Knights Apocalyptica
Chapter 242: Who Art Thou?

The captain was a man of kindly aspect, well along in years, an old sailor who in his youth had plunged into far vaster seas, but who now in his age had to exercise much greater attention, care, and vigilance to avoid dangers of a trivial character. And they were the same for each day: the same sand-bars, the same hulk of unwieldy steamer wedged into the same curves, like a corpulent dame [3]in a jammed throng. So, at each moment, the good man had to stop, to back up, to go forward at half speed, sending—now to port, now to starboard—the five sailors equipped with long bamboo poles to give force to the turn the rudder had suggested. He was like a veteran who, after leading men through hazardous campaigns, had in his age become the tutor of a capricious, disobedient, and lazy boy.

-José Rizal, The Reign of Greed (2nd Era, 1891)

Erec and Colin sped through the rocky crags around them with a frenzied. As soon as the contest started and Soren had given up on trying to control their actions, they didn’t want to waste any time.

In his head, VAL called out the map of where they were going, having had ample time to analyze the battlefield. Erec clutched the dull axe in his hand; every step amplified the heat in his Soul.

His eyes kept wandering above.

Sure enough, he saw many birds around nearly every corner, their eyes gleaming as they took in the approaching knights. After being spotted, they flew off. Headed to the enemy’s flag.

Garin’s plan was in action. If he operated like this, he had a full view of the battle. It only pressed Erec forward. Their overwhelming might would lead to victory.

He rushed forward, sprinting through the canyons, until eventually they ran into a group of enemies. Around the corner of a bend, they spotted the steel-skinned woman accompanied by the Azure Tower Knight and a Magi.

Awkwardly, the three of them stared at each other as they entered the same battleground. "This is them," the steel woman clapped her hands with a smile. "Good, we found them, alright, perfect. Let’s get this thing going, then!”

Her hands had two gauntlets on them. They were not traditional weapons like a sword or axe, but they reminded Erec of his own Armor. She bumped the fists together, the steel clanging with a loud reverb that echoed in these stony twists. Erec closed in the distance with his group, feeling a smile on his face as he took her in.

“I’m glad to see you again. After the wrestling match, I was hoping we could have another go,” Erec called out.

“Ditto,” the woman called back, striding forward.

Erec forced himself to pause, tucking away the flaring heat within him for a moment, and took in the rest of her team. It was pretty obvious who he was going to fight. But that also meant they each had a target among the three.

"Colin, you take the mage. Soren, you take the other knight," Erec ordered, already feeling the last bits of his reasoning start to fly out the window at the temptation of this battle. The density of this woman’s body meant that she could put up a fight. Better than he expected so early in the tournament.

He didn’t wait for his allies to respond and moved forward, letting Fury’s roots burn bright. With a quick lurch of ground exploding rock behind him, he smashed his dull axe into the woman, who took the brunt of it with her forearms, skidding back and making ruts in the landscape as she defended from his first assault.

Behind her, the Magi ignored his assigned opponent and instead tried to blast a ball of fire at Erec—it made it a foot in the air before a bolt of electricity seared it in half and made the spell fizzle out.

“You fight me,” Colin demanded, lightning wreathing his arm as he spammed out another lightning glyph. An arc of electricity snapped across the ground, exploding stones before smashing into the Magi who’d had only the briefest second to conjure a bright blue barrier to defend themself.

Colin threw another burst, bullying the other Magi and safely taking the spell-slinger into their private fight.

Erec swung again against the woman, sending her reeling as his axe collided with her side—he got a glance at Soren facing off against the Azure Knight…

Who had no chance.

He was swinging at air as Soren worked around him, his blade darting in and severing servos as Soren worked with a casual and intentional methodology. The Prince’s talent of misdirection was too much for the poor Knight to put up against.

“Turn off the Q.A.P.,” Erec commanded VAL as he saw the steel-skinned woman pull back, blood running down her cheek.

Inside, the fire was flaring. A fight here didn’t call for him to use the Q.A.P. to win. And this was a brawl he’d been looking forward to, after seeing her display in the wrestling match. He felt he owed her a good, fair battle. After all, this wasn't a monster, and it wasn't someone whose talent overwhelmed him. No, what Erec wanted in this was a good old fist-for-fist, blow-for-blow.

[Are you sure?] VAL buzzed, and Erec confirmed with a nod, and he saw the ghostly outline of the battle around him fade away.

Erec tossed his axe to the ground as the woman shook her head.

“You’re fucking crazy.” She said.

“Give me a good battle,” Erec growled back. He wanted to test his raw skill against this woman's raw skill and see who the true victor between them was.

With a smirk, she shook out her forearms and then darted in for another blow, going for a low sucker punch that dented Erec's armor with an incredible weight as he shifted backward. Erec returned it, punching outward with his own gauntlet, matching her fist for a sucker punch to her face as her jaw bent and she spat out blood and tooth, reeling back.

“Ooooh, this is good,” she called out and rolled her shoulders.

