Chapter 13: Burning Oblivion

"Come to my side at once. Obey!"

A towering silver-armored being mounted on an armored white demonic stallion was urging him to do something he didn't know what.

"Have you heard nothing that I said? Is it the champion or Necron Lorthiras? I told you, these people define good soldiers as tools who would throw away their lives just to follow an order!"

Kael stared at his hands. The once-gauntleted fists were starting to feel hollow. Suddenly, the raydric-knight's body slowly began to burn in violet flames.

"Would you rather discard your life for those high and mighty lords or join me and we shall make the knights superior themselves…"

"Superior…"

The raydric-knight's body trembled. It was as if he had no body at all. He was burning in flames but he felt no pain or heat. Kael looked at the raydrics and raydric archers around him then up to the silver-armored being. All his soldiers had similar appearances to him.

"W-why me…look around you! My army has succumbed to your grasp."

The demonic mount spurted out white flames from its nostrils.

"Your army? If these raydrics were your army then it is you who decide their fate. Not Necron Lorthiras or any other. Fed with none other than a special artifact, you are the master piece, perfect form, perfect skills."

"Yes…it is my army. Mine alone…and I am the most powerful of all knights…Even powerful than the Knights of Heaven…"

The silver-armored being drew closer. Kael could sense that this demon was amused by his words.

"Then gather your soldiers. We have to eliminate those who oppose your ideals first…or are you too submissive?"

Kael looked around for his two-handed sword. It was lying a few feet from where he was. The raydric-knight was just about to approach it but that was when his flaming gauntlet flew towards the sword and grasped its hilt tightly. Kael looked horridly at his…arm. It was made of violet flames now and could stretch for a few feet.

"I am awaiting your orders…my lord."

"Very well, then…my Raydric General…"

……………………………………………………

"Raydric what? What the hell…"

Kael sprang in a sitting-up position. The raydric-knight quickly scanned his surroundings. He was in a room that had white tiles for floors and plain walls.

"Infirmary."

He rubbed his eyes for a moment and sat on the corner of his bed. That was all a dream after all.

'That's right. There's no silver-armored monstrosity that's going to drive me insane…'

It was almost like it was real. Kael responded to the demonic knight as if it had actually happened in real life. Not only that, he also gave in to its deal and to turn him into some other raydric thing.

'Raydric General? Kill Necron and…and Champion Osiris was involved in his talks? Stronger than Knights of Heaven? Impossible…'

Kael tried to shake his thoughts from his mind but they simply wouldn't go away. It seemed that they wanted to stay. What even bothered him was that the silver-armored being mentioned an artifact of some sort that he had consumed before. What that artifact was, he didn't know.

…………………………………….

"What are you doing now, Lord Knight?"

Necron stopped walking for a moment then slumped on one of the benches in the lobby. The lord knight dropped his bloody zweihander on the tiled floor and buried his face deep in his elunium arm. He was exhausted after rushing from one place to another and slaughtering undead and bull-creatures.

Farina stared at him and started to examine the two lord knights in that room.

Necron's armor was totally battered and was almost useless. Instead of silver, it was splashed with crimson. Arkyhm, on the other hand, wasn't as exhausted as he was but had the same appearance: bloody mail, spear, and several wounds.

The blue-haired merchant checked her weapons. She still had more explosives but they probably wouldn't be that much useful. All she ever did was just throwing them at a target without even knowing if it will hit or not.

"I'm useless…"

"Did you say something, Farina?"

To her surprise, Necron's supposedly sleeping form sprang to life. The lord knight withdrew his face from his metal arm which happened to make creaking sounds when moved.

"Again? Arkyhm, what did your father do about this thing?"

The green-haired lord knight turned to Farina and smiled.

"Coating karvodailnirol around it. That is…if anyone managed to bring some here."

"I did."

Farina opened her bag and took out a vial of blue bubbly liquids and gave it to Necron. Normally, she would handle things that have something to do with chemicals on her own but she didn't know anything about this lord knight's limb and how it would work.

The dark-haired lord knight opened the vial and poured some of the blue liquids into his elunium arm's star crumb "joints". After letting out more of the fluid, the limb didn't make any sounds when moved.

"Brilliant. Now who said you were useless?"

The merchant reddened. She suddenly felt a gauntleted hand grasp her wrist.

"Yes, my father said your fit for the job right now. You're not a peddling little girl now."

"Ark…"

"So, interested?"

"Ark."

"Farina, I can't hear you when Necron is…"

"Arkyhm, what are you doing?"

The green-haired lord knight laughed to himself. Necron looked at him with a confused look. Farina's face had lightened up.

"I'm sure it's time. Lord Knight Necron, can I go?"

"Glastheim is falling into rubble, it's early in the morning, undead are marching towards this street and a merchant wants to leave?"

"So can I? Please Lord Knight?"

"Look, I'm not Salendriel and wherever you're going, it's not like they'll help us fight…"

All of a sudden, the oaken doors sprang open and a knight entered.

"Lord Knight, outside the building, undead!"

Arkyhm picked up his bloody lance and stood up. Necron did the same.

…………………………………….

A knight screamed when a dagger-wielding skeleton plunged its blades through his neck. The soldier skeleton was then impaled by Arkyhm's lance. The lord knight raised his weapon and drove it down on a floating shriveled corpse. The oridecon tip punched through the undead creature's scarlet robes and stuck out somewhere between where the shoulder blades should be.

'What are these things? And why are they wearing clergy robes?'

From beside him, Necron had also hacked apart another one of those floating red-coated undead with his zweihander. That was when a bright red cloud begun to form in front of them. It seemed to produce loud buzzing and wheezing sounds.

"Lord Knight, those are…"

The red cloud had suddenly begun to spread in all directions. A closer look and the cloud appear to be composed of small, red-scaled winged creatures.

"Hunter Flies? Those are Hunter Flies! Don't get in their way!"

All the knights who heard Necron started to run for cover while others who didn't concentrated more on slaying the floating corpses than the buzzing sound.

The swarm of Hunter Flies soon covered the street and clung to the knights who didn't manage to get away. The red-scaled creatures covered each of the knights' bodies and sank their sharp barbs on their armor which happened to break instantly. Some tried shaking and scraping them off, but their barbs dug into their skin tight and continued to drain their blood.

One of the winged creatures landed on Necron's chest. The lord knight stared horridly at it before pulling it off with his elunium arm. It wouldn't get off at first and Arkyhm had to take out his gladius and stab the creature to death.

"There must be some way to get them out of here…"

"Poison Gas, perhaps? I managed to get one. Farina's handiwork again."

The green-haired lord knight took out a round black bottle filled with what should be the poison gas.

"By the way, did you see our Farina go anywhere?"

"If you have a crush on her, get on with it after we win this battle!"

Arkyhm smiled to himself and pitched the bomb on the open where the Hunter Flies were still draining the downed knights of their blood. The two lord knights covered their noses when the explosive set off, engulfing the street with dark violet smoke.

The lord knights waited for a few seconds for the gas to dissipate and stood up. There was no buzzing sound anymore. All the red-scaled creatures were now lying on the ground, lifeless.

"All dead. Now what?"

Necron didn't know what to say next. That was when more floating corpses came out from the alleys.