Cinder wiped some sweat away from her forehead and let out a sigh of relief. The city block she had been standing on was totally ruined, the road having melted, the buildings having fallen over, and any cars that had been nearby exploded, but it was finally all over.
That damned three-headed dog was dead.
Her only regret was that she didn't get to be the one to finish it off.
"Did you manage to take the other monsters out also?" Cinder questioned as she spun her two guns around and holstered them. In front of her was the corpse of the Cerberus. The magical beast had been covered in layers of ice and frozen, leaving it as an icy statue in the middle of the city it had been rampaging through.
"I left Whisper to deal with it. She was slaying a group of mini-bosses last I saw." Cinder nodded at her friend's response, and she slowly turned to see the fellow Knight, the one who had slain the Cerberus. "Uh, you good?" He asked when he noticed she was staring.
Snow stood tall, reaching eight feet in height. Also, despite being named Snow by the guild, he really wasn't soft or gentle-looking. Jagged, icy armor covered him from head to toe. It was blocky and heavy-looking, with spikes protruding from it, and it was a mix of pure white ice and deep blue glass that formed together into his suit. Slung over his shoulder was a mighty battle-axe, one that radiated so much cold it could freeze a person to death the moment it touched flesh.
By comparison, Cinder felt underdressed anytime she was near her friend. She just wore a basic uniform she got from her father, who served in the military, and unlike Snow, who wielded a powerful enchanted item, she used a pair of guns that she had created herself.
One day she'd be given an enchanted item of her own; she just needed to be patient. She was still new to the guild, barely having one year in as a Knight, as opposed to Whisper and Snow, who had been Knights for three years.
"Cinder?" Snow asked, and she realized she had just been standing there, not saying anything.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Cinder shook her head and glanced away from Snow and the dead monster. Her eyes scanned Lillian, taking in the damaged city block. Anytime a monster attack happened, a group known as the Clean Up Squad would eventually appear, which was made up of mages who served more or less as quick construction. The fact that the city got damaged at all, though, wasn't good, since as Knights their main job was to stop the monster from escaping the dungeon. "I got a bit careless." Cinder sighed. "I should have been more careful not to let it slip past me."
Snow reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder, giving it a squeeze. "You did well. This was your first B-ranked dungeon. Normally, three Knights wouldn't be enough to beat something like this. Us doing it at all is impressive. Also, while the city might have suffered, we managed to save a lot of lives. Just look around."
Snow gestured down the block where a group of civilians had been gathered. There were thousands of them, along with the reporter, who were all cheering. Thanks to how fast they arrived on the scene, they were able to get anyone trapped in the dungeon out, and they did it so fast that no one suffered from the effects of Magical Mutation.
Cinder managed to give another smile, and she nodded her head. "Thanks, Snow. Though I think I would have been happier if you didn't steal my moment of glory and slay the boss! I was just about to finish it off and would have looked so cool!"
Snow gave a weak chuckle and nodded. "My bad. The next is yours to deal with."
Before Cinder could say anything else, the air around her and Snow shimmered a bit. "What are you two talking about now?" A new voice questioned, coming out in a calm and peaceful tone. The shimmering began to fade, and suddenly someone appeared out of thin air.
"Oh, hey, Whisper." Snow nodded his head at the arrival of the Knight.
Whisper, unlike Snow, didn't wear armor that covered up her appearance. She was dressed lightly, similarly to Cinder. She was also dressed professionally, looking like she belonged in a bank more than on the battlefield. She had on a white buttoned-up shirt, complete with a red tie, and she wore black jeans. Her outfit didn't look like it was made for combat, yet between her, Cinder, and Snow, Whisper was the only one who didn't show any combat damage, her clothes and skin being perfectly flawless. Whisper was also fairly attractive. She had a tall physique with some obvious muscle around her arms and legs and silvery hair that was tied back and kept out of her eyes when she fought. She also lacked any obvious weapon. No sword, or axe, or gun.
"Are all the other monsters dead?" Cinder asked.
"Yep." Whisper walked toward the frozen corpse of the boss monster and casually punched it so hard that it evaporated into dust, small powdery shards raining down. "And now that the boss is dead, the dungeon will be closing soon. We'll stay and make sure no one accidentally wanders into it or any new monster tries to take it over."
