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Introduction:

The cadets face the havoc of the Red Revelry.

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Final Exam

There were still several days before graduation, but even though lessons were over, the cadets wouldn’t just be lounging around. The Red Revelries had begun, and Noah and all the other cadets were recruited to suppress the violence. They were given the day to rest and save their strength, and once night fell, they left the academy and gathered before the royal palace. They met an army of two hundred knights there, mostly bronze-rank, with several silvers and a few gold, the majority likely brought in from outside the city for this.

Seeing the knights in their polished plate armor, the cadets, garbed in chainmail and leather armor, couldn’t help but feel a bit miffed and intimidated. Despite their feelings, they stood at attention as gold-ranked knight Sir Leuca Aithorn paced before them. The elven warrior had an icy personality, and Gideon, having tangled with him during the previous Red Revelries, wisely kept his hair covered with a helmet and his eyes downcast.

“This is not a lesson, nor is it a game. This will be live combat. All of you standing here before me, steel yourselves, and be ready to kill and be killed. After the damage caused last year, no mercy is to be shown to anyone caught fighting in the streets. The punishment is death, and should any of you be caught withholding that punishment, know that I will make it my mission to bar you from ever entering the knighthood.”

“Easy, Aithorn. You’re starting to sound like Gradius.”

All eyes turned to the new voice, and gasps of shock were heard. “Adwith Tarnas!” many exclaimed under their breath as the mighty paladin approached. In Uther, he was as famous as Valia Zodiac, and commanded immense respect from everyone in the country, minus a few exceptions. Prince Seraph was one, scowling at the man’s arrival and looking away.

“Sir Tarnas, I didn’t know you would be joining us so soon,” said Aithorn.

“You know me; I only consider myself on time when I’m early, and Knight’s Day is my favorite time of the year. Now, cadets, as Sir Aithorn told you, the stakes are far higher than ever before. We of the knighthood need to do our absolute best to ensure not only that the city is safe, but the citizens feel safe. Their faith in us and the kingdom hangs in the balance. The royal dungeon has been rebuilt, and anyone who surrenders peacefully is to be arrested, but anyone who attacks you is to be killed. We may be in the streets of our capital, but tonight, this is a battlefield, and we can’t afford a repeat of last year. Understood?”

“Yes sir!” all the cadets chanted.

“That’s what I like to hear. I trust you all know what the Red Revelries are, the midnight violence, and I trust you know why you stand before me. Your job is to put these rabid beasts down. This bloody festival has to end, and with your strength, the madness will stop. Tonight, you will be keeping the peace in every sense of the word, performing your duties quickly and quietly. You are not to shout or use any spells that could draw attention. After what happened last year, the citizens need to know that we can protect them and ensure order, and the sounds of battle outside their windows aren’t going to do that.

Now, for these next few evenings, you will each be assisting a knight on their patrol. Follow their orders, and they’ll keep you alive and share their wisdom, but they’ll also be making sure you do your job successfully and honorably. You are not true knights yet, not until you prove yourselves, but I have faith in your abilities and integrity.”

As Tarnas read off a list of names, Noah looked around for Valia. Unsurprisingly, she wasn’t present. After the destruction Valon caused and his heist of the kingdom’s relics, she was probably under close observation and kept out of the field.

Similarly missing was Gradius, the royal executioner. Last year, at the peak of the Red Revelries, all of the brawlers kept in the city dungeon managed to escape and wreak havoc. As a result, he went on a blood-drunk rampage and destroyed the dungeon, as well as a significant portion of the city. Had Tarnas not intervened, he could have easily incinerated all of Colbrand. In the end, he saved the city by extinguishing the fires caused by the escaped prisoners. Still, the difference between the destruction he caused and the destruction he prevented was rather narrow, and his wrathful insanity and explosive powers marked him as too dangerous to continue serving in the capital. No one knew exactly what happened to him, but there were plenty of rumors.

One by one, the cadets and knights split off into pairs and departed to begin patrolling the city. It was all going fine until...

“Cadet Noah?”

Tarnas paused, with many of the knights still present perking up at the sound of his name. Suffice to say, it was rare for someone to carry so much infamy without being imprisoned or executed. He had skirted the law, and his name was one of the most recognized in the city, with the absurdity of his actions blurring the line between fact and rumor. Many cadets made faces of disgust at his depravity, while others beamed with pride, glad they could say they graduated with the man who cucked the prince and fucked a duchess.

“Cadet Noah, you will be assisting Sir Holmes tonight.”

Before the Knight Sheath burned down, Noah remembered Holmes as a frequent customer, but rather than sleeping with women, he seemed to prefer sleeping alone. He could often be seen napping in the corner of the parlor, like a cat by a fireplace. This was how he took breaks during his patrol duty.

With lanterns in hand, the knights and cadets left the castle and began their walk through the dark city streets. They’d travel in groups at first, but as they moved farther into the city, they had to fan out to cover more ground. As soon as they were alone, out came the questions from Holmes, and Noah didn’t see a point in hiding anything.

“So what exactly happened between you and Prince Galvin?”

“He challenged me to a duel and lost, so I took his fiancée for the night as my prize. Unfortunately, he lacked the intelligence to understand that it was his own fault and believed himself entitled to revenge. He burned down the Knight’s Sheath with me inside, but I survived.”

“How did you know it was him?”

“One of his friends was the lookout and confirmed Galvin did it. I decided to punish him by publicly screwing the duchess, and there was no better time and place than the reopened Knight’s Sheath during a special evening party. It was all a matter of building her arousal to the point she could barely contain it. After that, getting her on stage and spreading her legs in front of everyone was easy.”

“Damn.”

“Anyway, Galvin went crazy and chased me into the slums, but I ditched him, and apparently, he got mugged by some vagrants. He and his mother returned to their territory and that’s the end of that story.”

“Consider me impressed. I was wondering— Oh, hold on, I think I hear something.”

They turned a corner, finding two men dressed in black and fighting in the street. This was what the Red Revelries were, blood-drunk warriors coming to Colbrand to fight each other in the moonlit streets, all for the sake of the kill and the thrill. What had originally started as rowdy academy applicants looking to stave off boredom had turned into a festival of blood, attracting murderous deviants and battle junkies.

“I’ll show you how it’s done,” said Holmes as he stepped forward. “Halt! You two are out past curfew and under arrest!” Shouting was forbidden, but he announced himself just loud enough for them to hear.

The two men spotted Holmes and then bolted, scurrying off into the darkness like cockroaches.

“I don’t suppose you want to chase them down, do you?” Noah asked.

Holmes used his lantern to light a gonlief cigarette “Meh, they’ll run into someone else. Anyway, we stopped a fight. No need to worry about the details.”

“I like the way you think.”

They continued walking, searching for the next battle. “So tell me something, what makes you think the duchess or prince won’t come after you?” Holmes asked.

“Well I haven’t broken any laws, so the duchess can’t send her knights after me, at least while I’m still in Colbrand.” They turned a corner onto an empty road. “If she does send someone after me, they would either be knights disguised as mercenaries, or just regular mercenaries, in which case, probably the best time to get me would be right now, isn’t that right, fellas?”

On cue, an arrow landed by his feet.

“Stop right there, both of you. Keep your hands raised where I can see them.” The voice came from a nearby house, where a masked archer was perched atop the roof. He had nocked another arrow, and it was aimed at Noah.

“Wow, good call,” said Holmes, slowly reaching for his sword.

“I’m not paid to kill you, knight, but I will if you don’t do as I say,” the archer warned.

“Relax, he’s not going to shoot,” said Noah.

“How can you be so sure?” Holmes asked.

“Well he’ll want to, but he’s not going to succeed.” The next moment, the archer yelped in shock as his bowstring suddenly snapped, severed by an invisible throwing knife. “See?” Noah said with a raised voice. “That’s what happens when you don’t maintain your equipment. Now, climbing up there to get you would be a bitch and a half, so I’ll just save myself the trouble and let you be the witness. You get to go back to the duchess and tell her how I killed your friends, that is unless they are smart enough to turn around and walk away.”

More assassins were showing up, stepping out of alleyways and both ends of the street, surrounding Noah and Holmes.

“Shit, shit, shit…” Holmes muttered, looking for a safe direction he could turn his back to.

“I sensed you guys following us about a mile ago and figured you’d pop out once everyone was scattered for enough. I’m going to say this only once: go home,” Noah warned. “This will not end well for you.”

“You’re in no position to be talking tough,” said a man with an oversized scimitar.

“Just let me be and enjoy your lives. Whatever she promised you, there are better ways to get it.”

“There is no better way for a reward like this,” a towering man with an axe argued. “One hundred gold coins? That can only be blood money.”

