Renly

Renly sits in one of the tents of the supply camp, hopefully hiding from all sight. Despite being far from the battle (unknowing about what's happening not too far away), the young man internally fights himself on what he should be doing. "Get up. You have to go back to your position. No… Even if I were there, I'd only be in the way."

"Renly. You...seem to be broken."

"Broken?"

"You are broken! A defective knight!"

"Renly, it seems I have no choice but to punish you to cryostasis. After all, despite being chosen as master of those Twin-Winged Blades, you've never managed to achieve the Perfect Weapon Control art with them. As a knight, you're lacking something crucial. Good night, Renly."

The Pontifex, the one who made him an Integrity Knight, called him a failure, and if the former leader of the realm believed it, why shouldn't he? "It doesn't matter whether I exist or not."

"What about here?"

"Yes, this tent looks safe. Let's hide him in the back and guard the entrance. It's dark, so be careful." Renly peeps out and sees two human girls enter the tent. He unintentionally gasps, revealing his presence. "Is someone there?"

Renly sighs and steps out. "I'm not the enemy… Oh, Lady Tiese, Lady Ronie. I apologize for startling you."

Tiese calms down and puts her sword back in the sheath. "S-Sir Renly? Forgive our rudeness!"

"No, it's my fault for scaring you. And besides, I'm not...an Integrity Knight anymore. I ran away again. The unit that I was supposed to command must be in a panic now. I'm sure there have been some deaths, too. And yet, I can't bring myself to leave this place, so how can I call myself a knight?" Renly looks up and sees a boy sitting in a chair behind Tiese. "Kirito… That's Jaymes' friend and who killed the Pontifex? The woman we consider the Pontifex, that is."

Ronie nods. "Mhm… Sir Renly, forgive me if I'm being forward, but would you be so kind as to help us out? No matter what… No matter what, we must keep Master Kirito safe. To be honest, while we could defeat some beasts, defeating even a single goblin is beyond our abilities. But that's our mission right now. To protect him, entrusted to us by Lady Alice, Lady Eydis, and Lady Medina, at all costs. If for no other reason besides being my teacher, he's Master Jaymes friend, and we owe him this."

"Jaymes… Is he…" Renly is interrupted by a strange noise from outside the tent.

"No way! They're here already?" More noise from outside draws Tiese to the drapes of the tent, and she peeks outside. "There's smoke!"

"Tiese, are the tents on fire?"

"No, it's just some kind of strange smoke wafting in. No, wait, there are a lot of people coming out of the smoke!" Tiese gasps and slowly steps back, reaching for her sword, just for a blade to cut through the drapes.

"A goblin!"

"Ooooh hoooo! I found some white Ium girls. What a haul for me!"As the girls stand in front of the goblin, knowing they cannot beat it, Renly himself is mostly frozen in fear, his right hand lingering over the Twin-Edged Blades but not touching them.

He doesn't remember much of his former life, but the one thing that replays over and over in his head is a duel within an arena with a black-haired boy. There was an accident involving the other boy's blade unintentionally breaking...and his death. Renly can't remember the boy, but the boy knew him like a friend.

"S-Stay back! Or else!"

"Heeeeee! You look tasty."

"If you come any closer, I'll slash you!"

Renly is still conflicted to reach for his weapons, but in the heat of the moment, he spots Kirito, who for several months Renly has heard being unable to even move and speak, slightly moves in his chair. His grip is tight on the swords, and though Renly knows it is impossible, if he could, this Kirito would get up and protect Tiese and Ronie. "Are you… Are you trying to save them? Even though you can't stand or draw your sword, not to mention you can't even speak! And yet… I'm…"

Months earlier, Wesdarath

Jaymes crosses his arms as he leans against a tree. "Oh, so that's all you remember of the Renly you used to be. Now I understand why you, one of the 31 strongest people in this world, is afraid of fighting."

Renly nods. "Yes...so if it is no bother, please forget about me against the Western Dragon."

