There were many small islands dotting the fringes of mainland Aizen.

Some actually had the privilege of being included in simple maps shown to children when they were taught about the kingdom's basic geography. Most didn't, as it turned out. Which would have been a disappointing fact for those who lived there if there were people who lived there. The islands were quite literally uninhabited and undeveloped. Ordinary citizens weren't even allowed to go to them — not that they had any reason to. There was nothing there.

Of course, for some, having nothing there provided a certain appeal in and of itself.

"Weee! Look at this, I found a crab!"

"These trees look weird!"

"These coconuts look even wierder!"

"No, they're not coconuts! Coconuts are brown. Look at those, they're green!"

"They are coconuts, dummy. Go ask grandpa!"

Under the shade of tall coconut trees, an elderly man and an elderly woman sat on a laid-out blanket. An expanse of white sand and water lay before them, where dozens of children ran around here and there, excited about everything. For anyone watching, it seemed to be nothing but a warm scene of an old couple watching over their many, many grandchildren.

But it wasn't.

"Ancestor," the elderly woman frowned and looked at the old man right next to her. "You should really start fixing how the kids address you."

The old man chuckled, rolling his wrist as if it wasn't a big deal. "I like being called grandpa. It makes me feel young again."

"But it's wrong. You're turning 800 soon, aren't you?"

"Yes, but I am technically their grandfather, no? There's simply a number of greats attached to it. You used to call me grandpa when you were a kid too, Eleanor."

Eleanor sighed and shook her head, her wrinkles deepening as she muttered to herself. "It's like talking to a brick. Honestly, maybe a brick's better. At least it wouldn't talk back."

"Talking back to each other is the essence of conversation, my dear." The man leaned against a coconut tree's trunk and closed his eyes, taking in the sea breeze. "This place is nice, no? Your brother used to love it when I took them here."

"Yes, and that's why he drowned in a fishing trip gone wrong." Eleanor dryly commented. It had been such a long time ago that she felt fine joking about it now. Or perhaps that was because she felt her own death nearing? She didn't know. But all the same, she felt thankful that their ancestor brought her and the children here to play. "Thank you, grandfather."

"What?" The old man leaned over with a frown, cupping his ear. "I didn't quite catch that. Say that again."

Eleanor rolled her eyes. "Don't try that on me. I know you'd hear me even if I was at Lightharbor."

"That's a bit too far, my dear. We're in the far southwest. Even the Sword Star can't hear that far."

"In any case, thank you for taking me and the kids all the way out here, Ancestor." Eleanor intoned, placing specific emphasis on the last word and earning a chuckle from the old man. "What brought this on? You suddenly felt like crossing the country and sightseeing on an island we're probably not allowed to be on?"

"It's fine. Fine, I tell you." her ancestor smiled widely and held her hand, gripping it tightly. "I simply wanted you to get out as much as you can before you can't anymore."

Eleanor's brows rose for a beat, but then she sighed. "Of course, you would find out."

"Well, I have this thing where I can hear very far, you see."

The two of them enjoyed a moment of silence before the old man spoke again, though, with a much more feeble and serious tone this time. "What is it? The cause, I mean."

"Nothing. I'm as healthy as I can be at this age, ancestor." Eleanor smiled. "It's just, well, when you normally get this old, some of the stuff inside apparently starts not working. I don't really understand what the priests say sometimes."

"Organ failure. Happened to your grandfather and your uncle." The old man nodded in understanding, his grip on her hand growing warmer. "I heard they can do something about it. The church, I mean. If it's money, you know you can always ask me. I have more than I know what to do with."

"Ancestor, how do you think I lived to a hundred and forty as a baker?" She chuckled. "My sons have already been pitching in, not that it's all that expensive. Kind folks, those priests. I'm sure they would've done it for me even if I only had yeast and lard to give. Could've paid for it myself, actually, but they wouldn't shut up about it so I let them. Because of that, I've been undergoing the ceremony at the church. Every year, I go back. Must've been doing it for twenty years? I can't remember."

"I see... And it stopped working?"

Eleanor nodded, her face serene. "That's how it apparently is. A person can only undergo the treatment so many times until it stops working. It’ll be some time before I see any effects. But for me, the legs are apparently the first that’ll go. Then the eyes. Then everything else, all at once."