“I’ll admit, that does sound tantalizing, but it’s a bad deal. You can’t spend that gold if you’re buried in a pauper’s grave.”

“Y-yeah, what he said,” Holmes muttered with his saber in hand.

“If you want to put up a fight, that’s fine by us,” said a man with a sword and shield.

“Very well, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Noah drew his sword and pointed it at a spearman, now charging towards him. He crouched down to sprint, and then, in the blink of an eye, vanished into thin air, halting the assassin and drawing looks of shock from everyone else.

“Too slow,” Noah said, revealing his presence behind the spearman.

The man turned around just to see him sheathing his sword. The moment it was closed, the moment that ‘clack’ was heard, the spearman’s throat opened up like a toothless smile and released a crimson waterfall. As their friend dropped to his knees and bled out, the rest of the assassins were left paralyzed, unable to comprehend what they had just seen.

“I learned that from Valia Zodiac, an attack so fast that the human eye can’t even see it. The wound doesn’t immediately open, as the body does not even realize it has been cut until it’s too late. What chance do you think you have?”

Valia never taught the cadets such a technique; this was instead the work of illusions. He had left his clone by Holmes while he maneuvered behind the spearman, and a rapid deactivation and reactivation made it look like he had moved past the spearman faster than the human eye could catch. When he turned around, Noah delivered an invisible slash. For those watching, it was like the wound had a time delay. This was a tricky maneuver that required a lot of practice, but having pulled it off, Noah deemed it well worth the effort, both for psychological warfare and personal amusement.

‘Ah, you can’t beat the classics.’ He then grabbed the slain man’s spear and threw it, striking the archer on the nearby rooftop in the gut and sending him rolling off and falling into the street. “Sir Holmes, if you’re not going to take part, would you mind retrieving him?”

The axe-wielding man charged towards Noah with a roar of fury, having forgotten all about the bounty and filled only with thoughts of revenge. Noah stepped out of range of his first wide swing and the oncoming flurry. The man was fast and skilled, leaving few openings in his defense, even while attacking. Still, Noah managed to wait him out and then slip in to attack. An illusory jet of steam shot from his palm, courtesy of a spell card he pulled out of his sleeve. The holographic vapor sprayed the man’s eyes, blocking his vision as though he was being blasted with a fire extinguisher. He didn’t feel the mist, but his instincts pulled a hand from his axe to shield his face, defying his warrior’s experience. The raised hand was severed, and before the man could react with a scream, his head likewise plopped onto the ground.

Noah looked over to Holmes, now fighting the man with the shield and sword, leaving only the man with the scimitar, who was trying to keep his nerve. Noah approached, holding out his bloodstained sword. It was just an ordinary soldier’s blade, but it was true steel, and far sharper than the glass swords at the academy, which were better at breaking bones than skin. With this in his hand, cutting down the spearman and the man with the axe had been shockingly easy. The blade sliced through flesh, tendon, and bone like a scythe reaping wheat. His training under Valia had really raised his skills as a swordsman to all-new levels.

The man with the scimitar gathered all of his courage and attacked Noah, and Noah decided to indulge him, blocking the rapid attacks without sending any of his own. He was no amateur, probably on the same level as Holmes, but he had bitten off more than he could chew, and it was evident in the condition of his sword. What had originally been a pristine blade was now riddled with chips and cracks, while Noah’s sword remained undamaged, all due to the difference in their skills. Every time their blades collided, Noah’s edge would dig into the scimitar as though it was made of copper, simply from how precisely he held his sword when he blocked. Once Noah felt like he had gotten enough practice in, he flicked the man’s scimitar out of the way and slashed him across the chest. His armor didn’t stand a chance, and a cleave to his head ended his life.

As the man collapsed, Noah turned to Holmes. He had forced the assassin against a wall and driven his sword through the raised shield, the two of them now cursing and fighting for air as they tried to overpower each other. The tip of Holmes’s saber was approaching the man’s chest, and he was pushing with his shield to try and hold it back. The shoving match continued for several seconds until Holmes finally pierced the man’s heart.

“Well done, sir,” said Noah.

Panting like a dog, Holmes pulled out his blade and turned towards Noah.

“Fuck you. I’m going to die because of a cadet’s one-night stand.”

“I’m such a heartbreaker.”

Noah walked over to the archer, lying in the street and trying to cover the hole in his stomach. “I’m dying. I can’t believe I’m fucking dying because of a kid like you.”

“Oh quit your bitching. I just needed to keep you from running off until I was done with you.” He held out a healing potion, looted from the man with the axe. “You and your friends didn’t exactly come off as a team that could charge a hundred gold coins, so that must mean it’s an open contract, right?”

“What?” he stammered with blood trickling from his mouth.

“I’m asking you how many people the duchess hired. Did she offer the job just to your group, or is there an open bounty on my head? Speak fast if you want to live.”

“It wasn’t the duchess or any of her people. Fain Morgan, he’s the one who issued the bounty. Anyone can collect.”

Noah poured some healing potion on the man’s wound, just enough to keep him talking. “You didn’t give him a title, so am I to understand he’s not a knight or lord?” The man nodded. “Perhaps an underworld figure then, someone the duchess keeps on retainer when she or her knights can’t be seen getting their hands dirty. If it’s an open contract, then I suppose more of you people will be coming after me, right?”

The archer began to laugh. “You’re a dead man. You probably won’t even last the night.”

“Like I’ve never heard that before.” Noah then corked the potion and put it away.

“Hey, what are you doing?! I’m still dying!”

“That’s because you’re no longer useful. Since it’s an open contract, I doubt you’ll bother going and telling Morgan about what happened, and it’s even less likely it would put a stop to others coming after me. With all that said, I can’t seem to think of a reason to keep you alive, can you?” Before the man could answer, Noah pierced his skull with his sword.

Holmes stared at Noah with eyes full of fear as he started looting the bodies. “Boy, there is an avalanche of shit rolling towards you, and now I’m going to get caught in it. Just my fucking luck that I get paired with the pervert worth a king’s ransom.”

“The most prudent move now is to return to the palace and tell everyone what’s going on. There is no telling how many revelers are out there looking for me, but they’d be stupid to follow me onto the castle grounds. The security has been raised so high that we’ll be safe.”

“Shit, that’s the best idea I’ve heard all day. And maybe I can trade you in for a less dangerous cadet.”

“After you, sir.”

----------

“Nothing like coming home,” said Tarnas, doing his own patrols with an uncooperative cadet. “I’m hundreds of miles from the front line, and I still can’t put my sword away.” No response. “At least the night is clear, and we have the moon and stars. Sometimes in Handent, the cloud cover would last for weeks. I could see it in the men, how much they missed the sunshine. Their fatigue was greater, there were more cases of infighting, and that’s not even counting when it would start to rain.” Still no response. “Are you with me, Your Highness?”

“I’m not interested in small talk,” Seraph replied.

“That’s a shame. I was looking forward to this chance to talk to you.”

“If you have something to say, just say it. Don’t meander around the topic like you’re stalling.”

“That anger inside you, it’s not good for your soul. I understand that you’re young and impatient, but rage will dim your radiance.

“The reason I’m angry is because of you.”

“Are you sure about that? I heard about your time in the academy. You’ve racked up more wins than any other cadets, but that’s not the only fighting you were doing. I was shocked when I heard how you attacked Lady Zodiac. I had hoped you were raised better than that.”

“You don’t get to lecture me like this, acting like you’re my father despite refusing to acknowledge that you are.”

Tarnas stopped and turned around. “Are you still going on about that? What will it take for me to convince you that I’m not your father?”

“You expect me to believe you? As I get older, I look less like the king and more like you. You, who bears the mark of Lumendori on your chest, just as I do.”

“That mark is not passed through blood, but divine will. It’s true we are bound, but in destiny only, as bearers of the power and title of Light’s Emissary. I felt it on the day you were born, the arrival of my successor, and I was guided to Uther by Lumendori himself so that I could find you and train you, to prepare you for the trials that all my predecessors and I endured. Someday, you will feel it as well, the arrival of the new Emissary, and you will seek him out.”

“You’ve fed me that nonsense from the cradle. I don’t need you to tell me I’ve been chosen by God; I’ve known that all my life, just like I know we aren’t strangers to each other. The king knows as well, and every time he looks at me, I know he just sees your bastard son, an ugly weed in the royal garden whose mother died during delivery. He’s kept you around because you’re strong and useful, but he never fully believed your story. The knights and the nobles are the same way. You think I haven’t heard the whispers and gossip? Every time we’re in the same room, it’s clear on their faces how they see through the lie you’ve tried to weave.”