"No can do. Sure, Alice, Eydis, and I may be able to fight it, but that's still a lot for us. I rather not have Sortiliena, Ronie, and Tiese fight something out of their league unless it's necessary, and as for Linel and Fizel… I don't want them to get too cocky and think they aren't trainees still. So it has to be us four." Renly nervously looks to the ground, uncomfortable with his situation. Jaymes chuckles and tosses the twenty-seventh knight an apple. "Three years ago, I met a boy who had a hard time in extreme situations. That caused him a lot of problems, some I would have to risk my own life to rectify. He had a friend, someone he loved, who got in serious danger once because of it. He succumbed to his fear and couldn't protect her himself...but because of that, he strove to find a way to overcome it, and one day in the distant future, he did, eventually being able to protect and live with the girl he loved."

"Was that you?"

"No, it isn't one of those tales. But in the same world, I was scared enough to actually fight. I had a partner myself, and while at one point I did do things to protect her, I was more afraid of one of us being alone in that place than I was of either of us dying. Eventually… I was alone to some extent." Jaymes spins his apple in his hand then looks to Renly. "Renly, I cannot force you to do anything, that's on you. If you don't think you're an Integrity Knight, a defect, a failure, that's fine, you're not the only one here with the same mindset. But you are human, and it is human nature to be afraid. I am scared myself right now. But fear does not have to be a weakness; courage is not the absence of fear but recognizing and overcoming it. A wise...person in my world once said 'A sword wields no strength unless the hand that holds it has courage'. You can be afraid to fight the dragon if it comes to it, Renly, but you do not have to run or hide. Sometimes, the best expression of being afraid is having the courage to fight back. Even the most broken knight can fight with a little courage."

"How so?"

"Administrator made a broken knight, but her weapons are perfect."

"Renly… I want you to become a great knight. Do it for me."

The goblin's head, right hand, and body drop to the ground as one of the Twin-Winged Blades return to Renly. Once again, Jaymes inspires him to do something he's not cut out to do, but there's Kirito, Ronie, and Tiese as well… Just like the girls did back at the Western Ravine against the dragon, they had no chance of beating the globin, yet they didn't resign to that fate. They drew their swords. This Kirito instinctively moved to protect them.

And just like the Western Ravine, that spurred Renly to fight. "Ronie, Tiese, I want you two to stay here and protect Kirito." Renly runs out of the tent, stopping just a short distance away as he's surrounded by goblins. Taking both blades in hand, Renly addresses the enemy. "My name is Renly! Integrity Knight Renly Synthesis Twenty-Seven! If it's my head you want, be ready to lay down your lives for it!"

"It's the captain's head!" As the goblins attack, the Twin-Winged Blades fly, slicing the monsters with relative ease before they realize what hits them. Renly continues to attack, hoping to hold out until reinforcements from the front arrives. Of course, that hope comes short as his weapons return to him after being deflected by a globin much different from the others. "Are you the captain?"

"Yeah. I'm the chief of the Mountain Goblins, Kosogi… You've killed quite a number of them, haven't you? Who would've thought there'd another be an Integrity Knight this far back? Or whatever that 'Hero-King' called himself. Really, my guess was wrong!"

So Jaymes has finally arrived. Maybe this could turn the tides a bit. But first, he has to deal with the goblin chief. "This is where your war ends!" Renly throws the blades, only for the chief to deflect them easily.

"The look on your face says 'But you're just a goblin!' boy. But this is what I have to say about it. 'You call yourself an esteemed knight?' A single Integrity Knight is a match for a thousand. That's what I was told. But it looks like that's not the case for you, huh? That's why you've been hiding all the way back here. Am I right?"

"You seem to be broken."

"Administrator made a broken knight, but her weapons are perfect."

"Yeah, that's right. As a knight, I'm a failure. Even so, don't get the wrong idea. I'm the one who's defective, not these!" Another memory flashes in Renly's head with the dark-haired friend, but it isn't a fight, but the two boys sitting in a field watching two birds fly as one. "Take flight… Double Wings!"

The goblin deflects them again. "You can try as many times as you like, but it's futile!"

Unfortunately for the chief, Renly did not plan on hitting him this time. The twins circle each other as they fly towards the moon, then Renly raises his right arm. "Release...Recollection!" The twins become one, forming a four-pointed projectile. "So beautiful." Renly directs the high-spinning weapon down and out towards the chief.

"I said it's futile!" He swings for Renly's weapon but misses as the object goes skyward. Seeing nothing between him and the knight, Kosogi charges forward.

