╔═══ Author's note ════╗
Received two inspiration capsules gifts and quite a number of powerstones, so here's a double update. 😼
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One of the knights from the Rochefort side wiped some blood from his eyes, watching as his men were cut down.
They were too weak, he realized as a cold resolve settled in his gut. As humans, they were just meat in their path. But as monsters…
He looked at his remaining men. They were battered, bleeding, but still resolute to fight. They caught his gaze, and understood.
They also noticed the strange phenomenon around them: every single Rochefort knight got possessed by a shackled upon death.
It was as if injustice that had met them today was being corrected in a twisted manner.
Smiling, the knight dropped his shield and opened his arms wide, exposing his chest. He focused every ounce of his will, every drop of his loyalty to the Rochefort name, into one single, burning thought: 'Power. Give me the power to kill them all.'
The Royal Knight frowned, confused by the suicide tactic, but didn't hesitate. He drove his sword through the Rochefort's knight's neck, cutting off his head.
Around him, the remaining Rochefort knights followed suit. They lowered their weapons and stepped into the blades of the enemy. They didn't die in fear; they died with a single, fanatical purpose.
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Lucian slipped through the chaos, his gaze darted back and forth, looking for Celine.
He had painted his hair with some blood before putting back his helmet, then joined a search party consisting of three golden ranks.
Tents had been set ablaze by an unknown source, and a big fire had started to spread. The air smelled of burning fabric, wood, and smoke.
The shackleds were evening up the battlefield for the Rochefort house, and it was becoming more and more difficult for the royal army to maintain their control over the situation.
A fist flew at him from the right, but he managed to dodge it. He coughed as he inhaled some of the smoke, his eyes watering.
"They must be wearing our uniforms!" A royal commander roared, "Focus on the eyes! If you see Rochefort eyes, kill!"
The Rochefort eyes were known to be unique, and only pure-blooded descendants possessed their signature blue eyes. The color of the sky and the ocean, signifying their connection to the heavens above and the depths below.
The royal knights stabbed a few of their own fallen knights, just to make sure they were really dead and not playing dead. Their efficiency was frightening, not leaving any witnesses alive.
If Celine was wearing a disguise to hide herself among royal knights, then Lucian would have found her by now. He didn't.
She must be hiding somewhere with Edmund. The underground was the only place where she would have been able to escape his attention. It was pitchblack darkness there, his vision couldn't magically light up the surroundings, so it was a blind guess.
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The red air around one of the fallen Rochefort knights suddenly warped the space.
"A r-ruby knight shackled…"
Someone stammered.
The shackled's face was replaced by a red mist, showing no features. Wherever it stepped, the ground melted, turning into a red goo that stuck to the bottom of its boots. Its armor became a part of its body, as if it was a living being, pulsating and glowing with each beat of its heart.
Its eyes were the most terrifying of all, a deep yellow color that looked like two suns, blinding those who dared to look into them.
The ruby knight from the royal side was no longer able to match the ruby knight from the Rochefort side, who had just become a shackled. He could only buy time for the royal army to find their targets and get rid of them.
The ground shook with each strike of their fists, sending shockwaves that rippled outward, sending people flying in all directions, clearing the way for them.
The royal side were losing more men than they were killing, giving Lucian a bit of hope. If they could hold on long enough, the royal army would have to retreat.
"They are not among the dead!" a voice rang out, causing the rest of the royal knights to grow anxious.
"They couldn't just disappear!" The commander shouted, "Search one m─"
He was blasted away by a saphire knight shackled, his body crashing into a tree, through the forest and out of sight, his armor breaking. The shackled immediately knew to target the royal army's shot-caller, not leaving any chance for the commander's subordinates to follow through with his orders.
"This is bad! There's another high ranked shackled!"
The atmosphere grew heavy with dread.
Instead of moonlight or firelight, the scene was lit by two dozen golden eyes of the monsters watching them.
'We are winning...' Lucian repeated in his mind when the royal knights began to retreat with the high ranked shackleds running after them. He leaned against a barrel, staying back to catch his breath, 'We are...'
Lucian's eyes widened in shock at the scene before him.
One of the shackleds returned back, standing before the command tent that was burning to the ground. After it made sure nobody was around, it pushed a wooden cart through it, moving the burning pieces of the tent away.
There was nothing at first, but then the ground started to shake.
A person emerged from the darkness, dirty from the dust and dirt, but alive.
Dark hair. Blue eyes. A face Lucian would recognize in the dark, in hell, anywhere.
Celine.
She was alive, and was climbing out of the hidding place in the ground.
"No." Lucian took a step forward, rushing to her side, but he was too far away.
A shadow lunged from the smoke behind her. The shackled didn't recognize her. In the Royal armor she wore to blend in, she looked just like the enemy.
"No!" Lucian yelled, reaching out as if his hand could bridge the distance, "STOP!"
The shackled didn't hesitate. It sought to kill the "enemy". Its hand flashed.
Squelch. The sound was sickeningly wet, louder than the roar of the fire.
The shackled's hand punched through her back, through the chest, and out the breast plate.
With her heart in its palm.
Celine didn't scream. She simply looked down at the hand that passed through her armor, her blue eyes wide with confusion, as if she had just tripped over a stone rather than been fatally wounded.
She turned around to look at the shackled, her voice bubbling with blood, "What are you…"
The shackled ripped its hand free, and Celine crumpled like a puppet whose strings had been cut. The helmet from her head fell off, her dark hair spilling out.