Far away, in a sun-drenched valley, a messenger eagle dropped from the clouds.
It landed squarely on the armored shoulder of William Wins. Tall, powerfully built, and framed by brilliant blonde hair that caught the sunlight, the Phoenix Knight was a picture of pristine heroism. In his right hand, he loosely gripped a massive spear that pulsed with a warm, golden light.
Currently, the most skilled spearman alive was standing in the center of a slaughtered pasture, entirely surrounded by three thirty-foot wyverns. Acid dripped from their scaled jaws as they circled him.
William didn't even look at them. He casually popped the wax seal on the eagle's tube with his thumb and unrolled the parchment.
The wyverns shrieked, closing in.
Looks like it's time for war, William thought, recognizing Kent's sharp handwriting.
The first wyvern lunged, its jaws snapping at his legs. Without looking up from the letter, William vaulted twenty feet into the air. He spun on his heel, driving his glowing spear downward and pinning the beast's skull to the earth with a deafening crack. He landed gracefully on the dead wyvern's back, still reading.
The second beast roared, charging from the left with its throat glowing a toxic green. William sighed. Without breaking his focus on the parchment, he drew a short sword from his hip, channeled his golden mana into the steel, and swung. A crescent wave of pure energy detached from the blade, shearing cleanly through the wyvern's thick neck. Its massive head hit the dirt with a wet thud.
The final wyvern stopped dead. Seeing its pack butchered in seconds by a man who was mostly annoyed by his mail, the monster panicked. It scrambled backward, desperately trying to launch itself up the sheer rocky cliff face to escape.
William finally lowered the letter. He ripped his spear free from the first wyvern's skull, surged a blinding flash of light into the shaft, and hurled it.
The weapon broke the sound barrier. It took the fleeing beast mid-flight, punching straight through armored scales and heart alike, violently pinning the thirty-foot monster to the rock wall seventy feet in the air.
William dusted off his gauntlets and glanced over his shoulder. "Kars? Go get that spear."
A man stepped out from behind a large, safe boulder, crossing his arms. "You made a total mess, William! And it's pinned seventy feet up a sheer cliff face! You should have just let me handle it."
"I apologize," William said, flashing a dazzling, perfect smile. "Please, go get it for me?"
Kars squinted up at the bleeding dragon bolted to the rock. "I guess I'll think about it."
"What?!" William gasped, his perfect smile dropping into exaggerated shock.