Veer collected his thoughts as he rapidly went through the events in his mind. Just what was going on? What had happened to everyone?
Through his vision with his eyes closed, he saw Kerin and the rest of the knights fast asleep in the distance. More than a hundred knights all seemed to be asleep.
So, what was that sudden message about? How did Sythris even know about it? Just who was the shadowy man, and where had the recording come from?
He didn't have any answers to these questions. He considered the fact that Erith knew about his Star Vision and also wondered how he knew about it. It was an ability he had recently gained, and not a single soul knew about it. As the pressure of the situation increased, he considered how to counter the guy.
He opened his eyes and was met with a smiling face. Erith was there, with short hair and silver knight armor, and said with a smile, "It's just as planned. You don't get affected by any spells, do you?"
Veer didn't understand what that was about. Did that mean everyone had fallen under some sort of spell and it didn't affect him? But why, and how did this guy know?
Erith stated, "So... shall we start the discussion?"
He grinned as he looked back, pointing at all the unconscious knights, and asked, "So, do you know why everyone is like this?"
He paused and said in a loud voice, "It's because of me. I put them to sleep with my spell. It's because I am the successor of Zenith Spellcraft Hall in Braevan. It's the best spell academy in the Niethric..."
"Oops! Not supposed to say this! Anyway, I think you should already know about that..." Blood flowed from his ears.
Veer's pupils constricted as he remembered that the same thing had happened when Kerin had tried to say something that couldn't be mentioned. But what was this guy blabbering about randomly?
Erith swiped his ears as he continued with a smile, "So... are you wondering... when will she wake up... I mean, Knight Sythris..."
Veer's pupils constricted again as he lunged forward with his katana. In a split second, he unsheathed his katana and went for Erith's chest. Since the enemy knew about Sythris's words, he saw no point in pretending. Just then, Erith vanished as the sword was about to strike him.
He seemed to have cast a spell as he appeared some distance away while Veer chased after him. As Veer chased him, he heard a slight sound and turned to see a fountain of blood flowing from one of the familiar knights. Veer's mind almost collapsed at the sight. It was a familiar knight. It was Ryen, the Golden Knight. He died there. A shadowy presence stood over him, with shadows flowing from his armor, as he turned to Veer.
Erith spoke from different locations as he said, "Collapse!! You vile creature!! Look—a good fellow died because of you...!!! Oh, even your academy's lovey-dovey partner will also get captured and become part of our prince's soul transmutation ritual... haha."
The shadow knight killed another of the sleeping knights as Veer's legs trembled. He almost gave up.
Erith spoke in a hurry, "Are you scared?! Come on, show your greatness!! Doesn't your name signify that!!! Fucker!!!!"
Veer screamed and clenched his katana so hard that blood flowed. It even seemed as though the Star Core's color was changing inside him, but he paid no mind to that as he concentrated all his prana on his feet and hands and thrust forward with almost instantaneous speed.
His target was the shadowy knight. The shadowy knight didn't even flinch as Veer stopped just in front of him, unable to move. Shadows covered him all around for a brief second, and Veer felt dizzy.
Veer's lips moved, but he couldn't say anything. The knight just looked at him as he killed another knight from Veer's camp. Veer tried to scream but couldn't do anything. Just then, something seemed to stir inside him as he suddenly moved and struck the shadowy knight.
The shadowy knight responded with a sharp slap, sending Veer flying backward and crashing into the ground in the distance. Erith's voice sounded dumbfounded. "No way... No way! He moved in front of the sacred master... just a feeble knight, yet you can break through that... You need to die... Master... kill him... he is dangerous... I will get the bitch... for the prince."
Erith moved inside the tower. Perhaps he was going after Sythris. The shadowy knight walked slowly toward Veer. Each of his steps was heavy. He neared Veer, who could not get up. Veer struggled to raise his hands as blood flowed from his wounds.
The shadowy knight looked at Veer briefly as he spoke in an ethereal voice, "I am killing you!!! It's impossible for me, Hahhh!! Anyway, now it should awaken! Maybe the princess can... Hmmm!"
Veer could barely hear or see anything after the slap. It was so strong that blood continuously flowed from his body. He barely registered the words of the man in front of him, who suddenly said, "Come out already..."
He then looked toward where Erith had gone and sighed. "I really failed as a master! This might be the end of our legacy... But if it can somehow help them... gladly."
He looked up at the sky, where faint stars were twinkling, and said to Veer, "I have done what I should have..."
Then he said again, "Come out... now."
Veer felt something changing around him, but his minimal consciousness was focused on the distance as he noticed, in his dazed state, that Erith walked out with Sythris over his shoulder and blood flowing from the tower chamber.
He was screaming internally, trying to move and calling for someone to help, when suddenly someone landed in front of him with a thud. It was... another knight. It was a female knight with an immense presence, completely clad in grey armor. Her presence alone was suffocating. Veer coughed again and nearly lost consciousness. The knight looked back at Veer, then turned again and said to the shadowy man in knight armor, who had moved a bit farther away, "The illustrious master has fallen to this... Very well... Clayren of House Drudar shall cleave you..."
The knight opposite her laughed as he said, "Don't pretend, Clayren!! You knew everything!!!! You knew what was going to happen!! You had this army march right to the point where I resided... Funny, ha!! You planned that, didn't you... to kill me... for your revenge.... Haa! So much for bravado!! So that's how it completes in a cycle..."
