"Kiyun assigned you to Solace's legion...?" Mugaw was laughing at the whole situation.
There are multiple types of elements in the world, amongst them is light and darkness. Darkness is a concept, coming oddly close to the void in look. Where darkness is the absence of light, or all that is pure, the void is the absence of everything. This is how Marshal Kiyun had convinced the humans that the darkness around her is of the elemental kind, not the void, using a concealment spell.
It is naturally opposed by the elemental kind of light. This light however is not like the light from the sun and stars, which erases any traces of the void from the earth. This light is a concept of purity, subjective to what the user thinks is pure. It manifests as white radiance, as to the dark inky purple darkness.
This simple misconception can lead one into believing that elemental light is effective against the void. Humans have not figured this out, light and darkness may be at odds, but they do not have any effect of the void and the true concept of light. Since the void had nothing, not impure for the darkness to taint, and not pure for their light to erase.
Elemental light is a power that destroys what the user thinks is impure. The elemental darkness is that from the hearts of people, in the face of the concept of objective elemental light it vanishes, this is one of the methods used in the realm of suffering.
The reason Mugaw was laughing was because the Knight was the only knight Bachelor wearing dark armour in the entire legion. Kiyun had noticed that the knight was a void dweller, as such it might be harder for it to express its void, in the presence of the light elemental users. Even if concealed to look like elemental darkness, it would look strange. The strongest one being the paladin Solace, Vile Knight's superior.
"Listen up." Said the knight Bachelor, Adriel. Their Banneret, like the Knight, never took off her helmet, it rarely even spoke. So, just like how the Knight used Yrik, it used Adriel, her second in command to do it. The Knight was not sure whether it was a man or woman inside, the voice sounded very distorted. The Knight had picked up that from the others that they had all agreed to refer to it as she, the same way they had all decided to call the Knight he.
The gender identification did not apply to the Knight. The Knight is an object belonging to the void, it is not even alive, it is not a human or variation of. The Knight is the soul, the body is as the armour, just a shell, and you don't see animals defining themselves based on their homes. The Knight might possess a male shaped body, but it was just that, if the Knight even wanted it could abandon it and possess the most viable body, but the Knight's soul just felt a little too attached to this body.
"This is your new superior, knight Bachelor Knight."
You have encountered a level 294 human, Paladin Bachelor Adriel. Type-Knight.
"Wait, is he actually named Knight?"
You have encountered a level 193 human, Commander Callen. Type-Knight.
"Yes, I know it's strange, but it's what the Marshal said. The full name if anyone is interested is Vile Knight."
"Why is that?"
"The report says he trained in the dungeons for hundreds of years, even forgot his name, and after coming to join the knights. He only had the title bestowed upon him as a semblance of a name."
"Wow cool story, but is any of it true? I don't remember the last I heard of someone getting a title, if we exclude fairy tales."
"Well, if any of you is an appraiser, or have a similar tool you can check it, right on his stats, its engraved."
The others looked at their residential appraisers. Some used the tools they have to check. The knight had learned from Kiyun how to mask the void dweller part and write human. It had also showed the Knight how to conceal the void counter and the follower counter. The inventory has always been blocked to appraisers naturally, so were powers. But somehow everyone was filled with awe, not that the knight was level 250, or that its actual title is Vile Knight.
"By the looks on all your faces, I can guess that you saw it, not the title right. This here is a genuine hero, or at least he has the hero skill."
"So, all the rumours from Maroon city were true!"
You have encountered a level 286 human, Bachelor Zoldi. Type-Knight.
The Knight had wanted to conceal that skill, but by the time it had met with Kiyun, the other knights had already known, it was in the report for the fight between the Knight and the divine angel, Romeo.
There was no way to cover up the skill the believers got. Now, the skill was earning the Knight stares of curiosity everywhere it went. 'The coming of a new hero,' they said. Apparently, every time the world is experiencing an era of futility a hero would emerge, bolstering the ranks of the knights. This was a very pleasing prospect, especially since the more people believed in a hero, the more powerful the hero became.
The annoying part was that the knight was getting more and more feelings of hope. With each day that passed, the more people began to believe, especially now that the knight was no mere knight commander but is now a knight Bachelor. Who knew growing more powerful without any of the work was so annoying, the knight even had a hero counter, labelled 'Believers.'
"He is a hero, strange really, he looks more like the hero's reason of being," said Callen.
The person behind him hit him in the head with the hilt of their sword. "Don't mind this fool, he really likes picking on the new recruits, I'm…"
You have encountered a level 290 human, Bachelor Fetching. Type-Knight.
Adriel was calm carefree; she was the second in command to the knight Banneret, Solace. Her hair was short, cut down to the length of a bean, it was deep brown. Her eyes were black, her skin as pale as that of Vice. The loudmouth knight Commander, Callen, had long flowing hair, tied into a ponytail, light brown eyes, and a dark complexion.
