Falling rubble echoed through the chamber as the Sapphire Knight pulled itself up from the crater Caelan had planted it into moments earlier.
Dust rolled off its armour.
Caelan stood a few paces away, grinning, eyes unblinking.
“So the goddess—”
The Knight’s armoured fist was suddenly beside Caelan’s head.
Caelan had already bent his neck slightly, leaning just enough for the strike to miss.
The stone beneath them shattered from the force alone.
Caelan sighed.
In the same calm motion, he drove his fist upward into the underside of the Sapphire Knight’s jaw. The impact launched it into the ceiling without even denting the stone above. The moment it struck, it kicked off the surface and rocketed back down.
Its fist descended.
Caelan was already gone.
The Knight’s face buried itself into the floor instead.
When it lifted its head, Caelan’s boot was planted firmly on the back of its neck, pinning it in place.
“What is her name?” Caelan asked coldly.
The Knight strained, armour grinding against stone, but it didn’t move an inch.
“Great,” Caelan continued lightly. “A talking monster and you’re not saying a thing. Alright, easy question then. See this cape thing of yours? Does it just wave all the time? Because honestly, I rate the shit out of that.”
“I was created to test and push limits,” the Knight replied in a hollow tone. “Not to answer questions.”
Caelan’s face lit up. “See? Now we’re getting somewhere. Come on, just a quick chat before I rip you apart.”
He stepped off the Knight’s neck and began walking away casually.
He didn’t make it two steps.
The Sapphire Knight surged up and unleashed a flurry of blows.
Caelan stepped side to side between them, almost lazily.
“You know you’ve got a sweet-ass sword right there, bud. You could try using that.”
“I will not draw my weapon on an unarmed opponent.”
Caelan blinked. “Huh. Principles. Didn’t expect that.”
The Knight suddenly twirled, its flowing sapphire cape sweeping wide and blocking Caelan’s vision for a fraction of a second.
Crack.
A sharp strike landed clean across Caelan’s side and sent him crashing into the wall.
He exhaled hard, catching his breath. “Well. Turns out Chief can take some fucking hits. Jesus, man.”
The Knight stood centred in the room, perfectly still. “So. It is sight-based. I will adapt my approach. Please draw your weapon so we may finish this in the name of the Goddess.”
Caelan reached up and yanked his right arm back into place with a sharp pop before letting out a relieved sigh. “Shit, that actually feels good these days. Yeah, sorry, bud. No deal. Swords stay where they are until I’m happy.”
“Very well,” the Knight said, stepping forward once. “I will eliminate you without them.”
Its next step drove its fist into the wall as Caelan’s head tilted just enough to avoid it.
“Oh come on,” Caelan muttered. “Play the game.”
He grabbed the bottom of the Knight’s cape and yanked it up over its face, holding it there while repeatedly punching the armoured helm, laughing the entire time as they staggered back toward the centre of the chamber.
Caelan locked his arms under the Knight’s and began driving his knees into its midsection. “Guess your goddess never showed you how to fight dirty, bud.”
The Knight tore one arm free and reached for its sword, drawing it in a single rapid motion—
Only to meet air.
Caelan had already hopped back out of range.
“Oh, buddy,” Caelan called. “What happened to that honour you were on about just a second ago?”
The Knight stood tall, as if nothing had touched it. “I will not ask again. Draw your weapon.”
Caelan stroked his chin, smirk deepening, eyes sharpening. “I’ll make you a deal. If you agree, I’ll draw my weapons and pretend that never happened.”
The Knight slowly returned its blade to the scabbard. “What is your proposal?”
“You answer three questions,” Caelan said, smile turning darker, “and I stop playing around.”
Silence.
Then: “I agree to those terms under the condition you do the same.”
Caelan lit up instantly. “Oh, bud, you’ve got a deal. You can go first.”
“What is your name?” the Knight asked.
“I’m Caelan, Captain of the Revolutionary Army,” he replied. “And you?”
“Temporary beings do not require names. That is one each. Next question.”
“Whoa,” Caelan said, raising a hand. “I was just being polite. That doesn’t count. Come on, man.”
“You asked the same question as me. Three questions each was the agreement.”
Caelan scowled. “Fucking genuine thinking-bullshit. Fine, fine. Go on.”
The room fell silent.
Nothing moved but the torch flames flickering along the walls.
The Sapphire Knight regarded him for a long moment before speaking.
“Why do you wish to know about the Goddess?”
Caelan raised an eyebrow. “Really? Honestly, I thought that would be obvious. The person who can get closest to her mindset and understand it will win this whole twisted game she’s playing. Is that sufficient?”
The Knight inclined its head slightly. “Yes. That will be taken as an acceptable answer. What is your next question?”
Caelan smirked. “Easy one, little man. Have you actually met her?”
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“Physically, no.”
Caelan nodded once. “Fair. Fair. Alright, what’s your final one then, boss man? Give me a good one.”
The Knight’s gaze did not waver. “When you entered this room, I assessed that you may be stronger than me. However, you are slower. How are you bridging that gap?”
