Others Summon Dragons, I Summon Legendary Knights

Chapter 512: Class III

Benjamin stared at his centaur, the desire in his eyes slowly turning into hate. It was this centaur’s fault. It was twisting his mind, just like they said. He needed to get rid of it.

This thing had ruined his life. He was at the bottom of the barrel now. The very bottom.

Once, he had been something close to the golden boy. Now, Lilly was hurt because of him, and his parents barely went anywhere with him anymore. Their reasons were genuine. They were trying to keep him safe.

But he knew the sad truth. He’d brought humiliation to the entire family. They loved him and paid the price for it.

Benjamin’s teary eyes, burning with hate, reflected in the centaur’s pitch-black eyes. It took three steps backward.

Right then, Benjamin remembered.

Guilt sprung up in his heart as memories flickered through his eyes. He remembered teaching the centaur how to play basketball; he recalled how they played, laughed, and talked about the differences between their worlds.

To think he would turn his hate to the only person that was willing to face the world for him.

"Retrieve the centaur. Immediately!" The policeman that spoke earlier warned testily.

The centaur turned sharply, glaring at the policeman.

He flinched, summoning a jaguar in response.

Benjamin retrieved his centaur. He knew what they’d do to it.

While the policeman led Benjamin to the car, the other one admonished Cole and Fred. Old Man Adam didn’t pay attention to what he had been saying, but he heard this part.

"...What you boys did wasn’t right. Holding up a Humanoid Summoner and beating him up could get you in serious trouble," the policeman said.

The boys nodded reluctantly.

"Leave the police job to the police. Now go home. It’s late," he said. Watching them leave, the policeman cursed. ’Have those kids lost their minds? Beating a Humanoid Summoner was the worst thing they could have ever done.’

The policeman turned, folding his arms as he gazed at Benjamin. The young man sat in the vehicle, his head low.

’He could have snapped and killed them. Not just them. This entire district might have been facing a madman on a killing spree. These Humanoid Summoners...’ His face scrunched up. Then, his eyes drifted to the Old Man still standing there.

He approached.

"Those boys targeted him," Old Man Adam said. He gave the policeman a cold look, then continued his journey, his voice drifting back.

"Those boys targeted him. I see the way you and your partner looked at him. I don’t see a predator like you do, but cornered prey."

Old Man Adam didn’t know the policeman’s reaction to what he said, but it couldn’t have done much. That boy would come back marked with a cuff that would determine his social status.

What had Earth become? Class had always existed. Intelligent beings seemed incapable of living without such distinctions, especially those fortunate enough to stand on the better end. But this... he wanted to speak up, but who would listen?

These people were afraid of becoming prey to Humanoid Summoners. They had a legitimate reason to fear their rise, but was this the only way out?

His walk was supposed to last a few minutes, but it felt like a minute hadn’t gone by. Old Man Adam stared at the orphanage’s gate, his eyes clear of the questions that encumbered his return.

Exhaling heavily, he eased the gate open and went in.

The moment he opened the door, the warmth and chatter of children welcomed him. They gathered around two eight-year-olds. A woman had a warm smile on her face as she watched them throw questions at the two in their midst.

She saw Old Man Adam and hurried over.

"What’s going on?" He asked. They would usually be in bed at this time.

"Two of them..." The woman’s eyes lit up. "They awakened summons. One of them got a baby dragon!"

"A dragon." He smiled at the girl his staff pointed at.

"Max got an elf." She pointed at the boy. "You have to see it yourself, the elf was..."

She went on. The hairs on Old Man Adam’s forearms rose. He wasn’t horrified by the child’s summon. That could never be it. He was horrified by the world Max was about to enter.

That little boy would never be able to sit in the same place with that little girl again, not without being ridiculed. Those small wrists were bound to carry cuffs signifying his class for the rest of his life.

Benjamin’s battered face flashed before his eyes.

***

’For so long, I thought having a powerful summon was a good thing. I just didn’t look deep enough. It’s only good if it’s a Beast Summoner,’ a young Asian girl with straight black hair and dark, almond-shaped eyes thought.

She sat in the back of a car, staring at the man in the driver’s seat. He wore a stern look, his black hair combed back.

Was she wrong to lash out at them? Yes. But they deserved it. For years, she longed to be treated like her siblings, but they never once showed the same love and care.

