Chapter 110: The Iron-Bone Clash and Fiery Passion (Part Nine)
Barry’s eyes were red as he lamented, “You’ll see her again, she’ll definitely come… she…”
“Ha.”
The knight named Mor chuckled at Barry’s expression, suddenly amused.
“What’s with that face? It’s so ugly…”
He waved his hand dismissively, his palm shaking violently, wearing an expression that screamed he didn’t care, “Let’s go, get out of here, take those two women and cough-cough, hide.”
Upon hearing this, Barry instinctively glanced back.
Not far behind them, in a corner of the ruins, Lilith and the tech girl who had patched Mor’s wounds were hiding behind a large rock, peeking nervously and fearfully toward them.
After the infirmary had been set ablaze, heretics surged into the northern parts of the city like a tidal wave. The two women had treated the knights’ wounds, but by the time they tried to leave, it was already too late. The streets were crawling with heretics, filled with flames and the sounds of battle. If it weren’t for the knights risking their lives to save them, those two would have been dead already, having been struck down by demons.
The knights from the infirmary had mostly been wiped out during their second encounter with the enemy. Those who survived had scattered from the earlier attack, and now only Mor and Barry remained.
Barry shared a brief gaze with Lilith, seeing her uncertainty and helplessness. He realized that at this moment, he and Mor were the women’s only lifelines. The young knight was torn; he wanted to protect them but was terrified of confronting those mad demons again, yet deep down, he opposed the idea of running away.
Usually, decisions on the battlefield about advancing or retreating—life or d*ath—were given by the Captain of Knights. After the Captain’s d*ath, everyone followed Mor’s orders, including Barry, but at that moment, the man before him, pale and resolute, wanted him to hide with the women… If they hid, wouldn’t that make them cowards on the battlefield?
Where was the knight’s honor?
When the rescue from the First Knights Order arrived, how could he face his Little Shay again?
In a moment of indecision, Barry found himself shaking his head at Mor, murmuring, “I… I still want to k*ll the heretics…”
“Save them, and you’ll still be a hero.”
Mor looked at him as if seeing through the young knight’s worries, a slight smile forming on his lips, “Or do you want to leave them and charge to the northern city wall to d*e alone? As a Church Knight, swearing to protect the children of God, always standing with the people, isn’t that the first lesson in knight training? Have you forgotten cough-cough… forgotten already?”
“But…”
“Leave, survive until the battle ends, ensure they live, and you must live too. Knight Barry, this is your first order from your newly appointed Captain of Knights.”
“……”
Barry fell silent.
He watched the man grow increasingly weak and felt an urge to cry.
But knights shouldn’t shed tears on the battlefield. Barry fought to suppress his sorrow, shaking his head firmly at Mor, “We should go together, Mr. Mor, your wounds aren’t that bad. I’ll go back to the infirmary and find some herbs for detoxification…”
At that moment, the two women stepped hesitantly out from behind the bluestone and approached the knights, trembling, wanting to check Mor’s injuries. Just then, a sound of footsteps and laughter came from the left side of the street.
Barry’s heart sank as he turned sharply, only to see four heretics dragging a bloodied, n*ked woman around the corner. They held bloodied long knives and were laughing about something, one of them looking in their direction and pausing briefly, “Knights…”
Another pointed excitedly, shouting, “There are women!”
“Two!”
“HA HA HA HA—”
Amidst the jubilant laughter, the four heretics dropped the barely conscious woman and quickened their pace toward them, their eyes gleaming with the hunger of predators. Barry felt goosebumps rise on his skin, clenching his teeth instinctively around his longsword. However, the women’s screams beside him ignited a spark of fear in his heart.
Suddenly, Mor pushed him sharply.
“Go—!”
Barry stumbled forward as the man’s furious voice roared in his ear, “Run! Take them and get out!!!”
“Live on—”
The knight named Mor coughed bl**d as he charged at the four heretics with his longsword.
“AHHHHHHHH—!!”
Barry let out a primal scream.
He took two steps forward but then froze, his bloodshot eyes fixated on Mor’s back, as if trying to imprint that image into his mind. Suddenly, the young knight whirled around, grabbing the panicking women’s hands and sprinting in the opposite direction.
Behind them came the sounds of carnage and shouting.
“Gate of Truth, I —”
BOOM!
Mor’s final curse was drowned by the shockwave of the explosion, a soft golden light illuminating the entire street in an instant, bl**d and flesh exploding in that glow, sent skyward along with countless shards of stone, the deafening roar echoing for a long time.
At the end of the street, Barry tugged at Lilith’s hand as the bloodied tech girl followed behind, tears flowing down Barry’s cheeks as warm drops splattered onto his forehead.
…………
Under the northern city wall, over four hundred knights were crammed together, fighting their last stand like cornered beasts. The northern gate had been breached, swirling heretics descending from all sides. The knights had become trapped inside, with rivers of bl**d flowing beneath their feet, laying heaps of corpses. The still-living heretics reached out with bloody hands, trying to drag the knights down one by one. One knight, having taken several knives, shouted amidst the flying limbs, “Come on! I’ve killed eight of you already, bring it on—”
In an instant, he was swallowed by the tide of blades and bl**d.
