Now we return to the academy, on a comfortable bed, of which went to waste, armour isn't exactly fitting attire to go to bed with.
The Knight was still thinking about the fact concerning the time concept. Sure, the Knight had an almost flawless understanding of skills and powers but the fight with the spirit had opened the facet to an even deeper understanding. Skills are the things a being is able to do, special skills being what the being specialises in. Powers are authority. A being takes full or partial authority over a property about the world(s).
The authorities the Knight has dominion over were fear, and authority over authority itself. The first one is simple, but the second just means that while in the Knight's void territory, all forms of authority are striped, except the Knight's own authority. The reason time had slowed was because the Knight had taken the authority over time away, but because the being using this authority is not present, the authority was only partially removed.
The Knight had seen that the spirits authority was over the connection between things, but more specifically between soul and body. The type of authority adheres to the specific being. That is what was being meant by shape of soul. The soul forms into the cog used to move the system.
In the spirits example, it had a deep connection to its summoner, thus, its shape was suitable to be the cog moving the system of connections. The shape of the Knight's soul was that incurring fear; thus, it is the visage of terror, the absolute rule over fear.
The dreaded power was even more attune to how the Knight possess a void territory, where nothing within should not be. This made the Knight think, just what does the shape of its soul look like to be able to accommodate seven powers? It must be one disturbing soul to look at, but since the Knight compressed its soul, those capable of seeing it, only catch glimpses.
While these are good observations there are other observations the Knight has made concerning the powers. One was about time. If it is a property being ruled by someone, then this means that time is not flowing how it would have if it did not have a ruler, it is flowing according to the whims of the one currently using the power. Just what shape does this soul look like?
Good thing the Knight was extensively informed about the compositions and shapes of souls, so it would not be hard to spot the soul shaped for time, the hard part would be finding it, if the Knight even needs to find it.
The next two questions concern powers in general. First, do powers still exist if there is no cog using them? This would be yes, the cog merely moves them to its preference, just like how fear already exists intrinsic of the Knight. The next question is, what happens when multiple cogs are trying to move the system? This just means that the most powerful cog has the most effect, while there is partial use, or use by section. This would explain Commander Campbell, he is not strong enough to possess full authority over space – it sure is one ambitious power to seek.
Now the Knight saw why the shapes of souls cannot bare more than a single power, and why shapeless souls have more potential than shaped souls. Shapeless souls can take any form even if it is harder, these would be the pure souls, the humans' souls.
The shaped souls – would be the descendants of the first ones to shape their souls – only have one path, although it is easier to reach. 'I wonder what is more advantageous?' Another thing to wonder is, what if someone controlled multiple cogs?
Must be impossible since the cogs move in their own systems, so instead, what if someone moved multiple cogs in one system? Meaning that they could not use multiple powers but use a specific power way more potently, without being the largest cog. Imagining Mugaw, the Knight thought, 'I guess that's what a disaster type soul is capable off.'
Just as the Knight was thinking this, light slowly crept into its eyes, it was waking up, naturally this time. "How long has it been Mugaw?"
"Just a few months. You did not overdo it this time. Waiting a decade is a task I am not willing to do again. Anyway, when did you get so terrifying. That was a divine spirit, I am not sure what one is doing following a monster, but those are terrifying beings. I guess I can brag that my boss is truly a boss. With that much power, you did not need to play all those tricks with me, good thing you did not have them, huh."
"Don't you mean good thing you held back. I'm onto you Mugaw… A full month huh?"
The Knight looked around the room, looks like they trusted their Commander and brought it back home. 'I wonder if the Banneret came back? What does it mean brag?'
Then Zuri walked in with a half-tired look on her face, she was not even properly dressed for the morning, her hair was a mess, and she said, "Good morning." She was walking out of the room, out of routine, then she turned around and looked back, "wait! what? You're actually up?"
"She has been doing this every morning, if you're wondering."
She did not hear Mugaw, but she had a strange look on her face. She ran out and closed the door. An hour later she returned, this time she was dressed like a proper official. "We would have buried you, you know!"
She looked at the Knight as it laid there still silent, and she continued. "They could not remove your armour, everyone, even the pattern smiths could not. When anyone tried to look inside to see if you were alive, a creepy voice would warn them not to look. We were all so worried, your chest was not even breathing doing the breathing motions. In the end, an appraisal tool used to check from long distance if someone is still alive was used, and that's why we didn't burry you..."
