Chapter 11: Final Exam

There were still several days before graduation, but even though lessons were over, the cadets wouldn’t just be lounging around. The Red Revelries had begun, and Noah and all the other cadets were recruited to suppress the violence. They were given the day to rest and save their strength, and once night fell, they left the academy and gathered before the royal palace. They met an army of two hundred knights there, mostly bronze-rank, with several silvers and a few gold, the majority likely brought in from outside the city for this.

Seeing the knights in their polished plate armor, the cadets, garbed in chainmail and leather armor, couldn’t help but feel a bit miffed and intimidated. Despite their feelings, they stood at attention as gold-ranked knight Sir Leuca Aithorn paced before them. The elven warrior had an icy personality, and Gideon, having tangled with him during the previous Red Revelries, wisely kept his hair covered with a helmet and his eyes downcast.

“This is not a lesson, nor is it a game. This will be live combat. All of you standing here before me, steel yourselves, and be ready to kill and be killed. After the damage caused last year, no mercy is to be shown to anyone caught fighting in the streets. The punishment is death, and should any of you be caught withholding that punishment, know that I will make it my mission to bar you from ever entering the knighthood.”

“Easy, Aithorn. You’re starting to sound like Gradius.”

All eyes turned to the new voice, and gasps of shock were heard. “Adwith Tarnas!” many exclaimed under their breath as the mighty paladin approached. In Uther, he was as famous as Valia Zodiac, and commanded immense respect from everyone in the country, minus a few exceptions. Prince Seraph was one, scowling at the man’s arrival and looking away.

“Sir Tarnas, I didn’t know you would be joining us so soon,” said Aithorn.

“You know me; I only consider myself on time when I’m early, and Knight’s Day is my favorite time of the year. Now, cadets, as Sir Aithorn told you, the stakes are far higher than ever before. We of the knighthood need to do our absolute best to ensure not only that the city is safe, but the citizens feel safe. Their faith in us and the kingdom hangs in the balance. The royal dungeon has been rebuilt, and anyone who surrenders peacefully is to be arrested, but anyone who attacks you is to be killed. We may be in the streets of our capital, but tonight, this is a battlefield, and we can’t afford a repeat of last year. Understood?”

“Yes sir!” all the cadets chanted.

“That’s what I like to hear. I trust you all know what the Red Revelries are, the midnight violence, and I trust you know why you stand before me. Your job is to put these rabid beasts down. This bloody festival has to end, and with your strength, the madness will stop. Tonight, you will be keeping the peace in every sense of the word, performing your duties quickly and quietly. You are not to shout or use any spells that could draw attention. After what happened last year, the citizens need to know that we can protect them and ensure order, and the sounds of battle outside their windows aren’t going to do that.

Now, for these next few evenings, you will each be assisting a knight on their patrol. Follow their orders, and they’ll keep you alive and share their wisdom, but they’ll also be making sure you do your job successfully and honorably. You are not true knights yet, not until you prove yourselves, but I have faith in your abilities and integrity.”

As Tarnas read off a list of names, Noah looked around for Valia. Unsurprisingly, she wasn’t present. After the destruction Valon caused and his heist of the kingdom’s relics, she was probably under close observation and kept out of the field.

Similarly missing was Gradius, the royal executioner. Last year, at the peak of the Red Revelries, all of the brawlers kept in the city dungeon managed to escape and wreak havoc. As a result, he went on a blood-drunk rampage and destroyed the dungeon, as well as a significant portion of the city. Had Tarnas not intervened, he could have easily incinerated all of Colbrand. In the end, he saved the city by extinguishing the fires caused by the escaped prisoners. Still, the difference between the destruction he caused and the destruction he prevented was rather narrow, and his wrathful insanity and explosive powers marked him as too dangerous to continue serving in the capital. No one knew exactly what happened to him, but there were plenty of rumors.

One by one, the cadets and knights split off into pairs and departed to begin patrolling the city. It was all going fine until...

“Cadet Noah?”

Tarnas paused, with many of the knights still present perking up at the sound of his name. Suffice to say, it was rare for someone to carry so much infamy without being imprisoned or executed. He had skirted the law, and his name was one of the most recognized in the city, with the absurdity of his actions blurring the line between fact and rumor. Many cadets made faces of disgust at his depravity, while others beamed with pride, glad they could say they graduated with the man who cucked the prince and fucked a duchess.

