‘I was once a Holy Knight of the Holy Order. I was once called Meros the Brave; the one who most likely would become a hero, someday…How did this happen?”

The crystal dagger in Meros’s hand clashed against the sword his foe was wielding. His opponent was using both magic and chi, allowing his sword to clash against Meros’s weapon.

“But now…I am the only human member of the Shadow Lords, a group led by a maniac, no, a complete lunatic….and I am fighting for my life with a hero! Where did I go wrong?!’

As their blades clashed against each other, Meros could feel the deadly cold creeping towards him.

His opponent was the Knight of Ice, Creos Rison.

Crystal dagger prevented Meros’s arm being frozen right as their blades clashed, but it could not stop the aura of frost Knight of Ice was emitting.

Long before joining Dark Lord, Meros’s dream was to become a hero and make his name a legend.

But now, he was a former Holy Knight, a Shadow Lord, clashing against the very heroes he used to admire as a child.

If someone told him this was his fate ten years ago, he would have likely dismissed it as some bad joke.

However, as strange as it was, this was the reality.

As for how Meros ended up in this situation?

It could be best summed up as a mission failed.

Using their ability of concealment, Camilla and Meros observed many things that have happened within Merok territory away from prying eyes.

They managed to infiltrate one of the fortresses of the Holy Order, all in hopes of overhearing some of their future plans.

From what they could tell, the Holy Order was not aware of Shadow Lords as a separate organization.

As far as they knew, the ones who were causing the Holy Order so much peril were the minions of Demon King Draco.

‘I can hardly believe it. It is going exactly as Dark Lord foretold. I swear, that guy has some strange power to predict the future down to the tiniest detail!’

Even lending Meros the crystal dagger was Dark Lord’s idea. For some reason, Dark Lord told Meros that he is going to need it soon enough.

And now, the only reason his hands were not frozen was because of the crystal dagger.

‘That demon…he always has something up his sleeve…Even this. What could he possibly gain from me wielding his weapon?’

Unbeknownst to Meros, Dark Lord wanted to maximize the chances of Meros coming back alive, which is why he had Camilla accompany him as well as lending Meros the crystal dagger.

As far as Meros knew, Dark Lord was playing some strange game. Last time Meros saw him, Dark Lord had an entire page full of crossed out sentences, and next to each he would paint a horned caricature, signifying failure.

It was Dark Lord’s way of organizing his memory. After so many loops, he found it very useful to write down what has failed so far, trying out new combinations of events, all in order to guarantee his subordinate’s survival.

Recruiting so many valuable allies took a long time and so many loops.

Losing even one subordinate would be the same as wasting his effort.

Among the Shadow Lords, most of them were non-human, in essence - everyone who has a reason to hate the human kingdom.

Of course, as the only human being within the group, Meros should have felt out of place within the organization whose goal was pretty much the destruction of the human kingdom.

In fact, Lukalis, the elven woman, absolutely despised Meros even while addressing everyone else with politeness.

While the others may have had their reasons to hate the kingdom for what it did to them, as a human being Meros should have been loyal to the kingdom.

But Meros was never the patriotic type.

He knew perfectly well that patriotism was merely a way for the powerful lions to sacrifice the clueless lambs.

And Meros was not about to let them do with him as they pleased.

Following the path of the sword, he rose in strength until he eventually became a high tier Holy Knight level warrior.

But when he lost his left hand, the kingdom took everything he had labored for, leaving him to die like a dog.

He still had not forgotten that betrayal.

The laughter of those knights calling him ‘Meros, the hero of failure’, ‘Broken Knight’, and ‘Wasted Brave’, back then, he could do nothing but swallow his pride and walk away.

The kingdom essentially kicked him to the curb.

Even if he was not loyal to his kingdom wholeheartedly, having all his efforts being paid back with what was essentially a stab in the back….

…Yet another reason for him to be a member of the Shadow Lords.

His master, Dark Lord or Runfar Sevilles as the humans called him, was, without a question, a complete madman.

