Regaleon: The Forgotten Knight

The golden light did not simply appear... It descended.

For a fraction of a second, the entire battlefield fell into a strange silence, as though the world itself had paused to acknowledge what was about to emerge.

BOOM!

A violent surge of golden radiance erupted from Maverick’s body and spread outward in a crushing wave. Snow lifted off the ground in a spiraling storm while frostwood branches above trembled violently as if something immense had brushed past them.

Even the air seemed to thicken, weighed down by an invisible authority pressing across the frozen road.

Even the assassins faltered slightly; not from fear, but from an invisible oppression pressing deep on something fundamental within them...

Then, his Soul Essences manifested fully...

Golden Armour flowed across Maverick’s body in segments, each piece forming as though sculpted by invisible hands.

The chestplate sealed first, engraved with glowing runes that pulsed like a living heartbeat. Pauldrons followed, wide and heavy, shaped with layered ridges that gave the Armour a predatory silhouette.

His gauntlets locked into place with a metallic resonance that echoed across the forest. Then the legs... Then the helm.

And finally, the crimson cape unfolded behind him...

The cape did not falter gently; instead, it snapped outward like a living banner soaked in war, trailing behind him in the northern wind. Against the white snow and pale auroras, the cape looked almost unnatural, like blood that refused to freeze...

And then, the War Hammer manifested next...

It appeared slowly at first, suspended in golden particles of condensed Aether, before solidifying into a massive weapon that seemed to heavy for any human to wield.

The hammerhead alone carried the weight of a siege weapon. Its surface was engraved with layered runes that shimmered faintly with internal pressure.

Every pulse of Aether it emitted caused the snow beneath Maverick’s feet to sink slightly...

These two were King Tier weapons; true King Tier Soul Essences...

Maverick Valehart did not move immediately. Instead, he simply tilted his head as he observed the assassin lunging at him.

Under the helm, his expression was unreadable...

The assassin exploded forward, twin Daggers already extended and reinforced with condensed Aether that distorted the air around them.

His movement was a blur as he dissolved into streaks of shadows beneath breaths...

The Daggers closed in, but Maverick did not retreat. When the assassin was finally within range, Maverick raised his War Hammer half a degree to the side... And swung.

BOOM!

The impact was catastrophic...

The collision between Hammer and Daggers created a pressure explosion that flattened the snow in a circular radius...

CRACK!

The assassin crossed his Daggers before him but that turned out to be a mistake...

The Daggers did not merely break, they ceased to exist in coherent form as they shattered into glowing fragments of metal and Aether that scattered like dying sparks.

The assassin reeled backward and spat out a mouthful of blood due to the backlash of his destroyed Essences...

Shock and not even registered fully in his mind when Maverick swung out once more...

BOOM!

There was no hesitation as the young noble struck the assassin directly in the chest...

His body folded inward instantly; bone gave way before muscle could resist. Then... The body ruptured.

A violent explosion of blood, shattered bone, and torn flesh sprayed across the snow in a wide arc. The sound was not elegant; instead, it was raw, wet, and final.

Silence followed for half a heartbeat and even the wind seemed unsure whether to continue moving...

Maverick rotated the Hammer once in his hand; blood slid off its surface and dripped into the snow.

Then... There was a shift.

Behind him, the air darkened as a second assassin emerged from his shadow seamlessly.

One moment there was nothing... The next, a figure rise directly behind Maverick as if birthed by darkness itself.

A Katana descended, aimed precisely at the seam beneath his pauldron. It was a fatal angle... And the assassin committed fully.

CLANG!

The blade struck. Sparks erupted violently across the golden Armour...

The force was immense, but the Armour was fine. The strike that could have torn through other knights’ armour didn’t even damage Maverick’s.

Instead of damaging the Armour, the Katana itself snapped into two from the force...

The assassin froze for the briefest instance... And that was a fatal reaction...

Maverick turned his head in an almost casual manner. Under the helm, his lips curled into a mirthless smirk and then... The War Hammer moved again...

