The Infinite Bk. 04 Ch. 09

"And when the church takes control, you think the cardinals will retain any kind of piety? You think with absolute power, they'll walk with pure hearts on a noble path? No, they'll just become fat and arrogant, and see the world and its people as possessions to be owned! They'll keep twisting doctrine to suit their own agendas, and you'll be left with a ruling class who use the threat of the gods to keep the people in line."

"If that should happen, then I will cut them down, and new cardinals, who wholeheartedly follow the gods, will be instated. If the forest becomes overgrown, then I shall serve as the wildfire that clears the way for new shoots to spring forth, but I cannot allow you to continue your mission."

"I'm trying to help people!"

"You're making the same mistake as the Enochians. Their great magic and intellect were wasted, used to indulge their own hubris instead of properly venerating those above them. They destroyed themselves, dooming their descendants to a shallow existence. You think you're aiding mankind, but all you're doing is giving them the tools to their own destruction. Your books will serve as the foundation upon which mankind will build a monument to its own supremacy, but that monument will inevitably crumble and kill us all."

"I'm not going to give up everything that Sophia worked so hard for simply because you have no faith in people. We have the right to understand the world around us, to understand ourselves. It is our destiny to improve and grow, and if that destiny leads to our destruction, then so be it! That destiny still belongs to us and no one can take it away, not you, not the church, not even the gods!"

Mana began to surge from Bojena, kicking up a powerful whirlwind. "If you refuse the gods, then I will kill you in their name. Cyclone Mantle."

Rings of enchanted air appeared around her arms, legs, and torso. These weren't the rings she'd throw, they were the kind she used to ward off Alexis's earlier attack, and she had a feeling as to what would happen if Bojena managed to touch her with them. Her only hope was to buy time until something changed, some variable in the situation. But though she felt fear, it was within her control.

"I didn't spend my life training just so I could be killed by you."

"And yet you will."

"Go ahead and try."

Bojena then rocketed forward, propelled by an explosion of air from under her feet, and hurled a punch towards Alexis. Alexis dodged, but only by a hair's breadth, left stunned by Bojena's sudden speed. Even worse, though she had dodged the punch and the rings of spinning wind, she did not come out unscathed. As Bojena's hand shot past her face, the enchanted air shaved the skin off Alexis's cheek like sandpaper.

Alexis tried to create some distance, but Bojena was upon her immediately, swinging her arms and legs like they were deadly swords. It took all of Alexis's agility just to get far enough away that she could load an arrow into her bow.

"Cluster Shot!" She released the arrow and a barrage of mana bolts, but Bojena simply waved her arm and conjured a barrier of air, absorbing the attack. Alexis loaded another arrow and fired it at the ground. "Burst Shot!"

This time, Bojena was ready for the resulting explosion and lunged for Alexis, delivering a kick straight to her stomach. Alexis was tossed through the air, with her blood splattering on the ground. Not only had the kick been strong enough to wound her internally, but the resulting wind attack left the skin on her stomach shredded. She would have died if not for her battle dress.

Bojena didn't pursue her; she simply aimed her hand at Alexis and launched a barrage of rings. Alexis didn't have the time or strength to put up a defense. The best she could do was attempt to dodge the flying saw blades, but that weakness earned her a slash across her shoulder and thigh. She struggled to stand, with her blue dress darkening from her trickling blood.

"Because you abandoned the gods, the gods have abandoned you," said Bojena as she approached. She was still wounded from Alexis's earlier attack, but showed no signs of slowing down.

Alexis dared a look over to Ford. He wasn't beaten and bloody like Alexis was, but the battle had turned against him. Reyns had activated his magic, a combination of warrior and fire enhancement that turned his staffs into torches. The magic increased the physical impact of each strike and imbued them with a burst of flame, destroying everything he touched with an explosion.

Though able to dodge Reyns's attacks, Ford couldn't block them. Every time he tried, his Ocean Armament would break from the resulting explosion, losing its shape and producing a cloud of steam. Moreover, each impact released an audible shockwave, reinforcing the nonexistent margin for error. Ford reshaped the water into different weapons, from the trident, to a hammer, to twin swords, to even a sickle and chain, but against Reyns's destructive blows, he might as well have been fighting with a chain of sausages.

The situation was bad, but Alexis wasn't out of the fight yet. Madam Cyrilo had insisted she take a potion with her, and she was glad she hadn't argued against it. She pulled out the small bottle and drank the bitterness, with her wounds beginning to close. Able to move once more, she took off in a run around Bojena. She only had a couple arrows left, and her mana reserves weren't fairing much better, so she had to make this count.

