Chapter 17: Assault

“All right! Here I go!”

Full of energy, the silver-haired young girl strolled through the crowded streets.

Originally, Vita hadn’t been very motivated. She was from the knights’ main headquarters, and had come to Salem on patrol duty as an elite knight.

Given that there was a division of the Imperial Order of Magus Knights in the city, naturally there were quite a few knights stationed there. However, the majority of them belonged to the junior sixth and fifth classes or intermediate fourth and third classes. Elite knights of the second and first classes, like Vita, were assigned to the headquarters at the imperial capital, the better to handle any dangers to the royal family.

If all of the powerful knights were stationed there, however, there would be backlash from other regions—they’d claim that the government cared little for any areas other than the capital. Partly for show, then, higher-ranked knights were routinely sent to patrol other cities.

“Main street, clear! Back alleys, clear!” Vita declared with enthusiasm. “Ooh, a kitty!” she exclaimed, energetically pointing a finger.

Truthfully, until recently, Vita’d thought patrolling a meaningless job. Most criminals were dealt with by the local police or the lower-ranked knights. No ruffian would deliberately cause problems while an elite knight roamed the streets.

The old Vita, upon hearing that Iris—the object of her scorn—was patrolling an area to eradicate aetherborn, had taken on the same job just to meet the vice-captain “by chance” and then get under her skin.

That had been the plan, but now Vita was trying to become a better person.

“Will working hard like this set me on the path of righteousness?” she mused sadly to herself.

Vita’s early upbringing had been normal. As the child of a military family, she too had looked up to the ideal of a knight as a protector of justice.

Instead, the Kaambl family had decided to make her into a protector of their own authority, a knight whose raison d’être was to surpass Iris.

Thus had begun the corruption of Vita’s ideals. All the Kaambls asked of her was to be fiercely loyal to her family and a strong fighter. Her education was best described as military drills. In exchange for power, the young girl had lost her sense of virtue, and her life was emptied of hope. She had no desire to protect the people.

Yet, despite her failings, someone had shown concern for her.

“I wonder what’s going on with Vita right now,” she’d heard Crow say. He’d not only forgiven her for trying to kill him, he’d also been worried about her.

Oh, Crow, Vita thought. Now that I’ve met you, my mind’s a mess.

The idea of defying House Kaambl terrified her, and she still felt a deeply ingrained hatred for Iris. Both of those feelings had been thoroughly and literally whipped into her, and she couldn’t easily let them go.

Still, Vita remembered the joy of being loved and cherished by someone, and hoped to offer that same joy to the people. She longed to be a knight of justice.

I want to be that way too. I want to become a knight who can protect people, bring smiles to their faces. I want to be just like Crow!

With these aspirations blossoming in her heart, Vita began to take her patrol duty seriously. As she walked the streets, she investigated every nook and cranny, intervening in minor disputes between citizens and offering a helping hand to anyone who seemed lost or troubled.

The young knight actively toiled to solve problems she’d previously ignored with excuses such as “Too much of a hassle,” “The police will handle it,” and “A noble lady like me can’t be bothered with the rabble.”

For their part, people appreciated the young knight’s earnestness.

“Look at you, little lady, working hard!”

“Thanks for all the help!”

“Thank you, miss!”

Such words of admiration and gratitude, along with the carefree smiles of the people, tugged at Vita’s heartstrings. “Oh, please, it was nothing!”

Vita found herself smiling effortlessly, her spirits high as she went from place to place. It felt good working hard not to bring someone down but to lift others up. Doing something she could be proud of made her heart sing.

After all that time, Vita was finally savoring the joys of being a knight.

“Now, where to next? Hm...”

After crossing the shopping district, Vita reached a beautiful fountain square. Without realizing, she’d completed her patrol of the entire city and arrived at the inner gates. Well-dressed people crossed into the city one after the other.

“Oh. I guess that’s the end of today’s patrol,” she realized, shrugging her shoulders.

People from the land around the capital were passing through the inner gate. Troublemakers would often try to cross through the outer gate, but the odds of one entering through the inner gate were slim to none.

It’s not that there are no evil people in the capital, she mused, but that the outer world is dangerous, rife with aetherborn, and low on resources. There’s nothing to be gained from venturing outside, away from the capital. For this reason, neither Vita nor the local police were particularly wary of visitors coming through the inner gate. Nevertheless, she figured she would do her due diligence and perform a final check.