Someone who is sane would never propose the destruction of the biggest and most powerful kingdom on the entire continent.

Merok, Tracoa, and Racron territories, all three together constituted the Holy City, the heart of the kingdom.

Large bulk of the kingdom’s forces and most of the Heroes were within the Holy City’s territories.

Due to the actions of the Shadow Lords, three heroes were sent out of commission, most likely permanently.

And much to their surprise, the hero they have desperately summoned in these trying times, had chosen to rebel and flee them instead.

As of now, there were twenty five active heroes.

Most were low tier, some were mid-tier, and very few were high tier.

Encountering a high tier hero would essentially be the same as suicide.

After sneaking into the fortress, Camilla and Meros did their best to not be detected.

Unfortunately, the one hero who happened to be passing by was none other than the Knight of Ice, mid-tier hero

After years of fighting in the battlefield against the demons, Knight of Ice developed something akin to sixth sense.

Whenever there was a demon nearby, he would feel a cold sensation upon his back.

Due to his blessing, he was immune to low temperatures, his body never reacted even when the temperature was beyond freezing.

If someone like him suddenly felt chills, then something was clearly amiss.

He would know immediately something was wrong.

The only reason his back would feel like it was pierced by icicles is because there is a demon nearby.

“I know you are out here. Come out, come out, wherever you are~” Knight of Ice uttered in sing song voice.

Without a word of warning, he unleashed a blast of ice in the direction Camilla was hiding in.

‘Oh no, you don’t!’ Meros jumped in to block the attack that was meant for Camilla.

Before the ice blast could hit Camilla, Meros brandished the crystal dagger and countered the attack.

Meros managed to have his blade cut through the magic based attack.

While the crystal dagger could cut through magic, Meros proceeded to use flow his chi through the blade.

A swordsman could use magic or chi or both, combining them with his swordsmanship to create a truly deadly swordplay.

While they were similar, magic and chi were completely different in nature.

Magic was the power of the body while chi was the power of the will or as they called it, one’s spirit.

In simple terms, they were like the ying and yang.

One represented the physical energy while the other represented mental strength.

Being able to use both would make one a truly powerful swordsman.

But of course, that is much easier said than done.

Using mana is much easier compared to chi, which takes far longer time to master.

That was the reason why most swordsmen in the kingdom use mana rather than chi.

There is even a concern that within next centuries, the art of chi usage might become extinct due to the unpopularity of its usage.

Worst part was that chi could only be taught over time or awakened by putting oneself in mortal danger.

Even after awakening it, it was extremely hard to master.

But for those who persevered, chi gave an extraordinary boost to their might.

For one, chi possessed the ability to cut through magic and deliver massive damage.

Chi could not be absorbed, so unlike mana, it could not be stopped.

Chi based attack can only be deflected by another chi attack, making it a powerful tool against one’s foes.

Generating chi takes enormous willpower, which is why it is very draining mentally and physically.

The worst part was that while the amount of chi one is able to use is theoretically infinite, there is only so much body can handle.

Using chi puts enormous amount of strain upon the body, rapidly draining the body of stamina; if used for too long it could be fatal.

That is why training in chi usage takes so long.

Warrior must train his body to be able to withstand the pressure the chi puts on it.

The more chi the body can handle without breaking, the mightier the swordsman would become.

As for Meros, he was rather average when it comes to usage of mana, and with chi… he was even worse.

While chi could be used for different elemental attacks, it can also be used in its pure, non-elemental form. The pure chi form is the easiest to use while element based chi attacks required more expertise.

Unlike a skilled master who could use chi to inflict elemental attacks, Meros could only use his chi to cut through magic and unleash a special attack of his, the ‘Wave’.

Meros’s special skill ‘Wave’, it was essentially a failed version of the air slash enhanced by win type chi.

An ordinary air slash would not be able to damage magic structure, but imbuing it with chi was extremely difficult.

Granted, it was not a perfect technique. Had the air slash been imbued with more chi, it would have been far more powerful.

