Others Summon Dragons, I Summon Legendary Knights

Chapter 482: Drowned In Darkness

In the capital of Greece, a man dressed in a black suit opened the door to an office, and another man, with broad shoulders all covered beneath his suit, walked in.

Two spiral black horns curled from both sides of his head, and his draconic eyes, gleamingsoftly, settled on Mrs. Athens, who sat behind a desk.

She lifted up her head as he sat down. Mrs. Athens smiled. "We meet."

"You’ve all bound me to an oath, forcing me to be unable to speak about what is going on in the dungeon on the moon. Technology that can override summons being built by Humanoid summons is something I never believed this council could hide."

Arthur leaned back, then muttered, "How can we enslave the very people that keep our technology relevant?"

Mrs. Athens pursed her lips. "Even we Heads are bound to the oaths that govern the council. Whatever is going on is bigger than what we can control, so some of us... had to go along with it."

"Until your daughter awakened an elf. Countless other elf summoners have been locked up, and their summons sent to infiltrate other worlds." Arthur’s eyes narrowed slightly. "They’re stronger. Humanoid summons are inherently better than beast summons. They teach their summoners, make them enlightened about how large the world truly is, they can learn faster than beasts. Over a billion of them are still under our program, their will stripped from them, their minds manipulated. This is slavery."

"Arthur!" Mrs. Athens raised her voice, although it was tinged with guilt. "I said I will openly show my support. I’m willing to offer my support before the other Heads, so just stop."

Arthur nodded slowly. "I’m just exercising my frustration since I can’t speak of this without dying on the spot."

When he said that, Mrs. Athens’s shoulders relaxed. "What’s the secret you said we had to meet in person to discuss?"

"It’s about Cain."

"...Cain?" Mrs. Athens raised an eyebrow.

"I’ve discovered that Cain has clones. There was one in this council. The previous Mr. Manhattan. I believe there might be one more in this council."

Mrs. Athens straightened her back. "What if I’m the clone, Mr. Manhattan?"

Arthur chuckled. "You might doubt my intelligence for telling you this when anyone could possibly be the clone amongst us, but look at it this way.... What if we’re all clones?"

"What?"

"Well, his clones can live a life of their choice, have families, personalities, maybe even be after Cain himself. Imagine that. Our reality has been shattered by one man. He keeps everyone in check with fear, using the authorities to enforce what he wants. Cain fears trust."

"So I’ll become trust. Knowing fully well it can get me killed."

Arthur stared straight into Mrs. Athens’ eyes. "This is a fight for the next generation. While the world is submerged in darkness, let’s work to deal with this poison, at least expose him before the sun graces our eyes once more."

"Is... that... so?"

A deep voice rang out. Arthur and Mrs. Athens tilted their heads to their left. Standing by the wall was a black shadowy being with crimson eyes.

His shadowy form slowly gained more definition until a man with long black hair and a physique so perfect, endless words could be spent describing it, appeared.

He wore a simple white top and black pants, but the cocky smirk on his lips brought a chill to Mrs. Athens’ heart.

Wasn’t that the man she thought was dead?

As she quickly reached out for a button to call her security, Cain chuckled. "I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Trust me on this one."

Mrs. Athens’s finger froze.

Arthur rose to his feet. From what he saw from Mrs. Athens, she didn’t plan this. Was she a clone and had informed Cain of his arrival? What exactly would Cain gain from coming here? To kill him in Mrs. Athens’ office?

This could lead to a lot of problems that could affect both nations. Was that Cain’s plan?

"Oh, stop thinking. You’re wrong." Cain said as he slowly approached Arthur. For the first time, Arthur, who was 6’7", felt short.

Cain was an entire head taller than him but was dressed like a simple office worker.

"Honestly, I find this interesting." Cain smirked. "I truly am Favoured."

Suddenly, Arthur launched his hand through Cain’s chest. His chest dissolved into white smoke and formed right back.

"I’m not here. You see, I am a Godking now, and I’m working hard to get to the next tier. One interesting thing about this tier is that it gives you a skill called the Rule Of Law."

He smirked. "A law is engraved into your heart. When I saw mine, I jumped like a child. For the first time, this world understands me and saw fit to let me place my law over this entire world."

Cain sat down on Arthur’s chair. "By the authority of the crown, this shall be law... all who whisper my name shall behold me." His grin widened.

"Of course, you would never get to experience what it means to be a Godking. I wouldn’t have known you knew this much. I’m curious, where did I slip?"

"Go ahead and kill me. Get done with it, Cain, but hear this and hear it well. This world you’ve built will break, it will crumble, and not even the crumbles will be spared if you kill me. Why? Because you’ll be facing Godfrey."

Arthur snickered. "We both know he’s barely hanging on to reality. All that power that he has, imagine what happens when he’s without control. At least with me, it won’t be that horrible."

