Chapter 31

Even after growing up and becoming strong, the quirks still persist, and many find the night to be the most frightening time to walk freely through the streets, much of it due to the stories told to them during childhood.

Amidst the darkness of the forest, a calm melody echoes through the trees, capable of soothing any existing fear in the hearts of those present and intensifying the sadness they feel.

Upon hearing that sound, the eyes of the knights widen, for indeed, they were all personally witnessing the existence of many of the creatures described in the stories told to them decades ago.

And that melody, though they had never heard it before, they could easily tell which creature created it.

The one whose voice brings death, the Lady of Tears.

It was instinctive, as the melody approached, all the knights covered their ears with their hands and quickly increased their own speeds, resulting in a faster arrival at their destination.

Elizabeth stopped, causing all the knights to cease their runs immediately, silently.

The knights glanced at each other.

Hesitant, one by one, they all began to remove their hands from their ears.

The melody could no longer be heard, which brought a momentary relief to everyone, causing an involuntary, literally instinctive, and brief collective sigh.

The knights widened their eyes. The silence had been broken.

Elizabeth didn't say a single word to reprimand them, there was no more time.

The enemy horn was blown, the demons knew their positions.

Immediately the knights drew their weapons, some with swords and others with double or single daggers, and took up battle positions.

Elizabeth was quicker and, raising her hands towards the sky, she created a huge fireball that soon began to fall towards the demons' base.

Everyone looked scared. The point wasn't how sophisticated the magic was, but how much mana was being used to create it.

With Elizabeth's clenched fists, the sphere in the sky imploded into a large explosion, revealing a smaller and more condensed fireball, while the flames generated by the explosion spread through the air and created a wave that extended for kilometers, even within the Great Forest.

Looking at that wave of flames in the sky, the other teams wondered; Is this the signal?

The fire spread, creating a unique and beautiful sight, as it extended and began to take on new colors, from yellow to red, the mixture of three distinct colors with different shades formed a huge circular and expandable rainbow.

While everyone was amazed at the magnificent effect created by the flames in the sky, the condensed fireball continued to fall rapidly towards the ground, but it didn't reach it.

Many didn't even see that man coming to that place, let alone what he did. But Elizabeth could see every step, even with some difficulty, from the exact moment he drew his sword to the moment he simply cut her magic in half, she saw it all.

Short black hair, nothing out of the ordinary. But the eyes...

"So these are the silver eyes..."

Elizabeth took the lead, running without any sign of hesitation towards the enemy.

The knights trembled, hesitation reappeared at the most important moment. However, no longer needing silence, a scream was enough to make everyone move towards the battle.

"Aaaaahhhh!!"

The screams continued to echo in sequence as hundreds of knights ran out from among the huge trees.

Hesitating no longer made sense.

How many of them died just so they could get there?

Even facing death, they didn't utter a single word, how could they do something like that after witnessing something like that?

If they gave up now, even if it wasn't for the demons, by their own hands, they would kill themselves.

"Damn it!"

"Kill them all! Finish these bastards!"

Raising their weapons, there was no more fear in sight, in complete synchrony, the knights shouted;

"Long live the Kingdom! Long live Camelot!"

"May the king Kay's sword judge them!"

As both armies draw near, it becomes increasingly evident that the knights of Camelot are at a huge disadvantage. At the very least, there would be a hundred demons for each knight.

With the imminent clash of swords from each kingdom, the demons found themselves being targeted from a distance by thousands of arrows imbued with magic, be it fire, lightning, wind, or ice, all concentrated at the arrowheads.

"Dirty bastards!" exclaimed the man with gray eyes, who watches the unfolding of events from the skies. "How dare they use such a ridiculous tactic against us?! And they still have the courage to call us demons?!"

With a single swing of his sword, the man was able to thwart all the arrows before they could hit their targets.

The gust of wind created by that movement was so strong that it could be felt even by those knights who were acting as archers hundreds of meters away.

"You..."

His black wings hovered in the air, and looking down, the man could see Elizabeth coming fiercely towards him with a sword in hand.

"Golden hair and eyes..., so you're the so-called heroine?"

Raising one hand, Elizabeth cast a fireball that, just before hitting the target, opened up and covered his sight.

"Defeating them now is impossible," thought Elizabeth. "But if only their leader is defeated, that will probably be enough to boost the troops' morale."

