The world around Olberic slowed to something close to a stop. The archers at the top of the platform had nocked a fresh set of arrows and were preparing to let them loose. Cyrus, Tressa, and Primrose were straining against the weight of keeping the barrier intact. Alfyn and Ophilia were bustling around trying to heal whoever they could out of the victims of the arrows. H'aanit and Therion were fighting to find a strategy that would defeat the archers in the face of their height disadvantage and failing numbers. For a moment, the battle seemed as if it was lost. 

And when Olberic blinked, he saw Hornburg. On the day of his home's fall, Olberic had been given no choice but to sit back and watch as the people he cared about most were torn apart. Erhardt had murdered the king just a few too many paces away, and Olberic had no chance of making it in time. In the aftermath of Hornburg's fall, the people of his city had been forced to scatter assuming they hadn't outright died in the invasion. Hornburg had been a proud, powerful place, but even all the pride in the world couldn't save them when they were backed against the wall by Werner's forces. 

Olberic had run from the destruction in Hornburg, and he hated himself for doing it. Realistically, Olberic knew that he wouldn't have been able to stop the fallout with his army destroyed and his ruler dead in the dirt. He couldn't undo the damage of the invaders, and even if he tried, he would have lost his life and the only hope Hornburg ever had in the process. Olberic still wished he could have stayed and done at least something to help those who needed him most. How many people had hoped he would be there to pull them from the chaos only to give up in the end when Werner's men arrived to put their homes to the torch? How many hearts had pinned their belief in the future on Olberic only to fall to pieces in the end?

Olberic couldn't let Werner defeat him this time... But how was he supposed to win the battle when Werner had already taken the upper hand? No one could survive an onslaught of arrows like that, and Cyrus' shield wouldn't last for too much longer even with Tressa and Primrose there to reinforce it. They needed a plan, and they needed it now. They couldn't let Werner win again, but what were they supposed to do when the danger before them seemed impossible to overcome?

Cyrus let out a pained cry as another barrage of arrows lodged against the barrier, and a few particularly strong arrows managed to break through the weaknesses in the shield. Harald barely had the chance to gasp before an arrow embedded itself in his shoulder. The force sent him staggering to the ground, and H'aanit swore under her breath before crouching to tend to his wound with what little apothecary experience she had gleaned from Alfyn. Olberic couldn't even bring himself to glance over his shoulder at Harald. He knew the sight would have ruined him, and he was on the verge of crumbling even without that little push toward destruction. 

Werner held up a hand to stop the archers, and Tressa quickly mended the damage in the shield. Werner didn't seem to care much for her though, instead glaring through the icy barrier at Olberic. "Ah, the Unbending Blade in the flesh!" Werner greeted with a chilling smile, and Olberic's blood ran cold, but it had nothing to do with the ice around him. Olberic had never met Werner before that moment, but Werner knew exactly who he was even without that. Werner had done his research before the fall of Hornburg, and Olberic wondered distantly if Erhardt was the one to tell him. Olberic didn't have the time to entertain the thought though, and Werner's lips twisted up into a grin that sickened Olberic even more. "The Unbending Blade of... Where was it again? Your sovereignty escapes me."

"Silence, you cur!" Olberic snapped back, and he was certain Werner could hear him even through the wall of ice between them. "I have sworn an oath to defend these people from your treachery!" He couldn't let the silence fall around him for longer than a breath. If it did, Olberic knew something inside of him would have snapped. He was right back where he had been on the day of Hornburg's fall. Even after all the work he had put in to try and save as many people as possible, Olberic had failed. He and the travelers had saved countless people, but it wasn't going to amount to much as long as Werner had something to say about it. 

"Aye, he has the right of it! We'll protect them together!"

A burst of red, black, and yellow appeared through the ice, and Olberic's eyes widened. He could do little but watch as a sword of unparalleled speed cut through three of Werner's soldiers in one quick slash. A moment later, the blade flashed through the air in another direction, sending more of Werner's men crashing to the ground in pools of their own blood. Screams of pain and gasps of shock echoed into the air, breaking through the barrier of ice in a way that only human emotion truly could. 

