Alice accepted the letter. The news was given to the Chancellor by a direct phone call from her father.
A couple of days later, another letter arrived, this time inviting her to the main facility of the program.
"So, should I go?" She asked her father, who was filling out paperwork.
"It would be good for you." Her father answered, "Our knights are strong and renowned, but you'd be surprised how big the world is and how many monsters are out there. I want you to experience other's strength in a safe environment."
"Alright-" As Alice opened her mouth, someone slammed open the door, knocking down some books.
The calm atmosphere in the room shattered as father and daughter locked their eyes to the door.
Both unknowingly summoned their weapons.
It was one of the higher-ranking knights, covered in sweat and holding his knees while breathing.
"I am sorry for the disrespect, elder, but we are under attack," the knight said, his words cut between to breath.
Alice's father immediately got up. "What!"
"Crimson." He breathed. "They suddenly appeared around the island. We requested aid from the garrison and holding the towns, but there are not enough hands."
"Crimson?" Alice thought. "They never moved close to our territory, or at least we never allowed it."
She felt something was wrong but also felt a sense of duty to go out and fight.
Alice got up. "I will help." She turned to her father, fists clenching.
Her father paused, took a breath, then nodded. "Our knights are probably already getting ready to aid others. Join them, don't venture alone, and wear your armor."
"Got it, I won't disappoint you!" Alice dashed out of the room and sprinted through the corridors.
It was very chaotic. Capable workers were being issued rifles and sent to the shelter, while guards and knights were running around, preparing the manor for the civilians from the surrounding towns.
Alice skipped left and right, avoiding people, and finally reached the armory.
A dozen knights were getting into their power armor.
"What young lady is doing here?" One of them asked.
"With my father's permission, I am here to aid."
Knights looked at each other in disbelief, then nodded in approval.
"We are honored, our lady." The first to speak added. "But please be fast. We will leave in five minutes."
"I will move as fast as I can." Alice passed the knights and entered the section prepared for the family members, where her armor stood next to her brother's and father's.
The armor was relatively easy to wear. Alice just removed the helmet and opened its backplates to enter it.
Armor powered up with an electrical buzz, and she was ready for action.
When she exited, knights were on a line, waiting.
In front of them was a knight with a blue cloth decorated with two yellow arches on his shoulder pad, showing his rank as a captain.
"I am happy our young lady is here to help us." He turned to the rest. "Alright, the situation is bad. Crimson suddenly appeared and actively pushed towards the towns. There were no space-time rifts, so your guess is as good as mine on where our not-very-friendly alien monsters arrived. Our goal is to clash them head-on and pull them away from civilians while guards escort them to the manor, where we will retreat later and do our defense until main forces arrive."
"Yes! Captain, yes!" All the knights said in one voice.
"Then move! We will start from the closest town."
With the order, the knights rushed out of the manor with lightning speed to the forest leading to the nearest town.
Alice followed them right behind.
"It is always good to see them in action." Alice thought.
Right before her, all knights were moving at speeds and finesse most can't even dream of reaching despite their equipment.
"It is." The sword said. It was still unsummoned. "I chose them after all."
Alice smirked. "Someone is excited." She said out loud.
"Of course! My chosen knight is on her way to save people. How can I not?"
"Then try to savor every moment of it." All the knights jumped out of the forest to an open plain where the Crimson swarm stood between them and the town wall.
Wolf-like beasts covered in spiky bone armor with massive fangs and Giant, orangutan-like beasts with large muscles and thick scales surrounding their body made most of the swarm.
There were also cat-sized, bug-like beings in uncountable numbers.
"Charge!" The captain ordered.
With his command, knights summoned their weapons. All similar to nature one Alice had, as they came from the same artifact.
Eight knights dived into the enemy crowd. Their landings crushed the Crimson they landed on and pushed others away.
The rest of them and the captain offered support from away, firing bolts and arrows that pierced through the enemy and exploded right after.
But Alice was locked on the big prize.
The pack leader of the enemies. A six-legged monster with giant, scythe-like claws. Its body reminded her of a mantis, but unlike the sleekness of the mantis, this beast was bulky and had thick armor protecting.
"Yet, it is agile as one," Alice called upon her sword. It materialized in her hands with a glow as a long sword before she leaped forward. "You got this! All the training comes into play. Made dad proud." She focused.
At mid-air, she gathered energy on the tip of her sword and created an explosion to boost herself higher.
When she reached above the enemy, the sword turned into pure light, reappearing as a claymore.
"Look here!" She shouted before gathering energy behind her and making another explosion, giving herself an extreme speed for her diving thrust attack.
