The survivors rushed out of the power plant.
Even as they ran, gasping for breath, a series of frenzied explosions erupted behind them.
‘If you stay behind, you die.’
With that thought in mind, the survivors halted in their tracks as a blinding flash of light erupted from behind them, scorching the dark world.
"Holy shit."
Someone looked back and muttered an exclamation.
Above the shattered power plant, Daver's magic was casting a long beam of light.
A snake of flame that consumed everything, countless spears of blue lightning to pierce the enemy and violet gravitational magic to keep him floating high above the ground.
It is Osian who stands against him.
He paled in comparison to the enormous power that surrounded him but what happened next stole the attention of everyone present.David muttered.
"That's......."
Everyone in the room looked up.
Amidst the dazzling torrent of magic, a shaft of pure white light shone brilliantly.
"Starlight?"
I couldn't help but think.
For the light had fallen like water droplets from the clouds high in the sky and landed on Osian's sword.
"My God."
The starlight settled on Osian's broken sword, and it burst into flames.
The white flames leaped up, and then took the shape of a sword.
David, and all who fled beyond him, watched in fascination.
In the darkness of a blackened city, stripped of all light, the light of the heavens, lost to the advances of science, descended to earth.
*
A faint smile tugged at the corners of my mouth as I looked at the starlight in his hand.
There was no surprise, no shock.
All I could feel in the midst of this unexpected situation was a small sense of accomplishment, of having accomplished what I should have.
I felt it as I held the broken sword and refused to give up.
I can use it now.
‘Starlight, one of the four unique traits of a knight.’
In the game I was playing, each class had its own unique traits.
These include Command, Curses and Corruption, and Dark Magic, which is what the warlock he fought earlier had.
As each class levels up, they develop their talents and gain access to a wider variety of skills.
And as these traits develop, you'll realize that your playable character is more than just a mere mortal.
In other words, their true name is unlocked.
In the case of the [Warlock], it's the [Prophet of Death.]
In the case of the [Wizard], the [Grand Magia.]
It was the same for other classes.
Even Osian's class, the Wandering Knight, had its own true name.
Daver exclaimed, unable to hide his bewilderment.
"What is that light, and who are you?"
"Who am I?"
Wandering Knights, by nature, are those who wander the world.
For them, the grass is their bed, and the wind is their traveling companion.
Wandering Knights always had companions on their journeys.
They were always there, invisible but ever-present, guiding them where they needed to go at night, it was with the countless stars that lit up the night sky.
They followed the sky and traveled the world.
"I am the Knight of the Sky."
Yes. The stars in the sky are the Wandering Knight's friends and guideposts.
"I am the man who will kill you, here and now."
Such was the power they wielded.
*
Daver's gaze was drawn to the pure white flames of Osian's sword.
"A knight of the sky?"
The blazing sword, a harmonious blend of white and blue, had never existed in Daver's memory.
Nor did the name Knight of the Sky, it was all new to him.
But what puzzled Daver even more was that the sword of light in Osian's hand was not a fake.
False. A fake. A trick.
His mind raced through the myriad possibilities, but deep in his chest, an instinctive ripple ran through him.
‘That fire is dangerous.’
So run, run, run.
"Run?"
Daver gritted his teeth, realizing in hindsight that he had meant to back away.
"I, I'm afraid of something like that?"
He glared at Osian with narrowed eyes.
‘The sword of light in his hand is certainly menacing, I won't deny that.’
"But it is a sword, after all. A sword that can't do damage unless it touches."
The starlight sword in Osian's hand is less than two meters long.
Compared to the magnitude of the magic that Daver was now conjuring, it was ridiculously underpowered.
He admitted that he had a trump card, but it was impossible for him to lose.
"I don't care if you're a knight of the sky, I'll burn you alive!"
Daver unleashed the flames in his right arm.
A snake of flame coiled along his forearm, its gaping maw leaping toward Osian.
It was huge enough to swallow Osian and all the starlight that had fallen to earth in one bite.
Daver had no doubt of his victory.
This is the most powerful attack he has at his disposal.
There was no way a mere swordsman could parry it.
Daver's triumphant face was shattered by the next sight.
What Osian did to the fire snake as it fell from the sky was simple.
He simply grabbed the sword in his hand and swung it at the serpent's head.
It was that simple.
‘Okay, but what the hell is that?’
The pure white sword sliced through the snake's head vertically with ease.
Osian's sword didn't stop at the snake's head, but cut it in half from tail to tail.
The fire snake split left and right like firewood, scattering embers and disappearing.
The scarlet flames that had seemed to immortalize the world burned down before the white flames.
‘What is that?’
He never heard of a fire that burns fire.
No. Is that white thing even fire in the first place?
Despite the sight before him, Daver activated the Tesla Arms.
Countless shards of metal magnetized and floated through the air, aimed at Osian.
The shards were charged with an intense electric current and shot toward him, like a school of hungry piranhas that had spotted a piece of meat.
Osian swung his sword from left to right.
A burst of white light shot out from the tip of his sword, blowing away all the shards that had been charged with electricity.
Deciding this wasn't enough, Daver cranked up the Tesla Arms to full power.