"Erhardt?!" Olberic yelled. The Blazing Blade hadn't given Olberic the chance to see him in full, but Olberic would recognize that collection of colors anywhere. He had come to see it as comfort, security, and love during his days in Hornburg, and that instinct would not be stifled even after all these years. "What are you doing here?!"

Erhardt barely spared Olberic a glance as he rushed toward the next wave of soldiers running at him. The archers on the top platform were too stunned to say or do much of anything in response, and Erhardt took advantage of that. In a handful of quick motions, half the soldiers on the ground level of the tunnel had been taken care of, and Erhardt punctuated the first phase of the battle by prying his blade free of a man's chest after he stabbed through it. "Wellspring was out of danger," Erhardt ventured to say over his shoulder. "Found myself at a loose end. So here I am." Behind Olberic, the shield of ice began to dip as Cyrus' energy finally caved in beneath him. The break in the wave of arrows gave Cyrus the chance he needed to recuperate, and more importantly, it prepared the rest of the group to attack Werner when the chaos pushed apart enough for them to win the fight. 

Erhardt ignored the dissipation of the ice barrier, and he glared up at Werner as his grip on his blade tightened. "Been a while, Werner... Or is it Your Lordship?" Erhardt snorted, his voice just barely edging out of the territory of open mocking. "You've moved up in the world since we last met."

Werner only let his shock control him for a moment before he scoffed and shook his head. "Now here's a pair I never thought I'd see reunited," he remarked a bit too casually for the circumstances. Around him, the archers seemed ready to fire again, especially now that Cyrus had dropped the ice shield, but Werner held up a hand to stop them. He wasn't going to see Olberic and Erhardt killed until he had indulged in a rare bit of fascination and intrigue for Riverford. How could Werner eliminate the greatest source of entertainment to come his way in years? 

Erhardt shrugged jerkily. "A few moons ago, I'd have been as surprised as you are, Werner." He tightened his grip on his blade, creating a terrifying smile of steel in the torchlight. "But here we are nonetheless. Two swords, standing as one, Blazing and Unbending. For friendship, for love... And for those we would protect. The twin blades of Hornburg will fight once more!" Erhardt cast Olberic an unreadable glance out of the corner of his eye. "Right, Olberic? You with me?"

Olberic nodded, and he felt the travelers rush in to stand around him. The other rebels did the same, moving to defend those who were in no condition to fight. "Shoulder to shoulder, old friend!" Olberic cried out. "That is why I wield this blade! Have at you!" 

Olberic and Erhardt rushed forward as one, and just as they had back in Wellspring, they fell into a comfortable rhythm they could never forget. It didn't matter that they had spent eight years apart; in the end, they always knew how to find their ways back to one another's sides. Olberic and Erhardt's blades glinted in the limited lighting of the tunnel, and in a few cruel seconds, they had struck down another cluster of Werner's men rushing toward them. Behind them, H'aanit nocked an electric arrow on her bow and sent it flying up at the archers waiting on the top platform. The soldiers struck by her blows screamed in pain, and many of them dropped their bows, leaving the weapons as easy targets for a wind spell from Tressa. The bows clattered easily off the edge of the platform, falling to the ground below where they could be retrieved by the rebels. 

But most of the members of Werner's army couldn't bring themselves to care about what H'aanit, Tressa, or anyone else on the battlefield did. Their eyes were locked solely on Olberic and Erhardt. "What demons are they?! My eyes can't follow their blades!" one man on the top platform yelled. 

Werner didn't give the soldier a chance to speak up again, instead pulling his blade free and stabbing it through the man's chest. The soldier was dead even before he hit the ground. The others in Werner's elite force were too shocked to protest what they had just seen, and Werner glared at them with a gaze darker than the deepest shadows of Orsterra. "Stand and fight, you cowards!" Werner roared. "Or you'll feel my blade!" When the soldiers didn't immediately move, Werner flicked his blade, sending a few droplets of blood splattering across the ground at his feet. "Well? What about the rest of you cravens? Better fancy your chances with them or with me?" The soldiers hesitantly rushed into battle, and Erhardt struck one down before he could even draw his blade. Even so, that was enough for Werner, and he hummed with a vacant nod. "That's more like it."

