The Unyielding Stag (Game of Thrones AU/Invincible)
Chapter 27: Trial by the Seven Pt. 2

A/N: The Trial by Seven continues!

-x-X-x-

Now he just feels awkward. He'd gone for Brienne because of her size and because he didn't want to go for Loras first, but he hadn't expected her to be a woman. Frankly, finding out that Renly has a woman in his Kingsguard leaves him more than a little baffled. Even as he trades blows with the woman, he finds himself furrowing his brow in consternation.

She's not a bad fighter, this 'Brienne the Blue'. Her skill with a sword is passingly good and she would probably have found a place among the six who were fighting with him today if she were born with a cock and weren't on the wrong side of the battle.

Of course, she's nothing compared to him. And Axel knows he can't let this drag on forever. He's just… loathe to kill a woman, he supposes. It's not very chivalrous, is it? Not very knightly…

Well, nobody said everyone involved in a Trial by the Seven has to die, right? He'll just… disarm her and force her to surrender. It's not even particularly hard once he sets his mind to it. Their swords lock and a moment later Axel wrenches Brienne's blade out of her hands, causing the armored woman to gasp as the steel goes flying. Simple as that.

Pointing his sword at the now unarmed woman, Axel inclines his head.

"You've lost, Lady Brienne. It's time to retire the field."

"NEVER!"

However, he's not expecting the giantess of a woman to lunge at him like she does. Axel has to hastily pull back his sword so she doesn't skewer herself on it, only to find himself drifting to the side to dodge out of the way of her tackle. She's surprisingly fast for her size… but he's faster, even if it means revealing a bit more of his inhuman speed than he'd intended to.

As well, her charge has left Brienne thoroughly imbalanced so really all he has to do is snap out his foot, clip the back of her greaves in just the right way and…

SLAM!

Axel winces a little bit as the warrior woman crashes into the ground, armor and all. Before she can recover, he takes a few steps forward, turns his sword over in his hand, and smacks her helmet with the pommel to knock her out. Fortunately, he's become quite good at nonlethal blows through all that sparring and she slumps bonelessly to the ground a moment later.

Flipping his sword back around, Axel turns away from Brienne to see how the rest of the Trial is going… only to find that his allies have won most of their fights at this point. Most of the brightly colored knights of Renly's Rainbow Guard are on the ground, having lost their duels to the knights that Axel had been honing into weapons for weeks now. Some dead, some not, but all of them are soundly defeated.

For a moment, Axel despairs that this is the state of his Uncle's so-called Champions… but then he sees that all is not lost for Renly. The Knight of Flowers still stands and he's already killed two of Axel's men from the look of things. The other four are trying to encircle him, but all of them seem rightfully weary of Loras Tyrell's skill… and the strange sword he's wielding in his hands.

Axel's eyes narrow as he peers at the rippling patterns across the length of Loras' blade. They're not like anything he's ever seen before, truth be told. Still, he's not too worried. At this point, the Trial is all but won… but even if Axel should probably let his remaining allies hem Loras in to make it a sure thing and hide most of his skill, his pride as a warrior and a knight simply won't allow it.

"Hold!"

All eyes turn towards him as Axel strides forward, beckoning for the four remaining knights on his side to all take a step back. Loras straightens up, glaring at him balefully even as they face off against one another. Grinning toothily, Axel inclines his head in the pretty man's direction.

"I'll deal with him myself."

Axel tunes out the cries from the sidelines at his declaration, Jon's surely among them. Sure, it might seem a little bit foolish when he's already all but won… but unlike Renly, Axel is a King who believes in leading from the front.

Loras' jaw sets as a modicum of respect appears in his otherwise hate filled eyes. He gives Axel a nod, which Axel returns with one of his own. For a moment, everything is still as they face one another… and then the Knight of Flowers lunges forward, his strange-looking sword flashing out.

Axel blocks it easily, though he makes sure to pretend that it's anything but. Although, even as he's holding himself back and matching Loras' strength and speed, he notices that his own sword isn't holding up as well as Loras' is.

Hang on a second… is that Valyrian Steel? Axel had only heard of the miraculous metal to be honest. He'd never gotten the chance to witness it with his own eyes so he's not sure what it's supposed to look like but the way its chipping his own sword while taking no discernable damage reminds him of what he'd been told about the stuff.

But House Tyrell didn't have a Valyrian Steel Sword. Neither did House Baratheon. So where the fuck had Loras Tyrell gotten one? Was it on loan or something? Seeming to notice Axel's building confusion, Loras flashes him a cheeky, smug grin.

