Using her fire skill, which she had wanted to avoid. The fire spread outward, submerging the whole area, and as she had expected, the fire was also afraid of the Vile Knight, as such it parted near him.
This was not helpful in dealing with him, but it did manage to identify where the Knight is. This fight was quite the spectacle, a platform of fire, and two figures moving through it, like men in hell fighting to the fun of it.
The crowd was on the edge of their seats, they were blinded of the fight because of the fire, but the fire had two distinct silhouettes, so they could follow. There was the brighter spot where the flames were being emitted from, there was a vague silhouette moving at that point, it was knight Banneret Vice.
Then an even stranger case, there was this field where the flames did not dare track on, they were cowering in fear.
At this spot, there was a figure, shrouded in dark radiance, a figure just as vague as the bright one, the Knight. These figures would clash, then move apart, followed by a few seconds of avoiding the other. Vice was still trying to judge the Knight. There is a criteria that is used to assess each rise in rank, since a higher rank grants information needed to grow stronger.
After squires become knights, they learn the fighting techniques and methodology used by knights to prepare for learning a power. Then knights who become Commanders are taught how to subjugate a power. Bachelors are taught how to break the second seal, which is what Vile Knight will be learning after winning.
The thing Vice needs to determine is whether the Knight is resistant to the 'numbness of power,' which is way more evident the stronger one gets. It was hard to do with how terrified she is now. It was time to actually give an effort to win this fight, she could use her power without words, but it had become a habit.
'Energy levels sync.'
…
There air became sterile, the Vile Knight did not need to breathe though, but it was a bad sign. The fire instantly vanished, having lost all its energy, the Knight felt reserves of its soul energy dry up, which only happened during augmentation. The Knight was getting so drained it stopped the use of Visage of Terror.
Then the red armour Vice was wearing, was glowing redder by the minute, then shifted to bright yellow. Her armour was a sign of which energy phase she was at. This was phase 2 out of three. She then grabbed her sword; it was not terrifying anymore. The Knight was getting sluggish, this was because unlike people, the Knight was operational as long as its soul had energy to move its body. Other life forms rely on bodily energy to move.
This loss however was slowing down the Knight severely. Before the Knight dropped, it started summoning monster souls and consuming them. They had proven insufficient to reset the cycle but could provide the Knight with bursts of energy. By the rate it was losing its energy, it had a minute between each monster soul consumption.
This was a quick analysis, Vice had already begun to strike dents into the Knight's armour, her speed was absurd. The Knight was keeping up, by swinging the hammers in each hand, while they were not augmented by the void, the Knight could still use them without destroying them. The Knight kept swinging its hammers to try and parry the swings of her sword, which was futile.
They were moving around so fast, the only thing visible was the ripple in the air during their clashes. The Knight did not have even enough energy to use its power even for a second. Then things got worse, Vice's armour was going through another shift, which also made the Knight more drained. It was now consuming over a dozen souls per minute, otherwise the fight would have been over already.
In a sudden flash of black and white, then the armour became blue. This was phase three of the energy power, the Knight had a second left, there was not enough time between clashes to consume more than a dozen souls per second, even if they were moving at such impossible speeds.
If not for the runic dome around the area there would be these powerful bursts hurdled towards the crowd occasionally. Energy would accumulate, and during their clash, it would fill the air with so much energy, it would expand, creating shockwaves powerful enough to crush a dozen mountains with a single wave.
The Knight could not handle the third phase. Once it was activated the Knight was just scrambling with a way to survive. The Knight had not been hit during this phase yet, that was because she was moving so fast, she was overshooting the teleportation's of the Knight, but at this instance she had recalibrated and slowed herself down, to catch up to the Knight. There was no way the Knight could dodge this one, and clashing would end it.
The Vile Knight was just about to let loose and release the void, to just survive this hit when the fight was ended. Vice was so precise with the control of her power over energy that she had stopped an inch before the hit; she had heard the command and obeyed.
She had so much focused that she had missed the thin whisps of darkness that were flowing from inside the Knight's armour. The darkness then retreated back into the Knight, and just like the crowd and Vice, it was now focused on the Marshal who had just stopped fight. She walked towards the centre. In an inaudible tone to the audience, she said in a sheepish voice to Vice and the Knight, she sounded like she was fresh from sleep.
She yawned, rubbed her eyes, and said, "Vice I thought I told you not to hold back for the new recruit."
"I had planned to go all out, but after reaching phase three he could not handle it."
"Yes, I know that, but I still wanted to watch him get utterly defeated. I don't like that gaged feeling I get from him."
This was one of her/its duties as the Marshal, she is responsible for the training of recruits, handling of the equipment, and facilitates these large-scale tournaments amongst other duties.