She loaded an arrow and began charging it with mana, causing the tip to glow brightly. Bojena chased her, not wanting to give Alexis the chance to reach a safe distance. She hurled a barrage of punches and kicks at Alexis that, even when dodged, produced a whirlwind of invisible blades.

Alexis remembered sparring with Valia Zodiac, and overlapped the memory with the foe in front of her. Though their techniques differed, both were gold-ranked knights, far superior to Alexis in every way. Valia had taught Alexis how to survive against a superior opponent.

She focused on evasion while she studied Bojena's moves, looking for patterns and memorizing distances. There was a flow to her fighting style, and instead of trying to oppose it, Alexis had to let it carry her. Her resistance was utterly passive, letting Bojena decide her moves for her. All the while, she continued sending mana into her arrow, sculpting it into a perfect weapon. Finally, Bojena lunged forward for a killing strike, and Alexis fell back, letting her enemy move over her. She aimed with her bow, not that she needed to with her enemy mere inches away.

"Burst Shot!"

She released the arrow, along with every drop of mana she had left, and struck Bojena, center mass. The resulting explosion engulfed them both, with Bojena tossed high into the air like a stone from a sling and landing on the thatched roof of a nearby building. Alexis lay on the ground, her body racked with pain from the shockwave and drained of strength. Her eyes and ears weren't working, and it took several moments for her to regain clarity.

Unfortunately, when she finally could see, the sight that greeted her was Bojena slowly getting to her feet, far less damaged than she should have been. "It's a shame," she said while panting and spitting blood, "you would have made an exemplary knight. Had I not been protected by my Cyclone Mantle, that probably would have killed me, but these rings were able to redirect the force away from my body."

"Fuck," Alexis muttered, the only word she could think of.

Bojena aimed her hand at Alexis. "I wish you could've seen the truth path to salvation. Though misguided, you are doing what you think is best for the world, and I admire the effort. Alexis Veres, I will remember you." She then launched a barrage of rings, all closing in on the exhausted warrior.

"Blessing of Advanced Thought! Blessing of Agility! Blessing of Stamina!"

A surge of holy mana rushed through Alexis, sending her thoughts racing and filling her with strength. She could see the incoming rings, but it was like they were moving in slow motion, and her body now felt weightless. She moved out of the way without effort and looked over to the side, seeing Sophia with a smile on her face. Thanks to her magic, Alexis's neurons were firing faster than before, and her nerves were surging with power, letting her body keep up with her heightened mind.

She then pointed her hand at Ford. "Blessing of Strength! Blessing of Resilience!"

Like Alexis, Ford was overcome with power. Reyns tried to strike him with both staffs, and this time, the Ocean Armament withstood the attack. Though the ground beneath Ford's feet buckled from the force, his posture and stance remained firm.

"You! The traitor to the church!" Bojena hissed.

She pulled back her arm, ready to launch an attack and take Sophia out, but was interrupted when Alexis appeared in front of her, moving so fast it was like she was teleporting.

"I'm not done with you yet!"

Alexis attacked, not with her bow, but with her short sword. Bojena blocked the incoming swing, and the rings of wind deflected the blade, but in the blink of an eye, Alexis had already reset herself and launched a flurry of attacks, swinging and stabbing at Bojena with superhuman speed.

Bojena was forced to retreat, using wind shockwaves to propel her, but Alexis wasn't going to let her go. She chased after the faux knight and continued her unrelenting bombardment. She was going over every lesson from Valia Zodiac, with her memories of the elf's fighting style shooting through her brain. Slash, stab, slash, block, slash, dodge, slash--she could picture how Valia would move in response to Bojena, and her limbs moved to match it.

Every time Alexis's sword met the rings, the enchanted wind chipped the steel, turning the pristine edge into a saw with each collision, and its teeth were now cutting into Bojena's skin. Bojena was forced on the defensive, unable even to turn and run. She was blocking and deflecting Alexis's attacks with everything she had, but it wasn't enough. The wounds were accumulating, and every gap between the rings was being exploited. Alexis was just getting faster and faster without ever stopping to catch her breath.

In a desperate measure, Bojena created an explosion and rocketed into the air, out of Alexis's reach. Above the buildings, Bojena spotted Sophia, continuing to send her magic into both Ford and Alexis. If she was taken out, Alexis would be good as dead. Bojena swung her arm with a roar and hurled a volley of wind rings at Sophia, all closing in on her with deadly precision. But, before they could reach her, she was saved.

