Luxembourg v Anjou

Margrave of Brandenberg vs Ban of Macva

Lajos once said to Sigismund, “the victor of any battle is the one who forces his opponent to fight the way he wants, with his advantages.”

Maroti and Tamasi were shocked to see the crying Maria point her finger at them. And then it looked like the Queen was dead behind her. But they shower her their Luxembourg badges and she believed they were here to save here. “Of course, your man is just upstairs so you’ll see him soon. So sorry all this happened while we were stuck in Zagreb,” Tamasi said.

“He told us to teleport but it isn’t that time yet. A couple more seconds,” Maroti said.

“Yes but I feel like there is a hex here. We’ll need to do it at the top of the stairs.”

On the second floor, the boys rushed down the stairs to the room where Sigismund was. “You guys gotta go down to Tamasi. I still gotta finish my fight. Hey Garai, come take Jan with you, he’s too weak to fight.” and he tossed his brother over. Sigismund then raised his hand, “time to end this forever.”

Stibor told the others to go down, “I’ll look for Perenyi. He’s not here.” and he went down the hallway. The boys went down and waited with Maria. Maroti kept counting down…

Outside, by the sea, Ivan Horvat was teleported. He still held Sigismund’s sword. “Huh?” He looked down at the beach where Kurjakovic just finished off Palizna. “How did that happen? And it didn’t look like Dumbko Kurjakovic wasted any effort. I…I am not losing am I?” Ivan noticed the Bosnian King and Emperor crash out of the castle and fall out of sight. “Hmm but then even Lackfi should be fine. And those Durazzo Knights, he said they were the best warriors of Naples. I shan’t lose.” He felt the sword get dragged and so he tightened his grip on it. In fact he pulled on it and dug his heels in the ground. “Calling back your blade? Not a total coward? Hear my soul Sigismund, even at this distance. I will obliterate you and your entire family! You will never strip the title of ‘Ban’ from me and I will see Ladislao as king! You deserve nothing in this country, invader! FOR ALL OF YOUR BOTHERSOME NATURE! Deliver this message, my Lord, God.”

He let go of the ground and flew off as the sword would be pulled back to the castle. The time passed and so the gang teleported back to where Ivan just was. Kurjakovic shouted up at the flying Ivan, “I WANT TO SEE YOU DEAD!”

The sword broke through the castle with Ivan still holding on to it. The first thing Ivan saw was the big redhair of Sigismund and his smirking face beneath it. Ivan let go of the sword and landed. He equipped his own spear, “so-”

“I already heard everything Horvat, so no more yapping. I’m gonna just beat your ass.”

Ivan looked back to see Pavao still sitting on the ground feeling a bit weak. But Pavao had surrounded himself in a circle of black ash. So he is protected. Ivan turned his gaze back at Sigismund who just slashed his spear in half. “Huh?”

Sigismund slashed at Ivan again who guarded with a new glaive. After the block, Sigismund swung back around and cut the glaive in two. Ivan jumped back a bit in fear and confusion. Sigismund simply pointed his sword at him with a smirk. Ivan fired Flammo which Sigismund reflected with a small hand mirror. Ivan burst into flames and then doused himself. He doesn’t want to use magic with Pavao around. I’ll be wiser. Ivan held his two closed hands near each other. In his left, he held Lucem and in his right he held some glass. He put his hands together and shined the whole room. Then, when Sigismund could see again, there were hundreds of Ivan’s around the room surrounding him. They walked in opposite directions as they circled Sigismund. Sigismund looked among them but couldn’t find anything to spot the real one. Then they pointed at him and fired a spell, Flammo. Sigismund looked at the reflective part of his sword and decided to just spin around with that side facing outward. The real Flammo reflected and exploded on a wall. What the? Sigismund was dizzy but dove into a section of Ivan’s and slashed widely. The third one he slashed at blocked it with a sword. Your game of hide and seek did not pass! They clashed with their swords again and again as the other Ivans mirrored the original one’s movements. Then finally, Sigismund swung under and cut off Ivan’s hand holding the sword. Sigismund hopped into the air and grabbed the hand-sword, placing it in his ex-pocket down his back. “Haha!” Ivan, afraid, ran amongst his illusion clones. 

Like I won’t find you again? And probably a light spell will break this but then the Priest will lock me out of using such a spell and you can spawn this strategy again. Only my lucky sword breaks this in an ultimate fashion.

Sigismund kept his gaze on the Ivans but then suddenly chucked his sword directly at Father Pavao. The sword cleaved clean through the priest’s head and stuck into the wall. The body collapsed causing the Ivans to freak. The circle of ash surrounding him would’ve lethally poisoned Sigismund if he had approached the priest but killing from a distance worked out for him. While the Ivans were distracted watching Pavao’s soul rise out of his body, Sigismund fired Lucem at one of the candles naturally lighting the room. The spell flew through the glass and hit the fire, exploding bright light across the room again. When Sigismund could see again, there was but one Ivan crouched near the ash around his brother. 

