As the blade went down, so too did her eyes as Phoebe waited for her death, but a loud metallic clang jolted her eyes open again. The black blade was sunk into the ground beside her chest and as she looked up, she saw Krieg holding the greatsword above his head with the flat part of the blade against his folded left arm.

“I’m sorry I took so long.”

He took a forward step with the left leg while twisting his right wrist, swinging the greatsword diagonally down at the joint between the shoulder and neck but the other knight deflected the blade with its right forearm, sliding the metallic blade across the black gauntlet.

Krieg’s sword met the ground for a split second and it was all the opposing knight needed to retaliate. It followed up with a horizontal slash from the right, which Krieg deflected by raising the flat part of his blade, bringing his foe’s weapon above his own head and around his body, from that position he slammed the pommel against the black knight’s helmet, knocking him a few steps back.

“Not bad, you’ve improved since the last time we met.”

Its ghostly voice echoed inside the empty helmet. While maintaining a good distance, Krieg evaluated the foe as he was at considerable disadvantage wearing nothing but the already tattered military garb. So he tried the most logical thing.

“At first I thought you’d only target me, why go after Phoebe?”

Buy time. Both Phoebe and Leona needed it to recover so any extra second he could delay the better, after all, he didn’t know if the black knight was going to fight until one of them was dead. It simply shook its head in response before dashing in for a double handed horizontal slash.

Krieg managed to deflect the attack once again by angling the flat side of his blade making the attack go above his head, seeing how the black knight had its left flank exposed, he countered by grabbing the blade of his own sword and plummeting it like a spear towards the edge of the shoulder where the armor was weaker.

The blade sunk in akin to a can opener piercing through the thick metal, carving the armor in through sheer force.

“Argh!”

It had made contact and once Krieg pulled the blade back there was a strong trace of blue ichor coating the tip of his greatsword.

“Not bad… not bad at all!”

The tone of its voice seemed to challenge Krieg as it took a few steps back putting the greatsword against the left side of the hip with the left arm seemingly holding the blade while the other tightened around the handle.

At first he thought it was just another stance much like Eleonora’s but shortly after there was an eerie cold blue glow emitting from the blade like the metal was coated in ice before a flash of light almost blinded him.

‘This is bad!’

As the black knight drew the blade out, a wave of dark energy was released like a blade of water. Krieg pulled his sword to a diagonal position with the flat surface facing the attack while the left hand held the other extremity to mitigate the blow better but just like being hit by a warhammer, he felt the impact go through the bones and muscles from his hands to his arms as his body was thrown backwards a few meters from the impact.

“Gah…”

He could feel his arms tingling from the blow, but his instincts were on high alert as even with the pain, he raised the blade in front of him only to realize the black knight was no longer there.

His eyes darted around while he turned a full circle around to check where his enemy might be, but the forest was dead silent.

Seconds, minutes passed and the forest critters along with the gentle brushing of foliage was the only sound present around himself. He sheathed his sword.

‘What was this all about?’

He thought. Not only that phantom black knight would attack without any warning, it didn’t seem like its intention was to kill any of them it didn’t add up. In the end, he decided not to mull over what already happened and instead decided to go back to help Leona and Phoebe.

With a short three minute jog back, he found the high elf still stretched out on the ground with both her arms motionless.

“Phoebe are you alright?”

The knight kneeled beside her while grabbing a reddish potion out of the pocket of the uniform.

“I’m… alive, but certainly not feeling great-”

She squinted her eyes in pain the moment she tried to lift her head. Her entire back felt like it was on fire, the slight depression in the ground showed just how brutally she had been slammed against it. On the bright side, she could still move her lower body, it was just too painful to do so. Krieg decided to gently hold the back of her head as he administered the vial of healing he had taken out of the pocket of his uniform.

“Here, let me help you.”

Upon drinking the red contents, the high elf could feel a pleasant warm tingling sensation spread in her body, alleviating some of the pain allowing her to turn on her left side to get up.