Amidst the roaring cries, Nick Williams was squeezed amid his guards and fellow knights, his eyes aflame, scanning his surroundings like an enraged lion, the scars on half his face contorting his features.
In the hours since the siege had begun, countless heretics had fallen to his sword. Yet at this moment, after the walls had been breached, the lord had lost his head in the chaos, the defending citizens dead or fleeing, and defeat was becoming unavoidable. Those who remained were here, fighting with the grim determination that each k*ll was a victory, but Nick knew they couldn’t last much longer.
The Third Knights Order of the Holy Church, so many brave knights, were destined to fall here…
“Captain Nick—”
From afar, amidst the flames, someone shouted urgently, “Surrender!”
“Have your knights cease their resistance, drop their swords, and everyone can live—”
“Go to hell!”
One of Nick’s guards spat bl**d, angrily shouting back, “Wyatt, you treacherous b*stard, abandoning the glory of being Alectine City’s protector, willingly siding with heretics, what a coward! Don’t think we’ll drink that disgusting demon bl**d!”
“k*ll! Chop this sc*m to bits—”
The brutal brawl continued as Nick Williams swung his sword forcefully, bellowing, “Everyone break left!” Yet on this violent battlefield, very few knights could even hear his commands anymore.
“Surrender—” Voices called out amidst the chaos, “They’re slaughtering the townspeople! If you don’t surrender now, everyone in the city will d*e!”
“Hypocritical knights, bow before the God of Truth!”
“Ah ha ha ha—”
Fiery explosions rained down from above, the howls of the heretics echoed on the battlefield. Not far away, bloodied knights and citizen defenders were pushed onto the battlements, a man bleeding from his mouth shouted into the wind, “I am from the Third Knights Order! The Ninth Squad, Kentis!!”
He was soon pushed off the wall, but that cry lingered in the air.
“I killed three beasts AHHHH—”
“I… I’m a carpenter… trained for three years… I killed one…”
“My grandpa’s name was Wolfgang! Killed thirteen beasts! Hahaha! My grandpa would rather d*e than surrender! Even in d*ath, he’ll haunt you heretics—”
Under the dim night sky, the high-pitched cries rose and fell. Shadows were continually pushed off the wall, and the knights fighting below sent up a deafening roar. A young knight, one eye burned blind, pressed a hand to his gut wound to keep his intestines inside. He heard the cries from above, opening his mouth in a heart-wrenching wail, tears mixing with bl**d, his vision turning a crimson hue.
More heretics surged forward.
…………
Hundreds of meters away in the streets, Barry pushed Lilith forward, turning to face the relentless onslaught of heretics behind him. He swung his bloodied longsword at one, who let out a scream as the blade struck his skull. bl**d erupted, igniting infernal flames. Barry charged without hesitation, tackling the man to the ground and furiously punching the twisted face burning in the flames.
“Gahhh—”
The searing pain shot through his fists as he caught the scent of charred flesh, but he paid no mind, fueled by fury, he gritted his teeth against the pain, beating the man’s face into a bloody mess until the struggles ceased. With a mighty effort, he pulled the sword from the man’s head and slashed across his throat.
“Miss Lilith!”
Suddenly, he heard a scream behind him, and Barry’s breath hitched as he turned to see another heretic grabbing the woman’s arm, a vile grin on his face. Lilith was in tears, while the tech girl desperately tried to intervene, ripping a silver pin from her hair and jabbing it into the heretic’s arm.
“You b*stard!”
The pin penetrated the heretic’s upper arm, but he suddenly grew vicious, lifting his long kn*fe and plunging it into the tech girl’s chest. Jewelry scattered, and bl**d gushed forth as the tech girl’s terrified eyes widened, and she fell limply to the ground.
“d*mn you, you b*stard AHHH—”
Barry sprang up, hurling his sword at the heretic. The man dodged, releasing Lilith, and Barry tackled him to the ground. The heretic dropped his kn*fe, but not before landing several blows to Barry’s abdomen, making him vomit, but Barry wouldn’t let go. The young knight’s eyes glinted with fury as he tightened his grip around the heretic’s neck.
“AHHHHHH—!!!”
He let out a scream that sounded far from human, a spurt of bl**d escaping his mouth. The heretic retaliated, flipping Barry onto his back, hands engulfed in scarlet fire, ready to strike the young knight’s face. Suddenly, he froze, eyes rolling back, collapsing to the side.
Barry seized the chance, grabbing the longsword lying nearby and swung it recklessly at the heretic’s body, again and again… until the head was nothing but a mushy mess, and then he trembled as he stood up.
Turning to look back, he saw Lilith, clutching a stone, her tear-streaked face illuminated by the flames.
…………
The end of the slaughter was marked by the raging infernos within the city.
The knights’ shouts from the north gradually faded into the night. Beneath the darkened sky cloaked in black smoke, amidst the city’s ruins, the sounds of pain were occasionally heard.
In the dark alleyways, the desperate resistance continued.
After this night, countless warriors, countless hardworking individuals, countless fathers and sons, and countless mothers and daughters would find it hard to see each other again.