Tarnas placed his hand on Seraph’s shoulder. “I know, I know it better than you do, how unfair it is. I know your father kept me on the front lines or on far-off missions because he didn’t want me anywhere near you, and because you were denied the guidance you need, you’ve fallen off the true path. I wasn’t there to show you the way, but once you join the knighthood, I can change that, and I can prepare you for the future.”

“I don’t need you; I never needed you. I’m already stronger than most knights, and I’m going to show everyone that it doesn’t matter who my father is! Everything before me will be forgotten, and everything after will remain in the shadow of my legacy!”

“You, who claims to only answer to God, still care so much about what other people think while doing nothing to improve their impression of you. The power you wield is not a stepping stone to fame, nor is it an excuse to dismiss condemnation and accountability. It is the world’s hope, the key to saving mankind from despair and destruction. The stronger you become, the heavier the burdens you will have to carry, but that is the price we pay to walk the path of the Light.”

“You’re wrong. Only Lumendori himself can tell me what this power is for, and until that time comes, it is mine to use however I want.”

A tense silence followed, broken by the voice of a stranger. “Are you Noah?”

Tarnas and Seraph turned to see a reveler standing at the end of the street, his face hidden with a mask and his sword already bloody.

“What did you just say?” Seraph boomed.

“Are you Cadet Noah or not?” the reveler asked as he approached.

“Don’t you dare say that name to me!” the prince replied, now coming alight with a mantle of holy energy.

The reveler came to a stop and cursed in shock, fearful not only of the powerful mana he was witnessing, but the gold-ranked knight the light shined upon. He panicked and tried to flee, but Seraph shot towards him like a meteor. He wielded a mighty sledgehammer, glowing like a miniature sun from the mana being condensed within the heavy iron. The fifty-meter distance was crossed in a few steps at breakneck speed. Seraph got ahead of the man and swung his hammer, striking him in the middle of the chest. There was a flash of light, and the man’s torso was flattened like a beer can. His spine and ribcage were crushed into gravel, and his organs were eviscerated. The man, his body barely in one piece, was dead before he even hit the ground.

Seraph looked back at Tarnas, who was glaring with concern. “This power is mine, and that’s how I’m going to use it. I’ll annihilate anyone who stands in my way, be it Noah or even you.”

----------

Aithorn perked up, his pointed ears twitching from the thunderclap of Seraph’s attack. He looked out over the sea of buildings and searched for the source. While perched atop the cathedral, his view of Colbrand was absolute, and the crosswind failed to curtail his elven hearing.

“Sir?” asked Alexis, not easing the pull on her bow or looking away from her target. She was staring down the arrow shaft at a reveler, busy looting his slain enemy.

“It’s not your concern. Release.”

Alexis released the arrow, sending it soaring across the sky and striking the man in the back. “He’s down,” she said.

“I see your next target moving around in front of the bakery on your left.”

Alexis nocked another arrow and took aim. It took her several seconds, but she spotted the bakery and the figure in front of it. “I have the shot.”

“Release.”

Another arrow was dispensed, and another life ended.

“Next target?”

“On your right, the two fighting beside the horse stable.”

Alexis took aim at the larger of the two. “I have the shot.”

“Release.”

She missed his chest, but got him in the leg. “He’s on the ground; he’s wounded.”

“Finish him.”

Alexis coolly drew another arrow and shot it at the grounded reveler, ending his thrashing. At the same time, Aithorn used his own bow to kill the other fighter. Scattered throughout the city, there were flickering lights, like fireflies. They were the lanterns of the knights and cadets, used like hunting vests to distinguish them from the revelers. Anyone moving around without one was considered an enemy.

“Next target?”

“I’m looking.”

The evening’s tone never drifted from that steeliness. Everything said was short and to the point, with stretches of unbroken silence in between shots. The quiet productivity was paradise.

----------

Gideon stared at the body before him, the slain knight he had been partnered with. His head was gone, its shredded remains dripping from the clawed fingers of his killer, while rivers of blood stretched between the cobblestone bricks in the road. It had been so fast, Gideon and the knight patrolling a street, when a tall, hooded stranger zoomed over and smashed the knight’s head open with a swing of his hand, like a tomato splattered with a hammer.

“What’s your name?” the figure asked, shaking Gideon from his stupor.

“What?”

“Your name, tell me what it is!”

“You first, mongrel.”

The man began to laugh and pulled back his hood, revealing not a human face, but a wolf’s, with black fur and gleaming eyes. His clawed hands were layered with the same fur, and the structure of his legs was altered to a digitigrade form, so that he stood on his toes.

“You could tell I’m a beastman, and you still insult me? You got some real backbone, kid. I’m going to enjoy ripping it out of you. Theo, that is my name.”

“I’m Gideon, now tell me what do you want.”

“I’m looking for a boy named Noah. Tell me where he is, or you’ll end up like this poor bastard.”

“How would I know where he is? I haven’t seen him all night.”

“Then you’re useless, and unfortunately, I’m not the kind to catch and release. At least if I kill you now, I won’t make the same mistake later.”

“What do you even want with Noah?”

“Don’t worry, your friend will die soon after you.”

“Calling him my friend is a little generous, but still, I don’t like the idea of a feral dog like you stalking a fellow classmate.”

“I bet that big mouth of yours has gotten you in trouble before. Well now, you’re going to get killed by a beastman before you ever reach the front lines. The irony will be your only comfort as you bleed out.”

Gideon put his lantern down and assumed a combat stance, with his hands and feet alight with mana. Rather than carrying a sword, he had supplemented his defense with powerful arm guards. “I think you’ll find that I’m not so easy to kill.”

Theo began to laugh, then shot towards Gideon so fast that it was like he was skipping through time. He stood his ground, and his foe zoomed past him while reaching out with his claws. He deflected the attack and tried to counter with a kick to the temple, but the beastman had already moved out of range. Gideon barely managed to reform his stance when a second slash came, this time from behind. He moved forward just enough so that Theo’s claws only grazed the back of his chest plate. This time, before he could get out of Gideon’s range, he received a mana-enhanced jab to the wrist that left his hand numb.

Theo continued shooting by Gideon, reaching out with his deadly claws like a jouster with his lance. His speed was great enough to leave Gideon in the dust, yet the most he could achieve were some scratches on Gideon’s armor, never managing to deliver a real hit. Gideon dodged and deflected every attack as though brushing him off. Theo changed his strategy, attacking straight-on in rapid-fire swings to try and break through Gideon’s defenses.

Gideon didn’t retreat; he closed in and countered with a storm of his own attacks. The wolf’s claws continued scratching up his armor, even drawing blood once or twice, but every time Gideon landed a blow, he could feel his enemy’s bones threatening to break and blood vessels bursting. Despite the gap in their physical abilities, he was somehow inflicting more damage.

“I don’t know if you’re just stubborn or lucky, but it’s not going to last!” the beastman snarled.

“You may be faster and stronger than me, but I have plenty of experience fighting people like you,” Gideon replied. “Like I said, I’m not easy to kill.”

His foe howled in response and held out his hand, producing a field of mana that projected from each claw, like large scythe blades. “Prey Shredder!”

He swung in an uppercut motion, with the mana field ripping up the street and hurling a wave of dirt and cobblestone at Gideon. Gideon tried to jump back out of range, but he was hit with the earthen barrage, and worse, received five cuts across his chest and crossed arms. It was a Beast Art, a different kind of Martial Art. It combined monk enhancements and shamanism into a more powerful form, producing a level of power that Gideon had yet to achieve.

Theo chased after Gideon, continuing to slash over and over like a madman. The mana blades extended his reach and increased his destructive power. Anything he touched was gouged open, and even when Gideon managed to avoid direct attacks, he still received faint injuries, as though getting hit with shrapnel from an explosion. His foe was too fast, and he couldn’t stay far enough out of his range or hope to block. The only way to win was to go on the offensive.

When Theo made another charge, Gideon didn’t try to close in and instead channeled a torrent of mana into his hand. “Monk Spear!” He ducked under the beastman’s swing, losing his helmet in the process, and stabbed him under the ribcage.

The Theo’s body, despite being stronger and more durable than his regular human form, could not withstand the blow, and Gideon’s hand drilled through his chest with a resulting fountain of blood. Gideon immediately pulled his arm free and jumped into the air with a spin. “Cyclone Impact!”

He delivered a skull-cracking blow to the side of Theo’s head, knocking him through the air and sending him crashing into a food stall. Gideon landed on his feet, but almost stumbled. While he had managed to avoid any severe injuries, he had accumulated too many small ones, costing him a lot of blood and leaving him racked with a great deal of pain. Still, compared to the beastman buried in debris, his wounds weren’t so bad. His pride, reinvigorated by victory, helped block the pain.