Wielding her sword confidently, Elizabeth prepared to make a precise strike, but...

"I really am useless..." murmured the commander of Camelot's army base, still lamenting in his tent. "Idiot... why didn't you tell her? You should have told her... Damn it! You should have told her that nothing works against that monster."

Elizabeth swung her sword towards the enemy, but his mana was quicker, raising the aura barrier around his body and protecting him from the seemingly impossible-to-see kick that emerged from his flames.

"I don't understand why he said not to kill her... There's nothing special about you."

Elizabeth slowly got up. The barrier had been destroyed, and her arm was dislocated.

"With a single blow..."

As she put her arm back in place, ignoring the pain, Elizabeth raised her head only to see the silver eyes already standing in front of her.

"What is this man..?"

"Aaaahhh!"

Their weapons don't lower until they die, and their blood continues to boil amidst the battle.

Fear no longer exists within those men.

Their hearts beat fiercely with every movement of their swords. Superficial wounds are not enough to stop them. The loss of a mere arm is not enough to stop them.

A group of knights gather around the entire team, their hands moving in an imperfect and flawed harmony, something normal in a hastily formed team.

The demons advance mercilessly towards them, while the arrows keep coming towards the battlefield.

A sea of flames arose through the knights, who quickly switched places with others in their group so that those who could act immediately, using wind magic to intensify the flames around.

A part of the ground was consumed by the fire, killing all those who didn't have time to defend themselves.

While others, seeing that the flames were weaker than they actually seemed, enveloped themselves in a kind of second skin made of water and ran towards the fire without showing any signs of hesitation at any moment.

On one side, fire consumes a large area, while the knights fight bravely to survive. On the other, the swords and magic of the demons battle against the thousands of knights so they can reach the archers and finally stop that endless rain of arrows.

Blood boils and hearts race with that sight. The knights who weren't participating in the battle watched from afar.

They didn't want to feel that kind of emotion. That happiness was useless in the face of what was doomed to happen next. Not just similar, that was the exact same scene that many of them experienced before.

Tears roll as they continue to clutch their chests, knowing that it wouldn't end well.

It was inevitable. And the result was already visible.

The knights in the front line fought bravely, but as expected, they eventually succumbed to the huge difference in numbers as well as, some, to the inevitable fate that would reach everyone in that world someday; the lack of mana.

Without fear or compassion, the demons destroyed the magical fire circle and advanced without showing any attachment to their own lives.

On the other side, the archers were already beginning to fall, because despite being able to use aura, the knights protecting them couldn't fully defend against the demons' magic.

The sound of clashing swords and explosions created by magic echoed throughout the battlefield, but the outcome of all that could already be seen by anyone.

And while all this was happening, the biggest explosions continued to occur far away from everyone else.

"Who are you?" Elizabeth questioned. "You are..."

There's no time to breathe. Elizabeth continues to be thrown from one side to the other of the extensive field she's in.

She is strong, that's undeniable. But why does it never seem like enough?

"I am not the king, if that's what you're thinking of asking."

The blows of that man are heavy and too fast, so fast that her eyes can't even keep up with them perfectly.

Raising her arms, Elizabeth narrowly defends a precise kick that sends her towards one of the trees in the Great Forest.

The tree sways but doesn't fall, causing the ground to tremble nearby.

"I'm not even the strongest in the kingdom, how could I aspire to that position?"

Magic is useless, as his body for some reason doesn't seem to feel any effect when hit by it.

No matter how strong the flames, how intense the heat generated by them, moving his sword or simply passing through them with his body, he completely ignores them.

"The strongest...? Would that be the traitor hero?"

What was happening couldn't be called a fight; it seemed more like a test or a simple game on the part of that man.

"Hero...? Ah, Ethan? Well, yes, he's definitely the strongest among all in the demon realm, but I speak of those among my own race... And... traitor?"

Elizabeth continued to exert herself to the maximum, always looking for openings to make some attacks. They arise from time to time and are few, but they never result in any relevant effect.

"What else would you call someone who abandons and betrays their own kind?"

The man stopped for a brief moment and looked around.

The endless deaths, the bodies on the ground stretching one after the other. The ground continued to be painted red as the living stepped on the bodies on the ground in search of another death.