“Thank you, sire. I’m ok now, but we should check on Princess Leona, she is just around this treeline.”

She pointed towards the slight hill incline that created a visual cover for anyone looking from below. He noticed it was Phoebe’s intention to let Leona out of the black knight’s sight as much as possible.

“Thank you for having her safety in mind.”

She simply shook her head.

“It was the only option at the time. I don’t know how you defeated that… ‘thing’ but you have my thanks and also my sincere apology for having to cover up for my mistake.”

“Don’t be. I didn’t defeat it, it simply ran away.”

He helped her stand up and they continued to speak as they made their way back to where Leona was.

Upon arriving near the parked vehicle, Krieg noticed the Princess discreetly lying against a tree a few meters away from it. He approached her and kneeled down before checking how she was.

“Still sleeping…”

He muttered before standing up again and turning at the high elf.

“I’ll carry her back. Do you happen to know fire magic?”

She shook her head.

“Unfortunately I only know wind magic.”

The knight scratched the back of his head.

“Alright I’ll figure something out.”

He took Leona between his arms, carrying her to the middle seat of the vehicle while Phoebe sat in front of her. Krieg went around the metallic construction and removed the decapitated wolf head from the side of the driver’s seat by prying its jaws open before heading behind the engine. From there he shouted to Phoebe.

“I’ll push this thing. Just keep it going in the right direction.”

“But sire, we’re in an incline, it’s impossible to-”

She stopped talking as it started to move, slowly, but it was surely moving little by little with each hard earned step of the knight. To ease his effort, the high elf decided to pull off the breaks that held the back metal tires.

He clenched both jaws together as he took deep breaths between each push, letting the air out through his teeth as it created puffs of white every time he exhaled.

Krieg’s arms and legs were working to their limit to fight off gravity that insisted on bringing the weighty vehicle down the hill. With each push, he was reaching his limit but there was only one thing in his mind.

‘I will bring her to Londria… no matter what!’

His body was starting to scream in pain, both arms and legs were falling numb from the constant need of the already lacking oxygen in his limbs. But nothing else mattered in his mind, even should his soul ache in pain, if it was for Leona he knew there was a way.

Upon clenching his teeth and locking his feet in place, a surge of strength accompanied his determined mind.

A strange pulse of vigor started to spread from his chest towards the extremities of his limbs, the bulging arteries of his wounded arms were healing off the bite marks left from the wolves at incredible speed while at the same time supplying the much needed oxygen. His legs locked in place as both feet carved into the mud below to affix to a more solid ground as he pushed the snow sledge.

Phoebe was becoming worried about the knight’s physical condition when her body suddenly jerked forward. She looked at the back of the vehicle, but couldn’t get a clear view of him. However it was starting to pick up speed, as if the engine was working through that uphill battle.

‘His strength is… abnormal.’

She thought. When she was given the mission to escort Krieg back to queen Eleonora, she thought it was only because he was an important person to her, but seeing his strength up close it had to be because of that.

Not too long after, they made their way to the top of the hill where Phoebe pulled the breaks again. Krieg sat with his back against the vehicle, his body was tired from all the exertion but at least they were in a better position to keep watch should animals or bandits try to approach them.

The high elf jumped out of the driver’s seat and leaned against the outside of it. She noticed a glint of blue in her peripheral vision as she was about to turn at the knight to ask him a question.

“Sire-”

She started, getting his attention but she simply stood there dumbfounded. Seeing how she was staring at him but not saying anything prompted him to ask.

“What’s wrong Phoebe, did you see something?”

Her half open mouth started to formulate words slowly, seemingly in shock from what she was seeing.

“Y-your arms, they are glowing with mana.”

He looked down towards them both only noticing a faint glistering red glow coming off from the veins and arteries closer to the skin, he almost didn’t feel any fatigue it felt like he had a good night’s rest and had just awakened.