Speaking of pride, he looked over to the slain knight he had been partnered with. He had known him only briefly, and it didn’t feel right to just leave his body behind. Gideon held no loyalty to Uther, even loathed it, but as a warrior, dying in service was something he respected. Getting to a healer would have to wait.

‘Someone will find us soon. I’ll just patch myself up until then.’

Gideon walked over to a nearby bench and reached for a roll of bandages in the pouch on his belt. Before he could find it, instinct sent him leaping to the side and narrowly avoiding death. The smashed food stand exploded like a grenade, with debris sent in all directions. The beastman burst forth, shooting towards Gideon with mana surging from his claws. The bench Gideon had about to sit down on was smashed to pieces, and the building behind it was gouged open like the belly of a hunted deer.

Though Gideon wasn’t touched by the five blades, just being adjacent to their destruction hit him with a disorienting wave. He narrowly stuck the landing and managed to remain on his feet, staring at Theo. Half of his skull was deformed from the force of Gideon’s earlier kick, with his eye crushed in its socket and his canine snout bent like a straw. Yet that was changing, the bones restructuring themselves. The blood that had been pouring from his chest wound was replaced with foaming pus as new flesh filled the open space.

“What evil is this? You should be dead!” Gideon cursed.

“I should be, yes, but as you can see, I’m harder to kill than you are.” He began to laugh with his crooked mouth. “You know, I came so close not to using this. That was a good hit, and I was almost willing to accept my death, but then I realized something. If you were of Uther, you’d use weapons or magic, not rely wholly on hand-to-hand. You’re also a beastman, aren’t you?”

“So what if I am?”

Gideon tried to keep his nerve, but something deep down warned him of danger. Call it animal instincts or warrior’s institution, but something was making his hair stand on end. There, he could see it. The shape of the beastman’s face wasn’t regenerating properly. It appeared to be taking on a whole new form, with the jagged bones even breaking free of the skin. The crushed eye regenerated beyond its original size and split into two separate orbs.

“So… I couldn’t stand the idea of being killed by a traitor. You’re protecting Uther’s blood like a loyal pet, and I’m spilling it like a true beastman!”

He ripped off his robes, and Gideon spotted something hidden among the black fur, something smooth on Theo’s neck. It was alive. He didn’t have the chance to stare, as the new monster charged towards him faster than before, snarling with fury. Gideon only dodged by the skin of his teeth, and before he could reform his stance, he was forced to move again. Theo chased him down, leaving Gideon with no time to think. The only thing saving him was that his enemy didn’t seem accustomed to his newfound enhancements. He was losing balance and getting his timing off, but that wouldn’t last long.

Gideon began channeling power to his hand. Whatever was latched to the beastman’s neck, it seemed as good a target as anything else. He turned to Theo and took the first step in his charge. Before his foot even touched the ground, his enemy disappeared, as though vanishing into thin air. So too did Gideon’s hand leave his vision, replaced with open space and spraying blood. It took a moment for Gideon to process it, for the pain to set in. He stared at his left arm, now just a stump, and his mind broke like a pane of glass.

‘No, this can’t be happening. My arm is still here. My eyes are playing tricks on me.’

He kept expecting to blink and see the limb where it belonged, but there was only open air. Finally, he released a scream of anguish and felt his legs buckle. He fell to his knees, racked with pain and gripping what was left of his arm to slow the fatal bleed. Behind him, he heard the crunching of bones and the ripping of flesh. He didn’t need to see it to picture Theo devouring his arm, leaving nothing behind to reattach.

“Traitor though you may be, I must commend your courage. Out of respect, I think I’ll eat your heart next,” the beastman said with a laugh.

‘Brave?’ The word almost sounded foreign to Gideon. At the moment, he felt only pain and fear. Every instinct he had was telling him to flee, to escape, no matter what method was required. Great feathered wings sprouted from his back without him even willing it, as though they had minds of their own and knew that there was no hope on foot. He didn’t even feel himself get up, didn’t feel his wings flapping with hysterical strength and lifting him off the ground, and didn’t even feel the cool night air as he shot into the sky, away from the wicked beast. All he heard were the taunts.

“Your heart isn’t worth eating after all!” Theo howled.

Gideon rose higher and higher into the sky, feeling more like a frightened sparrow than a mighty eagle. With Aithorn running around and all the archers keeping watch, using his wings was the last thing he wanted to do, but losing an arm tended to change one’s perspectives. He didn’t even know where he was flying; he was primarily focused on trying to cover distance while putting pressure on his wound.

‘It’s time for me to go home. Master, please forgive my weakness. My days as a warrior are over.’ Angry tears budded from his eyes as he cursed himself over and over again. ‘Coming to the academy was a big mistake. What have I accomplished here? I couldn’t beat Aithorn, Seraph, Noah, or that monster down below. I can beat up some noble brats, but how strong am I really if I can never win the battles that matter? Why bother trying when barely surviving is the best I can hope for?’

He then dared a look down upon the city, and at that moment, his wings stopped, his ascent becoming a glide as he gazed with wide eyes. The clouds had parted, revealing a sea of moonlit buildings. He had witnessed the city like this before, one year ago. He saw it for the last time when he was struck with arrows.

‘That’s right, that was when I fought Aithorn.’ He still remembered it, the feeling of the elf’s spear piercing his shoulder. More than that, he remembered standing there before Aithorn, channeling what power he had left for a suicide charge. ‘I was so stupid back then, thinking I could defeat someone like him, thinking it was worth it to throw my life away. I should have just escaped when I had the chance. Well, I’m not going to make that mistake again.’

Despite his will, his wings refused to move, and he continued to glide across the evening sky. ‘Mistake,’ that word kept repeating in his mind as his memories became jumbled, drifting away from Aithorn.

He remembered the evenings when he and the cadets in the barracks would crack jokes. He remembered sharing gripes after brutal training sessions in the bathhouse. He remembered when he and his friends stayed up late drinking and playing cards at the Knight’s Sheath. He remembered studying in class and in the library and realizing how little of the world he actually knew. He also remembered all the times he fought Seraph, that moment when he felt himself getting stronger, and how even though he could never truly beat him, he’d walk away while already thinking about the next fight.

‘If I ran away from Aithorn… I could never have experienced all that, so was fighting him really a mistake? If I run away now, what else will I miss out on? Even if I survive by running, what life can I live if I don’t take the risk to win? That’s right, just living isn’t good enough for me; it never was. That’s the whole reason why I came here, to gain the strength to shape my destiny and make life worth living!’

He felt the pain from his lost arm fade, his mind clear, and his wings come back under his control. Now racing with new strength, his heart propelled him not across the sky, but higher up. He flapped his wings as hard as he could to raise his altitude as much as possible. The thin, frigid air exacerbated the feelings of blood loss, sapping his strength and consciousness, but growing up in the high mountains of northern Vandheim, it was nothing he couldn’t handle. He kept rising, the atmosphere thinning and the stars and moon glowing all the brighter, until finally, ice formed on his skin, and the stump of his severed arm froze solid. It was far from proper cauterization, but it would stop the bleeding for a short time.

He took a moment to gather all of his strength, gazed down at the landscape below, and let gravity take over. He dropped out of the sky like a ballistic missile, keeping his body narrow so that he could build up more and more speed. He pierced layer after layer of the atmosphere, the air shooting past him threatening to rip off his armor and tear his frosted skin, but he didn’t give quit.

‘Faster! Faster!’ he mentally ordered himself.

He used his wings to guide his descent towards the street where Theo stood. Even at night, Gideon couldn’t miss him. He changed his entry direction, as though aiming for a different spot, but it was all to give himself room. Close to hitting the ground, he opened his wings and sharply pulled up, his flightpath like an upside-down question mark. His downward momentum was redirected, rocketing him towards Theo from a shallower angle with an audible shockwave being produced from the air pressure. Rather than his hand, he channeled every drop of mana into his right leg and transformed it into its avian contour.

‘It doesn’t matter what the risks are, as long as there is a chance of victory! I grow stronger by losing, but I only move forward by getting back up and fighting again!’

Theo sensed his approach and gathered up his mana into his claws to deliver a finishing blow. Before colliding, Gideon turned around in the air and extended his leg. For the briefest moment, it looked like his and the beastman’s attacks were simultaneously delivered. In reality, the mantle of energy around the wolf’s claws was snuffed out by Gideon’s divebomb. He kicked Theo square in the throat and dug in his talons, then, using all the inertia he had accumulated in his descent, slammed him down onto the ground and proceeded to drag him through the street. The cobblestone road was destroyed, gouged out in a great scar as if a meteorite had landed. Finally, Gideon spun around and released Theo, imparting him with all of his remaining energy.

