Chapter 4 - A4. In Truth

My vision rapidly darkened as the golden knight raised his sword.

I tried kicking his hand away, but the only part of his body that wasn't covered in heavy armour was his head.

I then opened my mouth while continuing to kick away his sword.

Thick, pitch-black smoke then shot out of me and blasted onto the knight and I watched as the smoke ate away at his skin.

At the speed the smoke was hitting him, it was like getting blasted by torrents of small glass shards.

The smoke ate away at so much flesh, I could see the bone of his forehead.

The knight quickly threw me away before dashing towards me with a raised sword.

I let out a grunt before vomiting out more black smoke.

I watched as it ate everything in front of me. From plants to even the horses that hadn't managed to run away quick enough.

This also stopped the knight in his tracks, but after a short pause, he continued walking toward me as flares of light appeared above his armour.

They were so bright and so hot, they burnt away at my black smoke.

I let out a wild scream before dashing towards him as he raised his sword once more.

He swung his sword in an attempt to decapitate me, but using all the strength in my body, I slapped the sword's underside, deflecting the attack.

I then jumped onto the Golden Knight's head again before eating away at what was left of his head, but even as I chewed on his skull, blistering hot flares erupted from beneath his armour and they burnt my flesh.

He then raised his hand in an attempt to grab me again, but by this time I was already chewing on what was the knight's brain.

I hurriedly swallowed the soft tissue before eating more, but even then, the knight remained standing.

I quickly realized that he was already dead and so I jumped off his body and watched as it fell backwards.

"M- my goodness."

Someone said to my left.

I saw Neela and her comrades cowering a few meters away.

I tiredly turned to leave, but Neela's foolish captain approached me with his lance raised.

"H- halt, Demon!" He said, but I simply walked away.

I grabbed my cloak before grabbing a certain sword and with all that I took a step northward.

Well, I tried.

"Men, surround and capture the Demon!" Neela's captain said and I watched as the Silver Knights cautiously surround me.

I sighed before turning to face Neela who pointed her silver straight sword at me.

"Why are you all so willing to throw away your lives? Is it because he commands you to? I don't think I'll ever understand."

"Silence!"

One of the silver knights roared as he dashed towards me with his sword raised but I simply dashed towards him before grabbing his head and forcing him onto the ground where his neck broke.

The other knights all charged toward me and I called back all of the black smoke I had released.

The black smoke passed the knights as it came back to me, eating away at their flesh and armour in the process.

Screams of pain filled the air as the knights fell to their knees.

What was left was contorted, tattered strips of metal, bone and bits of flesh.

I then faced Neela's captain, who stood unharmed.

"Oh?" I sounded upon noticing that the space around him was slightly distorted.

"Bastard!" He screamed before thrusting his lance forward.

The space in front of him then distorted drastically.

I quickly dashed to the side, but I looked at my left arm to find that it had lost quite a bit of fur.

I lowered myself until I was on all fours and awaited the captain's next attack.

"Aargg!" He yelled before thrusting his spear forward several more times.

I dashed ever closer to him while taking care to dodge his attacks before eventually reaching him.

I then wrapped my hand around his neck and promptly squeezed it as hard as I could.

I heard and felt a satisfying series of snaps and cracks before turning to face what was the last silver knight.

Neela had fallen to her knees and was silently muttering something.

I dropped the captain and approached her as the sky slowly turned grey, revealing more of my form to Neela.

"Golden light of Summus protect me. Golden light of Summus protect me. Golden light of Summus protect me." She muttered with clasped hands.

I leaned forward to face her before noticing something.

My nose perked up slightly as Neela squeezed her eyes shut.

I watched as Neela, a silver knight, pissed herself pitifully on the ground.

I turned around and saw that the farmers were still cowering beneath their wagons and with them was a priestess.

I let out a scoff before walking up the path as the sun slowly rose in the distance.

I could've sworn I heard Neela curse me as I walked away, but I shrugged any thoughts of her aside.

I covered my now normal head before noticing a horned figure appeared in my shadow.

I looked into its small, frightened eyes.

"They wouldn't have died if you weren't such a… coward," I said as I walked.

The figure slowly disappeared and I couldn't help but chuckle.

My chuckle turned into deranged laughter and I even had to clutch my stomach as a sharp pain caused me to rest my arms on my knees using my hands.

I was tired, but I couldn't stop.

My destination was a temple that was supposedly in the sun and I was armed with nothing but a gigantic slab of gold and bloody hands.

Standing in my way were the legions of Gold and Silver. Demigods who once felled beings from beyond the veil and yet I had the nerve to call him a coward.

I couldn't help it.

It was all too comedic and so, after wiping the drool that had fallen onto my chin, I walked north.

Towards the capital.

AFTERWORD

Hello dear reader. I hope you enjoyed this short story which acts as a teaser for things to come. I uploaded this because I know that the real first arc of the story will be slow and I'll need to take time to properly introduce elements.

So yeah. That's pretty much it for this arc. We'll return to this point in the story way later, but for now, this'll have to do.