CHPT 450: Again, Better than Before.....

It was hot. Sweltering, even. But the physical heat was the least of their worries. The heat of power-- the pressure of strength that fell over their heads like an anvil was the true surprise. Claude felt it first, his senses often brought him to the attention of things first. He recognized it like he'd recognized the others. Fenrir, Ronin, the Headmaster, Gizagiza the WereShark. The Red Knight of Rage was no different. Power was no different from its variants. Not really.

Claude was on his feet before he even knew what he was doing. At his side, Ursula and Cassidy stood firmly. Everyone else rose behind them while Prof. Alvis remained seated, seconds from collapse. Claude wondered what he was doing in such a place in those moments. Things wouldn't be very scholarly for a while. Not with the way Rory Legrand yelled for his daughter. There was no reason in his voice, no sight behind the red in his eyes.

He could feel Prof. Raizen and Prof. Brennan's eyes on him. Unsure, anxious. They knew him for his anger and stubbornness. Violence, poorly controlled ferocity. He was lucky with Ronin, he didn't have to worry about another like himself. Like Ursula.

They trained for this moment. For a loose cannon like The Red Knight. Claude wasn't who he was when he left the University, now he could only wait and see if it was enough as the Knight approached.

His steps were heavy, armor loud and clunky. There wasn't a single attempt at silence in the man. He didn't move through the Library like someone who'd lived in the wild where greater monsters were only a moment away. He moved like the greater monster. With his Solar Magic it made sense. He was a walking firestorm. And the firestorm was right around the corner.

The pretty librarian at the front desk moved to quiet him. She didn't get three words out.

"Mr. Legran--"

"Shut up, woman!" His voice reminded him of the Headmaster. Deep and damaged from a lifetime of screaming on a battlefield, only deeper.

"[Ah, the smell of bigotry in the morning.... like shit on a corpse.]" Arne commented.

Claude could feel the violence.

"Remember, restraint. He's not coming to talk, we have to get him to that point. Right now, he's coming to fight. Or worse... let's not give him a reason to go worse." Claude said to Ursula and Cassidy.

"Trust me, I know." Ursula whispered a reply.

"Pride, the unseen enemy of the strong." Cassidy mumbled with a sigh.

Arne said that once before.

Only when he said, it wasn't followed up with one of the strongest men in the world storming towards them like hell stuffed inside knight's armor.

His entrance was almost underwhelming. The loud footsteps reached a crescendo, and then he was in the emptied back of the Library. He didn't even acknowledge the Unit of Detectives behind him as he headed straight for them.

The Red Knight of Rage. In the flesh. He wasn't like Ronin. When Claude saw Ronin it was like everything he'd spent hours upon hours reading about had magically walked out of the page and handed him a sword. Ronin was cold and calculating, it hinted at his violence. It hung behind his eyes like a storm over a field of endless corpses. Ronin was horror and mystery.

The Red Knight was..... a brute.

He wasn't as tall as Claude imagined. No taller than six foot flat-- shorter without his large combat boots and inhumanely wide. He almost had dwarven features. His nose was massive, wide and flat against his face-- aggravated further by his angered expression. His skin was lighter than Ursula's and he lacked her freckles. She must've inherited them from her mother. Along with the eyes since his were a bright green.

The rest of him was hidden inside some of the most luxurious Knights armor Claude had ever seen. Thick metal plated armor bathed in bloodred and bordered by feather and chain. Some portions were built over impressive hides or woven into Reptilian skins while other parts were just metal on metal. At his hip a belt held a sheathed blade along with two skulls. The fangs and degradation of the skull told Claude they belonged to Vampires.

It seemed his Vampire slaying days weren't too far behind him. Neither were the two other Knights at his back. They wore similar but lower classed Armor. All three of them steaming from their shared heat like they just stepped out of an inferno. One was taller than the others with darker skin. He had freckles and honey-gold eyes like Ursula with brown hair. The other was paler like the father with matching bright red hair. Claude remembered him from the Grand Knights Open Guildhall in The Vada District. Ursula's brothers. They didn't so much as look at her.

But Rory did. He hadn't stopped looking at Claude.

Now he was only feet away.

Cassidy knew what was coming and moved to get in front of Claude.

"Now hold on, hotsho--" Cassidy's words were cut short as Rory threw him back into a bookshelf.

