Ch.7 Black Rose of the Empire

Crismon Throne Room

The black knight kneels before Shalltear and asks "You have orders for me, Lady Shalltear?"

Shalltear smiles approaches and steps on the knight's head and then demands "is that how you address the Empress' mother. I demand than more respect than that…whatever your name is."

The knight cringes and then corrects herself "Right, forgive me, Bloody Valkyrie Shalltear."

Shalltear thinks on it and then gives a more normal reaction "That's a start. But as for your actual question, I do have new orders for you from Justina. You will be meeting her outside the city, and then…" Shalltear happily tells the head of the knights her new orders.

Fields

Evileye and her partner in this assignment, the masked Nikola, are looking upon the carriage with the familiar warrior riding on it. Noticing the striking resemblance, save for the for the color, stirs up memories of her crush on Momon.

Seeing her comrade give off such a blush, even with her mask, the newer Blue Rose asks "Oh, having a little stir in those loins, Keeno?"

Feeling a bit embarrassed, Evileye lightly pushes her friend who chuckles a little at her embarrassment "Shut up, Nikola. Can I just have some closure on this and be done with it!?" she intensely asks.

Getting a little serious on it, the masked Nikola sincerely wants to know "And what if he is the same man? Wouldn't that make him a monster? Or, if it's just a descendant, then he probably won't know who you are."

Evileye moves her mask away from her face to show the concern in her face as she answers "I know it's foolish to do something over a man I knew centuries ago, but I've never met a man that has even been Momon's equal. I'd like to know the life he led since he left so long ago. Once I figure this out, I'll have a clear head, and we'll continue our work like normal."

Nikola pulls out a thin black sword with a rose motif along the handle and casually asks "So, you want me to go all out?"

Evileye puts her mask back on with a smile and tells her "If he's anything like THE champion of champions that I saw, then going all out might be too little for him. Just don't get killed, Nikola…but don't damage the cart or hurt the civilians."

Nikola nods and jumps into the air as she fades in a cloud of rose petals and a sweet scent. Evileye watches and observes. She'd go as well, but Nikola's skills are fit for this task and the both of them could possibly lead to the cart being destroyed.

Riding on the cart, Momon senses something coming as he commands "Stop the cart!" the driver wonders as a massive gale appears in front of the cart and nearly blows the horses pulling it as the jump in fear.

Momon jumps off the cart and approaches the gale and sees a figure in the winds as he proclaims "That's very bold of you to attack the cart alone and in such a base manner." He pulls out his swords as the figure approaches from out of her gale and carries her sword.

Not wasting any time, the warrior takes her sword and raises while announcing "Faerie Wind!" and a pink whirlwind with a flurry of rose petals surrounds Momon as he puts up his guard.

Being as powerful as he is, he doesn't feel a thing and notices "Hmm, so this a wind skill that is meant to inflict various ailments, a good spell, but not one that can really affect me." He jumps out of the whirlwind without so much as a scratch as he wipes the petals from his armor.

The masked warrior looks upon him and says "We thought you might be good, so I guess I'll have to raise the pressure." She raises her sword and glows blue "Aura of Rose" she says and then she the air within the vicinity turns to a pinkish color and she then announces "Floral Profusion!".

Intrigued, Momon asks "Is this some new form of magic?"

The warrior then brushes off the question as she casts another spell "Unseasonable Bloom!" This spell creates razor winds that strike Momon from various angles, but he manages to block it, but it does almost knock him away, just a tiny bit, however.

The next maneuver is the masked warrior jumping at Momon with her sword, but he blocks easily and then swings his second sword, but she dodges with ease as well. Momon then flicks his blocks sword and sends the masked woman skyward, but she descends on him with a swift strike, but this also fails with a simple guard.

The masked woman bounces away from the adventurer and stands away with a slight stare down despite not being able to see each other's eyes with Momon's helmet and her mask. Then the woman begins glowing with a green hue and it she seems to move unnaturally as her body moves back and forth leaving after images.

She holds her blade and a spiral of green wind violently swirls around the blade "Roar like the wind…" she moves extremely fast as she stabs at an insane speeds at gets by Momon's guard as she stabs his armor "Shining blade…" finally, he's pushed back as a giant blue rose forms behind him and then the masked woman shouts "Vertex Rose!" as the blue rose explodes with a burst of energy.

While it does damage Momon, very minimally, he still stands straight and tall. This seems to cause distress within the masked warrior who makes another attack but Momon counters easily and smacks off her mask and gets a look at her face, which shocks him. "Wait, are you…" he tries to say.

