Chapter 3: Chapter 2: Excalibur

The “Knights”, an organization originally formed at the dawn of man-kind. A brotherhood with only one goal: to exterminate all demons.

Once the demons were sealed, the knights deteriorated rapidly. There was no need for them to exist in a world without demons. As such, they became a small underground organization, a brotherhood of scrawny old men, those who still knew the truth about the world. However, come 2012, all of that changed. These old men became the most knowledgeable, influential people.

In the year of 2062, the knights are heralded as humanity’s last hope of standing against the demonic threat. An organization that functioned akin to police and military within the confines of the lower babel, whose goal was to deal with all issues concerning demons and contractors. The knights had an enormous influence over the government. In fact, they were “the government”.

Compound 15 of the knights was located a mile away from the space elevator. A compound composed of a variety of buildings: An armory, where weapons, armor and ammunition are stored; the barracks where some of the on duty military personnel live; the medical and research department, a large building where advanced combat gear is made and maintained as well as where the medical facilities are located; Management office where all the public documentations are being processed.

X walked in to the knights’ facility getting past various check points without letting them slow him down, casually waving at people without getting an answer back. He strolled into the research department, touching the plain white walls with his hand, feeling their texture as he walked.

“There you are!” a woman suddenly appeared in the hallway and shouted.

“There I am!” X responded with the same amount of enthusiasm.

“Get your ass over here,” the woman said while moving into one of the workshops dotted all over the corridor.

X sighed and followed the woman through the doorway. There she stood, a short girl with an angry expression and a scar above her left eyebrow. She had a cherry colored bob cut, was wearing military boots, cargo pants and a tank top. She was accompanied by her assistant.

“Been awhile Rebeca”, said X with his usual smirk.

“You moved”, X remarked with a wide smile while scratching his head.

“I had to because of a certain someone”, Rebeca frowned. Her right eyebrow began to spaz out.

“Who’s the new kid”, X remarked while pointing a finger at the man standing next to Rebeca.

He appeared to be rather timid, was tall and well-kept, had long black hair carefully tied into a stern bun, he was dressed in boots, cargo pants, a black T-shirt and a lab-coat with 3 differently colored pens sticking out of his front pocket.

“He’s my new assistant,” Rebeca said while closing her eyes. “Go on and introduce yourself.”

“Nice to meet, my name is John Alstein”, The man approached X and reached out his hand for a handshake.

“What’s with the lab-coat?” X responds, ignoring John’s attempt and mocking his attire.

“Those are the rules”, Rebeca said after briefly shutting her eyes.

“Where’s yours?”, X smirked.

“Eat shit”, Rebeca replied while opening her eyes as wide as possible.

“That’s more like it,” X smiles, “I really missed you, Bec.”

Rebeca sighed, “Alright, enough chit-chat”, she said while walking away towards her workstation, “I’ve got something special ready for you”, she smiled.

“Yeah… Bec… Before that”, X said while raising his bullet ridden, broken mechanical arm into the air.

“WHAAAAAAT!” Rebeca screamed out while grasping for the nearest wrench at her workstation and throwing it at X.

“Here we go again”, X sighed while tilting his head to avoid the object.

“Miss Rebeca, please stop!” John said with a worried expression.

Suddenly, a wrench comes flying in directly at John’s face, but before Rebeca had the chance to notice, John flicked it out of the air with his finger.

““Miss” that there is no “miss” it just an angry mutated ape”, X remarked while grabbing John by his shoulder, “By the way, how did you do that just now? Bec’s wrenches fly at super-fast speeds, there’s no way for a normal person to flick them out of the way like that”.

“Oh, he’s a contractor!”, Rebeca responded, slipping out of her frenzy.

“Are you now? You up for a tussle?”, X responded with great intrigue.

John stared at X confused by what he was trying to say.

“Don’t worry about it too much Jonny boy. That guy right there is a grade A certified psychopath. The moment he learns that someone’s a contractor, he can’t help but to offer them to spar and then to beat the daylights out of them. It’s just how he is,” Rebeca explained.

“So whadaya say?”, X smirked, looking at John.

“I would have to refuse. You would find my combat ability lacking. I am a non-combatant, after all,” John responded while avoiding eye contact.

“Enough bullshit, get undressed and lie down in the chair”, Rebeca said, pointing him a service chair that resembled one you could find at a dentist’s office.

