༺ White Knight (1) ༻
1.
Even during the brightest of sunlight, it would never light up the whole jungle.
Such a metaphor could also apply to a city.
Even in a bustling city, filled with CCTV and dashcams, there were parts of the city that weren’t covered by them.
One such place was the long-abandoned drainage that ran beneath Seoul.
This tunnel used to collect rainwater from the area and directed it toward the Han River to prevent the city from getting flooded, but it was now unused as they had built new tunnels over the years.
It was still officially a public facility, and the city government still maintained it.
But, with a touch of magic, such a place was transformed into an unnoticed blind spot, forgotten even by those who were aware of its existence.
-Clack clack clack
45 meters underground.
Surrounded by the massive concrete walls with a diameter of over ten meters, a sound of high-heeled shoes echoed.
Tattered rags fluttered on the wall as a strong, foul odor permeated the entire tunnel that contained some of the rainwater.
Relying on a single decorative light, Della Redcliffe was walking inside the tunnel.
-Woooosh!
With a typhoon wreaking havoc above, rainwater gathered in the functioning drainage ditches, forming waterfall-like streams.
When she arrived in a certain corner, Della took a turn and entered a dark and vast chamber. As she did, the loud sound of flowing water that came from the distance made her frown her brows.
The noise wasn’t the only thing that bothered her, though.
“Haah…”
She swept her long, red hair back and crossed her arms in annoyance.
The foul stench, mixed with the overpowering smell of blood wafted through the already revolting air.
She then added a few more torches to the chamber, revealing the full extent of carnage before her.
There was a large altar in the center of the chamber.
On top of it, there were people, lying motionlessly while staring blankly at the ceiling, as if they had been possessed by something.
“This is why I didn’t want to come here…ugh…you’re still the same as ever, Paola Xochitl.”
On the altar, there was a witch, hunching-over while calmly playing with a dagger in her hand. Her expression was completely blank.
Just like a professional surgeon, she skillfully sliced through the people’s chests, severing their ribs and extracted their hearts.
Paola Xochitl, or rather, the Cowardly Witch, silently directed her half disfigured face toward Della.
“…It’s been a while, Della.”
But even then, she still continued moving the knife in her hand.
As soon as she extracted one heart, she’d extracted another one in an instant.
It didn’t take more than ten minutes for the thirty two people lying on the altar to lose their lives.
While this scene was unfolding, Della only stared at her, waiting without attempting to stop or interrupt her.
Until Duchess Keter created Gehenna and prohibited the act, human sacrifices and experimentations were something that witches would casually do, and this was the most common reason why regular witches became Exiles.
“You’re still conducting your research, huh?”
“It’s all I’ve got left.”
When Paola made a gesture with her hand, a portal appeared.
A part of a Homunculus body emerged from a hidden pocket dimension, grabbing the remaining scraps on the altar.
Disgusting sound of it munching down on something echoed through the air.
“So, why did you call me to this filthy place?”
“We’re friends. Can’t I at least see your face after such a long time?”
“There’s no way you called me just for that.”
“Hahaha!”
Paola laughed, contorting the half of her face that was still intact.
Her smile gave off an unsettling vibe, making her laugh sound more eerie than anything.
That strange laughter ceased as she opened her arms, as if to welcome her old friend.
“Welcome to my temporary workshop. I don’t have any fancy desserts or tea, though.”
Della wrinkled her nostrils, clearly confused.
“So, what’s the deal? You never answered me when I tried to contact you.”
“I’m trying to warn you.”
“Trying to…warn me?”
Noticing Della’s confused face, Paola snapped her finger.
In an instant, the space tore open, revealing a chained-up Homunculus.
-Grrrr…
Clad in a huge red armor, it towered over two meters tall.
It held a red spear that looked like it could easily reach five meters long.
There were fifteen pairs of eyes on its head.
This Homunculus was something that Della had heard of before, but unlike its notoriety, its current appearance was like an insect trapped in a spider’s web, struggling to break free.
“…Red Knight?”
“Yes. As you can see, I haven’t fully subdued it yet. It’s quite the stubborn child. Despite its weakened state, it still wouldn’t bat an eye even if I gifted it fifty hearts at once.”