A long silence followed her words, but it only lasted between them. The joyous squeals and excited yowling of the children pleasantly echoed outward into the sea, lulling them into a sense of peace.

"Ancestor?"

"Yes, Ellie?"

Eleanor smiled sweetly at the affectionate name. How long since she last heard it? She could no longer remember. Without her notice, her hands tightened around the old man's, and the ancestor did not miss the way she trembled.

"Were they scared? Father, Mother, and the ones before them... Were they scared? When their time came."

The old man held her hand with both of his and nodded. "Yes. They were. They all were."

"I see..." Eleanor looked into her ancestor's wizened eyes. "Then I'm not the strange one, hm?"

She couldn't fathom living for as long as he, seeing all the things he saw. Perhaps her own fate was not as bad as she thought, then. With a peaceful expression, she returned her attention back to what really mattered. To what would be left behind. "Thank you for bringing the kids too, grandpa."

The old man smiled and let go of her, yet he remained close. Like a guardian. Or a guide. "It's nothing. It's the least I can do."

"You say that, but we really shouldn't be here."

"Oh, I already said it's fine. There's nothing classified here." The old man casually gestured at the surroundings. "They just don't want people to come here by boat. They're rare, but some fishies in these parts are very dangerous."

"...I assume you've taken care of anything dangerous by now. Some of the kids are already in the water."

"Of course, I have. You worry too much."

Eleanor sighed, though truly, she hadn't been that worried. She didn't know how strong of a knight their Ancestor was, since he always kept an insurmountable line between work and private life, but the fact that they could flout laws so blatantly was very telling. "Ancestor, when are you returning to service? My sons and grandkids don't even know you're a knight. They just think you're an old man with too much time on his hands."

"Is that really what they think about me...!?"

"Well, no. Some think you're a secret agent or whatever it's called. They read it in a book somewhere."

"No, that’s Sir Valter and Sir Lamorak, not me…" The old man sighed wearily. “But I suppose it’s better than thinking I’m some unemployed old coot.”

Eleanor giggled in amusement. “Well, why not just tell them?”

“Why should I? I had two hundred years' worth of days off to spend. The information was irrelevant.”

For some knights, especially those that had to work out of the nation itself or just generally far away from any cities, you would have to work a month or even a year consecutively. However, you would get a very long period of off time to do whatever you pleased after.

The old man hadn’t cashed any of his in for centuries. As such, he had inevitably piled up quite a lot. One day, he had simply realized that Aizen was doing well enough on its own that he could probably afford to take a very long break and spend it with the reason he fought so hard in the first place — his family.

Well, his original family was all dead now. But he had descendants. And they were all adorable. They were great.

They would also be dead by the time he consumed all the days off he had leftover. Proud as he was to be a knight, he didn’t want any of his family to have anything to do with the business.

He wanted them to live ordinary lives. With ordinary happiness. And with perfectly ordinary endings.

The best way to do that was to never let them know they had a knight in the family at all. It had worked for the past few centuries. And he had no reason to think it would stop at this point.

“By the way…” The old man stroked his chin, which was utterly hairless because kids never liked his stubble. “I heard you bought a house in one of those… undercities, or whatever they’re called. How is that going?”

“Oh, it’s lovely. You should come see it sometimes.”

“I imagine living underground isn’t very healthy.”

“On the contrary, I actually feel better there than in my old house.” Eleanor took out a napkin to wipe a bead of sweat on her forehead. “Maybe it’s because there are priests everywhere? They have these things called sun baths and it’s amazing.”

The old man hummed in thought as he lazily waved a hand, adjusting the nearby trees to let more of the sea breeze catch them. “Tell me more.”

“I’ve handed over the bakery to my daughter so I’ve taken up gardening to pass the time. And this family from Arkhan moved into this big house across the street.”

“Arkhan? The republic?”

Eleanor nodded. “Nice family. Can’t speak a lick of English though. And I don’t know Arkhanian either.”

The old man rolled his eyes. “How can you tell they’re nice when you can’t understand each other?”