He makes it to Renly, but not as a whole goblin.

Taking hold of the Twin-Edged Blades, not back to two, Renly is unaware of the audience he had as they approach. "Renlicchi? Someone's a bit more knightly now. I guess we didn't have to come to your rescue. We wanted to take credit for that..."

Linel scoffs. "We even ditched Jaymes for this. But we did cut off a lot more heads than you." The girls then salute Renly, awaiting his orders.

"We have to make sure that Tiese, Ronie, and Kirito are safe."

"No need to do that. Jaymes just had those three join the Supply Corps."

"What about the infiltrating enemies?"

"We wiped them all out."

He should have expected the three of them would do so. "Then I'll be rejoining my unit. You two should do the same."

"Yes sir."

"Understood." As the girls run off, Renly turns around, thanking the four people back at the Supply Corps before running off after Linel and Fizel.

Jaymes

"Of course Alice brings you here. And already you're causing me trouble." I smile to myself as I kneel in front of Kirito, Ronie, and Tiese standing safe and sound behind me. Knowing I'll have to cut this reunion short, I stand up and look at the girls. "Thank you for protecting him. Hopefully, you won't have to for much longer."

Ronie shakes her head. "This is our thanks to you and everyone else. This is all we can do."

"Don't see yourselves too short… Here." I hand Tiese a bracelet with a clear jewel on it, then hand Ronie another. "This may look like a fashionable gift, but it is more than that. The stone there is linked to this one on my wrist. If you touch it enough to make it glow and speak through it, I'll be able to hear you and know your location. I'm entrusting you both to Kirito, but I know there are forces beyond you. Do not hesitate to draw me away from the front lines." I turn around, eyeing the motionless boy. "It may sound cruel, but he matters more to me than anything else for now, and the Integrity Knights can fend for themselves. Even if you cannot speak, just the indicator is good enough of a signal."

The girls nod. "Got it."

"We'll do our best for Kirito."

"Great… Now I must see what's going on..."

Eydis

"Let's see what we have here… Ah hah. There's the platoon in question. Dark Knights." Eydis looks down and sees her target navigating to the south of the ravine. "There's two horses...no, three? They've even got a wyrm. They must mean business. I don't think that General Shasta I met earlier would lead a detour operation. According to what Bercouli said, he's probably dead. I wonder what happened to Lipia? She's probably dead, too… She's not the sort of girl who would live on without her general." It's something Eydis can relate to, not that she would admit that much out loud.

But the feelings of the heart, as she has learned the last few months, are hard to put into words anyway.

She takes a breath and looks forward. "Let's go, Kirimai! Let's break into their ranks!" Kirimai responds approvingly and flies down towards the Dark Knights. As she gets close, she calls out to them. "Not so fast!"

"What? Who are you?"

Eydis chuckles as she intercepts the three knights. "I'm definitely your enemy. I can say that with confidence."

"What… Who are you?"

"Hey, smart idea to stray away from the battle like this. But… I can't let you go any further."

The lead knight chuckles. "You dare threaten all of us alone? You've got guts."

Eydis holds her hand out. "I have a question. What happened to General Shasta? He leads your army, right?"

"Ex-General Shasta has sinned. He attacked the Emperor and was struck back for it."

Emperor? So someone else leads the Dark Territory's forces? "Oh… Then what about Lipia? She never left Shasta's side."

Another knight answers Eydis. "Lipia… Oh! The girl! She also sinned. Stole into the Emperor's quarters with a knife. She was executed, naturally, ha ha ha!"

"Filthy wench! She deserved death!"

"That's enough," Eydis says as she draws the Dark Slash Sword and stands up on Kirimai. As it glows purple, power begins to resonate within the blade. "This isn't revenge, exactly… But she did have her cute moments."

"Huh? What are you saying?"

"Enhance Armament!" The air around Eydis and the knights darken, confusing the knights. "Farewell. When you get to the afterlife, apologize to her for mocking her."

"Dammit! Where is she...Argh!" Eydis appears in front of the knight who insulted Lipia, her blade held towards the enemy. Her red eyes hold a silent rage in them as she wordlessly impales the knight through her armor...