"I see you've finally realized what this sword is, bastard. My King gifted me this Valyrian Steel Blade specifically so that I could kill you with it and put an end to this farce once and for all."

That just left Axel with more questions. Where had Renly Baratheon found a Valyrian Steel Sword? They were said to be some of the rarest, most valuable things in the world.

Not that it matters too much. Axel will still win. He just needs to spend a little bit more time making it look close before he-

White-hot pain lances through him as Loras does something Axel isn't expecting and then strikes low with his sword, a maneuver that even Axel doesn't fully see coming, perhaps because he's not taking this seriously enough. The Valyrian Steel Sword in the Knight of Flowers' grasp lances out in that single moment of inattention and cuts upon Axel's inner thigh.

To be fair, Loras managing to land a blow isn't that surprising. He's easily the best swordsman that Axel has ever sparred. Even if he doesn't have Axel's speed or strength, he clearly has experience and skill to make up with it. Or rather, he does when Axel is holding back as much as he is, trying not to be too blatantly obvious about his unnatural nature.

The surprising part, however… is that Loras Tyrell draws blood. Axel has been cut at by other men before. He's been slashed, smashed, and bashed at. Indeed, he's had all manner of injury attempted upon his person. But the key word there is 'attempted'.

Maybe when he was younger, he bled a few times. Got some scrapes and bruises. But truth be told, those times are so far in the past that he barely remembers them. In the last several years, no blade has been able to cut Axel's skin. No mace has been able to bruise his flesh or break his bones. Nothing has managed to hurt Axel Baratheon… until right now.

He drops to a knee, grunting as he feels something hot traveling down his inner thigh. Not piss, he finds himself thinking… but blood. He's bleeding. For the first time in as long as Axel Baratheon can remember, he's bleeding. Profusely at that.

Surprisingly, Loras Tyrell doesn't capitalize on the successful strike. Instead, he stands there looming over Axel, smirking down at him.

"Rosethorn always finds her mark, I'm afraid. It's over, bastard."

"He's right!"

Renly's voice calls out over the sudden silence, everyone frozen in shock at what's just happened.

"It's over, Axel! That sort of injury… you'll bleed out in minutes if you're not treated. Even if the rest of your men take down my Lord Commander, you'll still be dead. Surrender and swear to take the Black and on my word as King, I will make sure that you survive!"

He really is losing a lot of blood, at least for a bit there. Axel's vision swims for a moment… before stabilizing. And the flow of hot liquid coming from the cut on his thigh… begins to slow to a crawl. Both Loras and Renly sounded so sure of themselves too. Perhaps they were just mistaken. Or perhaps this is just another way in which Axel is unnatural and inhuman.

At the same time, he can't help but find Renly's words ridiculous. Sure, he might die here… but if his remaining knights beat Loras, then Renly's claim to the throne is also forfeit and Stannis would become the King of the Seven Kingdoms, as was his right. The thought that Axel would be so craven as to surrender in such a scenario, just to save his own life… it made him want to laugh.

It shouldn't surprise Axel that Renly sounds as though he would continue fighting even in the event that he lost the Trial but Axel died. And yet, it still does surprise him, just a little bit. However, it also doesn't matter, does it? Because Axel isn't dying. Not today.

"I refuse."

He bats Loras' blade away from his face with a gauntleted hand, catching the Knight of Flowers off guard as he staggers to his feet. Loras' eyes widen even as he tightens his grip on his sword and takes a quick step back, clearly surprised by Axel's sudden recovery. All around them, wide eyes make it clear that everyone else is similarly shocked, including Renly.

Grinning toothily, Axel lifts his blade up and cocks a single brow, pretending to sway for a moment as though he's still hurt. But the truth is… while the wound to his inner thigh still pains him, he can already tell it's no longer life-threatening. Or rather, it never WAS life-threatening. Something like that… isn't going to kill someone like him.

Renly buys Axel's little swaying act though, hook, line, and sinker. Feigning sadness, he sighs and waves his hand.

"End it, Loras."

Loras prepares to do so, only to pause when Axel's remaining knights all take a step forward as if to assist him. But Axel wards them off with a held up hand.

"Stay back. This is still my fight to win or lose."

To win, more like. Because… he's not fucking playing around anymore. After making sure he wasn't about to fight five on one, Loras clenches his jaw and moves in again, that Valyrian Steel Sword of his ready to try and do damage once again.

