Awake, What the Hell is This?

- ORIS, OUTSKIRTS -

In most situations, a cavalry unit consisted of more than four riders, and only a handful of them would be dressed in extravagant armor. However, even though their appearance was like that of nobility, these knights had a dignified demeanor and Darrel could feel the imposing aura they were giving off.

'I don't know about these guys, but ranks and titles are a must-have in any game, not only did this give individuals authority, but it also provided them with new powers and abilities.'

Darrel's heart raced, instead of coming up with a solution for his inconvenient situation, he was only scaling it up by giving his brain a more complicated scenario to work out.

The first thing that Darrel had ascertained was that this was not a virtual world nor was it a game of any sort, so assuming that the enemies before him were of the same strength as he, would be a fatal error on his part.

'I have to assume the worst, especially since I can't see their status, nor their health and mana bar.'

Darrel pondered.

If he was level one Darrel assumed the Knights would be higher, and even if they were to somehow be of even levels, the knight's armors looked threateningly high level. If this had been a game of some sort, then his enemies may have been scaled down to accommodate his early level, but Darrel had only concluded that this was not a game.

'At least I should have gotten a clue about my own stats if I have any at all.'

Even after exhibiting signs of magic manipulation, Darrel had no way of knowing what kind of magic he had used, he had no idea if the spell was even a spell let alone what to call if a time to fire it ever came.

'Volt Shot...'

"So you won't surrender huh?" The knight spoke once more, Darrel had been engrossed in assessing his opponent that he had forgotten the knight's earlier warning. "Well, that's good for me."

With the knight off his horse, Darrel felt relieved since the horse had given his foe a combat advantage. Whether this might have been due to Darrel's cautious behavior after getting knocked down, or the knight's hubris, Darrel saw that the field had been evened out even if it was slightly.

"So you guys are knights huh?" Darrel queried rhetorically.

The magic Darrel had exhibited earlier had vanished right after he had been brushed aside by the knight's horse, and with no way to defend himself, Darrel had to buy more time and figure out a way to get that power surging through his body again.

"Holy Knights to you scum!"

The knight exclaimed and then lunged towards Darrel and slammed his shield directly into his abdomen. Darrel staggered a few steps backward from the blow wincing in pain, but he quickly recovered just as he had done earlier.

"So you have some kind of temple you pray to like some little priestesses huh?" Darrel snarked defiantly.

Witnessing his defiance the other knight in silver armor disembarked from his horse and approached the two, but from the distance, Darrel noted the contorted expression of anger on the knight's face. As the knight drew closer, Darrel then saw a faint glimmering glow emanating from the knight's silver armor.

"You dare insult the Holy Knights of Moriandia!" The Knight roared and then charged at Darrel with his sword drawn. "Tears of the heavens, unbind the chains of light, and strike down my enemies with Moria's might!"

With his sword raised towards the sky, a blinding streak of light struck the tip of the blade and then proceeded down the knight's sword, then arm and body leaving him glowing with a flaring white aura around his body.

"[Blade of Moria]!"

Abashed in a blinding light Darrel was unable to react as the knight closed in on him with his sword's blade ready to clip off his head.

"Calestian!"

The blaring call fell on deaf ears as the blade continued on its set course toward Darrel's neck, however, this was immediately followed by a screeching noise that reverberated in the barren landscape.

To everyone's amazement, Darrel's head was still attached to his body, but the blade that had threatened to take his life was being held back inches from his neck by an invisible force.

The holy knights all looked at one another astonished by the immediate outcome, the knight holding the sword gritted his teeth and continued to push hard on the blade trying to finish the job.

"Why... won't it move?!" Calestian whined.

Sparks suddenly flickered from the sword and the invisible force slowly began to appear as a translucent membrane bulging with streaks of glowing blue veins that continuously bolted across the targeted area.

When Darrel opened his eyes to witness what had occurred, he noticed the familiar feeling begin to fill his body again.

The two knights stood with their mouths ajar, their gazes jumped to the other knights in gold probably expecting a word of advice for this situation, but as Darrel unknowingly emitted more aura the two knights' attention returned to him.

"You…" Darrel's iris flickered with a rich blue hue. "You call yourself a holy knight? Are you truly so holy?"

Calestian could feel the electrifying gaze burrow through the thoughts in his mind, and as each question was asked he could feel his body become ensnared even further until he could not move a muscle.

Calestian's grip on his sword loosened, and the blade hit the ground with a mild clink, Darrel picked up the sword and turned his mesmerizing gaze toward the knight he had been combating earlier.

It had taken a near-death experience to jump-start his newfound magic, even with a thin grip on this power Darrel prayed that this would be sufficient to defeat the remaining enemies.

"And you…"

Darrel slithered towards the nearby knight while dragging Calestian's sword behind him like a tail since it was too heavy for him to carry.

"I know about your lust…"

"Reginald! Don't look him in the eyes!"

It was the leader's voice again, this time he spoke with a more domineering tone and immediately the second knight snapped out of the trance and stood in a defensive posture while covering his face with his shield.

"Your witchcraft will not work on me!" Reginald exclaimed.

Darrel noted that the earlier knight he had mesmerized had regained his composure, Calestian glared at Darrel with a vindictive look on his face, but even through that, he could not hide the shame concealed behind it.

"How dare you?!"

Calestian grumbled.

"How dare you touch my sword, you lowly prisoner?!"

When he heard the demeaning word again, it felt like a blight on his sanity as the word echoed through his mind and uncovered memories that had been long shut away. Darrel began to hear the static noise again, and this time every sound from outside was blocked out and the last thing Darrel heard were the murmurings of the knights.

"I will kill you!"

"Stop! We need him alive."

"Out of my way!"

"Restrain him!"

"Get back!"

A dreary calm fell upon Darrel's mind as every sound around and within him was silenced, suddenly he found himself looking at a dark canvas with glowing symbols carving themselves in mid-air. When they had completed inscribing the black space, the symbols gave off a bright flash and Darrel was brought back to reality.

The first thing Darrel saw was Calestian rushing towards him screaming a variety of accusations at him, Reginald trailed a few steps behind him trying to stop Calestian.

All of a sudden, a burst of mana erupted from Darrel's body and shot up to the sky which immediately sent an explosion of mana that expanded into a large sphere and sent shockwaves around the area.

The two holy knights near Darrel were caught up in the blast and sent flying, crashing several meters away.

"I am not your prisoner!"

Darrel screamed as the explosion of mana engulfed him and everything around it.

As the smoke cleared an opaque sphere was left in the wake of the explosion, similar to the invisible force from earlier the sphere expanded several more feet as it slowly rotated around Darrel.

The clouds in the atmosphere started to gather towards the rotation of the sphere and the sky above the area started to darken.