Others Summon Dragons, I Summon Legendary Knights

"You know about the Rune of Light," Zaun said. He stood on a high tower, gazing at the capital sprawling toward the horizon. The Unknown King stood beside him, hands clasped at his back.

"I know everything," said the Unknown King. "The Blesser isn’t a hybrid like the others. He has a unique link to the Rune of Light, and you used that to your advantage. It was incredible... what you and the others did."

Zaun almost smiled. "We were risking failure. We were trying to create a weapon that used a natural rune and could bring life to the figures carved into it."

The Unknown King nodded, a low hum escaping him. "It worked. You created a weapon close to the rank of a relic. I await the moment his strength is restored."

His golden eyes watched the two armoured figures in an arena, a place once designated for knights to spar while their comrades cheered from the stands.

It was desolate now, save for two duelists. Apollyon, with a tall and agile build, drew her sword and held the broad, round shield with the other hand, circling another.

The other combatant held a tome. His armour was light, and a metal facemask shrouded the lower part of his face.

Apollyon’s steps were born from years of dueling, her posture low. She prowled like a tiger sizing up its prey.

Her cape rippled behind her. She deftly twisted her wrist, spinning the sword as she closed on Dax.

Shield forward, expecting a blow from the mage, she charged. Then—

"Your Majesty. You can’t leave the Rune of Light with him if he refuses to stay." Zaun’s voice brought his attention back.

The Unknown King sighed. "I can’t." He shook his head ruefully. "Hopefully, he might stay."

His attention went back to the sprawling city. It looked desolate. Far from its glory days. Pathan was shattered. He could restore the structure, but the people couldn’t be brought back.

"I came too late," he said. "There is little, so little to salvage."

"Our civilization may be gone, but Earth exists. I’ve seen what you’ve done. How you’ve helped people despite the hatred. The people there need help now. Two of your generals are there, souls bound to men that have become their masters. One tortures your servant; the other suffers for befriending her. Your actions for justice have thrown that world down a path that I do not condone, and you would not as well."

The Unknown King studied Zaun. "You’ve forgotten our people? You speak of another world, a place where men have beasts inside of them."

"I and the others built this order—"

"On my name." The Unknown King chipped in, reminding the Alchemist.

"My King, we can’t bring back billions, and even if we could, we can’t settle the grievous strife between us all. The Order was for our world; it is sadly broken. I do not ask for us to leave. I ask for us to function. To bring aid to others as we did to our own." Zaun stared at the Unknown King. The king paid attention to his capital.

Silence stood like a dividing wall between them.

"I will bring back my generals," said the king.

"Then what? What shall we do after we’re all gathered? There is nothing other than fifty thousand knights. Time will get to us all, and we shall die. We can’t reproduce. We’ll be lost to time. Gone," Zaun responded softly, yet pushed his point with care.

The Unknown King glanced at him. "This... this man you speak of. That helped despite hate. Was that who I was before I became this?"

Zaun chose his next words carefully. It would seem the king was sensitive to this topic.

"It was."

"He must have been a fool."

"Then why have you sent one of your most powerful generals into the Afterlife to save another who might not serve? To rescue a knight who, in his darkest times, still didn’t remember your name."

"You call me a fool," the Unknown King said.

"It wasn’t my intention." Zaun apologized.

"Zaun. People will die. He has tried in the past. People died. I feel it. If I interfere, people will die."

"Will you leave them to such oppression, then?" Zaun asked.

"What kind of king would I be if I sat here on a lofty throne while people suffered... While people born the same are stomped on for traits they cannot change?" The Unknown King sounded slightly surprised as he spoke. He touched his chest.

"Those people will need freedom on their own accord. Not me."

"Pathan never knew they needed the Order. A man knew, and he has been sitting in a prison for his decision. My King, you may be made of darkness, but you can usher the light. You never had to exist to give Pathan light. Now you do. So bring your light to another world. You might have forgotten what they did to you, but go there. See what men do to men. See how vile control can get. Not even the Congregation of GodKings and Queens will save them; they either don’t care or have been bought."

Hearing all Zaun had to say, the Unknown King looked away. "Whatever I was. I must have been glorious in order to change your mind to what it is now."

Glorious? That wasn’t the word.

’You were good. A kind soul that would have thrived in peace. Unfortunately, you were also good at killing because deep within, you’ve always been made to do that. You...’

Zaun struggled even within himself. ’...I saw you as my boy. A young man burdened by the weight of his heart, of his world. I saw a young man who refused to be drowned, and I was moved to stretch out a hand. I do not say this, but what you did made me care like I once did centuries ago.’