He was flung through the air, spinning out of control, and bounced off the roof of the building at the end of the street like it was a speedbump. His few remaining bones and organs were utterly pulverized. Limp as a ragdoll, he was sent skipping across rooftops like a stone on water. He finally struck the side of a tower and was dismembered by the force of impact. Whatever that creature was on his neck, there were bits and pieces of it scattered everywhere.

Gideon was once more on his knees, struggling to remain conscious. He could feel the layer of frost on his arm beginning to melt and the blood once more flowing. His remaining hand felt stiff from anemia, making it harder to perform the Herculean task of pulling off his belt and using it as a tourniquet. Simply tightening it used up the last of his strength and knocked him out.

‘Did I make the right choice?’ he wondered before closing his eyes.

----------

Sophia wiped the sweat from her brow, further dampening her sleeve. So far, the Red Revelries were living up to their name. She had just finished healing a cadet and had no time to gather her strength before the next patient stepped forward. Not all of them were in walking condition, unfortunately. She was in the town square, tending to cadets and knights alike with a handful of other healers. Groups like hers were scattered across the city, serving as triage centers where the wounded could be brought for healing. Right now, they were being put through their paces.

When the shift first started, everything was quiet. They only healed a few cadets and a knight for the first two hours. After that, something changed. Cadets showed up, sometimes leaning on their partnered knight or even having to be carried, and would claim that they had been directly targeted by revelers. The attackers who spoke would ask if they were Noah or knew where he was, while the others hunted with killing intent.

‘Bounty,’ that word kept passing around, each time making her more nervous.

She was now healing a female cadet who had been struck in the chest with an arrow. Removing it had been difficult, and the resulting spurt of blood resembled the three town square fountains. Still, Sophia remained calm and applied healing energy to the wound, mending the damaged lung tissue and muscle fibers in her shoulder quickly and perfectly. She was far beyond the skills of the other healers, both the cadets and the veterans, able to heal wounds of all severities with greater speed and less energy. With holy magic, she could even cure her patients of their fears and anxieties by stimulating different sections of the brain.

This leap in skill was thanks to Noah. For months, she had listened to him recite medical knowledge, writing down every word with dedicated calligraphy. At night, she’d stay up late reading and rereading them while painstakingly running through runic formulas. Merging science and magic into a new healing art had taken a lot of work, but to her, it was a calling. She treasured those notes like holy texts, not just because of the knowledge within, but because they came from Noah.

A cadet was brought forward, unable to stand. He had been stabbed in the gut with a spear and was groaning in pain. The sight of blood did not scare Sophia as it did the other healers, at least not in the same way.

“Please, help me. I don’t want to die,” he begged, grabbing Sophia’s wrist and shaking her from her stupor.

“You’re not going to die,” she said as she began to heal the wound.

It was severe and required her focus, but her thoughts refused to settle. Her mind kept picturing Noah with such a wound, lying in a pool of blood somewhere beyond her reach. It was the same with the other cadets, each taking a hit that was meant for him, so there was no telling what his condition was. Even if he managed to survive the night, the price on his head would not disappear, and things would continue to get more dangerous for him. All the bloody bandages from the wounded cadets would become the noose the kingdom would tie around his neck.

Eventually, the inflow of the injured reached a lull, and she was able to rest and regain her strength. She went over to one of the fountains and washed the blood off her hands. ‘All this bloodshed because of what he did to the duchess…’

The venomous thoughts began to slip in, thoughts she had tried so desperately to keep contained. When she initially heard about Noah’s onstage tryst with Ziradith and his unmasking her to the crowd, she was appalled, but each detail that came out made her shiver in arousal. The lewd, sinful things the two of them did, they reminded her of her own evening with Noah and stirred her curiosity. To be brought onstage and brutally fucked in every orifice for an audience, such an idea would have horrified her beyond all measure a year ago. Now, if Noah looked her in the eye and invited her on that stage, she didn’t know if she’d be able to resist.

She used her evening studies to keep these thoughts out of her mind. She’d work herself to exhaustion and fall asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow, lest she give in to temptation and spend the late hours playing with herself while memory and fantasy blurred in her mind. Noah kept her at arm’s length to both her relief and frustration. Their conversations were shallow small talk, their evening together never being mentioned. He didn’t flirt with her, give her any looks, and rarely made eye contact. It was a polite cold shoulder.

It was painful, having all these feelings and nothing to do with them, like she was rich with a currency that had no value, but she was also glad for the situation between her and Noah. He never tempted her with false hope or used her like he did Bella. He didn’t run away after their one-night stand; he simply stepped aside for Alexis.

“Alexis…” She murmured the name and felt her racing heart settle. She clasped her wet hands together and began to pray. “Lumendori, please, watch over them. Bring them back to me.”

She was drawn from her thoughts by the arrival of another wounded cadet. She had to get back to work.

----------

For hours, the knights and cadets continued their patrols. The shift was long, almost from dusk to dawn, and for the cadets who were used to waking up at first light, the night shift was an exhausting ordeal, even without the fights. They’d take breaks to rest and eat, but they had to always be on their guard. The revelers were more interested in Noah’s bounty than fighting each other this year, and the cadets suffered for it.

The crying of roosters signaled the end of the shift. The eastern sky was beginning to brighten, so the nighttime prowlers called it quits. Tired, sore, and bloody, the knights and cadets returned behind the castle gates for roll call and confirmed that they had fulfilled their duties. Noah was there before anyone else without a scratch on him, minus an arrow wound from some punk’s lucky shot. Beside him, Holmes was looking far worse. It was understandable, considering he had taken an axe to the shoulder, a knife to the gut, an arrow to the leg, and a few other injuries. He had been healed and patched up, but his mood was understandably negative. The path back to the castle, while short, had been a bloody gauntlet.

Many cadets flashed Noah with angry glares, having received injuries meant for him. He didn’t really care one way or the other, though he was surprised to see Gideon being carried on a stretcher and missing his arm. All the cadets gathered and stood at attention, though most were dead on their feet from exhaustion. Their names were called, and they answered, many nearly collapsing when Tarnas finally dismissed them. Their feet, having been aching unbearably moments ago, were now without pain as they began their walk back to the academy.

Noah, however, was not able to follow them. Before he could leave, Tarnas clasped his shoulder, his colossal hand gripping him like a bear trap. “You and I need to talk.”

----------

The bathhouses were full of cadets, washing off sweat and blood from battle. The sun had yet to rise, so the steaming rooms were illuminated by candles. After a long night, everyone just wanted to clean themselves and go to bed. In the woman’s bath, Alexis and Sophia were among the few still enjoying the warmth of the water.

“So, how was it, going back to a bow?” Sophia asked.

“It was definitely a strange feeling, and kind of sad. I had forgotten how right it felt, the tension of the string, the feeling of distance, the power of staring down the arrow’s shaft at my target, completely unaware of what was about to happen. Still, it was another reminder that my time training under Lady Zodiac is over. Once we leave here, there’s no telling when we’ll see her again.” Soon, the other women left, and Alexis and Sophia had the room all to themselves, giving Alexis the courage to speak above a whisper. “I fought with her the other day. It was an amazing battle, and when it was done, I told her what an incredible honor it had been to train under her.”

“I envy your strength. I would have loved to join you in class, but I’m just not meant to wield a sword.”

Alexis hesitated, feeling like she’d choke on the awkward words sitting in her throat. “Well after, she hugged me, and… I almost kissed her.”

Sophia’s eyes widened. “Really?”

“I was tempted. I wanted to do it so badly. You know how much I idolize her. But I didn’t go through with it. She wasn’t looking at me the way I was looking at her. There was pride and sincerity in her eyes, but not love, not the love I was so used to seeing in your eyes. At that moment, all I wanted to do was go find you and see that love again, the love I had stubbornly denied myself.”

Under the water, Sophia grasped Alexis’s hand. “Are you saying… you forgive me?”

“I was never angry at you, just at myself. I wanted to be your hero, to be the one to save you, and when it was Noah who freed you from Galvin, I thought I had lost my chance. I thought I didn’t deserve you, that I hadn’t fought hard enough to earn that place by your side in the future we had dreamed of. I told you about the steps we didn’t get to walk together, but I don’t care about them anymore.” She turned to Sophia with tears of joy in her eyes. “I just want to keep moving forward with you.”

“Alexis…”

The two women leaned forward, and their lips joined in a loving embrace. The kiss evolved in passion, their tongues swirling together as they made up for lost time. They moved closer to each other, the heat of the water and their naked bodies melting all the hesitancy that had encased their desires. Their hands slid across each other’s bare skin as their lust came to a boil.