“Well, in the mornings, I sit on my porch and watch people pass by.”

“Ah, the age-old hobby of people-watching. You’re as much of a gossip as your mother. The neighbors must tread carefully around you.”

“Oh, shush. I’m telling a story.” Eleanor slapped her ancestor’s thigh, shutting the old man up. “Now, where was I… Ah, so there are five of them, see? Two old women, an old man, and a young couple.”

“Not an entirely weird combination. The young couple probably got married and took their parents in. Bless them for not leaving their folks somewhere. One’s missing though, so one of the fathers must have died at some point.”

Arkhan didn’t practice conscription during warfare, leaving the grunt work to golems. Golems didn’t need to be fed and they were also much more accurate with guns than humans. They were perfect fodder when fighting the empire. On the other hand, knights could practically ignore them with their armor. Battlemages were the only threat to Aizen's forces when conflict with the republic ensued.

‘Not that I would know. I’ve never been deployed there.’

The old man was much more intimate with how the empire fought than the republic. Though, maybe that’s because there weren’t a lot of conflicts between the two. On the few times that there had been fighting, he hadn’t needed to step in.

“That might be it, yes.” Eleanor bobbed her head in agreement. “But get this, ancestor. I think they’re someone important.”

“And how do you know that?”

“Because I saw a knight visiting them.”

The old man cocked an eyebrow. “A knight…? Did you know them? Or were they in full regalia, perhaps?”

“No, but…” Eleanor paused to think about it, before seemingly finding an answer. “It’s the way they walk. It’s different than other people.”

“The way they walk…?” Ancestor chuckled. “So even a baker can tell knights apart from civilians. And just by their gait, no less. Truly, the world is ending.”

“A baker that’s spent her whole life with a knight, yes.”

“...Hm. Alright, I’ll give you that.”

Just as the old man began to come up with a witty reply, he suddenly stood up. And at that moment, at that very second, all signs of frailness or age vanished.

“I’m sending you all back.”

“What are you—” Eleanor began, but before she even finished her words, she and all the children were gone, instantaneously transported somewhere safe.

A coat of steel plate coated the man as he looked into the distance, where a storm was starting to form. Naturally, he didn’t give a crap about storms. But this one wasn’t a natural one.

And it was moving.

The old knight took a step forward, pinching the very fabric of space to temporarily close the distance between where he was and where he wanted to go. And just before his foot touched the sand, he was somewhere else.

He was in the middle of a vast expanse of water just within the territory of the kingdom, his feet floating freely a few meters above it. With but a thought, he flew up to get a better view.

And soon, he wasn’t the only person there.

“Good day, Sir…?”

The old man didn’t even need to look behind him to know that there were ten other Ascendants floating behind him, all geared up in the exact same armor he was wearing—though with quite a bit less decorations. That said, they didn’t need to look at each other at all. Because their perception was already crashing into one another, and it was that familiar trace of a soul armament that immediately told them they were sensing an ally.

“Who is the quadrant overseer for this quarter?” the old man asked no one in particular.

“It is I, senior.” One of the knights flew to his side and spoke up. “Should I defer command to you?”

“No, keep it. I’m off-duty. Have you sent for word?”

“Yes, I have. Sir...”

The old man hesitated to give his name, but if things went awry, combat may be joined. And he would have to fight with these men. And women, he realized, as there were two women among the ten behind him. Such thick armor tended to hide gender.

‘Well, may as well. Wouldn’t want them to insist on staying with me when I order them to leave me behind.’

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

If they knew who he was, they would be less inclined to think he was angling for some heroic last stand. When really, he wasn’t.

“You may know me as… the Everpresent.”

There was a stir. There always was, whenever he revealed who he was. It was unpleasant, if he was being honest. He couldn’t fathom why people lauded him so much. Why they gave him so much more respect than he deserved.

The old man was just a man with a family. A man who liked his hometown. A man who liked his nation and all its bad traits, few as they were.

He was just a knight.

And that was all he needed to be.

“Can you all sense it?” The Everpresent gestured at the ever-expanding dark clouds, and the increasingly violent waves.

All the knights made various noises of agreement.

“Must be eighty… no, ninety? A hundred? More are coming.”

