Blade Maidens: Strays – 25

“You’ve heard the stories. Some knight’s got his opponent on their knees. A battle hard-fought, caked in filth and blood, ended with his blade at their throat. But when it would be the easiest thing in Telos to strike and watch their lifeblood soak the earth, the knight stays firm. Stays his blade, and keeps his honor.

It’s horseshit.

You pull your sword and draw blood? Be prepared to finish what you started. Honor is for castle halls and ballads, you bring that shit onto a battlefield and you’re getting a blade in your gut or an arrow to the eye. If you fight to win, you fight. Mud, dirt, low blows, whatever you have at your disposal. Use it. If you’re the one left standing you get to decide what story is told. So, if you’ve got someone at the point of your sword. Run them through. No hesitation. No second guessing. If you can’t do that, you aren’t fit to carry a blade to begin with.”

– A passage from Combat Formes and Methods, by Captain Franco Balazin