Caelan bit his lip and sucked air through his teeth. He held up a finger. “One sec.”
He turned his head toward the wall where Garron sat slumped against the stone. “Chief? Big man. You awake?”
No response. Just shallow breaths.
Caelan clicked his tongue. “Fuck it. You know what? Fine. Not like you’re going to be around long enough for it to matter.”
He turned back to the Knight. “Before I answer, let me clarify something so I can give you the cleanest version possible. When we awoke in this war and gained these immortal bodies, most growth limitations disappeared. Are you asking about a specific aspect of myself, or are you referring strictly to my physical fighting style?”
“The former.”
Caelan’s grin widened. “So I was right.”
He rolled his shoulders once before continuing. “Alright. I’m not sure how much of this you’ll understand, but I’ll give it a shot. Humans are funny little things. When we’re bored and waiting for something to happen, time drags. But when we’re having fun? Blink, and it’s gone. That isn’t an accident. It’s built into us. You following?”
“That does not answer my question.”
Caelan rolled his eyes and inhaled deeply. “You’re really going to make me say it out loud, aren’t you? Fine.”
His expression flattened.
“I’ve trained my time perception. At this stage, I can manipulate it over a hundred times faster than normal. To you, this conversation has taken about a minute. To me? I’ve been standing here for over an hour. Before you act, I’ve already noted every movement pattern, every weight shift, every response delay. I adjust my planning to counter every likely outcome.”
The Knight paused.
Not confused.
Thinking.
“I do not fully understand the sensation you describe,” it said at last, “but I comprehend the mechanic. Ask your final question, Caelan.”
Caelan nodded once. “What is the purpose of the monsters within this war?”
The Sapphire Knight began to tremble.
Subtle at first.
Then its entire frame twitched as if something unseen tightened around it.
Caelan tilted his head. “Fuck. Touch a nerve or something?”
The Knight suddenly reached up and gripped the side of its helmet as if steadying itself. “I am… unable to fully explain that answer.”
Caelan waved a hand casually. “Relax. I’ll still count it. Just tell me what you’re allowed to explain. Forget anything you can’t. I’ll figure that part out later.”
The Knight lowered its hand slowly. “We exist by the will of the Goddess. Our purpose is to halt the expansion of the war. To eliminate those who do not perform to the standard it demands. And to rise against those who may one day surpass us in power—so that they may reach the level required.”
It finished without inflection.
“Will that be acceptable as an answer?”
Caelan nodded slowly. “Yeah. That answered a fuck-ton for me, bud.”
He stepped back.
“A promise is a promise.”
With a single smooth motion, Caelan drew his katana.
The blade cleared the sheath.
The entire circular chamber groaned.
Fine cracks spidered across the stone bricks along the walls.
Caelan lifted his gaze toward the Knight, one eyebrow raised.
“I’m ready when you are.”
The Knight remained still for a heartbeat longer.
“And the other?” it asked.
Caelan sighed, visibly annoyed. “You want both, don’t you?”
“You did say “weapons” when we made the deal, Caelan.”
“Fine,” Caelan muttered, drawing his second blade. “Damn. You would’ve made a good fucking lawyer. Right. Ready when you are.”
The Sapphire Knight slowly drew its sword once more.
The room fell silent.
They stared each other down.
The Knight took a single step.
“WAIT, WAIT, WAIT— sorry!” Caelan blurted, throwing both hands up.
The Knight’s tone sharpened. “What?”
“So do you all have swords or—?”
“No, we do not, Caelan. We choose our weapons. Now, may we proceed?”
Caelan grinned. “Thanks. Yeah. Let’s go for it.”
The chamber rippled.
The Knight was already in front of him, sapphire blade carving toward Caelan’s face.
A distortion shimmered through the air.
The chamber rippled.
The Knight suddenly stood where Caelan had been.
“How could you tell?” it asked.
Caelan now stood behind it, gripping the Knight’s left arm. He examined it briefly before tearing it clean off and throwing it across the chamber.
“I saw you loading the arm,” Caelan replied casually. “You noticed I was focusing on the sword.”
His eyes sharpened.
“But we’re done talking.”
The Knight turned as a new arm snapped from its body to replace the missing one.
They collided in the centre of the room the next instant.
Steel screamed.
They exchanged a storm of blows—Caelan slipping and deflecting, the Knight committing fully to offense. Caelan carved pieces from the armour with surgical precision while the Knight pressed forward relentlessly. The chamber cracked further under the pressure of each clash.
The Knight spun again, cape sweeping across Caelan’s vision—
Its blade cut through empty air, then cleaved deeper into the wall.
Torches tore from their brackets.
Wood struck stone.
The room darkened.
The Knight scanned the chamber.
Empty.
It looked up.
Caelan hung from the ceiling, one sword embedded deep into the stone, smiling down at it.
“Hi there.”
He launched.
One blade forward, the other drawn back.