Claude shoved aside Ursula with a shoulder as Rory wrapped his scorching hot hands around his throat.

H.M Alaric and the Professors yelled for The Red Knight to stop while they held back Maris and the others. Putting attention on them was even worse, Claude understood why they didn't move from the students. It was all on him. Good. There was no one else that could take it.

Claude focused on trying to breathe. The air burned his lungs. The metal of The Red Knights gloves burned his skin like the touch of a grill.

To embrace is to control. No..... to embrace is to be. That simple. There was no control. There was only to be. The question was what you needed to be in that moment. Calm. Not calm, composed. Claude liked the thought.

"[Deep breaths....]"

"You....you're the little prick that tried to steal my child."

The urge to use (Unbound) and see if the Red Knights hand would explode was almost inescapable. Almost.

Sometimes, to hell with comp-- No. Nope.

Claude followed Arne's guidance.

"Mr. Legrand--" Headmaster Alaric started.

"Quiet, Alaric. You house criminals behind your walls, huh? Maybe I should pull funding from this place...yea."

Claude didn't speak, simply focusing on the heat. Focusing on keeping Ursula and the beasts within from breaking free. Nothing more than a couple shadows spilled from his palm.

The Red Knight said something else but didn't get a chance to finish his words as two things happened. First, the sweat on his face rolled along his skin, collecting into a stream of fluid that flew into his mouth. It tripped him up, he coughed. The Berserker took the opportunity, although she probably would've anyway. Ursula lunged in and punched him square in his massive jaw.

Either due to surprise at the action or her strength, he dropped Claude and took a step backward.

"Wake up, you ass! If I was really kidnapped, why would I still be standing by him?! Even now?! Why would we come here instead of the Precinct?!" Ursula snarled in a whisper in respect of the Librarian.

But her control loosened elsewhere. A mirror of her father. The books began to burn behind him and his Knightly sons. The Detectives drenched in sweat. On Claude's side, the carpet began to spike over with frost.

There had never been a more distinct showing of symbolism than in those moments. Ursula stared into the heat of her fathers eyes unflinchingly. He watched her just as everyone else had. As if for the first time. No, he watched in disbelief that she'd hit him. None of them noticed her change upon their entry, as if they never looked her way much to begin with.

It felt like a fight was on the brink. The worst outcome, and it almost came to fruition. Until the Librarian came.

"Hey!" She started, "Don't cut me off. This is my Library, and you all will respect it. How much and when you fund this University does not allow you to move around however you want. If you damage any of these books any further, I'll sue you into the ground. It won't be called The Nine anymore, you'll go by The Eight and one peasant!" Magical threads fell from her fingertips like spiderwebs. He didn't know if that was an unstable side effect of HexBlades or not but it added to her intense state.

Rory didn't even acknowledge her. Somehow that felt worse than what he said to her before.

He continued to stare at Claude.

Headmaster Alaric filled the silence, "Mr. Legrand. I understand your anger, and I know you understand that we cannot stop your advance. But we will try. We have a right to protect all students behind these walls. That is why we came here, we want due process. You have your Detectives, conduct an investigation. We have our experts to corroborate or dismiss any of their claims. There's a story to be told here, and I know you know the source of it. It's why they left after all. Let's hear them out, what came of their survival may be more interesting than you could know."

Claude felt the pieces meld together in those moments. Not only was it a good idea to come to the University, but to the Library of all places. The presentation, the scenery. The same way Ronin would stand while he made Claude sit, to feel small. It was all about how the stage was set.

The Red Knight made the mistake of slipping into emotion. Not only that, but he wasn't in his element. Not directly. He was in a Library of all places. It wasn't an Interrogation Chamber with Claude the criminal. It was a place of knowledge, and he was a student. The presentation alone seemed to passively lower the stakes. Not by a lot, but something was better than nothing. It was either that or they all went down in flames.

For a second dread filled his insides at the possibility. Then one of the brothers spoke. The shorter redhead.

"Father, the Detectives may have valuable information. They've been here longer than us, after all."

The Red Knight grunted and walked towards the Detectives. Before he turned away he looked at Ursula. He looked unsure. It disappeared quickly.

Arne sighed in Claude's mind, "[Bloody hell, are you as tired of this as I am?]"

"You have no idea."