The Knights of The Divine

Damon arrived at his manor under the menacing purple light of the moon.

'I need to get to work on those knights immediately.' Damon thought as he sat on the grass.

He had about half of his essence left after all of that flying and keeping himself invisible for so long.

But since he had reached level three, he now had 400 drops instead of his original 100 drops.

With this energy, Damon began creating his knights.

After 4 hours of work, Damon had managed to be detailed enough to save a lot of energy. As a result, he had been able to create eight more knights.

Ordering them to guard the manor, he felt as if his plan was coming together very well.

In order to regain his energy for tomorrow's meeting, Damon quickly went upstairs and went to sleep.

-----

Damon woke up feeling very refreshed.

"It's always great to wake up to a golden sun, rather than that devilish moon. At this rate, I might become an early-bird." Damon said as he yawned.

For this meeting, he intended to make a show of force. Between his armor, greatsword, and retinue of knights, the Rebels would think twice of betraying him.

'James. If we were to compare purely physical strength, what level of human cultivation would I match?' Damon asked.

'You would be able to defeat an Aspirant and could possibly defeat a Psyker. Your body, mind, and spirit are naturally much stronger than theirs. Your main issue is that they will be much better at combat than you and will also have access to their innate ability.' James assessed.

'What's an innate ability?' Damon asked curiously.

'Every being has an innate ability at birth. They can be highly diverse but are only unlocked at the fifth level of cultivation. Gods, however, trade their innate ability for their divine spark when they ascend. That is why you will never have an innate ability.' James said.

'A worthy trade, from what I've seen.' Damon said as he walked out of the manor.

Today, he planned to train his body until sundown. That way, he would still have his full energy at sundown.

Sitting down on his familiar patch of grass, Damon began collecting universal energy.

He had talked to Hero and learned an easy way to tell his progress. Since his number of droplets doubled with every level, he could tell the amount he had progressed through a level by the number of droplets in his divine spark.

After six hours, the sun began to fall and Damon decided to check his number of droplets.

'500! In just six hours I can move 25% closer to the next level? Is that right James?'

'You don't need to be so surprised. The first three realms of Divine cultivation are merely catch-up that refine your mind, body, and soul to the peak. The subsequent realms are where the real fun begins.' James said ominously.

"Uh. Ok, James. No need to be so dramatic though." Damon said.

'Anyway, I need to make my final touches to my knights and my gear before I go to the meeting.'

The strength of his gear wasn't nearly enough and he also wanted to modify the looks of his knights.

Firstly, he gave his sword a core and meridians. This would allow it to collect universal energy which he could use to empower it or create attacks.

He did the same with his demonic armor as it would allow him to brace against attacks.

The final change Damon wanted to make was to create a unified color pattern between himself and his knights. This would help inspire respect in his allies and fear in his enemies.

Since he was fighting with the righteous Rebels, Damon chose to color everything in gold and white.

His sword now had a golden blade and white center. His armor had a mix of gold and white that matched the now gold and white armor of the knights.

Deciding to go all out, Damon named his knightly retinue, The Knights of The Divine.

'Everything is ready. I just need to play the part of a righteous revolutionary and everything will be golden. Literally.' Damon thought as he began flying towards the fortress city.

----

On the canopy of a giant tree, a small platform was created.

On it, a table with nine chairs was visible.

"Will he show up, Cassandra?" Ezekiel asked the red haired leader.

"We can only hope so. If not, we will be forced to decimate much of the city in order to achieve victory." Cassandra sighed.

Suddenly, the blonde man shouted. "Look up, someone's coming!"

In the sky above, eleven figures using golden flames to fly could be seen descending.

"Is that him?" Ezekiel asked.

"I don't know but our enemies certainly wouldn't make such a grand yet wasteful entrance." Cassandra responded.

All of the members sitting at the table stood up as the knights landed on the platform.

"Remove your helmet." Cassandra commanded the knight standing in the front of the formation.

Damon removed his helmet as he said. "There's no need to be so on edge. I merely wanted to make a good impression."

Cassandra's even expression didn't change. "Are these the knights you were talking about?"

"Yes." Damon answered.

"Do you mind if we test them?" Cassandra asked.

"You can. Just don't destroy them." Damon answered evenly.

With his affirmation, ten figures jumped onto the platform and readied their weapons.

"Clear off of the platform. We'll see just how formidable you knights really are." Cassandra commanded.

Damon inwardly sneered at the thought of his knights losing to mere Aspirants.

Once everyone was in the sky, Cassandra yelled. "Begin!"

Immediately, the ten Aspirants dashed towards the knights.

As they ran, they formed various elemental attacks around them.

Arrows of fire, whips of lightning, and spikes of metal filled the sky.

The Knights, however, seemed much more tame in comparison.

Their swords and armor began to glow gold from the buildup of universal energy.

As the lines of warriors clashed, a clear winner was established.

Although the elemental attacks did cause some damage and forced the knights to use some essence, it was nothing compared to the damage the knights dealt.

With their blazing swords held high, the knights swung down and immediately were able to disarm their enemies. The combined strength of their essence, weapon, and body completely overpowered the unexpecting humans.

Within seconds, all ten Aspirants had golden swords against their throats as they held up their hands in surrender.

"I guess we passed the test, just by the skin of our teeth though." Damon said sarcastically.