My head… what just happened? What are these sounds… these voices? I can… I can see something. This place… a black castle… it looks so different… I don’t remember this place at all. I’m on my knees? The floor… there’s a sword lying next to me… urk… something must’ve gone wrong… this sword is mine. The roaring lion on its guard… mom gave me this sword. Why… why is it not broken?
That faint azure glow from its blade is still there too, and… my… eye… my eye hurts. There’s something missing… but I can’t… exactly tell… how am I seeing this? My head is killing me… when did this happen? Why am I on the floor? Where is this place? Do I… want to remember this?
Center of the Deadlands: 936, December 31st, Monday, 10:30 AM.
“H… how…” King’s startled eyes looked into the shadow that concealed the eyes of his opponent, the same foe whose strength became immortalized by many tales and legends.
There was no emotion behind the knight’s expression, who exhibited an identical look to the giant’s own subordinates from Paradise. He stood firmly behind Bloodhound, as they remained frozen at the sight of his commanding presence, uttering not a word, or making a single movement. The dread caused by the silent knight chased the crimson fog away, as even the Deadlands itself seemed afraid of the tranquil man.
“Harumi?” Tori repeated, having heard the lieutenant’s whispering words. “Who… is he?”
“You know this guy!” Eric failed to keep his voice low, reaching the limits of his wits.
“N-no… I just…”
“…”
“…!” Bloodhound flinched at the sudden movement of the knight.
His steps slow and heavy, the figure ignored the dumbfounded members of Claire’s group, and begin his slow pursuit of King. The daemon’s body shudder repeatedly, putting every ounce of his strength just to move a finger, but to no avail, paralyzed by the power that the tiny girl of Bloodhound somehow possessed.
“You…” he whispered. “You are dead…”
The knight walked in closer to King, raising his gaze slightly to meet the eyes of the petrified giant. He pressed his fingers into a tight fist—refusing to utter a single sound through it all, and with a powerful elbow to the daemon’s chest, he managed to break him free from the chains that held his pathway captive—the force of his attack pushing him backwards with stumbling steps.
“What!” Scott yelled, nearly dropping his glasses with the abrupt motion of his head.
“H-he is free!” Tori expressed with quivering words.
“…” the odd actions of the knight drew a quiet gasp from between King’s lips, who lowered his gaze to look at his massive hands—stretching his fingers to confirm his recovered mobility.
A sigh of relief escaped him, gulping down as sweat kept crawling down his drenched face. However, despite the fortunate turn of events, the man’s unknown intentions became clear in just an instant, as the giant was met by the aggressive assault of his adversary’s knuckles.
“Urgh!” crimson red splattered all over King’s face, as his nose and lips erupted into a splash of blood at contact with the knight’s fist.
The sheer force behind his attack propelled the daemon further away, tearing a hole on the ground with the weight of his feet pressing against it. Bloodhound recoiled at the quick rumble created by the impact, with Scott taking a hold of Tori’s arm to keep her steady, while Eric kneeling down maintain his balance close to the lieutenant—assuring her safety in the process.
“So… he is on our side, right?” Scott asked nervously, receiving an instant reply from Claire.
“He should be…”
“That’s not convincing enough,” the young noble said. “How do you know this guy’s name?”
“I don’t… I just do…” Claire retorted, lifting her chest off the ground to take a quick look at the battle—fixing her gaze on the knight’s back. “Harumi…”
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His messy short black hair, rugged out clothes, strong physique, and firm posture all seemed familiar in her eyes. Every worry and fear that had been weighting on her mind simply vanished at the sight of the knight, igniting old feelings that took the lieutenant back to the old legends her mother read for her during her infancy—stories that drove away the monsters lurking under her bed, and allowed her to sleep peacefully through the night. Her ambers sparked lively at his sight alone, embracing her with a strange warmth that no one else seemed to notice.
Though his arrival was silent and calm, the knight’s attitude shifted abruptly once the daemon became free of his chains. His display of might and speed could only be described as feral, as his every strike lacked readable patterns that King could’ve followed. He aimed for his opponent’s arms, quickly shifting his attention towards the torso, head, and legs, rotating between them at random intervals that held no logic behind them.
