Hero’s Downfall Report

24 – Report on the Fall of Innocence (11)

Hands severed from within the shadow rose up. Their skin colors varied, but they were all rotten, decaying, and flapping about as if they were alive.

The hands wrapped around the body of the apprentice knight, starting from the feet. It was disgusting to see the dead appear alive. The decaying flesh, like something pure, emitted a nauseating odor.

The dead man’s hands enveloped the body of the living man, like a pristine and clean cloth. It withered, yet remained intact, like a branch that had died but not broken, writhing against the body of the apprentice knight.

The decaying flesh, which had absorbed the blood, sweat, and tears from the living man’s body, had become hard and stiff. The swollen flesh, like bruises, hardened like a piece of solid iron and glistened.

Like armor.

“Wha… Wha… What?”

Lord Aldric stumbled backward. It wasn’t because someone pushed him. His legs trembled as if they were trying to escape from his own body. That was why Aldric ran backward, clutching his torn buttocks.

He tried to grab the sword at his waist with his trembling hand, but with hands shaking like that, he would even miss the castle wall.

“Stop staring blankly and attack!”

Commander Marco drew his sword. The surviving knights, once comrades, the apprentice knights who used to laugh and joke together while rolling in the training ground ditches, all rushed forward.

The apprentice knight spread his arms as if welcoming the guests.

The blade of the Mercy Order pierced his body. The logging axe swung down with a thud. The poorly held spear pierced his thigh. The apprentice knight couldn’t even properly pull out the spear, eventually breaking it.

The apprentice knight knelt down. But he didn’t fall. Instead of blood flowing, there was a thick oil, and his clear, bright eyes kept turning backwards.

Underneath his feet, the severed hands jumped up like frogs, wriggling their bodies. Those hands, attached to his back, shoulders, and even his head, from his forehead to his chin, all dried up and stuck together.

The dead, fleshless headgear, devoid of any decoration, became a grimy Armet helmet. A helmet commonly seen throughout the Empire.

The apprentice knight stood up. Despite the swords, axes, and spears sticking out of his body, he crawled to his feet.

With each step, the weapons embedded in his body fell to the ground. They dropped to the floor with a thud, as if thrown into a waterfall.

Cain rummaged through his pockets and forcefully placed the insignia of the priest Hasspell into Lily’s hand.

“Run, Lily.”

Lily looked at Cain with a bewildered expression.

“What…?”

“Listen carefully. Go to a safe place. Take my bag, find Professor Anna, and tell her about what happened here. Avoid Venice. This message is for the professor only.”

Lily gazed at Cain, the knight in armor, and the bustling monastery chapel with a thud, thud sound.

The fire had gone out, but the blazing fire from within was causing the chapel to crumble.

“Where… where are you going?”

Cain shifted his staff to his left hand.

“I’m going to catch that damn bastard who caused all this.”

“Method, do you know? How to catch him…”

“I don’t know.”

Lily opened her eyes. Cain tilted his head.

“I don’t know either. That’s why I’m going to find out. So, watch. Watch how the Mercy Knights fought, how I fought. Pay attention to what techniques he uses, how wicked his deeds are. And let everyone know. Find a way to slit his throat.”

“I’ll do it too.”

“If both of us die, who will tell the Empire? In times like this, at least one agent needs to buy time.”

“Then why don’t we escape together!”

Lily clenched her fist. Cain gave her a sly smile.

“An agent has dignity. How can I just leave when there’s a bastard wrecking havoc over there? I’m going to do my job. You do yours. If the captain complains that the trainee agent didn’t even save a fellow agent’s life, what will people say?”

Lily lowered her head. But soon, she forced herself to raise it again. Cain turned his back to Lily, lowering his body. Silently, behind the apprentice knight, he ran along the shadows.

* * * * *

“Ah… Ahhh!”

Lord Aldric screamed. Commander Marco stepped back in shock. His black, apprentice knight’s heart was already impaled. The black knight didn’t fall; he simply continued walking, wielding his sword.

