Chapter 20: Bloodstained Chivalry

As the warm and soothing sunlight shines on the windows, gently dancing on my closed eyelids, the birds outside, in their joyous celebration of a new day, sings a lovely song to wake me up from my nightly rest.

“Ah, I love mornings.” I exclaim, refreshingly stretching myself before getting ready for work.

Well, I say ‘work’, but we haven’t gotten to do actual work for two years. Ever since the battle at the Nile, those rebels have been quiet for some time. Although we still lose a few men here and there, so I guess it’s not always peaceful around here. But hey, that’s just the life of an angel.

Putting on my one and only robe, I get out of my quarters and sprout my wings, soaring through the sky to our headquarters – the city of Cairo in Gabriland.

“Mornin’, guys!” On my way, I usually meet a few of my coworkers also flying there. Not all of them are friendly, though. I never get why. I mean, we’re doing a great job, right? We should be happy about it, right?

I get to work in around an hour of flying. Not too shabby of a time, I’d say, although it’s slightly later than what I usually take. Oh well, I rarely get chewed out anyway, so I’m sure that I’m still fine.

As I get to the main building – the tallest skyscraper in the city – most of us have already arrived. Lord Gabriel, like usual, is nowhere to be found. He’s a great leader and manager and all, but he’s never on time. Most of the work in the meanwhile is usually put in the hands of the squadron leaders instead. Usually, most people can’t tell us apart since our faces are kind of similar to one another, but with the squadron leaders, you can definitely tell the difference between them and us low-tier units. I mean, they always have that… veteran look to them. Must be because they’re the few survivors of that riverside battle two years ago.

“Mr. Add, sir!” I wave my hand immediately as I see my commander from afar, “Angel Glenn reporting for duty!”

“… Who are you again?” The commander, with a stern and unamused look on his face, asks.

“It’s me, sir! Glenn! From your squadron!”

“What’s your code? Which batch are you from?” Mr. Add asks once more, with an even fiercer look on his face.

Oh. He means that. I never get it. I think a name is wonderful. That’s why I’ve been naming everyone I know. But somehow… the commander, as well as everyone else doesn’t like it. Is it that I’m just bad at it, or don’t they feel that way about names?

“… Model GGLEN-032, Sir.”

“Oh… you, that’s right.” The commander lets out a sigh. “I thought I told you already, we don’t need names. Names are an inconvenience made by the humans, the foolish, low-level species. Names bring about emotions, and emotions make us forget our duty.”

“… Yes, Sir.” I nod in response. I can never understand this rule from the higher-ups. What’s so wrong with having a name? We’re still doing our duty every day without fail. And it’s such a mouthful to call one another with our model codes. I mean, sure, we usually just skip communicating altogether, but what’s the fun in that? Why can’t we enjoy ourselves while doing what is right?

“Hey! Where do you think you’re going?” A sudden call towards me wakes me up from my daydream. When I take a look around, everyone has already gathered around the building’s square, waiting to hear the next order. However, even if it’s time to assign our daily tasks, this is much more crowded than usual. Curious, I hurry to join the rest and see for myself what the occasion is.

As I see the glorious figure standing on the podium, I can tell that today’s going to be a great day already. For Lord Gabriel himself to come and give us the order for the day, this is going to be an important task, I can tell it. My body’s practically shivering in excitement right now. I wonder what he’s going to give us? Some kind of escort mission? Patrolling key locations? Or is it finally meeting with the rebels and convincing them to go on the right path?

“Alright, let’s see now…” Lord Gabriel speaks. Just look at his dignified posture, his grace, his elegance. That’s the symbol of peace if I’ve ever seen one. “Today, I bring you an urgent message. The rebels from two years ago have resurfaced once again. They’ve built multiple bases across the land, from the city landscape to even the remote Sahara Desert. Unfortunately, due to the result of our last battle, we’re in a desperate shortage of manpower.”

His words are nothing but the truth. I wasn’t born back then, but I’ve read the records of it and asked the veterans countless times. The battle was an utter bloodbath caused by a supposedly crazed demon of the rebel side, the Bloodstained Knight, as he slaughtered almost all of our five-thousand-man army. However, after that battle, the rebels didn’t appear anywhere, as if they’d vanished into thin air. So, they’ve been building up their forces, waiting for their time to strike. But I’m not worried. We’ll stop them for sure. For we are agents of justice.

“And so, unfortunately, we can’t be destroying these bases just yet. Each squadron shall send a small group to do a recon mission; find out which base is the most important to the rebels, and report back to me. Then, we’ll devise a plan according to the situation.”

“That’s it for now. There’s still your normal task for today, but I’ll leave that to the squadrons to handle. May God’s light be with us.” Lord Gabriel concludes the meeting with our sacred oath.

