Arc 4: Chapter 25: Clash of Two Flames
Kross glared at me across the wide floor. His gauntlet clicked as he tightened his grip on his longsword.
“Alken…” He spoke with cold anger. “You have destroyed yourself. What is this madness?”
I didn’t reply at once, running my gaze over the clerics. Some were terrified, others defiant. Most seemed to have gained some steel in their spines from the knight confessor’s presence.
My voice, though hoarse from the shock of violence down below, crackled with aura. “This is not a matter for Orkael.”
I lifted my axe.
“Not a matter for…” Kross bared his teeth in a silent snarl. “Fool! My presence here is exactly why this is happening. You think his actions otherwise would matter at all?”
Behind him, the Grand Prior watched in silence, his aged face serene as a saint’s.
“Leonis Chancer had no devil on his shoulder,” I told him calmly.
Horace’s face lost some color. Vicar’s own angry features darkened further, his sword whistling as it cut the air. He took a guard.
I began to walk forward, quickening my pace with each step. Golden flames flickered and faded around me, forming an irregular rhythm along with the slow drumbeat of metal and leather.
“Don’t step any closer!” Kross aimed the tip of his blade at my chest. A hint of orange touched the gray of his eyes. Around him, wings of ghostly ice spread, each feather sharp as steel. The vicious eyes of the Zosite glared at me over the false knight’s shoulder.