“Run… run! Escape…”

The shadow emanating from the apprentice knight overturned the ground like waves. Shadows in black robes rose from the ground. They disarmed the knight, picked up fallen weapons, and clenched them.

“The knight… in any situation…”

A metallic sound came from the apprentice knight. It sounded eerily similar to a voice.

“Do not… discard your weapon…”

The shadows rushed to retrieve the fallen weapons and return them to their master.

The seed that had dropped the lumberjack’s axe accepted his weapon with a skull. Another apprentice knight, who had pierced the leg of his fellow with a spear, accepted the broken spear in his throat.

Commander Marco resisted desperately. Fists. Stones in hand. Metal boots. He kicked, hit, and pushed. He continued to fight, fight, and fight.

But his head was already on the ground. Tears of blood streamed from his severed neck. His body twitched, flailing arms and legs. Blood spurted from the severed neck like an irritated fountain.

“aaah! aaah!”

Lord Aldric clutched his head. The apprentice knight stood before him.

“The knight… in any situation…”

The knight, ensnared in darkness, grasped the hilt of the sword. Something dark and viscous flowed like blood between the crossguard and the blade, binding them tightly. The knight did not unsheath the sword; he simply raised the hilt trapped within the scabbard.

“Do not… run away, leaving the enemy behind…”

The knight’s scabbard struck down. Slowly. Irreversibly.

Thud, the sound echoed, and the scabbard stopped. In mid-air. Not far from Aldric’s head, it was blocked by an ironwood staff wrapped in iron.

“I missed you, you bastard.”

Cain kicked the apprentice knight with his right foot. The knight’s knees gave way. Shadows that had returned weapons to their master rushed towards Cain.

Cain jumped backward. The monastery courtyard was a barren land. If he got surrounded, it would be the end.

Once. One by one.

Cain drew his sword. The Imperial Sword emerged silently. A shadowy specter swung an axe, intending to split from head to toe.

Cain did not confront it.

Arm. Angle of the axe. Body’s direction. Just from those, one could discern the trajectory of the axe. Slowly descending axe. A slight shift of the foot would easily evade it.

Thud.

The axe embedded into the ground. Cain wielded a knife with the shadow’s wrist. There was not even a sensation of cutting. Quite literally, a feeling of slicing through empty air.

Yet, the shadow clutched the severed wrist in agony. Cain kicked it over. Leaning backward, he avoided the trajectory of the sword rushing for his neck.

Touching the ground with the staff in his left hand, he rose with momentum, and with the sword held diagonally, he struck off the shadow’s neck.

But still, there were too many shadows that hadn’t fallen. Like a pack, they devoured even the last sigh of the Paladin Order.

The sanctuary could no longer withstand the inner heat. The heated stones burst.

To the library. To the main hall. To the lodgings.

Knocking down the lantern, the oil spilled on the floor. The furnace installed to care for the patients turned upside down.

The horses tied in the stable whinnied. The flames leaped onto their fur, shiny and scared eyes.

Soon, they turned into manes. Horses ablaze leaped in all directions.

“Hell! It’s hell! This is hell, here is hell…”

Lord Aldric couldn’t finish his words. A burning horse, from mane to back, trampled him. The lord reached out as if protesting but soon, with a deep thud, collapsed.

Shadows shot up from the ground like pillars of the pyre.

Decaying hands clung to the bodies of the Paladin Order members.

Common flames consumed their bodies.

Only the knight of the manor silently observed the spectacle.

Cain leaped among countless shadows and weapons, like a bird with broken wings.

Throwing himself forward once, he lowered his body and charged towards the knight in the black armor.

‘It can be done.’

The shadows slowed down. The knight of the black armor would too. Overcoming the fear gripping his legs and the terror veiling his eyes, if he could do that, in reality, those fears were nothing but empty things.

The knight of the black armor swung his sword.

Cain instinctively swung his staff with his left hand.

The trajectory became visible. It was calm, like a slow motion. He could easily dodge and strike the knight’s throat. Yet, Cain instinctively swung his staff.

Cain’s wrist twisted, as if he had struck the staff against a rock. The recoil transmitted directly. Flames flickered in his eyes, but Cain stepped back.