“Half of those are spirit beasts.”

“You never know, some of ‘em might have two pets.”

“D’you think Arkhan’s finally gone mad? Why would they attack us from the sea? Everything on the shores is fortified.”

“Everything’s fortified, Jerry. Not just the shores. They’d have a harder time going through the mountains since it borders the empire. Shores are their only choice, if they suddenly want to assault us.”

“Hey, Brian. You really have to fix the way you talk like everyone other than you is an idiot.”

“I don’t think everyone other than me is an idiot. I just think you’re an idiot.”

“The fuck…!?”

The Everpresent listened to his younger colleagues’ words and nodded. It seemed they still had the composure to banter. A good thing. He used to be a mouthy bastard too, back in the day. That had to stop when he almost got punched in the mouth for it, but these boys and girls hadn’t learned that lesson yet.

They would. And the Everpresent wouldn’t ruin the surprise.

Brian, who was the knight overseer of this area cleared his throat and turned toward the Everpresent. “Senior, may we count on your aid should blows be struck?”

“Of course.”

“And if they cross the border…”

“Then we kill everyone who crosses.” the Everpresent answered immediately and without hesitation. “There can be no tolerance for suddenly bringing a horde of Ascendants across the border.”

One or two. Maybe even three or four. If it was just that, then at most, there’d be an argument before the intruders were told to fuck off or go through official channels to cross the border.

Such a large amount of Ascendants was intolerable, however. That could not be anything but an act of war. It was like bringing bombs to a neighbor’s birthday party. And if Aizen let them do it once without retaliation, the enemy would know that they could do it again. Even if the knights here bled and died for it, they could not let foreign nations have such a misconception.

‘Don’t you fucking dare step foot in my home.’

The Everpresent fists clenched and he could feel it — the rage and passion that he had set aside whenever he took off the armor.

“There’s something there.” one of the knights murmured as he gestured at the waters below.

“He’s a water elementalist, senior," Brian explained to the Everpresent, who didn’t know any of the others. "A pretty damned good one too. The only guy we could spare since most of the good ones are in that place.”

The Everpresent nodded, understanding that he was talking about the underwater citadel that the previous king started establishing, not the accursed lands that could only be accessed through a portal in the heart of Aizen.

“Where is it?” The old knight asked.

“My apologies. It’s not hiding well enough for it to completely slip past me, but it’s skilled enough that I can’t pinpoint it. It'll probably beat me if I go in there alone too.”

“But do you know a general area, young man?”

The water elemental knight gestured at a specific area below them. “About eight kilometers below surface level. It’s going deeper and will cross the sea border soon.”

“Then it is a trespasser.” The Everpresent spat. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a battlemage or some monster.”

Brian made a noise of agreement. “We’ll kill it. Whatever it is. What say you, senior?”

The Everpresent agreed with the decision, turning toward the water elementalist. “Kindly tell me when it crosses. I will stop it. Please help me kill it if it resists.”

“Yes, senior.”

A few seconds of silence passed as they waited. And as they did, the number of battlemages they could sense over the horizon grew.

“By Sormon’s Light, did they bring all their silver cloaks here?” Brian muttered, the shock in his voice loud and clear.

Fear, on the other hand, was not. It was there, undoubtedly, but the knight must have pushed it down for now.

‘Good lad.’

As an old hand, it was always good to see that good seeds continued to be sown in the lands of his people.

“Senior—”

The Everpresent did not wait for the knight to finish their words, immediately punching out with his right.

And as if in response, a massive portion of the sea simply vanished.

Right in the middle was a gigantic tunnel to the seafloor, the water that used to occupy it gone without a trace. Fish, monsters, and everything else were left behind, trying to swim in the air but failing. It was as if reality was a drawing and someone had an eraser that could only erase the blue parts.

And the Everpresent simply erased all the water between his spot and the bottom of the sea.

A second later, gravity took hold and all the fish and monsters started to plummet toward the bottom of the abyss. The walls of water around the tunnel began to collapse as the sea tried to refill what was lost.

‘There you are.’

No matter how good a water elementalist was at concealing their presence in the water, they would be unable to do so if there was no water to hide in. And the veteran knight understood that.

