Future Knights: Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

It was suddenly quiet.

The sounds of war and bloodshed seemed to have suddenly faded around her, as the only sound that seemed to echo in Anna's ears was a high pitched screech.

Pushing aside the growing ache in her head Anna forced herself up from the cold ground and turned her sight back on the battlefield. She could see the countless waves of knights still fighting and killing each other, but their voices were blurred and low as were the clashes of their armor and weapons. Feeling a presence behind her Anna turned her head and noticed Berragot next to her.

He appeared to be in a similar state to her, but was also quickly recovering from whatever happened. However when he opened his mouth to speak to her, she couldn't hear anything he said. Rather she could hear his voice, but it was too low to make out.

She ignored the lack of sound though as her gaze caught sight of what was behind Berragot.

In the middle of the battlefield where she had been standing not more than half a minute ago, was a fresh and smoking crater. Dead bodies on both sides littered around it, their armor seemingly melted to their flesh from the sheer heat of the explosion, as the ground seemed to have shifted into a blackened ash while green smoke seemed to rise from the embers around the hole.

Anna's eyes narrowed in realization. She had seen this before.

Grabbing her weapon she focused on her hearing as she looked around towards the field of battle. The sounds were starting to return to her, but she was focused on finding one particular noise.

And she found it, as the cracking boom of thunder echoed the field and an explosion of smoke could be seen not far.

Anna's eyes narrowed as she rushed forward, ignoring the now hearable voice of Berragot. Charging into the crowd Anna dodged the blades of the black knights and struck back with her Crystal Rose, all the while never breaking from her path. She had to hurry towards the source of the explosions. The enemy ahead was no ordinary knight of Noir, and none of the regular soldiers that came with her into battle could hope to face it down.

There was only one thing that could have caused that crater.

And it was same thing that had damaged her left arm.

Hacking away at the neck of another black knight, Anna's attention suddenly shifted towards a group of her countrymen in front of her, as they were suddenly blown back by an explosion of green light and fire. Anna covered her face from the smoke as she quickly took in the sight of the fallen. Their armor has practically been melted into their very flesh, and their faces were frozen with pain and agony, if they were even lucky to display such an emotion.

The sight filled Anna with rage as her eyes snapped forward into the fading smoke.

And towards a figure that could be seen standing over the corpses of her fellow knights.

It wore armor similar to the other black knights of Noir, but this armor was more sleaked and curved rather than horned. Upon the shoulders were a set of black dragon looking shoulder pads, as a set of matching gauntlets and steel-toed boots matched. A long dark violet cloak seemed to hang from the shoulder pads and around the back, while the helmet had a dark red glass etched into the front with black teeth designs etched around it, creating a sort of V-shaped grin. In the figures right hand was a long black metal stave, twisted and curved to resemble the roots of a tree trunk, and leading into a strange cylinder shaped end made up of a dark shining metal. And in its' left, was a small black metal pendant of some sort with different colored and torn strings etched out on several sides of it.

For the first time in the fight, Anna felt throat dry up and her body shake.

"Magiester."

The word would send any weak-hearted soul fleeing. One of the more dangerous and infamous servants in the Noir army, the Magiesters were a force to be reckoned with. Wielding powerful and strange magics not seen in any of the four kingdoms, they were a one man army, capable of killing hundreds of men single handedly, all the while remaining near unkillable themselves. It was even a small force of thirty Magiesters themselves that had crippled and conquered her sister kingdom of Cirino only a month ago. Her own father had even ordered that if a Magiester was spotted anywhere within the kingdom or by Enestar forces, that they were to never engage directly, and to run if possible.

The fact one was here, in the middle of this war, brought only fear to Anna's heart.

And it was only made worse considering it was the same one from before.

She had barley managed to catch a glimpse of the green light earlier that had tried to erase her life. She had only been so lucky that another Noir knight had tackled her in an assassination attempt and had managed to push her out of the direct blast, though her left arm still suffered greatly because of it. This time however she knew such luck wouldn't occur twice.

