Whoosh... like a black hole sucking everything, the fire pillar disappeared in seconds, leaving not even an ember behind.
As for the boy, he was still standing in his place unharmed. What just happened? Everyone was surprised, even the ones closest to the squire. None of them knew what he did and how he did it.
That said, the surprise didn’t stop coming just yet. The boy once again did something that shocked them all.
"[Release]" he slowly muttered under his breath. At that very instant, his crimson sword roared, and out from it came flames, releasing intense heat.
Before anyone had any time to react, Kevin rushed forward, arriving before the mage with a swift burst of speed. The next second, he used the blunt side of his sword and hit the woman with her very own skill.
As the latter’s stats were largely misallocated and leaned heavily towards mana, she lacked in all other areas, leading only her skills to be powerful and her body weak, a characteristic that spelled her own doom.
While in the profession of adventurers, such misallocated stats and class might work against insentient monsters. However, when it came to real battle with the highly intelligent and cunning demons, such an obvious weakness was like asking to get killed.
"Ahhhh!!" The woman screamed and was sent flying back by the brunt of his sword, the flames burning her body.
SHHhh... the flames whizzed off, and the sword returned to its normal crimson appearance. The adventurers were dazed; though the next second, they reacted quickly and surrounded the knights.
A few went forward and helped their comrades, shocked and worried at the wounds they suffered.
"That is not very nice to do that to your own comrade. Do you think you can do anything just because you are knights?" Alex commented, his face darkening by the second.
"They were the ones who started this first...?" Kevin pointed at the burly man and woman. When he turned around to look at Alex, he was already gone.
"Regret hurting my comrades, in hell".
The latter appeared behind the young squire with a ghostly movement, sword drawn and blade pointed at the heart of the young man. It looked like he was going for the kill.
At that instant.. "I can say that to you two." With eyes glowing in rage, an angry demon like face appeared behind Alex.
"Regret in hell for trying to hurt my comrade".
"Wha?" before the latter could even react, a punch that visibly caved the air, connected squarely on his face, knocking the adventurer unconscious and sending him flying into the air like a kite.
One move and it was all over. Vangeance had defeated their leader. The Brilliant Sword, who were all ready to fight, suddenly had all the air sucked out of them.
"Does anyone else want to fight? Try me, I’ll take all of you on?" None of them dared to step forward.
"Hmph, I thought so, you guys are just a bunch of wimps who disappear when things get tough. Don’t go around slandering knights who put their lives on the battlefield to fight against the Forces of Darkness," Vangeance roared, lecturing the afraid adventurers.
At this moment...
"Don’t bully them. You are being mean," a young, almost immature voice sounded out. Turning around, he saw the noble boy, the priority target to save for this mission, glaring at them.
"How can you do that to Alex and his comrades? He was such a nice person".
The maids of the boy immediately ran towards him, stopping him from making any rash comment. They repeatedly apologised for his behaviour.
That said, the damage was done. In the eyes of the young noble boy, the image of the knights was ruined forever. Delicia sighed in her heart.
.
The journey back after that was anticlimactic. The noble boy returned to his parents, and the Brilliant Sword went back to their own city. Alex, from start to end, maintained at least ten feet distance between himself and the knights, his face swollen and his teeth missing. His previously handsome face not so handsome anymore.
Just like that, the mission was over and the squad returned back to the Snowpoint City. The next day, they were all called to the Governor’s mansion.
"I have received the report from the client. His son seems to dislike the order of the Temple of Light quite a lot. Care to explain?"
In front of his desk sat the Commander of the order and the Governor of the city, Reinhardt.
"About that..." As the knight incharge, Vangeance stepped forward and recited the events that transpired.
"I see, I understand the situation now. You all can leave".
"Yes!" With that, all five of them left.
On their way out, seeing that Delicia looked a little dazed, Gwen couldn’t help but chuckle.
"Big sister Delicia, you are thinking why Commander did not punish us right?".
"Eh? Y-Yeah".
"For ruining the image of a knight order, in most cases you would be severely punished and in extreme cases even terminated. Yes, that would have been the case if it were any other knight order. However, the Temple of Light is quite unique in that they do not care about the reputation of their order"...
"If they did, a former ruffian or a boy who cannot use skills wouldn’t be allowed to join the order. I had the same thoughts as you when I first joined them, but after some time, I got used to it. And now, I cannot think of any better knight order than the Temple of Light".
It’s as the girl said, this place was quite unique. After joining, even Delicia was starting to feel that.
.
.
A week passed by. Early morning, the knights’ training ground. Today, after running two laps around the city, it was mock battle training.
Delicia’s sparring partner was someone she had become quite acquainted with in the past few days.
"Big sister, are you ready?"
"Yeah, please take care of me".