeth at Sean as his crystalized diamond hackles rose. Taking a deep breath, Sean yelled out angrily at Mark over his shoulder. "I told you to play the damn tutorial, Mark! FUCK! He can heal and revive his team!" Mark groaned loudly, moving to face the knight as he snapped back. "Don't be a bitch and keep the dog off me! I'll deal with his master!" Lifting his sword, Mark charged the knight, the blades clanging as they tried to overpower the other. Sean glanced at Mark, stammering out nervously. "Mark?! I can't... SHITE!" Honor dashed off toward Mark, forcing Sean to take action. Sean's wings sprang up and he jumped to fly out to intercept Honor. Quickly grabbing the thin center of his bow to disconnect the ribbed bone pieces. The bow easily detached and holding the now bone handles, he jerked them into place, allowing the curved edges of his bow to reveal themselves as long curled arm blades with a thick razors edge.

He had been terrible at using these in the tutorial, but he was left with no other option. His had to match Honor's speed in order to keep him away from Mark and that meant getting close. Honor dived to run under Sean, and it was a mistake. Twisting his body in the air, Sean slashed Honor's back with his arm blades managing to get three good cuts before he landed behind Honor. Honor yelped, skidding to a stop to turn to face Sean with sharp bared diamond teeth. Raising his arms like a boxer, Sean gripped the handles in a tighter grip and told Honor with more confidence than he felt. "Sorry, Pup. But I can't let you do that." Honor snorted, then bolted straight for him. Sean waited for him to get close, then let his wings shoot out as he jumped straight up. Honor skidded into a sit, his jaws snapping up at him as he leapt up at him. Flipping in the air to avoid his jaws, Sean brought his arms together and sliced his blades down the dog's back along the hit marker for a critical hit. Honor howled in pain, landing and jumping sideways to put space between them.

Sean glanced at his health bar nervously. His health wasn't recovering, but he smirked a little. His stamina was used less when he used his wings. Honor's legs broke out in sharp crystals seconds before he dashed to the wall and sprang off to attack Sean. Sean gasped, using the speed of his wings to dodge. Honor landed, whipping his head around, his hackles glowing a bright white to unleash a light bark that sent crystal diamond shards out at him. Sean flew along the wall, avoiding the cone of shards that followed him. The beam wasn't nearly as strong as the one he'd charged up for when he'd attacked Mark, but Sean couldn't afford to have it chip away his life. When the beam stopped, Sean hovered high up in the air and watched Honor turn to run toward the wall. Running up the wall on the other side, Honor used his speed to run high up the wall in order to reach him. Anticipating that Sean was going to fly out to the middle, Honor leapt off the wall to incept him. Slamming into him, Sean screamed as they spun wildly toward the ground.

Sean's wings fluttered wildly to slow his fall. It had worked. Hitting the floor only chipped his red life a little and Honor tumbled away from him panting heavily. Laying on the ground, they stared at each other for a long moment. Sean couldn't believe this thing was an NPC. It acted so real that it pulled at his heart strings to think about trying to kill it. Both him and Mark hated killing dogs in games. Sean slowly rose on all fours, his heart sinking as he watched Honor's health bar drain the last bits of life. The fall had taken its toll on Honor's already low life. Unable to stop himself, he reached out to pet Honor. Watching his panting slow and his eyes close with a soft whine. A tear ran down Sean's cheek as he once again watched Honor's body return to its normal fluffy state. He hated how this felt. It just wasn't right. Why fight for him like this? Unless...? Sean glanced back at Mark who was still locked in an intense sword fight with the knight. He had to work fast before the knight revived Honor or Mark killed the knight.

Bringing up his spell menu, he looked for a spell that was supposed to be used on the cursed or the undead. Soul Release. Putting his hands on Honor's body, he read the words for the spell as they appeared over Honor's body in shimmering gold. Behind him, Mark yelled out gruffly. "What are you doing?! Sean?!" Ignoring him, Sean focused on the spell and waited for the jingle that confirmed it worked. As an Elf, his kind was about restoring balance and removing unnatural magic from the realms. The spell was the strongest one he had, and it drained all his magic from all his store slots and his magic bar to use it... but it worked. Honor's body began to swirl with a soft green light that held the warmth of life and nature within it. As the light washed over Honor's body, a cold mist puffed out of Honor and vanished. For a split second, Honor's body inhaled and exhaled a soft cheery whine. Lowering his hands, Sean swallowed hard as he looked up and saw the ghostly form of Honor standing behind his body.