The Everpresent clawed at the air and grabbed something far away, pinching the fabric of space between his arm and his target and delivering the intruder straight into his grasp. A blink of an eye was all it took for what appeared to be a young girl to appear, her neck firmly held in his fingers.

“Good lord…” Brian muttered from the side, sending a glance at the swirling vortex below. “So that’s why they call you a god, senior.”

“A god…? Me?” The Everpresent snorted, restricting the mysterious girl’s body by taking away the space right outside of her skin, making her as still as a statue. She was an Ascendant, he knew, so she didn’t need the air. Beings made of energy like them did not need such mundane things. “You haven’t been paying attention to the Sword Star, hm?”

All the knights chuckled. Every Ascendant Knight would have already become familiar with the Sword Star, after all. Compared to that man, truly, nobody in Aizen could hold their head high.

“Name, girl?” The Everpresent turned toward their prisoner. “So we can put a name on the grave we won’t be using. Because there won’t be a body.”

Despite the intruder’s young appearance, the Everpresent remained cold and ruthless. He knew that appearances could be deceiving. Mordred, that insidious little shit, had stolen a few sparring wins from him by taking advantage of the fact that his bloodline recently welcomed a baby girl.

He would not make that mistake again.

Male or female, young or old, pretty or ugly. All were equal under the wrath of his passion.

“...!” the girl spoke, but in a language he could not recognize. Still, his threat seemed to have been received since she didn’t try to resist.

“Ah, she’s speaking Isarian. It’s one of the languages in Pentagoria.” A knight at the back suddenly spoke up, earning the gaze of the others. She shrunk back from their attention. “What? I took language studies before I became a knight…”

The Everpresent nodded, incredibly satisfied that his nation had knights capable of speaking multiple languages just lying around randomly. “May I know what she said?”

“She asked for help, senior.”

“Help…?”

“They’re coming,” Brian reminded them, though nobody needed it. Everyone was ready for the swarm of battlemages flying toward them. “The moment they cross, we strike. No questions asked. No warnings.”

The others all grunted in understanding and the Everpresent was the same. It was a bit difficult, but he sent the prisoner all the way to Grimharbor Penitentiary.

And just as he did, the storm clouds on the horizon vanished.

‘This is all very confusing…’

Regardless, he was still a knight. And a knight had to be the shield that guarded the realm of his people, as well as the sword that slayed its enemies. That was his role. That was his duty. That was his privilege.

And that was what he would do.

It did not take long for the host of Arkhanian battlemages to get within sight range. Thankfully, it didn’t seem like they were here to declare war or trespass. All of their spirit beasts were either gone or unfused with their masters. Additionally, they had all stopped a respectable distance from the actual border, giving the knights plenty of space to see just how many battlemages there were.

‘Six hundred…’

He was quite sure that wasn’t all the Ascendants the Tower possessed. But that wasn’t a number that was mobilized casually. Aizen would only do that if the king was stepping foot in the Outlands or something of similar import.

In any case, the odds of eleven knights dealing with six hundred battlemages didn’t even need to be discussed. Even if the Everpresent was… well, present, then it would hardly matter. Maybe he could take on a hundred by himself. But that still left five hundred against ten. A depressing ratio of 50:1 wasn’t possible even for knights, who were used to fighting multiple enemies at once.

‘Escape, then.’

The Everpresent immediately decided to escape if the situation escalated. If there was a chance for victory, he would have fought to the last man. He would have danced like the madman that he was and taken as many of his enemies with him to hell.

But as it stood, he and the other younglings would be smothered without trouble.

Losing his life here would serve no purpose or meaning. And it would not benefit his nation in any way.

‘I should be able to take these kids with me. There’s only ten.’

They would fall back and wait for reinforcements before striking out. He had coincidentally met Sir Bedivere and Sir Gareth at Lightharbor earlier, so he had two more of the Twelve Helms coming as reinforcements. Three, because Sir Bors was permanently stationed in Fort Magellan.

That would mean in a few more minutes, four of the Twelve Helms would muster. And a ton of other knights too.

‘Agh, I hate that name…’

He wished it had never caught on. Now all his fellow knight colleagues looked at him like he was special, when he wasn’t.

