Behind the helmet of Saint Roch, his expression was a sober one. He dropped his sword to the ground and, with his hands, took off his helmet.
Tears began to flow down an old, wrinkled face, his short white beard illuminated in the darkness of the forest; a sharply trimmed beard was soaking up his tears.
"A pity."
His purplish eyes landed on the three of them.
"An army so vast and powerful... reduced to nothing but burned corpses in mere moments."
"Is this what the Harmony's true face is? Powerless in the face of dirty crows?"
As Saint Roch kept talking to himself, Vigil turned towards Eve.
"I already did my part; this guy is your problem now."
Eve wanted to say that she could take him quite easily. But she realised something: she didn't do anything the whole fight. Moreover, this old guy was... different from the rest.
Oh fuck.
She finally realised what it was when she looked at the pile of dead people. For whatever reason, she had a strong urge to puke, but it was quickly drowned because she saw that every knight was in their middle years of life.
Saint Roch was the only one who was old in a place where young people died.
As the Saint was mourning his comrades' deaths and Eve was deep in thought, Vigil pulled Elyon to the side and pointed towards a knight who was halfway burned. He was still clinging somewhat to life, just barely.
Elyon, with a strained voice, asked Vigil, "D-do you want me to kill him?"
Vigil looked deep into Elyon's reddish eyes.
"No, not yet. I want to teach you how to use your powers."
"What do you mean? I already k-"
"You don't. Not what I will teach you, which will come into play later."
Elyon stared at him, which made Vigil speak again.
"You haven't used two numbers yet... one and zero."
Elyon paled when he heard those words. He didn't use them; he was so focused on doing big numbers his whole life that he forgot to use the most basic of the numbers.
"Use one first."
Elyon nodded, and his irises turned to the number "one."
The knight suddenly started to choke on his breath; he was breathing air, not the fumes which accompanied the bodies. His burned flesh started to turn back into healthy flesh.
"Your number one turns the body into the healthiest version of itself."
Elyon's mind started to burn, as if he sustained the crow's wrath.
"Now use zero."
Elyon forced his mind to calm down, and his pupils turned to display the number "zero."
As soon as the knight got up on shaky legs, he was gone.
Not a trace remained of him—not armour, not bones, nothing. He was just gone.
His burning mind suddenly cooled down, and with the coolness came Vigil's words.
"This is your true power, Elyon; use it wisely when the time comes."
Elyon didn't even pay attention to Vigil; he was just too stunned to speak.
"Who am I even fooling? You are worthless with or without it."
Elyon turned his head towards Vigil.
"Did you say something?"
Vigil looked calmly back at him.
"Maybe you are just imagining things."
After the general finished praying for his dead men, even the ones he killed, he saw Eve step up, and his expression turned towards confusion.
"What are you doing here, girl?"
Eve readied Nightfall, pointing it at him.
"I will be your opponent."
"Don't make me laugh, girl; a woman has no place on a battlefield. Move over so I can fight that crow boy."
Eve lowered her weapon a bit.
"A what?"
"Can't you hear me? Are your ears so full of the kitchen's steam that you went deaf?"
Eve was too stunned to speak; this was probably the first time in her life when someone characterised her whole grit by what she had in her pants.
"Hey... old fuck, do you have a wife?"
"How is that relevant?"
"I will move over if you answer."
"I don't have a wife."
"No wonder any woman doesn't want to wake up with a limp-dick religious bastard next to them."
"A what?"
"Are your ears full of shit? Or can you just not hear me?"
"Ohh, I can hear you just fine, missy. You have no idea what type of trouble you are in."
Eve was left confused again.
"Did Vigil scare you so much that you forgot how to even act? Because your words are meant for scolding children. And I am no fucking kid."
As Eve took a step in front of her, she felt something under her foot. One of Vigil's knives. She pulled her foot back and picked it up.
She turned the knife over, putting it into a reverse hammer grip. Because the length of the sword wasn't that big, she could do it without any issue. Eve brought the pommel close to her cut cheek, then she let Nightfall hang from her thigh, the tip submerging into the soil.
This same stance was also used when she fought The Defilement, but this time, instead of picking up the opponent's knife,
she picked up Vigil's, which she didn't know if he had left there by mistake or not.
He definitely left it there on purpose.
Saint Roch slid his left hand on his back, then he pointed his sword into a fencing stance. A fencing style requires a rapier, not a sword, which by definition was... unorthodox. But neither was Eve, so their stances were matched.
"You will see the great wr-"
But before Saint Roch could even finish his sentence, Eve dashed silently towards him.