Daniel appeared on the sidelines with his guitar hanging from his shoulder. He raised his arm, howled like Bojena, and struck the loudest chord he could. A directed explosion of mana was set off from his guitar, blasting aside the incoming rings like they were kites in a hurricane. Fortunately, Sophia was far enough out of the way to be unharmed by the explosion.

"Alexis! Finish this!" Sophia shouted, narrowly avoiding Daniel's interception.

Bojena landed in the street with Alexis appearing right behind her. "I won't you let get in the gods' way!" she cursed, unleashing a storm of wind blades at Alexis.

Alexis charged headfirst into the storm, getting slashed from all angles with her blood filling the air, but she emerged from the other end, her will unbroken. With a mighty bellow, she raised her sword above her head, the blade now glowing with mana, and slashed Bojena from shoulder to hip. It didn't wound her, and Alexis's sword was destroyed in the process, but so too were the protective rings around Bojena's torso. Not even pausing, Alexis drew her bow and her last arrow, aiming it at Bojena's heart.

"Where's your God now?! Burst Shot!"

Imbued with the power of desperation, the arrow struck Bojena and exploded, knocking her through the air, beaten and bloody. She hit the ground and didn't get up, and for one brief, beautiful moment, everything was silent and serene, with Alexis basking in the warmth of victory. Then she collapsed.

----------

"And... how many of these spies did you let into the knighthood?" King Leonard asked as he gazed through the windows of the throne room.

"I do not know the exact number, but over the years, it must have been a few hundred, at least," said Ford, kneeling with Alexis, Sophia, and Daniel.

Sophia had healed Alexis and Ford, but their torn clothes and bloody appearances stood out among the advisors and soldiers with the king. All four were in shackles for their fight in the street.

"These were individuals who were trained from birth to be subservient to the church, ready to use the authority of the knighthood to fulfill any mission asked of them by the clergy, and to end their own lives without a moment's hesitation to keep their secrets from being revealed."

King Leonard looked at the list of names given to him from the pouch of evidence. "This is unwelcome news, Ford, very unwelcome. And yet I am glad, because now I have everything I need to restore balance to this country. Uther is a garden, I am the gardener, and thanks to this proof you've given me, I'm ready to do some thorough weeding.

For the church to have planted their own army of assassins, using the authority of the knighthood to kill whoever opposed them, the audacity sickens me. Sir Berholm, rally the troops. I want the cardinals and every priest in the city in chains before dawn tomorrow. Then, we begin purging the knighthood of these zealots."

"With pleasure, Your Majesty."

"Your Majesty, if I may ask, does this mean our friend, Lucius, will be released?" Alexis asked. "He lies in the dungeon for a crime I myself was framed for, on the word of knights who serve the church."

"For the murder of Father Marduel, correct? He will be released, of course. Either you and your friend are guilty of murdering a traitorous rat who subverted my authority, or you're both innocent. Whichever it is, he doesn't belong in a cell." The king then pointed to a nearby guard. "You, go to the dungeon and release the man named Lucius. Berholm, undo their shackles."

"Yes, Your Majesty," the guard said before hurrying off as Berholm released Alexis, Sophia, Daniel, and Ford. Alexis and Sophia were all smiles, feeling like they had entered a wonderful dream.

"Rupert Ford, for your crimes of collusion and subterfuge, you are hereby stripped of your title and your position of headmaster at the knight academy. You will not receive further punishment, so long as you cooperate with the investigation."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Lady Veres, Lady Rosege, for your exemplary service in revealing this plot, I and this country owe you a great debt. Despite being expelled from the knighthood, you've proven to be more than ideal. I henceforth return your positions in the Order, with an immediate promotion to silver rank. The nation will need individuals of your caliber if it is to overcome this blight."

"My king, what does this mean for the Knight's Sheath?" Sophia asked.

"As for the Knight's Sheath, it's clear you've found people worth defending and battles worth fighting. I see no reason to remove you from the place where you're doing the most good. To you, knights of Uther, I, as king, give this order: you are to protect Madam Cyrilo and ensure her literature project comes to fruition."

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" they both happily exclaimed.

Daniel then stood up, raised his arms, and released a celebratory whoop. It led to an awkward silence, in which everyone stared at him. "Sorry, this has been an emotional day."

The king sighed and glared at him in annoyance, and Alexis hurriedly forced Daniel to the floor in a kneeling position.

"My apologies, Your Majesty."

The king once more sighed, but this time, with a small smile. "Gods be with you."

With the king's blessing, and the return of Alexis and Sophia's official knight equipment, the three left the palace and began the long walk back home.

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