Point-of-View: Ilex Sarralot

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"Is that everything that happened?"

"Yes, that’s right. I don’t believe I’ve missed anything," Nodded the Guildmaster.

This is seriously nerve-wracking. A total of ten Knights had come here, not exactly a lot, but they happened to be extremely high profile...not only was one of their Captains here, but also the Knight Commander herself!

It’s a good thing the others left when they did, had they stayed just a half hour longer, they would’ve run into these Knights. Both Larrk and Argent have encountered the Knight Commander before, so it’s a good thing they’re gone, she might’ve recognized them even with their disguises in place.

But something feels off...the Guildmaster made the cover story sound pretty convincing, the Knight Captain and the rest don’t seem to be doubting it or anything. But that doesn’t seem to be the case with the Commander...she hasn’t said anything, but I can tell that she isn’t convinced.

"And this young man right here is the one who not only managed to kill multiple of the Catastrophic Grade Monsters but also survived mostly unscathed?" She inquired as she glanced at me.

Yeah, okay, even the other Knights seem kinda skeptical of that part.

"W-well, uh, I-...yes," I stuttered in response, feeling uncomfortable as all the Knights stared at me.

"Hm, I don’t know about this, Commander...this guy doesn’t seem all that strong, if you ask me," Mused the Captain, narrowing his eyes at me.

Lynks Perisey, a Knight Captain in his mid-twenties. He’s got frizzy orange hair that frames his face, dark red eyes and thick sideburns. He was tall and well-built, wearing high quality dark blue leather armor that covered his entire body and a dark green flowing cape.

Knights have all but entirely stopped wearing metal armor...with lightning Spells, not to mention the metal Spells that Larrk created, metal armor is a pretty glaring weakness to be exploited.

"Oh, I assure you, he’s quite powerful, despite the impression he gives off...he’s currently our only active Diamond rank," The Guildmaster defended me.

"Come on, you expect us to believe that someone with such a meek and cowardly look on his face fought and killed multiple Catastrophic Grades, and on his own, no less?" Scoffed the Captain in disbelief.

"That’s enough, Lynks. We’re not here to insult the people who went through such an ordeal," Frowned the Knight Commander.

"Right, I suppose I went a bit too far, I apologise...but still, they’re lying, aren’t they? Surely you can tell with you Sk-...," He began to respond, before trailing off as she glared at him.

I’m starting to feel kinda insulted here. Also, she has a Skill that can detect lies? That’s definitely not good...no wonder she’s looked so unconvinced this whole time.

Another thing, the Guildmaster mentioned that Larrk and the others were killed when the apartment building they were staying in collapsed during the battle, but she hasn’t brought that up at all since then.

If she can really detect when people are lying, then she must have known that wasn’t true. So, why hasn’t she said anything about it? I don’t get it at all.

On another note...a Knight actually apologized to a Commoner like me? And it didn’t even seem forced? Wow, I guess the Knight Order really has changed. Still though, I’m not just gonna stand here and let them insult me, apology or not...

"If you doubt me that much, then...give me a chance to prove our claims by, say, sparring with me in a friendly duel. If you don’t mind humoring me, that is," I spoke up, feeling a bit irritated.

"Oh? So, you can speak without getting all fidgety and shaky. Interesting...alright, then, I’ll be happy to take you on," Smirked the Knight Captain, before suddenly glancing at the Commander hesitantly, "Er, so long as that’s okay with you, Commander."

"Hm...oh, very well, then. I shall watch over the fight and put a stop to it if it looks like it’s going too far," She relented with a sigh.

"If you don’t mind, I’d like to take this outside of town," I requested, as the Captain got onto his feet.

"Fine by me, no objections here," He nodded in response.

We then headed out the Guild and made our way to the north entrance to the town. There are a few trees and large rocks in the area outside of the entrance, which means there will be plenty of shadows for me to use.