Clayren didn't respond. The knight then said, "Anyway, I should suffer for the innocents I killed just now... But I am not going without a fight, Clayren."
He started murmuring as illustrious strips of golden writing manifested and spread out. At least fifty shadow knights manifested and appeared everywhere around them... It looked grand and majestic.
Veer was awestruck, sad, and broken as he looked at the dead bodies in the distance. He tried to get up but had no reserve of energy.
The female knight had kept her eyes closed until this moment. As she opened them, a faint light suddenly ignited as she took a stance. A sword manifested in her hand and gradually grew bigger. It unobstructedly cut through the first shadowy armored knight as a number of armored knights attacked her from every direction. Her grey armor shone again as though she had copied herself, but then her copy rapidly merged with her.
This process repeated itself many times; Veer could not count the repetitions within a single breath. Then she slashed... Her sword grew enormous for a split second and emitted a gentle emerald light as a tumultuous sound erupted. Faint drops of starlight seemed to rain from everywhere as the majestic runes and all the shadows vanished. The shadow knight was lying in a pool of blood in the distance, with starlight falling all around, indicating that the spell had been broken.
Veer was still focusing on the golden knights and Erith, who had Sythris. He did not understand the scale of the fight as Sythris lay injured in the distance. The battle completely bypassed the normal knights, but he noticed that Erith was dead, his head in a different location, and blood was flowing continuously.
The scene was mysterious and horrifying as a shadowy armored figure laughed gently and the female knight, Clayren, walked slowly toward him. Each step made a ringing sound in Veer's mind. Shimmering starlight from the broken spell fell continuously as the knights who had not been killed by the shadow twitched.
Something happened as the surroundings grew eerily quiet. Clayren suddenly paused, and then her body shook. Her pupils dilated as though she, one of the strongest, had seen a ghost. As the shadowy armor broke apart, it revealed an old man lying there in a pool of blood as he muttered, "I might not have defended against even one attack of yours! But you're still wet behind the ears... hah."
Veer felt something deeply unexplainable as his heart suddenly struck twice. He started to scream until his body gave out again. He felt eerie as he saw himself come out of his body. The actual Veer watched himself emerge.
No, it was himself, but different. As the second Veer walked away from his body, his gaze was cold and piercing. He had very long white hair flowing to the ground. His presence was even greater than that of the knight, Clayren. He immediately unsheathed his katana gently as even the stars in the sky twinkled rapidly. As he assumed a stance, his katana lit up with seven star lights, one by one. Everything happened so fast that Clayren was unable to react.
The original Veer was dumbstruck at the sight.
Sythris, in the distance, opened her eyes to see the cold and emotionless Veer standing there. Starlight poured continuously from the seven stars twinkling in the sky onto Veer's head as the old man laughed. His body shriveled, and he became hollow and skinny as Clayren muttered in shock, "You!!! What did you dooo?"
The old man said, "This is my final gift... to you! My ultimate spell! The attack of a genuine Starweaver... I have used everything to bring that boy..." He coughed again as blood flowed out, and his body was almost breaking into pieces.
The projected Veer's presence became so intense that the actual Veer was shaking, along with Sythris... and even the surroundings. As he assumed his thrusting stance, the void distorted, and faint star forms aligned themselves from his sword to Clayren, as though his attack would always hit her... no matter what she did.
Sythris gently muttered, "Commander... Veer..."
Then her eyes narrowed as she saw another Veer in the distance, broken and covered in blood, barely opening his eyes.
Just then, there was a slash... It was so bright that it almost turned night into day, and a clicking sound echoed. Time stopped...
Veer and Sythris were dumbfounded as they looked at it.
The projected Veer was standing behind the commander as she muttered in disbelief, "You... Aethria..." Her armor shattered, and a beautiful figure was thrown into the air...
There was an unprecedented strike that seemed to cleave Clayren into pieces in the air. Hundreds and hundreds of cuts of Straight congregated as her body broke apart...
She was probably the strongest in Drudar. As her figure was cut into various pieces, the projected Veer's eyes narrowed, and he spoke for the first time, looking up. "Emerald bow... huh... tsk."
A blinding emerald light shone around Clayren's body as the pieces joined together again in the air and were thrown into the distance. The blinding emerald light had saved her.
At the same time, there was a huge manifestation of an emerald bow in the skies as it overshadowed the twinkling stars.
The copy Veer's eyes showed a bit of emotion before turning cold again.
The old man, dying there, said in awe, "Splendid... splendid... Even though she is not dead... my spell was successful..."
The projected Veer looked at him and suddenly slashed. The old man vanished as though the void had torn open and engulfed him. He disappeared completely.
The projected Veer was also disappearing now. He moved step by step toward Sythris first, then looked at her.
Sythris was also looking at him in fear. Suddenly, the projected Veer's eyes radiated warmth again for a split second as he picked her up in a princess carry. Sythris couldn't even struggle, so she simply let him carry her.
He slowly walked toward the actual Veer, who was barely conscious, his face cold. He simply gazed at himself...
The projection said slowly, "When will you understand... tsk... awaken... quick..." as his body disappeared into starlight.