“I don’t see anything different.”

Phoebe was taken aback, from her view it was plainly obvious that he imbued his limbs with mana as the distinctive light blue glow was coursing through his arms like water through a river, but hearing the knight’s reply made her tilt her head in confusion. She proceeded to ask.

“Sire, do you not see anything different from Princess Leona when she casts a spell?”

He leaned the back of his head against the snow sledge while looking towards the treetops above him, it blocked most of the sunlight which made the soil naturally damper. He seemed indifferent when answered.

“Just a faint glow but that’s it. I think the color depends on the type of spell being cast.”

Phoebe held her chin, lost in thought. Never once did she hear about someone being able to see the element of a spell while it was being cast, but Krieg’s lack of knowledge about magic made it more plausible that it was more likely a mistake than anything.

“Well… it’s not particularly something that'd get in the way. After all, not many people know how to use magic.”

She started to think for herself but in the past few weeks almost all foes they fought knew some sort of spellcasting. She stared at the ground silently hoping they wouldn’t have to fight another mage.

Krieg on the other hand, was relieved nothing happened to Leona while he was fighting the wolves and the black knight. Even looking at his own arm, he couldn’t believe it was almost healed from exerting himself beyond his limit.

Staring at it he started to feel a pleasant tingling sensation coursing through each fiber of his muscles. As if a soothing liquid was running through his veins and arteries while repairing the torn tissues. He closed his eyes remembering what Eleonora once told him.

“Even if you can’t use sword energy, do not despair Krieg. I’m sure you’ll find a way to become even more powerful as a swordsman and a knight.”

Queen Eleonora, the strongest knight ever recorded in Arcadia’s history. She was the first to use a martial art called energy blade, a technique that allowed her to coat her weapons with the element of light, capable of destroying even the previous demon king. Though not all knights under her lead were able to use it, only a very select few were taken into the Queen’s last expedition against demonkind.

Krieg grasped the scabbard with his left hand, reminiscing about the war and how on the very last campaign he was left behind to protect the falling walls of Arcadia as Eleonora herself lead an elite group to a do-or-die attempt to end the war that have been waged for as long as anyone could remember.

He closed his eyes for a brief moment, taking in a deep breath before raising his head towards the dark forest roof above. Sighing, he caught Phoebe’s attention, who in all that time traveling with them, never saw the knight do that, so she decided to ask.

“Sire, are you alright?”

“Huh? Why’d you ask?”

“I've never seen you sigh like this before.”

He stopped for a few seconds, it was indeed unusual for him to do that, but noticing how the high elf was concerned it prompted him to explain the reason behind his worries.

“I’m just wondering about Princess Leona’s condition, mana shock isn’t something that I’m overly familiar with and I don’t have the slightest clue how to treat it.”

“Oh, I administered her a mana potion already, she should recover with a little bit of rest.”

She glanced at Leona who slept soundly in the middle seat. A few locks of hair had fallen on her face, making Phoebe lean over the edge of the vehicle to move it out of the Princess’ serene expression. The high elf couldn’t help but wonder what kind of dream she was having.

“Finally making some progress huh? Princess Leona.”

Inside the ever-expanding horizon of glistering stars and mellow fractured skies, Leona was once again inside a domain of the void, sometimes she’d wonder whether it was her own consciousness playing tricks on her or if a god would really bother making such a fuss over her.

Sitting across her on a familiar throne of liquid, the hazy male figure chuckled with his left leg across the right while supporting the chin with the left open hand.

Seeing him made the Princess realize she was once again either sleeping or unconscious, not that she could differentiate from either in that place. She focused on the hazy figure, trying to look at where his eyes would be.

“Lastraeus. Why am I here again?”

“It was rather convenient to suffer that mana shock. I was getting bored of waiting.”

He uncrossed his legs and leaned forward, both elbows being supported against his thighs.

“I have a suggestion for you.”