The duel raged amid chaos as lesser warriors clashed. Drefan fought with inhuman speed and strength, landing blows that would fall any normal man. Yet Richard fought on through sheer stubborn will, refusing to yield even an inch to the tyrant.
Their blades sang as one, parrying and riposting in a deadly dance on the cusp of life and death. Richard gave all he had, pushing past pain and weariness. At last an opening, he pressed forward with a cry, pivoting aside Drefan's thrust and countering with a backslash aimed true.
Steel sheared gristle and bone as Richard's sword clove through Drefan's dark heart. Richard exhausted yet determined spoke saying "In the name of Yeshua demon begone!" For an instant, the warlord stood frozen in utter shock. Then, with an unearthly shriek, his form detonated outward in a blast of sulfurous shadows.
Where Drefan had stood now rested a leather-bound tome, glowing with inner radiance amid the carnage. Richard limped forward, dazed, drawn to it. Reverently, he lifted the Holy Bible from the stones, and as its pages fell open, a golden light swelled to engulf him. Warmth like the sun's kissed his wounds, fading each ache and glistening scar until only restored flesh remained. Richard knew Drefan must have kept it hidden from the kingdom.
Awed whispers broke out among fighters, pausing mid-blow. For in Richard's sure grasp now appeared not a book but a gleaming longsword sealed with a cross-guard, as if God himself had crafted and blessed the weapon from sacred pages. "The sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God!"said Richard
Richard raised the blade skyward, and its radiance swelled to a near-daylight brilliance that banished shadows from the citadel. As awestruck Eldorians and former thralls of Drefan gazed upon their deliverer, a new dawn of hope erupted in cheers that filled the skies. The tyranny was ended; a new age of light had come at long last to the ravaged lands.
In the aftermath, Richard oversaw rebuilding; fields were sown and homes raised from ashes as refugees streamed back to reclaim their lives. Yet even amid rebuilding, danger still lingered. For in the dark fastnesses of the realm, Drefan's fiercest thrall yet survived, possessed of his former master's fallen power and growing thirst for dominance.
One grim evening, a scout brought word—the dark knight had been spotted massing forces for a final vendetta in the valleys beyond. Richard knew then that the crusade was not over, though victory had been won. One soul remained lost to shadows, and for the sake of all Eldorians, he could not leave such poison unchecked, lest it fester and spread once more.
The next dawn, Richard rode forth with Lady Sophia and a company of knights, determined to at last banish the last lingering darkness for good. Their quest had come full circle; now the final confrontation awaited in a valley shrouded in memories and what might have been.