Paola snapped her fingers once again, and the space that she had opened immediately closed like a curtain.
Her self-essence magic allowed her to manipulate the Homunculi.
Most of them wouldn’t be able to resist her control once they made eye contact with her.
“As expected, children who have lived for so long have strong wills. They never seem to be able to calm down.”
“There’s no way this is the reason why you brought me here. You always have something up your sleeve.”
‘This is way too ‘normal’ to warrant a warning…’
The realization left Della feeling somewhat uneasy.
“Did you notice the spear the child wields?”
“The Red Branch?”
“Yes. By utilizing the ‘distortion’ within the Red Branch, I figured that I could probably twist cause and effect. It wouldn’t be strange if I could achieve an extraordinary feat that no regular magic could ever accomplish.”
“And?”
Della listened to Paola’s explanation intently.
“But I haven’t been able to tame this child with the methods I’ve been using so far. I considered taking the Red Branch away, but I won’t be able to handle it as well as it does.”
“Makes sense.”
Paola grinned as Della, who couldn’t even hide her unease at this point, nodded in agreement.
There was a hint of madness and obsession in the former’s crescent-shaped eye.
“That’s why I’ll be doing something new. It’ll be safer for you to leave this place for a while as you might unnecessarily get involved in it. Consider this as my warning.”
Whenever she saw this old friend of hers, Della always had this strange foreboding.
Not because she was a criminal exile.
Despite all the accusations and harsh words being thrown at her, Della always remembered her as the kindest person she’d known in her life.
If there was one thing that she lacked, it was courage.
And that was the only flaw she had.
After a moment of hesitation, Della spoke up.
“Don’t you think it’s about time to stop? It’s a little ironic coming from me, but sometimes you have to let things go.”
At the same time she uttered those words, a gaze filled with killing intent hit her.
It was Paola, sending her a chilling glare, even though she had been laughing just a moment ago.
But that didn’t stop Della from speaking.
By all means, it was already too late for her friend to turn back, but it was still tough for her to witness Paola’s struggle for something that was essentially amount to nothing.
“There’s no magic that can bring the dead back, Paola. Even the Witch of Creation can’t pull off a miracle like that. You can use distortion or whatever, but the result would end up the same.”
“I don’t need your advice, so shut your mouth if you don’t want to die.”
“Look here, I’m not looking for a fight…sigh…sorry…”
Seeing how thorny the reaction of her friend was, Della uttered a genuine apology to her.
Her words were true, she wasn’t here to argue.
After hearing Della’s apology, Paola calmed down as well.
“Continue, what exactly are you planning to do?”
“That’s…”
A faint smile appeared on Paola’s lips.
Della, who had been prepared for almost anything, slowly opened her mouth.
With trembling eyes, she looked at her old friend.
“If you do something like that, Duchess Keter will come out.”
“That’s good then.”
“No, it’s not! Even if it’s you, if she were to make a move—”
‘You’ll die.’
Della swallowed her words.
But Paola probably knew this as well.
‘Is she looking for a place to die?’
‘Or is this her final struggle to put an end to her over a hundred years of painful atonement?’
Whichever the answer was, she wouldn’t know.
“I won’t interfere with it, but don’t count on me joining you. Regardless of everything, I’m still a Baroness of Gehenna.”
“Don’t worry, I really just want to warn you. You’re my friend, after all.”
The word ‘friend’ hit Della’s heart heavily.
She took a moment to think.
Maybe this was the last time she’d ever see her again.
Memories of her time with Paola flashed in her mind. The scene of all her bickering with her back when they were still students of Trinity Academy now merged with the current broken image of Paola.
“Hoo…”
Della kicked the ground with her high heels, spreading out her repeaters along with an interdimensional barrier.
Meanwhile Paola observed this scene with vacant eyes.
Seemingly oblivious to what Della was up to.
Though, Della knew that there was no way she wasn’t aware of what she was doing.
Still, she couldn’t unleash large-scale spells until she finished spreading her repeaters around.
On the bright side, Paola didn’t expect her to suddenly turn hostile since she still considered Della as her friend.
“Fine, let’s give it a shot, shall we?”
