Yuki is arriving through The Summoning Portal, and she’ll be here just in time for this weekend’s Shadowlands Tournament.

Yuki wiped the blood out of her eyes and focused on the great beast rushing towards her. The minotaur was bearing down on her, trampling both his allies and hers as he charged.

With a flourish of her swords she leaped over her attacker as he approached, slicing deep through his exposed back. The beast fell.

Yuki had no time to celebrate that victory. She ducked to barely dodge an incoming javelin. As she rose, two of Malum’s hoplites were on her. She grabbed the right one’s arm and spun. His sword found the heart of the other. Yuki finished him off as he fumbled to get the blade out of his compatriot’s chest.

What was that? Dragon steps. Yuki searched the chaos of the battlefield and saw a line of light cavalry approaching on whelps. Not today. Yuki channeled her energy into her swords and released a poison bolt at the oncoming attackers. Still coming, but they’d succumb to the poison before long.

Yuki suddenly noticed how few her allies were. She still saw alliance colors among the fray, but they were scarce… and too often overwhelmed. The battle would soon be lost.

She scanned the field for the command banner. She needed to get to the King and ensure his escape. There! Not far. She could make it.

Her legs pumped as fast as they could. She dodged blades and projectiles, almost there! Just as she thought she could yell out to the royal guards, her entire body was suddenly struck with a force that knocked her off her feet, yet pierced her armor with dozens of blades.

Yuki tore off her helmet. She couldn’t see through the mud. What was that pounding sound? Gradually her vision cleared. A giant strode towards her shouting at the top of his lungs and swinging a giant wooden club over his head. The club was bristled with steel pins covered in blood. Yuki looked down at her broken armor and battered body… her blood.

Yuki looked past the massive warrior rapidly approaching. The giant’s attack had scrambled the royal guards. She could see the King retreating over the ridge with his bodyguards. There was some victory even in defeat.

The bleeding warrior rose to her feet, brandishing her swords for one last stand. She gave all the focus she had left into one blast at the giant. Enemies fell all around him, but the giant continued on.

Wait! It was working. He staggered slightly. He continued towards Yuki, but the poison was rapidly taking its toll on his body. “If I can only outlast the brute…” thought Yuki as she charged towards the oncoming hulk.

His club smashed down on her, but she darted around his left foot. Stab once, twice in the shin.

Down came the foot, but Yuki was much too quick. The giant, you see, had a loose hem on the seam of his trousers. Grabbing this cord, Yuki bound up the leg of the giant.

To the thigh now. Stab stab. The giant frantically swatted at this tiny sharp knight, but to no avail. Yuki was already swung around to the rear, where she found many little handholds with the help of her blades on the way out the top of the giant pants.

In immense pain and panic, the giant fell to one knee… his massive heart beating at such a furious speed had accelerated the poison’s course. He panted for air and began to grow dizzy.

Hitched onto his belt to take a rest, Yuki also gasped for breath. She’d lost too much blood, and she knew there was no coming back from an exertion like that in her state. Her vision was getting blurry now.

So too was the giant’s who tried to stammer out some words in a language Yuki didn’t understand before falling into the mud of the battlefield. Yuki drifted away before he hit the ground.