The un-cooled Tesla Arms creaked from the excessive power, but Daver didn't care.
He had a gut feeling that he had to kill Osian here.
At the same time, he gathered up the tiny shards of debris flying through the air and formed a cage around Osian's body.
"Die!"
He trapped Osian in a prison of blue electricity, intending to electrocute him.
Immediately afterward, a pure white sword pierced through the blue prison.
The sword swung vertically, horizontally, and diagonally, spinning endlessly.
The prison shattered into pieces as Osian stepped on one of the scattering shards and charged toward Daver.
"Don't be ridiculous!"
-Kugugugung.
The roof of the power plant lurched, and then huge chunks of metal floated through the roof.
The debris was enveloped in a violet glow.
The wreckage was too heavy to lift by itself, but gravitational magic had reduced its weight and pulled it up.
At Daver's gesture, the massive debris shot toward Osian.
The debris accelerated through the air several times as it was energized by the power of gravity magic.
It was like a retrograde meteorite as it soared from the ground toward the sky.
Even the strongest Osian would be crushed to the bone if it touched him.
A chunk the size of a house filling his vision but in that moment of crisis, Osian remained calm.
He trusted that in this moment, his sword would never break.
That whatever stands in his way will fall under this starlight, no matter what it is.
For this starlight is the power of miracles, a power that is now lost-a fairy tale and a reenactment of a legend.
-Swosh!
The massive mass of debris was easily snapped in half but Osian did not stop, nothing could stop him.
Daver hastily squeezed the last of his magic power.
He pulled it up, enchanted the remaining rubble to increase its strength, and held it in front of him as a shield.
Using defensive magic wasn't enough so he coated the shield with a barrier of mana.
Once. Twice. Three times.
There were five layers of it but immediately afterward, a pure white meteor fell on top of the barrier.
───!!!
There was a deafening noise and a blinding burst of light.
For the first time, Osian's sword, which had cut through everything with ease, was blocked.
However, it was not pushed back, and the two forces entered into a struggle in perfect balance.
Those watching from afar held their breath as a ray of starlight broke through the clouds.
The ray of hope was so small and insignificant compared to the magic that Daver unleashed that it faded, like it could vanish in any moment and yet, for some reason, they could keep seeing it.
Maybe it's because it reminded them of a story they all heard in the back of their minds as children, before they adjusted to the harsh realities of life.
Their grandparents used to tell them old stories.
‘You know, there's a beautiful light up there in the sky, they say, and it burns forever, never fading or going out.’
The children were enchanted by the story, but it didn't last long.
In the cities, where the air was polluted, the stars could not be seen.
The world had long since lost the light of the sky.
They grew up in the city, never seeing the stars since birth, and that's how they grew up.
As adults, they still don't know what starlight is.
Perhaps they will never know.
It's the same with the children who will be born in the future.
─They certainly thought so.
That cold, clear beauty must be the miracle of the story.
That's why they watch.
They don't look away that they feel like they're about to collapse in the face of a huge force because if it really is a miracle, it will never be extinguished.
-Ddddddd.
The fluctuating forces are in perfect antagonism.
Daver gritted his teeth, squeezing every ounce of strength he had left, and cried out.
"What are you, why are you fighting like this?!"
His voice was tinged with resentment.
Daver's original intention was to test the performance of the stolen Tesla Arms so he deliberately orchestrated a gang to take over the plant from behind.
Mercenaries and fixers would come to take over the plant.
It would be a simple performance test against them so he attacked them, intending to kill them all.
So far so good, until Osian intervened.
"What the hell!"
He thought he was nothing special, except that he wielded a sword, unlike the others.
“Where do you belong? Celestial Chimes? Penitent Inquisitor? Or are you the city's new enforcer, one of the enhanced soldiers secretly raised in Tirna? If not that, then......."
"I don't know what the hell you're talking about."
Osian snapped coldly at Daver's wild speculations.
"I told you. I'm just a knight of the sky."
"What?"
"And now I'm a fixer on the side."
Behind his gas mask, Daver's eyes seethed wildly.
-Tsk.
In that instant, the force that kept them balanced cracked.
Slowly, but surely, cracks began to appear in Daver's magical barrier.
Tiny solid lines spread like spider webs.
It was the signal of his doom.
Daver cried out urgently.
"Now, wait! Let's make a deal! If you let me out of here, I'll give you......."
"I told you. I'm a fixer."
Osian cut him off sharply.
"A fixer, whose lifeblood is trust, would never take on a new case in the middle of a present one."
The pure white blade in Osian's hand changed.
It glowed and the flames grew stronger.
The white flames were tinged with a bluish aura, giving it a holy aura of its own.
"That's not honorable."
The starlight in his hand burned brilliantly to extinguish all evil and to illuminate this dark world.
‘How beautiful.’
For a moment, even Daver was speechless, dazzled by the beauty of the light.
This is the light of hope that guides the lost.
It was the noble glory of those who sought honor beyond the blazing stars in the sky, an honor now lost.
The Meteor Sword.
-Pah-ching!
The light of the heavens poured over the broken barrier and engulfed Daver.