“You’re no fun”, X mumbled while unbuttoning his shirt, revealing a glowing blue circular object poking out from his chest.

X takes off his coat and shirt, dropping them messily on the ground and gets into the service chair designed to maintain cyborgs. John carefully places sensors on his vitals, and connects a cable to the device on his chest, and detaches his damaged robotic arm.

“I prefer when the lady does this part,” X whispered.

“Shut it”, Rebeca responded from her desk on the other side of the workshop.

“Wow, I didn’t know you could hear that. You must have good ears!” X laughed.

Rebeca grabbed the damaged prosthetic, placing it on her workstation, examining the damage.

“Bullet holes,” she whispered. “Did you get shot up recently?” She asked.

“I was up against non-contractors, so blocking bullets with the arm was my only option,” X replied.

“That’s why we have standard issue energy shields. This is some extensive damage. It’s gonna take me a while to fix,” Rebeca said while examining the arm further.

“I’ll be sure to do that next time,” X laughed again.

“You can let him out,” Rebeca said to John, “Your vitals seem okay but your demonic energy’s a mess, you best avoid using magic for some time if you can help it,” She continued, telling X about his condition.

“Thanks, will do doc,” X said while getting up from the chair.

“One last thing, John made you a special grade weapon,” Rebeca said with a worried expression.

“Oh, I don’t remember asking Mr. lab-coat to make me a special grade weapon. Silly me, that must be because I just met Mr. lab-coat 10 minutes ago,” X remarked aggressively with a smile.

“It’s an excellent weapon, just try it out”, Rebeca said and threw X a small circular contraption.

“Fine”, X replied after catching the object and placing it in his pocket.

X stared intensely at the door with a blank expression. He frowned his eyebrows in a sign of obvious dissatisfaction, before seemingly out of nowhere, coming up and kicking it straight out of the frame.

“I’m out”, X responded while walking away.

“Aw shit”, Rebeca covered her face with the palm of her hand, “What about your clothes?”

“Dry cleaning, I’ll pick them up tomorrow at eight,” X screamed out from the hallway.

“What an asshole”, Rebeca sighed.

X went on his way, wandering around compound 15. Blank, empty white hallways filled him with a strange sense of comfort. He briefly considered going into his office to inform his comrades about the mission status before feeling his stomach rumble. He went straight to the mess hall next to the barracks.

Suddenly, X was approached by a young man in his mid-twenties. He had short blonde hair, a handsome boyish face, and gray eyes. He wore the standard issue Knights military uniform: ornamented gray suit and a dress shirt.

“Excuse me, are you by any chance X?”, The man calmly asked.

“Yeah, and who might you be”, X responded with an intrigued smile.

“Your worst nightmare,” the man said and threw his glove at X, “I challenge you to a duel.”

“I would love to, but I am in fact not fit for combat right now,” X said while waving his stump in front of the man’s face.

“I don’t care,” the man said, pulled out his energy sword and slashed at X.

X narrowly avoided the attack by moving his head out of the way. He stared into the young mans eyes, sensing deep hatred emanating from them.

“You must be Arthur,” X smiled, “I heard a lot about you.”

“That’s right,” Arthur responded, while preparing to attack once again.

People started to gather around the two, forcing them into a small combat ring.

“Look, I have no idea why you’re attacking me, but let’s move this to another time. I’m in a terribly bad mood,” X stated with a calm expression.

“Do I need a reason to attack a demon? Just the fact that you are one shows that you have crossed beyond the boundary of being considered human. I shall kill you and take your seat as a member of the thirteen,” Arthur explained.

“Oh, and do you think you’re so much better than me if just because you’re contracted to an Angel? Well, let me tell you this, that contract you’re so proud of, you only have it because you fit Excalibur’s criteria. He only contracts with pretty boys named Arthur.”, X remarked to provoke the young man.

“I care not for your words. Ready yourself, rank 13”, Arthur said while clenching his sword sternly in his hand.

“I might be rank 13 on paper…”, X said while shifting his weight and suddenly leaping towards Arthur, knocking away his weapon and punching him in the stomach before he could react “, but I’m the strongest.”

X paused after realizing he went overboard. He turned around, but just as he was about to leave, he felt something. A shiver went down his spine, forcing him to turn back.

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“Soul”, Arthur said and materialized a glowing great-sword from the ground.

