The Knight had actually thought of this after it heard the report made by that knight.
Not only did Banneret Sharli explicitly ban their interference with the dark knights calling them nuisances that will be dealt with later, but they would be back in a year or so. And the Knight was going to beat Banneret Sharli to the punch.
The knights were facing against the edges of the darkness of the oceanic darkness that had started to bulge towards the city a decade ago, even if it was far.
This is also right when the dark knight began to mobilise. If this place was crushed and blocked, help for Nhoils and its people would almost likely always arrive later than expected.
The knights were a force that adapted and kept being channelled to places most in need. There was not enough of them, and in fact, this is what made the dark knights such an eyesore. The one's who had failed and keep on failing to uphold themselves in every single action they do.
And they had succeeded, the city had been overwhelmed, and it was nowhere near ready for an evacuation. Panic began to set as screams of terror rang from many; some froze up suddenly being reminded of their place in life. They all felt this feeling of darkness overwhelm them. Unable to see hear or feel. Concept of time and space lost meaning to them.
Rubble, swash, as the water brushed against the walls of the city – but no-one heard it.
Many who had been battling on the vast expanse of the wall fell and tumbled into the sea, unable to do anything but run around like headless chickens. The calmer remained still and did not move. The dark knights did not move, staring into the nothing, expecting an attack.
Failed knights though they may be, some had an adapted set of skills, experience and mental strain required to not immediately panicked. They dreaded the appearance of the darkness as much as the adventures, but unlike them, they knew what was coming and the protocols to follow.
Dozens of hideous beasts one by one began appearing out of thin nothing. The dark knights flashed their swords in futility, falling one by one. Everyone heard their screams and began to panic.
"Finally letting them lose, are you, boss?"
In the last decade, even though not as determined, the Knight had been busy. It knew that taking down the dark knights was no easy feat – but it was no ordinary knight.
Almost five hundred of its vermin (original followers) had been given a vessel. It had been difficult due to how reluctant they are, but because of the teleporting around, the Knight had come upon skills that peaked even the vermin's [Greed]. Thus, expanding its army, a hundred times over.
It had not reached the maximum amount of vermin vessels it could make – a thousand – but it had bolstered their ranks, and each possessed a set of a little over five hundred rare and interesting skills, and all were led by Kitrino, even if this was still not the true purpose of her general status.
They descended upon the dark knights like a plague. Eating them with their souls still in their bodies, metal getting stuck on the teeth of those with massive jaws. The waves that had been caused earlier was from the Knights currently most powerful – monster/vermin.
Vermin Vessel: level 362 – title: Enn A – Type: true sea beast folk – class: Obstacle.
Unlike true beast Red Scorch, this was a normal lion seal sea beast folk, and this one had become a monster and went on to grow strong enough to become a true beast – identified as a true sea beast folk instead of normal true sea beast, unlike those that had become their final form permanently from beast, not becoming beast folk.
So, until now he had been in human/seal form. And had just turned true beast, sensing a wave crashing into the city as it displaced the waters. It swam and teleported a with the kind of precision only those in the Vile Army possessed.
He gouged on those that had fallen into sea. Another vermin, which was a weaker one that could not go full true beast, just teleported the adventures that fell in before Enn A consumed them as casualties – this was outside the city wall.
The dark knights that had been hiding in town were also being carefully hunted; the Knight was giving directions using the compass in hand. This was a real massacre – just one that would confuse the survivors, come it end.
"Try to hold out! Day is in just a few hours away!"
This was all too bad; he shouted as much as he could. But no-one heard him and no-one would as screams are the only things one can imagine when consumed by the darkness. Even worse daylight would not end any of this. Luckily, he would be spared regardless, he was just an adventure.
The monsters avoided them, and handled the dark knights swiftly – in here, none could use their powers – the Knight had taken that right away from them. And those who managed to channel their power instead of using it directly were soon found and dealt with by Kitrino.
Cathina and Forg had to sit this one out – even if they followed the Knight, they still lacked the knight training and mind that was wasted on the dark knights – the one requires to be able to manoeuvre in a place devoid of any and all form of sense.
The fact that one could not find a sense of themselves in the void meant that those who gave in would naturally be consumed by this nothing and become a part of the knights void. But anyone that weak would not even add a single fraction into a unit of void.
Many came through the western side of the city only to be dragged back in or burnt at the entrance by Red Scorch. There was no mistakes to be made since the only one who even possessed a skillset even close enough to do this daring escape was the dark knights.