"Can that happen?" Cinder questioned.
"Yeah." Snow nodded. "Dungeons don't instantly shut off when a boss dies. They can stay for a few hours or even a couple of days. If a new monster can enter a dungeon that lacks a boss, it can become the new boss. It has to be a new monster, though. A monster already living inside of the dungeon can't become the boss even if the boss of the dungeon dies. We think this is because those monsters aren't actually real and are created out of pure mana by the boss monster, so they're more like advanced constructs or fleshy robots, but no one actually knows why that's how things work."
"Magic." Whisper nodded. "Anytime something doesn't make sense or seems weird, just blame it on magic."
"That sounds good to me." Cinder chuckled. "So, besides monitoring the dungeon, is there anything else we need to do?"
Snow shook his head. "No. We're just going to make sure nothing bad happens until the dungeon vanishes, then we'll head back to the base and report to Captain Myth. I'm sure he'll give you a big reward for doing such a good job, Cinder."
"Nice!" Cinder jumped up, clearly giddy and excited. "Can't wait."
While she was celebrating, Whisper had pulled her phone out. At first, the Knight went to check her stats to see if any of them managed to improve, but something else caught the woman's eye. "Oh my."
"What is it?" Snow and Cinder both asked, looking to their superior.
Whisper's grin just grew as she read the message she had been sent. "It seems Stone Bull has found himself something interesting."
"Well, don't keep us in suspense." Snow sighed. "What did he find?"
Whisper looked up, and her eyes twinkled a bit. "A Knight in Ebony armor. It seems Stone Bull has found him."
***
"Go, go, go!" Olivia yelled, and she waved the farmers over, who were running through the field as if their lives depended on it. That was because it did. More golems kept breaking through the dirt, lifting up, which was why she was making herself busy getting every civilian to safety.
"Is your friend going to be okay?" One farmer asked once he reached the edge of the field where she stood.
Olivia glanced back through the corn and other crops where Davi stood. He was surrounded by a large group of the rock monsters. "Yeah." She said after a few moments. "Davi's going to be just fine. He's got this."
One of the golems took a swing toward Davi, but the ebony-clad warrior dodged out of the way of the blow, showing a shocking amount of grace. Davi jumped toward the golem, twisted himself midair, and used his weapon to split the golem in two.
Taking one down barely did anything, though. There were over twenty of the monsters now. They weren't swift, and they also weren't that smart, all bumping into each other as they shambled toward him. They were crazy strong, however, unleashing powerful punches that dented the ground and sent out shockwaves.
Davi avoided their blows, dancing around them, and, with a yell, he brought his claymore up, cutting into one of the golems. His sword suddenly stopped, though, as the golem flexed and got the blade caught inside of it, the mud and stone jamming the dull blade. Davi grunted and tried to rip his sword out, but before he could, one of the golems flanked him and threw out a sucker punch.
The fist rammed into Davi's back, and he let out a groan of pain as he was blasted back. His armor dented, and he was sent rolling across the field, ripping up a wave of veggies. When he was done falling, he had an annoyed look on his face as he rubbed at the spot the golem had hit him at. His armor had a massive dent in it now, as well as a puncture hole. The golem that had punched him had a jagged, rough-looking spike that came from its fist, which had stabbed right through his armor and impaled his back.
Olivia remained on the sidelines and bit her lip. She wanted to rush in and help, but golems were very magic resistant, and she didn't have the firepower needed to shatter one with brute strength like a Knight could. It didn't help that she was still exhausted from carrying that damn carriage for miles.
"Come on, Davi. You can do this." She pleaded. Davi also wasn't at full strength due to the beating he had taken yesterday, and the mana he used up hadn't fully recovered since he never got time to rest, so she wasn't shocked he wasn't fighting as well as he usually would. "You can beat them!"
Davi gritted his teeth, feeling blood run down his back. His mana and armor had taken most of the brunt, so the wound wasn't that deep, but it strangely burned and tingled, and his head was hurting a bit. It didn't help; he still wasn't in top shape after the fight with the snake, which had only happened yesterday.
"Bastard." Davi stood back up and grabbed a new sword, this one a dull longsword. "Well, what are you waiting for?" He taunted the magical constructs as they began to shamble toward him. "Come and get me."