The curious Bachelor, Zoldi, is tanned, it's curious that she plays so much in the sun. With the shining silver hair, probably the oldest Bachelor in the legion, her hair was even greying. The pretty lady who had hushed the commander up was the knight Bachelor Fetching. She is a tall, big and an imposing amazonian, strangely though, she had no tan, her skin was radiant, and had a level of calm in her eyes, making you feel like you wanted her to crush you in her thighs and you wouldn't even mind.
This is a meeting with the commanding staff, the knight Bachelors and knight Commanders. Some were just listening to the meeting, the knight was bombarded with their introductions, which is what happened when the knight ran into a group of beings, like the monsters in the dungeon. It had enough mental capacity to absorb all of it, to remember in the future.
This was the Knight's new crew, it was introduced to its knight Commanders, including Callen. These where the ones the Knight had to familiarise itself with. It would be leading their charges, sure the Knight just had to lead the Commanders, and they would lead their respective squadrons, but the Knight wanted to know the army full out, this would make it easier to deal with later. The whole scale of things was making the Knight realise just how huge the whole knighthood was.
"The Banneret said that we should all prepare to leave for the forest folks' ancestral home, the Woods of Elleria. They have formally sent a request for help. The Elleria guard haven't had their first Wave.
In the meantime, the commanders should give their squadrons half of the day off, and the rest of the week for making the rest of the preparations. We will be leaving in a weeks' time; their ambassador is still held up for the moment. Now that the tournament is over, those who have finished their duties may have the time to explore the city."
"Yes, Ma'am!"
They commanders all left, the Knight was about to when Adriel grabbed it by the vambrace. "Do you have something to do now?"
"Not anything needing my immediate attention. Why?"
"You see some of us were going to go spar, then afterwards head for the smiths and get our armour checked, the best of humanity is focused here, before we head to Elleria. Who knows how long we will be out there's. We were wondering if you would want to join us."
The Knight had planned to visit the pattern smiths, but the whole part about sparing was not for the Knight. Just what point is a fight if the Knight could not keep their souls afterwards.
The Knight had been doing a lot of this useless fighting, but before it answered Mugaw said, "would it not be prudent you learn about the light elemental. All of them are the biggest and brightest light users in all of humanity. If not now, you might not get another chance to see just what they are capable of, you will be too preoccupied."
The Knight was still determined to refuse when Mugaw added, "Think of it this way, it will give you the opportunity to actually see just why you, your followers, and the void territory you rule are impervious to the light, true light anyway, by comparing it to the reaction to elemental light.
You could even use the augmentation, since no-one will be able to detect the difference between elemental darkness and the void will be present, like Kiyun, or the other knight Bannerette. On another side note, you being the lowest level amongst them, this will serve as an opportune moment to show them that this does not mean that you are the weakest, not even close."
"What do you think about it Whisper?"
The freeloader makes a valid argument. Testing to see if the concealment from Avarice can fool the knights. You will be using it in front of them in the future.
Seeing how Mugaw's argument made sense, the Knight agreed, "I will join you shortly."
***
The Knight then left the headquarters and went to bid Zuri and Vice a farewell; it even bumped into Jack and Dart on their way marching out.
"You should not hold back on the battle front; Solace might just lump your head off for insubordination."
"Don't worry, I have been getting tired of fighting fights where my enemy leaves alive lately, so the war is my patch of grass, I get to slaughter at my discretion."
"Remember to at least stay alive. I still want my re-match the next time we both are free during the tournament. Next year we'll both still be on duty, so just live as long as you can."
The Knight then waved goodbye to Vice as she led the army.
***
"You must sleep, stop tinkering the whole night, wasting time looking for a sword, just take any, listen to your superiors and if you one day decide to take your helmet off, don't! I want to be there, so tell them to forget about it, when…"
She went on and on for a while, and after taking a look at the Knight who had the same expression – 'Okay' – written all over its face, she stopped and said, "I'll miss you, you big oaph."
That word resonated with the Knight, but just like usual when the memories drew near, they vanished. "Stay safe out there. You won't get to see what's inside my helmet if you up and die."
"Who's to say I haven't peeked?"
A blatant lie, considering the Knight had a disaster class soul on its helmet, keeping watch, 'She couldn't have… Mugaw, you didn't let her peek, did you?'
With that the Knight said his goodbye as she vanished off with the army, inside a caravan for officials.
***
"Next you see me I will be a proper knight."
"Me, I will have tamed even stronger beasts."
The Knight said farewell to these two as well as they fell into rank and file inside the army, vanishing in the march.
The Knight stood on the top of the massive walls, and it being a clear day today, the Knight could see the army below. With the level of vision, the Knight had, which was being severely crimpled by the light, that even at the height above the clouds the Knight could still see Vice, Zuri, Jack and Dart.
These were the humans the Knight had come to know the most but had never taken their souls, disappearing into the horizon, on this clear beautiful afternoon.
"Strange."