All she got was stern warnings. ’Go to your room,’ they would say. Her room had become her prison.

Chu Ran sighed. Ever since her summon touched Yuan, everything about her life had spiralled downward. And she’d thought it couldn’t ever get worse.

"I hate you." Chu Ran found herself uttering words she never thought she would.

Her father didn’t even budge. "Go ahead," he said coldly.

"I haven’t caused you any problem. Yuan had lots of it but I jeot my head low and mouth shut even when I was bullied. Yu wouldn’t even sit to listen to me. I tolerated all that, yet you and Mom have never treated me well, I—"

"We gave you food. We made sure you were educated, had proper clothes, slept on a good bed, had ungoverned access to a phone. What more do you want?" He said curtly.

"Why do you always sound so cruel?" Chu Ran said.

"I never laid hands on my brother. I never tried to kill him, and I did not possess the ability to eat his summon. That craving lies inside of you. Do you know the risk we took letting you live inside that house with them?!" Andrew’s voice slowly rose.

"If you truly loved them, you would never have left your room."

Silence swallowed the car. Those words were heavy. Chu Ran couldn’t even speak. This man once looked at her with love before she was ten.

Everything her father just said were truths that had gone unspoken for years. Finally, it was out of his mouth. Ties between father and daughter had been severed.

"I can fend for myself from here on out." Chu Ran forcefully said.

Andrew glanced at her with the corner of his right eye. "We reported your actions to the Directorate. Your brother also informed us of some statements you made."

He shook his head.

"Those words had made you a threat. That kind of statement meant that all we did was useless. You’ll swiftly join the camp of Cain’s Fanatics at the slightest opening," he said.

"W...wait. Y...you did what?" Chu Ran’s lips quivered.

"You’ll be ranked as a Class III... I’m sorry."

Andrew said.

Chu Ran desperately searched for her father’s face, wanting to see what he felt after sealing her fate. From what she knew, a Class III had one identification: ’Dangerous’.

In simpler terms, she was going to spend a good part of her life inside Alcatraz prison.

’Alcatraz...!’ Chu Ran felt a sudden cold. The car’s air conditioner wasn’t freezing; it was her fear. She heard that, in that place, summoners were separated from their summons. What would happen to Morningstar?

Would both of them spend the rest of their lives in a metal box?

"We’re here." Andrew’s voice brought her back to reality. They were in the Directorate’s headquarters in Shanghai. Usually, only a few agents patrolled the area, but today there were far more.

The reasons lay bare inside the building. Hundreds of Humanoid Summoners sat on the benches throughout the hall. The hall was massive, the largest she had ever laid eyes on.

Here, she couldn’t feel Morningstar anymore. ’This building...’ She looked around, terrified at what this entailed. ’...It suppresses mana.’

She had thought only a suppressor cuff could bind mana, but here she was, in a building that did the same. This meant her fears were not unfounded; a place like Alcatraz did exist.

If the authorities could construct a mana-dead building, they could as well split a summoner from their summon. Who knew what more they could do?

No one truly did. And that uncertainty made her feel dreadfully small.

Chu Ran looked back. Through the glass door, she saw her father on his way back to the car. He didn’t even step into the building. Perhaps he knew what it could do.

This might be their final goodbye.

Chu Ran took deep breaths. Still, she couldn’t hold back the tear trickling down her cheeks. She felt sick; this couldn’t be the last memory she would have of her father.

Her feet moved toward the door. Slow at first, but she accelerated quickly. Telling her father she hated him might have been what caused him to snap.

She had to apologise.

An agent in his neat blue uniform stood before the glass door. Two rows of glistening silver buttons ran down his torso.

He grabbed Chu Ran’s wrist and pulled her.

Chu Ran groaned as her shoulder throbbed from the sudden force.

"Find a seat," the agent said. Chu Ran could only watch her father drive off. After staring at the gate for a while, she went for a bench and slumped on it.

There were several hundred Humanoid Summoners here, in different rows of benches spread across the grand hall. Her eyes went up.

Bright lights illuminated the atrium, while sunlight poured through the glass walls of the multistory structure.

She sat, watching the agents and government officials streaming on the mezzanines above.

Some leaned on the railing, chatting as they watched them like animals in the zoo.

No, that couldn’t be how they looked at them. Her mind was simply twisting everything.