“Pickpockets accosting people coming in from the inner side are more of a concern, though... Hm, it doesn’t seem there are any right now. Okay then!” she exclaimed, raising her hands enthusiastically. “Time for my second patrol!”

Turning her back to the gate, she was ready to set off again when she heard a stranger behind her.

“You. You’re a knight, right? How convenient.”

“Huh?”

At that moment, Vita felt a sharp jolt of pain in her back, and she groaned in anguish. The tip of a blade protruded from her chest. Fresh blood gushed from her mouth and torso, and her field of vision dimmed in an instant. As the blade was pulled from her body, a harsh kick connected with her back, sending her tumbling awkwardly across the square.

Coughing and choking, the young girl found it difficult to breathe. Her heart, it seemed, hadn’t been damaged, but the blade had pierced right through a lung. With every desperate breath, blood bubbled forth from her chest.

What’s happening?! Vita asked herself, bewildered. Moments ago, she’d been peacefully going about her day. What could’ve happened all of a sudden?

As she lay on the ground, screams pierced her ears. “Wh-Who the hell are these people?! Aaaaaargh!”

Through her foggy vision, Vita saw a group of people pouring through the inner gate and mowing down the shrieking citizens with aethereal arms.

“What’s...going...on?” she muttered, dazed.

The city, overflowing with smiles mere moments ago, had turned into a hellscape.

“Oh?” exclaimed the man who had just stabbed her. “You’re still breathing, are you? Just as well.” He raised his voice and called out, “Hey, some of you get over here!”

At that, a number of people—all wearing unfamiliar black military uniforms—gathered around Vita.

“Wh-Who are you people?!” she asked, her voice shaky. Between the pain and the malicious gazes of the people around her, her young heart cowered in fear. Yet terrified though she was, Vita’s pride would not allow her to show fear to evildoers like these. “Why are you attacking this city?! Tell me what it is you’re after, filth!” she roared, her voice strong and steady as she glared back at them.

If she could draw attention to herself, it’d make it easier for people to escape, she thought.

“You little... Did you just call us filth?!”

The men began to kick at her fallen form, angrily yelling things like “Fuck you!” and “Get off your high horse, brat!” With no regard for her already-serious injury, they struck her violently as one, murder in their eyes.

Pain and shock coursed through her veins, clouding her consciousness. Still, she resisted, demanding, “Ugh! T-Tell me, you...bastards! Who...are you?!”

Vita held back her cries, telling herself, It doesn’t hurt. It’s not that bad. For better or worse, her abusive upbringing had borne fruit. Valiantly pushing through the unbearable pain, she continued to yell at the villains.

She hoped the people would manage to escape and call for her comrades. Surely they would come to her aid!

“Hah! What a good little knight you are,” said the man who’d stabbed her. “All this torment and you won’t even cry? Very well, then.” He turned to the other men. “Stop, all of you! Let’s reward the noble lady here by telling her who we are, shall we?”

To Vita, he looked like a ravenous fox, his upturned eyes glinting with aggression.

Gesturing at the seven-pointed star badge on his black uniform, he shouted at the breathless young girl, “We are Wanpurgis, the Order of the Black Star! We’ll bring true equality to this world!”

“W-Wanpurgis?”

Oddly enough, Vita had heard the name before.

Some time ago, while passing by the parlor at the Kaambl residence, she’d overheard her father speaking to someone. Vita had no taste for eavesdropping—being discovered meant severe corporal punishment—and so she’d left immediately. But one word had caught her ear.

Wanpurgis, she echoed in her mind, puzzled. Why the same word from that day?

Oblivious to her confusion, the man continued, “A thousand years ago, the deluge of aether turned the supernatural into reality! People, once driven to the brink of extinction, used that power to fight the aetherborn and eventually restored humanity’s dominance, even reestablishing nations! Ah, the marvelous resilience of mankind!” the fox-eyed man said in an almost singsong tone, offering heartfelt praise to the people of the past.

“Now we have achieved some level of peace once more,” he went on. “But say, little knight, there are a lot of corrupt people in this era, wouldn’t you agree?! Rotten noblemen, waving their authority around, riding on the coattails of their ancestors’ glory!”