But the masked warrior senses something, puts her mask back on, and warps away in the wind and the power disappears. Momon looks a little confused but quickly understands that what he just saw must have meaning, but he must go back to his journey to the capital. However, he sees a massive red pillar coming from the distance near the mountains.

Looking a bit shocked, the young lady aboard the carriage looks worried and wonders "I hope that's not from the mines."

Momon looks at her and asks "Mines?"

The young lady explains "The mines are incredibly important to the Empress. She gets a powerful metal for weapons and armor from them."

Momon wonders about what this mine is truly worth given the access to the weapons, items, and money from the Tomb. But he has an obligation to complete his task for the cart.

However, the young lady tells him "They could use your help. We're not far off from the capital, and we'll tell the guild you completed this task. I'll even throw in extra."

Momon turns to the driver and the young lady and nods "Very well, I'll take it on the job. But do get back to the Capital safely." He says and begins to run off. Things are starting to heat up.

Carriage

Justina sits in her carriage with only one other person in it, her Black Knight. The knight sits across from her empress with the only real sound of her sighing. The knight looks upon the Crimson Empress and asks "Lady Justina, are you sure this is necessary?"

Justina opens up a bottle of crimson liquid and begins drinking it. She then senses the Black Knight staring at the bottle and then responds "I hardly doubt the necessity of this venture. Especially since I can tell you're hungry."

The black knight feigns pride in retorting "I am not hungry, I'm just anxious is all."

Sensing the lie, Justina lifts the knight's faceplate and begins dripping the liquid on her face and then, she begins to drool from hunger and the sweet smell next to her lips. The empress shakes her head and tells her "Lying is beneath the leader of the Crimson Knights. You've been a vampire for centuries now. So act like it, and drink."

The knight licks the liquid from her lips and then Justina rewards her with the rest of the bottle as they continue their journey "We're almost to the mines. Those monkeys from the Slane Theocracy think I won't attack my own mines. Well, I'm not about to meet THEIR expectations." She states as her red armor forms around her body.

Daletite Mines

The mines are the supposedly the crash site of a massive meteorite that crashed into the world and its pieces broke apart from natural erosion but are still immensely powerful. Justina has these pieces mined for various equipment and tools.

The massive red pillar from earlier is being caused by a monster attacking the mines. The members of Blue Roses stand before a massive serpent exuding poison from its mouth. Evileye and Nikola stand ready to fight it.

"Monsters like this aren't any trouble. Nikola, you shouldn't have left Momon or his descendant. You should have brought him back here." Evileye tells her friend with a rather annoyed tone.

Nikola scoffs at the idea and looks annoyed herself as she retorts "Shut up Keeno. I don't need a lecture from you of all people."

Shocked by her rather aggressive response, Evileye asks "Hey, what's that about? I've never seen you like this."

Nikola looks down and runs into the entrance of the mines to help the workers inside. The area looks like a typical mining area with an encampment around the area for the miners to sleep and take breaks. Evileye worries for her comrade but goes back to facing off against the serpent who bares its fangs at her.

She begins casting a spell "Shard Buck Shots.." The serpent lunges at her but her spell of creating mini crystals that shoot at it and cut its body on the side.

The monster recovers quickly and is bleeding from the wound. Evileye begins casting another spell but she is stopped when the head of the serpent flies from its neck after a dark streak comes from its body. Standing behind the monster's corpse is the black knight with her dark sword in hand and swords floating behind her body.

Evileye looks shocked at seeing the black knight "I can't believe she'd have you of all people fight me." She says to herself.

Justina walks from behind with a simple look on her face as she says "Killing Blue Roses isn't our goal, but keep this sorcerer occupied while I hunt down the monkeys." She walks by Evileye entirely as she enters the mines herself.

Evileye looks at the knight, who hesitates for a moment and then asks with a demanding tone "Why are you so willing to fight a friend when I really don't want to do this?"

The knight looks away and then answers "Lady Justina gave me my orders, so my hands are tied."

Evileye recognizes the voice even "Are all my phantoms haunting me today?" she wonders to herself.

The black knight glows red as she uses a skill "Magical Nullification." She says as Evileye begins casting a spell that the black knight stops by swiftly charging in and almost cutting her.

The Black Knight says with a slight sadness "I won't let it drag on. I'll end it quickly."