“Cadet Noah, you will be assisting Sir Holmes tonight.”

Before the Knight Sheath burned down, Noah remembered Holmes as a frequent customer, but rather than sleeping with women, he seemed to prefer sleeping alone. He could often be seen napping in the corner of the parlor, like a cat by a fireplace. This was how he took breaks during his patrol duty.

With lanterns in hand, the knights and cadets left the castle and began their walk through the dark city streets. They’d travel in groups at first, but as they moved farther into the city, they had to fan out to cover more ground. As soon as they were alone, out came the questions from Holmes, and Noah didn’t see a point in hiding anything.

“So what exactly happened between you and Prince Galvin?”

“He challenged me to a duel and lost, so I took his fiancée for the night as my prize. Unfortunately, he lacked the intelligence to understand that it was his own fault and believed himself entitled to revenge. He burned down the Knight’s Sheath with me inside, but I survived.”

“How did you know it was him?”

“One of his friends was the lookout and confirmed Galvin did it. I decided to punish him by publicly screwing the duchess, and there was no better time and place than the reopened Knight’s Sheath during a special evening party. It was all a matter of building her arousal to the point she could barely contain it. After that, getting her on stage and spreading her legs in front of everyone was easy.”

“Damn.”

“Anyway, Galvin went crazy and chased me into the slums, but I ditched him, and apparently, he got mugged by some vagrants. He and his mother returned to their territory and that’s the end of that story.”

“Consider me impressed. I was wondering— Oh, hold on, I think I hear something.”

They turned a corner, finding two men dressed in black and fighting in the street. This was what the Red Revelries were, blood-drunk warriors coming to Colbrand to fight each other in the moonlit streets, all for the sake of the kill and the thrill. What had originally started as rowdy academy applicants looking to stave off boredom had turned into a festival of blood, attracting murderous deviants and battle junkies.

“I’ll show you how it’s done,” said Holmes as he stepped forward. “Halt! You two are out past curfew and under arrest!” Shouting was forbidden, but he announced himself just loud enough for them to hear.

The two men spotted Holmes and then bolted, scurrying off into the darkness like cockroaches.

“I don’t suppose you want to chase them down, do you?” Noah asked.

Holmes used his lantern to light a gonlief cigarette “Meh, they’ll run into someone else. Anyway, we stopped a fight. No need to worry about the details.”

“I like the way you think.”

They continued walking, searching for the next battle. “So tell me something, what makes you think the duchess or prince won’t come after you?” Holmes asked.

“Well I haven’t broken any laws, so the duchess can’t send her knights after me, at least while I’m still in Colbrand.” They turned a corner onto an empty road. “If she does send someone after me, they would either be knights disguised as mercenaries, or just regular mercenaries, in which case, probably the best time to get me would be right now, isn’t that right, fellas?”

On cue, an arrow landed by his feet.

“Stop right there, both of you. Keep your hands raised where I can see them.” The voice came from a nearby house, where a masked archer was perched atop the roof. He had nocked another arrow, and it was aimed at Noah.

“Wow, good call,” said Holmes, slowly reaching for his sword.

“I’m not paid to kill you, knight, but I will if you don’t do as I say,” the archer warned.

“Relax, he’s not going to shoot,” said Noah.

“How can you be so sure?” Holmes asked.

“Well he’ll want to, but he’s not going to succeed.” The next moment, the archer yelped in shock as his bowstring suddenly snapped, severed by an invisible throwing knife. “See?” Noah said with a raised voice. “That’s what happens when you don’t maintain your equipment. Now, climbing up there to get you would be a bitch and a half, so I’ll just save myself the trouble and let you be the witness. You get to go back to the duchess and tell her how I killed your friends, that is unless they are smart enough to turn around and walk away.”

More assassins were showing up, stepping out of alleyways and both ends of the street, surrounding Noah and Holmes.

“Shit, shit, shit...” Holmes muttered, looking for a safe direction he could turn his back to.