Erec agreed, the fire in him searing even further.

He circled her with his fists alight with power. This was a contest on even ground. He had his own gauntlets to match if she were limited to fists. The spikes on them were dull enough after all the repetition of fighting, and with her skin, he didn't have to worry about inflicting too much lethal damage. So this was the best of a match he could get.

The two circled one another, throwing punches. Erec felt his armor dent, his body bruising beneath it, as he threw out his own rapid fists, bashing her as the fighting flared around them. Colin seared off bolts of lightning that dominated his magi opponent. Soren had made quick work of the Azure Knight, getting him on the floor and taking his helmet off.

This had a judge call for the Azure Knight’s termination; when enough damage or an obvious victor was done, they would intercede and call for their loss as if they had lost their life to make the game equal.

Soren started to walk over to Erec to get involved.

Erec glared at him and shook his head, “Get the flag. My fight,” he growled, his voice low and angry.

With a shrug, the Prince darted off, moving forward through the wastelands to go towards the enemy’s flag. They wouldn’t be far behind. That meant that Erec could savor this battle.

The woman gave him a wild grin as he circled her and threw another punch. Erec hit her jaw. He saw that she was getting wobbly on her feet, unable to stand up to his pressure. He felt pain in his ribs. He felt the bruises in his armor, the dents left by her, but he knew that he was going to come out the victor.

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It was his inevitable victory, but every flash of pain and impact of steel clanging against steel was beautiful music.

He got her in the leg, and then she collapsed, with Erec holding her by the throat a second later. Her eyes were wide as she stared into the sky, and the announcer's voice called for her loss.

"Damn, that was everything I was hoping for. I'll be cheering you on in the crowd," she coughed.

Erec let go of her throat, got to his feet, then stumbled back over to his axe. The fire in him was simmering, and a smile on his face from a victory well run. Though it was a fist fight, and not the type he normally liked to do, it still felt excellent.

Colin was waiting nearby. The Magi he’d faced on the ground, defeated. Three for three in victories.

Colin snorted. "Well, we better get moving, come on. We cannot allow the prince to claim all the glory.”

Erec gave one last glance at the girl with steel skin and then began to run off, pursuing Soren through the winding canyons. They didn't encounter any more of the enemy, running to the base.

There, they saw Soren held up; a barrage of fire and earth slamming into the entrance of the enemy flag’s opening. Erec peered past the explosions and saw the rest of them. A Magi, one of those men with red robes and chains, then Garin, with Munchy on his shoulder. A victorious smile as he saw them arrive.

"Well, looks like you're a little too late," Garin said, shaking his head. "I knew you'd do this. Still, I mean, what could I do?" He shrugged, pacing around.

Colin snorted. "He's trying to buy time," he pointed out, as Soren was held there, currently frozen as a Magi blanketed the entrance with bursts of magic.

A delay. And a rather smart one. If you weren't targeting the Prince specifically, his ability to control your perception didn't matter as much. So, it made sense that for someone wielding magic, a good defensive countermeasure was just to hit everything in front of them, and as long as they held up with mana, Soren couldn't advance.

The Prince looked at them and sighed. "It's been like this for the last minute. Where were you guys?"

"Finishing up," Erec said, still feeling the fire flaring through him. He looked at Colin and the mage. "Can you take care of that?"

With a single glyph, Colin shook his head, and then a stream of lightning flashed right into the mage, sending them flying back against the barrier as they convulsed on the ground. An instant later, there was a disqualification noise from the announcer.

The smile snapped off Garin’s face.

"Shit," he said, and then looked at the skies as if waiting for something. "Where is it?" He asked. Munchy chirped on his shoulder. Erec shook his head.

"Soren, you grab the flag. We'll take care of the other two." Colin called; another glyph of lightning forming in his hand.

Soren did just that, moving forward without a mage blanketing their place; he darted forward. When Garin stepped to try to interrupt him, Colin stopped their friend with a blast of lightning.

In fifteen seconds, Soren grabbed the flag and began to retreat, with Colin and Erec forming a steel wall to stop any pursuit.

There was a tense second as Garin seemed at a loss for what to do as he faced off against his two friends. Meanwhile, that man in red with the chains just stared daggers at Erec, having not moved yet. He felt an overt hostility there, an anger that he hadn't felt before…

It was as if the man were looking past his skin and projecting a hot, searing hatred into his very being.

Erec couldn’t look away, ignoring Colin and Garin’s conversation. The only thing that snapped his attention away was a bird carrying a flag above—wait, their flag?

Colin shot it out of the sky with a spell, saving one bird from crashing into the ground with another, but grabbing their flag, which should have been defended at their base.

Garin cursed again and then ran at Colin with his sword held high, no doubt trying to overpower him and win the flag…

Erec almost moved to intercede, seeing that somehow, Garin had stolen the flag right from under their nose, even leaving three defenders on it. But there was something else. That eminent energy from the one in the red was calling to him.

