Knights in the Modern World

"Cayce! Cayce, can you hear me?!"

A marksman class armor was digging frantically through the rubble. It was all his fault. He was able to get out before the roof caved in, but Cayce was still rushing towards the enemy when the explosion went off. He was trapped somewhere inside.

"Just hang on, I'll get you out!"

Jason's mind was a mess. He suffered from claustrophobia and he was also a very empathetic man. He wasn't the one under the rubble, but simply imagining the state Cayce was in was terrible for him, especially since it was his fault.

Jason kept pulling away at the rubble, but there was so much, it just kept going on and on. He would dig for as long as it took, but what if Cayce was hurt? He needed to get down there now!

The guilt began to tear him apart. He was on the verge of a breakdown when he heard the scraping of stones from where the launch bay used to be.

He turned just in time to see a black metallic hand grasp the edge of the broken surface. The way the armor moved was unnatural. It pulled itself up over the edge and dragged its chest across the ground like a zombie until it could stand. Even more, the armor's mana was the same color as Cayce's.

Who is this guy?

As soon as the strange man stood, he moved to a certain spot in the rubble, stared directly down for a moment and began to dig as if he knew exactly where Cayce was buried.

Jason was confused, but he quickly joined the strange man to help dig. The armor looked up at Jason when he started to help, but it soon ignored him and returned to the task at hand.

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In a field far away, three men in medieval knight's armor rode similarly armored horses through a charming field near a lake in the mountains. The sun was gradually falling to the Western horizon, painting the scene in an even more gorgeous light. It was the final hour of the day, the golden hour which makes everything more beautiful. Two of the armors were the normal silver color while the one in front was entirely black. The light reflected splendidly off of them, making it look like a scene from a movie.

Only a little further and they would reach the abandoned research base that had previously learned about their existence. The first step in their quest was to find out who it was that visited the research base and whether or not they truly possessed an awakened entity. From there, they had to find the suspected new entity and bring it to the king.

As the three knights rounded a corner, they were stopped by a band of rusted machines made from mismatched parts. The knights came to a stop as they were surrounded by the rusting bandits. After a brief moment, the black armor knight dismounted from his horse and approached the group on foot.

The surrounding bandits made lots of noise. Their armors squeaked from poor maintenance as they laughed and mocked the knights and their horses. The black armored knight came to a stop a short distance from the ring of bandits. His low voice rung in the day's dying light with an intimidating sound.

"I challenge your leader."

His words were spoken calmly, but they were heard very clearly. Every one of the bandits heard him as if the words had been sent directly to their minds. Regardless, the modern armors were more than confident fighting against medieval knights and the bandit leader came forward.

"I'm the leader. Do you really think you can challenge someone like me?"

The bandits all snickered at their leader's taunt. His armor was the best out of all of theirs. They got it from an unlucky fool who underestimated the group some time back. It had two rifles over each shoulder and a long sword mounted on the armor's back. Thinking he would have some fun, the leader drew his longsword and accepted the knight's challenge. His glowing purple eyes craved the knight's demise.

The knight drew his own sword as well as a shield and waited for the enemy to make the first strike. The sun was setting and the darkened light contrasted with the colorful ring of glowing eyes surrounding the knights.

The bandit leader lifted the sword high above his head and swung down hard with both arms. It was the attack of a man inexperienced with the sword. The black knight deftly stepped to the right side and allowed his opponent's heavy sword to strike the dirt, sinking into the ground a short distance.

As the knight stepped to the side, he used the shield in his left hand to guard against a potential follow up attack and slashed outwards with his sword arm. As his blade approached the opponent's wrist, the blade began to glow with a black flame. Not only that, but two black, glowing eyes could be seen behind the slits in the knight's helmet. Two short horns made of black flames protruded from the helmet and pointed forward. The black mana shocked the bandits. This had never been seen before.

Ssspfff

The knight's black sword slipped into a weak point on the bandit's wrist and cut cleanly all the way through. Purple mana burst from the wound. The bandit yelled in pain as his left hand was cut clean off. But before he could retaliate, the knight stopped his blade from swinging too far out and instead used it's post-slash position to stab at his opponent's neck at an angle.

It was a clean kill. The leader slumped to the ground. Seeing this, the bandits lost their taunts and mockery. The silence lasted only a few seconds before they began to rush the lone knight. Many of the bandits yelled as their emotions consumed them.

"How dare you?!"

"You'll pay for that!"

"Die!!"

Within seconds, several armors were rushing forward to fight the black knight. A few even went after the two knights on their horses. However, the mounted knights had many advantages and cleared their enemies with ease. Most of the bandits rushed after the black knight, but there was only so much space around him. At most, he had to fight only six at once.

Sadly for the vengeful bandits, this was the best duelist in the kingdom. He was experienced in fighting countless enemies, even when he was outnumbered. But perhaps he had considered too little of his enemies.

In a fit of rage, one of the bandits in the back took aim with a full-auto rifle and pulled the trigger. His attack sprayed many glowing golden projectiles over his own allies, but one slipped past and struck the black knight's helmet.

Bong!

The helmet was struck perfectly so that it's visor was thrown open. The latch to keep it closed must have broken or fallen loose at some point. However, the face within stopped everyone dead in their tracks.

It wasn't even a face at all. It was a skull with black flames enveloping it's surface and filling it's eye sockets. Black flame horns jutted from the forehead of the skull, whipping angrily in the night air.

"...Demon! Demon!!"

The bandits began to stumble backwards or run. The black knight closed his visor again and grumbled with his ethereal voice.

"This won't do..."

The remaining bandits were cut down one by one. They didn't stand a chance. Many of them ran off, but the horse-mounted knights quickly hunted and cut them down.

As the last of the bandits fell, the black knight fiddled with his visor's latch and grunted in frustration. He would need to have a blacksmith repair it. This would be a long journey.