But right at the moment, coating his blade in chi and unleashing a singular wave in the direction of his opponent was the best he could do.

Because of Meros’s chi, his body was not frozen over after clashing against Knight of Ice. However, he knew he could not keep this up for long.

Due to how much stamina chi uses up, Meros was not confident that he could survive this duel.

But now was not the time to hesitate.

If he loses, Camilla would be found and killed.

And Meros was not about to let his comrade get killed, even if he was a demon.

“Freeze over!”

Gigantic icicles sprouted from the ground in Meros’s direction, intending to skewer him.

In response, Meros unleashed his counter attack.

The icicles were broken into pieces as Meros directed his chi along the edge of his blade

“A fellow chi user, huh? This will be interesting”

Using the ground he froze, Knight of Ice slid over towards Meros and slashed him with his sword.

Meros barely managed to react in time, blocking the sword with crystal dagger.

Without a hint of hesitation, Knight of Ice grabbed Meros’s left shoulder. The area Knight of Ice grabbed hold of started to freeze over.

Meros started to lose the feeling on his left side.

It was as though as he was slowly slipping away into nothingness….

“No…This is not how it ends!”

Meros proceeded to knee Knight of Ice in the stomach, before kicking him away.

With his left arm frozen, Meros proceeded to attack with the crystal dagger in his right hand.

“Enough play time”

Knight of Ice’s expression got serious all of a sudden.

Next moment, Meros was encased from head to toe in an ice cone, with only his head not covered in ice.

“That was mildly entertaining. But all fun times must come to an end”

Raising his sword up, Knight of Ice prepared to decapitate his opponent,

He muttered.

“Now goodbye”

Right before he could swing his sword, Knight of Ice felt a prickling sensation on his neck.

Much to his confusion, he could not move; his body was paralyzed.

While Knight of Ice did sense the presence of a demon, he assumed that the one he fought against was the demon, not a human protecting a hidden demon.

Due to wearing a mask and dark clothing, Meros was mistaken for a demon when he decided to protect his hidden comrade.

Because of Meros’s actions, Knight of Ice did not even realize that Camilla was waiting for a perfect moment to strike.

From nowhere, a form of a snake demon appeared, and proceeded to hit Knight of Ice in the face with his tail, before doing a series of kicks and punches that sent Knight of Ice flying through the window.

“Meros, stay still!”

Camilla used one of his special poisons, specifically the one that only affected ice and left any living being unharmed.

Within a moment, the ice encasing Meros was nearly gone, allowing Camilla to catch him.

The ice left Meros’s body somewhat numb, but due to using chi, he did not shatter into pieces.

In time, he would be back to normal, but for now, Meros felt as though he took a dive into an ice cold river and got frozen on the spot.

“Well, that went swimmingly”

“At least you are alive”

“That is true. Can’t say the same about the other guy…” Meros was a little happy that Knight of Ice was defeated.

“Gotta hand it to Dark Lord, this dagger sure is something”

“Make sure to return it to him”

“Will do. Besides, he is the one who lent it to me. Maybe he wanted me to have it, at least in this situation…. Do not worry, Scaly, I will give it back to him. Daggers are nice, but I prefer a longsword.”

“In that case, Camilla thinks it is fine”

Using their teleportation rings, they fled the fortress.

What they couldn’t have known was the fact that Knight of Ice was hanging off the window with his fingers.

Freezing the poison within his bloodstream, he managed to gain back the control over his body. Now, using his enormous upper body strength, he climbed up the window.

“This is not over. Dark Lord? They are the subordinates of the Demon King’s minion? This is even worse than I feared.”

Apparently Camilla’s attacks did indeed leave a mark, his nose was broken and bleeding, and his forehead had a horizontal slash left by Camilla’s claws.

Creos Rison was a hero, so even if it was a two on one, he should have been victorious, yet, he was nearly defeated and he allowed his enemies, the demons to escape.

That feeling of disappointment he felt right now was comparable to a hole that was sucking out all the light within his heart.

“I will shatter all of you! You shall regret the day you crossed paths with me!”