The Dread Knight's Rage-Chapter 61: Death From Above

Solomon and Declan crashed against a menagerie of jagged rocks as they tumbled down the side of a deep gorge.

Within seconds, they are out of sight of the academy. The rocky walls of their current landscape obscure their vision irrevocably.

Declan feels a pain so desperate that it causes black spots to dot his vision.

He struggles to look at his arm and the giant hole in his bicep where Solomon’s horn has pierced him.

The rest of his arm isn’t much better. It is badly broken, bruised, and mangled. It is a miracle that it is even still attached.

But Declan has no time to lie around complaining.

Solomon is already getting up. And unlike him, he is absolutely no worse for wear.

His armor, his damned unsettling armor, has developed eyes. They stare at Declan unblinkingly and send a brutal chill down his spine.

Solomon’s hooves stamp on the rocky soil. His glowing eyes settle on Declan’s crumpled form, and against all expectations, he actually smiles in his beastly form. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

His voice is the stuff of nightmares. Declan would never forget it for as long as he lived.

"Funny."

Declan grits his teeth before he spits a wad of blood at Solomon’s hooves. "What’s amusing to you, you fucking monster?!"

"I remember how the men came that day. The zeal that they butchered people with. I saw it all as plain as day. I hated them then. All of the praying. The hiding."

Solomon stomps forward. Flames spread along his hooves as a demonic black axe appeared in his right hand.

"But now I see. I am the judgment that my people prayed for. I am Disaster and retribution is my purpose."

Declan tenses up. He drops his center of gravity and positions his bad arm away from Solomon. "You’re insane."

The Minotaur’s legs tense up.

He rushes at Declan once again, but he is slower than before.

Declan is able to duck underneath the wide swing of his axe and clenches his fist.

Aura covers his hand for no more than a second before he draws his arm back and punches Solomon in his exposed bit of stomach.

The power in the attack is commendable. Declan’s aura-covered fist has somehow pierced Solomon’s tough, leathery hide.

But he only feels vindicated for a moment before he realizes the consequences of his attack.

Solomon’s ab muscles are holding his arm in place. He cannot retreat to prepare his next move.

At one moment, he is upright, cursing the folly of his plan.

In the next, his entire world has gone dark, as a fist the size of a boulder slams into his face.

Declan is planted hard into the ground, cracking it underneath him.

His once gorgeous face is ruined. Every bone in his face is broken. Blood streams from every orifice. It matts his once flawless green hair and muddies the color into something unrecognizable.

Brain damage is almost a certainty.

If Declan is still capable of perceiving what is happening, he doesn’t show it.

Solomon buries the blade of his axe into Declan’s chest.

He feels the sternum shatter almost instantly under the weight of the weapon. Blood flies through the air as the weapon’s sharp edge cuts through his heart and back with even less effort.

An eye opens on the hilt of the blade.

The weapon begins to drink the offered blood excitedly. Within seconds, there is practically none left behind. Even the drops that were spilled onto the soil were consumed by the thirsty weapon.

Solomon feels a rush inside of his body, concentrated right underneath his navel.

When the feeling passes, he almost feels better than before. Almost.

He raises his hoof and stomps on Declan’s face, crushing it into paste.

A sea of fire rushes out from his body as he turns his head to the sky and lets out a triumphant bellow heard well into the night.

His victory, however, is short-lived.

Solomon takes a few steps away from Declan’s corpse before he drops to one knee.

He draws breath once again. Though his breathing is now as heavy as a lead box. Sweat trickles out of his pores in an attempt to cool his overheating body.

His mind has become foggy. The events of the past few minutes no longer feel familiar.

Gradually, his body begins to revert to normal, no longer able to maintain the change.

It hurts twice as badly the second time, with no adrenaline to distract him.

When it is over, Solomon sees double vision.

A group cloaked by shadow approaches him slowly.

He tries to stand and meet them, at least so that he doesn’t seem as weak as he feels.

He successfully gets to his feet for one second before his body gives out, and he collapses for good.

- A few minutes before...

The night air was crisp and welcoming. Creatures within the forest had mostly been lulled to sleep by the pleasant atmosphere.

Yari stands tensely in front of a great tree.

It is the largest in the grove. The most beautiful too.

It’s rich, dark green leaves and firm bark are perfectly symbolic.

At it’s great roots, there are multiple bouquets of flowers lying in a neatly arranged pattern.

Yari places a new bouquet against the tree’s trunk. She kneels on the grass and closes her eyes.

Worry lines form along her beautiful human presenting face.

’Sister... I beg of you to guide me. Steer my path towards the future that will honor your life. Give me the wisdom that is needed to stay by your daughter’s side.’

Yari opens her eyes almost as quickly as she has shut them, but for a while she continues to stare at the roots of the tree.

She hopes that, just maybe, a gust of wind will blow the flowers into a pattern that gives her the sign she needs to make a great change.

But no such thing happens. The flowers stay perfectly in place.

There is movement behind her, but she doesn’t respond to it.

Another bouquet is placed beside hers. Jiaoying kneels beside her and closes her eyes just as the elf had done.

"...You didn’t have to come." Yari said suddenly.

"I didn’t have much else to do. My social life is... surprisingly dull, if you can believe it."

"I heard from my father that you got married."

Jiaoying momentarily tenses up. "... I did. But we don’t have to talk about that."

"Oh, yes. Talking about my dead sister will surely make for much more titillating conversation."

"Talking about my divorce shouldn’t give you any bigger of a smile."

Yari flinches minutely, but doesn’t say anything.

"I don’t need your pity." Jiaoying says firmly.

"Good, because you don’t have it."

"Wow. It is so difficult to believe that you don’t have any friends."

"Who was it who was just complaining to me about not having anything to do..?"

"Well, it’s not like this is my home, you know? It’s natural for me to not have anyone to talk to but grumpy middle-aged elves."

The comment about her age makes Yari strike Jiaoying over the head. Something the night commander laughs off as if it is nothing.

"You should really learn to use your words. Can a princess really afford to be so-"

Both women feel it at the same time. A presence that is uniquely different from everything else in the forest.

Only Yari seems to recognize it. And when a deep bellow cuts through the quiet of the forest, she immediately turns her head in that direction.

"...Want to check it out?" Jiaoying asks casually.

Yari is already moving before she even responds.

The girls move through the forest quickly. One’s speed at their level is hardly something negligible.

Soon, they reach a ravine and jump into it without hesitation.

They are shocked to find a Minotaur of all things at the source of the commotion. The creatures are not native to the island or even Komen. Neither can pinpoint the last time they have seen one.

But the surprises only keep coming.

Slowly, the creature reverts to the form of a familiar titan-blood.

He tries to get to his feet and greet them, but immediately afterwards, Solomon collapses.

Jiaoying uses her body to keep him from hitting the dirt, wrapping his arm around her neck for support.

"Man, this kid really is always into something..." she grumbles under her breath. "Didn’t know he was a contractor though. Should I assume you were the one to help him with that too?"

Yari swallowed. She knew that Solomon was many things, but a contractor wasn’t one of them.

Something had changed. And she had little idea what.

"Hmm..?" Jiaoying raised her brow suddenly.

"What?"

"Nothing, it’s just... I could have sworn the kid was an advanced orange core when I saw him last. He’s mid-ranked yellow now."

To Yari, that was the least impressive part of everything she had just seen. But perhaps it was related in some way.

She looked around the ravine and picked the direction of a random cave.

Just as she prepared to tell her friend where to take him, Jiaoying makes another discovery of her own.

"I think... he’s dead?"

Yari was relieved. Finally there was something she had an answer to.

"He’s not. Bring him over here."