-Grrrr….
-Wooosh!
Suddenly, the space behind Paola tore open.
Various monstrous noises echoed in the chamber, as if they were about to tear apart the dimensional pocket that was accommodating all of them.
A worthy spectacle befit the witch who once bore the name of the one who controlled a thousand beasts.
“If you’re looking to end your life, at least let me do it for you, with my own hands…”
The reason behind Paola’s actions wasn’t because of research or anything of the sort.
Rather, she was trying to drag innocent humans down with her as her last struggle.
Della could completely understand the act of sacrificing humans for the sake of research, but what she was about to do was nothing more than a mindless slaughter.
‘If she’s going to die at the hands of Duchess Keter anyway, I might as well put her to rest myself…’
“…”
Seeing her friend’s determination, Paola showed a mix of a troubled and sad expression.
“Even you can’t understand me either, huh…?”
“I can. That’s why I’m doing this.”
“No. I don’t want to hear it.”
Paola bit her lip before turning away.
All the Homunculi she tamed were let loose and started crawling out one by one.
“Ignite.”
Della’s hair fluttered and a crimson aura began to spread like molten lava around her.
She was ready for what was to come.
Moreover, this cramped chamber gave her an advantage in handling her fire magic.
-Sizzle!
-Kkiieek!
Monstrous creatures resembling centipedes, octopi, wolves and more each started casting various spells to fight her off, but it was futile.
Her fiery waves, hotter than ten of millions degrees, turned them all into ashes.
One powerful spell after another was being thrown by her without the slightest bit of concern.
Surprisingly, even after all this, she hadn’t used even a tenth of her mana.
The ebb and flow of the battle, the strategic positioning on the battlefield and the dynamics between the two combatants all worked in her favor, so she couldn’t help but let out a smile.
Gradually, all the Homunculi that Paola had unleashed were either consumed by flames or melted into oblivion.
Meanwhile, Paola was just observing this scene without a trace of regret or disappointment on her face.
“Why bother letting out such weaklings?”
Della couldn’t help but furrow her brow.
All the Homunculi Paola had brought up only had less than ten eyes.
Even if she had buffed them into oblivion, they still wouldn’t be able to become Della’s match.
“I’m just waiting.”
“Waiting…? For what…?”
“For my toy soldiers to be complete.”
It was then that Della realized what was going on.
The hearts that Paola had just pulled out and placed by the side of the altar were nowhere to be found.
“Have fun.”
Paola said with a twisted laugh, accompanied by the clanking sound of metal.
Armor-clad Homunculi began to emerge from the twisted open space.
Their appearance resembled that of the Red Knight, except for the pure white armor that they wore.
And their numbers exactly matched the number of people she had sacrificed just a moment ago.
“I’ve just finished my research on Homunculi ‘cloning’. As you mentioned, I don’t need a bunch of them, I just need to keep the strongest one by my side, then I can make as many copies of it as I want. I just need some sacrifices as the catalyst.”
Despite that, Della wasn’t too concerned about the situation.
‘Clone?’
‘What does she mean by that?’
‘Well. who cares. Even if she makes a hundred or thousand of them, I can just burn them all.’
“Ignite.”
With a casual wave of Della’s hand, flames enveloped their armors.
If one were to think that metal could withstand her flame, then they were simply wrong.
There wasn’t a single kind of metal that her fire wouldn’t be able to melt.
Or at least that was what she believed.
Facing her raging flames, the White Knights didn’t even flinch.
Rather, they formed a solid barrier using the large shield they held in one of their hands, skillfully blocking her flames like well-trained soldiers.
“What…?”
“These cloned children are much weaker than the original, but they still possess the traits that the original has. You should be familiar with the ‘Distortion Shield’ the Red Knight has, right? The trait that it extracted from the Red Branch.”
Just as Paola had explained, her fire couldn’t even reach their shields.
Like plasma confined within a magnetic field, the flames flickered in place before they consumed all their manas and dissipated.
When her flames subsided, the White Knights aimed their spears at her.
“It’s a shame that things turned out like this, Della. I really considered you as a friend.”
As Paola turned her back, the White Knights charged towards Della in perfect unison.
