Preemptively firing my crossbow at the knight, he deflects it.

What the hell was that? We're at point blank range godsdamnit! His sword was still sheathed a second ago!

Letting his sword drop, he chuckles. Damn, he ain't even feeling any threat from me, is he? Guess, time for a switch of approach.

"Hey man, I ain't no cultist, I'm being framed alright? You gotta believe me man,"

"Hah, I'd like to believe you, but after you tried to shoot me, I'm going to have to think otherwise,"

With no further words, he thrusts his pitch black sword at me, but Savage intercepts it locking it in between two daggers, whilst Lily heralds a veritable rain of essence blades at the knight with a flap of her wings.

*Clang!*

The knight swerves and dodges, striking fast. Deflecting the sword strikes with his dagger, Savage is holding his own against the knight, but it's a passive position, something we cannot afford. If we didn't sort the situation soon, then we would be surrounded in a matter of minutes.

Weaving around to the knight's flank, I shoot a crossbow bolt enchanted with a bit of wind essence I hurriedly gathered, improving its speed and piercing power, a ranger art I learnt once upon a time.

Too bad though, he still deflects that and has the time to spare another round of assault for Savage.

*Clang!*

Sparks flew as blades clashed. Despite the three pronged assault, the night knight did not waver and even managed to halt all of us, keeping us from passing to the battlements. A few guards had already shown up to watch this battle as they filled the parapet, restricting the battle area.

This guy. He has to be at the Steel Will rank and he's top of the tier to boot! We can't beat him. But I ain't willing to abandon my friend!

"Jeff! Leave, I'll hold 'im back!" Savage shouts as the menacing blue flame beneath his helm flares up.

Before I can respond, Savage seems to get a power boost as a thick, deathly aura materialises in the area giving me an incessant cold sweat, as well as a shiver that permeates through my whole body. Is he burning his soul essence to do that? No, it feels different, similar to the aura of a high ranked undead.

Mhm, now I feel a bit more willing to leave. Sayonara, my friend!

"I won't forget you," I flatly mutter, vaulting over the parapet. I signal Lily to follow me as I jam my machete into the grooves of the wall to slow my quick descent.

Turning back, I salute the man still fighting on the wall, and pay my respects, before I'm abruptly shot at.

*Fwip!*

In which case, I quickly flipped them off, before running away, the sounds of blades clashing and stone splitting forming my backdrop.

Sigh, what luck to lose a friend, and basically everything I had today. And that knight, we couldn't do jack to him, I could see it in his eyes, he saw us as nothing more than some clowns at the circus. Except clowns could've done more than me!

I slam a fist against the tough bark of a tree. It gently rustles. I cool myself down.

I take a deep breath. It's pretty rare for me to lose my chill like that.

Hmm, that reminds me, I haven't said this yet, but in this realm, there are ranks that dictate one's strength or power. Commonly referred to as power ranks, there are eight ranks. From the weakest to strongest are, Unranked, Bronze Body, Silver Strength, Steel Will, Golden Mind, Heroic Legend, Unyielding Myth, and Immortal Semigod.

Normally, a normal guard or footmen of any sort would be of an Unranked power level, officers or elites perhaps being of the Bronze Body rank. At this scale, Unranked and Bronze aren't really that different. Their strength gap is near indistinguishable, however, the jump to Silver Strength brings about noticeable power changes. These would count as the backbone of any elite guard, unit or what hath thee, this time the strength gap is easily seen. Above that would be Steel Will, which is what most knights are ranked as, and at this rank, what isn't scary is the power they possess. But rather the way in which they operate and the degree of skill they possess. After all, no one can simply power up indefinitely, except maybe the dragons, but even then there's a limit.

I digress, at the Steel rank, the knight would've had an extremely heightened perception and superior control of their bodies, meaning that they can anticipate attacks from odd angles, and counter effectively. Which was what happened to us, he would always be able to deflect my bolts even when I was behind him or Lily's essence blades from above.

Surpassing that being Golden Mind, which is merely honing the mind to bear stronger powers. Such as crushing people with one's mere presence or causing hallucinations, as well as a near sixth sense level of perception, meaning they could theoretically foresee attacks. To get to this rank, requires an extreme control of essence.

At the next big power leap is Heroic Legend. Which was allegedly what the previous Kingdom Brave was at. People at this level would usually never be killed by those ranked lower than them. Their individual power is the equivalent to that of a small kingdom, perhaps higher.

When a Legend becomes an Unyielding Myth, it means that they are aiming to become an Immortal Semigod. There is little difference between a Myth and a Legend, except that the only purpose of Myths is to ascend to the higher realm, and as a result most Legends become Myths, lost in time.

There is little information of Semigods, except that they existed in ancient times, during the reign of the Heretics, but no one in the present ages after those times has ever been recorded to ever successfully advance into the rank of Semigod. It was alleged Semigods could raze kingdoms in an instant and set entire continents ablaze. Makes sense, they would need that kind of strength to contend against the gods of the realm.

If I had to estimate myself, I would probably be at the Bronze Body, pretty pitiful I know it. And now, this brings me into something that is crucial to ranks. Or rather something intertwined into the fabric of the very realm itself.

Essence! Everyone knows about essence. It's essence! Who doesn't know about essence?

Hm, must be real stupid to not know what essence is, huh?

Anyways, essence are the building blocks of the realm, everything has essence and in some senses, everything is essence itself. However, there is not one single essence, there are numerous types and variations, such as wind or moon essence. And, by gathering and honing essence spells and enchantments can be formulated and applied. There are many methods to channel essence to evoke different effects, however, there is also a precaution for mixing essences together as sometimes they don't always give the most positive effect. Though I don't know too much about this, I just know about the fundamental essences, — That being, fire, wind, water and earth, — and just that they are integral if one desires to increase their power ranking. Meaning that having a fine control and perception of essence was naturally a requirement for the strong.

And well, my essence control was decent, to say the least, but there was one person I knew who has finer control than me.

"Gotten comfy?"

I eye Lily the night crow, who sits snug against the tree, she gives a light chirrup. Watching the night crow perch herself so cosily on the branches I feel a sudden tiredness overcome me. We had managed to flee all the way into a nearby woodlands so we should be safe for the time being. I want to absolutely make sure there's no danger, but I find it a chore to keep my eyes open any longer.

Giving up on resisting, I climb up a tree as I enter the sweetness that is sleep, and delve into the plane of dreams.