I can’t even retrieve you.

Pavao’s spirit spoke to him, “this is the cost of war every time. The death of your brother. I did warn you not to do this but here we are. As long as there is war, brothers will always kill each other or see the other die. If you want to bury me, make an opening through the ash with some water. In my last moment, I could’ve dodged but I decided to seal away that other Luxembourg’s magic forever. With all of this, please win Ivan.”

Ivan nodded and turned around toward Sigismund. Sigismund was right behind him, grabbed him and threw him across the room. “Trying to steal my sword? Well it’s in the ash circle, you couldn’t even reach for it. Now it’s just hand to hand Sir Horvat. I said I was gonna beat you up.”

Ivan felt the Hermes hex fade away but he still used it’s last moments to dash at Sigismund with fury. Sigismund widened his eyes in shock. Ivan flew in with a side kick. Sigismund turned and stopped it with both his arms. Ivan immediately dropped that leg and kicked Sigismund’s back, sending him stumbling. What a heavy kick! Ivan continued with a right hook that Sigismund deflected down with his left hand. Sigismund then sent his own punch that was also caught. The two held fists together as they stared deep into each other’s eyes. The more Sigismund grinned, the more Ivan got angry. Frustrated with all the struggling, they both let go of each other. Then Sigismund was able to easily fall into a handstand and kick Ivan in the jaw. Ivan then caught his leg in the air and smashed him against the ground back and forth until Sigismund released the Malleo spell that exploded on the ground. The two were knocked back. Sigismund leapt at him with a right hook landing heavily on his face. In response, Ivan headbutted him to fall on his ass. Ivan then reared his leg all of the way back and kicked Sigismund all of the way into the ceiling. He was seeing stars as his head was stuck in the ceiling. With Levo, Ivan jumped up to pull him out. Sigismund, upon seeing him, poke his eyes out with two fingers. Still he broke Sigismund’s back against his knee and then discarded him on the ground. Suddenly, the second floor collapsed covering the two in rubble. 

Stibor finally found the horse stable, “Perenyi! What a creative room, an outside inside.” Perenyi felt too weak to respond but raised his hand. Stibor placed him on his back, “excellent work on Lackfi. Now we escape, the princess has already been rescued.” He heard the building grumbling from this room. He Malleo-blasted the fake sky wall and could see the real outside. Whistling at the horses, they all escaped. 

The fire destroyed the integrity of the castle causing it to crumble as it spread from room to room. As Wenzel headed uphill, Stibor crossed him going down hill. Then Wenzel watched as part of the castle exploded and then the walls seemed to come down. He turned around following Stibor. “Stibor! What has happened?”

“Oh those knights heavily relied on fire. The whole thing is coming down. But the princess should be rescued and so we’ll meet at Tamasi’s magic spot.”

“Yes but Sigismund and Jan? They were fighting the Horvat brothers.”

“It looked successful when I saw him, we should see him there.”

He was not there. Kurjakovic said, “you could’ve brought him!”

“Well it looked like he simply needed to finish off priest Horvat,” Stibor said. “But whatever, I’ll go back and grab him.”

“Wait, you don’t have to journey so much,” Tamasi said. “I marked the front door of the castle just in case.”

“Then teleport with me, Hermit.”

“Please, me too,” Garai said.

“Sure, but be on guard.”

So they teleported over. The castle completely crumbled by now. A large pile of still burning rubble with some of the walls still up. They stepped through it carefully. The walls of the cafeteria were still up. There, Sigismund rose out from some rocks. He was bleeding from the top of his head and he bruised in other areas. “Lajos, he was way stronger within my vantage-state than I thought.” Ivan was standing across the room from him with his arms crossed holding a steady glare. Ivan was slightly bruised with some tears running down his face. “Yo Horvat, you numbnut.” 

“I guess I’ll forgive you, we both hurt each other’s brother. And I mean to kill you regardless, it won’t be an act of revenge.”

“Good to hear. I’m totally happy to hear you still want to fight.” 

“Hmph. Don’t break your promise about kicking my ass.”

Garai was the first to pass into the cafeteria. “King Sigismund!”

“Another?” Ivan asked. He pounced at Garai much like a tiger. Garai froze in fear. Then came Sigismund with a flying kick knocking Ivan back to the ground. Ivan rolled away. Sigismund landed with the sound of bones breaking and he collapsed to his knees. 

“Oh please tell me you have a potion of some kind, Garai.”

“Just my spear sir!” He joined the side of Sigismund. 

“…no, you have to fight like me.”

“Huh?”

“Put the spear away. And no potions after all.” Sigismund looked around the room. “We’ll win, just do what I do.” Then he whispered to Garai.

