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There were still a few knights surrounding him, but for now, Emery's gaze didn't waver from the figure that was emerging from the shadows.

The amount of spirit energy the figure possesses made the air thick, each breath he took was crackling with jolts of power. The surrounding knights gritted their teeth in response as the crackling air tickled their skin and made even breathing uncomfortable.

Emery gripped his dagger tight and dashed around, killing the last of the knights surrounding him with a quick slash to the neck.

Splat!

With one swing, two knights fell to his sword. Only four knights were left and they looked at each other before deciding to retreat with their tails tucked between their legs.

Emery was now able to get a clearer look at the approaching figure. The figure was riding on top of a horse wearing a black cloak covering its entire body. It suddenly raised its arm towards the fleeing knights.

Smoke seeped out from the sleeve of its arm, before gathering and forming into a storm of blade-like shadows. The figure snapped its fingers and the blades flew as fast as lightning, piercing all the retreating knights right through their heads.

"Darkness magic!"

Emery knew from the start this person was a magician thanks to his spirit reading ability, but its decision to kill the retreating knights dashed his guess of it being a wizard aligned with the Cantiaci.

Who was the figure behind the black cloth and what did it want?

Emery took a deep breath and prepared himself while the figure climbed down from its horse.

"Help… Help me…" Sir Randi the Golden Knight crawled and tried to approach the cloaked figure, but instead of helping, the figure lifted their hand and created another blade from smoke before stabbing the poor knight.

The figure kneeled for a second and touched the dead knight with a bony hand.

Emery raised his sword in caution as the figure was acting weirdly. Considering he was a fellow wizard that seemingly wasn't aligned to Cantiaci, it put its reason to come here into question. In addition, it carried an unsettling, chilling feel capable of making Emery feel something stir beneath, something not many Earth residents could do.

"Who are you?!"

The figure stood up and walked closer to Emery. The sun had started to dye the horizon in a beautiful orange glow and right when the figure stopped, sunlight illuminated her face, allowing Emery to discern who she truly was.

She was a beautiful woman with long, black hair. Emery looked at her for a few seconds before jumping back, an expression of shock evident on his face.

"Kekekeke… Have you forgotten about me, my dear Lanzo… Or should I say, my sweet Emery?"

She was the person Emery knew as 'Granny', the former Mistshire village healer and the person who took care of him. She was already in her younger form…

It was hard to forget the face of the woman who massacred villages with the cover of deadly plagues in order to take their life force. She was the sister of Nimue, the Lady of the Lake, and her real name was Maeve.

The last time Emery saw her, she managed to defeat him so badly he had to run inside the Khaos space to protect himself. Now after going through training in the Magus Academy he was certain that it would not happen again.

"So, how am I supposed to call you now? Granny? Maeve? Would just plain old hag suffice?"

"Hahahaha!" The woman cackled. "You certainly have grown, my dear Emery… You are much, much stronger… I see you have met my sister, then. I should have known that if you survived, you would have gone there."

Emery took his fighting stance and gripped his sword tight, ready to strike at any time. The woman in front of him was not concerned at all, instead, she slowly walked around the lying knights.

"Ah, this one was a golden knight! Very good!"

Once more, Maeve knelt down and touched the dying Sir Afton. This time, Emery saw the golden knight's skin turn wrinkly, before he breathed his last as a desiccated body made of skin and bones. His eyes, once glowing with vitality, were clouded in pain.

"These golden knights… Their existence is such a wondrous thing, isn't it? But… to have the audacity to openly hate us, wage war with us, and yet… They resort to using the power from the artifact we have given them. I assume you know this, Lanzelot?"

Maeve stared curiously at Emery, her eyes blown wide with excitement, her grin just a little bit too large to be natural. Her appearance, young and beautiful it may be, only reminded Emery of an infected dog.

"Of course you know… You are Lanzelot, the new champion of the Divine Order tournament! Hahaha… Did you know how surprised I was when I watched you fight? For a second I thought my dear Lanzo came back from the dead! But no, that couldn't be… It could be no one but you, Emery! Although I didn't see you amongst the Lioness convoy, I knew that, if I followed them, they would lead me to you sooner or later…"

Emery sighed. He had to admit she was right. She was the one and only person in this world who could make the connection between him and this 'Lanzo' identity.

But, on the other hand, this could be his chance. His carelessness led him to the witch who slaughtered his companion and for that, he was grateful. This could be a good opportunity to stop the witch's rampages and unleash payback for what she did to Lanzo and to all Mistshire villagers back then.

Emery raised his weapon, sword in one hand and dagger in the other, and narrowed his eyes at the witch.

"Hahaha, yes! My dagger! You even brought my dagger! You will give it back to me, my boy!"

Emery dashed in to attack.

To be continued