Sophia, her hand slick with soap, began to caress Alexis’s breasts. They had never touched each other like this before, but now was not the time for reluctance. “You’ve definitely gotten bigger since last year,” she whispered, exploring her lover’s flesh and savoring the softness and shape.

“Are you teasing me?” Alexis panted, whimpering in bliss as she felt her endowment being sculpted and reshaped by Sophia’s greedy fingers.

“You do make it so easy,” Sophia replied as she ran her lips along Alexis’s neck.

Alexis returned the favor, massaging Sophia’s ample tits to their mutual joy. They continued to make out while fondling each other’s breasts. There was no rush; they had all the time in the world to satiate their curiosity. Alexis played with Sophia’s pink nipples, rubbing them between her fingertips and gently pulling, wanting to hear all the ways Sophia’s voice would quake in bliss. On the other hand, Sophia preferred to play with Alexis’s fullness, relishing how her fingers sank into her cushiony shelf, overflowing and sliding out of her hands.

Eventually, they both slipped their hands beneath the water, with their curious fingers burrowing between each other’s legs. Their excitement and nervousness made them tremble as they stroked, penetrated, and explored each other’s inner selves, with their voices rising with the speed of their movements. They were no longer kissing, simply pressing their foreheads together while they whimpered in shared bliss, feeling each other’s breath on their lips.

Most of Sophia’s technique stemmed from her experience in self-pleasure, but it still bore Noah’s influence, like icing on a cake. The swirling strokes, the masterful way he stimulated Alexis’s clit and targeted her G-spot, she recreated the movements to the beautiful sounds of her moans. At the moment, her heart was wholly devoted to Alexis, and she used her memories to make her as happy as possible. Alexis took Sophia’s lead and mimicked the movement of her fingers. Deep down, she knew that this skill resulted from her time with Noah, but it was hard to feel jealous at the moment. As they brought each other to climax, she felt only gratitude.

“Is that what it feels like when someone makes you cum?” Alexis panted.

“Amazing, isn’t it?”

“Breathtaking.”

After their simultaneous orgasm, Alexis moved away towards the center of the bath and beckoned Sophia to follow her. In the deeper water, the two of them embraced each other and began to kiss, while below the surface, they were straddling each other’s thighs. The water rippled as they rubbed against each other, Alexis feeling Sophia’s slick pussy move back and forth on her leg and vice versa.

Their breasts were likewise rubbing together, their soft mountains smooshed flat against each other while their nipples fenced. They stayed like this for several minutes, kissing deep and hard while they ground their bodies together, doing whatever they could to maximize the skin-on-skin contact. They didn’t stop until they made each other cum once again, at which point they just stood still and held each other.

“I think we should move out of the water,” Sophia murmured while kissing Alexis’s shoulder.

“Are you overheating?”

“That’s not what I meant, but it’s not inaccurate.”

They climbed out of the water, and Alexis held two buckets under the spout that filled the five baths. Sophia lay on the floor in anticipation with a towel beneath her. Alexis stood over her, emptied one of the buckets over herself, and poured the other on Sophia, making her laugh. Sophia looked up at her, watching the water drip from Alexis’s erect nipples and run down her flat belly.

“I didn’t want to taste any soap,” Alexis said with a smile.

She then got down on all fours, and her tongue slipped between Sophia’s lips, where it was lovingly greeted by Sophia’s own tongue. It was a long, wet, sloppy kiss, full of passion and devoid of hesitance, with the water falling from Alexis’s flesh and dripping on Sophia’s. She eventually pulled her lips away so that they could move down Sophia’s neck, across her collarbone, and finally close around her left areola. Sophia laid her head back and panted in euphoria as Alexis so greedily tasted her flesh, kissing and sucking on her nipples while once more relishing the feel of her breasts in her hands.

Her lust inevitably drew her south, where she took her time licking the water off Sophia’s body. When she reached her destination, Sophia spread her legs, putting her pussy on display and serving it to Alexis. Alexis gazed in lust and anticipation, mesmerized by the sight. After all of the lewd conversations she’d heard the other girls have, many of which involved Noah’s stage career, Alexis knew what she wanted, knew what to do, and was only hesitating to savor the moment.

“I love you, Sophia. I love you with all my heart,” she murmured.

“I love you too, Al—” Sophia didn’t finish that sentence, cut off by a moan slipping free as Alexis went down on her. She sucked on her clit, tickled her labia, and penetrated her with her tongue, all to the sounds of Sophia’s cries of euphoria. “Seems like someone’s been eating lemons,” she teased.

Sophia watched Alexis’s head move back and forth with every broad lick of the entrance, the contractions in her cheeks when she slurped up every drop of her sinful nectar, and the shaking of her ass in the air, as though wagging an invisible tail. Her delving fingers further heightened Sophia’s bliss, and without warning, Sophia’s legs clamped around Alexis’s head, and she arched her back as she climaxed, with Alexis drinking up her liquid lust.

“Alexis, I can’t wait any longer! I want to taste you!”

She sat up and licked her lips with a smile. “Imagine if Sister Pauline were to hear you say that.”

Sophia gazed at her with eyes full of love. “I came to terms with my faith and my feelings for you long ago.”

Alexis leaned back, and Sophia got on top of her. She went the same route that Alexis had, starting first with a deep kiss, and taking her time to suck on Alexis’s full breasts. She then dragged her tongue down Alexis’s belly and went to town on her virgin pussy. Alexis rolled her head from side to side and ran her hands across her body, moaning from Sophia’s efforts.

“Oh God, Sophia! That feels so good!”

“You taste so sweet,” Sophia replied before laying a soft kiss on Alexis’s clit.

They took turns eating each other out, with their moans bouncing off the brick walls of the bathhouse, heard only by each other. Words of love were whispered here and there, but their mouths were often too busy to be used for speaking. Finally, the light of the sun shined through the raised windows. Alexis and Sophia were lying on the floor, spooning tight. They were silent, Sophia savoring the feel of Alexis’s arms around her and her warmth, and Alexis measuring Sophia’s breath, feeling it through her back.

“No words can describe how happy I am right now,” Sophia purred.

“I was about to say the same,” said Alexis while kissing Sophia’s neck.

“I don’t want this moment to end.”

“It has to. It’s the only way for us to reach the future, the future that had now been laid out for us.”

Sophia rolled over and they gazed into each other’s eyes. “I love you,” they both murmured.

----------

The war room was filled with silver and gold-ranked knights, all gathered around a table with a map of the city. Among them was Sir Elyot, and many new faces recruited to assist in suppressing the evening violence. The sun was just starting to poke over the horizon, and everyone was exhausted from staying up late or getting up early. They discussed the Red Revelries, though it was put on hold when the door opened.

“Good morning, everyone,” said Tarnas.

“Good morning, sir,” they all replied, with the standing silver knights bowing out of respect. It was then that they noticed the cadet behind him, and no introduction was needed.

“Cadet Noah, we meet again,” said Berholm.

“So this is the boy,” Aithorn said coldly.

Noah gave a deep and convincing bow. “Greetings, knights of Uther. Though the circumstances of my presence here are rather unfortunate, to stand before you in this hallowed room is still a great honor.” Despite his words, both of his spells were active, and he was prepared for whatever direction this meeting would go.

“Pretty words, but given your history with the Herald family, they ring quite hollow,” said General Delta, an old man at the far end of the table. Though he had not gone through the proper knighthood channels, his exemplary service to Uther had earned him an honorary gold-rank, same as Elyot and several others.

“I shall not refute my conflicts with Prince Galvin and Duchess Ziradith, nor do I shrug off my sins and reputation. At the moment, however, I believe the present is a more pressing issue than the past, hence why I have been brought before you.”

“You are correct in that regard,” said Tarnas. “At present, almost every cadet and many of the knights who patrolled last night were injured or challenged by marauders seeking you out. Your actions are directly responsible for every drop of blood that has been spilled.”

“Sir Tarnas, wasn’t the whole point of last night to pit the cadets against the revelers and give them experience? Besides, it was not I who issued the bounty. I interrogated several pursuers last night, all confirming that an underworld figure named Fain Morgan is to blame for this price on my head. However, unless he was madly in love with the duchess, I highly doubt he was acting of his own volition. More likely, he is being used as a frontman, a broker to conceal her involvement. True, I am no saint, but it was not my choice to get the cadets involved with this.”

“Whether it was your intention or not, the fact remains that your depravity and short-sightedness triggered this chain of events.” The words came from a gold-ranked knight, a woman with a shaved head.

“I am not ignorant, ma’am. I acted with full knowledge that there would be retaliation in some form or fashion. I knew that there would be men coming after me and have been ready to deal with them, as Sir Holmes can attest. However, this is different. Whoever issued the open contract crossed the line. Whether the decision was made out of impatient fury or calculated scorched-earth precision, they are the ones who decided to put the rest of the cadets in jeopardy.”