Werner turned on his heel and started off toward the stairway leading into the mansion, and Olberic's eyes went wide. He couldn't let Werner get away. He had come to Riverford to see the man slain, and Olberic wouldn't leave until he had succeeded in his mission. 

Erhardt could see the hesitation and conflict in Olberic's eyes, and he pressed his back against Olberic's to bring him back to the present. "Leave the lackeys to me! You go after Werner!" Erhardt demanded. "He's not one to flee so easily! He's just buying time, though for what, only the gods know!" Nearby, the rebels that were still in fighting condition grabbed their weapons, and a few picked up the bows on the floor to fire back at the few archers with bows left on the top platform. 

Olberic nodded, stepping away from Erhardt. "Thank you, Erhardt! I leave his place in your hands!" He turned his sword over and slammed the tip of the blade into the ground, creating a series of stone stairs leading up to the higher platform. Olberic took off up the stairs as soon as he could, and the rest of the travelers followed him up. 

"Godspeed, my friend!" Erhardt called over his shoulder as he swung his blade in another fierce arc. He caught two soldiers in the chest and sent them sprawling just in time for the rebels to reinforce him. Olberic could hear the smile in Erhardt's voice despite the situation, and it brought a strange lightness to his chest too.

Once Olberic and the travelers were at the top of the tunnel, Cyrus turned and pushed at the air with a wind spell. The remaining archers were sent stumbling to the ground even though Cyrus' spell was operating at diminished strength. The men screamed on their way down, and while the fall wasn't enough to kill, it would still seriously injure those unlucky enough to hit the stones too hard. Cyrus raised the Aether Scepter once he was certain the men were dazed, and he took as much of their energy as he could in the span of a few seconds. He would need the extra strength in the battle against Werner. Going in as he was now would only invite disaster, and Cyrus couldn't risk that after they had come this far. 

Olberic took off toward the stairs leading into the mansion, and the rest of his companions trailed after him. Tressa managed to keep pace with him despite the massive difference in the span of their strides, and she shot him a smile in between her heavy sprinting footsteps. "Thank the gods for Erhardt!" Tressa cried out. "I don't know if we would have been able to win that fight without him!"

"He arrived in the nick of time," Olberic agreed. "Though I wish he had made himself known a bit sooner." Then again, he supposed, that was simply Erhardt's style. He wasn't above a bit of trickery as long as it got the job done of defeating his enemies. He had executed many such gambits during his and Olberic's days in the army of Hornburg. The only difference was that back then, Olberic had known to always count on Erhardt coming to help him. Since then, he had almost forgotten what it was like, or more accurately, he had come to trust other people more.

"At least he caught up with us at all," Tressa pointed out. She looked up at Olberic again, and her grin widened. "You're a lot happier with this than you want us to believe. I can see you smiling."

Olberic hadn't even realized he had started to smile until after Tressa said something, and he cleared his throat to change the subject immediately. The last thing he wanted or needed was to think about Erhardt when he had come to kill Werner. "We must keep moving. We have a mission to finish."

Tressa nodded. "You're right. All that's left now is to do what we can to defeat Werner. And I know we can do it." She slowed down as Olberic did, and she glanced around at the manor they had dashed into. The interior of Werner's manse was impressively expensive, but it never quite bordered into being gaudy. Olberic could only assume that Werner's mercenary instincts and opinions hadn't worn off or faded away even after he took over Riverford. Everything in the mansion served a purpose even if the purpose was simple pride. Olberic would have found the place fascinating if it didn't sicken him so much to think about. 

