Little Witch Academia: The Ashen Knight (LWA x Dark Souls)

The Duel

Hiding as best I could in Andrew's breast pocket, we watch from the two towers of the main building as Amanda and Louis faced each other on the bridge. The late afternoon sun glowed a deep orange hue as the two duelists held their swords at their sides. After Louis repeated the winnings of the duel for the crowd of Appleton students now present, him and Amanda walk past each other with three steps.

I could see their lips moving, but I couldn't hear what was being said. Whatever was said, Amanda looked undeterred as she smirked a cocky smile. The duel commences and immediately Louis pulls an underhanded tactic by kicking at Amanda's legs when he turns around before she could. Her reflexes were pristine, however, as she dodged it at the last second and clashed swords with him.

As the duel progressed, it was becoming adamantly clear that this Louis was going to fight dirty. Constantly pulling tricks and cheating in how he fought, I felt nothing but disdain for the boy. An utter disgrace like him shouldn't be wielding a sword. Luckily for us, Amanda saw through his play and reacted more aggressively than him.

That's when I noticed something shining at the other tower in front of me, right next to Akko who was still a mouse and suspended in the air by some rope. I had my suspicions that it was the chalice, and that it may have been reacting to the fight. But the duel came to a close when Amanda landed a decisive blow to Louis' leg, forcing him to kneel as she hovered her blade right over his head.

"Won! Fair and square!" She shouted proudly, as Akko began cheering for her in the background.

Louis only stood back up and shook in rage before hurling his sword at the chalice, shattering it to pieces to the shock of everyone present. And that's when things took a turn for the worse.

From the shattered pieces of the chalice were these odd black and red cubes that floated through the air before colliding with a suit of armor perched on one of the towers. The armor came to life, mimicking what I saw back in the Canopus Ruins. The difference however was that it then attached itself piece by piece to a panicking Louis. He screams for help until the helmet clamped around his head and silenced him.

The now possessed boy goes on a rampage as he swings his newly acquired claymore at Amanda who scrambles to avoid being cleaved in half. At the same time, he also causes destruction to both the bridge and the other tower Akko was hanging from as she scrambled to break free from her constraints.

By a stroke of luck, Louis' rampage frees Akko, and she falls to the floor safely. Amanda, on the other hand, tries to block a blow and gets launched back near Akko, her sword not broken. At this point, I had to get down there and provide aid. "Andrew, throw me now! I have to help them!"

"Are you crazy? What can you possibly do-"

"Just do it!" Despite his clear reluctance, he grabs me and hurls me towards the knight. I shout loudly for Akko and Amanda to transform me back to normal, and without hesitation, a bolt of magic hits me courtesy of Amanda's wand. Back to my proper self, I shoulder bash the possessed boy's back and garner his attention.

"If you seek another fight, then I shall gladly grant you one." I state threateningly while unsheathing my great axe, using it brace myself as he tried to cut me down with his sword. The other students' surprised gasps and chatter can be heard as I continued to block the berserker's attacks.

Given the circumstances, I couldn't just cleave him in half. All I could really do was hold his attention as Amanda and Akko figured out a way to break him free. I grunted in frustration as I was slowly being pushed close to the edge, pushing back and staring at the suit of armor's glowing red eyes.

Just then, a flash of green light appeared behind him, and Amanda leapt into the air with a new broadsword of her own. With one powerful whack, she shatters the helmet to pieces and frees Louis. Those cubes reappeared from the shattered remains and quickly floated into the sky before I could have a chance to catch one.