“May God’s light be with us.”

“Alright,” our squadron leader, Mr. Add, starts going through the plan in detail, “you’ve heard the gist of it from Lord Gabriel, so now I’ll be going into detail of our tasks for the day. First of all is the simple daily task: patrolling the harbor for pirate activities. They’ve been on a rise for the past two years, but their actions are usually limited to plundering money and valuables, so they’re of no significant threat. I only need one group – around ten people - for this task. Any volunteers?”

I won’t be surprised if no one offers themselves. Definitely not after we’ve been tasked with recon at the enemy bases. Patrolling is important, sure, but who would want to do that when we could go at those rebels?

“We’ll handle it, Commander.” Surprisingly enough, there’s still someone willing to do it. What a weirdo. His name is… Mark, I believe? Well, it’s what I named him, at least. I haven’t gotten to talk to him much, though, because he kept ignoring me whenever I tried to approach him. A proper stick-in-the-mud, I’d say. But I’m not complaining. You can take the boring tasks, and leave the fun part to us.

“Alright. That’s the daily task. Now, onto the rebels’ case.” Mr. Add then brings out a large map of the land, and on it litters “X” marks all over the place. Are these all the potential rebel bases?... This is insane. How many are there? I count… ten… twenty… thirty… forty bases total? Even if each of them is just a small outpost of ten or so people, they can already match us in number.

The sheer number of bases sends a chill down my spine as I unconsciously swallow my saliva in anxiety. If all of them are active and launch an all-out attack at once… we won’t be able to contain that many people. Lord Gabriel was right; we are severely low on manpower right now.

“As you can see here, there are forty bases in total. I and the other squadron commanders have discussed, and come to the conclusion that each squadron will send half of a battalion – two groups, in total – each to investigate one base. We of squadron four will handle the bases in the center-north, meaning the bases around this area, from here to here.” Pointing at the upper left and right corners of the map, Mr. Add concludes. “Group leaders, I’ll let you decide where you would go.”

“Alright, which one will it be? Any suggestions?” Our group leader, whom I haven’t figured out a name for since his model code – XSWEQ-183 - is too weird to make a fitting sound, asks for our opinions. Considering their bases, though, they have a lot covered. Urban sites, suburban areas, seaside, even the desert…

“Wait,” Realizing my own words, I say out loud. “I think I’ve figured it out.”

“What do you suggest?” The group leader turns his attention towards me.

“Here.” I point at the base I thought to be of most importance on the map – in the middle of the Sahara Desert.

“Why the desert? No one can live there. There’s no food or water readily available.” One of our group members protests.

“No. Think about it.” I explain. “It’s exactly because it’s in such a harsh place that no one would bother checking. It would be a perfect spot for the rebels to lay low for so long.”

“I agree on the Sahara center base.” Another one nods his head in agreement. “However, it’s not his reasoning that I agree with, but I’ve heard rumors from the people about a castle suddenly appearing in the middle of the desert overnight. At first, I thought it was just some wild delusion by those suffering from heatstroke in the desert, but if this base is the source of that rumor, I think it’s worth investigating.”

“Any other ideas?” The group leader asks once more. After not hearing anyone else speak up for a while, he concludes. “Then we’ll head to the Sahara center base. I’ll inform the Commander.”

 

“So, Mr. Add, why are you coming with us?” I ask as we make our way towards the base in question. It was surprising to see the Commander following us of all people, so I can’t help but be curious about it.

“I told you to stop calling me that.” With a slightly irritated look on his face, Mr. Add answers. “I told you when we first left, didn’t I? I’ve also heard the rumors. And if it’s what I think it is, then I’d have to go there as well. You hatchlings can’t possibly handle it if it turns out to be true.”

“What do you mean by that? What’s ‘it’?”

“You know what I’m talking about.” Mr. Add says, gritting his teeth, yet I’m not sure if it’s in anger or fear. “That monster who slaughtered almost all of us two years ago, the Bloodstained Knight. To be honest, I’d ask for Lord Gabriel to come too if I could, but he refused because it’s just some baseless rumors according to him.”

“The Bloodstained Knight…” I say, feeling a chill all over my body, even though it’s plenty cool enough up in the air already. “… what’s he like?”

“What’s he like?” Mr. Add seems surprised at my question. “Why do you want to know?”

“I mean, why wouldn’t I want to know? He’s supposed to be this bloodthirsty demon that took the lives of our kin in that battle two years ago, right? But isn’t he just human? How can a human be so… evil?”

“Humans are evil by nature. You shouldn’t be surprised.” Mr. Add answers. “If they could be good, then our Lord wouldn’t have to purge them in the first place.”

