Let the Fury of Your Steel Burn the Skies and Seas

"It's all falling apart..."

There were no sounds, no other voices to be heard - a complete and total unnerving serenity.

The scenery was just as hauntingly beautiful. Upon a tranquil, completely still and unmoving ocean, the pure blue, cloudless sky reflected on its surface.

Beyond the horizon lied a wall of fog that nobody managed to cross.

Ten thousands bodies of motionless knights were scattered across the clean surface of the water.

Four hundred tons of glistening steel were spread across the several Colosseums worth of ground. The bodies inside those suits and their shattered ships had a combined mass enough to break even the thickest ice of frozen oceans.

Yet, the surface of the water refused to take them to the seabed. Soldiers and their crushed vessels, some sunk, some flung into the air, would remain frozen for eternity.

At the center of the disaster, a lone knight suddenly moved. Slowly, they stood up and unsheathed their sword, walking towards the wall of fog far away.

"I will not accept this silence."

The shining metal covered their body head-to-toe - a full set of steel plate armor, designed to protect the life of a soldier inside.

Alone, the knight kept moving, filling the static landscape with sounds of scraping steel plates and heavy footsteps on the water. Walking across the desolate scene, they saw generations pass by -  flags of nations that no longer existed, their soldiers showcasing hundreds years of history in their designs.

"Nobody... had made it."

From beyond the fog, a red flash emerged, taking notice of the Lone Knight.

"Even if it takes my all, I will see the end of the horizon."

The knight stopped in their tracks as they heard sounds across the landscape. Clank. Clink. Rattle. Clatter.

Ten thousand bodies of motionless knights all stood up and unsheathed their weapons, marching towards them.

"... and I will not stop before my hands reach and crush HIM until there is nothing left!"

With a greatsword in their hand, they dashed across the surface of the water, striking the first row of the approaching knights and sweeping them way. The marching army passed through the immobilized comrades, hardly slowing down their pace.

"If he wants to see me suffer again, if he to see me fight..."

A spear lunged out, aiming for the neck of the Lone Knight. With an inhuman reaction, their left hand let go of their sword, intercepting the trust and grabbing the spear. The nameless lancer, pulled closer, was knocked down with a metal fist that now held his weapon, throwing it into the crowd of enemies on the side. It punctured another knight's bevor, causing them fall in an instant, his allies stumbling over their body.

"Then I will show that bastard my resolve!"

With right hand still griping the handle, Lone Knight began to spin their greatsword around, cutting through the older, newer and the exactly same suits of armor as they got near. Whoever came too close tasted the unrelenting steel. The metal body of a Lone Knight itself was a weapon:

It crushed the wooded spears with its fists.
It launched the shield-bearers into their allies with its legs.
It bashed their skulls with its head.
Even the handle and crossguard of their greatsword was enough to incapacitate the mindless husks of metal that surrounded them.

"Their screams... I can hear them..."

The souls of the departed wept, freed from the eternal nightmare.

Each slash caused the gusts of blood to fall onto the still water, each minute coloring the impossible surface beneath red. The immobilized bodies began to pile up high, turning into steel mountains, which the Lone Knight began ascending from, breaking through the envelopment.

"Even without wings, I will reach the horizon!"

Yet, as they leapt through the air, the metal hands of countless husks below reached high, pulling them down, until the Lone Knight became pinned to the ground. Dropping on the knees, their swords, daggers, lances and maces began penetrating the solid steel, rivers of blood gushing through the holes. A masterful work of artisan was slowly degraded into a pile of junk, more and more unrecognizable with every hit.

"I WON'T STOP!"

The Lone Knight became engulfed in fiery explosion, dropping a bomb from their belt. The blast knocked away the dozens of attackers, igniting the padding underneath layers of metal. The Lone Knight stood up once more.

"This body will not fall! I will break through the fog!"

The bloodied greatsword decapitated the burning bodies that still dared to approach, until suddenly shattering against a mythril cuirass worn by one of the husks. Disarmed, the Lone Knight's rammed into the enemy with immense strength, pushing through the resuming envelopment until their bodies broke through the wooden hall of a nearly sunk ship. The enkindled body of the mythril knight was knocked into the barrels of gunpowder inside.

Another, much strong explosion.

Pillar of orange flame and black smoke reached high in the sky before becoming frozen in time just like everything else. Yet the flaming debris managed scatter across, triggering chain reactions across the graveyard of the ships that never got a chance to spend their ammunition.

The sky was set aflame, black clouds eclipsing the sun. Now, only the fires illuminated the battlefield. A scorched black suit of armor walked out of black smoke. Burning brightly with the fires of resolve, they picked up another sword off the ground.

"If only I can set the seas ablaze, then so be it!"

The headless, limbless armored husks still moved with but a single purpose - to end the one who refused to die. The Lone Knight kept fighting, using everything at their disposal, shattering and swapping their scavenged arsenal at every possible moment.

"Even if nobody is by my side, even if it's pointless, even if I'll die in the end, as long as this steel body still stands - I won't give up!"

Ten thousands shattered blades and armaments were scattered across the bloodied surface of the water.

The distant horizon was hidden behind the black clouds of smoke, the light of the sun replaced by the flaming pillars. On this hellish battlefield, there was not a single living, breathing human.

The Lone Knight still stood.

She was a single, restless and foolish soul, with steel resolve and determination to achieve something only she could.

This was the story of a girl who denied death and chose to walk on a path of a true knight.