11—Dead again

He followed the knight's order and drew the sword only for the knight to swiftly draw an arc in the air straight through him.

Entering through him he was split from his lower half, shoulder to waist.

Grimacing in preparation for the pain that eventually came but opposite to his expectation the pain that should have left him howling in horror was similar to a small prickling sensation.

Attributing this to his sense of pain being dulled in the dream world Merel's vision was soon engulfed in pitch black darkness.

This only lasted for a few seconds before light once again came into being, when he looked around he found himself back to square one with the knight at a close distance running towards him.

Drawing his sword first this time he steeled his psyche to defend himself, that pain wasn't anything to write home about but he'd rather not experience it again.

Merel thought of preparing for a counterattack of the downward slash the knight had done last time but banished the thought seeing as he had not a clue of how he would perform such a maneuver.

Deciding to see if he could stop the attack instead Merel slightly bent his knees to better absorb the impact and made to block the attack, sword raised diagonally.

Just like last time the knight repeated the downward slash straight into Merel's sword.

Suprisingly the attack felt light and was blocked easily had his strength been changed?

Merel expected a crushing blow or follow up attack but the knight made no such move.

Instead it moved back away some paces and came to a stop before once again raising its sword and moving to attack.

Readying to block the attack once more Merel raised his sword for the coming downward slash but contrary to his expectations the knight thrusted his sword straight through his unguarded chest.

Blacking out once again with the unpleasant pain returning.

Finding himself in the same position once more with the knight moving toward him.

Thinking back to his first time he died and how the knight repeated it's strikes, he readied himself for the thrust that was sure to come and it came.

Knowing he couldn't easily block the strike he instead opted to dodge to the right, the incoming sword flying past and piercing nothing but air.

The knight after finishing its move retreated to a starting position once more.

Merel then came to a realisation.

'It's teaching... me?'

Before be could contemplate more the knight leaped forward and performed a new attack killing Merel once more.

This continued for an indeterminate amount of time and when the knight finally showed off its entire set of moves it began to attack in random combinations of thrusts and slashes killing Merel countless times only blocking sometimes until what seemed like the thousandth death he finally showed showed signs of blocking consistently.

Merel had began to concentrate on the movement of the armour to predict the attack and then blocking accordingly.

Having finally gotten some headway he grew excited as he blocked every hit consecutively but it was cut short as the knight increased the speed of its strikes killing him for the nth time.

Merel eventually grew accustomed to the lightning fast blows after dying twice the amount of the last time.

After blocking every blow the knight retreated before saying in its monotonous voice...

"Now attack me."

Shock covered Merel's face as the normal he had grown accustomed to was turned on its head but he then smiled at his chance to repay all the pain he had endured up until this point.

Running forward and bringing his sword down diagonally only to be deflected away by the knight's sword which quickly counterattacked splitting him in twain.

Merel now knew it wouldn't be a one sided beat down as he expected so he tried all manner of moves the knight had exhibited prior having his strikes blocked, parried or dodged each time.

Merel had an idea and attacked once more but this time pulling his blow causing the knight to block a sword from above that wouldn't come and proceeded to thrust the sword into the knight.

Or at least he tried to but the knight's armour bounced away his sword.

The knight wasted no time and attacked, killing Merel again.

Seeing his attack finally land Merel determined not to give up tried again this time aiming for the gaps in the armour but the knight didn't fall for the same trick twice punishing Merel with a swift death.

Merel decided to vary his attacks to catch an opening once more.

Getting into a low stance Merel leaped forward to strike from below the knight preparing to block he raised himself up and brought his sword up into a thrust toward the slits in his helmet visor.

Peircing straight through the helmet Merel felt no resistance of flesh instead his sword hit the back of the helmet a loud clang ringing out.

Despite this the knight stopped in its tracks and began to fade into mist.

Passing his sword through the mist Merel felt a rush of exhilaration at finally defeating the knight.

Merel sheathed his sword and sat down, he wasn't tired as he observed he had infinite stamina in this place but it didn't feel right to stand for that long and so he laid down.

Thinking that the whole ordeal was over he waited patiently to wake up back in the familiar wood cabin.

*clank*

*clank*

*clank*

Hearing an all too familiar sound Merel got up from his laid back posture and looked in the direction of the sound spotting a black figure walking at a steady pace towards him.

On closer examination it was another knight but unlike the previous one it looked like some sort of captain level soldier decoration covering its armour.

The figure came to a stop infront of Merel and said in a voice with an arrogant tinge...

"Draw your sword. Quickly now, I don't have all day."

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A/N: 1011 word chapter... just experimenting.