Vita couldn’t deny the man’s words. She was, after all, the descendant of a corrupt noble family herself.

“You know what comes next, don’t you?” the man asked. “That’s right. Humans began to stabilize, and as a result, this repulsive inequality was born! The Spirit Wall of Berlin divides us between inner and outer zones, allowing the chosen to live carefree within its boundaries. Disgusting, don’t you agree?!”

“I...” Vita faltered. The man spoke like a prophet, and the girl found herself nodding at his words.

She’d been certain that they were simple villains, come to sow chaos, to loot and plunder. And yet...

“We were born in the outer zone, you see. Day after day, we lived in fear of the aetherborn, longing for that peaceful capital far, far away! So much jealousy! So much envy! Not one night went by when we didn’t lament living in our miserable village! Why couldn’t we be the ones to live in safety?!”

Tears began to stream down the fox-eyed man’s face, and the others nodded firmly, as if overcome by emotion themselves.

What...are these people?

They were nothing like what Vita had imagined evil to be. These men had a solid rationale, understandable circumstances, and bonds with their fellows.

As she teetered on the edge of unconsciousness, the young girl thought that maybe, if they had their own sense of righteousness in their hearts, they might be open to conversation.

“And then,” the man continued, “fate brought us and our great leader together. He told us, ‘Let us destroy it all. Crush the Four Cardinal Cities to dust, lead an army of aetherborn into the capital, and have them all share in our anguish!’ Marvelous! Truly the righteous hammer of justice we sought!”

“What?” Vita exclaimed, startled. She understood then that the justice they spoke of was nothing like her idea of it.

Conversation was not an option.

“Ten years have passed. Steadily, diligently, we’ve prepared for this day, and the time for action has finally come!” the man exclaimed zealously. “Now, my friends, let us destroy everything in sight! Let us create peace through violence! Carve the despair we have felt into every last one of them!”

The black-clad men roared, their bloodshot eyes shining with frenzied madness.

Rationale? Circumstances? Bonds? All an illusion, Vita realized. These people were drunk on violence, nothing more. Lunatics, deluding themselves into thinking they’d be the ones to bring about change to the nation.

“Righteous hammer of justice?” she spat with her last ounce of energy. “Don’t make me laugh. You’re nothing but filth!”

The fox-eyed man cocked his head back at Vita’s words, disgusted.

“A pretty thing like you must be the daughter of a military aristocrat, no? Someone like you would never understand our ideals,” the man said, thrusting his arm at the young girl.

Around his wrist was a bracelet adorned with a gray stone, from which a faint hint of aether emanated.

“Ah, but we don’t want you dead before I introduce myself, do we? I am Nya Vincent, one of the Wanpurgis’s Seven!”

As he shouted his name, more aether gushed forth from his bracelet, and a gray, smoky phosphorescence oozed down toward Vita.

“Drown in despair, girl!”

Vita shrieked as the man slowly approached her.

Blood loss had already rendered her immobile, and the black-clad men had also stomped on her arms, legs, and back. She couldn’t so much as move a muscle, let alone grip her dagger’s hilt to activate its powers. They had her completely cornered.

“I can tell looking at you that your body is toned despite your age. Now, you and I will—”

What was he going to do to her? Vita didn’t know. She didn’t want to know. All she could do was tremble in fear, waiting for despair to strike.

“Nooo!” she screamed.

And in that moment, just as she was about to fall prey to evil, an angry cry reverberated from the heavens!

“Bastaaaaaard!”

“Gwahhhhh!” With a single flash of a blade, the fox-eyed man was cleft in twain, the two halves of his body sliding apart as a geyser of blood gushed forth!

The other men in black, reacting a moment too late to the sudden assault, shouted in anger.

“Wh-Who the hell are you?!”

“How dare you!”

Instead of faltering, however, he glared at the men with transcendental rage, making them recoil.

Vita felt it deep within her heart. This was what righteous anger truly was! He was the righteous knight she had dreamed of as a child!

Shedding tears of relief, the young knight groaned and yelled out the name of her savior, “Crow...!” He’d really come for her! At the brink of despair, he’d come to her rescue! “Be careful, Crow!” she cried out. “These men are dark magi! They’re dangerous!”