“You mean God, right? Have you met him? What does he look like?”

“Beats me. I’ve never had the grace to.” Mr. Add shakes his head. “Even among the Archangels, the number of times they’ve been in the presence of God is only enough to count on one hand.”

“Alright. Talk is over. We’re here.”

Before us appears what one could only say a once-in-a-lifetime miracle. Even on such an unstable surface as a sand dune, a giant castle is erected firmly in place. With its tall walls that make entering impossible without flying and its multitude of turrets lying in wait, the structure gives out an impenetrable feeling to it, more like a fortress in the desert rather than just an ordinary base.

“Looks like we’re on point,” I exclaim in both excitement and anxiety. “But isn’t it a little… uninhabited?” I ask myself after seeing not a single person over the walls.

“Sir! There’s something down there!” The group leader sounds towards Mr. Add, interrupting my thoughts. Following his voice, I direct my attention down as well. It’s true; only a couple of meters away from the castle gate is a figure of something or someone. We’re still too far away to make out what exactly the object is, but I can still vaguely make out the color black amidst the golden sand.

“Steadily lower your altitude!” Mr. Add gives out the order with a swing of his arm. “We don’t want whatever down there to notice us!”

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The group soon follows as we all descend as quietly and as slowly as we can. Once we get lower, the figure also appears more clearly in our vision. From my distance, I can see a black suit of armor, standing out like a sore thumb in the middle of the day with its contrasting getup. On its shoulder piece lies a sheathed sword of matching color, but the strangest thing about this suit of armor is that it shows no reaction at all to us, even when we’ve descended completely onto the ground. Is it that whoever’s in there is asleep? Or they just couldn’t be bothered? Or is it just an empty suit of armor that the rebels put there to scare us?

“… Everyone, retreat! As far as you can!” Mr. Add, however, turns pale like a leaf after seeing the figure up close. Almost immediately, he turns around to the surprise of everyone in the group, but luckily enough is able to stop himself from abandoning the troops.

“Sir, what’s wrong?” I ask.

“I… it’s him! The Bloodstained Knight!”

“Thar’s him?” I ask out loud. I thought of him to be more… intimidating. Sure, the armor looks like it came straight from hell, but apart from that he’s not really doing anything. He’s just sitting there. It’s not like he’s going to chop our heads off as soon as we so much as to take a step closer to him.

“Maybe he’s waiting for someone to negotiate.” I speak my opinion. Of course, even I know that it’s unlikely to be true. But… somehow, I want to talk to him. He’s not doing anything to us, and I’m sure with us making a scene like this he’s noticed our presence already. I want to see if he’s really like the records spoke of. Maybe, just maybe… there’s still some good in him that we can discover if we look hard enough?

“No! What are you doing? You’re going to get us killed!” Mr. Add tries to keep his shout to a minimum as he tries to reach out to me, but at this point, I don’t think I can follow any orders anymore. I feel like I can talk to him. I feel like I can connect to him somehow. It’s an urge within me that I can’t explain, but I want to see it for myself.

I fly towards the target in question, to the distraught of everyone else in the group. Approaching the sitting man, I ask:

“Um… Mr. Bloodstained Knight, Sir? May I have a word with you?”

“… What do you want?” A voice comes out from under the suit. The thick metal helmet makes it difficult to hear, but I can somewhat tell that whoever’s inside is at an incredibly young age compared to the feats he’s done as written in our records. I thought he had to be an old, battle-crazed lunatic, but from the voice, he’s probably in his teens at most.

“You see, we’ve come here because of this… base you’ve set up, and while it’s very impressive, we’re a tiny bit bothered by it. Can we discuss the matter over a cup of tea?”

“… You’re a weird one, you know.” The man inside the armor responds. “Usually, you angels either are scared to death or charge immediately as soon as they see me.”

“Well, I’m different. Personally, I’ve never thought of anyone as evil.” I answer. “We just have differences that we can sort out eventually. Some of us might be wrong, but I believe with God’s guidance, we can all return to our rightful path.”

“Hmph.” I’m not sure if he’s laughing at me or agreeing with me, but at least I’ve gotten a reaction out of him. “You’re an interesting one, aren’t you? Alright then, I’ll take you up on the offer. Tell the rest to come here, and we’ll talk. Don’t worry about the turrets above; no one else is in this castle anyway.”

“… Yes! I’ll tell the Commander right away!” With a shout of joy, I rush back to where my group stands as fast as my wings can take me.

“Sir! Sir! He’s willing to negotiate!” I happily announce as soon as I return to my position.

“You’re… alive?” Mr. Add asks, still sweating buckets from the heat as well as from fear. “That’s… good to know. So… he’s… willing to talk, huh? Are you sure?”