“You cannot talk your way out of this,” said Berholm.

“Quite right, which is why I will prove myself with my actions.”

“And how do you propose you do that?” Tarnas asked.

“By serving myself up on a silver platter. Tonight, rather than having me patrol the streets, station me in a fixed location and announce it loudly enough for everyone to hear, be it knight, cadet, or reveler. I’ll eliminate anyone who comes my way, and should any cadets get targeted by someone looking for me, they can relay my position to ensure their safety.”

“Despicable as you may be, we knights do not sell out our comrades,” Tarnas growled.

“It’s not betrayal if it’s according to my plan. I cannot undo the damage and harm my fellow cadets have suffered, but I can prove my worth. If it works, then by this time tomorrow, I’ll have a mountain of severed heads prepared for you, and should I die in the process, you’ll all be rid of me.”

“Why are we even listening to this nonsense? You expect us to simply let you act on your own because you make some ridiculous promise? We should just throw him in the dungeon and be done with it,” Aithorn cursed.

Sir Elyot loudly cleared his throat. “Cadet Noah’s indiscretions aside, he has already received approval for the knighthood by the academy staff, myself included, and for good reason. While he has taken part in few duels, it is no exaggeration to say that as a warrior, he is in the same league as Lady Zodiac. If he says he can do it, I have no doubt he’s right.”

Elyot’s words caused a stir among everyone. They were so preoccupied with Noah’s depravity and the wounded cadets, they had forgotten the other rumors from the academy. Valia was one of the greatest known sword masters in the world, and Noah had reportedly fought her to a draw on three separate occasions. It was impossible to believe that this young man could exist on such a level, but the rumors were never refuted. At that moment, all the knights became tense. They were in the presence of an exceptionally powerful and unpredictable variable.

“Very well,” said Tarnas. “Sir Elyot, I’ll trust you to observe and chaperone Cadet Noah this evening. He promised a mountain of heads, and I want you to make sure he delivers.”

----------

Now that lessons had ended, the cadets were free to spend their time however they wished, be it resting, training, or personal matters, with the staff still around to provide guidance. Noah slept until noon, ate breakfast in the mess hall with another twenty cadets, and headed to the infirmary. There, lying in one of the beds, was Gideon. “Hey,” Noah said.

“Hey, what are you doing here?” Gideon asked.

“I’m looking for Sophia. Is she working here today?”

“Oh, so you’re not here to visit your friend who lost an arm?”

“What makes you think I can’t do both?”

“Well that girl isn’t here. She was given the day off.”

Noah pulled up a chair. “So, how are you doing?”

“Aside from the whole missing arm thing, I’m just peachy. I have the honor of being the most heavily injured cadet, and Sister Pauline insisted that the barracks are no place for someone like me to recover.”

“Sorry about all this. Does it still hurt?”

Gideon grimaced and scratched at the bandaged stump. “Yeah, but I don’t know why. They healed the wound, but I still feel like there is something wrong.”

“That’s called Phantom Limb Syndrome. It’s common for people who have suffered injuries like yours. Your mind and body still have not come to terms with the fact that your arm is no longer there.”

Gideon took a shuddering breath. “I keep looking down, expecting it to be there, but…”

“What happened?”

“I ended up running into some crazy wolfman who killed the knight I was with. I drilled my hand through his gut and cracked his skull, but somehow, he got back up and... he was different.”

“Different how?”

“His body was changing, becoming something monstrous. I remember there was a creature latched on to his neck, and it appeared to be making him stronger. He moved so fast I couldn’t even see him, and he ripped off my arm with his teeth. It nearly killed me, but I managed to put him down for good. I had to use my wings to do it, so I’m hoping no one saw me.”

Noah thought back to the basilisk skeleton. “Have you told anyone else about this?”

“No, the knights and the staff are letting me rest up before they talk to me.”

“When they ask, tell them you barely remember anything. It was dark and chaotic, and you blacked out from blood loss. If they insist, tell them you faintly remember the knight dying and you losing your arm, but absolutely do not admit to killing the wolfman. He just beat you and ran off when he found out your name.”

“Look, I’ve spent the past year hiding my beastman identity, but to lie and say I was beaten…”

“If you tell them you won, they’ll want to know how. You have martial arts, but a one-armed boy couldn’t have stopped an opponent like that without some kind of trick up his sleeve.”

“Shouldn’t I at least tell them about the creature?”

“Only as a last resort. You can use it to direct their attention elsewhere, but vagueness and supposed memory loss are your best defense.”

Gideon sighed. “This is not how I expected my time at the academy to end.”

“What will you do now?”

“My master sent me here to study and train, and now that it’s over, I think it’s time I returned to my village, but I don’t like leaving things unfinished, so I’m going to stick around until I’m properly knighted. I figure the sword I get will make a nice wall decoration.”

“And after you get back?”

“I’m not sure. With this injury… a lot of doors are probably closed to me. I can still defend myself with one arm, but my days as a warrior may be over.”

Noah leaned back in his chair. “A long time ago, I knew a man who lost an arm and both legs in a terrible accident. He lived in a rough area, and a guy with two wooden legs and a fake arm is easy pickings, but let me tell you, he was one of the scrappiest fuckers I ever met. He’d put on an act to look weak and helpless, limping like a fawn with a broken leg, and if anyone came his way, he’d beat the shit out of them. He became a pretty decent street fighter.”

“How?”

“People don’t know how to fight someone with missing or prosthetic limbs, it throws them off balance, and he took advantage of that. No one expects to be kicked in the chest with a peg leg. He learned how to hit hard, fast, and unorthodox, and it was a sight to behold. You can still be a warrior; you’ll just have to adjust your style a bit.” Gideon didn’t answer and just stared at the stump where his arm used to be. “You don’t seem convinced. Well, you may not believe me now, but you will soon. You’ll learn to adapt, and your dexterity will improve. You’ll find a way to compensate, and figure out some neat tricks.”

“I guess.”

“Just ask yourself, would you have rather lost your arm or your wing? If you were some other cadet, I’d tell you to give up being a warrior, but you have the strength and tenacity of someone who always gets back up. You proved it to yourself last night.” Gideon didn’t respond, and Noah got up from his chair. “If I’m ever in Vandheim, maybe you and I can have a match, and you can show me what you’ve come up with. Until then, all I can say is good luck.”

Noah left the infirmary and headed to the library, but Sophia was not there either. He stopped by her dorm and knocked on her door, only to receive no response. Other than the bathhouse, there was one other place she would be. He returned to his own dorm building and knocked on Alexis’s door. There was some shuffling inside.

“Who is it?”

“It’s Noah.” The door opened a few inches, and he saw Alexis wearing a robe. “I hope I didn’t wake you up. Is now a bad time?”

“It’s not exactly good. What do you need?”

Noah sniffed the air and smiled. “I was hoping you or Sophia would be available to help me perform alchemy in preparation for tonight, but it seems the two of you are rather indisposed. Sorry for interrupting.”

Alexis’s face turned bright red, and she hurriedly shut the door. Hopefully, Alexis or Sophia would be able to help him later, but there were other things to do until then. He left the academy and headed to the Knight’s Sheath.

“There were a few times when I thought you were a madman, but I give credit where credit is due,” said Cyrilo, speaking to him in her office with a long-stemmed pipe between her bony fingers. “The Knight’s Sheath has never been this profitable, and it’s no longer just due to Daniel. Those rubber toys are being bought up faster than we can make them, and countless women are stopping by to enjoy the machines you built. I’ve also been inundated with a rush of female clientele who want to reserve you for a private evening. You really started something.”

“It’s what I do, and it’s what I’m good at.”

“And as for what happened to the old building, you and I are square. Between what you did to the Herald family and those two lackeys, I sleep soundly at night, knowing that I have my vengeance. Duchess Herald may have fled to her territory, but she can’t escape what happened. The Thelmas province is now a sinking ship, and all her political power is vanishing. I also heard what happened to Prince Galvin, how he was attacked and horrifically injured in the slums. That was you, wasn’t it?”

“Of course it was, and believe me, the damage I inflicted to his body is nothing compared to what I did to his mind.”

“You wonderful, vindictive bastard, this calls for a victory drink.” She poured them both a glass of ambrosia, and they toasted to their success. “Have you given any thought to staying? Your knowledge of sex and business could turn the Knight’s Sheath into an empire. I’m offering you a partnership position.”

“Sorry, but I have travel plans. I want to explore this world, see what it has to offer. However, I might blow into Colbrand every now and then, maybe do another show.”

