Others Summon Dragons, I Summon Legendary Knights

Chapter 514: A Duel

Chaos.

October 20th erupted into the greatest chaos Earth had ever seen. The cause wasn’t the beasts from dungeons. It was men. All it took was one livestream spreading like a nuclear explosion, and millions of Humanoid Summoners rose against the new laws and even the old ones.

A few skirmishes between Humanoid Summoners and Beast Summoners occurred in different places across the globe as tension continued to skyrocket.

A council meeting was organized. The flags of their individual nations stood behind each Council Head.

"You all know why we’ve gathered," Mr. London said.

"The Golden Devil." Mr. Cario grunted. "Why haven’t we gotten rid of that boy?! He’s like some cockroach that refuses to die."

"We’ve never taken him seriously. All we did was place a bounty on his head, and unfortunately, no one has the heart to do it. We need to use our own cards." Mr. Moscow said.

Mrs. Beijing sighed. "The streets of Shanghai are in chaos. He has released tigers from their cages, risking the lives of billions of people. As much as I like the young man, this is beyond the line. He has proven time and time again that we can’t coexist."

"What do you even like about him? That boy..." Mr. Berlin slammed the table. "He’s mad. There are millions vocally going against us. He gave them that strength; they look to him like he’s some kind of saviour. He’s worse than Cain. Cain needed brutality and fanaticism to build his following. Godfrey has cultivated millions in two days!"

"Calm down, Mr. Berlin. This is just another hurdle to reinstate proper democracy. Our problem is quite light, if you ask me. Godfrey Daniels is their fang. Get rid of him, and these people will scatter." Mr. London said.

"I don’t intend to mock, but... the man we speak about has remained in Shanghai. For the past eighteen hours, he’s been there, waiting for us to act. Daring us. That stream has been viewed by hundreds of millions, and it is still increasing as we speak. We do not need to vote on this, and we can’t afford to fail." Mrs. Manhattan said. She crossed one leg over the other, back straight and chin slightly raised.

She wore her iconic hat slanted. It hid one of her eyes.

"For years, this council has been embarrassing. You let my husband act stupidly. That boy Godfrey should have gone through the reorientation program as the others, and his mother did not need to have a say on it. The law is the law." She exhaled.

"But... you’re right, Mr. London. Godfrey is their fang, their head, their hero. We need to act and do it swiftly. Don’t you agree, Mrs. Athens?"

"Oh..." Mrs. Athens composed herself and nodded. "Certainly."

"He will be reported to the Congregation of GodKings and Queens for causing disorder in one of the Ascended Worlds. I shall arrange for a Godking to summon him to a duel on that ground, and Godfrey will die." Mr. London said.

"Are you certain?" Mr. Cario asked.

Mr. London chuckled. "Don’t doubt what I’m capable of. Godfrey must be speaking through his new knight. We can all assume that knight is currently his strongest. Coupled with the others, the young man is indeed a force to be reckoned with. However, he will be facing a True Orc whose Rule Of Law has made him a terror to other Godkings."

"What will it do?" Mrs. Manhattan asked.

"His Rule of Law will force Godfrey himself into single combat. No weapons, no armour, no Skills. Just raw physical combat. Against a race known for their physical capability, it’s suicide for a summoner." Mr. London explained.

Mrs. Manhattan leaned back. Godfrey was known for his power, but without skills, a summoner could never match an orc. Physically enhanced or not.

"We are in a new world, ladies and gentlemen. A world governed by ancient gods. We’ve been sending messages to other worlds, and soon we’ll begin conversations towards greater alliances. The sun elves are solidly on our side. We have some of the orc race with us. The Fairmen and Patternmen will come eventually. We simply need to offer them what they cannot refuse. Earth will rise, and it will rise under the leadership of this council." Mr. London smiled warmly.

"Good. Let us put a stop to this before it gets worse." Mr. Moscow nodded.

’You have wronged me!’ Those words echoed in Mrs. Athens’s mind. His voice bore pain that had transformed into barely concealed rage. But there was something far worse than both. Accusation.

She was losing herself. Ever since her daughter’s awakening, she had been losing herself.

The purpose of the council was to ensure a great future for Earth, a future she knew would be grand. But the stepping stones to that future were the Humanoid Summoners.

’You have wronged me!’ The Unknown King’s voice came once more. Was it fair? The future was bright, but was the cost humane?

All her life, she had one mindset. She fought to defang the Humanoid Summoners, but that identity was breaking.

’Is this guilt? For what exactly?’

When the meeting was done, she rose up and left. The echo of her own steps haunted her.

***

The Unknown King stood on a cloister, hands clasped at his back. Within his line of sight stood a massive golden door without a frame and a supporting wall. Golden fog surrounded its frame.

Occasionally, people dressed in modern clothing stepped through. Many were already scattered across the fields, staring in awe at the Golden City’s architecture.

At his side was Zaun. "You did it."

"I was overwhelmed by emotions I couldn’t control. But I am not offended. There is so much wrong in that world. I’ve felt it, and I won’t let it continue." He replied.

"Will they stay here?" Zaun looked at him.

"Stay here? Why should they flee their land for another? How can liberation be earned when I know that Humanoid Summoners will continue to be born? Paradise must be built on our own soil, not on another’s."

"A revolution." Zaun whispered. "There will be war. There will be bloodshed."

"You asked me to do this. Have your feet grown cold at the cost?"

"You won’t last. I know it. I want to see my king, the man we’ve spoken about for centuries, liberate people as we always said he would. I want you to begin what your known self will finish."

The Unknown King glanced at Zaun from the corner of his right eye. "I will become him again, won’t I?"

"You eventually will, even if you run from it."

