Book 7: Seventh Shared Rule of the Twelve Holy Knights: “When the Sun Knight and the Judgment Knight Have a Falling Out, Follow the Sun Knight’s Commands – Unless the Su
Lesus looked at the documents with his head lowered. When he noticed something that was not within his responsibilities, he lifted his head up, wanting to ask Knight-Captain Storm out of habit. Instead, he discovered that Knight-Captain Storm’s seat was empty… He froze for a moment before remembering that Ceo had gone with Grisia to the Cathedral of the Shadow God some time ago.
He lifted his head up to survey the conference room. The fact was, it was not only the Storm Knight’s seat that was empty; many of the seats were currently empty.
At the moment, only himself, Ecilan Ice, and Aivis Stone were left in the Church. It was only when the three of them had to operate the Church by themselves, which was usually the joint responsibility assumed by all twelve of them, that they realized that the Church of the God of Light had so many devotees and branches, even though the Pope always lamented that the influence of the Church of the God of Light was far from what it used to be in the past.
However, who knew exactly how long ago the past that he mentioned was?
For as far back as Lesus’ memory went, the Church of the God of Light’s influence had always been more or less the current situation. When Grisia had started taking over some of the work — at that time he was probably only fifteen — the Church’s influence even had an ascending trend.
“Captain Judgment?”
Lesus regained his senses and turned around to look. It was Ecilan calling him, and even Aivis’ attention had been drawn over.
“I’m fine.” Lesus calmly said, “I’m only somewhat not used to… it being so quiet.”
“It truly is rather hard to get used to.” Aivis smiled as he shook his head, saying, “Usually, I would be bothered by Blaze’s voice being too loud, Metal’s voice being too sharp, or Storm dealing with paperwork until he blows his top… Right now, I instead find myself missing those noises a little.”
Ecilan nodded his head as well, adding on, “And Sun’s long speeches of nonsense.”
“Right!” Aivis started laughing loudly. “Sun’s nonsense is scarier than any other noises out there!”
At this moment, the three of them abruptly felt something. They stood up promptly, but before they had time to process anything, a giant arched door had appeared, floating in mid-air.
Outside the door, it was the conference room that the Twelve Holy Knights usually used for meetings, but inside the door, it was actually a completely different scene!
There was a throne, a black throne!
There was a man sitting on the throne. He had a head of long black hair and skin as white as snow. His good-looking facial features formed an expression filled with languidness. He was wearing a black robe, and on his head there was even a small crown!
However, all that was not the main point. What truly stood out were actually his eyes. They were a pair of eyes that were pure black without even a single trace of white in the sclera.
It took a long time for Aivis before he realized who the person sitting on top of the throne was. He exclaimed, “Sun!”
Grisia gave a smile. From his side, he looked at the scene within the door, saying, “Oh, my. I was only testing, I didn’t think that it would actually succeed… Then again, it has never crossed my mind that it would fail either.”
Lesus looked closely at Grisia. He wasn’t too shocked that the other had become the Demon King. Actually, he already had a faint hunch about for some time. After all, Grisia had absolutely no way to resolve the problem of his blindness.
What made him truly shocked were the two black pupils of Grisia’s eyes. Originally, there had been a little golden twinkle to them, making those eyes look like a starry night. However, right now, the golden twinkle had vanished, leaving only a patch of pitch black.
This made him feel rather uneasy. Especially along with Grisia’s attire and the attitude that he was showing now, something was extremely wrong.
“Where are the others?” Lesus opened his mouth to question. He was really feeling a little nervous, though he didn’t think that Grisia would harm the others either.
“Don’t worry.” Grisia said lazily, “They are in the Cathedral of the Shadow God together with Roland. They might already be journeying back to the Church of the God of Light? Oh right, Lesus, I’m not going back anymore.” His tone was relaxed, as if he were saying that he was going to stay overnight somewhere else today and hence he wouldn’t be coming home.