“Well then consider this a farewell gift until we meet again.” She removed a small metal lockbox from her desk drawer, likely dwarf-made. Its exterior was scorched, but it had been built tough to withstand such forces. “This is one of the few items that survived the blaze. Without it, I wouldn’t have been able to start again.” She opened it up, and from the sounds inside, it seemed to be full of coins and gems, and to Noah’s surprise, a silver-ranked knight’s ring. “I received this as payment for… well, that’s not something that should be brought up in conversation, but still, it is invaluable. Are you familiar with these?”

“I am.”

“That’s good, then this won’t surprise you.” She held out her hand over her desk, and a large stone slab materialized, conjured from the pocket dimension within the ring. It was inscribed with hundreds of runes, using ink of unspeakable power, and the mineral was beyond Noah’s ability to recognize. “This is the relic that caused my affliction. I’m still not sure whether I should show it to you, but I’m hoping that whatever you learn from it will help you in the future. Understand, though, you’re only allowed to record the runic formula.”

“Thank you, that’s all I need.”

Noah took out his grimoire and began writing down the in***********ion.

“You know, if you stay, I’ll do for you what I did to get this ring,” Cyrilo said. “I’ll have all the girls here do it to you if you want, even on stage.”

“Thanks, but I could probably get Bella to do it without even paying her.”

----------

That night, after eating dinner, the cadets once more marched to the castle to be given their patrol orders. Understandably, Gideon was not among them. After losing an arm, he was given a free pass. They were all nervous, fearful of another evening like the one before. They would all be assigned new partners, but unlike the previous night, Tarnas did not go in alphabetical order.

“Cadet Noah, due to recent complications and problems with graffiti, you have been assigned to guard the Elswood Chapel with Sir Elyot, situated down the road from the Teapot Royale.” He announced it with a booming voice, ensuring that anyone trying to listen in would hear it. “You are not to leave your station for any reason until dawn, is that understood?”

“Yes sir!” Noah replied.

“Good. Now, before I give the rest of you your assignments, I’d like to share with you a few things I’ve learned on the battlefield…”

As Tarnas droned on to keep the cadets and knights busy, Noah and Sir Elyot left the castle grounds and headed into the city with lanterns in hand. Along with his sword, several knives, and various other small weapons, Noah was also carrying his elf bow and a quiver full of arrows.

“I should warn you that I’ve been ordered not to intervene during any fights. This was your idea, so you have to handle any enemies you face on your own,” Elyot warned.

“I rather prefer it that way. In fact, I was hoping you might be willing to keep whatever you see secret.”

“Such as?”

“You’ll know.”

“Are you sure this plan of yours will work?”

“I’m wholly sure it’ll work; the real question is how well. It’s hard to set this up without just looking like obvious bait to some trap, but there should certainly be a few who are desperate enough to risk springing it.”

On a rooftop not too far away, an archer drew back his arrow and focused his gaze on Noah. The ocean breeze was faint tonight, and there were few clouds. He took a steady breath and released. The arrow flew with perfect aim, but though it should have planted itself in the side of Noah’s neck, it passed right through him and hit Sir Elyot in the arm. He collapsed, barely holding back a cry of pain. The archer didn’t understand how it had happened, but before he could make sense of it, a second arrow was launched, following the same arc as the first, but in the opposite direction, ending up buried in his chest.

As the archer breathed his last breath, Noah helped remove the first arrow from Sir Elyot’s arm. “Are you all right?”

Elyot pulled out his grimoire and opened it to a healing spell. He touched his hand, wrapped in holy light, to his wounded arm. “Don’t worry about me. That archer is after you!”

“I already took care of him.”

“What?”

“He’s down. I shot him with my own arrow.”

“But how did you—”

“That’s the kind of question I’d prefer you not ask. Can you stand?”

Elyot got back to his feet. “I think it would be best if I keep a bit of distance from you.”

“Agreed.”

They eventually arrived at the chapel, situated at the edge of a clearing among the buildings. Noah had a good view of the open space from the church steps. Elyot had found his own place to keep watch, where he could observe the battle without getting in the way. With his lantern at his feet, Noah needn’t wait long. He could see movement on the rooftops, various archers getting into position, and as soon as they were in his range, he started picking them off one by one with his elf bow. It was enchanted, with every arrow launched immune to the evening wind.

As he dealt with the archers, other bounty hunters and revelers began to close in on his location. They flitted through the streets and alleys to surround him, but dared not step out into the open, not while he had that bow in his hands. This was his plan, to hold them back until as many had gathered as possible. He counted around forty, and the fact that he didn’t hear any fighting among them made him curious. Were they all working together as a cohesive group and would split the prize, or would they turn on each other the moment he was dead and fight over his corpse?

Finally, Noah moved off the church steps and into the open space, forsaking his bow for his sword. “If you’re all done sucking each other off, maybe you could show some backbone and face me.” His taunt earned him an arrow shot in his direction, but it simply passed through his clone and got lodged in the side of a building. It was too dark for anyone to understand what had just happened. “Arrows don’t work on me. I’ve protected myself with wards that make it so they all miss. If you want the prize, you’re going to have to fight for it.”

The various mercenaries and warriors stepped out into the open. They all wore masks and carried swords and other weapons, ready to end Noah’s life.

“We can either bring you in alive or dead. The choice is yours,” said a man with a hammer.

“It does not end well for people who make me that offer. If you want me, come and get me.”

With a bloodthirsty howl, one man broke away from the rest of the pack and charged towards Noah with a serrated knife. “I’m going to enjoy peeling off your skin!” he squealed in excitement.

“Well it certainly isn’t going to peel itself.”

No magic was needed, no tricks; as soon as the man entered Noah’s range and tried to attack, Noah clipped him across the stomach. His blade carved through flesh and muscle so easily, slicing the man in half and spilling blood and guts across the ground. Now merely half of his former self, the man gave a single pained gurgle before Noah sliced off his head. He picked it up and then tossed it onto the chapel steps.

“How long are the rest of you going to make me wait?” Set off by the spilling of blood, all of the revelers and mercenaries charged towards Noah. He pulled a card out of his sleeve, made of better parchment and ink than his other cards. “Time to hunt, then. Blinding Fog.”

It was a more powerful version of his Mist Bomb spell, conjuring a torrent of illusory mist that filled the area and swallowed the incoming attackers, halting them in their tracks. Then the screaming began. In his invisible state, Noah moved through the mist and cut the warriors down without mercy. He didn’t conjure the mist to hide; he did it so that no one could see how the others were dying. All they could do was get lost in the fog and hear screams of pain turning into bloody gurgling as bodies dropped.

He moved so fast that no one had any idea what was going on, with a single slash from him rending armor and gutting the men like fish. Any limbs that got in the path of his sword were lopped off with bloody ease. Several weapons were even broken by the strength of his attacks. Many began to panic and attack the first person they saw, while some fool got desperate and launched a jet of flames in all directions, succeeding only in lighting the other revelers on fire before his head was severed. Several who tried to escape ended up tripping over bodies and were slain before they could get to their feet.

After a minute, Noah released the mist cloud and looked over his handiwork. The ground was littered with bodies, most of them in pieces. All their blood formed a pool that soaked his boots. Now that it was over, Elyot approached, holding his lantern with a shaky hand and looking like he was going to throw up.

“Good God, what have you done?”

“Like you told Sir Tarnas; if I say I can do it, I can do it. Now I know you said you wouldn’t help me with my fights, but would you mind helping me with the cleanup? Moving all of these bodies myself is going to be a nightmare.”

----------

The sun eventually rose on the city of Colbrand, and upon a neatly arranged pyramid of severed heads. Tarnas, along with several other knights, had gathered before the Elswood Chapel, and now stared at the macabre monument with twisted stomachs. They were all used to war and killing, but this unnerved them in a new way. The chapel priest had already fainted upon seeing it, and with the townsfolk waking up, crowds of horrified onlookers had started to gather.

Noah approached Tarnas and bowed. “Good morning, sir. I have accomplished my task as you ordered.”

“How… how many?” he asked.

“Around forty attacked me in a wave when I first got here, and over the course of the night, another several dozen or so showed up, probably learning of my location from other cadets. I’d say… a little of over a hundred. Thankfully, Sir Elyot used his magic to dispose of the bodies. So, does this make up for the earlier mishaps from the other night?”

Tarnas gave a deep sigh. “Go back to the academy. You are dismissed.”

“Thank you, sir.”

As Noah left, Elyot approached, looking pale. It had been a long night.

“He did this all on his own?” Tarnas asked.

“That’s right. Lady Zodiac trained him well. He’ll be a great asset on the battlefield, I can tell you that.”

Tarnas brushed away a pesky fly, one of many now gathering around the pile. “Hopefully not too great.”

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