But this time around, Axel is ready for it. This time around, Axel knows that thing can hurt him and he's not about to let that happen a second time. Dodging rather than blocking, Axel ramps up his speed… and becomes untouchable. He imagines it must appear rather amazing from the outside looking in, though even now he's not using his full strength or speed. Even now, he's still holding back.

Loras Tyrell really is a phenomenal warrior. For all that he looks like a woman, for all that he's on the wrong side of this conflict, Axel can nevertheless respect his skill with the blade. Unfortunately for him, simple skill isn't enough when up against whatever Axel was.

That beautiful Valyrian Steel Sword, named 'Rosethorn' of all things apparently, swings through the air again and again, but Axel is never where it lands. He dances around Loras with ease, always ahead of the other knight. He's reading Loras' movements now, seeing where he's going to be before he's even halfway there.

Despite landing first blood, the Knight of Flowers gets more and more frustrated as nothing he does works. More than that though, he begins to get exhausted. It's no surprise. He fought and killed two men even before getting to Axel, and a normal man like Loras could only fight for so long before his stamina began to ran out. He was getting more and more tired by the moment. And a tired man is a man who makes mistakes.

Axel waits for the right opportunity… and when it comes, he relieves Loras of both his Valyrian Steel Sword and his sword hand. The Lord Commander of the Rainbow Guard overextends, one hand leaving the sword's hilt as he throws out a desperate thrust with all of his body behind it. And Axel is there to take advantage.

His own sword, nicked to all hell from trading blows with Valyrian Steel, flashes out and separates Loras' hand from his body. Both his hand and 'Rosethorn' go flying through the air as a result, but Axel is there to catch them, much to the shock of the crowd.

Peeling Loras' fingers off of the handle of the Valyrian Steel Sword and tossing the hand to the ground is slightly grisly work, admittedly. Axel nevertheless has it done by the time Loras crashes to his knees in shock, his mind just starting to catch up to what's been done to him.

As blood spurts from the stump and Loras kneels before him in a stupor, Axel places both his sword and the Valyrian Steel at cross sections on either side of Loras' neck. He's more than ready to cut the man's head from his body… but pausing all the same to look past the Knight of Flowers.

There, half-risen from his chair with horror in his eyes, Renly Baratheon looks downright horrified by what's just happened. His Queen, Loras' sister, looks just as distraught… and its Margaery's expression that solidifies an idea Axel has been playing with even as he played with Loras Tyrell.

"I give you the same offer, Uncle. The Trial is won. By me. Surrender, swear to take the Black along with Ser Loras here, and I will spare his life as well as the lives of those who fought valiantly for you and still yet draw breath."

Axel isn't sure how many of the Rainbow Guard are still alive admittedly, but he makes the offer all the same, knowing full well that the only one that Renly even remotely cares about is on his knees in front of him.

"… Y-Yes… yes, I accept your offer. I surrender. I will take the Black, I-I… I…"

As his treacherous uncle stutters and stammers, Axel feels nothing but disgust for the man. His Queen on the other hand… once Renly has agreed, Margaery jerks up from her own seat, rushing forward to Loras' side. Axel pulls back the swords he's holding in each hand to give the beautiful young woman room, watching as she uses her own dress to cover Loras' stump and try to staunch the blood flow.

He would… probably live. Axel would ask whoever was in charge of things to try and make sure of it. Meanwhile, with this, the war was over. Men were dead, but far fewer than would have been otherwise if not for this Trial. And Axel Baratheon… had won.

The High Septon comes forward once more to make it official, flanked by his guards just like before.

"This Trial by the Seven is concluded! Axel Baratheon, the First of his Name, King of the Andals and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms, and Protector of the Realm… stands victorious! All Hail King Axel Baratheon!"

The four remaining knights who fought on Axel's side don't hesitate to take up the cheer… and so does everyone else, soon enough. The only ones not to are Renly, Loras, and Margaery, the former slumping back in his chair in defeat and the latter two more focused on Loras' injury.

Axel, meanwhile, stares down at the rippling pattern of the Valyrian Steel Sword he's currently holding and can't help but wonder at it. After so long of feeling like he wasn't human, he'd finally found something that could hurt him.

… He's not sure how to feel about that fact, truth be told. But at least Renly's rebellion was over. It had ended not with a bang, but a whimper. And Axel was perfectly alright with that.

-x-X-x-

A/N: Renly is defeated and the war is over. Three chapters left in Arc Two and then it'll be time for Arc Three~

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