"I understand... But you know, he enjoys this situation as much as you or any of us do. Except for the heroes, Ethan hasn't killed a single human since he was summoned. Oh, no, my mistake. Actually, Aiden told me that thanks to the interference of a certain someone, that changed some time ago."

Elizabeth clenched her fists tightly. With anger-filled eyes, she jumped towards the man hovering in the air in front of her.

In her mind, the memories of that day repeated several times like in a movie. She saw the blood on her hands, felt the taste in her mouth, and found herself trapped by the hands of all those people.

"Do you know why you're still alive?" the man questioned, easily dodging Elizabeth's charge and kicking her towards the ground. "Ethan is quite 'meticulous' and doesn't like to leave tasks half-finished. And except for the one who came before you, it was Clovis who volunteered to kill him, no other Camelot hero has survived more than three minutes in front of him."

"Why are you asking me this? Ask him directly."

"Do you think I haven't done that already? He doesn't respond no matter how much I insist. But I have a theory."

Elizabeth's attacks continued to be futile; no matter how many times she tried, she couldn't land a single blow.

The fact is that she is at a complete disadvantage, not only in strength but also in speed and freedom of movement.

The enemy can fly, which alone greatly limits her options and significantly reduces the ways she could try to attack him.

"Guilt, understand?"

"No, I definitely don't understand."

"How is that possible? It's simple. He feels guilty for killing those people. You're the one who 'forced' him to do that in the end. But the dead can't personally take revenge, so who better to do it for them than the person who caused it all? I'm sure I'm right. My theory is perfect!"

Elizabeth stopped attacking. It was futile, just a meaningless waste of energy.

But the man's words were making her anger and guilt increase more and more.

The theory suggesting that she might be used as an escape valve for someone else's guilt disgusted her and made her extremely angry.

But in the end, that's all it is; "It's just a senseless theory..."

Without Elizabeth seeing or having time to react, the man approached quickly and suddenly but didn't attack.

"And there's one more thing I've noticed for some time now..." he said as he brought one of his fingers close to Elizabeth's face. "Can you only use aura defensively?"

Elizabeth's aura barrier was deactivated until he approached, but it was immediately activated when his finger approached.

Scared, Elizabeth quickly jumped back after all her attempts to hit him failed.

"It's interesting, since apparently you've managed to make it an automatic process. But it's funny that you can use it so well in the hardest way but can't do something as simple as attacking using it."

There was nothing to do; him being able to fly wasn't the problem, and with that last exchange of blows, Elizabeth had realized that.

Her hands and legs now hurt only because they had defended against his attacks. It was like she was hitting a huge mountain that couldn't be knocked down.

"How can someone's body be so resistant?" she wondered, looking at her red and slightly swollen hands. Her fist bones were possibly broken. "He doesn't seem to be using aura, so how? Why is there such a big difference?"

The man remained without touching the ground, and the fervor of the battle inhibited anyone from hearing anything other than explosions and sword clashes, so he couldn't perceive it until it was too late. But Elizabeth felt the ground vibrating as she thought about her next move.

Looking quickly at where the knights' battle was taking place, she realized they weren't the cause of it.

Elizabeth smiled, leaving the man confused.

Without looking back, she ran towards the place where the battle was still taking place.

"Retreat! Now!" she exclaimed, being chased by the man with silver-gray eyes.

The knights who were still alive hesitated; their comrades were all on the ground in that place. But as they felt the tremors spreading through the ground, guilt settled in their hearts. Once again, they were abandoning their own. They all ran while their boots stuck to the ground they walked on.

Their bodies felt heavy, but it wasn't the armor.

"Where do you think you're going? You were the ones who attacked us. Don't think you'll get out of here so easily."

The silver-eyed man didn't give up, and with his hands, he was close to reaching Elizabeth, until that emerged from among the trees.

"Okay... This isn't funny... Damn it... Basilisks, really?"

A few hundred more knights emerged from among the trees, but they weren't the problem; the reason behind everyone's shock came right after.

The trees shook as hundreds of creatures came running out from within the Great Forest.

Fear was evident in their eyes, as well as on the faces of the knights who came before.

Stretching for dozens of meters, the creatures that occupy the top of the food chain in the intermediate areas of the Great Forest, the basilisks.

Their yellowish scales gleam in the moonlight, while their red eyes announce death to all those within their line of sight.

In a way, Elizabeth's plan might have worked; the demons were being suppressed. But... at what cost?