Even with the random surprise, there was no end in sight, after ten hours of this non-stop – the dark knights were really just annoying, even then, they had managed to wipe out almost fifty of the Knights vermin vessels.
"Just what's happening?" – another adventurer tried to think.
Telling time in here was a fools errand, and even still he could tell day should have arrived. This wave had come shortly near dawn all this was undocumented madness.
If one could hear in the void like those of the void, they would hear the inner most thoughts of everyone present. This was because to the people, their minds could not tell the difference between a thought and words, as such they screamed everything that came into mind at the peak of their voices – nothing, not even they could hear themselves.
Many of these noises rang, as people repeated their worries and panic – unable to remember – more likely not sure if they said anything, not sure if they thought something, not sure if they heard something either.
Any more of this and many would turn mad and become monsters, after all, only those of the void, and Red Scorch, had ever been lost in the senseless place of the void as this – even their protecters the knights and suicidal traumatised survivors had never been inside the darkness longer that the span of a single night.
The clock, unbeknownst to the people inside the darkness, where be it in the medium of air, land, or sea, all were forced to bare the void for an astonishing ever recorded full day – even two.
The Knight could have evacuated the city first, but it said to Mugaw.
"And risk their escape? It would not be hard to link the appearance of all this to me. I arrive, evacuate them out of nowhere, and suddenly their city gets assaulted by the darkness, as they heard pandemonium ensue?"
As usual the Knight did not care about their wellbeing, but it did need witnesses to its miraculous eradication of the dark knights. It had to make sure that it finished all the dark knights, so it helped keep every single one of them alive in the void.
All might have felt that they were slowly being driven mad, but the Knight was using [Desire] on a large scale keeping everyone from tipping to insanity – more so on the mentally unstable, which was the adventures, then the citizens, because they had a level of experience that made them experience this sensual loss on a higher plain – after all they had severely relied on their senses for their entire lives, in battles against monsters.
Worst of all, for some, this was their first experience and was the longest in recorded history.
The Knight remembered what Mugaw had said – 'I guess even if I am sparring them from an even worse fate, this might just be as bad. But I'm no 'menace' – just a 'hero'."
The Knight smiled at the irony.
A few months passed, of battle after battle. This was because the former knight Bachelors were more resilient and more numerous than any before.
The Knight just kept tabs on all the people, the condition of their souls, and kept them from dying – it had a larger variety of skills now, skills that made all of this easier. Amongst these was the skill [Transfer]. It normally allowed the Knight to share the souls it collected through a single monster – a short and tiny gremlin – Grim.
Now it was using it to transfer the void energy to the people – sure the Knight was not sure what this would do to them – Guilos was still behind on her studies – and whisper was not in one of its generous moods. But this did keep them alive for months.
Monitoring their health levels included their physical, mental, and spiritual states – even their conceptual – since madness existed as a will a not a force. After the first few weeks, the irony of what the knight had said came back to bite it – severely even.
Every single living person in here, including babies, which the Knight had tried harder than most to keep alive – were devout and unwavering believers. They may not know who was keeping them alive – but the hero skill established the connection using belief, not witness.
At the very least, the [Belief of a Hero] skill made it easier to take a reading on their emotional states, a state foreign to the Knight, and adjust accordingly. This was quite the hall of believers.
Another skill that the Knight had got from the new army that made it easier to handle this, was a skill known as [Don't]. Sure, the Knight had [Desire] to keep the people mostly obedient, but the skill let the Knight force beings to not die.
Strange and mostly weak skill – but just as the vermin did, the Knight saw it for its true potential. No-one in here had moved or done anything in months, and this alone could make them spontaneously die – this skill stopped them. This was useful to the Knight to prevent souls killed by Forg and Cathina from fading until someone from the army collected it.
The monster the Knight had made into a vessel, had used this to keep itself from dying – a brutal but rewarding battle.
And finally, a little too close on the nose – after ten gruelling months of grind, finally, the last one of them fell, as Kitrino took her hand out of its skull. She had used it like a spear – she too had use of [Battle Monger].
She looked at her sword – this human had shattered it. Not only that, but it pushed her to her limits - and he was only a few levels above her. Even after his power was bound by [Daunting], including being sense depraved.
She saw just how dangerous they were and realised that the Knight was right – they were nowhere near ready to face Incredibly Dangerous dark knights.