“Greetings.”

Though far away, everybody present could easily hear everybody else from such a distance. One in particular walked forward from the massive swarm of mages.

And most notably, he was wearing gold-rimmed robes instead of those coats that battlemages usually wore into battle. An almost criminally young face peaked out of a dark purple hood, and all sorts of glowing runes were orbiting around him.

‘The Gold Cloak is here…? And it's a different one than the one Gawain almost killed… ’

The Everpresent felt his spine run cold, quickly shoving his apprehension aside. Certainly, the Gold Cloak was a formidable figure, but he was a figure that could bleed. And if he could kill it, then he would. Because there was nothing he could not reach.

Brian the young knight overseer looked toward him for guidance, like some lost child. It was an action that would have warranted censure if not for the sheer absurdity of the current situation — the most powerful battlemage under the Sage King was here with a small army of Ascendants.

This was most definitely not something on his level to handle.

The Everpresent sighed. “Defer command to me.”

“Yes, senior.” Brian's armored head eagerly nodded, his relief could almost be felt from beneath his helm. “I defer command.”

“Right. I’ll talk with our guest.”

The Everpresent held back another sigh as he flew forward a little, signaling that he was representing Aizen in this… whatever it was. It did not seem to be an invasion, at least. He did not know what to make of it.

‘Probably has something to do with the girl I just chucked into prison.’

“Greetings, friend from Aizen.” The Gold Cloak spoke in fluent English, his voice even and beautiful. “I am the Gold Cloak. You may simply call me Gold. And you are…?”

The Everpresent licked his teeth in thought before eventually answering. “I am Lancelot.”

The young-looking mage’s brows rose. “The Everpresent? In the flesh? Goodness, what an honor. I was raised on stories of what you did in Argonia. I didn’t think it was possible to just erase cities.”

‘Son of a… Even foreigners know it?’

This was just one of the reasons why he didn’t like all the titles. There were at least a dozen people named Lancelot in the order. Everyone wanted their son to have a hero's name, after all. If his title didn’t exist, enemies would have confused him for some of the others from time to time, splitting the accomplishments and the attention. But because of his title, all his accomplishments were credited to him, creating a surprisingly detailed profile.

“Enough.” Lancelot snapped. “Why are you here? And with such a large retinue.”

“Yes, well, about that…” The Gold Cloak chuckled sheepishly. “We were initially confining our activities in our own territory, see? But the wench we were chasing ran off to your side of the border.”

“We’ve met.”

“Oh, I don’t doubt that. I saw the giant hole in the sea.” The Gold Cloak gestured below, where the body of water and the border between their two nations was drawn with invisible ink. “And you caught the wench. Thank you dearly for taking the trouble, I’ll be sure to send a very finely worded letter of thanks in response to your kind and generous aid to our humble nation.”

Lancelot crossed his arms and snorted. “She has illegally trespassed. Hence, she is a criminal and will be judged by our laws.”

“And what does your nation do with illegal trespassers again…?”

“They die.”

“That would certainly be a problem for us.” The Gold Cloak was still smiling but Lancelot could practically feel the air tense with a power he wasn’t familiar with. “She is still a beloved child of the republic, after all.”

“Lies. She spoke Isarian. Not Arkhanian.”

“Ah, that is because she has an affliction where even though she means to speak Arkhanian, it comes out as Isarian. It’s a truly unfortunate condition, it truly is. Turns people all funny in the head. Contagious too, which was why we wanted to catch her before she spread it, see? Aren’t we nice? Could you please just hand her over so you don’t catch her stupid too?”

“Cut the bullshit and fuck off.” Lancelot rumbled, his voice deep and powerful. “She broke our laws. She will be punished on our terms.”

“How troublesome…” The Gold Cloak’s smile finally fell away as he furiously swept back his blonde hair, throwing back his hood in the process. But that only lasted for a moment, as he took a deep breath and smiled again. “Look, I know you’re a big strong knight. We all know that. I’m old too, despite my appearance. I heard the stuff you did. But see, I’m a scary bastard too. The difference is that nobody was ever left behind to tell stories about me. Understand?”