The Unknown King stared at Zaun. For a moment, his eyes looked lost. He wanted to reach out, to know who this other part of him was.

He withdrew at the final moment.

"The heart is the Order. It’s what makes us. Show the world your might. The Congregation of Gods will summon you. They will stand against you, but you are king even amongst kings," Zaun said and left.

"This... isn’t what I came for." He heard the Unknown King’s last words. His final sigh drifted. A farewell to their conversation.

Maybe the Unknown King and Godfrey weren’t as connected as he thought. Or perhaps, Godfrey had drowned at the last moment, and this was what remained.

The Unknown King placed his hand on the stone railing. He felt a hand above his own. It felt like a soft hand went through his armour and touched his skin.

A flash of red hair went through his eyes for a moment, and he opened his mouth to utter a name, but nothing came out.

He sighed.

***

Isolde stood on a cliff, staring at the beautiful domain she’d built for her dragons. Their joyful roars had once filled her heart as they danced through the skies. But now...

Fire consumed the many regions below, while immense columns of smoke climbed toward the clouds.

She could feel her strength rising rapidly. It gave her hope that Godfrey was still alive, somehow. Rising through battle had its downside: no one had infinite stamina, especially not her.

Fighting wyverns that were hundreds of feet long wasn’t just physically exhausting. It was mentally taxing. Wyverns in their hundreds lay dead, their enormous skeletons scattered across the ground below.

The cost had been a dozen of her grown children and several dozen little ones.

Isolde bit her lips, forcing back tears from her puffy eyes. She couldn’t give birth. She made peace with that, but somehow, as if mercy had shown on her, she gained a strong maternal bond to these incredible creatures.

She gave them a home, but some madman out there was killing them, and it was because of her.

Isolde’s hand pressed hard into the spear under her arm.

Perched on the mountain range were several dragons. Grace was right above her, claws sinking into stone.

Isolde leaped back to the other side of the mountain and made her way to a red dragon lying on the grass. His wings had a painful number of holes.

The wounds on his neck and chest still oozed smoke and blood. Aion growled softly when he saw her.

Isolde dropped her spear. Her fingers moved carefully over the dragon’s thick, rough scales, every stroke carrying the tenderness of a mother tending to an injured child.

Aion closed his eyes, relaxing beneath her touch.

She could feel what he felt. That alone brought a smile to her face.

’I can’t lose my husband and my children at the same time. You’re all I have.’ Her eyes went to the others. Some collapsed due to exhaustion, others roamed.

She couldn’t trust them. They were her children, but they would still devour her. Aion wasn’t like that. Not once had he bared his fangs toward her.

’He’ll survive.’ Grace approached.

Isolde didn’t respond. Aion would surely survive, but one of her battle-hardened dragons, one she trusted dearly, wouldn’t be by her side in the battles to come.

Nyx appeared in a massive flash of purple light. Her massive eyes looked almost expressionless, but Isolde could see anxiety.

"Did anything happen to Ghost and Luthor?"

’No, It’s Ellia. I tried to help, but I could kill her young ones.’

"Is she dead?" Isolde asked.

’She’s not, but—!’

"Take me there!" Isolde ordered. "Grace..." She looked around. They were tired. They had just fought a huge battle.

She took a hard gulp and climbed Nyx. ’I’ll go alone.’

Grace came closer. Isolde opened her mouth to discourage the ice dragon, but before she could speak, Goldhorn, a white dragon with golden spikes, sensed her motive and approached.

Silverterror followed. She had black horns, silver scales, and dark pink leather wings. Dark pink spikes grew along both sides of her neck down to her tail.

***

"Couldn’t the sun last much longer?" Old Man Adam muttered with a weak laugh. He went for a stroll. The street was usually quiet at night, and he’d been taking these walks for decades.

Even the goons, if there were any, recognized him.

The folds of skin on his face tightened when the old man remembered a certain golden-haired young man.

He clicked his tongue spitefully. "He took his knights, and I’ve been waiting, expecting his visit. Seems like I’ve grown used to those knights." He scratched his chest and continued moving at a steady pace. After cursing Godfrey for a while and spitefully spitting whenever his name came up, his anger was finally spent.

Tonight, he had seen what Godfrey’s actions in Tokyo had done to the entire world. It felt like back then, when Cain’s reign fell and the authorities began the orientation program. The identity of Humanoid Summoners collapsed; they were never the same anymore.