Anna's grip tightened on her Crystal Rose. This time, she would need to use every bit of strength and stamina she had left to survive, less she end up like the others.

The Magiester however didn't seem to notice Anna, possibly because it either didn't care or didn't recognize her. Regardless though the servant of Noir turned around as its' attention towards a set of her countrymen fighting off a band of black knights. Panic set within her as the Magiester's stave pointed towards the Enestar soldiers and began to glow green towards the cylinder shape at the tip.

Anna's eyes quickly narrowed as she charged forward without a second thought. It may be a powerful servant of Noir, but that didn't matter right now. Her men were in danger, and she wouldn't watch this monster take their lives right in front of her! It's back was turned, meaning this would be the only chance she had to deliver a killing strike without any resistance or struggle, she had to take it!

Pushing her legs to their limit as she closed the distance, Anna brought her rapier up and aimed for the Magiester's back as she thrust her weapon forward with all her strength.

Only for her blade to collide with an orange light.

Anna's eyes widened as her body recoiled back from the hit, as she witnessed what appeared to be a hive-shaped wall of orange light surround the Magister's back, protecting him from her attack. The shock of the hit froze Anna's mind for a moment. Where did the wall come from and how had the Magister even known she was attacking?

Her thoughts however were silenced as a bright green light shoots from the cylinder end of the stave and collides with the ground her soldiers were fighting on. An explosion of green fire and smoke followed immediately afterwards.

"NO!!!"

The Magiester's helm snapped around as Anna cursed herself internally. The Noir servant spun with an unexpected speed as the stave it wielded rapidly swung at Anna's left side. Quickly bringing her rapier to her side the blade collided with the staff, blocking the strike but not the power as Anna flew in the air and crashed into the ground, crying out slightly as she did.

"Such power?"

Anna grit her teeth and quickly forced herself up as the Magiester charged again with a downwards swing. Not willing to take another chance with a block, she jumped to her left as the stave collided with the ground, exploding it as it made contact. Anna winced as pieces of flying dirt collided with her though she struggled through it, only for her eye's to widen as the stave aimed right at her head with another swing.

Anna let herself go loose as her knees buckled and her body ducked down as the stave grazed her hair. Not willing to take another chance she pushed off her feet and aimed Crystal Rose at the Magiester again. However the same orange wall from before suddenly formed in front of her blade and reflected the attack back.

"Just what kind of magic is this?! There isn't even a chant being spoken for the spell! How is that possible? Is this truly the power of a Magiester of Noir?!"

Anna however didn't get the chance to finish her thoughts as the Magiester charged forward with another swing as Anna leaped back barley dodging the edge of the stave. Only for the Magiester to suddenly spin with the swing and thrust the stave forward as it crashed into her chestplate. Eyes wide and blood spitting from her mouth, Anna's body flew backwards and crashed hard onto the cold ground once more as she clutched her chest in pain.

The hit had left a massive dent in her armor and she was sure several of her ribs cracked from the blow. Such power and speed wasn't normal for any human being, but this thing in front of her was seeming less and less human by the second.

The Magiester didn't even pause for a second as it aimed it's stave at her fallen form as it began to glow green once more. Anna's eyes widened as she struggled to push herself up only to see a Noir knight charging at her with a black sword. Quickly bringing Crystal Rose up Anna knocked the attacking blade out of the knights hand and stabbed forward into the knights body without mercy, hoping to end the life as fast as she could.

Only for her to jump in shock as the knight took hold of her sword arm tightly.

Anna grit her teeth as she quickly realized the situation. The knight wasn't trying to kill her, it was trying to hold her still!

Eyes looking back at the glowing stave Anna pulled with all her might to get away from her sacrificial partner. But the Noir servant held firm and strong, as she could feel her own arm straining against the tight black metal. She screamed and pulled, but without her second arm she didn't have enough strength to pull away from the knight.

Looking back once more, Anna's eyes widened as the stave glowed brightly at her, like it had earlier. Her thoughts screamed and raced, yelling to get away, to shout, to do something.

But she didn't. She just remained frozen as the green light began to cloud her sight.

"LADY ANNA!!!!"