As we walked out the entrance and got some distance away from the town, the Guildmaster, Knight Commander and a couple of other Knights tagging along. We then came to a stop, the two of us putting distance between us as we took our starting positions.

There’s a decent amount of shadows here, I can definitely work with this. One of the Knights had a gun on her, and volunteered to fire a shot into the sky as the starting signal for the fight.

"Okay, I’m counting down," She called out, once we were both ready, "Three, two, one!"

"Manifest Soul Weapon: Mana Armament," I chanted as she fired the gun into the air, racing across as I fired out a barrage of Mana bullets at him.

"Initiate Skill: Barrier Wall," He chanted, forming a rectangular, transparent wall in front of himself, blocking my incoming projectiles as he chanted again, "Manifest Soul Weapon: Ring Blades!"

Two circular blades appeared in his hands, about a quarter of their circumference were handles, with the rest being metal razor sharp edges, and five spikes evenly spread out across the circumference barring the handles.

With a swing of his arm and a swift flick of his wrist, he flung one of the blades at me with a rapid spin, the blade slicing across the air as it barreled in towards me.

I swiftly formed Mana out of my Soul Weapon in the shape of a whip, swinging it up and across as the spinning weapon closed in on me, catching it by the handle and using its own momentum to redirect its trajectory downwards, flinging it at the ground.

"Is that the best you’ve got!? You’re gonna have to do a lot better than that!" I exclaimed as the blade struck and got embedded into the ground.

"What the...?" He blurted out, looking taken aback by my outburst before I shot towards him as I charged up lightning in my Soul Weapon, taking aim and firing out a massive blast of lightning from my Mana Armament, quietly chanting to activate my Mana Recovery Skill to regain the Mana I’d used up so far.

"Take this!"

My lightning bolt shattered his barrier, before I picked up the pace as I began to close in on him, firing out more Mana projectiles at him. Suddenly, as he raised his hand, the ring blade he’d flung at me teleported back to his hand, before he flung both the blades at me while simultaneously springing away to evade my Mana bullets.

I swiftly formed a shield of Mana in front of myself, in the shape of a V with the narrow point of the shape in front of me, spreading out across either side of me. Both blades slid off the sides of my shield and flew past me, as I-...

"Initiate Skill: Switch!" The Knight Captain suddenly exclaimed, appearing right behind me.

Crap, he must have swapped places with one of his blades! This is bad...or at least, it would be if it wasn’t for the current position of the sun. It’s up ahead in front of me...which means that my shadow is cast behind me.

As he stepped forward and began to slash at me with his ring blades, I didn’t move, not even turning around as his slashes began to close in on my back. I kept my cool as I focused on my hearing, and as the sound of his foot thudding against the ground rang out...

"Initiate Skill: Shadow Bind," I chanted calmly, feeling the tip of one of the spikes on his blades starting to graze the back of my armor, right as he got paralyzed, before I raised my Soul Weapon and pointed it backwards, "I believe I win."

Gotta say though, he’s pretty good...his movements are fast and sharp, and his reaction speed is pretty solid. This would’ve gone differently if he knew about Shadow Bind from the start...not to say that I would’ve lost, but at the very least, it would have taken a lot longer to win.

"That concludes it! The duel is over!" Declared the Knight Commander.

I let out a slow exhale as I deactivated my Shadow Bind, freeing him from my grasp.

"Okay...that was impressive. I suppose I can see how you might have been able to defeat Catastrophic Grade Monsters with these powers," He admitted grudgingly.

Not the most gracious admission, but hey, I’ll take it. There is one thing that bothers me though...

"Why didn’t you use any Spells? If you had, I would’ve had a tougher time of things," I remarked curiously.

"Huh? Oh, I’ve got no talent for Spellcasting," He shrugged in response.

Gotta say, it’s really weird to be having such a non-aggressive conversation with a Knight...it wasn’t so long ago that I couldn’t hold any conversation with anyone! Well...I guess it’s a good thing.

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