The Witch and the Warlord

Chapter 1: A knight in crude armor

"Sir Randsborg! Reporting as you requested my liege!" The Knight duelist reported, standing tall to Goodwin and Lazar being decked in an armor of gold-tinted steel, Lazar chuckled lightly from the Knight duelist's serious nature, Goodwin, on the other hand, wasn't impressed, the 'Knight' looked like he was in his late twenties or early-thirties, yet he here stands, larping like a complete and utter geek, acting as if he was truly a knight of the medieval ages.

"Don't you worry Goodwin, he'll be perfect for this duel!" Lazar exclaimed, clearly impressed with Sir Randsborg's attire that consisted of forged metal and black leather, Goodwin was somewhat unconvinced, still bearing a stoic and neutral expression despite the bewildering sight of a fully armored knight in modern times.

"His costume may be a bit melodramatic, but he said he couldn't duel without it!" Lazar added on, furthering making the Knight Duelist less enticing for Goodwin, Sir Randsborg nodded in confirmation as he began to speak with a thick English accent.

"Is it true that I am to duel a fair maiden? My chivalry forbids such cruelty to such wallflowers!" Sir Randsborg said with a gallant tone, reciting his values as if he was truly speaking from the code of chivalry.

Goodwin clicked his tongue from the Knight's acting despite speaking in a normal volume, Sir Randsborg was hammier than an opera singer, nevertheless, he decided to deal with the hand he has been given.

"What if I tell you that she is the Black Rose? It is believed that her cards contain a great power that can cause catastrophe..." Goodwin explained to the Golden Knight, instantly Sir Randsborg expression changed from a knightly stern to bewilderment.

"A Witch?!" The Knight scoffed with a curved brow, Lazar took note of the Knight's change of posture and tone, how it went from competent and tough to wavering from the mere mention of the Black Rose, he took the opportunity to taunt the Knight Duelist with a brutal statement.

"Are you scared Sir Randsborg? Remember, you aren't facing card tricks and sleight-of-hand, you're dealing with a real 'Witch'!" Lazar said as Sir Randsborg noticeably bristled at Lazar's words.

"My word is true! Maiden or not, a Witch is still a Witch! I will Engage this Black Rose!" Sir Randsborg vowed, finally mustering enough strength to withhold his code of honor, this garnered Goodwin's confidence as he smirked lightly.

"Good, that is good Randsborg, all you need to do is to weaken her enough so that she'll show her true power, I trust that you can do such a task," Goodwin ordered the knight, the duelist huffed in response, he unsheathe his sword and raised it close to his bearded face.

"I will weaken her enough so that she will never unleash her wicked dark arts! On my sword! I swear this Black Rose shall be slewed by my cards and blade!" He exclaimed with a new sense of resolve, Goodwin smirked once again upon seeing Randsborg finally answering the call to arms for his plan, as he left the room with a sturdy and intimidating gait. Only time will tell that this Duelist would prove useful in revealing the Signers...

Sometime later...

The Knight Duelist, Sir Randsborg sighed heavily as he was in the Freedom Cup locker room, sitting on one of the benches as he was preparing himself for possibly the biggest duel in his life.

"You've been acting like this for your whole life a...You got the biggest opportunity of your life: Roleplaying in front of a stage of millions of people! I can finally take Larping to a whole nother level! This 'Black Rose' is probably just a fake or something...All I need to do is to play it cool...And I'll be hailed as a hero!" He took a deep breath before he resumed his English Accent.

"My Duel Shield is ready to take down such a fiendish hag...My blade is refined beyond measure, and my armor is blessed by the code of honor..." Randsborg said to himself as he was double-checking his gear, his ceremonial sword was as clean as it was purchased from the antique store, his authentically-forged armor felt as heavy as real steel, his duel shield, and the deck was finely kept and were ready to go.

"I will smite this, 'Black Rose', bringing peace to this mortal Realm!" Sir Randsborg vowed as he pumped himself up for a massive crowd appearance, standing up from the bench with sword and duel board in hand.

"You gonna have to wait for 'Dat, The only 'dat is duelin' 'dis Black Rose Git, is me!" Sir Randsborg heard a cruel voice that oozed with a rather husky-like cockney accent, Sir Randsborg gasped as he turned around to the source of the growling voice before his face was struck right in the face by a closed fist. Punching the Knight right in his uncovered face, causing his nose to bleed as he let out a loud shout of pain.

Before Randsborg could squeal more, the Knight Duelist was knocked unconscious with another punch straight to the man's jaw, leaving him on the floor as the gruff assailant laughed wickedly.

