"…"

The knight stayed silent, then decided to ignore the two World Bosses and lunged straight at Wrathful Patience.

"Hey, I am not done with you yet!"

Savage Mercy screamed.

"…Tch, being ignored? How dare he?"

Malignant Benevolence angrily said.

The knight and Wrathful Patience brought their swords forward. Steel screamed against steel.

In this first exchange, with the help of a broad-bladed sword, the knight pushed Wrathful Patience back, gaining the upper hand.

The knight drove forward with the longsword in one hand, eyes cold behind the visor of the helmet, and then the throne room erupted.

Steel flashed, sparks cascading like fireflies with every furious clash as the knight pushed forward with the longsword.

Wrathful Patience stayed on the back foot, parrying. He held his sword with two hands. The curved-blade sword cascaded down on the longsword, pushing it aside, narrowly missing his body.

The knight spun, the cloak of his armor trailing in an arc of silver, his longsword singing as it carved through the air.

Each movement of his was just beautiful, elegant, almost like a dancer in motion.

Wrathful Patience met his lunge with his sword. The swords met with a bone-jarring crash. Neither fighter gave ground.

"Argh!"

The knight roared, shoved forward, and lifted his longsword before bringing it down. Wrathful Patience lifted his sword to block.

It landed on the steel of the curve-bladed sword, and Wrathful Patience's knees gave in slightly, staggering him as a result.

The knight's blade came up again, swinging wild and furious.

He had completely dropped his previous style of grace, now relying on his ferocity to push Wrathful Patience back.

It worked, as Wrathful Patience kept backfooting, barely able to defend against the relentless attacks.

The knight's arms ached, his shoulders screamed, but he still swung, hacking and battering like a blacksmith at the forge.

'…Queen is watching. I can't let her down. I must protect her.'

He kept thinking.

The pressure of his obligation weighed heavily on his shoulders, threatening to crush him like a boulder.

He came from a long lineage of knights—they had been protecting the Queen since the early phases of the Fourth Aeon.

Fourth Aeon, widely considered the most peaceful Aeon in the world's history, and thus, most of the knights never had to fight to protect her.

The time had finally come to protect her.

"…"

Wrathful Patience found no flaws, no openings, and no weaknesses in the knight's swings. It was obvious that he had swung that sword millions of times.

'…In that case.'

He double-stepped back, distancing himself from the knight, and then he swung his sword in front of him.

It just cut the empty air in front of him—the blade was nowhere close to hitting the knight—and yet, in that moment.

The knight's chestplate resonated with a deep, metallic clang—there was a deep sword wound now etched into the metal—and then blood started to seep through the gap, staining his armor red.

'I was hit?'

The knight flashed a look of surprise, but he then steeled his expression and lunged at Wrathful Patience, raining sword blows.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Wrathful Patience parried one strike, then another, and spun around to dodge the final blow, then he drove his sword at the knight.

The knight was about to lift his sword, but even while Wrathful Patience's sword was nowhere close to hitting him, his shoulder started bleeding as if there was an invisible sword stuck in it.

He pulled back his shoulder—it felt like a steel blade slid out of his wound—and then he whipped his sword at Wrathful Patience.

With a smile on his face, Wrathful Patience descended his sword upon his longsword and brought it down with a mighty swing.

CLING!

The sparks flew.

"…You can cut through space itself."

The knight said with a frown.

"Oh? You realized it so soon."

Wrathful Patience smiled with a chuckle.

In that moment, a large shadow fell over the knight as Savage Mercy suddenly came and whipped his fist at him.

"SURPRISE!"

With a flash of surprise, the knight put his sword in the way, but the fist shattered his sword, and punched into his side.

CRACK!

The punch shattered the knight's left arm and sent him flying through the throne room. He crashed into a pillar in the distance.

"No!"

The Queen of the World Tree screamed with a look of pain.

"What the fuck…?"

Wrathful Patience asked and looked genuinely angry that his fight got disturbed like this.

It had been so long since he had proper competition, and it ending like this was an insane disappointment to him!

"Ugh…"

The knight climbed out of the broken pillar, his shattered left arm hanging limply at his side, and his knight's armor dented and scratched beyond recognition.

"…Queen."

He whispered painfully, stepped forward to continue the fight, but at that moment, another large shadow fell over him.

"This is for ignoring me!"

Malignant Benevolence brought her battle-axe down, cut through the knight's armor, and sliced him from shoulder down to his waist.

The bloody flesh hung loosely from his body. It looked like his body was holding together with only a thin thread of sinew.

"Ah…"

The knight stumbled forward, walked past Malignant Benevolence, and with a bloody gaze, stared at the Queen.

"I… have failed you."

He fell to his knees, his armor clanging loudly against the stone floor, and tears started to fall from his eyes.

'…I have failed you all.'

"You're still ignoring me?"

Malignant Benevolence smiled coldly. Then she brought her battle-axe down. The obsidian steel blade cut off his head.

The head rolled across the floor.

"Hahaha~"

Savage Mercy approached the throne, towered over the crying Queen with a grin, and then lifted her delicate body to his shoulder.

She was crying, not moving, and only looking at the knight.

"We have her now. Burn this place."

Savage Mercy said, and started carrying her away.

"What was his name?"

Wrathful Patience asked the crying Queen.

"H-He doesn't have one… He was selected to be my protector when he was young."

The Queen said with a pained voice.

"Selected? How?"

Wrathful Patience walked behind Savage Mercy while asking those questions from her, his voice dripping with curiosity.

"An Elf Elder is able to see the how their future is going to play out and can choose who will protect them based on that vision,"

She said.

"And you chose him for the strength?"

Wrathful Patience asked.

"No… For his loyalty."

She said with a sad look.