novelraw Chapter 397: Come
Chapter 397: Come
The champions froze.
An enigma arrived bringing the energy of death with it.
Midgar staggered back instinctively.
"…What—?"
I watched him through the live feed.
Good.
He should feel this.
The knight turned its helm slowly, its gaze sweeping across the battlefield. Where its eyes passed, mana escaped in fright. Spells broke mid-cast, collapsing into harmless sparks.
I reached into Midgar's mind.
"That's enough," I told him gently. "You've done well."
His body responded before his mind did—retreating, instincts screaming that whatever stood before him was no ally he could fight beside.
The demonic knight stepped forward.
One step.
The earth cracked.
The remaining champions reacted.
"Attack it!"
Blades empowered by divine authority struck first.
They did nothing.
The knight raised one arm.
Reality folded.
A voice devoid of emotion began to speak.
|KNEEL|
Earth shook once again, the entire army fell into submission before they could even realize what happened.
The champions were in chaos, they didn't understand what just happened. Even their patron god never ordered them in such degrading manner.
"You!"
One of them screamed activating his blessings, upon its presence the command disappeared.
"Amazing they are fighting so hard"
My eyes narrowed giving a command that was soon taken by my knight.
Gravity suddenly increased by many folds.
The space in front of it compressed violently, crushing three attackers into unrecognizable masses of flesh and shattered weapons. Their blessings screamed to help them but the power of gravity was far more deadly than any struggle they could give.
And soon the power of their guardian god vanished along the life of the champion that held it.
Red burning eyes glowed between the slits of the helm, it scanned the area locking its gaze on each vassal that still remained.
|Eight more to go|
A voice that seemed fit for a human came out, it was eerie and made those who heard it frightened.
.
.
.
An ear-piercing silence stretched for seconds making the soldiers of Aileen too scared to make a move.
|Hmmm?|
The knight tasked with the mission to purge was left confused. And so it sought the guidance of its master.
|.....|
"What are you doing attack this monster!"
One of the Aileenian soldiers commanded but then no matter the will they invoked they couldn't move an inch.
| TAKE IT EASY |
The pressure lifted—just enough.
Soldiers gasped as if freed from drowning. Champions stumbled upright, rage and humiliation burning across their faces. Some of them however wanted to flee.
However before they could even move-
| YOU CALL YOURSELVES CHOSEN. |
The voice did not echo.
It resonated, bypassing ears and burrowing directly into their minds.
| BORROWED POWER. BORROWED WILL. YET ACT LIKE LUNATICS |
One champion roared and charged, divine blessings blazing around his body. "I'll kill you—!"
He didn't reach five steps.
The knight's wing snapped forward.
The man was flung sideways, body twisting midair before slamming into a ruined tower with enough force to turn stone into powder. He slid down lifelessly, blessing extinguished.
It was too easy
A being close to gods was murdered without much effort.
The others hesitated.
Some stepped back.
One dropped his weapon entirely.
The demonic knight advanced again.
Slow.
Measured.
Without any hint of panic
Each step cracked the ground, each movement radiating contempt and cruelty.
| WHERE WERE YOU… |
Another step.
| WHEN TEMPLES BURNED? |
Another.
| WHEN PRAYERS WENT UNANSWERED? |
A black thick miasma began to spread yet no one was able to see it.
|TELL ME, SHOW ME|
The battlefield was pressed with another force that made everyone kneel.
|YOUR WILL AND THE GODS WHO TOLERATED YOUR ACTIONS|
The pressure began surpassing the limits of lower creatures but their instincts propelled them to endure, as the distance between the knight and the Aileenians decreased. Some even began to vomit and lose consciousness.
|IS THIS ALL YOU AMOUNT TO?|
Everyone felt it then.
The subtle shift.
The champions' blessings trembled—not from exhaustion, but doubt.
Ah.
There it is.
Apollo suddenly leaned back slightly, watching with interest. "Good. Tear them apart where it hurts."
One of the champions clenched his chest, gasping as his light flickered. "N-no… my god—!"
The knight stopped directly in front of him.
Lowered its head.
| SILENCE |
The man screamed as his blessings clashed with the demon's, however the struggle halted the moment the connection between the god and its vassals shattered, light imploding inward before his body collapsed like an empty shell.
Panic erupted.
"Fall back!"
"We can't fight this thing!"
"Connect with the gods—now!"
Too late.
The knight spread its wings fully.
The sky darkened.
Black light surged outward like a tidal wave, swallowing the battlefield in a suffocating eclipse. Apollo watched as enemy formations broke completely—some fleeing, some frozen, some praying to gods who would not answer.
The boy whose heart had been toyed with darkness allowed himself a small smile. Though he wasn't the one who had been wronged he couldn't just let them go. And so with his wicked thoughts all tangled up in a murky mess of destruction his words and actions became more keen in revenge.
"Yes," he whispered. "Show them."
The knight lifted its gaze toward the end of the army and even to the distant territories, distant champions still unaware of what was coming.
Its wings beat the air.
And the continent trembled with each life it took.
...
On the other side of the battle, far from the territory of the eastern duke, there was another war going on. Though the only difference was that the flow of victory was leaning towards the Aileenians. The children of the southern duke felt their hearts hurt as more injuries piled up in their infirmary. Capable hands began to thin out leaving them no options whom to put on the frontline.
"Just what is going on.....what are those people, why couldn't we fight them!"
Dante one of the south's generals exclaimed in frustration and helplessness.
"Calm down Dante more enemies are coming" a voice filled with resolution broke free from the soldiers agitated words.
"Young master"
The general looked at his side and saw Odysseus, child of their duke Gilgamesh.
"When will the reinforcements arrive?"
The boy asked as he equipped his weapon, though his body was drenched in blood it didn't hinder the noble aura that exuded from his body.
"We can do this Dante, just hold on. Look don't you see, despite everything no one has died yet. Everything is on our side"
He then looked at the sky as if he was gazing at a being that watched over them.
"I can feel it we are not alone" his grip strengthened along with his mana that kept increasing.
"Lets go!"
At his signal a being from the sky emerged.
At its presence the tide began to tilt shifting its course to the side of the southern duke.
|COME|
It spoke.