"Row Earth Shower!" From above, jagged rocks suddenly rained down and began to tear into the golems, ripping them to bits. In an instant, over eight had been killed. "Stand by, civilian." Davi stared in shock as someone came crashing down from above and landed before him. "I'll handle it from here. Thanks for holding them off long enough for me to arrive."
A wave of powerful mana suddenly filled the air, and everything seemed to shift. Davi felt the air leave his lungs, and he stared at the back of the person who now stood firmly in front of him, as if to protect him.
An Arcane Knight had arrived.
A real one.
It was a young man in his early twenties with combed-back brown hair and green eyes that almost seemed to sparkle. He wore a black tunic shirt and a long, flowing cape with the symbol of a mace on it. Rocks twisted through the air, circling him, and he stood on a stone board that floated a bit off the ground. He was extremely handsome, and his eyes almost glimmered, a sly grin on his lips.
The man clasped his hands together, almost as if he were praying, and breathed out slowly. Deep green energy sparked between his fingers as he lowered the two inner fingers of each hand, leaving the index and pinky fingers extended and touching at the tips. "Row Earth Fists!" The rocks swirled around the Knight's arms, forming jagged gauntlets, and he took off, his board blasting him forward. He reached one of the golems, and the creature threw out a punch, but the man just hit it back. His fist met the creature, and he blew it to bits in an instant, sending its remains scattering out. Then, in another instant, he struck out with his other hand, the rocky limb tearing the head off another golem. In only moments, the man had reduced the golems' numbers by half.
Davi shook his head, forcing himself to focus. He charged forward and jumped over the Knight. As he landed on the ground, he spun his entire body, becoming a whirlwind of black. His sword tore through one of the golems, but just as he took it down, the Knight managed to down another two by launching out spears made of rock that skewered the golems.
"Sir, there's no need for you to get involved!" The Knight yelled. He threw another punch out with his fist, tearing a golem to pieces. "I can handle this; I do it all the time!"
"Yeah, well, so do I," Davi said in his uncaring tone. He stabbed out with his blade, impaling it into the head of one golem, and focused his mana. "Row Shadow Vault." His vault ripped out along his blade's shadow and split the monster directly in two. "I've fought way more golems than this. My record is fifty." He summoned a large shield from his vault and raised it just in time, blocking the golem's strike.
"Fifty, huh?" The Arcane Knight jumped off his board and clapped his hands around a golem's head, crushing it. "That's pretty good! I think my record is three hundred. I don't know; I stopped counting once it got that high! Row Earth Mace!" The Knight flattened one hand out and put his fist on top of it, as if he were playing rock-paper-scissors. He slid his fist off the flattened hand, his magic flowing out and causing rocks to jut out of the ground, forming a massive ball on a stick, which the man grabbed and swung, shattering two more golems.
Two more golems remained, and Davi jumped away from the one that was pounding on his shield. He leapt into the air and landed on the mace that Knight was swinging around. The Knight twisted his body and built up speed, launching Davi off of his weapon and sending him straight through one of the golems, using him as a bullet. As Davi crashed out the other side, he held his shield up, and the Knight jumped, using his own inhuman strength to land on it and swing his mace up, blowing the final golem's head off.
The last of the golems fell, leaving the two men as the only ones standing. "Gray." The man said, smirking.
"Davi." The two fist-bumped, and just like with all men, instantly had an understanding.
Gray's eyes scanned the other man up and down. "That's some impressive armor. Most mages aren't strong enough to layer that much mana together, especially not without a wand or staff." His mace shattered, as did his stone gauntlets, and he reached out to touch Davi's armor. The metal was bulky and large, with shoulder pads and thick armor. It was made to take a hit and usually would have been extremely heavy, but since it was made out of pure mana, it was basically weightless, not hindering Davi's speed at all. "How many years did it take for you to get this spell?"
"About three or four?" Davi shrugged and looked down at his armor. "I have other versions of the armor also, and I've toyed around with them, but this tends to be my go-to."
