บท 6: The Scarlet Knight 2
Walking through the halls of Dragnof Royal palace, a man covered from head to toe in silver armor could be seen walking forward. he caught the attention of many people, who didn't know the Queen's newest personal guard, a man with monstrous levels of physical strength, even without the usage of magic could rival the physical capability of dragons.
Many have seen this knight train with the queen in swordsmanship along with other forms of combat, and they have all seen just how quick he was at picking up information.
"Sir Knight, I met you before, but I never got your name. My name is Jeff Dragnoll." A fat noble said with a bright and warm smile while stepping before the knight and holding out a palm.
"Greeting Sir Jeff... but I have no name. All I am and shall be is the queen sword and Shield." The knight said while shaking the hand of the knight, who nodded with a smile, although deep down he was cursing as he wanted to take this chance to do a background check on me.
"I have no time to speak for the queen is waiting for me. I can't keep her waiting any longer." Saying this, the Knight bowed to show his respect before leaving, to which the noble snorted lightly in displeasure as his plan had failed...
The knight soon arrived before a door, which he knocked on. He waited a moment until the queen allowed him to enter, stepping in, he saw Irene sitting in what looked to be an office, going over paper that had to do with the kingdom.
"My queen, I heard the news of the war... should I take foot to the battlefield?" The Knight asked, to which Irene frowned lightly at my words. Ever since the death of the former Fire Dragon king, Dragnof had lost its title as the strongest human Empire, and the Holy Light Empire has taken this chance to try and weaken Dragnof, going as far as killing the former King.
As for how the empire could handle the likes of dragons, they had many users of God Slayer Magic, allowing them to combat dragons. Some could even summon the souls of dragons, although weakened, Gods were known as the strongest race for a reason. That allowed them to kill a few dragons of Dragnof, forcing both dragons and humans to unite to combat the Empire.
"You do understand that you can't eat the element of a God Slayer? I also don't want you to leave that armor." She said. all Slayer magic has unique power, Dragon slayer for one seems to be the most tamed. Devil Slayers could eat the element they create, Phoenix Slayers gain a form of an unkillable body related to their element, and God Slayers are immune to being eaten by another form of slayer magic unless the user empties their energy.
"But as you said, we need to focus our attention on the war with the dragons. We can't have our focus split like they are. Allow me to do something to lessen that burden you carry." The knight said, removing his helmet and revealing the appearance of a young pink-haired man... who else could it be other than me, Ryu?
"I can't, you're just a kid. I will find a way..." She said with a shake of her head.
"Those nobles are pushing you towards marriage as a way to unite our two empires! The longer this goes on, the more weight their words would hold." I said angrily, to which Irene had no words. She was unwilling to marry like this, she never even thought of the idea. But for her people, that was a small sacrifice she was willing to make.
"What would you do on the battlefield? More conflict would only make them want to attack us, they have nothing to fear from the dragons since we are in their path of attack, to reach them they have to get through us. What do we gain by having such a powerful empire attack us from the back, while dragons attack us from the front?" She asked to which I was quiet for a moment as she was right, Simple killing wouldn't do.
"Allow me to remove my armor, I will purify their darkness," I said, sending a chill down Irene's spine as she knew what the process of that was like.
"No, they are too loyal to the gods. You can only purify those who show regret and know what they are doing is wrong. They do everything because they believe is right." She said to which I gritted my teeth in annoyance as she was most likely correct.
"Then I will face off against the empire alone. I will shield your back, you focus on making Dragon Slayer magic." I said to which Irene instantly shook her head.
"What is a personal guard if he isn't here to protect me?" She asked not wanting a kid to go off to do something so dangerous.
"As a guard, I have to do more than simply guard you from harm. I have to protect your mental health. So, please, let me protect the empire and you." I said to which she looked away for a moment before unwillingly nodded.
"You must return after a week, no question asked." She said to which I nodded while getting to one knee, and with a smile, I looked her straight in the eye.
