"I don’t understand... Why would one of the knights famed for their honor and chivalry—and their hatred of demons—attack humans?"
He questioned aloud as he watched the rampaging foe.
Snow Lionheart now possessed most of his former memories .. of the life he’d lived under another name. He still hadn’t put all of himself back together. but some truths were clear.
"This knight... he isn’t in control."
Since the first exchange, the Baharat knight hadn’t uttered a word .. only charged him with mindless savagery, as if programmed for a single purpose: to kill Snow.
"I see what’s happening now..."
Once he saw it, the pattern snapped into place. Someone else was pulling the strings.
Far away, atop the high ridge, Geppetto sat watching the duel unfold. Snow Lionheart was holding out brilliantly, but the knight was grinding him down. It was only a matter of time.
Geppetto sighed, annoyed. "I can’t believe Zibar chose to defy orders..."
Staring toward the far horizon, he felt clearly what was happening in the distance.
"He’s fighting Frey Starlight right now and having all the fun, while I’m forced to stay back and send one of my prized heroes to deal with a single human..."
Zibar had disobeyed orders, but Geppetto didn’t dare do the same. Sending only one of his heroes was the limit, after Zibar demanded he make sure no one else interfered.
Bored, Geppetto yawned lightly.
"Hurry up and finish that human, Baharat Knight. You’re one of my finest dolls .. this shouldn’t take you long at all."
The Baharat Knight was SSS-class—just a shade stronger than Joseph Blattier. That level alone was enough to wipe out Imperial forces by himself if it came to it; right now all he had to do was handle Snow Lionheart.
Snow was fighting savagely, unleashing a stunning array of elements and combat tricks. That light in particular drew Geppetto’s eye.
"That light... it’s very close to the Light Spirit Neto uses..."
Neto .. the 9 high rank demon..
Gep4 shook his head. "But what that human’s using is much weaker. A knockoff, perhaps?"
However he looked at him, Snow didn’t seem human at all .. more like a Lightbearer. But he was far too weak to be a real threat...
Then, as Geppetto watched the battle, something struck the ground behind him without warning. He spun, startled—only to find another masked man standing there, human-shaped in build... yet the man’s presence was so terrifying that Geppetto broke into a sweat for a heartbeat until recognition set in.
"Ah... it’s only you. Don’t scare me like that."
He exhaled in relief, his smile returning.
"I see you finished what I assigned you. Well done."
Geppetto praised him sincerely, but the man said nothing.
The Thirteenth High-Rank demon had no idea how to "handle" this particular hero. Usually he was stronger than his dolls—this was the first time one of his subordinates had surpassed him.
Clapping the man’s shoulder with genuine pride, Geppetto walked back to his vantage point over the field.
"Make sure you stay at your best. With you, I’ll break into the Ten High Seats for sure. Ahahah!!."
He laughed, ugly and obscene.
"Once we finish with this cursed planet and return to Helmund, I’ll personally rewrite the Ten High Seats’ order that hasn’t changed in ages!"
Ambition burned in him...and that man was the reason. The Thirteenth High-Rank demon was excited; the masked figure behind him remained still, showing no sign of life at all.
Right in the middle of Geppetto’s gloating, everything changed. A bizarre, overwhelming aura pressure fell—colossal, terrifying... a presence from another world.
He whipped around and barked, "What was THAT?!"
The reaction was warranted: that insane pressure came from the direction where Zibar was fighting Frey Starlight. It was horrifying ... even the masked man beside him turned to look.
Moments later, Geppetto’s eyes widened as a dark radiance speared the sky.
Before his very eyes, the moon was cleaved, its shape remade by a single strike .. an overwhelming blow that only a handful in this world could unleash.
"Zibar..."
In that instant, a dreadful truth hit Geppetto. The aura of the Tenth had vanished completely.
It had only been a clone .. but none of this was supposed to happen. His expression darkened by the second.
"What is going on?! Did that bastard Zibar actually lose? To who .. Frey Starlight?!"
Unable to make sense of it, Geppetto prepared to move.
"Impossible!"
He was about to go see for himself when he froze. Another crushing aura slammed down .. this time from the opposite side.
Specifically, from where Snow Lionheart was fighting the Baharat Knight.
"What NOW?!"
Geppetto snarled as a column of immaculate light swallowed the battlefield and speared the heavens .. a light so pure it made him feel bitter even from this distance. That power was fundamentally hostile to demons.
Moments earlier, after struggling under the knight’s pressure, Snow had fallen back. That was when Frey Starlight sent his Nameless Judgement that split the moon .. a sight that stunned Snow.
Seconds later Snow laughed aloud, joy plain on his face. He recognized his friend’s power instantly.
"Yes, Frey... that’s the one."
Smiling, Snow rose again to face the Baharat Knight.
"I’ve humored you long enough, Baharat Knight."
As he spoke, Snow’s aura deepened and his power surged monstrously.
"From this point on, I won’t fight you as Snow Lionheart. You don’t deserve that."
Bit by bit, his aura swelled; his eyes blazed with a searing white light. The armored knight lunged at once .. but that vast radiance blasted him back immediately.
Snow’s voice rolled out from within the pillar of light.
"From this point on, I’ll fight you as the Pure Vessel .. The First Lord of Light!!"
Light erupted. Snow drew out his full might, walking the path of the Lightbearers ... returning to his ancient origin. He began by emulating the Pure Vessel’s memories that flickered through his mind.
The Pure Vessel’s power had once been so great he was ranked Number One among the Seven Great Powers.
What Snow accomplished wasn’t more than a glimpse of what the purest of vessels had once been... but even that glimpse brought a staggering transformation.
When Snow stepped from the column of light, he was no longer the same.
"At the beginning... this was the war-form that made the name ’Pure Vessel’ echo across the world."
From within the radiance, Snow extended his left hand. Slowly, the rest of him emerged.
Before the Baharat Knight’s visor .. and Geppetto’s stunned gaze .. he stepped out and declared himself to the world.
His right hand still held Vermithor, but a round golden shield had appeared from nothing in his left.
His clothing was gone, replaced by a grand cuirass gilded in gold .. armor reminiscent of an ancient Roman warrior, plating chest, arms, and legs in hammered sunlight .. and at last a golden helm covered his face as well.
"Pure Vessel: The Anointed War State."
Unveiling a final war-aspect erased from history, Snow Lionheart rekindled old legends of a great warrior of the past .. and unleashed that might upon the Baharat Knight.
The White Knight of Earth, too, was set to fight .. down to his last breath.