"Fascinating!" Gray nodded, his eager grin growing. "It's rare that you see mages like you who aren't Arcane Knights. Though, are you sure you want to wear armor that dark? It's a bold choice to dress as a Knight in Ebony, especially when you're not an Arcane Knight. Some people might confuse you for the return of the Ebony Knight, and that's not a tag you want to be associated with yourself unless you have the backing of the guild."
"How do you know I'm not an Arcane Knight?" Davi asked. "I mean, I have magic, and I'm in knight armor. I bet I look like one more than you."
Gray chuckled at the remark and nodded. "You're strong, but you're not quite Arcane Knight level. At least not on the level of one who walks around so casually on their own." Gray then pointed at the cape he wore. "Also, you don't have one of these. We Knights carry a symbol of our guild on us. I'm sure most civilians wouldn't think about it, but we Knights use these symbols to tell what guild our fellow Knights are in. This here is the symbol of the Mourning Stars. In other words, that's the guild I'm from. If you really were an Arcane Knight, you'd also have known not to disobey my order." The man lightly punched Davi on the shoulder. "Now look, using magic to fight monsters isn't against the law if you need to defend yourself or someone else, but the manner in which you acted could get some people a bit confused, and it is illegal to impersonate an Arcane Knight. We serve directly under the king and work for the kingdom, so we have a reputation to uphold. I'll look the other way this time since you helped save my people, but in the future, try to be mindful of how you look, Mr. Davi."
Davi felt his frown deepen, and he felt a little annoyed. He honestly didn't even want to be an Arcane Knight anymore. At one point, when he was younger, like all kids, Sieg and he discussed it, and he had just started calling himself one after a few people he had saved mistakenly called him that. He learned people tended to ask fewer questions if he claimed he was one after he saved the day. Now that he was meeting a real one, though, he felt a little guilty about how long he'd been pretending to be one. Especially because Gray didn't seem like a bad guy, in another life, he might have even still wanted to become a true Knight, but a Knight was noble and kind, all things he wasn't.
He was bitter, spiteful, and full of hate. That perfect mix of emotions kept him on his path of chasing after the Dragon.
"Also, I'm not sure if you're aware, sir, but your music is kind of loud. You might make yourself deaf playing it like that." Gray gestured to the headphones Davi still had on, causing the raven-haired man to take them off. "That's a song from the artist Pretty Face, right?"
Davi shrugged. "I dunno. I just like how loud it is."
"Davi!" The two turned and found Olivia running toward them. The girl breathed heavily, and Davi realized just how far away from the cornfield they were now. During the fight, Gray had been using his magic to move them all away from the farmers in order to keep them safe and to reduce damage to the crops. Olivia looked exhausted as she reached him, but then her eyes instantly locked onto Gray, and she squealed. "Oh my Haru! Wait, I know you! You're the Stone Bull!"
"The stone what?" Davi asked, making another face.
Gray chuckled and looked a little embarrassed. "Yeah, that's me." He admitted, a bit sheepishly. "That's my title, at least."
"The Stone Bull?"
"Arcane Knights that reach a certain level are given cool nicknames, like the leader of Pantheon, who goes by Myth, or his second in command, Whisper," Olivia said with stars in her eyes. She had her arms around Gray's arm and was feeling his muscles up. "It's to better help their fame and make them go down as living legends. The most famous is the Lance of Victory. She's the closest thing we have to another Haru, and I saw her once when she was passing through my village, and she nodded at me! Oh, but I can't believe I'm getting to speak to another legend! The Stone Bull is right here, and he's letting me touch him! I wonder when you'll get a nickname like that, Davi!"
Gray awkwardly chuckled and pulled his arm away from Olivia. "Why would Mr. Davi get a name like mine?"
"Because he's a—"
Normally, he would have moved forward and blocked Olivia's mouth to silence her. He didn't want her getting either of them in trouble, since she still didn't know he wasn't a Knight. He wasn't able to cover her mouth, though. Not because he wasn't fast enough; he was, but because something else happened.
The entire world blurred, and before Davi could even process what was happening, he was falling and collapsing, crashing face down, right as Olivia opened her mouth.
Davi felt himself slam into the muddy ground, cutting Olivia off as her eyes widened in horror. His own closed as he felt an intense burning in his body where that golem had hit him.
Poison.
He had been poisoned.
Everything began to turn dark, and the last thing he heard was Olivia calling his name as he blacked out.