Bro, I’m not an Undead!

Capital Knights Headquarters.

A man in a thick, silver armour sat behind a desk as he settled his heart. As a Knight he had been taught discipline and justice which brought on self restraint. Or at least it was supposed to.

Unfortunately, that was not true for him and all the men under him.

His name was Beron and he was the Capital Knights captain but sadly, he didn’t feel like one.

How could he feel proud of himself when he was only a blue core Knight? There was nothing that stood out about him among the masses of Knights around except a bit of seniority that came with his age.

The Capital Knight name was supposed to carry weight but that was only a reality in other big cities where being a Knight was valued quite well.

He could see the disdain he had received from the captain of the Purity Knights. Even though they had the same levelled core, he was grossly outmatched.

The term Capital Knight didn’t have weight for someone who wasn’t truly supported by the nation. The Royal family didn’t reach out to cities like Eofel, promoting Capital Knights and actually giving a damn about their growth.

The gaze he had received from Gin had haunted him all day and all he had to do was suck it up. The pride he had as a Capital Knight captain waned each day.

The matter of the mysterious creature that had appeared within his own headquarters had been taken over by the Knights of the Purity without him having much of a say and even now, his Knights were pretty rattled.

They would look to him to do something but unfortunately, he couldn’t.

He was probably going to have to face the wrath of the city lord for letting that ballad escape when he clearly didn’t have strength to do so. The missing individuals had their loved ones causing problems in his station and yet, he was powerless to do anything.

“Would it have been the same if I was truly a Capital Knight? Would I have been looked down upon if I was ordained and raised by the nation as a fighting force to be reckoned with?” the man said to himself.

He pushed his blonde hair back and his brown eyes glistened with a hint of sorrow.

BANG!

The door to his secluded room was violently pushed open as one of his Knights hurriedly rushed in.

“Sir! We have problem! In multiple places around the city, something really bad is happening!” The Knight said with a pale face.

“What? What’s happening?! Speak!” Beron inquired while grabbing his sword and rushing out.

“You might have to see it for yourself sir! I have never seen anything like this in my life!”

***

Right under the massive building which had a silver hue about it, Elita who had been discussing with Skullius, slowly evaluating how much truth this strangely ignorant man held, suddenly narrowed her eyes as her senses picked up a malevolent energy that came from the outside.

Skullius noticed the change in her and asked.

“What’s wrong?”

Elita turned her gaze to the Discount Human as she quickly made a final evaluation by extending her hand and releasing a burst of golden light that bathed Skullius wholly!

Skullius had panicked at first but as he didn’t feel any pain or discomfort from it, he relaxed somewhat.

Elita couldn’t find a single trace of undeath energy or the familiar sensation that she had experienced when she encountered members of the Evenfall.

At this point she was trying to find if there was anything that could make her doubt Skullius. There didn’t seem to be any of that though.

Could she trust this fellow?

The rush of light disappeared from Skullius.

It was still a surprise to him that the Fruit of World Myths was right in front of him but Elita couldn’t perceive it, even at her level. Whatever it was.

At this point, some of his strength had returned or rather the heaviness had subsided quite a bit. He could move well but nothing too excessive.

After not finding anything of note, Elita decided she could at least not condemn this fellow as being part of the Green Neolists or the Evenfall.

However…

“I sense a thick energy of undeath from all around the city,” she said to Skullius as he swiped the bars to his cell with her hand which broke them into tiny steel splints.

“You’ve had contact with the Green Neolists. I don’t have much experience with their tactics but since you have some knowledge about them you’ll be useful to me. You’re coming along.”

“Wait. What?!” Skullius pointed at himself with a shocked expression of face. His question wasn’t answered as he was grabbed by neck collar of his robe and pulled out of the cell!

The Purity mainly dealt with religious issues. Bands that rose, opposing the faith like the Evenfall were their problem but the Green Neolists were mainly a problem for the nation, unless the amount of unrest they caused truly became excessive.

Therefore, the Purity didn’t have much knowledge on the subject as they traced the group which came before.

Before Skullius could ask another question, his vision turned into a blur and within moments, he found himself outside the grand building that had many men and women running around, mobilising their numbers to deal with a threat.

As soon as Skullius’ vision became focused again, he saw a rather terrifying scene.

Thousands of people of all ages were rushing from the distance while heading towards the silver high rise building!

They caused a stampede as they rushed, their faces smeared in blood while their sockets burned with a ferocious red flame!

Screaming and bewildered civilians rushed to the safety of the Capital Knight building in the hundreds, escaping from their homes, tents and marketplaces to be received by the Knights.

From the collective charge that came from the eerie group ahead, chanting could be heard as they bellowed loudly, their voices causing the innocents that fled from the frightful scene in other directions to jerk and scream as they changed too, joining this deathly parade!

Many of the Capital Knights had created a blockade already as they placed their shields before them while anchoring themselves on the ground.

Sweat and terror could be seen on their faces while others broke down as they saw their loved ones within the charging crowd only to be held down by those that kept their emotions at bay.

The hesitation was thick.

What was this?

What kind of nightmarish tale had this scene been torn from?!

Should they attack?!

Should they not?!

Beron was torn as he failed to give the order to the already assembled archers that didn’t show enough resolve to let loose their arrows even if the order was given.

His flimsy education and training didn’t cover this. How was he supposed to deal with this?!

At such a time, a replacement pulled through, pushing away Beron who had been behind the line and calling for his men to support.