“Absolutely!” I answer. “I’ve checked the premises; it’s just like he said. He’s the only one in that base.”

“B… But, remember, he alone is stronger than any army.” Mr. Add adds. “Tell him that if he’s willing to negotiate, wait until night.”

“Wait until night, Sir?”

“Yes.” Mr. Add nods. “According to our records, his sword can only reach its full potential in the day. The battle from two years ago was the result of another outside force giving him a power-up. So, tell him to wait until nighttime.”

 

“Night? Hmph. Sure, whatever makes you feel safe.” The knight is surprisingly agreeable, even if he’s smirking at our precautions.

“Thank you, Mr. Knight Sir!” I bow my head to show gratitude. “Then, can I stay here and talk to you for a bit?”

“… I don’t mind, but you’re even weirder than I thought.”

Night falls before I even know it. Since I get to talk a lot with Mr. Knight, I must have lost track of time. We were able to know each other really well, like how we agree on humans being better than we think, or how he agrees that my nature and my curiosity are something completely natural. I can tell that despite his age, he’s wiser than most I’ve known in my life, maybe as wise as Lord Gabriel himself. I can’t believe how we would be so afraid of him when all it takes for us to come to an understanding is just to sit and talk it out.

“… Bloodstained Knight.” Mr. Add, finally appearing with the rest of the group, greets the knight, even though his voice is just inches away from cracking in fear.

“… Angels. So, you want to talk?” Mr. Knight asks back, seemingly more comfortable. I guess this is our usual reaction to him.

“He wants to talk.” Mr. Add points at me. “We’re just here in case you try any funny business.”

“I see you’ve done some research on me.”

“Now, onto the matter of discussion…” Mr. Add says, but he’s interrupted before he could do anything else:

“No.” Mr. Knight raises his hand forward to refuse, although he hasn’t even heard our proposition at all. “I’ve waited all day for you. It should only be reasonable if you heard my end of the bargain first.”

“… Tch. Fine.” Mr. Add reluctantly agrees. “What do you want?”

“My proposition is simple: I stay here, you all die here.”

I might have experienced fear a few times in my short life, but Mr. Knight’s words just now are the epitome of fear. Gone was his usual unsociable, but curiously charismatic tone, each word he utters at the moment only screams one word: death. I immediately take a step back, staggering due to the sheer pressure that this man exudes, almost to the point of falling onto my comrades behind me. Meanwhile, Mr. Add is also scared stiff, but he still manages to keep what little composure he has left and let out a threat, empty as it may be:

“Don’t think you have the upper hand here. You’re still outnumbered, and it’s in the middle of the night! You can’t beat all of us!”

Without a word, Mr. Knight points his sword towards us. Suddenly, the ground beneath us shakes violently, and rummaging sounds can be heard even when standing. An earthquake? In this desert land? Impossible! Is it Mr. Knight’s doing?

Cracks start to form around us, and, to our scared speechless expressions, chunks of earth start to leave the ground, floating into the air, gathering themselves to form massive boulders twice, maybe even thrice, the size of a regular person. The boulders soon come flying towards us faster than any arrow could travel, and along with them comes the disbandment of any sort of formation we’ve learned. Each of my comrades flies away in distraught, hoping for just a chance of survival amid this manmade meteor shower, only to have both their hope and their bodies crushed under a stray boulder flying on their path. Blood flows like a river, dying the desert sand red. The distinct metallic smell is even stronger under the heated sand, enough to crush the mind of anyone faint of heart as soon as it invades their nose. All of this scene under the starry sky… it’s terrifyingly mesmerizing, the type that you can’t get your eyes off even if it costs you your life.

“What are you doing? Get away!”

Mr. Add shouts as he pushes me away, and that’s the last I hear from him as he’s also crushed under a boulder. But I have no time to be shocked or sad. Another boulder has found its target, and that target is me.

I can’t dodge in time.

The boulder smashes through me, pinning my right half onto the ground. I can’t feel my right arm or leg anymore. I guess they’re crushed. It’s strange. It should hurt a lot, but I don’t feel any pain. I want to cry out, but no tears would come out. But most of all… I want to know his reasoning. I want to know why he did what he just did.

The man in question stands in front of me.

“Hey, Mr. Knight…” trying with all my remaining strength to say my last few words, I ask. “I’m an angel… I only have a code… but I name myself Glenn… Tell me, Mr. Knight… do you hate us?”

“… I do.”

“Can you tell me… why?”

“… Because you were born in this world.”

“Hah…” I can only manage a slight smirk on my face. “You really are… a devil…”

“If being a devil means being evil, then the only devils here are you.” His final words stick with me until my consciousness fades into eternal darkness.

We are the devil, huh… That’s… not how it’s supposed to be…

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