“Argh!” King cried in pain like never before, the strikes of his opponent decimating his bones and armored skin with relative ease. “Kh… Urgh!” An uppercut to the chin flung his head backwards, and a punch to the gut forced it back forward, setting up his face for a brutal frontal kick from the knight. The daemon was thrown into the dirt, only to be quickly picked up by his foe with a pull of his arm, proceeding to be slammed back down repeatedly with a series of violent punches and throws.
The screams of Paradise’s monarch echoed miles in the distance with increasing volume, trapped in a one-sided match against an opponent that offered no room for rest—his constant onslaught leaving no openings to exploit. Such display of brutality forced the giant’s body to mutate continuously, as his weakening healing factor could barely keep up with the man’s never-ending assault—eventually transforming the daemon into a full-fledged specter in appearance.
“Hrm!” Grunted the knight, bending his knees slightly before launching a brutal kick to the abdomen--arching his opponent’s body like the third letter of the alphabet.
“Urgh!” King’s eyes almost popped out of his head, the tremendous force of the man’s kick throwing his mind into disarray. “Agh!”
“Hrr!” with a second push, as the sole of his foot pressed against the stomach of the giant, the knight completely demolished his armored skin like a wrecking ball against a concrete wall—causing his foot to emerge on the other side from King’s back.
“Urk… nngh…”
“Hm…” The knight ripped his foot out of the daemon’s body, and with the same dead expression he’d exhibited through the fight, he chose to end the daemon’s misery with one mighty strike. He pressed two fingers together, pointing them both at the center of King’s open chest. The shadow that concealed his eyes under the messy bangs of his hair was replaced with a crimson glow, exposing the knight’s corrupted pathway to the daemon. “…”
“Return!” a voice echoed inside his head, stopping the knight’s attack instantly.
“…”
“Return!” the voice repeated.
Though refusing the command of the strange disembodied voice in his head, the knight was quick to bring his attention back to the limping daemon, inhaling deeply through his nostrils before slowly releasing the air from his lungs. King could barely control his own movements, with his body rotting away like an old abandoned chair of decomposing wood. His shallow breaths fastened with terror, a feeling that only a single being had successfully provoked in the hearts of specters, daemons, and gods.
However, just before he could deal the final blow, the body of the gladean knight suddenly vanished into a cluster of crimson particles—leaving nothing behind but the trails of his own silhouette. A sharp gasp escaped the giant, startled by the sudden departure of the intimidating fighter. Despite the blur that covered his vision, King witnessed the flickering crimson lights slowly die out after a few short seconds—indicating the corrupted knight’s exit from the battlefield.
“…”
In the distance, Bloodhound flinched at the sudden disappearance of the knight—left just as shocked as the daemon himself. “What the hell just happened!” Scott was the first to speak, followed by Eric standing next to him.
“He just… disappeared. Did he lose?”
“N-no…” Tori whispered with furrowed brows, helping the lieutenant stand on her feet after bandaging her injuries with pieces of cloth from her uniform. “Lieutenant…”
“I know…” Claire muttered, gritting her teeth with lowered brows. “Dammit… what was that?”
“Any ideas?” Eric asked, as the only member of their team with a functioning weapon was the lieutenant herself. “I highly doubt we’ll be of any use now…”
“I just noticed, lieutenant.” Tori spoke, lowering his gaze to look at the broken ring around Claire’s finger. “Your ring is broken…”
“I’ll worry about it later,” Claire answered, pointing forward with her chin to direct Bloodhound towards the dying beast in the distance.
His mind and body left in shambles, King shuddered in both pain and boiling fury, the confidence that he displayed at the start of the battle now washed by the feeling of impending doom. The giant’s corrupted pathway could no longer heal his injuries, as if every ability he once possessed as a gladean knight was suddenly stripped away. A commanding whisper in his ears robbed the man of his sanity one word at a time, now nothing but a shell of his former self, a husk that resembled those who followed his command, those he himself stripped away of their souls in an attempt to extend his own existence.
“And just like that…” the voice whispered to him. “You are mine, King…” it expressed with satisfaction, a victorious tone that quickened the already erratic heart beats of the giant. “Now… you will retreat to this Paradise of yours… and bring me to her statue… that fountain…”
“Ngh…”
“Quiet down… I still have some plans for you. Now, listen… and listen very closely.”
END OF CHAPTER