Erec turned away from their minor confrontation, feeling something deeper evoke within him—the anger and heat in those eyes were as if he were facing down a demon.

"Do I know you?" Erec asked, still feeling his own fire, stoked from the fight with the steely-skinned woman. And rapidly blazing once more into a full inferno at whatever this was.

“Die!” The red-robed man screamed, his voice layered and cutting into Erec’s head; he darted forward, the chains around him rising and then whipping out at Erec, taking on a dull bronze flame—they snapped into his Armor and then began to melt through it, heating the insides.

Erec screamed the sudden lethality and anger behind the move, a shock of pure adrenaline.

There was nothing stemming from the man but pure killing intent.

Erec grinned as part of him snapped, his muscles bulged as they burned, and he felt deep within the inferno inside of a silver spark in direct response to the bronze fires surrounding him; he felt a dark, sinister force behind the flames licking his skin. It’s overwhelming urge to turn him to ash; with it, this fight suddenly transcended to a different level.

It was like back in the wasteland. This wasn't a contest anymore. He saw in his enemy's eyes that this was a fight for the kill. He felt that lethal intent and his own flare in response.

[What is going on?] VAL cracked as a surge of energy pressed against the armor and began to break the plates. In a wash of silver flame, Erec fought back and pushed outward, his armor coated with a second layer as living silver fire phased out of him, burning through the chains and separating him from what had been a crushing move against this foe. Everything was repelled in a sudden blaze of bronze and silver fire.

"Who art thou?" Erec commanded, his dull axe now morphing into a large silver one, made of living fire. Eyes burning as he stared at his enemy,

Both Garin and Colin had stopped fighting, their eyes wide as they faced off against one another. The priest gave a searing crack; the mask on his face split and fell to the ground. Beneath, he could see the guy's face burning up with that bronze flame.

Skin melted off, blood flowed, and bubbled; those eyes burned with fire as they stared at Erec. Beneath them was a wicked grin.

“Die, die, die!” they screamed, their voices chattering as the world launched into sudden motion.

In a split second, they were there, hundreds of chains appearing out of them, trying to wrap around and bury Erec. Working purely on instincts, Erec’s axe sang through the air, splitting through them with gouts of silver fire—a weightlessness to his axe as he tore through the bindings that would freeze him and then scorch him out.

It was a frantic clash. Each clang against the chains only heightened Erec’s focus and power, and he felt the enemy’s intensity rise, too. It was as if the enemy were drawing out more and more, only getting stronger by the second as more of him fell apart to ash.

He saw within those eyes something else. A deep, hateful creature lurking under the skin and bones of the burning man—one that wanted a clash to the death.

Erec was drawn like a moth to the flame, his silver axe cleaving through more and more chains as he dashed forward. This was a challenge. This thing wanted a fight to the death? Then he would give it death. Everything else faded away as it yanked at his soul and drew out the full height of who he was, needing to give his all to survive every second.

This was more than a tournament. Silver and bronze fires burst against one another, going off with miniature explosions, and the two fires even hated each other with a passion.

For a second, Erec was gaining ground. His enemy was withering away, even though it grew stronger by the second; its physical form was disappearing. Its fingers melted into black bones, which turned to ash. It burst and left behind simple fire—Erec took a step closer, trying to find out what lurked there. What manner of horrid monstrosity was this?

Then there was a boom. Erec saw Grandmaster Oak crashing into the ground for a brief second, and then pure darkness.

Around him was a stone barrier.

Erec paused, his battle taken away from him, his anger flaring as he'd been sealed away in the earth itself. He let out a roar of rage, and then another burst of silver fire flashed against the stone around him, cracking it and then breaking it.

It took a handful of seconds, but he shattered it, leaving him back in the light of the day, staring at Grandmaster Oak.

The man ran a hand through his beard and raised his other towards Erec.”

"Calm down, young lad.”

Erec still felt the anger with him riled, as if provoked by a mighty beast. He’d been denied his victory, or even knowing who his true enemy was. His eyes flared and shot to the other barrier, which had cracks in it, but it had stopped.

Grandmaster Oak shook his head. "Your opponent is dead," he said, and then glanced over his shoulder, and his voice boomed, cutting out across the crowd. "We will be suspending this particular fight pending judgment of what happened. Once we’ve made a ruling, results will be let known to the competitors."

With that, he looked at Erec and then at the still-bathed silver flame surrounding him. "I would suggest dismissing your powers," he said.

Erec glared at him for a long while, still feeling that rage rampant throughout him, having been called into this world as if it had been yanked out of him through a chain in response to those bronze flames. Every time he was touched, he’d felt an awful perversion of honor to it. That, more than anything, had let him slip away in seconds. With a deep shuddering breath, no longer feeling a mighty presence gazing at him with its killing intent thick on his shoulders.

He looked over Colin and Garin, who both stared at him with open jaws. Garin mouthed "What the fuck," and Colin simply shook his head. Erec let the silver flames go and then lowered his head, walking back over to his friends. Better not to say anything while still so heated.