The moment those words left Knox's mouth, every Holy Knight immediately frowned. The absurdity of what they had just heard left them speechless for a brief moment before the silence finally shattered.
"Hah?! What kind of nonsense is he talking about?!"
"Arrogant!"
"Does he seriously think we're afraid of him?!"
The angry voices overlapped one after another as several Holy Knights stepped forward with swords already in hand. After everything that had happened since entering the Neutral Zone, the last thing they expected was for the White Devil to stand there and calmly tell them that they were the ones being surrounded.
The captain's face darkened.
"Silence!"
His voice cut through the noise almost instantly.
The Holy Knights fell silent and turned toward him as he slowly raised the sword in his hand, never once taking his eyes off the young necromancer standing before them.
"We're done talking."
He pointed the tip of his sword straight at Knox.
"Everyone, charge!"
Without another word, the Holy Knights rushed forward together while the priests immediately began gathering divine mana behind them. Even the exhausted members of the Intelligence Division forced themselves to move, unwilling to let this chance slip away.
Meanwhile...
Knox simply looked at them.
He didn't answer.
He didn't even bother reacting.
Instead, he calmly slid his tachi back into its sheath.
Shing.
The clear sound echoed across the battlefield, but his right hand never left the hilt.
"...Hm?"
Moses watched him for a moment before tilting his head slightly.
"Is he giving up?"
"No."
Lethe answered without hesitation.
A faint smile slowly appeared on her face as she kept her eyes on Knox.
"Look again."
Moses quietly looked back.
Knox was still standing exactly where he had been a moment ago. His posture hadn't changed, and his right hand was still resting on the hilt of his sheathed tachi. At first glance, nothing seemed different.
Then...
His figure suddenly blurred for just a brief moment.
It happened so quickly that several Holy Knights weren't even sure they had seen it correctly.
"...?"
Before anyone could react...
Knox was everywhere.
"...!!"
"Wha-"
The charging Holy Knights instinctively came to a halt as dozens of identical figures suddenly appeared around them without the slightest warning. One moment there had only been a single Knox standing in front of them.
The next...
They found themselves surrounded by Knoxes spread across the battlefield like a giant half-dome, every one of them standing perfectly still with a hand resting on the hilt of a sheathed tachi.
For a brief moment...
Every Knox remained perfectly still.
Dozens of identical figures silently surrounded the Holy Knights from every direction, each one standing in the exact same posture with a hand resting on the hilt of a sheathed tachi. No one moved. No one spoke. Even the freezing wind that swept across the plaza somehow made the silence feel heavier.
[Knox Aznable Original - Phantom Bloom]
Then...
Every Knox drew his tachi at the exact same time.
Dozens of streaks of light flashed across the battlefield before vanishing in an instant. The movement was so fast that no one managed to witness the slash itself.
By the time their eyes finally caught up, Knox and every afterimage had already crossed past their targets, each standing at a different point across the battlefield with their blades lowered as though the attack had already ended long before anyone realized it.
Without the slightest hint of urgency, Knox calmly guided his tachi back into its sheath. The motion was slow and unhurried, completely out of place in the middle of a battlefield. Across the plaza, every afterimage mirrored the movement perfectly, returning their tachis to their sheaths at the exact same pace.
Shing.
The soft sound of steel sliding into its sheath echoed across the plaza.
As the last blade disappeared, every afterimage quietly faded away together, leaving only the original Knox standing alone once again.
A heartbeat later...
Thin violet lines suddenly appeared across the Holy Knights and priests at almost the exact same time. They spread across armor, robes, shields, and exposed skin before countless sprays of blood burst into the air, staining the plaza crimson.
One after another, the Holy Knights collapsed onto the ground.
Some dropped to one knee before falling face-first into the ground, while others couldn't even manage a scream as blood continued pouring from the countless cuts covering their bodies. The plaza that had been filled with angry shouts only moments ago fell deathly silent.
The captain staggered backward, his sword slipping from his trembling hand before it struck the ground with a dull clang.
"...Im... impossible..."
His voice barely escaped his lips.
Not because he didn't want to believe what had happened.
But because...
He couldn't understand it.
"...!!" Lethe's eyes widened.
The smile she had been wearing disappeared completely as she stared at the lone figure standing quietly in the middle of the plaza.
For the first time since meeting Knox, even Lethe was left speechless.
Beside her, Moses remained perfectly still. His expression hadn't changed in the slightest, yet every instinct in his body screamed at him.
Dangerous.
Death.
The warning echoed through his mind over and over, drowning out every other thought until only a single instinct remained.
Run.
Run.
Run!
The warning echoed over and over inside Moses' mind, growing louder with every passing second until it drowned out every other thought. His instincts had never reacted like this before. Not against monsters, not against the Dark Alliance, not even against the countless powerful necromancers he had encountered throughout his life.
This...
This was different.
His lips parted slightly, intending to say something, but before a single word could leave his mouth, a cold gaze suddenly fell upon him. Every word caught in his throat as his entire body instinctively stiffened.
Knox hadn't raised his voice, nor had he made a single move. He simply looked at Moses with those luminous violet eyes before a faint smile slowly formed.
"Do you really think I don't know what you're planning?" he asked calmly. "You're trying to stall for time. And for what? Hehe... your reinforcement, right? Don't waste your time. Just let them come."
The corners of Knox's lips curled up ever so slightly.
"Or did you really think I wouldn't know who's coming?"
"...!!"
Moses' body stiffened.
For a brief moment, he genuinely felt as though he had been stripped bare. Every calculation he had made, every possibility he had considered, every move he intended to make next... it was as if the young man standing before him had already seen through all of it before he even had the chance to act.
A cold sensation slowly crept up his spine.
No...
It wasn't because Knox had read his mind.
It was because everything Knox had just said...
Was exactly what he had been planning.
His hands unconsciously trembled.
"..."
No one spoke.
The silence that had settled over the plaza lasted only a few seconds before Knox slowly lifted his gaze toward the sky.
"...?" Lethe frowned.
She had no idea what Knox was looking at, but the sudden change in his expression was enough to make her instinctively look up as well. A moment later, Moses followed, his eyes narrowing as they searched the empty sky.
At first...
They saw nothing.
Then a tiny white figure appeared high above them.
It grew larger with every passing second, descending at an unbelievable speed straight toward Knox.
"...!!"
BOOOOOOM!!
A thunderous explosion shook the entire plaza as the figure crashed into the ground. Chunks of stone were blasted into the air while a dense cloud of dust surged across the battlefield, swallowing everything around the impact.
The violent shockwave forced Lethe and Moses to shield their faces as the dust continued to swirl through the air.
As the dust slowly settled, a tall man could be seen standing quietly at the center of the crater.
He wore heavy white armor that covered his entire body, giving him the appearance of a walking fortress. His black hair was neatly swept back, while the left side of his face was covered by a large burn scar that reached all the way to his blind white eye.
The remaining eye slowly swept across the battlefield before finally stopping on the young man standing several meters away.
"...Chief Inquisitor, Leight Edenhart." Moses muttered under his breath.