The Knight raised its sword overhead just in time. Their weapons collided, and the Knight’s boots sank into the stone beneath it.
“You know,” Caelan said through a grin, “that goddess really messed up.”
“And how is that?” the Knight demanded, straining upward.
“If I’d known the walls were this weak, I’d have done this the moment I got here.”
Caelan slipped behind it mid-clash, using his blade for leverage to vault over the Knight’s shoulder. The Knight spun with unnatural speed, sword extended in a full arc.
Caelan backstepped onto the wall, then catapulted himself from surface to surface, smashing craters into stone as he went.
The Knight lost a leg.
It regenerated instantly.
Caelan laughed.
Again and again, he ricocheted across the chamber while the Knight tried to predict the pattern.
Suddenly, Caelan stopped a few feet away.
“Considering your size, Caelan,” the Knight said evenly, “I am surprised you shifted to long-range attacks.”
Caelan’s neck cracked slowly.
His eyes widened.
“Did you just call me short?”
“It is factual.”
Caelan grinned wider. “Just wondering—can you fly?”
“No.”
“Let’s find out.”
He vanished low beneath the Knight.
—
On the upper level, Elyria was pulling Mynxi back from the centre of the room.
“No. We stay over here. Your dad is being an idiot again.”
Mynxi kicked Elyria lightly in the shin. “Dad’s silly. Stop being a meanie. He tries super, super hard.”
Elyria rolled her eyes. “Well. You’re not wrong about that part.”
The ceiling above them exploded.
Caelan crashed through.
The Sapphire Knight slammed into the fourth floor immediately after.
Caelan landed, found footing, and launched himself upward again before the Knight had even begun falling.
Steel rang.
Laughter echoed.
The chamber shook as they tore through another layer.
Mynxi’s eyes lit up. She opened her mouth—
“Fu—”
Elyria clamped a hand over it instantly. “No. I am not your Dad. You do not talk like that around me.”
She looked down through the fresh crater. “Holy damn. Chief, are you alright?”
Elyria dropped to the floor below.
Mynxi remained at the edge of the hole, peering into the destruction with sparkling eyes.
She raised a thumb.
“Super duper dad.”
—
The ground level exploded.
Caelan came crashing through the final layer of stone, laughing as he landed in a crouch. Above him, the Sapphire Knight hung mid-air for a brief suspended second, its armour spiderwebbed with fractures.
Then it shattered.
Fragments rained down as its broken body fell.
Caelan straightened, watching it descend—
—and was promptly slapped across the back of the head.
“What in the stars are you doing?!” Solara snapped. “Are you trying to bring the whole place down? I can’t leave you alone for a second, can I?”
Caelan turned, grinning. “Oh, hey, Lieutenant… wait, aren’t you meant to be up—”
“WOOOH!” Keira’s voice echoed from above. “That was a baddie! Kick its ass, bro!”
Caelan glanced up through the massive hole carved through the upper floors, then back at Solara.
“That’s not important right now,” she said sharply. “What is—”
Caelan’s gaze shifted past her.
A massive Sapphire Dragon lay nearby, wings shredded, body riddled with holes, one wing completely gone.
His eyes widened.
He sprinted toward it. “SO IT WAS! Fuck, I’m so jealous right now! Lieutenant, can we keep it? Like—pretty please?”
Solara pinched the bridge of her nose. “Since you asked so nicely… no. You cannot keep it. Now, what was your monster like?”
The Sapphire Knight crashed down beside the dragon in a heap of broken armour.
Caelan pointed at it like a child at Christmas. “It talked.”
Solara stared at him flatly. “You’re sure you weren’t just talking so fast you ended up having a conversation with yourself?”
“Ha. Ha.” Caelan waved a hand. “It confirmed a few things for me. Just you wait until you hear this—”
“We still need to finish it,” Solara cut in. “Put it in your report.”
Caelan deflated instantly. “Why do we need reports? I can just tell you.”
“Because we agreed!” she barked.
Behind them, the Knight began dragging itself across the ground toward the fallen dragon. With the last of its strength, it extended a trembling hand.
“…and last I checked, Captain, where is the paperwork on that damn newspaper?” Solara continued.
Caelan opened his mouth to respond—
—and the world went heavy.
Both of them froze.
A blinding beam of sapphire light erupted upward, drowning out all sound. The force pushed them back a step as the light tore toward the ceiling.
Then it began to fade.
Not disappearing.
Breaking apart into floating particles that drifted through the chamber like embers.
They looked up.
The Dragon hovered mid-air once more, wings repairing themselves in shimmering arcs of light.
Standing upon its back was the Sapphire Knight, armour reforming piece by piece.
“I will not fall to you, Caelan,” it said calmly. “Not that easily.”
Solara blinked once. “Huh. It does talk.”
Caelan cracked his neck. “Well… not for much longer.”
They began walking forward together.
Solara raised her fist toward him.
“We don’t do this often enough.”
Caelan bumped it with his own. “We should do it more often.”
They stepped toward the roaring Sapphire Dragon Knight, both smiling.