“You’re not coming back?” The uneasiness he felt finally made sense. His brows gradually furrowed tighter together as he said in a deep voice, “If you don’t come back, then who is going to be responsible for the Sun Knight’s duties?”
“Just let Adair replace me!” Grisia seemed not to mind as he replied, “He’s very capable, so there definitely wouldn’t be any problems!”
Hearing that, Aivis and Ecilan became startled. Aivis couldn’t help but give a shout, “Sun! What are you saying? You have to come back! You are the Sun Knight!”
“Sun Knight?” Grisia started laughing quietly, “Currently, I am already the Demon King, can’t you tell? I can do whatever I want! Why should I still go back and be the Sun Knight who can’t do anything?”
As he spoke, his voice grew higher. He said in dissatisfaction, “Can’t use magic, have to be elegant no matter what I do, must maintain a radiant smile, can’t even give a large roar, can’t even drink; you tell me, why should I go back and seek suffering! I’m not like Metal, who is sick in the head and likes to be abused by others!”
Aivis opened his mouth but could not speak a single word.
Sun actually said that Metal is sick in the head? Though everyone might have inwardly felt that liking to be abused is not something that could be broadcasted, they had never looked down on Metal because of that. As long as he fulfilled the duties of the Metal Knight and didn’t break any laws, then nobody could reprimand him. Wasn’t this the rule that everyone had obeyed?
What exactly was going on with Sun right now?
Aivis turned his head to look at Judgment Knight, as if crying for help. The latter had always been Sun’s keeper! Unexpectedly, he instead received a huge fright. That was because Lesus Judgment’s face right now was so terrifying that no one would dare look at him directly.
Lesus growled, “Grisia Sun, return to the Holy Temple immediately!”
“Oh?” Unexpectedly, Grisia who had all along been the most scared of Judgment Knight only smiled as he said, “What if I don’t return?”
“You are the Sun Knight. If you don’t return to the Church of the God of Light, where else do you intend to go?”
As though it was a matter of fact, Grisia replied, “Right now, I’m the Demon King. Of course I would stay in the Shadow Cathedral… No, ’my‘ cathedral!”
Lesus gave a roar of rage, “Even if you are the Demon King, you are also the Sun Knight. You better come back to the Church of the God of Light!”
Grisia gave a laugh. “I don’t wish to talk to you any longer. Your expression is sure ugly! Even if I use my sensing, it’s equally bad! If you wish to find me, then come to my cathedral! However, I’m not going to welcome you with open doors. If you want to come in, then fight your way in! Judgment Knight.”
At this moment, Lesus drew out the Divine Judgment Sword, and he advanced forward in sudden, large strides. As he brandished his sword, he shouted angrily, “You’re not allowed to leave!”
However, someone blocked his swing. Wearing an entire set of a black armor with silver patterns and wielding a similarly styled sword in his hands, Awaitsun blocked Lesus’ attack. On his face, he didn’t show any expression at all, looking almost as though he didn’t recognize the other person.
“You sure have guts to actually dare to brandish a sword at me!” Grisia seemed to be a little enraged as he said that. After he finished speaking, he casually waved his hand, and a blade made out of a large, concentrated amount of dark element flew out.
At this moment, the person whom Lesus was fully on alert against was Awaitsun. He had forgotten, or perhaps he completely didn’t believe that Grisia would really lay a hand on him. Hence, this blow hit him squarely, and he was even sent flying for a short distance by the force of the impact. He knocked into the chair behind him, and in the end fell to the floor.
“Captain Judgment!” The shout slipped from Aivis’ mouth, yet he didn’t take any action. The truth was, his brain was a little confused.
Sun actually dared to raise a hand against Judgment to attack him… How could this kind of thing possibly happen?
“I’m not scared of you, Lesus! I have never been scared.” Grisia ferociously said, “Even if your swordsmanship is very good, so what? I have at least a hundred methods to kill you discreetly!”