“I sensed you guys following us about a mile ago and figured you’d pop out once everyone was scattered for enough. I’m going to say this only once: go home,” Noah warned. “This will not end well for you.”

“You’re in no position to be talking tough,” said a man with an oversized scimitar.

“Just let me be and enjoy your lives. Whatever she promised you, there are better ways to get it.”

“There is no better way for a reward like this,” a towering man with an axe argued. “One hundred gold coins? That can only be blood money.”

“I’ll admit, that does sound tantalizing, but it’s a bad deal. You can’t spend that gold if you’re buried in a pauper’s grave.”

“Y-yeah, what he said,” Holmes muttered with his saber in hand.

“If you want to put up a fight, that’s fine by us,” said a man with a sword and shield.

“Very well, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Noah drew his sword and pointed it at a spearman, now charging towards him. He crouched down to sprint, and then, in the blink of an eye, vanished into thin air, halting the assassin and drawing looks of shock from everyone else.

“Too slow,” Noah said, revealing his presence behind the spearman.

The man turned around just to see him sheathing his sword. The moment it was closed, the moment that ‘clack’ was heard, the spearman’s throat opened up like a toothless smile and released a crimson waterfall. As their friend dropped to his knees and bled out, the rest of the assassins were left paralyzed, unable to comprehend what they had just seen.

“I learned that from Valia Zodiac, an attack so fast that the human eye can’t even see it. The wound doesn’t immediately open, as the body does not even realize it has been cut until it’s too late. What chance do you think you have?”

Valia never taught the cadets such a technique; this was instead the work of illusions. He had left his clone by Holmes while he maneuvered behind the spearman, and a rapid deactivation and reactivation made it look like he had moved past the spearman faster than the human eye could catch. When he turned around, Noah delivered an invisible slash. For those watching, it was like the wound had a time delay. This was a tricky maneuver that required a lot of practice, but having pulled it off, Noah deemed it well worth the effort, both for psychological warfare and personal amusement.

‘Ah, you can’t beat the classics.’ He then grabbed the slain man’s spear and threw it, striking the archer on the nearby rooftop in the gut and sending him rolling off and falling into the street. “Sir Holmes, if you’re not going to take part, would you mind retrieving him?”

The axe-wielding man charged towards Noah with a roar of fury, having forgotten all about the bounty and filled only with thoughts of revenge. Noah stepped out of range of his first wide swing and the oncoming flurry. The man was fast and skilled, leaving few openings in his defense, even while attacking. Still, Noah managed to wait him out and then slip in to attack. An illusory jet of steam shot from his palm, courtesy of a spell card he pulled out of his sleeve. The holographic vapor sprayed the man’s eyes, blocking his vision as though he was being blasted with a fire extinguisher. He didn’t feel the mist, but his instincts pulled a hand from his axe to shield his face, defying his warrior’s experience. The raised hand was severed, and before the man could react with a scream, his head likewise plopped onto the ground.

Noah looked over to Holmes, now fighting the man with the shield and sword, leaving only the man with the scimitar, who was trying to keep his nerve. Noah approached, holding out his bloodstained sword. It was just an ordinary soldier’s blade, but it was true steel, and far sharper than the glass swords at the academy, which were better at breaking bones than skin. With this in his hand, cutting down the spearman and the man with the axe had been shockingly easy. The blade sliced through flesh, tendon, and bone like a scythe reaping wheat. His training under Valia had really raised his skills as a swordsman to all-new levels.

The man with the scimitar gathered all of his courage and attacked Noah, and Noah decided to indulge him, blocking the rapid attacks without sending any of his own. He was no amateur, probably on the same level as Holmes, but he had bitten off more than he could chew, and it was evident in the condition of his sword. What had originally been a pristine blade was now riddled with chips and cracks, while Noah’s sword remained undamaged, all due to the difference in their skills. Every time their blades collided, Noah’s edge would dig into the scimitar as though it was made of copper, simply from how precisely he held his sword when he blocked. Once Noah felt like he had gotten enough practice in, he flicked the man’s scimitar out of the way and slashed him across the chest. His armor didn’t stand a chance, and a cleave to his head ended his life.

