39. Unexpected Attack

The hamlet's in Britain were in the past, used by Arturia, to lure in her enemies, into a trap. These small villages served no purpose, except for producing grain and business for the capital. There are many hamlets all around the nation, living peacefully, unknown to the plight of the main city.

"Have you heard, what the mad king did?" A commoner named Rien spoke, inside a tavern around a crowd of people.

"Ah, what are you talking about?"

"Oh, is it about the war?"

"The more time passes, the more the situation changes"

"Why did the king do such a thing?!! The first place to get burned in the war is our small town. The king himself, uncaring of our sorrow will definitely either forcibly conscript us or throw us to the wolves" The expression of these fell.

Seeing them act like cowards, one guy among the crowd stood forward.

"Blaming the king for everything would not resolve our problems."

"Stay out of it, brat. Even if you were newly adopted by brian, the miller, you still are an outsider" Undeterred by such words, the young boy named Diehauser, continued.

"Then, should this boy's word, not matter? The one, wishes to ask? Would cowering like this, truly save us in the end"

"No, but at least will help us sleep the night" taking out his sword from his sides, he waved it in front of the crowd,

"The king won't help us, the only one who can do so, is ourselves. If we give up like this, then, are we not already half-dead..." Cutting off his speech, a man in a half-burned clothes entered the tavern, hurriedly.

"DRAGO-" but before the words could leave his mouth, the fiery flames of the mighty turned him to charcoal.

The gruesome scene finally registered on their mind, starting their fight or flight action.

Unlike others who stood paralyzed in fear, Diehauser himself took action, bringing out the sword.

"A dragon around these parts?...was it the angels? No, they would never wreak this atrocity..."

"..." Each and every resident froze in fear.

"Run!!" With a shout, he broke their fear and ordered them to leave this place. This place was no longer safe.

He ran towards the exit. The visage of the endless fury of a dragon, forgotten in time, showed its veracity. Small thatch houses burned to cinders, the buildings crumbled as the dragons tail swept over them and corpses, the streets, grounds and even the building were all filled with various body parts.

Like an artist depicting his cruel sadistic mind, drew a picture filled with madness.

Seeing this apocalyptic scenario, Diehauser felt anger rose over him. He was an ordinary human, to humans, he might one day be a hero. A saviour even, but in his core, he was but a devil.

A monster draped in its skin, however, the humanity in him was never lost and the scene of carnage once again laid proof of that.

"hyaaa..." He ran not away from the village but to dragon itself. The sword which previously looked dull, now, shone with an otherworldly light.

The dragon seeing such puny existence from the weakest race, not even acknowledged his existence.

"ah..." The sword collided with its skin, he hoped it would tear its flesh apart, pour insides upside down or even harm him enough to leave this place but horror stuck his mind when his sword passed right through him.

"A devil in the human world? And others complain when I break through the reverse side..." The dragon smiled feasting on the boy's remorseful expression.

It would be his end, he knew it. Without any enchantments and his armour as well to sprinkle salt on that mater his unstable magic, there was no way he would make it alive.

And so he prepared a final gift towards the mighty being. But before, he would execute his final plan, two men in a knights armour stood before him.

Their armour was quite famous, for it is rich in material, as the men themselves as well. But they were invisible in regards to the cloak draping over them. The only sign of their existence was a thin part of them jutting outside in order to talk to him.

"Sir Gawain and Sir Lionel...why might you come here?"

"To protect the people, obviously. You did well, lad," said Sir Gawain boisterously exuding a type of charisma, that even made him wish to cheer for this knight.

"..."

"Standing up to a dragon, all by yourself, I would personally see to it that you are recognized. After all, there ain't many who would stand up for the king and crazy enough to fight a dragon all by himself."

"You were watching but still did nothing?" his voice filled with anger. While the people here mean nothing to these knights, to him they were family. No matter their difference, all of them still ate and sang together in happiness and in winter nights were huddled, in the same campfire telling one's story, to share their misery.

To him as a devil, it was the companionship that he never experienced and as a future king of his nation, he wished to know more. People and devils were not much different and so the beloved prince embarked on a journey to find friends, allies and see the world with his own eyes.

To, not, just rule over them, he wanted to understand them, fully. Unable to understand a commoner, would easily make them miserable and so he ate with them, the sorrows of nobility as their lands get ravaged by dangerous monsters, he wanted to see them closely.

What gave them the strength to live, to continue forth...

But, again until this point, that was the reason...

"We were watching for any weakness, there is no way, just two knights would kill this dragon by ourselves, reinforcements are coming, We are just here to buy time, lad. So, will ya join or leave?" Said Lionel this time. Honestly, he wanted to test his strength with the dragon but...

"The dragon phrased through my blade, careful knights. Not all swords can harm him..."

"Fuck..."

"You will set a bad example as a knight, Sir Gawain," said lionel, with a frown.

"Acting all high and mighty, before a new recruit? You are as hypocritical as always..."

The banter between them laid still, as their swords were drawn but these swords were different. the knights were said to have blades reflecting their persona, that means the swords were a reflection, towards their devotion to god,

"These are pitch black..." Darker than obsidian the longsword on their exuded an otherworldly evil aura, that made anyone look at it, shy their eyes in disgust.

'An anti-thesis of life?' Gawain seeing Diehauser, eying them fearfully, spoke,

"These swords were specifically given by our king's dragon, great ain't it?"

"Yes, he spoke of something bad happening while handing us these precious swords, both having anti-life properties." and so the dance began, taking off their cloaks, the knights ran like wind.

One fast as gale struck the knees of the fabled dragon while other complementing with a followup strike. At first, he thought that those blades would not harm it, how wrong was he...

"Guuuaaa..." The screams of the monster rang throughout the entire hamlet. The knights moving in an uncaring manner swiped at the dragon as they sliced him in a thousand pieces.

As the dragon laid in ashes, multiple shadows from up above shrouded them.

"ha..ha...ha...It seems that it was just the...beginning but still our job is done"

A platoon of knights made way towards them but fear crept on his face to know, some of them had a holy aura, exuding from their bodies. They were strong, beside them was another small platoon aiding the survivors while the main one accompanied by a dark knight made his way in front of them.

As heir of house Beliel, he commended on the skill of worthlessness but still the individual before him wrought fear in his heart. He could sense nothing, nothing at all.

Strong or weak...

powerful or powerless...

living or dead...

Nothing made sense of this knight, his existence was like a void, ever-lasting darkness that would soon envelop, the whole world but still, the darkness refrained from tainting others as it revelled a serene aura boosting the morale of others...

'When did humans have this sort of weapon? Can he even be killed?' Questions after questions went through but then a voice spoke with much clarity, broke his musings,

"The fabled knight finally shows itself or is it Arthur's filthy mutt, again? It seems age has finally taken its toll on little ole' me" Sitting on the heads of one of the dragons, she looked down on them

"Does fighting like that truly bring you pleasure? It feels more of a boss rush than anything?"

Another word invaded his mind, 'Boss rush, what's that? An ancient language?'

laughter rang once more,

"Sir Momon, would you not leave my sister and join me? I too now have dragons as well. To sweeten the deal, I could give you one if you leave this battle, now?"

The entire platoon of knights viewed Momon as a hero, a knight of valour who would never succumb to pleasure, a disgrace he would never wreak for benefit of his kingdom.

He was the strongest and the most beloved of all knights...

Noble ladies of aristocracy vied for his love...

As bards sang songs and wrote stories to his name...

His legend reeked of companionship and trust, giving him a similar status of the knights of the round...

"I accept."