There were dozens of them, all wielding what seemed to be aethereal arms. Far too dangerous for one man to handle alone.

However, despite the very warning she’d given him, Vita couldn’t think of anything that could cow Crow’s spirit. Instead, the fire in his heart burned even brighter, and he declared, “Outsiders! You dare torture a young girl and disturb the peace of this city?! I hereby condemn you for your sins!”

His words sent something like an electrical current coursing through Vita’s body, a sensation so sweet it nullified the pain in her chest. Before the dignified, heroic young man, Vita lay entranced, having all but forgotten her predicament.

“Oh! Ohhhh, Crow! Crow...! ♡”

She had, without a shadow of a doubt, fallen completely and utterly in love with him.

The young knight no longer had eyes for anything else. A future where she would be safely cradled in the brave hero’s strong arms was all she could envision.

“Perish!”

The fierce battle that followed drove Vita’s heart rate to its limit.

Crow danced across the battlefield, undaunted, unflinching—slicing, cutting, and slashing without hesitation, as though he had no regard for his own body. Unparalleled, black blade in hand, he was the very picture of carnage.

Terrified, the men in black pushed their aethereal arms to the limit, and exhausting the weapons’ aether was the least of their concerns. They unleashed fire, lightning, and ice in an astonishing storm of attacks, far more powerful than what was necessary to kill a single man.

None of it made Crow hesitate. He launched himself at his enemies, in what could only be described as a suicide charge.

With a deafening roar, the black-haired swordsman unleashed a flurry of slashes at his opponents. One after another, he annihilated the wicked men, unfazed even as many of their attacks grazed him.

On her hands and knees, Vita gazed up at Crow as if looking upon a god, unable to contain her feelings for him.

Ah, I don’t know whether I can be a righteous knight. But I want to be a woman fit to stand at your side!

The young knight’s feelings were running wild. Respect turned to love, and love turned to passion. Energized by her newfound feelings, she gripped the aethereal blade at her waist, chanting, “Awaken, o Fragarach, the Vengeful Gale!”

Instantly, violet gales began to flurry around her.

Moments ago, she hadn’t been able to lift a single finger. She was losing blood and out of air, her heart about to stop. Now, however, it didn’t matter.

I don’t care about any of that! If I don’t at least put up a fight, I’ll never be worthy of Crow!

Gathering the last of her strength, clad in wind, the young girl made a mad dash for the last remaining enemies—a group of men in black who had cunningly been trying to attack Crow from his blind spot—thrusting at them in a murderous rage.

“Diiiiiie!”

With a flash of her wind blade, before the men even had a chance to react, she slashed off their heads, scattering fresh, wicked blood everywhere.

A sense of accomplishment as a knight filled her young heart.

“I-I did it... I got them...” she heaved, having reached her limit.

Vita collapsed where she stood. Before she hit the stone pavement, however, a pair of strong arms caught her.

“C-Crow...”

“You’ve done well, Vita. You have my thanks,” Crow said with a smile.

“Oh...!” Those words made tears flow freely from her eyes. Her vision, already compromised by the blood loss, blurred even further. “I-I’m the one...who should thank you, Crow...”

Vita was immensely grateful. He hadn’t just rescued her from being fated to walk the path of darkness—he’d also rescued her from a deadly fate. What a wonderful man!

The young girl poured all of her gratitude, all of her feelings, into a heartfelt smile of her own.

But at the same moment Crow had uttered those words—

Dude, seriously, thank you! My whole body’s crumbling to dust! Do you know how hard it is to fight like that?! I’m sooo grateful! You saved me, even in the condition you’re in!

Crow was probably more grateful to Vita than she was to him.

His heroic act but a facade, he’d actually been forced to descend upon the group of enemies, holding back tears as he swung his blade around, mentally arguing with his sword all the while.

“Ah shit, my muscles are tattered! Also, I keep getting hit everywhere! That hurts! What happened to keeping me safe, Muramasa?!”

“VESSEL. YOUR PHYSIQUE IS INSUFFICIENT. UNFORTUNATE.”

“What did you just say to me?! Say that again, I dare you!”

As Vita expressed her gratitude, she had no inkling of the absurd goings-on inside the man before her.