"Well, mercenary? What shall it be?" Sir Ghent said impatiently, tapping his foot and sighing loudly.

Ansel spun around on the heel of his foot and drew his katana. "If you intend to slander my name and kill innocent people, I won't let you do this. I will stop you, Sir Ghent. Even if my countrymen hate me, even if I am disowned by my family, even though my existence right now seems worthless... I will stop you here."

Sir Ghent grunted and jumped off of his horse, sword drawn. "Listen here, you scum. You would turn traitor on your country just so innocent lives will be saved? You would defer from your mission-"

Rage built up inside Ansel. He felt himself being surrounded by a fire, for his skin tingled and his body burned. "That mission is a farce! You intended for our paths to cross, for me to be offered a safe blanket of security, and then you would dreadfully take it away! Why... why do you hate me so much? What have I ever done to you? All I have ever done is save your people, serve your people, rescue your livestock, and you would do this?"

Sir Ghent stayed silent. Ansel saw a red ring outline the blue of his eyes as he readied his sword.

"I see... No remorse, as is for a Knight of Eos." Ansel said, regretfully. He didn't want to take the life of an honorable man, even if his 'honor' could be questioned. 

"Well, mercenary? Will you become a murderer?" Sir Ghent said, with a crooked grin on his face.

Ansel got in his battle stance. "I will stop you, if I can. Duel!"

CRASH! Swords collided and the sparks flew. Ansel had the advantage,  for not being covered in full steel armor had its advantages. He grunted after parrying around Sir Ghent, and sliced the leather bindings holding his gauntlets and breastplate together. They hit the ground with a loud CLANG and Sir Ghent rolled forward.

"You runt, you have done it now!" He yelled, angrily. He raised his sword up vertically and charged.

Ansel ran at him, his katana horizontal to his body. He sliced in an X as he and Sir Ghent nearly collided with each other.

After a few seconds, and heavy breathing, Sir Ghent hit his knees and fell over, bleeding from his legs and torso.

Ansel breathed a sigh of relief, until red liquid oozed into his eye. He had been cut from the bottom of the eyebrow to the top of his right cheek. He fell to his knees and dug through his knapsack, looking for a ruska to stop his bleeding. 

"Heh... You think you've stopped me?" Darkness surrounded Ghent, and he was risen up, his eyes turning red. Ansel, knowing what had happened, stayed silent and awaited Sir Ghent's worthless monologue.

"No matter how many times you cut me, Mercenary, you won't defeat me! I will get up again and again and again until you are dead! I will show the world that you are nothing but a worthless, murdering coward!" Ghent shouted a battle cry and charged Ansel again.

But, this time, even though he was full of fear, Ansel was ready. He drove his katana into the heart of Sir Ghent, and Ghent cried out. There was no darkness surrounding Ghent, for the thing causing the darkness to even be there in the first place had been destroyed.

"The evil intentions of men will never win," Ansel said, and rose up and yanked the katana out of Ghent's lifeless body. He cleaned it off with a cloth from his shirt, and then hopped on Ghent's horse.

"Maybe this time, I'll-"

Ansel was interrupted by a war cry. "He killed Sir Ghent! After him!" The captain of the guard had shouted maliciously. He was waiting in the bushes, to see if Ghent would kill Ansel. He even expected Ghent to murder Ansel in cold blood. But, to his surprise, Ansel had bested Sir Ghent.

"What, did you expect me to die here, Captain? Was I supposed to be some mistake that you were supposed to fix?" Ansel said, with immediate ruthfullness.

"How, how dare you insult me, Mercenary! You have fiddled with the wrong violin! Archers, fire at him!" The captain pointed his sword at Ansel to try and dismay him.

Ansel whipped the horses reigns to make it take off in a burst of speed. "I am not going to die here, I have come too far to back down now! I've got to make it to the border!" 

Arrows whizzed by him, and he felt them fly by his head. He ended up outrunning most of the arrows and relaxed for a little bit.

Until one pierced his arm.

"Augh!" Ansel grunted, gritting his teeth in pain. The horse continued to gallop, and the pain was immense. It burned like a fire and ached like a stubbed toe. He came upon a gully, and the only way to escape his pursuers was to jump it.

"Come on, run!" He picked up speed, and  the horse jumped the gully. It hit the ground on the other side and then bucked Ansel off, throwing him ten feet in the air. He landed on his back and rolled over and over until he came to a stop underneath a bush, and then watched as the men following him turned around and ran away.

"Whew... That's... a... relief," he rattled, struggling to breathe.

He dragged himself towards the shade of a nearby tree, and then propped himself up against it. He tried to stop the bleeding of the arrow piercing, but his whole body stopped moving as a whole. Before he blacked out, his mind threw him into a flashback.

-----------

"Mercenary, you are worthless, but you get the job done."  A bag of golden Zara hit the desk with a loud thud.

Ansel felt numb, but counted every piece of gold in the bag. Money was the only thing driving him in his life, his anger and frustration helping him. He had built a wall around his feelings, and they had made him into a monster.

"Whatever pays the bills," he muttered, and then turned around and stomped out.

A hand tugged at his sleeve. "Wait a minute... want to make some more Zara?" A redheaded lady  asked him, with a lustful look on her face.

"What do you want?" He sighed.

"My father is hosting a ball, and my ex-lover is going to be there. I want to make him jealous, and I want you, hero, to be my date. You actually look pretty handsome, and it would make him deathly jealous. What do you say?"

"Whatever. As long as I'm making money." He said, coldly.

"Excellent..." She said, and took his arm and led him away.