As the man collapsed, Noah turned to Holmes. He had forced the assassin against a wall and driven his sword through the raised shield, the two of them now cursing and fighting for air as they tried to overpower each other. The tip of Holmes’s saber was approaching the man’s chest, and he was pushing with his shield to try and hold it back. The shoving match continued for several seconds until Holmes finally pierced the man’s heart.

“Well done, sir,” said Noah.

Panting like a dog, Holmes pulled out his blade and turned towards Noah.

“Fuck you. I’m going to die because of a cadet’s one-night stand.”

“I’m such a heartbreaker.”

Noah walked over to the archer, lying in the street and trying to cover the hole in his stomach. “I’m dying. I can’t believe I’m fucking dying because of a kid like you.”

“Oh quit your bitching. I just needed to keep you from running off until I was done with you.” He held out a healing potion, looted from the man with the axe. “You and your friends didn’t exactly come off as a team that could charge a hundred gold coins, so that must mean it’s an open contract, right?”

“What?” he stammered with blood trickling from his mouth.

“I’m asking you how many people the duchess hired. Did she offer the job just to your group, or is there an open bounty on my head? Speak fast if you want to live.”

“It wasn’t the duchess or any of her people. Fain Morgan, he’s the one who issued the bounty. Anyone can collect.”

Noah poured some healing potion on the man’s wound, just enough to keep him talking. “You didn’t give him a title, so am I to understand he’s not a knight or lord?” The man nodded. “Perhaps an underworld figure then, someone the duchess keeps on retainer when she or her knights can’t be seen getting their hands dirty. If it’s an open contract, then I suppose more of you people will be coming after me, right?”

The archer began to laugh. “You’re a dead man. You probably won’t even last the night.”

“Like I’ve never heard that before.” Noah then corked the potion and put it away.

“Hey, what are you doing?! I’m still dying!”

“That’s because you’re no longer useful. Since it’s an open contract, I doubt you’ll bother going and telling Morgan about what happened, and it’s even less likely it would put a stop to others coming after me. With all that said, I can’t seem to think of a reason to keep you alive, can you?” Before the man could answer, Noah pierced his skull with his sword.

Holmes stared at Noah with eyes full of fear as he started looting the bodies. “Boy, there is an avalanche of shit rolling towards you, and now I’m going to get caught in it. Just my fucking luck that I get paired with the pervert worth a king’s ransom.”

“The most prudent move now is to return to the palace and tell everyone what’s going on. There is no telling how many revelers are out there looking for me, but they’d be stupid to follow me onto the castle grounds. The security has been raised so high that we’ll be safe.”

“Shit, that’s the best idea I’ve heard all day. And maybe I can trade you in for a less dangerous cadet.”

“After you, sir.”

“Nothing like coming home,” said Tarnas, doing his own patrols with an uncooperative cadet. “I’m hundreds of miles from the front line, and I still can’t put my sword away.” No response. “At least the night is clear, and we have the moon and stars. Sometimes in Handent, the cloud cover would last for weeks. I could see it in the men, how much they missed the sunshine. Their fatigue was greater, there were more cases of infighting, and that’s not even counting when it would start to rain.” Still no response. “Are you with me, Your Highness?”

“I’m not interested in small talk,” Seraph replied.

“That’s a shame. I was looking forward to this chance to talk to you.”

“If you have something to say, just say it. Don’t meander around the topic like you’re stalling.”

“That anger inside you, it’s not good for your soul. I understand that you’re young and impatient, but rage will dim your radiance.

“The reason I’m angry is because of you.”

“Are you sure about that? I heard about your time in the academy. You’ve racked up more wins than any other cadets, but that’s not the only fighting you were doing. I was shocked when I heard how you attacked Lady Zodiac. I had hoped you were raised better than that.”

“You don’t get to lecture me like this, acting like you’re my father despite refusing to acknowledge that you are.”

Tarnas stopped and turned around. “Are you still going on about that? What will it take for me to convince you that I’m not your father?”

“You expect me to believe you? As I get older, I look less like the king and more like you. You, who bears the mark of Lumendori on your chest, just as I do.”