“Heroes hide their strength, or something like that? Isn’t that too cliché?”

There was no strength in his left hand. Cain threw the staff. With only the imperial sword in his right hand and his legs, he had to handle evasion and defense.

‘If I sacrifice my left arm, so be it.’

Cain charged again. The black knight thrust the sword straight at him this time. Once again, Cain’s instinct whispered to him.

Stabbing the neck with a spear is the same as going straight; you’ll die.

He exerted strength in his legs and leaped forward diagonally to the left, slashing the knight’s wrist with the sword in his right hand.

However, the knight had already pulled his arm towards his body. The blade only grazed the knight’s gauntlet.

Cain slid on the ground. His pants tore, and blood oozed from scratched calves, but Cain paid no attention. He stood up straight, fixed his sword.

The knight of the black armor gripped the handle as if shaking hands. He stretched his arm forward like a salute. Long-distance defensive stance.

“Hey. Iron plate. Let me ask you one thing. Are you happy?”

Cain deliberately swung the sword around. Unwisely, the knight of the black armor did not shake at all. He simply maintained his defensive posture.

Behind him, the bodies of the fallen Mercy Knights were engulfed in darkness and rose.

“…No.”

The sound of scraping metal echoed. Cain smirked. The right side of the helmet still shimmered with shadows, but on the left, a human face. The squire’s grimy face was exposed. His eyes were still rolled back, tears streaming down.

“If you’re not happy, let’s stop. Go take a bath, wash it off, can’t you do that?”

Damn it, his twisted wrist showed no sign of recovery. His exhausted calf ached. The muscles all over his body felt like they were cooking from the inside. Still, Cain gripped the sword.

“…When I was suffering…”

“What?”

The knight raised the sword upright. Ready to attack. It could have been straight out of a textbook.

“Where were you when I was in agony, when I was oppressed unfairly? Now that I seek revenge, why do you block my path? Who are you?”

“Me?” Cain shook his head. He needed to focus.

“An official.”

The knight remained silent. Cain decided on his final move.

If he was lucky, it would end with a sprained ankle; if not, his left arm would shatter, but at least the bastard was only wearing a sword. It wouldn’t be severed.

But to make that happen, he had to deceive. He had to conceal his intentions. So Cain picked up any words he could find.

“Sorry. I’m not a god. Just a human. I get sleepy, eat, have unfulfilled desires, chronic gastritis, muscle pain like an occupational disease, and I’ve even planned for retirement. But you see…”

He couldn’t let him catch on. That bastard, slow as he was, had a good sense. Knew exactly when and how to block. Instantly. He had to deceive.

Cain steeled himself, deliberately hesitating.

“But you see… no matter how blind I am, if I see someone being killed in front of me, I can’t overlook it. Whether you’re seeking revenge or whatever, in my eyes, you’re just a criminal.”

“I feel unjust!”

A little more scratching and who knows what might happen.

Cain shook his head. Shifted his feet little by little. Gathering strength for the final charge. Approaching from an easy angle. From an unexpected direction.

“I speak. I’ve thrown in over a thousand guys like you. Among those bastards, I haven’t seen a single one say sorry. They all talk like you. Yeah, it’s unfair. It must be unfair. I’ve seen it too.”

“Have you not seen me suffer injustice?”

“I have. ‘Isn’t this too harsh? This shouldn’t be happening.’ I told your superiors multiple times. But they didn’t listen. And I said, I’m a public official. I can’t freely do bad things, but I can’t do good things either. That’s the damn aspect of being a public official. I don’t have the authority to force anything on the Order of Mercy.”

“You’re a hypocrite. You’re cowardly. You’re strong only against the weak!”

“So they say.” Cain nodded. “That’s why I decided to quit. I know what kind of creature a country is. I’ve had enough. But before I go.”

Cain kicked the ground and leaped toward the knight.

With the left arm held firmly, he charged, blocking the head, face, and body. The right hand extended the sword lengthwise. It looked like a movement that would swing the sword vigorously.

“You must be captured.”