This is why she had stopped this match, in as much as Vice was holding the evaluation, she was the one who could revise the match if the need arises. She also has the authority to stop this match at her discretion if at some point she thinks something needs to be done, like she had now. She might be a lax person, mostly sleeping, but she does take her duties seriously in a way.
"Don't worry at the start I was still bored of the whole thing, seeing that you were not going all out, but that on its own is not why I stopped the match. I was about to shrug the match as another case of a promising knight who still has a lot of growing before taking the rank of knight Bachelor. However, …"
She looked away from Vice and towards Knight, "…this one here is still holding back."
"I noticed."
"How so?"
Vice's armour dimmed and became vermillion once more. "Well, when I went to phase 2, he was still able to keep up, I don't know what he was doing to continuously keep restoring his energy, but it was still faster than I can take it.
Usually, whenever I go straight to phase 3 people just faint or die, but he was still fighting, even if he had not taken a blow yet. This meant he was resistant to energy loss, or he was more powerful than he lets on, I don't think he would be enough to face and angel at this level anyway."
"That too, but I was convinced by the aura he had when you went to phase 3. It was not hopelessness, it was a slight frustration, with a bit of disappointment. Almost as if he was just confiding himself due to the circumstances. The kind of arrogance to hold back when you could have been killed, is interesting."
She then looked at Vice again, "Sorry, but I will be ending your match now. I think he might need a separate match, circumstances might be why he's holding back, I will assess him myself. Don't even worry, you know I'll give him hell."
"What? Why?"
"I just want to really see what a knight who defeated an angel could do." She then turned to the Knight, "And by the way, you better not hold back, I will be aiming to kill you. Not now anyway, the matches are scheduled for now are about to start, for now you will be passed. What do you think Vice?"
"Yes Marshal Kiyun, I was planning on passing him, I was just going to do it while he was unconscious." She smiled as she left the ring, the Knight was still recovering from the energy loss, it felt like it had just used the void augmentation, but it still had enough energy to not fall unconscious, 'sleep,' but it could benefit from laying down for a while.
***
After that, the Marshal, Kiyun, sent an official message, explaining that the fight had been decided, and the next matches would follow soon.
The day proceeded and the rest of the matches proceeded. The following week the entire process was officialised. Then came the day to meet the Grand Master. In order to rise in rank, all those who passed their match evaluation and got officially cleared, have to meet with the highest authority.
It would be the one to finally decide who is ranked up. This time it was not going to be the Seneschal since the Grand Master had returned to the city from the island above.
The Knight was currently walking through the hallway, accompanied by Zuri, on their way to the Grand Master.
The Knight was still thinking about knight Marshal Kiyun - Avarice. The Knight was still not sure what she was up to, but he was sure that she actually stopped the Knight from unleashing the void within at that moment. She is usually sleepy, as such the Knight had wanted to hope that she would not interfere with its search. The battle with her had been even worse than expected.
There were still some confusing parts, like why had she decided to intervene. She is giving the Knight a bad feeling, a void lord managed to infiltrate the humans, and not only that she had become the rank of the third highest position of power. The only authorities higher than her was the knight Seneschal and the Grand Master.
"I say you leave this place boss, if you were discovered you would be surrounded by powerful being on all sides."
The Knight thought the reply, 'I wonder why you are concerned though?'
Then Mugaw said, "Because I am your follower… and if you manage to kill one on your way out, I can have their body as a vessel, right?"
'Of course that's what you're thinking of.'
This place is turning out to be more perilous than the abysmal dungeon. The waste of soul space is right. You should consider abandoning this place. It has no barrier like the dungeon as such departure should be fairly simple.
'Thanks, you two, but as you might be forgetting I still don't have my sword. If anything gets out of hand the worst that will happen is being stuck in the void for a while.'
The knights also had a promise to tell Knight about how to unseal the second seal. But truthfully Knight already knew how. The unnamed baby had given the Knight an idea, but after reading the book of souls the Knight was sure of what it needed to do to unleash the second seal, but because of its will, the method is currently unavailable.
So, the human knowledge would not help it in any way. After a while they might get suspicious that even after revealing this secret the Knight did not grow any stronger. The Knight needed to leave this place to get to unseal the second seal, but other than that, the Knight needed its sword first and foremost.
So, risking it in the den of lions as a single but powerful rat, was not unusual for the Knight. The problem is that it could not use its teeth, the void, and its claws, its army, its main advantages. The Knight was thinking how to unleash its seal, the way to unleash a seal is to start by… Then Knight once again heard the familiar warning from the whisper of darkness.
You have encountered a level 400 human, Grand Master Juval the III. Type-Knight.
In the office, smaller than the one for used as a war council room, but far more imposing. In the chair behind the table sat an old man, grey beyond time. Simple silver armour, simple runic carvings, and a helmet with a black plume laying on the table. He put down the book he was reading and faced the Vile Knight.