The travelers slowed down enough to recuperate their energy once they were in the mansion, but they kept their pace up as much as possible. There were remarkably few guards, and the handful that were still scattered throughout the mansion were taken care of easily. Werner had been forced to send in more soldiers than he would have liked to battle the rebellion in the tunnel, and as soon as the tides of the fight turned against him, he ran because he knew he didn't have the reinforcements to back himself up. He was getting desperate whether he wanted to call it that or not, and Olberic found himself darkly satisfied with the idea of Werner finally being put on his back foot. 

But he couldn't enjoy it forever. A cornered animal was still a dangerous one, and Olberic was certain that applied to Werner too. He needed to stay on his guard until Werner had been defeated. Anything less would result in another catastrophe, and Olberic had thought of Hornburg's fall more than enough that day already. He wouldn't let it haunt him when the time had come to set everything right. 

By the time the travelers caught up with Werner, silent determination had settled over their party. Werner was standing in his office at the heart of the mansion, facing away from Olberic as he looked out the window. He was framed by statues of soldiers wielding spears, almost as if the sculptures intended to make themselves Werner's last line of defense. Olberic ignored them though, leveling his blade at Werner and clutching tightly enough at his blade to turn his knuckles pale. "That's enough, Werner! Your villainy ends here!"

Werner didn't move for a long moment, and when he did, it was only to scoff. "Villainy, eh? What a waste of a good sword..."

Olberic could feel his patience growing thin. He liked to think of himself as knowing when to strike and when to wait, but with Werner, Olberic didn't want to have to remain still for even a second longer than necessary. Riverford had suffered enough, and Hornburg had too. "What nonsense are you spouting now?!"

Werner turned around, his eyes gleaming like obsidian in the muted sunlight that pushed its way through the window behind him. "A warrior of your skill and repute serving as a glorified bodyguard for paupers and peasants," he said as if that explained everything. "It isn't too late to find yourself a more worthy cause. Join me as a captain of my guard. I will make sure you are... Well compensated."

Olberic felt rage burn hot and blistering in his chest. "The Flame burn you and all you stand for!" Deep down, he knew Werner was just trying to distract him so Olberic didn't run him through with his blade then and there, but Olberic didn't care. He needed Werner to know just how insulted he was by the very implication that he would ever abandon the people he had sworn to protect. Werner's desperation would not distract him now. "This sword would cut down a hundred tyrants like you to protect the life of a single innocent and defenseless person!"

Werner shook his head as he walked around the desk standing between him and Olberic. The blade at his side jostled along the way, almost inviting Olberic to try and slash at Werner. Olberic was more than happy to take it up on its offer. "Is that truly why you lug that steel around? For the sake of churls you hardly know? Gods teeth, they grew fools thick and fast in that Hornburg of yours." Werner took a step toward Olberic, and the air seemed to stiffen around him. "Tell me. What harvest do you reap with your selfless valor? The gratitude of the rabble? Preening self-regard? You self-righteous oaf! The only cause a man needs is himself. Might is the one truth before which all things must yield! History has shown us this, time and again!"

"What do you know of truth?!" Olberic snapped back. He could feel his anger spiraling out of control, but he could barely bring himself to care. He knew how to maintain a level head when the battle itself began, and that would keep him safe. Olberic should never have expected himself to stay calm in the face of the man who had seen his home destroyed. He wanted nothing short of Werner's complete ruin, and he would fight for it with everything he had. 

"All I need to know!" Werner fired in return. "Or have you forgotten? You once wielded your sword for the sake of king and kingdom. How did that work out for you, eh, Sir Olberic? Your blade may be unbending, but did the man beneath the title not break?!"

Olberic's grip on his sword loosened, and his head bowed fractionally. "I cannot deny this. I failed both king and kingdom and became a prisoner of my own past."

"So why do you persist in this folly?!" Werner asked angrily. "Join me, and together we can--"

"But on this journey, I have learned something new," Olberic interrupted. "To protect someone is to gaze into the future with eyes unclouded..."

"What is this starry-eyed hogwash you speak...?" Werner questioned, the bite in his voice melting away to confusion. Beneath that, Olberic almost thought he heard Werner's fear, the humanity he had tried so hard to bury. 