The beast screeched and tried to dodge the attack, but Alice was too fast.
She landed her strike on the beast's back, smashing it to the ground and shattering its armor.
The shockwave of the attack pushed monsters away from the mantis-like Crimson.
The monster screeched in pain, its voice sharp as knives, loud as thunder.
Using this opportunity, Alice stabbed the beast. Her sword slid in without resistance.
Beast trashed, swinging its body and claws wildly, but to no avail.
"This thing will explode! Stay away!" Alice alerted her allies.
Aura gathered on her sword, radiating her distinct golden glow under the beast's body, showing sparks of light around the cracks. "See you never!" Alice released the aura.
A massive explosion inside the enemy shattered it into a million bloody and slimy pieces scattered around.
"One down," Alice shouted with a puffed chest before aiming her sword at her next target.
"And many more to go, don't let your guard down now." The sword warned.
Following her first attack, Alice charged forward, slashing her sword horizontally.
With a glowing trace behind, the sword cut through three wolf monsters like butter.
"We are doing good!" Alice shouted.
"Yes, but focus! We are still fighting." The sword added.
Meanwhile, the knights exchanged wide-eyed glances, momentarily forgetting their battles as they watched Alice.
"To think she grew this strong this young." They murmured.
Alice unleashed an explosive attack after another, bouncing between monsters and scattering burned parts through the battlefield.
"You slack-offs! Will you let the young lady do all the work? Don't stand still and attack!" The captain of the knights shouted his order with a thundering voice.
Knights, pumped with adrenaline, raised their weapons.
"Attack!" They cried and unleashed carnage on the enemy.
Their destructive power was no match for Alice's, but they were experienced warriors, some of the best.
They easily avoided any attacks in the middle of a swarm while cutting them one by one, while ranged support with their explosive attacks cleaned the pests.
In less than ten minutes, hundreds of enemies were all slain, and above their bodies stood the knights, covered in blood.
"Open the gate, it's clean!" The captain shouted, but no answer came, so he shouted again.
"I am the captain of the fifth knight team, Lance. Open the gate!"
They waited a bit more in silence, but whistles of bullets and terrified screams of civilians drove them to alert.
"Shit." Lance accidentally spelled his thoughts aloud. He turned to other knights, "Climb the walls. They must be in danger!"
With the order, knights quickly climbed the wall, each on their way, but they all stopped in shock when they reached the top.
"This is bad." One of them said. Her voice carried no emotions except for a hint of dread.
Destroyed buildings, infrastructure nearly unusable, half-eaten bodies of civilians scattered, and a never-ending wave of Crimson moved in from the breached front wall.
It was a grim view.
"We are not too late. Aren't we?" Alice asked, looking at Lance.
"We still have hope," Lance said, grinding his teeth.
The local defense force made out of guards, militia, and whatever equipment reached here before the town got encircled slowed the Crimson wave.
"They did survive, but Crimson will breach their line any moment!" Another knight shouted. "Captain, what must we do?"
Lance took a deep breath and asked himself, "Yes, what must we do?"
Quickly and without remorse, he rushed to the gate control center, opened the back door, and shouted as loud as he could, feeling the pain in his throat and lungs. "All civilians run to the manor!"
His voice echoed through the town and caused the birds from a close forest to fly away in fear.
With his command, hidden civilians rushed outside in panic and began running out of the town. They didn't even stop to thank the knights.
Lance turned to two of his knights. "Escort the people." Then looked at the rest of the knights. "Go in! No time to wait."
With his order, knights moved to action once more.
They quickly reached the frontline, held by the guard, local militia, and two robots with flamethrowers.
"Knights are here!" One of the militia shouted.
"Victory is ours! Hold the line!" Guard captain shouted.
Their happiness wasn't for nothing.
Knights quickly shattered the steady follow of Crimson's pesks and grunts by going all in.
They all had changed their weapons for something with broader blades to handle the swarm.
Meanwhile, knights specialized in ranged combat began focusing on making large quantities of explosive attacks rather than piercing targetted shots.
"Young lady." Lance turned to Alice, yet to enter the fight. "Can you-" He suddenly dropped his bow, weapon faded with blue glitter, and summoned a shield before pulling Alice behind him.
Something suddenly appeared, moved around the captain's shield, and attacked Alice in mere moments, but before it hit, the captain blocked the strike with his body, getting wounded on the waist.
The attacker quickly escaped from their sight but was caught eventually.
"An elite," Alice murmured.
It was a humanoid beast standing over two meters tall with two giant bone blades instead of hands. It had several bug-like eyes all around its head, a shiny exoskeleton, and thin, long legs.