“You’re summoning your soul, even though you know mine is sealed. How heroic of you,” X said, further mocking the man.

“Shut up”, Arthur screamed and leapt towards X. However, he was too slow. In a split second, X placed his hand on the sword’s handle, stopping Arthur from lifting it out of the ground.

“Gotcha”, he said as he grabbed Arthur by the face and threw him into the wall behind him, smashing it in the process. He calmly approached the young man who was now severely wounded, “Boy, you are ten years too young to challenge me”, X said with a smirk on his face. “Now shall I finish this?”

It was clear to everyone that X was about to go too far, yet amongst the crowd of combat trained knight agents, none dared to itervene.

“Stop”, Said Joseph, the director of compound 15 and the leader of the knights.

Joseph was a tall bald black male in his late forties - early fifties. Dressed in an official knight’s uniform. A stern figure and a well-rounded leader. He was a force to be reckoned with. A man with a strong moral compass, and ideals to boast, not everyone in the knights agreed with him, but most respected his opinions. He and X had a partnership spanning multiple decades of collaboration.

“Okie dokie, boss”, X said while avoiding to make eye contact, before hastily leaving.

“Director…” Arthur said while gazing up at joseph.

“I understand your complicated relationship with demons but do something like this again and I’ll have you prosecuted,” Joseph said while looking X at leaving, “Not only did you attack your senior officer, you also attacked my friend. I’m not quite sure if you could feel the massive gap between your capabilities. He might seem eccentric, but he’s a genuine beast when it comes to battle. You’re lucky he didn’t kill you.”

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BONUS

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Name: Rebeca Watson

Alias: “Bec”

Species: Human

Age: 32

Height: 164cm

Affiliation: Knights

Rank: Head of compound 15 research and development sector

Description: A short female with an even shorter fuse. Had the world been a peaceful place, she would have most likely been a genius scientist responsible for advancing mankind, but as it is now, she’s stuck developing weapons to combat the demonic threat. When Rebeca was young, her family died when New York was destroyed. She was picked up by knights and raised in one of their special facilities. There, Rabeca’s talents bloomed and by the time she was 15 she was already improving standard issue equipment. She was the one who developed the current version of the energy weapons the knights use, making them many times more versatile in battle.

 

Stats:

Strength: 3/10

Stamina: 3/10

Speed: 1/10

Vitality: 2/10

Magic: 0/10

Intelligence: 8/10

Adaptability: 4/10

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Name: John Alstein

Alias: Mr. Lab-coat

Species: Human/contractor

Age: unknown

Height: 188cm

Affiliation: Knights

Rank: Rebeca’s assistant

Description: Not much is known about John other than that he appears to be rather timid, and good natured. He became Rebeca’s assistant shortly after the two had met.

 

Stats:

Strength: 3/10

Stamina: 4/10

Vitality: 6/10

Speed: 2/10

Magic: 1/10

Intelligence: 7/10

Adaptability: 3/10

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Name: Arthur Dulley

Alias: Excalibur

Species: Human/hero

Age: 26

Height: 188cm

Affiliation: Knights

Rank: Associate special grade investigator

Description: Contracted to a Legendary Angel from an early age. Arthur has a deep disdain for everything demonic. His parents were killed when he was especially young, leaving him and his older brother to fend for themselves. I order to support his family, his brother became a contractor and worked with the knights. One day, when Arthur was returning home, a demon attacked the city. His brother protected him at the cost of his own life, leaving the boy traumatized.

 

Stats:

Strength: 3/10

Stamina: 5/10

Vitality: 3/10

Speed: 3/10

Magic: 2/10

Intelligence: 4/10

Adaptability: 2/10

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TRIVIA

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Contractors:

Those who are contracted to demons are referred to as contractors, while those who are contracted to angels are known as heroes, although some chose to not distinguish the two and call them both contractors.

However, there is one major distinction between the two and that is that angels do not need to die to become contracted to humans, they simply offer contracts to humans who they deem competent and in case of their contractor passing on they regain their previous form and are able to offer others the same contract.

Demons on the other hand, only form contracts after death as a form of rebirth, slowly assimilating with their host as their power grows.

Both contractors and heroes are able to use magic based on what their contracted being held domain over and summon their souls.

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Souls:

Magical weapons manifested from the souls of contractors and heroes. Their shape and inherent abilities depend on the personality of the wielder. A large amount of magical energy is required to summon a soul.

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