Cain crossed his leg. "Is that all?"

"You don’t know what’s in that young man. You don’t want to find out."

"Once he’s done dealing with innocent people." Cain smiled.

"What if he doesn’t care? You’ll break him, that I know without a doubt, but from there on out, you’ll be facing what you don’t know and will never want to know."

"He’s what you threaten me with? I am three times better than what he will ever be." Cain frowned but couldn’t shake off what Arthur said.

There had to be a root to this confidence, something that had escaped his sight. With his Law in action, he would find out soon.

But for now, Arthur had just bought himself more time or might have become bait to gather the whole prize.

Cain faded.

***

On the calm surface of a seemingly endless black sea, and beneath a mass of gray fog that hung like the clouds were just a dozen feet above the sea, a man lying on a broken piece of wood, large enough to carry his upper body, opened his eyes.

Eyes...

Godfrey could only let out short gasps as he reached out for his left eye and grabbed two centipedes. They had eaten his left eyeball!

As he grabbed the small centipedes and crushed them, he noticed the tails or heads of some centipedes were protruding from his forearm.

Godfrey couldn’t even look down to realize his body had become a nest. There were hundreds, small and medium-sized, all around and inside him.

Lying there on the plank, only short gasps left his lips. His shock couldn’t even be expressed. His remaining right eye, wide open, stared into the darkness.

He had no idea how long he had been unconscious.

Then a word left his lips. It was soft, almost fleeting.

"Ken..."

’I had a feeling... the Ruination Dungeons I saw never end well. I learnt my lesson. I refused to bring my friends, so why do I still feel this pain? How much more, no matter the preparation, it almost changes nothing. The pain keeps repeating and repeating, carving wounds that haven’t healed right open.’

An intense itch flared up throughout his entire body. It was so intense, Godfrey’s resistance to scratching the itch made the veins swell and throb in his right eye as a tear streamed down.

’If... if there’s a God above it all, someone above it all. Please... just close this Chapter, let it stop.’

He was about to close his eyes when something hit the plank. Godfrey tilted his head. It was pitch-black (pitch black) everywhere, but he reached out and grabbed it.

It was Ken’s helmet.

His eye flashed. Isolde, his parents, his friends, Arthur, Paradise, then a soft chuckle left his lips.

’I can’t believe it... it never crossed my mind that one day I would give up. I’ve lost an eye, I’m infected, so I’ll keep living as a host for these centipedes until they grow big enough to rip me into nothing but chunks of meat. This looks like fate.’

His inner voice died out. Silence and darkness drowned him, a small inconsequential man in a vast sea, beneath a vast fog that spanned countless miles.

’Fate? No. No, no, no. I refuse to end this way. You should have let me drown, but now, even if it’s just one eye, as long as it’s open...I REFUSE TO DIE!’

Godfrey dragged his legs onto the plank and saw centipedes latched around his shins. They were slowly carving their way deep into his flesh. Blood gushed out, but he couldn’t even feel the pain.

His breathing was rough, but then he began to laugh. ’It takes madness to survive being you, Godfrey Daniels. It won’t hurt if I lose it a bit.’

The death of his knights had dried up whatever mana he had and would not even allow him to gain any mana because it would keep absorbing it to revive them.

Fortunately, his three cores could absorb mana while he was asleep, and a dungeon had more mana density than Earth, leaving him with a little.

His cores were absorbing, his castle was taking.

Godfrey knew he couldn’t rip out all the centipedes without killing himself. Some were even too small for him to get, and they could be anywhere in his body right now.

He used Lament’s adaptive skill that allowed his body to become fire, but Godfrey quickly realized it was actually his clothing that transformed, so his clothes became fire and the centipedes dug deeper.

This time, he felt the pain, but the fire was unable to kill them. Godfrey knew some centipedes would gain resistance to certain fire.

Lament’s fire wasn’t special despite its fancy name. Solstice’s fire couldn’t reach inside him without killing him. And right now, Solstice had not been revived.

There was only one choice left.

Godfrey summoned Toria, who had been revived, and activated Eclipsal State, a Paragon Tier skill.

After Toria fused with him and Godfrey transformed into a unique being with golden armour and white hair, he monitored the flow of mana being absorbed by his three cores.

They gave as much as three people meditating. He would have to reroute this mana to purge himself using a skill he had seen the Blue Phoenix use.

His eyes became blue and he started with his left hand. It cracked and began to transform into an arm made of blue flames.

All the centipedes there were incinerated instantly. The process continued, with Godfrey struggling to withstand the pain. It wasn’t as bad as his flesh and bones turning into fire but the little heat he felt forced him to grimace in silence.

However, when he got to his shoulder, his Eclipsal State broke down. There wasn’t enough mana to retain his connection to the soul space, so his castle was cut off.

And so, his left arm faded away right before Godfrey’s remaining eye.

He... had lost an arm.