Chu Ran turned, and she saw people leaving the Directorate with cuffs. Silver cuffs that bore certain Roman numerals. The black etchings ’Class I’ and ’Class 0’.

Class I meant ’Registered’, while Class 0 were even allowed to work in some prestigious positions, including government offices. They had willingly allowed the Directorate to alter their minds in order to be part of society. Both classes were harmless. Just like domesticated animals.

Chu Ran’s eyes widened as her face twisted. She wanted to throw up. Memories were what made a person who they were. Without them... they were different people.

"I hope I leave here with a Class 0 cuff," said a feminine voice.

Chu Ran turned to the woman seated on the same bench as her. The woman wasn’t this close before. She came closer.

She was a charming woman with porcelain skin, auburn hair tied into a ponytail.

"I’m Li Hua. Where are your parents?" Li Hua asked with curious eyes. Her voice was soft; it made Chu Ran less wary.

What was the need of being wary? She had nothing else of value.

"Gone."

Li Hua’s lips parted. "Ah... I see."

"You could join me on the moon. We can start a new life there."

Chu Ran frowned. Was this woman okay? She probably thought her parents were dead. Well, that would explain her response.

But the moon?

"What do you mean? How are you able to go to the moon?"

"With either Class 0 or Class I, you can be sent to the moon to start a life there. I don’t know if you’ve heard about the dungeon on the moon. The authorities have been building a settlement there. It’s more friendly to Humanoid Summoners. There, we don’t have to be victims of what people like Cain, the Fanatics, and the Golden Devil has done to—"

"He did nothing wrong," Chu Ran interrupted boldly.

Li Hua leaned back, staring at her with raised eyebrows.

"All he did was speak for us. He lost an eye trying to clear the gate in Tokyo. He did all that, yet Mrs. Fukushima still wanted to slander his name. Think about it, isn’t it in her character to deny help from a Humanoid Summoner? So why is he to blame for the deaths?! These Beast Summoners, they do everything, everything in their power to keep our mouths shut, and he’s the only one fighting."

Chu Ran felt several eyes on her. Her voice wasn’t loud, but those seated on the bench ahead were able to hear.

She almost wished a hole would open up beneath her, then she saw it in the eyes of four people.

They shared her view.

Others looked away, some glared at her, but deep down, they all knew the truth.

The difference lay in how they chose to interpret it. People like Li Hua blamed the Golden Devil for their fate.

"You’ve got a sharp mouth, little girl," said a scrawny man in a large hoodie. He was amongst those ahead of her. "You grew up in a good home, I can tell just by looking at you. Just keep quiet, you don’t know what the rest of us are going through."

"They’re going to register me as a Class III. I’ve lost my family. I’m going to end up in Alcatraz," Chu Ran replied.

The man brought down his hoodie. He wore a beanie. It wasn’t even cold; what was with his outfit?

There was pity in his eyes. "I’m guessing it’s because of your sharp mouth. You’ve doomed yourself."

"You can still save yourself," Li Hua said. Her voice was soft and comforting. There wasn’t a doubt that this woman was a mother.

"Tell them you’re willing to have your mind altered. They’ll make you a Class 0." Her hopeful tone softened Chu Ran’s hardening edge.

Why hadn’t her parents suggested this? Didn’t that mean they wanted to get rid of her?

Her eyes blurred.

"I..."

"Shut your mouth," the man wearing the beanie whispered harshly.

Chu Ran and Li Hua turned their heads to him and found him secretly pointing towards the east.

Toward an agent. This wasn’t an ordinary agent because he stood seven feet, towering over every single person in the grand hall.

The woman he spoke to pointed in their direction.

"Is that a summon?" Li Hua asked.

"No one can use mana in this building. That’s definitely a human being. Biologically altered. I’ve heard the authorities were doing research on Humanoid Summoners to enhance the human race."

He sighed helplessly. "They’ve succeeded, it seems, and that one... it looks like he’s coming for you."

"So keep shut. Do what the woman told you, and you’ll get off easy."

He frowned when Chu Ran shook her head vehemently and sprang to her feet. Li Hua held the hem of Chu Ran’s skirt.

"Don’t be afraid, they won’t hurt you."

"They’re coming for Morningstar," Chu Ran replied.

Morningstar? That had to be the name of a summon.

"What?"

Chu Ran forced herself back to her seat when she realized there was no way to escape. She shut her eyes. Unfortunately, she couldn’t go to her soul space to warn her summon.