The assassin tried to disengage, shifting backward into the shadows... But he was too slow as the Hammer caught him sideways.

CRACK!

The sound of ribs breaking was sharp, even through the battlefield noise.

The assassin’s body bent unnaturally around the impact, like a fabric being twisted by an unseen hand. He was thrown across the snow, tumbling violently before crashing into a frostwood root.

Then, he coughed blood immediately...

Maverick didn’t give him time to recover. The snow beneath him cracked as he crossed the distance in a single motion...

The assassin attempted to rise, raising another Katana defensively but he never completed the motion before the War Hammer descended...

BOOM!

The impact obliterated the assassin completely as blood mist expanded outward in a thick red bloom that stained the white snow and nearby tree bark.

The ground itself caved slightly under the weight of the strike...

When the Hammer was lifted again, nothing recognizable remained; only gore and ichor.

In a span of a few breaths, two assassins were gone. And by now, the battlefield had already changed as the remaining assassins shifted formation...

Nearby, Commander Dren was locked in a brutal combat as three assassins circled him with a coordinated precision...

His Greatsword swung in wide arcs, each movement reinforced with silver Aether that carvee luminous trails through the air...

BOOM!

He released a crescent wave of Aether which tore across the battlefield like a blade of light...

One would have expected the assassins to dodge or something, but they didn’t.

Instead, they channeled Aether into the runic talismans strapped across their body...

Faint runes lit up and then suddenly, their forms flickered as they became translucent. Immediately after, the crescent Aether simply passer through them harmlessly...

Dren’s eyes narrowed sharply as he watched this scene...

The wave continued past them and exploded into the frostwoods behind, tearing apart the ancient trunks like paper..

Immediately after, the trio advanced.

Shadows gathered around as one of them channeled Aether into his cloak...

The cloak expanded as darkness spilled outward and within seconds, Commander Dren along with the three assassins were swallowed into a sphere of black mist.

Instantly, the battlefield lost sight of them and only the sound of their battle remained...

CLANG! CLANG!! CLANG!!!

Metal struck against metal within the darkness. Aether detonations flickered faintly like dying stars trapped inside a void as they fought...

Then... A thin line of silver light burst outward from the darkness, slicing through multiple frostwood trunks in a straight path before vanishing into the distance...

A muffled scream echoed briefly and then, there was a silence again...

Elsewhere, an assassin broke formation suddenly.

He did not move to engage the knights; instead, he ran toward the carriage in quick shadowy bursts...

Maverick noticed him immediately and without hesitation, he moved to intercept the assassin. But before he could move further, another assassin obstructed him...

Twin Katanas struck at him...

CLANG!

Maverick raised his Hammer to block instinctively... But this time, the force behind the attacks were different...

They were heavier, and more refined than the attacks of the previous assassins.

Maverick’s eyes narrowed beneath his helm.

”...King Tier Katanas?” He muttered.

There was no response; only relentless pressure as the assassin intensified with his attacks.

He moved with terrifying precision, forcing Maverick into a defensive rhythm for the first time since the battle began.

He needed to be careful this time because just like him, the assassin also had two King Tier Soul Essences...

Every strike was targeted at his weak points and every angle was calculated as the assassin fought with a horrifying efficiency. There was no wasted movements; no wasted swings nor were there wasted slashes...

Behind them, the carriage door burst open as the assassin reached it...

He was yet to move when he suddenly froze...

WHOOSH!

Before the assassin could react... He disappeared. There was no struggle nor resistance; only vaporized blood and shattered remnants as the assassin exploded into blood mist.

There was silence for a brief moment before Maverick spoke coldly.

”... Idiot.”

Of everyone in the convoy, that assassin was actually foolish enough to want to attack Goldric. If he is not an idiot, then what was he?

After that, the battlefield shifted again. And this time, Maverick’s grip on his Hammer tightened as he knew that the true battle was just about to begin...