But Olberic would not let humanity be forgotten so easily after how long he had spent neglecting his own. "To gaze into their future and the world they would one day build... A bright future that we might share together... This is what I fight for. This is why I must protect those in need. I lost myself on my own, but in the arms of my comrades... I have found peace. I have found purpose." Olberic raised his blade to point it at Werner's heart. "Tell me, Werner. Who stands by you? When you look to the future, who gazes with you over the bleak landscape that your might has seized?!"

"Enough prattle, fool!" Werner shouted back, and Olberic knew he had struck a nerve. Werner had no true response to that, and he never would. He knew he was losing his strength in the face of Olberic and the rest of the travelers, and all he could do was try to push them as far away as possible. He could not outrun them forever, and he knew it bitterly well. "My future is as boundless as my power and ambition! No one need stand with me for I need no man!"

"You are apathetic to reason because you have nothing of substance to protect," Olberic concluded. "And so it falls to my sword to speak the truth!" He rushed toward Werner, swinging his blade with as much force as he could muster. Werner had pulled his own sword free, and he used it to deflect the brunt of the blow. However, the force was enough to send him backward by a few paces, and Werner's eyes went wide with shock. No one had been strong enough to even stagger him for eight long years, and he had grown sloppy in those many moons of intermission. 

Werner tried to push back against Olberic with a thrust and a slice, but Olberic avoided the attacks easily. He swerved to the side just in time to avoid an arrow of electricity H'aanit had aimed for Werner's shoulder. Werner barely had the chance to cry out in pain before his body went stiff from the lightning magic. Primrose and Therion curled around behind him with their daggers at the ready, and they tore holes in Werner's expensive, flowing cape easily. From there, they opened wounds across his back. The cuts were shallow but painful, and Werner hissed in agony between gritted teeth. 

Werner collected himself and recovered just as Cyrus moved to send him sprawling with a wind spell. Werner held up his blade to try and deflect the brunt of the strike. Cyrus didn't seem to mind that Werner had escaped the initial blast unscathed though. Instead, he followed it up with another blast of wind magic, forcing Werner back by a few paces. In doing so, Werner wound up perfectly in Tressa's grasp, and she spun her scythe before slamming it down on him with all the force she could stand. Werner tried to defend himself, but the scythe was stronger than he expected, leaving a perfect opening for Ophilia to blast him with a crackling wave of lightning magic.

Olberic could already feel the battle tipping in the travelers' favor compared to the recent encounters they endured in Wispermill and Everhold. Unlike the two battles that came before this, there was no magical seal in place, and the travelers were free to ouse whatever elements they wanted without relying on their godly weapons. Werner knew his way around a combatant who used a blade, but magic was another matter entirely. 

Primrose moved in to strike at Werner with her knife, but he didn't let her get away with it so easily. With a swift slice, Werner opened a wound across Primrose's lower arm. She hissed in pain but otherwise ignored it, stabbing at him with all the force she could muster. Werner deflected the blow with another quick twist of his blade, but Primrose was ready. She used her injured hand to summon a blast of dark magic, and Werner's eyes went wide. For a flicker of a moment, Olberic almost thought Werner was afraid of the mastery Primrose had over the shadows. 

That flicker of terror was all Linde needed to rush in and deliver a harsh bite to Werner's leg. He roared in rage and pain, moving to stab at the snow leopard, but Linde retreated before he could get close. In her place, Alfyn appeared, his axe braced for the blow. Werner had years of experience above and beyond the apothecary, but Alfyn wasn't going to let that stop him. He raised his axe and let the sparks fly between his and Werner's weapons. Plants began to grow around Alfyn's feet, rooting him in place and keeping him strong in the face of Werner's onslaught. 

