CHAPTER 159: CHAPTER 159- TRUE KNIGHTS AND THE STATES OF TRANSCENDENCE

"What?" As if he had received the greatest shock of his life, Marcus’ color visibly dulled. His two friends carried his pathetic self out of here.

Reinahrdt, who was surprised by the routine of the comedy trio, focused his attention back on the blueprint in his hand.

By the time he was finished with his work, the day was already over.

The morning of the next day, at the first crack of dawn, the sleepy looking members of the Order of the Temple of Light gathered. They all stood straight and respectfully in a line, while trying to suppress their yawns.

"Starting from today, I am recommencing your knight training."

The reactions of the members were divided. Some looked pumped up to train, some barely showed emotions, while others expressed their exhaustion.

"I know you all are burdened with a lot of work right now with the city rebuilding itself and all. However, as a knight, one cannot skip their training. I am aware that most of you make time in the night to train and exercise your bodies. Nonetheless, that won’t do"...

"Simply exercising your body won’t help you get past your limits and level up. If you understand that, let me hear your answer. Knights and future knights of the Order of the Temple of Light, do you want to train and reach new heights? Do you want your valor to resound across the kingdom?"

Reinhardt’s warcry motivated the knights, causing them to give their own warcry in return.

"Good, then let’s start by working out your body thoroughly. It’s time for a group battle".

Saying that, he drew a large circle on the empty ground, and in the centre of that, he drew another small one.

"I want one knight to stand in the small circle and ten recruits to fight him. If there are no more recruits, the squires will step up and make up for that number. You all are forbidden from using your skills and can only rely on your sword techniques and physical stats"...

"Additionally, the knights aren’t allowed to use their dominant hand. You will be swinging your sword with your other hand. If you understand, then quickly make circles like this and form your groups."

On the Commander’s orders, the members of the order scurried around to form groups to fight with.

"Um, Sir Vangeance," Kevin called out to a rough looking knight who was casually standing in one of the inner circles.

"Hoh, brat we meet again. What? You wanna fight me?"

The squire nodded his head. In the Order of the Temple of Light, once the recruits reach level 4, they are inaugurated as a squire. Since Kevin had reached level 4, he was considered a squire now and not a recruit.

"Heh, so the Demon Lord Slayer wannabe wants to learn from the future Demon lord slayer, huh. Well you got the right person" Vangeance folded his hands and declared pompously.

"Eh? Ah, it’s not that. I challenged you because you were the only knight who was free," Kevin answered. He didn’t have the heart to say to the other person that the other squires and recruits were avoiding him due to his rough looks and aura.

"Hmph, so be it. Now that you have entered my circle, you are my challenger. So where is your group?"

Kevin pointed behind him. Most of them were new recruits who recently became squires. Among them was Gwen, and a face all too familiar to Vangeance.

"Heh, you want to challenge me too, Rolan?"

The knight grinned in excitement. Among the group of squires to challenge him was an old face, Rolan a level 5 talented squire.

The latter performed a knight’s salute and smiled, "Sir Vangeance, please instruct me".

"Haha, brat you really have become a big figure while I was gone for a while huh?" Vangeance could see the respect Rolan held in the eyes of the newbies like Kevin and Gwen.

"This time I will show you how much I have improved since the last time we fought," Rolan declared solemnly.

"Senior, don’t forget about us." Kevin, Gwe,n and the other squires stepped beside him, their weapons unsheathed.

In the distance, in all the other circles, a battle was already ensuing similarly. Recruits and squires against knights, a group battle that displayed the power of the members of the Order of the Temple of Light.

"Haha, interesting. Come show me your powers, you brats."

Vangeance took his stance, his sword in his non dominant hand. Despite his looks, he was not that older than the squires, with his age being below ninteen. Yet, from his words, one could see how arrogant he was.

That said, he had the right to be arrogant after all, he reached the rank of a knight at his young age.

"Let’s do this."

On Rolan’s shout, the battle began. The one to make the first move was Gwen. Even without using her skills, she was extremely fast and came attacking Vangeance with a swift speed. A stab followed by multiple more from the sides.

CLANG.. CLANG... the opponent knight easily blocked all of her attacks.

"Heh, the swordplay of the house Odessa huh, impressive. But you won’t be able to leave a single mark on me with just this level of mastery."

Grinning, Vangeance shifted his weight to his left foot, letting his right shoulder dip just enough to let the blade whistle past. In the same breath, he brought his foot forward, kicking the girl away.

Gwen, who suffered a kick to her guts and was blown back, suppressed her pain and somehow composed herself. Her surprised eyes then looked at the knight, who despite being besieged by her fellow squires from all directions, was effortlessly manhandling them.

"Haaah, take this!" Kevin jumped up and came down with a power cleave with his large crimson sword.

"You talk too loud. Shouting like this is only giving up the opportunity of surprise." Saying that, the knight rotated his wrist, bringing his sword up in a tight arc that clipped at the attacker’s ribs with the flat side of his sword before the latter could completely execute their attack.