Her gut twisted and churned as that agent drew closer. Something told her it was Morningstar they were after. Those agents that she met during orientation always said her summon was special.

They would never alter her mind if she asked. They would never make her a Class 0. Her parents knew this?

They must have known.

Morningstar might be the root of their success. This was the result of the blood they’ve been taking for years.

The man wearing the beanie cap shook his head. He realized there was no way out for her.

Decades from now, people might have near-perfect bodies, greater height, and perhaps even longer lifespans without the need for summons. They would never know it came at the expense of a poor girl and her summon.

It was unfair to her. To others, it would be fair. Lives might be saved. Deformities could one day be eliminated entirely.

What was fair, what was unfair, depended entirely on perspective.

He hung his head low.

"Wang Churan." The shadow of the agent descended on her. "Follow me."

"I want to have my mind altered," Chu Ran said urgently.

The agent raised an eyebrow. "That was already included."

"W... what?"

’No, no, no. You can’t do this to her. You can’t do it to us!’ Chu Ran turned and ran.

Agents scattered from their positions, closing in on her from different angles while the tall agent didn’t bother moving.

Li Hua turned away as they tackled Chu Ran, forced a cuff around her wrist, and moved her toward the upper floor. She struggled all the way.

Some people shivered in fear. That could be their fate.

***

The Unknown King sat on his throne, eyes closed. At 60.0, a Godking could receive mana from fifty people through Mana Tribute. Every four points beyond that increased the number of tributes. At 64.1, it rose to a hundred.

He was at 65.2, so he set up a tribute of a hundred knights.

While seated, he could feel mana streaming into his body. It was cold yet packed with silent power. Mana was an odd thing. It moved without sound; it felt almost lifeless, yet within it burned an unrivalled force.

At the slightest nudge, it could erupt, flooding the body with power. The Unknown King could almost visualise it crawling up his throne and into his body.

He gripped the throne, sinking deep into the vibrant depths of the unique yet common energy pouring into his body. He was waiting. All it would take was a month, and his dead generals, Solstice and Tempest, would be resurrected.

Perhaps less than a month. Much less. Probably in a week’s time at most.

He needed time to think. His heart was like a battlefield, and the men fighting upon it were conflicting ideals and convictions.

His throne room was silent; no one stepped in. Since his former self permitted Lysander and elves into the domain, he allowed it. But... why bring elves to desecrate a golden land?

What thoughts had he possessed before becoming this? What exactly made him add generals that were not of their kind?

He would have understood if that old him made them knights, but generals!

’I saved them.’

Yes, it was to save. It pained the Unknown King to know the answer but not the actual logic behind that answer. To save a few men, you would break the code of an ancient order?

This was the action of a madman.

He heard a roar. It was not of the present but of the past. A great battle raged before a stronghold on a cliff.

Inside the hall, one Apostle stood before an Alchemist, tall and imposing. Hundreds of half-men had already fallen to his sword. The Apostle was eventually cornered by a crocodile half-man and three others, commanders of the invasion.

That croc held a flail, wielding it with crippling momentum, and lying at the base of a broken pillar was a golden-armoured knight.

Her flail was a few feet away. She had been beaten effortlessly by the croc half-man.

Broken and bleeding, she staggered to her feet and ran toward the commanders facing the Apostle.

He heard a whisper from her lips. ’Great Light, shine upon me. Grant me strength to protect the king’s alchemist. Let me serve one final time!’

With a great roar, the roar that brought him into this vision, he saw the female knight grab the croc and slam him against the wall.

The wall collapsed, sending them both spiralling down the cliff. Three hundred feet. Far below, the sea crashed fiercely against the rocks. But only one of them reached it.

The knight plunged into the water. The crocodile never made it. A jagged rock impaled him halfway down.

The Unknown King opened his eyes. He rose to his feet, and the mana streaming into his body stopped.

He didn’t care. ’Was this a call?’

The Unknown King reached out to open a portal that would lead to her, but his skill collapsed. He tried twice more. His golden eyes began to burn.

"Abaddon. Apollyon."

Both of them stepped out of portals, descending on one knee.

"We head for earth."

He could almost see where his knight was. Since he couldn’t get into the building, he would just open a portal outside it.

This time around, it worked. A towering glass structure rose from the heart of a massive yard packed with cars on the other side of the portal.