"A monster, rumored to be handcrafted by the brood mother of Crimson to hunt important targets. Be careful, my lady." Lance said. Blood leaked between his fingers as he pressed his hand over the wound.
Alice raised her sword, "I will be."
She took a deep breath. Her fear for her home, the knights around her, and her life disappeared as she focused her mind on one thing. "The enemy before me."
But before she entered combat, the sword intercepted her.
"Careful, it is fast." The sword said.
"I am faster," Alice answered.
"And it has good attack power."
"I can attack stronger."
The sword would smile with pride if it could. "Then let's show it the punishment for sneak attacking one of us."
"We shall."
Alice's aura covered her body, releasing a steady golden glimmer.
"Let's begin," Alice charged forward fast enough to catch her enemy by surprise.
The Crimson elite barely managed to react and move away.
She slammed down her sword, glowing like a spotlight from all the aura, and shattered the ground before the explosion.
Damage collapsed the road and showed the sewers below the town.
But Alice didn't stop with one attack.
Leaping over the caved-in road, Alice kept pressuring the elite.
One after strike after another, she pursued her foe.
Each of her strikes had a golden flow behind it.
She cleaved through obstacles, infrastructure, and buildings alike.
But the enemy was fast. Fast enough to avoid all her attacks.
It was also aggressive, striking back after dodging Alice's attacks, forcing her to use her aura defensively while ripping the environmental obstacles apart.
"We are not reaching it." The sword said.
"I know," Alice said, blocking a counterattack with the blade of her sword, "But I am not aiming for that."
She smirked, and right before she pushed another strike, filled her sword with energy.
Crimson, expecting another explosion, leaped away, waiting to use the shockwave to escape even further from Alice.
"Got you!" Alice and the sword shouted.
Alice slashed her sword down and threw a crescent-shaped energy beam at the elite Crimson.
The elite managed to move away from the trajectory but still got hit.
Alice's energy beam cut right through its body and decapitated its lower half.
A black substance quickly flowed from the massive wound and hardened, stopping the bleeding.
"So this one needs more work," Alice murmured.
Angered elite leaped towards the swarm near itself and grabbed a small Crimson, devouring it and regenerating its lower body at unbelievable speeds.
All of its grotesque eyes locked on Alice, and its hand blades pushed themselves even further.
The elite screeched and charged forward with even greater speed.
"Oh, just the missing thing." Alice thought and changed her sword once more. This time to a massive one, with a blade wide as a tower shield.
When the elite closed the distance and unleashed a flurry of cuts and thrusts, Alice used her sword to block them, backing away towards the Crimson swarm.
But it was not easy.
"How this small thing produces so much power." Alice protested. She felt the power behind each strike she blocked. They shook her to the bones.
"Help the young lady-!" The knight captain shouted, but Alice cut him.
"No!" Alice shouted, her words cut in half by an attack. "Focus on your selves!" She quickly recovered.
"What is your plan?" The sword asked.
"Just wait. I don't want to spoil it because it will be cool."
As Alice backed away, her sword glowed brighter, the aura building for the final strike.
"Now, how can I align the swarm with this thing." She thought.
"I got it!" Alice parried the next attack and pushed the elite away.
Angry monster dashed forward, aiming at Alice's throat.
Instead of blocking the coming attack, Alice rolled to the side and changed sides with the elite.
Now, the elite was right before the enemy swarm.
Without wasting a second, she got up and slashed her sword forward.
The elite easily avoided the blade, but its eyes shook as it understood the trap.
It released a desperate cry, ordering the swarm to move around itself as meatshields. But it just humored Alice.
"That won't save you!" Alice's charged attack released a massive cone-shaped explosive aura beam that pierced through anything standing in its way.
"My signature dish served fresh for all of you to enjoy!" Alice shouted.
The attack wiped the elite and a decent chunk of the swarm from the face of the earth.
When the smoke left, only a massive trench decorated with blood, tissue, and dust remained.
Her attack left both the knights and the Crimson in awe.
Alice's muscles burned, her breathing faster than ever, yet she raised her sword again and cried. "For our home! Let's finish this!"
"For our home!" Her allies shouted and changed their stance from defensive to offensive, cleaning the remains of the massive swarm.
Alice stood for a couple more minutes, watching the knights kill all invaders before finally letting herself hit the ground.
Her heart pumped as it tried to escape from her chest, and all the movement caused sweat to cover her face.
"You were right. It was cool." The sword said.
"Right?" Alice removed her helmet, panting. She had a prideful smile on her face that slowly disappeared when she looked at the brutal scene next to her.
"We won," She said to herself. "We won, at a cost, but we did."