The Knight now realised that it had not left a full explanation of what to do when it collapses, it was shocking to see that the Knight was still alive even after not eating a single morsel of food or water for months, and if not for Mugaw they could have seen why.
The Knight had always figured Mugaw could talk to people, but the Knight never cared to check, 'that means the thing at least knows that it's better to keep my plans moving than to hinder me.' The reason they had not freaked out was because there were all kinds of skills and powers out there, they had chosen not to pry.
"…"
The Knight did not have anything to say. Good thing Zuri did, "In any case, it is good to see that you woke up, the no food and water part was really putting us on the summit of our mountain of worries."
"Our?"
"Oh! you don't know? Come with me."
She dragged the Knight to the waiting room like the first day, and then she came back after an hour. When she dragged the Knight past the gates of the academy, the Knight was assaulted by a cacophony of noises, all concatenating to form an endless ring.
"Commander Knight! Commander Knight! Commander Knight!" On a redundant loop. When it quieted down, Zuri rose her voice just a little and explained, "When your squadron came back, they had tales of how you defended the whole city. These are the cheers for the hero."
The Knight looked away from her and onto the crowd, with a distant look, looking further than the people, further than the city, off onto the distant horizon.
Soon the cheering stopped, and the Knight was escorted back while Zuri was explaining the events that followed. "Usually, when a disaster that huge strikes, there are multiple squadrons lost, that is until a knight Bachelor or Banneret shows up. Not only that, but you also managed to push back the darkness covering half the city, which is a feat only known to the Bannerets.
This has revitalised the economy of the city, in a year or two, there will be a spread of the city back to the uninhabited areas, and maybe even a full reverse evacuation, bringing those willing, back to the city. Most had thought this city doomed, you have brought the hopes of those in Maroon city back up."
'Looks like they have all fooled themselves into thinking that the void had been pushed back, not only that, but they are also the same fools who have placed their hopes on the one with that void, I can still feel their sickening believes.'
Ever since waking up, the Knight has been sensitive to the feelings of humans. The Knight could feel on a simple level what the people around it were feeling, like how it had sensed and eventually figured out what the contract between the angel and devil was. Zuri was an example, she felt so glad of herself, probably because she had been put in charge of the Knight's affairs. She was supposed to leave with Banneret Vice, but she asked to stay and look after the Knight, so some of this good news was even better news for her.
Soon they got to the squad's barracks, and when they saw the Knight, they glowed with joy. They were the ones whose lives the Knight had saved directly. As soon as the Knight looked around their faces turned sour, as one of them stepped forward to announce all those who have died, rank and station.
When they were finished, they kept quiet waiting for the Knight to say something. In the end though, the Knight said nothing. It's not like it was known for being chatty. It just bowed and walked out. They had at the very least been healed of their physical injuries, and they are knights, so they had been steeled for loss ages ago.
***
Time passed until the year was due. Things had gotten better for the city, it was doing so good the Knight had just encountered a beast folk who was just passing through, a week ago. The deeds of the Knight had been spread far and wide, this is why these merchant wanted to meet the infamous Commander Knight.
The patrols had been changed, for one, the knights were mostly just stationed on the walls, this is because some of the police and soldiers had been issued a call to come back, so they patrolled the streets of the city, as it should be. The next major change is that with some clients returning, adventurers returned in bulk. Monster hunting was lower, there was no dungeon anymore, so there was nothing attracting monsters nearby. Some did get pulled by the smell of humans, but they were handled with relative ease.
Then came the command. The Knight had applied to become a junior knight Bachelor, which was excepted, but the test was to be done at the headquarters since there was no Banneret here to facilitate it.
The Knight would have been sent alone, but since the squadron the Knight was in charge of was originally from there, thus, the forces were spread too much in favour of this city, an official order had been issued for the Knight to leave Maroon city. It was because the ever-present danger was no more.
They were not as foolish as to hope for the best, this was a strategic manoeuvre. From headquarters it is easier to issue out knights to disaster areas, so should the need come for the Knight to be needed elsewhere, then it would be sent there quicker from HQ. The Knight might become a knight Bachelor after all; it is better that it can be sent to other areas quicker.
There was also the fact that now that the darkness was gone, and there was no dungeon anywhere near, so just like that, this city had just become one of the safest places to be, so it did not make sense to focus so many knights there, since most dangers are monsters which is not the specialty of knights. This area could be reached in a heartbeat should the darkness return, it was still under strict observation.
This is also why the city had decided to throw a feast for the Knight before it left.