Chapter 475: Solstice’s Disappointment
A golden diagram flared up and Solstice stepped out. Another also flared up, but Solstice tilted his head in a bow toward Godfrey.
"Let me handle this, My King."
Godfrey paused, closed down the portal while assessing Solstice. "We don’t have time to waste... Very well." He sighed.
A huge centipede appeared at the horizon. It had a hard, crimson carapace with black legs. The length of its head alone was greater than an adult male. Its legs were like knives, hundreds of them piercing the snow and grass as it crept toward them with great speed.
"I have grown, My King. My monument states my strength has increased from 34.5 to 37.0. Once I activate my Human Dragon State, I shall attain the strength I had at my peak." Solstice went on one knee.
"A knight’s glory is in battle."
"Let me see what you can do then," Godfrey said. Of course, Solstice would say glory; that was where he thrived. Honour came second. His increase in tier came as a surprise to Godfrey, but he understood it from the accumulation of battles he had been fighting for a while.
The sounds of blades leaving their sheaths pierced Godfrey’s ears as Solstice drew his swords, then turned and walked toward the centipede.
It was much closer now and looked much bigger. This beast’s entire length exceeded two hundred feet. For a centipede, this was deeply grotesque and disturbing.
"One knight! For our sake, Godfrey, summon them all!!" Ema yelled from afar. She wanted nothing more than to pound Godfrey’s head. She would have summoned the entire gang and whatever more she could get, then beat this thing until it was beyond death.
Solstice was so small, and that centipede was incredibly massive. She placed her hand on her chest. At least Solstice could turn into a dragon.
He could swoop into the air and burn that thing to a crisp. All she hoped was that the centipede would burn in peace and not have some stupid fire-resistant armour.
She had to think like that because the armour of that centipede looked durable enough to tank explosive attacks.
On the other hand, a golden fog burst out of Solstice, swallowing his surroundings. Solstice walked out from the other side of the fog, but he wasn’t the same anymore.
This was his Black-Out State, his true form in Black-Out State. Black-Out State was a state that defined when a knight had unleashed their monster side.
And right now, Godfrey and Ema were witnesses to the true form of Solstice Half-Man. A pair of large bat-like wings sprouted from his back, and two horns grew out of his head, curving outward before spiraling toward the sky.
From his waist down, he was covered in golden scales, down his digitigrade legs that ended in three claws, while a long tail swept the floor.
It ended in what looked like a sun-heated short blade.
Solstice still had a breastplate, but it wasn’t as bulky, and his face was visible. His white hair danced in the wind generated by his transformation as his draconic eyes, pulsing like the sun, locked on the centipede.
Solstice’s arms were spread wide, his clawed fingers wrapped around his swords, as a flap of his wings hurtled him skyward.
Solstice felt the warmth of sunfire inside of him. In this state, it couldn’t damage him, no matter how he used it.
And so, he took a deep breath. His mind’s eye flashed with images as it all felt nostalgic. He was in this state when he died after he had burnt down a horde. An orc horde allied with trolls and elves.
He was the sun, one that basked in so much glory it radiated off him. The law of life stated that that which rose would eventually fall. A newborn would eventually become old, life would always end in death. The fall was inevitable, but he was the sun.
He was that being that fell and rose again. That vanished in the night and awoke in the morning. Life itself had acknowledged him, it expected him. That law had no hold on the ever-burning sun.
So... how come....
Solstice looked at himself. The last time he was in this state, there were spears, ballistic bolts, and lots of arrows poking through him. Tempest had fallen, so his halo no longer provided healing.
He was the chief knight, and he held the tattered, half-burnt flag of the order as the last man standing. A sight similar to the day the sun dragon fell.
Blood, death, and fire were everywhere.
The question rang once more. How come... the sun could not rise once more?
That day, when his knees slammed into the ground, the sun hid itself, shrouding the Pathan world in darkness. That darkness was an announcement that the sun... had fallen.
With a loud screech, the centipede lifted up its body, and what it received was a dragon’s roar from Solstice.
But what left his mouth wasn’t just sound, sunfire billowed out. It scorched the centipede’s head, forcing it to screech.
It clearly had never felt such heat. Solstice’s wings propelled him downward, straight toward the centipede’s open mouth.
Before Solstice could fall into that abyss, he plunged his swords into the top and lower jaw, suspending himself, then breathed fire straight down the centipede’s maw.
The fire roared into the centipede’s insides and burst out of the gaps in its carapace. With a screech that grew faint by the second, the centipede’s collapse shook the earth.
Solstice pulled out his swords, then sheathed them slowly while his expression was quite complicated.
He was so caught up in his memories, he felt nothing from this fight. There was no glory, no well-earned one.
Of course, what else did he expect from an oversized bug?
While he walked back to Godfrey in disappointment, Ema stood rooted to the ground.
"You don’t look so happy. Didn’t you want to fight it alone?" Godfrey crossed his arms.
Solstice nodded like a well-convinced man who ended up realising his decision wasn’t that great at the end of the day.
If he had fought with another knight, then he would have easily blamed the other. Now... It just hurt.
Staring at Solstice’s expression, Godfrey couldn’t stifle his emotions and burst into laughter.
He quickly retrieved him before he offended his chief knight.
In the castle, Solstice sat on his throne. "It doesn’t even have a core that would have been of use to the king. What a waste."
Comments