Ivan repeated the illusionary army technique the same as before. Sigismund and Garai stood back to back. The Ivans pushed forward. They weaved and dodged between each image, “don’t touch a single one”, acting like any could’ve been Ivan. But as Garai evaded the various kicks and punches, he had to follow Sigismund’s path around the room. “Don’t stay more than a leap away.” Garai noticed some of the images were slower than the other and they moved in one direction depending on distance. The ones closest to him moved clockwise, the row behind that was counterclockwise, and then after that the Ivans moved clockwise. But sometimes they can move in and out of a row, creating a beehive of Ivans sometimes. So there must be the main Horvat at the center of this mirage. Does Sigismund already know this? He’s moving well through the mess. But the real one has to attack us every so often so we don’t stay suspicious. I feel indeed, he may be right in between us. 

They were close to the priest’s corpse. Time for the plan! Sigismund fired Levo at the corpse and then Garai fired Malleo at it blasting it well out of the ballpark. Now we’re supposed to fight back. Garai equipped his spear as the enraged Ivans descended upon the brothers. He reaped through several images searching for the central Ivan, for the nucleus. Sigismund still pranced around avoiding the Ivans, leading them to be pierced by Garai. 

Stibor and Tamasi stood in a doorway watching this in awe. Tamasi asked, “what exactly is going on?”

“I don’t know but it will decide the kingship.”

After a minute of this, Sigismund slid across the ground and turned away from Garai. Garai was confused as he stabbed another image. Sigismund then leaped toward the circle of ash. An Ivan chased after him. Sigismund almost touched the floor but grabbed his sword still stuck in the wall. Using that as a fulcrum, he was able to swing out of the circle of ash. Ivan fell into it and suddenly stopped. Sigismund pointed back and said, “die, stupid rebel.”

Ivan reached out to him shouting, “you fucking bas-” but then he melted into black ash himself, falling apart into a pile of it. The images mirrored this of course so dozens of dead Ivan ashes surrounded them. Garai and Sigismund stared at each other with completely dropped jaws. 

Stibor and Tamasi landed in between them. “Ah watch out Tamasi, there was a circle of Rosie Ashes. It’ll kill you if you step within its grounds.”

Sigismund exclaimed, “KILL YOU INSTANTLY?? I THOUGHT IT WAS JUST POISON!”

“I mean, it is toxic magic but no human could withstand it for too long.”

“OR LONG AT ALL,” Garai said.

Sigismund pleaded, “listen guys I just didn’t plan for that. When Tamasi teleported away Ivan, I was about to just kill the priest myself but then he protected himself with this and told me it was deadly poison. Just poison! I was gonna beat Ivan if he was simply poisoned.”

“Well, now he’s dead,” Stibor said. “Couldn’t have let him live after all this.”

“I mean yeah but damn.”

“King Sigismund, did you know which was the real Ivan the whole time?”

“Yeah, he smelled. The images can’t copy his smell.”

“Ah.”

Tamasi gave a thumbs up, “good prank, King.”

Sitbor repeated, “good prank, King.”

“Good prank, King,” Garai repeated. 

Sigismund Aspergo-splashed the Rosie Ashes circle and picked up a glass. It was cylindrical with bent glass on the inside. He looked down one end and it was kind of a kaleidoscope. “Thanks.”

The four teleported back to the others. Maria instantly hugged Sigismund, “SIGI! You did come for me!”

“Haha yeah, it was nothing.” 

“I was so distraught, especially because I could not cry in front of my mother who was already crying. She died hating you but at least I know she had love for me.”

“Wow is literally all I can say.”

“Oh can we go back home? I miss the good food and a warm bed. We can sleep together now.”

“I mean it’ll be a long journey but yes, it is almost over. Let’s get married.”

“Yes!”

The others looked on with a loving gaze. Sigismund noticed and shouted, “don’t you guys have something better to do!?”

So they returned to Zagreb on all of those horses. They retold their fights to each other with a much more grandiose fashion than what happened. Nobody could believe it when Wenzel had basically admitted to being pacified by Tvrtko. “But I didn’t want to kill him even before we talked!” They praised Kurjakovic’s strength and validated Busenyo’s weight. In Zagreb, the Durazzo army surrendered after hearing such stories. Government control over Zagreb and northern Croatia was reinstated. 

Sigismund and Maria would finally be married by Cardinal Demetrius. Demetrius also gave them amnesty for killing Bishop Horvat. Elizabeta had a funeral weeks later. The royal couple had a fun honeymoon in Transylvania where they hunted banshees that had recently migrated into the region. The others rested, having enough fun. When they returned, a new council meeting was held with the new people King Sigismund and Queen Maria had appointed. Here, Pippo informed Sigismund that some expenses were shortened by an ‘investment’ from the City of Cilli. “Who the hell did that?” That would be followed with his first Diet where some land was argued between the Kingdom and the nobles. And he promised the Csaki clan and other belligerent nobles that war would be coming soon. “The south is in need of recovering.”