“That mark is not passed through blood, but divine will. It’s true we are bound, but in destiny only, as bearers of the power and title of Light’s Emissary. I felt it on the day you were born, the arrival of my successor, and I was guided to Uther by Lumendori himself so that I could find you and train you, to prepare you for the trials that all my predecessors and I endured. Someday, you will feel it as well, the arrival of the new Emissary, and you will seek him out.”

“You’ve fed me that nonsense from the cradle. I don’t need you to tell me I’ve been chosen by God; I’ve known that all my life, just like I know we aren’t strangers to each other. The king knows as well, and every time he looks at me, I know he just sees your bastard son, an ugly weed in the royal garden whose mother died during delivery. He’s kept you around because you’re strong and useful, but he never fully believed your story. The knights and the nobles are the same way. You think I haven’t heard the whispers and gossip? Every time we’re in the same room, it’s clear on their faces how they see through the lie you’ve tried to weave.”

Tarnas placed his hand on Seraph’s shoulder. “I know, I know it better than you do, how unfair it is. I know your father kept me on the front lines or on far-off missions because he didn’t want me anywhere near you, and because you were denied the guidance you need, you’ve fallen off the true path. I wasn’t there to show you the way, but once you join the knighthood, I can change that, and I can prepare you for the future.”

“I don’t need you; I never needed you. I’m already stronger than most knights, and I’m going to show everyone that it doesn’t matter who my father is! Everything before me will be forgotten, and everything after will remain in the shadow of my legacy!”

“You, who claims to only answer to God, still care so much about what other people think while doing nothing to improve their impression of you. The power you wield is not a stepping stone to fame, nor is it an excuse to dismiss condemnation and accountability. It is the world’s hope, the key to saving mankind from despair and destruction. The stronger you become, the heavier the burdens you will have to carry, but that is the price we pay to walk the path of the Light.”

“You’re wrong. Only Lumendori himself can tell me what this power is for, and until that time comes, it is mine to use however I want.”

A tense silence followed, broken by the voice of a stranger. “Are you Noah?”

Tarnas and Seraph turned to see a reveler standing at the end of the street, his face hidden with a mask and his sword already bloody.

“What did you just say?” Seraph boomed.

“Are you Cadet Noah or not?” the reveler asked as he approached.

“Don’t you dare say that name to me!” the prince replied, now coming alight with a mantle of holy energy.

The reveler came to a stop and cursed in shock, fearful not only of the powerful mana he was witnessing, but the gold-ranked knight the light shined upon. He panicked and tried to flee, but Seraph shot towards him like a meteor. He wielded a mighty sledgehammer, glowing like a miniature sun from the mana being condensed within the heavy iron. The fifty-meter distance was crossed in a few steps at breakneck speed. Seraph got ahead of the man and swung his hammer, striking him in the middle of the chest. There was a flash of light, and the man’s torso was flattened like a beer can. His spine and ribcage were crushed into gravel, and his organs were eviscerated. The man, his body barely in one piece, was dead before he even hit the ground.

Seraph looked back at Tarnas, who was glaring with concern. “This power is mine, and that’s how I’m going to use it. I’ll annihilate anyone who stands in my way, be it Noah or even you.”

Aithorn perked up, his pointed ears twitching from the thunderclap of Seraph’s attack. He looked out over the sea of buildings and searched for the source. While perched atop the cathedral, his view of Colbrand was absolute, and the crosswind failed to curtail his elven hearing.

“Sir?” asked Alexis, not easing the pull on her bow or looking away from her target. She was staring down the arrow shaft at a reveler, busy looting his slain enemy.

“It’s not your concern. Release.”

Alexis released the arrow, sending it soaring across the sky and striking the man in the back. “He’s down,” she said.

“I see your next target moving around in front of the bakery on your left.”

Alexis nocked another arrow and took aim. It took her several seconds, but she spotted the bakery and the figure in front of it. “I have the shot.”

“Release.”

Another arrow was dispensed, and another life ended.

“Next target?”

“On your right, the two fighting beside the horse stable.”

Alexis took aim at the larger of the two. “I have the shot.”

“Release.”

She missed his chest, but got him in the leg. “He’s on the ground; he’s wounded.”

“Finish him.”