Old Man Adam’s eyes flickered. He remembered when Humanoid Summoners, Plant Summoners, and Beast Summoners fought together as one.

Those days were now little more than a myth. Even Adam sometimes doubted his own memories, so thoroughly had the world twisted itself.

Chirp!

His small bird chirped.

"You get me, don’t you?" His aged voice rang.

Chirp?

The bird cocked its head.

"Is it food you want?" The old man said tiredly. It’s been decades, yet he always believed this bird understood him or at least was growing to. To his dismay, he was beginning to suspect the thing might simply be permanently dumb. Its tiny brain wouldn’t improve even in another century.

Chirp!

The bird nodded enthusiastically.

There it was. It wanted food after all.

"Where’s your cuff? You—" A gale of insults rang. Words Old Man Adam had always encouraged the orphans to stay away from spilled out of a young man up ahead.

He was unreasonably loud.

Old Man Adam quickened his steps. Four young individuals stood farther ahead, all of them barely old enough to have left high school.

"I know you want to kill someone." Cole, a stout seventeen-year-old man, towered over Benjamin.

Benjamin was a black-haired kid with freckles scattered across his face. His round glasses lay on the concrete, one of the lenses already shattered beneath someone’s boot.

"I—!"

"Shut up!" Fred, a stocky one, slammed his heel into Benjamin’s chest. The lean young man clutched his chest, curled against the wall, groaning in pain.

"Lilly. You’re such a lifesaver." Cole smiled at a girl standing in the middle of the road, holding herself like she was suffering from a cold.

"Lilly..." Benjamin groaned. He stared toward the girl, though his poor eyesight left her face little more than a blur. ’You brought them to my home. Why? Why?!’

Benjamin clenched his teeth, glaring at her.

"Look at his eyes. He was definitely going to kill someone. Thank God we called the police. A Humanoid Summoner without suppressors is definitely on his way to do something bad," Cole declared righteously, then punched Benjamin’s face.

Benjamin’s eyes swelled with tears. Pain. Every blow caused deep pain.

Hadn’t they bullied him even before this law was passed? Why take it this far? Why use Lilly to lure him from his home? They always stopped at school.

What had he done?

The image of the golden-armoured man executing Mrs. Fukushima flickered through his eyes.

It couldn’t be... Was this what they were afraid of?

Benjamin opened his eyes. Through the blur of tears, he finally saw Lilly’s bruised cheek and the dark marks around her knees.

W...what?

She was a victim too. And her friendship with him was the reason.

"I didn’t want to be born like this!" Benjamin cried. It almost sounded like a plea.

"Tell that to the Directorate, you soul-eating freak!" Cole bellowed, kicking him. He and Fred took turns hitting him hard.

They knew the police would be here soon. So why not frame him with Lilly, and why not beat him until they were satisfied?

Could he complain to the police? Would they listen? No one would listen. Not after what the Golden Devil did. Time and time again, Humanoid Summoners have proven themselves to be mad.

"This isn’t right." An old voice said. Benjamin trembled at the old man’s arrival. Was he saved?

"Mind your business, old man. You’re obviously blind. Can’t you see! That’s a Humanoid Summoner without a suppressor! He would have killed you if we weren’t here," Fred said, eyes wide.

"I know this boy. He lives a few blocks away. He would have killed me long ago if what you say is true," Old Man Adam replied. "Leave him alone."

"Get the hell out of here, old man!" Fred waved Adam off. He took one bold step toward the old man, but Cole held his shoulder.

"That’s an old man, Fred. And his summon is on his shoulder."

Police sirens wailed. A patrol car turned into the street, heading straight for them.

Old Man Adam saw thought in Benjamin’s eyes as the policemen descended. ’No one will save me.’

Cole and Fred met the policemen who, after talking with the bullies, glanced at the beaten boy.

"Show us your summon," a policeman barked an order.

Shaking, Benjamin bit his lips and did as he was commanded. A portal opened up, and a centaur came out. Part horse, part man.

It carried no weapon, wore no armour. Its build was lanky, but it was stewing hard at Cole and Fred.

"You’re vicious animals." It said.

"Retrieve that thing, boy." One of the policemen lifted up his gun, alarmed at the hate in the centaur’s eyes.

The centaur looked at Benjamin. Adam could see it was seeking permission to use force. That centaur might not look like a fighter, but it towered over all of them and had the speed of a horse. It could speak. That alone meant it wasn’t some weak-tier summon.

’Don’t do it.’ Old Man Adam said inwardly. Desire flickered in the boy’s eyes. But...

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