The Unknown King chuckled. "I do not run, Alchemist Zaun. I never run and never will. Do you know why?" He turned fully, facing the Alchemist.

Zaun waited.

"Because a king is a servant, and a servant serves. I am a loyal king and thereby a loyal servant. I march into the fire at the behest of my people. I die to save them. In death and in life, I serve."

Those words made Zaun pause.

"I am the castle, and the castle serves the purpose of men. As do kings. This is no new thing. As for why I have chosen to fight for these people, I am no different from them." The king turned back to looking at the cityscape.

"In this form, I may be different. But as you said, I long to find myself. And in that search, I shall become a man. A man from Earth. A son of a mother I have chosen to believe is dead even when she lives."

Zaun stepped back.

"I know a lot, Zaun. Do not be shocked. I know much, and it burdens me," the Unknown King said.

"What will you do now? You may be able to hunt down Seven Heads, but others will take their positions. You killed one in the past, and the situation grew worse."

"We gain ground. Cities willing to accommodate Humanoid Summoners, and we defend it as we spread. Nation after nation, we shall grow. The day I stop, Godfrey..."

"...will continue."

"How will you convince those political leaders?"

"I cannot end this government by killing the head, but I can cut down its organs until it dies. Cities will be claimed, peacefully or otherwise. Freedom has a cost."

Zaun nodded. Throwing these questions allowed him to see the depths of the Unknown King. This being beside him was a relic; he had to know more before he would leave.

’"Freedom has a cost."’ The Alchemist looked at the Unknown King. Godfrey right now was free as his new identity, but it still has a cost. He was less of a man and more of a myth.

He was words and stories brought to life, different yet the same.

They both turned to the Asian girl who would soon be turning twenty-one. Accompanying her was a tall, muscular woman with short hair tied into a small ponytail atop her head.

Chu Ran came close. "Here she is." She gulped, steeling herself and gesturing toward the huge woman beside her.

The flail knight went on one knee, her head bowed.

"It sounds like you are returning her," the Unknown King said.

"She’s yours," Chu Ran said.

"Are you a knight of the Order?" He asked the knight.

"I..." She opened her mouth, but the words refused to come.

"Speak. He listens," Zaun said.

She bowed her head. "I... have no honour. I walked away from the battlefield, turning my back on the Order. On you, Your Majesty," she said bitterly.

"Now I seek your pity, your mercy. I cannot stand beside those who stood until the end. Those who died while I cowered in the scorched lands."

"Morningstar!" Chu Ran screamed out.

Zaun spared her a glance that meant she should have kept her words.

"Do not look at her that way. I understand our ways, but I know theirs as well. Beyond that, I am amazed that this woman is willing to surrender her rights as a summoner for the sake of her summon. This bond might be strong enough to cause your death," the Unknown King said.

Chu Ran paled when she heard that. Morningstar rose to her feet in shock.

"We can do it without causing her death," Zaun added, already bitter. ’This is your last chance.’

"Lost honour can be regained. Think about that. I will not require your aid for now, or you will be sealed. I am bound by laws that precede me. Once I have strengthened Abaddon and Apollyon, your time will come."

As they retreated, the Unknown King spoke once more. "Chu Ran."

She turned, hands on her chest as it drummed hard. Chu Ran couldn’t understand why, but the moment the Unknown King uttered her name, her blood pumped like she was about to receive a command. And every fibre of her body wanted to carry out that order.

The Unknown King stared at the huge knight in linen cloth. "Her name isn’t Morningstar. It was never her name. That is the name she was given when she fought as a slave gladiator."

Chu Ran stared at her summon with wide eyes.

"Her name..." The Unknown King said. "Valora, the Relentless."

’Valora!’ The name reached her like an echo from another life. She heard countless voices calling it, voices she had known, voices she had lost.

And then, at the end of them all, she heard her husband’s. Valora could almost see him standing in the wheat fields, smiling as he held their baby in his arms.

’The Relentless.’

Once, she’d been relentless. She had beaten down and killed her identity in the pits of the scorched lands, in the labs of those Earth scientists.

She was the Flail of the Morning, not Morningstar.

"What?" Chu Ran gasped. "Why didn’t you tell me? You have a lovely name." She held Valora’s hand with both hands.

"You may leave." The Unknown King said. Reluctantly, they left.

"They look fine together."

"She’s a knight. A Grand Knight. She will be useful in what’s to come, not wasting at the side of a little girl." Zaun retorted.

"When you think about things, you think about their use. It’s always about their use. Benefits should be kept aside. Look through a different lens, my Alchemist. Before that woman came to serve, she was a mother. She sees the child she never got to raise in that girl," he said, averting his gaze.

"Chu Ran loves Valora in ways that I cannot. In ways that you cannot."

"Use is necessary in times of need, Your Majesty. You are about to shake a great system; you need generals." Zaun replied.

"Valora will find herself. I have given her a torch."

Suddenly, space tore open on the cloister. A being stepped out. He wore a long, black, hooded robe that hung almost to the ground. It was made of layers of heavy dark fabric that wrapped tightly around his torso and waist before falling into long, loose sections around his legs.

His hood was deep and intentionally oversized, pulled far forward over his head. It completely hid his face in darkness.

A thin, circular ring hovered above his head like a halo. A thin stream of bright red-orange light descended from the ring. It ran down his hood and robe like liquid fire. Crimson light seemed to bleed from the halo itself.

"Godfrey Daniels has been summoned to duel by Kabsal, Horde Chieftain of the Red Scars, on charges of rebellion against Earth’s global authority, instigation of fear, and death," said the Primordial.

"You have two days to prepare. Then, you shall appear before the Congregation. This duel cannot be denied." The Primordial left.

"It has begun," Zaun said.

"Indeed."