Alexis coolly drew another arrow and shot it at the grounded reveler, ending his thrashing. At the same time, Aithorn used his own bow to kill the other fighter. Scattered throughout the city, there were flickering lights, like fireflies. They were the lanterns of the knights and cadets, used like hunting vests to distinguish them from the revelers. Anyone moving around without one was considered an enemy.

“Next target?”

“I’m looking.”

The evening’s tone never drifted from that steeliness. Everything said was short and to the point, with stretches of unbroken silence in between shots. The quiet productivity was paradise.

Gideon stared at the body before him, the slain knight he had been partnered with. His head was gone, its shredded remains dripping from the clawed fingers of his killer, while rivers of blood stretched between the cobblestone bricks in the road. It had been so fast, Gideon and the knight patrolling a street, when a tall, hooded stranger zoomed over and smashed the knight’s head open with a swing of his hand, like a tomato splattered with a hammer.

“What’s your name?” the figure asked, shaking Gideon from his stupor.

“What?”

“Your name, tell me what it is!”

“You first, mongrel.”

The man began to laugh and pulled back his hood, revealing not a human face, but a wolf’s, with black fur and gleaming eyes. His clawed hands were layered with the same fur, and the structure of his legs was altered to a digitigrade form, so that he stood on his toes.

“You could tell I’m a beastman, and you still insult me? You got some real backbone, kid. I’m going to enjoy ripping it out of you. Theo, that is my name.”

“I’m Gideon, now tell me what do you want.”

“I’m looking for a boy named Noah. Tell me where he is, or you’ll end up like this poor bastard.”

“How would I know where he is? I haven’t seen him all night.”

“Then you’re useless, and unfortunately, I’m not the kind to catch and release. At least if I kill you now, I won’t make the same mistake later.”

“What do you even want with Noah?”

“Don’t worry, your friend will die soon after you.”

“Calling him my friend is a little generous, but still, I don’t like the idea of a feral dog like you stalking a fellow classmate.”

“I bet that big mouth of yours has gotten you in trouble before. Well now, you’re going to get killed by a beastman before you ever reach the front lines. The irony will be your only comfort as you bleed out.”

Gideon put his lantern down and assumed a combat stance, with his hands and feet alight with mana. Rather than carrying a sword, he had supplemented his defense with powerful arm guards. “I think you’ll find that I’m not so easy to kill.”

Theo began to laugh, then shot towards Gideon so fast that it was like he was skipping through time. He stood his ground, and his foe zoomed past him while reaching out with his claws. He deflected the attack and tried to counter with a kick to the temple, but the beastman had already moved out of range. Gideon barely managed to reform his stance when a second slash came, this time from behind. He moved forward just enough so that Theo’s claws only grazed the back of his chest plate. This time, before he could get out of Gideon’s range, he received a mana-enhanced jab to the wrist that left his hand numb.

Theo continued shooting by Gideon, reaching out with his deadly claws like a jouster with his lance. His speed was great enough to leave Gideon in the dust, yet the most he could achieve were some scratches on Gideon’s armor, never managing to deliver a real hit. Gideon dodged and deflected every attack as though brushing him off. Theo changed his strategy, attacking straight-on in rapid-fire swings to try and break through Gideon’s defenses.

Gideon didn’t retreat; he closed in and countered with a storm of his own attacks. The wolf’s claws continued scratching up his armor, even drawing blood once or twice, but every time Gideon landed a blow, he could feel his enemy’s bones threatening to break and blood vessels bursting. Despite the gap in their physical abilities, he was somehow inflicting more damage.

“I don’t know if you’re just stubborn or lucky, but it’s not going to last!” the beastman snarled.

“You may be faster and stronger than me, but I have plenty of experience fighting people like you,” Gideon replied. “Like I said, I’m not easy to kill.”

His foe howled in response and held out his hand, producing a field of mana that projected from each claw, like large scythe blades. “Prey Shredder!”

He swung in an uppercut motion, with the mana field ripping up the street and hurling a wave of dirt and cobblestone at Gideon. Gideon tried to jump back out of range, but he was hit with the earthen barrage, and worse, received five cuts across his chest and crossed arms. It was a Beast Art, a different kind of Martial Art. It combined monk enhancements and shamanism into a more powerful form, producing a level of power that Gideon had yet to achieve.