But more importantly, plants wound around Werner's lower body, stopping him from escaping. That left Werner as the perfect target when H'aanit released another arrow to strike him in the chest. Werner's eyes widened from a blend of pain and shock, but he couldn't seem to shake off the plants and escape to the rest of the battlefield. Even if he had, he would have wound up right in the path of a flaming slash Therion had aimed for his abdomen. The dagger in the thief's hand left behind a solid river of crimson, and it had nothing to do with the flames dancing across the blade. Blood mixed with the vines, dripping apathetically onto the floor. 

The sight of his own blood seemed to ground Werner and remind him that he had yet to win this battle. He had fought for many years, but that did not make him invincible. He was ready when Olberic tried to slash at him next, and the two exchanged three more blows without either of them taking the upper hand. In that time, Primrose had retreated to H'aanit's side, and the huntress was healing her however she could with her limited apothecary experience. The two exchanged a glance but nothing more, knowing they had no time for something greater. 

Werner tried and failed to hit Olberic twice more before he was forced to sustain a blast of light summoned by Ophilia. The force of the explosion was enough to tear him free of the plants that had been keeping him trapped on the spot. Vines fell helplessly to the ground, but Werner tripped over one of them in his retreat, worsening the injury Linde had delivered to his leg. Cyrus appeared behind Werner and called upon ice to streak toward him, and the jagged edges of the spell cut more holes and slashes across Werner's body and cape. His once exquisite and expensive clothing had been reduced to little more than decorations to line a casket. His grip on the battle was slipping, and he couldn't take too much more damage. 

Werner couldn't believe the travelers stood a chance like this against him at all. He had destroyed Hornburg eight years ago, and since then, he had taken over Riverford. Werner may not have trained as much as he should have, but he remained one of the strongest swordsmen Orsterra had ever known. How was he being defeated by a group of nobodies? He still didn't know most of their names or faces. The only one he could identify was Olberic Eisenberg, the Unbending Blade of Hornburg... But it seemed his might expanded far beyond the borders of his old home. 

Olberic was the only combatant on the field that really mattered to Werner, and after only a breath of silence, Olberic proved it. He stabbed at Werner while the man was distracted by the ice spell trapping him from behind. Werner avoided the first blow, but a secondary thrust opened a notable wound across his side. Werner tried to deflect the third strike of Olberic's blade, but it only loosened his grip on his sword. Werner forced his fingers to clench down on it even as his knees threatened to give out from beneath him. 

Olberic didn't give Werner even a moment to recover, and he pressed forward with slashes that a man who had supposedly died eight years ago should not have been capable of. Werner had always thought that Olberic was either dead or as good as it when Hornburg fell, and yet, he could not have been more wrong. He had brought Hornburg to its end, and now, it seemed as if Olberic would be the one to usher him to his grave too. 

All it took was one last slash for Werner's body to completely give up on him, and he fell to his knees with a heavy groan as the air rushed out of his lungs. Throughout it all, he hadn't let go of his blade, and he never would. Such was the way of a warrior. It didn't matter how close he was to the edge. He had to keep fighting. It had been enough to save him before... But Werner doubted that would ring true this time. 

Werner sat on the ground a handful of paces away from all the travelers, closed in from behind by the wall of ice and forced to face his attackers. They stared at him with silent resentment, but Werner did not rise to the bait in their eyes. Instead, all he could do was glare with an anger that faded from his eyes as his adrenaline subsided. 

He had lost. 

And yet, he would make sure the travelers did not win. 

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And there's the Werner fight!

I hope you can all forgive me for my choice to exclude Werner's horse. I know it only shows up in his battle sprite and isn't in any of the cutscenes, so it's kind of Schrödinger's horse, but I feel the need to mention it here. At least we got a cool fight without it, right?

I don't have all that much to say about this chapter honestly. I changed the context of some of the travel banter to fit the different situation, but I'm happy with how it all turned out. I think this chapter is a fun one even without the fight. I enjoyed writing it, and I hope you all had fun reading it.

We're getting closer to the end of Olberic's story, so next time, we'll move to wrap up the dialogue from the game. Until then, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Feedback is appreciated as always. Have a nice day, everyone!

-Digital