"'Dat was fun...Too bad in a place like 'dis, it ain't allowed 'dat much now ain't it?" The assailant lamented as he dusted his hands off, leaving the Knight Duelist on the locker room floor in a pained slumber.

"Now, I'm gonna stomp 'dat Black Rose into a pile of dust!" The Assailant proclaimed with a loud growl, having a great tone of disdain when he mentioned the Black Rose.

The Freedom Cup stadium was packed and brimming with excitement as the next series of duels was about to unfold, the spherical jumbotron displayed two images of the two duelists, one was of the Golden Knight Duelist Sir Randsborg, the other was a crimson red-haired girl that's name wasn't revealed yet.

The crowd began to murmur amongst themselves as the MC began to announce the next duel, ready to hype the crowd up with his voice and words.

"Alright, Ladies and Gentlemen! Welcome back to the arena! We're going to have our next match underway!" the MC said as he posed comically as he projected by various titantrons so that all of the audience can be amused by the MC's antics.

"Now! Entering into the Arena, a Knight in Shining Armor! It's the one, the only...Sir Gil Randsborg!" The MC announced one side of the dueling field opened up to reveal an escalating platform, the spotlights immediately shined on the opening, the crowd was waiting quietly for the Knight duelist to arrive.

However, it was no Sir Randsborg that was on the escalating platform, it was someone else entirely.

"What is this?! Is this the gallant knight that we've been all waiting for?! Or is this some sort of crude mockery!?" The MC shouted in surprise, what appeared instead of Sir Randsborg was the assailant that knocked him out.

The new challenger's attire was medieval-like, being a suit of armor rather than normal clothes of fabric, unlike Randsborg which armor inspired awe and safety, this new duelist's armor instead instilled fear and savagery, hiding the challenger's tanned and scarred skin tone with plates and sheets of crudely-smithed metal.

Massive plates of iron and steel with tattered leather underneath was the material that was used to make such a monstrous attire, pieces of varying metals, from Steel to cast-iron were cobbled together akin vines and chains to ruin stone, his shoulder guards were uneven and differently-sized, making one of the new challenger's arms have less of a burden to slog around.

His legs were covered by a tasset made of black leather and large chunks of spiked metal, making it look like a kilt that consisted of hole-filled leather and bent steel. His boots were like two piles of sewn animal skins, and the challenger's face was covered with a metal mask that bore bolted metal shards on the jaw of the mask, making it look like he had a full set of metal fangs. The mask covered only the face of the Duelist and not his whole head, leaving his wild mane of black unkempt hair free.

The Audience gasped from the Duelist's monstrous appearance, the general lack of quality for the Duelist's armor was a stark contrast compared to the duel disk he wore on his left wrist, it was a standard-issue one, colored green and black, with only the orb of the duel disk being slightly altered, with a small little skull painted on various places around the disk to give it a little bit of flare.

"Is that supposed to be Sir Randsborg?" One audience member asked aloud.

"He sure looks like...A lot less elegant of what was pictured on the tron!" Another one blurted

"He sure isn't a Knight! I can say that for sure!" Another audience member quipped.

"I honestly just hope he gives us a good duel!" One concluded.

"Hahaha! 'Dat little Knightly git is nothin'! My name is AZ! Az Saughter! And I will be the one that will stomp 'dis Black Rose git until she's nothin' but a mess of petals!" Az shouted with a beast-like roar.

"Luna...Are you okay?" Leo asked his sister as she noticeably winced in pain as Az finished his brutal speech, she panted lightly as she caught her bearings after the pain ended

"His deck...All of his monsters are screaming, roaring and growling, But they're not in pain...They want to inflict it!" Luna said in realization as she looked upon Az with a look of slight fear, being frightened by the violent, cruel, and evil thoughts that course through Az's deck.

The crowd was rather surprised by the sudden appearance of Az Saughter, they were hyped by Az's boasts nontheless, cheering the monster duelist on as his opponent appeared on the other side of the dueling field.

"Well in that case, if the audience is behind this guy, we can get this duel underway! Hailing from who know's where! She is said to be the Black Rose! Give it up for Akiza Izinski!" The platform rose up to reveal the female duelist, she stood up in an upright posture, bearing a strong stoic scowl on her fair face, Az growled in response, still being rather audible despite the metal mask hiding his true face.

"Hah! After I beat you, I can get back to wot' I was doin'...Time to get stomped...Little Witch..." Az said with a growl, readying his duel disk, Akiza was still stoic despite the volume of Az.

"Let's see about that..." Akiza responded as she readied her crimson-coated duel disk in return.

"Let's Duel!"