Calm and Calamity

Chapter 56

Day: 667

Days Left: 4813

Lives Saved: 3

The hooves of the headless horseman's steed stomped the ground, kicking up sand as it prepared to charge once again at the golden knight. Dex stared warily at his opponent through the slits in his helmet, studying her. It seemed that the golden knight was waiting for him to make the first move, patiently standing there and holding her spear ready.

Fine, thought Dex. I'll move first.

Flicking the reins, the headless horseman galloped forwards. Learning from before, Dex made sure not to go at full speed, and instead at a pace which he can quickly stop or turn if needed. Dex watched the golden knight intently and readied his lance to strike upwards when she jumped over him like last time. Underneath his helmet, a grin spread across the severed head's face.

You're not going to pull the same trick on me twice!

Nearing his opponent, Dex lunged forwards with his lance upwards, predicting the golden knight's movements, but he struck the air again. Instead, the golden knight had stepped to the side, narrowly avoiding the stampeding horse, risking being trampled to trick Dex. Sweeping her spear in a long horizontal arch, the golden knight's spear slashed at the horse before retreating a few steps.

An agonising scream came out of the headless horseman's, and the horse reeled backwards from the pain.

The golden knight cocked her head to the side in surprise, then in interest.

"Shit," Dex cursed under his breath as the golden knight had now figured out that the horse was a part of him, that he not only controlled it but actually, his mask form was both the headless knight and the steed combined.

In anger and frustration that one of his weaknesses had been exploited, Dex swung his lance and attempted to retaliate. However, the long and heavy weapon was too slow, and the golden knight easily dodged out of the way.

Dex's confidence and arrogance from before were now shaken and crumbled to almost nothing. He continued his assault on the golden knight. However, he could never land a single hit. The golden knight kept to his left side where he held onto his severed head inside his helmet, the opposite side to his lance wielding-hand. Dex awkwardly tried to lunge with the lance on his left side, but his movements were even slower, and turning around was even more awkward and slow. Unfortunately, he couldn't even switch his weapon to his other hand as the lance was fused to his metal gauntlet. He had to stop her from staying at his left side in case she discovered his other weakness.

Whenever the headless horseman thought he had predicted the golden knights' fighting pattern, she would purposefully switch it up and kept on deftly dodging and blocking Dex's attacks. If Dex ever got close and almost managed to land a hit on her, the golden knight would slash at the horse and cause it to reel and recoil in pain, disrupting Dex's attack.

Dex wondered why the golden knight didn't just end up prioritising hurting the horse enough to render him useless and defeated; all she had to do was slice at the steed's ankles. That was when he realised that she was toying with him as if she was challenging herself to how long she would last without being hit. The headless horseman felt as if he was like a bull in an arena chasing the matador foolishly and relentlessly just for entertainment. He was beginning to feel the ache and pain in the horse's ankles from the constant and continuous sudden turns as if they could almost snap at any moment. But Dex bore through the pain, knowing that he had to keep the golden knight occupied; otherwise, she might target Kai, Sumit, and Rin. Though he knew that all he was supposed to do was to play it safe as Sumit had suggested, Dex now desperately wanted to land at least one hit, to maybe even perhaps weaken the golden knight for when reinforcements finally arrived.