"A week is going to be more than enough to strike fear into the hearts of our enemies, ensuring that they would think twice. They would have to think if it's worth it to suffer heavy injuries at our hands, before going on to face the dragons." I said to which she nodded with a downcast look.
She watched as I left, before looking at the paper which held the report of how a good 40% of the nobles were pushing for her to marry to stop the meaningless war with the Holy Light Empire.
"No, I will marry." She said with a sigh, to which I paused in my footsteps.
"... I refuse," I said stunning Irene who looked at me. A week had passed since I had become her knight, and this was the first time something like this happened.
"I refuse to have a clean soul like yours be dirtied by that empire. It's my job to absorb all of the dirt of this world to ensure you keep clean." I said looking at her with a dead serious look which left Irene unable to say anything. I left, leaving Irene sitting there for some time before she realized I left.
She sat there not knowing what to say. She would be a fool if she said that chaos wasn't important for there to be order... but still, she wanted to take the most peaceful route. If she married, would that be a big deal? Peace would come to the humans, and they would be united, that was perfect... yet the dead serious look I gave, told her that would only happen under my lifeless body. She rather have me on the battlefield than have me remove the armor.
What was so special about the armor? It was a cursed armor, wearing it sealed away my magic, and instead used my magical energy to increase the gravity I was under. Everything from my hair to my blood, and so on, were all many times heavier at the moment,
Since I adapted at high speeds thanks to my recovery capability, I was growing stronger at every second thanks to this armor. At the same time, my magical energy grew stronger. This armor was created from the scales of 100 dragons, all enchanted and infused with curses and many other stuff.
As for why I did this... well, let's say I had zero control over my cursed flames. When they burned, they didn't want to stop burning until the target fully disappeared and nothing remained. The flames were cursed, burning even a target soul. They even burned flames and water, and all attempts to put them out are proven pointless unless you have a unique form of magic that could manipulate the flames to put them out like Irene did.
"Belserion, take me to the battlefield." With my helmet on to hide my appearance, I called out to the Sage Dragon, a close friend of Irene. I knew he was listening in, So as I arrived at the balcony of the castle, I jumped without a second thought. The next moment, a huge dragon appeared, catching me and shooting me off toward the battlefield.
My weight didn't affect the dragon, for the soles of my feet were enchanted with a spell to ensure that my extra weight wouldn't affect the outside world. So, with blinding speed, I stood on Belserion's back while he zoomed through the clouds.
"Do you support my choice?" I asked with crossed arms, looking straight ahead. Belserion looked back towards me for a moment, before sighing.
"Yes... I don't like the Holy Light Empire, knowing them they are secretly working with some of the nobles to try and get this marriage to happen. I'm sure the child Irene would birth would be manipulated by them to have Dragnof under their control. Irene knows all of this, but as it's a matter that would happen years down the road, she is willing to ignore it for now." He said lightly, He was known as the Sage Dragon, a wise dragon who easily saw through the scheme of the enemy empire.
"Then leave me be the darkness to her light, I will ensure this world never taint her pure soul," I said to which the Sage Dragon nodded gratefully. Long ago, his life was in the blink of death. Irene found him in the forest and saved him without question asked, ever since he pledged his life to repay Irene's kindness. but at some point, seeing the person Irene was, he grew loyal, and went on to stand at her side.
He wasn't alone, as Irene's charm and kind heart won the hearts of many, both humans and dragons. For that reason, she earned the title Queen of Dragons, long before she was even strong enough to defeat a dragon.
Belserion was happy seeing someone like me grow loyal to Irene and fight to protect the empire, for this reason, we became close friends... my only friend, who I have spent days sparring with.
