Knights

Nerton, 1873. ???.

The air rushed past my face. When I opened my eyes, I could see the whole of Nerton below me. I was shocked. I tried to move, but there was nothing to stand on.

I was flying in the air; my body moved randomly as I accelerated down.

Then I stopped. Looking up, I saw Eden holding me by my clothes.

She had huge, batlike wings coming out of her back.

Then she lowered her head and started flying in a certain direction; she seemed to be nervous yet focused.

We landed in a forest north of Nerton. I was dropped, and Eden leaned against a tree to catch her breath.

I also waited on the ground, looking at the sky. "I guess that was one of the mages you talked about?"

Still breathing, her wings disappeared, and red eyes were apparent now. "He's not a mere low-ranking mage; I didn't expect the show pirate ship to hold a sage in it."

"What should we do now? He is probably going to come after us." I said as I got up.

Then Eden threw a black paper to me. I caught it before it flew away. Looking at it, it was the one she used for us to escape that person.

"That's a magic item; if you press it with force, it will burn using mana around you. It will teleport you and anyone you are thinking of to a random location. So use it only in danger."

I nodded and hid the Black Paper in my cloak. The forest had snow covering it fully. Eden started looking around without her hat; her eyes were more apparent now.

"I didn't expect us to escape from that situation... Thank you, Eden." I told her as I also started surveying the area around us.

She didn't reply but explained, "Be wary of the people with white armor; they are experienced mages, and if you're 100% sure you can't escape, then use the black paper. I can't use my wings anymore because I exhausted myself."

I was about to reply; however, I heard a big thud nearby, which made me turn to Eden and nod.

Hiding behind a tree, I could hear my heart beating. The sound of iron moving was obvious.

From what I had to guess, the reason that Sage found out about us is because of his powers. Otherwise, the knights just came this way since they saw me and Eden fly here. And the clothes I had would help me in hiding the scent.

I looked back to where Eden was; however, she disappeared. "Huh?" Something was wrong; the knight was gone as well.

My vision feels weird. I am still in the same place, but the air is different. I looked up at the sky, but it was still the same.

Was I pulled into an illusion? That's the only explanation. It felt like trying my hardest not to fall asleep.

Then, the snow on the ground turned red. I heard multiple footsteps all around me, and I turned my head to find out where the sound came from.

Then I fixed my gaze onto a giant white armored knight; its yellow pupils glowed from behind the helmet. He held a giant sword and started pulling it back, ready to swing it.

I wanted to sleep in front of him, but I resisted it with all my strength and started running away. The moment I did so, three of the four trees behind me were were sliced cleanly in two; I heard them falling down.

I kept running, hearing the snow and my thoughts slowly getting jumbled. Rational thoughts felt like they were leaving me behind.

I stopped, my hand leaning on a tree. The more I looked at it, the more it changed shapes.

That guy isn't killing me directly, so he probably doesn't know where I am yet. I have to get out of this illusion before going insane.

I tried to look for the black paper, but it wasn't there. I need to stay calm. Since Eden isn't here, she's probably in an illusion of her own, or she's not in one at all.

And in this illusion, I was isolated with the knight. I can still feel the cold sensation from the cold, which means that I am still moving in the real world, and also means that he's just messing with my eyes.

So if two of my senses are gone, all I have is to rely on others. I closed my eyes and stopped listening to the environment around me.

That knight from before was not real; it's an illusion meant to make me lose my mind. I started digging my fingernails into my palm, making sure that it was real.

Which it was; that's a good first step. I am walking in the snow now. They think I am in an illusion that the knight illusion hasn't been following me.

Which means that they are either trying to make me go to them or are trying to make me make tracks for them to follow.

So all I had to do was make fake footsteps, making them confused. Doing my best, I started walking in circles, randomly going back and forth in any direction I needed, while trying my best not to open my eyes. I could only hope I wouldn't encounter one of them.

I think this is enough; I've been walking for a while. Then I looked around me to find a tree. Using it, I started climbing. Please don't be noticed.

I went up, and there I touched around to make sure it had thick leaves, and I stood there holding myself using a somewhat sturdy branch.

I stood still, doing my best to keep my breath steady. They are looking for where I went using my footprints. I made sure that I was in a good place; now it all depends on luck.

Back in the forest, Eden had realized that she'd been put into an illusion a while ago; however, from what she realized, it only affected her hearing and sight.

She put her hand on her eyes, then a glowing red light came out before going back to normal. Looking around, it seemed that Taro didn't figure it out and started running around.

The illusion wasn't that strong, which means there's not a lot of them here. The knights probably don't care about two random undead escaping from them; however, they sent someone just to satisfy Gilbert.

Walking around, Eden made no footsteps on the snow; it was like her presence was hidden. She used the magic to boost her hearing, and if she found any of the knights or Taro, then it was her win.

She started pacing slowly, then in an instant she was running around the forest like a cheetah, her figure blurring through the trees.

Then she stopped before hitting an iron object. The tall, white-armored knight anticipated her movements, positioning his sword to impale her on her own momentum.

But Eden expected that; the moment she stopped, her eyes locked onto his helmet.

The two figures looked at each other; the knight pulled his sword back and looked at the vampire.

Eden knew that this guy was trying to put her in an illusion, but she didn't fall for it; her body disappeared, and hundreds of crescent-shaped blood objects appeared around the knight and started attacking him.

The knight didn't bother to move, as the attacks merely splattered harmlessly against his armor. It was made specially for them, so simple undead attacks did nothing.

Then the blood in his armor started to merge, making him red. The knight tried to take a step forward; however, his armor didn't allow him to.

Eden knew that to defeat him, she had to use all of her powers. Her goal wasn't to defeat him. It was to immobilize him long enough for her to find Taro and escape.