Honor barked at him happily, his long tail wagging excitedly. Sean smiled with teary eyes. Honor sat down, lifting his muzzle proudly like he had in the portrait back in the tavern and Sean inhaled sharply. He hadn't noticed until now, but Honor's collar was missing. Whirling around, he called out in shock. "Mark! The Knight has the key! He's got Honor's collar!" The knight bashed Mark off his feet with his shield, raising his sword to impale Mark. Mark's health was down to half and his stamina had dropped too low to move. Sean scrambled to his feet, collecting his arm blades. He flew quickly to try and block the blade... but ghostly Honor was faster! Blurring past him, Honor's ghost leapt to bite the knight's sword arm, tugging him off balance and away from Mark. The knight swung his blade at Honor, but his sword kept harmlessly slicing through him. Honor tugged on the knight just long enough that Mark recovered. Sean reattached his bow and began firing golden arrows at the knight to help Mark out. Even Honor helped every few minutes to latch onto the knight and held him in place long enough for them to go all out on him for a few seconds.

Just as the knight's health bar finally depleted to a single sliver, the knight fell to his knees. Allowing Honor's ghost to approach him at eye level with soft loving whines. The knight tilted his head at the animal, before his muffled distorted voice asked weakly. "Honor? Are you free?" Honor barked and excitedly leapt around the knight. Exhaling, the knight inhaled and shakingly uttered out. "Then my fight is over... Time to go home." Raising a hand, the knight uttered a spell and Mark's sword began to glow with a burning pure white light. Mark looked at his sword uneasily, until the knight told him heatedly. "End my curse. Send me home." Mark hesitated, mumbling out. "Are you sure about this?" The knight nodded, struggling to strain out. "Yes. I died years ago... I stayed for Honor. I couldn't leave him here to suffer alone. Hurry before the Platinum Knight heals me to fight you again..." Mark nodded, then plunged his sword into the chest of the knight. The divine light burning the impurity of the curse away.

Once the last sliver was gone, the knight's body returned to normal, and he fell back across the ground. They waited for the message to tell them it was over. Only to see the knight's soul rise from his body. Honor barked and the knight embraced him, until a powerful light appeared out of nowhere. They all watched as someone descended from the light with massive feathery white wings and armor made of sparkling gold. She looked like a fierce angel with beauty beyond compare. Folding her wings, she approached the souls of Honor and Sir Duncan, before telling them in a serene voice. "Valhalla has been waiting for you. I'm here to take you both home." She extended a hand out to Sir Duncan, but he hesitated to take it. Turning to face them, he said blissfully. "Thank you. The key is in Honor's locket. I wish you luck in vanishing the Platinum Knight." Turning back to the Valkyrie, Sir Duncan wrapped an arm around an excited Honor and accepted her hand. The three of them vanishing as the light faded.

Once they were gone, the screen popped up to tell them they had broken the curse on Sir Duncan and Honor. They were rewarded with money and lots of points that they could use to power up their character skills more. They even went up two levels. Sean sniffled, mumbling out to Mark. "Fuck... I wasn't expecting the first mini boss to be so..." Mark rubbed Sean's back to comfort him. Hiding his own sniffle, Mark kneeled to find Honor's collar. Finding the collar cleverly wrapped around the handle of Sir Duncan's sword, Mark opened the Thor's hammer locket and removed a key made of pure clear crystal. Showing Sean the key, he asked him in a fragile voice. "Wanna go back to the inn and take a breather to get our health back?" Sean nodded meekly as he wiped the tears from his eyes, watching the bodies vanish. As they slowly made their way back out, Mark asked Sean curiously. "How did you know to do that to Honor's body?" Sean shrugged, honestly telling him. "I guessed. They had me use the spell in the tutorial. I hated the thought of the knight resummoning Honor's body for us to kill again... So, I thought. Why not try and release him?"

Noticing Mark's distant and intense expression, Sean added uneasily. "What is it?" Mark locked eyes with him then, telling him a bit anxiously. "I'm worried... What would happen to the people that didn't know that spell? That weren't Elves... Sean... We might have to rethink how we approach the bosses of this game. I can't help thinking that with a feature like that... That it's designed to punish us..." To Be Continued...