"We are here." He said as we burst through a cloud, arriving at a battlefield, which was covered in the lifeless bodies of both forces of the Empire. Both sides seemed to be at rest, taking this time to recover, but the Dragnof soldiers were all looking at the sky, looking in joy seeing the rival of a dragon, and out of all dragons, Belserion. They all believed the queen had arrived,
But they couldn't help but question why the queen would arrive as she had more important things to deal with. After all, she had to deal with the dragons.
"Return, I will handle everything from here," I said while walking to the edge of Berserion, Berserion nodded while watching me fall forward, my head aiming straight down towards the ground. I fell with such force, that those below instantly moved, running to get away from where I would land, and when I landed, I caused a small explosion, which picked up a dust cloud.
With a wave of my hands, the dust that had picked up was waved away, revealing me standing there, looking towards the Holy Light Empire.
"I'm the personal guard of the Queen Of Dragons. I will say this once, return to your empire." I said while walking towards the Holy Light Forces army.
"Oh? You and what army?" A green-haired man asked with a mocking smile while stepping forward, 4 others stepping forward to join him. Seeing this, the dragons on Dragnof's side got up, ready to fight the god slayers.
"I am the army," I said softly while taking a step forward. The weight behind that step sent cracks dozens of meters away, and as soon as I lowered my body, the cracks spread for hundreds of meters before it all exploded, once I burst forward.
I appeared behind the 5 god slayers, their bodies exploding into a bloodmist that rained down, bathing my armor. The air instantly went still at that level of power, for only a few elites on this battlefield were capable of keeping up with my movement.
I had cut all of them into a blood mist with my sword, the speed needed to draw your sword, and cut a target into a blood mist wasn't simple.
"Whose next?" My voice cut through the still air, striking fear into the enemy forces,
"Fall back!" The enemy commander said while glaring at me. Not liking that glare, I stepped forward before I suddenly rocketed forward. This forced the general to quickly move, using his lightning magic to clash with me. Sword and a Lightning-powered fist slammed against each other, creating such a powerful shock wave that everyone around us was sent rocketing away.
"We are falling back, what is the matter with you!" The general said angrily since I wasn't playing by the rules.
"Your empire started this war, the fact that I am here, means that you better kneel to your gods, for you will not find mercy in me," I said coldly, my voice was distorted by the armor, making it sound colder and emotionless, which sent chills down the general.
My fist slammed into the general stomach, causing him to cough up a mouthful of blood from the sudden attack. I gave him zero chance to stabilize himself as I stabbed my sword into the ground and went on to land heavy right and left hooks onto his face, covering my fist in blood... I was venting out all of my rage. Why were they starting problems with such a peaceful empire? Why were they forcing Irene to do such things? Does peace suck so much that they want chaos instead?
"S-stop!" a solder screamed, shooting towards me, just for me to dodge him, before slamming him so hard into the ground, he bounced back up into my hands, where I grabbed him and slammed him into an incoming fireball, shooting him through it and into the attacker.
I grabbed the general and went on to use him to beat his own man to death. It was such a horrific scene, the Holy Light Empire couldn't stand the sight of so much blood covering the land, and my armor. They in the end turned and ran away, fleeing for their life.
Seeing them fleeing away, I dropped the remains of the general to the ground, while holding out my palm. My sword flew into my hands, where I stabbed it before me, and amongst the small hill of corpses, I stood there, looking straight towards the Holy Light Empire.
"W-who is that?" The Dragon asked, seeing how easily I had handled such an army. The 5 God slayers were powerful, although 2 of them were needed just to match the might of a normal dragon and bring it down. But adding their teamwork, and the fact they could eat the element of their magic, made it possible for them to draw out a battle, so they could kill a dragon. There were only 3 dragons here, all being considered normal in the scale of power.
"He is the someone who had sworn to walk the path of darkness so the Queen can stay in the light... all of you are to fall back, he is more than capable of holding off the Holy Light Empire on his own. He is only equal to the Queen in power." Belserion said stunning everyone that they were going to leave one man to such a task. But they all did as they were told, leaving me there, the blood that bathed my armor slowly drying up...
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