“I feel threatened.” Lancelot tilted his head, acting confused. “Am I being threatened?”

“Of course not. See? I’m smiling, aren’t I? It means I’m nice.”

“I see. Nice foreigners shouldn’t be bringing armies with them and being a nuisance at the border.”

“I suppose so.” The Gold cloak silently scanned Lancelot and the other ten knights in the back and chuckled. “Why is it that logically, I know my side will win if it comes to blows. But I still can’t pull the trigger because there’s always that one chance that someone like you will pop up from one of the ten younglings over there? Fucking knights, I swear…”

Lancelot uncrossed his arms in preparation. Declarations like that were usually followed by the start of hostilities.

Fortunately, that did not seem to be the case today.

“Fine. Compromise, then.” The Gold Cloak clapped his hands together and his smile was replaced with a placid expression. “You Aizenians like your death penalties, but sometimes, the trials are delayed, yes?”

Lancelot frowned. “Sometimes.”

“Yes, well, that’s what we want right now. We’re not asking for the prisoner back right now. We just want to negotiate. And to do that, we need her alive. You can chop a few limbs off, I don’t give a rat’s ass. But we need her alive. Kindly deliver that message to your king. We will submit a formal request for extradition through the people’s government. Alright? That’s not against your knightly code of valor, yes? This will benefit Aizen more than another dead corpse in that hellish tower of yours.”

‘They really want her back…’

Internally, Lancelot was relieved that things turned out peacefully. But on the other hand, the other side’s zeal was truly… unsettling. His instincts told him to kill the girl right now, but the Gold Cloak was right.

He was just a knight.

A powerful one, yes. But just a knight.

His job wasn’t to decide things on a national scale. As an Ascendant, he was a strategic resource. A giant exploding sword that can take out cities in a blink. Or a very good shield that can protect a city instead.

Thinking and decision-making were the king’s job. They were absolutely, without a doubt, much better at it than he was. The royal family had proven that for centuries and he believed in them.

“Very well.” Lancelot nodded. “I will inform the king.”

“Thank you, Sir Lancelot.” The Gold Cloak seemed genuinely relieved. “And just in time too. Your friends are here.”

Behind Lancelot, a hundred Ascendants were steadily growing closer. Three of them were particularly familiar.

‘We can take them now.’

A hundred and eleven knights against six hundred battlemages. Those were favorable odds, as far as Lancelot was concerned.

It seemed even the Gold Cloak knew that too, for he spoke fast and turned around. “We’re leaving, everyone. It's time to say goodbye to the friends we made along the way.”

And with that, the entire army turned around and made to leave. For an instant, Lancelot hesitated. If he led a charge here, the others would follow without a word.

But again, he was reminded that he was a knight. His job wasn’t to start wars.

It was to end them.

A few moments later, the reinforcements from Fort Magellan arrived and he was reunited with a few of his old colleagues, bathed in the admiring gazes of his fellow knights.

It left him uncomfortable. Their expectations. Their admiration.

No matter what they said about him, Lancelot knew that he wasn’t special.

In fact, he was the representative of the ordinary.

No elemental affinities. No heavenly gifts of special powers. No lauded bloodline like the one that House Mercer possessed.

He had just been a baker’s son, who wanted to be a knight because he admired the one that always bought bread at their store. There were many difficulties, and he almost didn’t make the cut because he unlocked his qi just before turning thirty. Ascendance came late for him too, judging by his old appearance.

Lancelot the Everpresent was nobody special, despite all the medals and laurels they attached to his name.

Any one of these knights could become like him. Any one of them could become better than he was.

Hell, he wasn’t even the first one to prove it was possible.

Lancelot was just a cheap copy of the Sword Star, who also had no elemental affinities, no heavenly gifts, and no special bloodlines. Rolf was all the proof Lancelot ever needed to know that his hard work would bear fruit. That he wasn’t simply running into the edge of a cliff.

He was nobody special.

He was, in his mind, the second example of what a knight could become if they kept going. His existence was proof that it could be done. That the Sword Star wasn't a unique case. And he was convinced that any knight could achieve what he achieved.

A knight.

Lancelot was simply a knight, taken to the extremes.

And that was all he ever needed to be.