“So?” Lesus wiped off the blood from the corner of his mouth. He stood back up and retorted, “It’s been more than ten years. Within this time, why haven’t you killed me discreetly?”
“Sun, y-you, how could you raise a hand against Judg…” Ecilan shouted in disbelief.
Grisia gave a growl back in dissatisfaction, “It’s Grisia!”
Lesus frowned as he asked, “Why do you mind the names so much?”
“Why do you guys not care about the names in the least bit?” Grisia exploded in fury as he roared, “What Sun, Judgment, they’re totally the titles of the first generation of the Twelve Holy Knights. Don’t tell me that you guys really think of yourselves as the first generation Twelve Holy Knights? Those are not our names! I am not him, I am not the first generation Sun Knight. I’m not elegant, I’m not straightforward and upright, my swordsmanship is simply not good, and I simply like to drink wine! Why must I be forced to learn to be like him?”
“You forgot?” Lesus froze for a moment, saying, “The answer to this question was even something that you told me yourself. That’s because-“
“I don’t want to hear it.” Grisia interrupted his words with an angry roar, “I don’t at all care about that answer! Do you hear me? I. Do. Not. Care!”
Hearing that, it was as if Lesus had been dunked in ice. It was because the answer was…
Satisfied in seeing Lesus no longer opening his mouth, Grisia slowly opened his mouth to say, “Farewell, Twelve Holy Knights. You guys shall now forever become part of my memories… It actually sounds pretty romantic! Hahahaha!
“Oh, that’s right! I’ll return the Divine Sun Sword to you guys. Just treat it as a farewell gift.”
An arc of light formed, and the sound of metal dropping onto the floor resounded. At the same time, the arched door closed. The conference room returned to the silence it held before… No, it became even more silent than it had been. It was practically dead silent.
Within the dead silence, Ecilan started to ask, “Captain Judgment, what is the solution?”
Lesus opened his mouth, but instead said, “Nothing. In any case, he doesn’t care anymore.”
Aivis asked in unease, “Captain Judgment, we… have we lost the Sun Knight?”
Hearing that, Lesus’ lips pursed tightly. He walked over to pick up the Divine Sun Sword had had been thrown onto the ground. This sword really should not have to suffer this kind of treatment.
Each of Lesus’ hands was holding onto a divine sword. In order to suppress the uneasiness in his heart, even the joints of his fingers had gone white from clutching the swords too tightly.
“Captain Judgment, Sun…” Aivis asked with his face pale.
Lesus didn’t turn around, but only commanded, “Don’t be in a daze. There is still a lot to do. Call the punitive expedition army back, and all of the Twelve Holy Knights are to return to the Church. Even the former Twelve Holy Knights are to be requested to come back to the Church of the God of Light.”
“Captain Judgment! We…” Ecilan couldn’t help but say it too.
Lesus let out an enraged roar, “Yes! We have lost him.”
Hearing this reply, both Aivis and Ecilan fell silent. They were the holy knight captains who were under Judgment Knight, yet they felt like the world was in a state of chaos and darkness upon hearing this statement. They simply didn’t dare to imagine what kind of reaction the holy knight captains under the Sun Knight would have upon hearing this news… Of course, Storm should have already known about this though.
The three of them fell silent for a moment. In this time period, Lesus tried his best to adjust his breathing. His breathing that was a little heavy due to his agitation gradually calmed down. Trying to be as calm as he could, he said, “We can’t waste any more time. There are still a lot of preparations to do.”
“Preparations for what?” Aivis asked, not understanding.
The matter regarding the Demon King had finally been resolved, yet the Sun Knight wasn’t here anymore. What else do they have to prepare for now?
Lesus was unable to keep his calm anymore. With a slice of his blade, the tremendous power of the sword together with his battle aura split the conference table used by twelve people into pieces, filling the entire room.
“Prepare to bring the Sun Knight back!”