Evileye casts her Crystal Lance ability but it deflects off the knight's armor. The knight explains "Magical attacks up to a certain level have no effect on me. Sorry, but I won't say any more." She then attacks Evileye, who summons a Crystal Wall, but the knight easily breaks through it with just her armor. Evileye can only watch as the knight gets closer, but she tries to teleport, but can't because the nullification is an area ability, not a single target. She is cut on the shoulder by simply ducking and rolling out of the way.

The black knight readies her sword and shouts "I told you it's useless."

Evileye tries to think of something but can only hope for a hero, but her prayers are heard when a loud crash is heard from another monster crashes into the mining area, a similar creature to what Evileye was fighting.

"Whoever sent these monsters truly chose poorly." A voice states as he approaches the area.

Evileye gets giddy at seeing a man resembling her beloved Momon appears to protect his maiden, but this is just her fantasy.

Seeing Evileye look hopeful with her hand gestures makes the black knight consider Momon an enemy as she charges at him next with her sword ready. She wants to make it quick, but Momon simply holds his idle stance with his swords ready but seeing an enemy charging at him.

He swiftly pulls out his sword and counters as a shard of black armor fly through the air. The black knight loses her balance and rolls on the ground as she crashes into a tent and equipment.

"Momon, you've to come to save your maiden…" she bashfully thinks to herself.

Momon approaches Evileye and does recognize her despite her new outfit from her hair "So she's still around." He says to himself. He approaches her with the demeanor of a comrade "Are you unharmed?" he asks.

Evileye quickly rises and brushes off her clothes "No no no, I 'm fine since you arrived, uh sir…." She says in a fluster.

Momon simply answers "It's Momon IV, named after my great-grandfather." He introduces himself.

Hearing his name makes her a little sad "Oh, so he DID marry after all." She says with a clear air of being heartbroken.

But he assures her if only to spare her feelings a little "Oh, but he did live a very happy life and mentioned a comrade similar to you, I suppose based on your outfit."

The mention of Momon thinking about her causes her to blush.

The black knight rises from the ground as her helmet has broken off slightly revealing her face a little. Evileye tells Momon of the black knight as she walks forward while saying "So, you're related to the great hero. I should have known that they'd look for him." Her helmet cracks more as Evileye and Momon ready for her again.

The black knight angrily states "But Momon is no hero. Where was he when we needed him? Where was he when our comrades were taken…." She finally screams as helmet breaks completely off "WHERE WAS HE WHEN OUR KINGDOM BURNED TO GROUND!" her hair falls down, its color is blonde, waist length, and disheveled. Her eyes are blood-red, but Evileye recognizes her, how couldn't she.

The Black Knight is revealed to be Lakyus Alvein Dale Aindra, the previous leader of Blue Rose and a noble from the fallen Re-Estize Kingdom. Now, she is a vampire under Justina's command as shown by her eyes now red instead of green like they once were. She summons her floating swords that appear in different colors resembling different elements.

Intrigued, Momon analyzes them "It appears that Justina gifted some very powerful swords from the Tomb for her black knight, not bad, but is this woman truly worthy of such gifts. I shall take this opportunity to find out." He thinks to himself.

Evileye stands up to her former friend and rebukes "It was our weakness that caused the kingdom to fall. Momon wasn't around, he couldn't do a thing, so don't blame him for OUR failures, Lakyus."

Momon gets ready and informs Evileye "I don't know what the complete story is, but I won't allow someone to tarnish the name of Great-Grandfather is such a manner. So ready yourself, Black Knight, and show me what the Crimson Empire's finest has to offer."

Lakyus looks at her sword and reminds herself "Yes, I am the Black Knight. The leader of the Crimson Knights, and the Right hand of the Crimson Empress herself, I fight anyone who challenges her or her empire." She readies herself for a fight, one that will indeed be exceptionally difficult. She undoes her magical nullification since she can't have it active for her next skill which causes her to rise off the ground a little as she holds her sword forward "Dark Awakening" She glows a crystal blue as a dark power erupts from her body and all of her capabilities are increased.

She lowers to the ground with a much more menacing presence "I've finally let it take me over, and now the darkness of my sword and I are one and the same. Now we'll release the demon sword's power!" She swings her sword and a massive dark wave erupts from a single swing as Momon and Evileye jump to avoid it and the mining area beyond them is completely decimated by the wave.

Momon looks at the destruction and is impressed a little "That was just one swing. Not bad at all." He readies his swords and is about ready to make his next move. The real fight has begun