The God of Jesters
Chapter 61 - 2.16.2 Flames of devotion

Chapter 61: 2.16.2 Flames of devotion

The men that surrounded him exuded a dangerous air. Their breathing was stable and their eyes shined with white light, like those of nocturnal creatures.

While their body was draped with dark colors, which contrasted the light of dawn which expunged from the rising sun.

"You seem familiar."

The eyes, those very eyes were something he was very familiar with, as they belonged to another person he recently met not so long ago.

The leader of the group seemed to be a master level knight, someone very rare to find in this day and age , not to mention the adept level knights that stood beside him.

"I wonder why the Radiance Knights would be interested in an old man like me?" Kairut asked, showing a pitiful expression, while storing the book in his vorpal bag.

"Cut his limbs if its needed, we just have to make sure that he doesn’t die."

The four men ignored the words of Kairut and proceeded with what they had planned before with their priority being secrecy.

The city only allowed two members of their group into the city and if more than two were found, it would be considered a breach of contract and the whole group would in turn be treated like criminals.

"It seems you are in no mood to talk." Kairut knew how the general Radiance knights usually were.

They were close to zealots that were blinded by their believe and didn’t tolerate any kind of unpurified power to exist in their presence.

Which not only included curses, but dark mages like him as well. People who delved into learning the occult knowledge considered forbidden by the world, as well as the ones that aren’t so.

With a Magistar being an exception to this rule. As they believe only iron can cut iron, hence the need to cultivate their own mystics.

Which made Kairut their prime target.

Of course, this happened only recently. Originally, their target was none other than the finance minister of Durum Balok Gotia. As he was their first target coming here, due to their prior suspicion over his unseizable action always becoming the core roadblock whenever the Radiance society had tried entering the city of Durum.

Of course, they also knew some details concerning his connection to the Blue Lotus, which when taken into account with the information that Maxim sent to the headquarters. It can be seen that even if there is no proof, they would have to capture the Minister for some answers.

Though, during the night when they were going to make their charge. A figure with the strength of an archmage approached the Minister’s mansion.

A figure who they had traced for a while longer after he left the mansion, before he entered the unassuming which was deemed abandoned by the municipality and was meant to be sold in the land auction in the coming years.

The majority of those had been postponed due to the falling land prices as the refugees had filled the streets of Durum, lowering the market value.

And after a bit more research over other Archmage in the city, along with the previous information they had learned from Maxim. The person who has become the focus of their pursuit was none other than Kairut Lucien.

The very man at which all of them shot at once.

Bullets that were easily deflected by the magic shield that covered Kairuts body. With the last of the bullet, shattering the shield.

Following which a knight threw flying knives at Kairut’s leg. Which, when hit, made a dink sound, falling to the side.

"Insect armor." Seeing the color of his feet from the side, the leader of the knights was sure that the target was truly Kairut.

Which forced them to change their pattern.

Abandoning the gun and ranged weapons, the knights chose the weapon that completely suited their combat style and in turn were bolstered by their blood.

Which was the knight’s sword, which flared up in white flames, aiming toward Kairut.

Called the flames of devotion, their strength rises by the belief of the holder of such flames and gets bolstered by those sharing the same belief as those around them.

Which brought these knights who were at the adept level, to possess the might of the master level, just like their leader.

But, all of it was nothing in front of an Entomancer like him. As the swords covered in white flames attacked him from all sides.

Four metallic spider limbs grew out of Kairut’s back, deflecting the sword attack, before earning enough time to summon his own companions.

Which had crawled out of his mouth, before enlarging into two giant centipedes and four ants.

Two of which were killed by the knights before they grew to their full sizes. But this was enough.

"Earn me some time." Kairut ordered, as the insect transformation on his body started to increase, while the knights dealt with his summons.

Kairut was no fool, he understood the level of beings he was fighting. Their mind was incorruptible and their blood would burn any poison he could employ. The Radiant Knights were beings that completely countered the tricks of occult warfare, meaning only direct confrontation would work on them.

A fact that he had learned not too long ago, which is why he didn’t try any tricks on the knights for now. He was focused more on increasing his survivability and ability to kill.

Which is why his hands turned into mantis sickles, the flesh of his face fell down, exposing the ant’s mandibles and slowly and slowly, he turned into a giant insect of his own.

With a pointy metallic tale that grew out of his tailbone.

"I will burn that corrupted flesh of yours." The leader of the knights threatened, while looking toward Kairut with disgust on his face.

But more than disgust, there was intense hate as he chopped the head of the last of the summoned insects and rushed toward Kairut. Who easily dodged and moved around the Knight captain’s body, while deflecting the attacks of other knights that came from his back

Then there was a bang, as one of the knights was flung far into the wall, rendering him useless.

The knights were used to fighting humans, but for giant insects, this was the first time for them.

Making one of them not notice the tail attack, which came close to lopping off the Knight’s left hand, and flunging him far off.

"Hmm." But the rest of the knights ignored him, for abandoning this monster in a bid to save their companion would turn his sacrifice useless.

The metallic sickles made gashes on their body, while their burning blades did the same on Kairut’s body.

Weakening his armor and tiring him out.

It was not long before Kairut started to weave small spells into his attacks, using the four spider limbs to dodge and firing acid spit from his mouth.

When the battle dragged on for more than five minutes, with a single slash, two of Kairut’s legs were cut off from two different directions, affecting his balance.

The battle was long and the Knights have hence gotten into the flow of Kairut’s attack. Which was why, without the need to word out their next attack, the knight captain and another one of his knights followed on a perfect attack to take Kairut down.

And when two of Kairut’s limbs fell, so did others as the durability of his armor had dropped down by a lot. With his whole insect carapace covering his body to smoke in heat, cooking his flesh from the inside.

It was no wonder this happened.

"Uhhh."

One by one, as they had planned, the knights chopped off his limbs while Kairut maintained his dignity by never screaming in pain.

Insead, his eyes filled with hatred looked at the Knight’s captain’s face.

Who, in a mechanical fashion, slashed down at Kairt’s remaining leg, followed by his long tale, which jumped around after being cut from its body.

"It’s done." It’s only been ten minutes since the fight started, but the whole group was tired. Which would have given ample time for the word of their fight to reach the ears of relevant people and security.

Meaning, it won’t take long before this place is flooded with police and they can’t afford it. They need to clean their traces and take Kairut to their special place, so as to extract some important knowledge from him.

As for the two that came to the building before?

They are not so weak to fall without making any sound. So he considered they were still fine and doing their work.

"Remember to keep your blood active. His poisons are lethal." The knight captain of the Radiance Society warned, before picking up the fallen companion from before, whose arm was dangling from a single piece of flesh.

But he was not dead. No, he was wide awake and spoke a few words to his captain, before being fed some drugs to keep him awake during the transportation process.

If things went as planned, they would disappear from this alleyway in a minute.

That is if things go as planned.

Because the moment the knight captain had turned his head. Kairut, who was looking for this opportunity, unfurled his wings and flew towards the corner of the building, while blood poured down from his limbless body.

Leaving the knights helpless at this point. For they were too tired to pursue and there were already countless people approaching in their direction.

"Forget about him, we still have a clue."

With those words, he led his men away.