Knights Apocalyptica

Chapter 84: Restraint

“Strategy is the art of making use of time and space. I am less concerned about the latter than the former. Space we can recover, lost time never.”

- Napoleon Bonaparte, (2nd Era, Unknown)

Trouble came immediately to the battlefield. A giant worm surfaced in the middle of the fight, erupting into a scene of carnage as it caught their defensive line by surprise and threw the unarmored soldiers easily.

Limp bodies flew as the rest of the puppets tore into the broken line. A few of the captains began to fight to buy time, but it was a losing battle.

The sheer strength of the worm was insurmountable, turning those that couldn’t compete into corpses.

Worse were the monsters flooding around it and taking advantage of the temporary chaos.

Six-legged terrors sprang around the worm. They tore apart senseless soldiers with three-headed maws as the survivor. Under such a sudden and violent assault they held no chance of resisting.

Dame Robin barked a sharp command—and everyone moved around Erec with a precision he hadn’t seen before on the battlefield. As one, they flowed out from the sidelines and began to cut through the battle directly toward the fight. Erec ran off at full speed after them, tangling through the press of bodies and lightly shoving stray soldiers out of his way to keep up.

Claustrophobia and chaos waged on all sides, but keeping track of the figures with Armor ahead of him made it easy. Though, the size of their target made it easy as well.

After making it to the monster, the Knights didn’t hesitate. One of them formed a glyph and shot a giant spike of ice into its side, pinning the worm and anchoring it from attacking nearby soldiers.

As Erec finally broke through to the fight, the Knights were already dealing the deathblows to the monster. Two of them hacked into it near the skull—another seared its flank with fire. Erec drew his axe and got in a single slice, yet it felt minimal compared to the damage inflicted by those around him. Even the monsters around the fight had been effectively repelled by a trio of the Knights, rapidly swapping it from a desperate resistance to a contained situation.

These knights were efficient. The teamwork unseen and even keeping up without his Fury meant their Agility outclassed Erec.

As the monster died, Erec plopped his battle axe over his shoulder and looked for Dame Robin.

Around them, the soldiers were already reforming their defensive line around the dead monster and pushing back against the main host. Hardly any of the Knights were still fighting—and the allure of killing some of the smaller monsters tempted Erec.

Barely helping with the worm frustrated him, and the remedy of spilling blood would fix it.

He’d killed one of these weeks ago, yet now struggled to hold up to the people around him. They were on another level entirely.

Erec sighed as he finally caught sight of Dame Robin—their fearless leader was on the worm's body, using the height of the corpse to survey the field.

One of the six-legged beasts threw itself at her, only for the Knight Lieutenant to kick it away with a lazy jerk of her foot. It smashed into the ground and broke its spine, twitching before a stray bout of flame from a soldier brought a sudden and complete end to it.

Erec let out a frustrated sigh.

Sir Jefferson set a hand on his shoulder, ending the spiral of downward thought before it could fully start.

“Hard to keep up, isn’t it?” Jefferson asked.

“You made it here sooner than me,” Erec pointed out, which was true. Jefferson got in a hit or two and helped with the sidelines.

“Yeah? But did I do damage? No, not really. I just helped bleed it. The thing about working with people better than you is that they don’t expect you to perform better than them. They want you to learn. Focus on what your weaknesses are and how to cover them… Sometimes, you get paired up with people far outside of your league and have to learn how to adapt.” Jefferson shrugged.

Erec stared at the Knights around him—one of them clambered up on the worm to join their leader there, and the others were already preparing for a fight.

What could he contribute to this group?

He essentially had a single way, the moment he let the inferno ignite on the battlefield, he’d be tough to direct and contribute. Engaging with the worm hadn’t been enough to get him going, but he knew if a fight heated up enough, it might be impossible to suppress the fire.

“Is this how you felt about me?” Erec asked.

“Yeah, I saw someone younger than me capable of feats and courage I didn’t have inside of myself. I’d acted pathetic. When you feel helpless, you can let yourself dwell in the feeling or find the way out of it.”

“I see.” Erec tightened his grip on his battle axe.

Bedwyr was out there, preparing for his assault on the location near the White Stag.

The difference between himself and the higher echelon of Knights was more than just power. Teamwork was key in taking down opponents in a way that not only preserved you from danger but also protected the people around you. He’d seen how they easily handled the monsters attacking the soldiers, even as they dealt with the worm.

He had to find a way to contribute.

If he came out here and joined this squad only to do nothing, it’d been a waste of his appointment on the battlefield. What was this for if more people would’ve paid for his choice than if he supported his friends?

[Keep it steady, buckeroo! We all have to learn. Try new things, and see if they fit; figure out what works for you. Stressing yourself out will only lead to mistakes.]

Don’t get frustrated.

It only led to the fire consuming him; he needed to wait for the right moment to let loose, or he’d be a waste.

“Another target, a worm surfaced to the north! Move!” Dame Robin shouted, and the Knights ran for it again, cutting across the battlefield.

— - ☢ - — - ☼ - — - ☢ - —

Fight after fight passed by—splattering their Knights in plenty of blood. Erec got better at finding his way into the battle toward the edges and providing support from there. But it was a constant struggle against his instinct to let the fire inside free.

He kept the rage at a smolder for an hour and a display of will with the help of an occasionally suppressive dose of sedative. It didn’t help that, for the most part, the Knights around him were far more efficient at cleaning up the fights and taking care of the enemies, leaving him a little part to play. The frustration only grew as much as he tried to out logic it.

At first, the sensation had been maddening.

He saw Jefferson engage in the same struggle yet maintain a positive outlook while finding small ways to contribute to the fighting. That will left Erec with the resolve to redefine what it meant to be helpful in this fight.

Right now, they didn’t need him to go full-out. Some of them were exhausting themselves with the constant barrage of worms popping up over the battlefield. If they couldn’t keep up the pace, then it might be the time for him to fill in the position and take the lead in a fight or two. It was a game of patience.

Like it or hate it, he was learning to apply himself around this new dynamic.

Though, Erec wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep the hate boiling inside him at bay. In the constant frantic moving of fight to fight, they only had a couple of minutes between each engagement to cool down. Soldiers fought for their lives all around him, yet the puppets only kept coming.

More of the worms kept erupting into their defensive line and costing lives as humans fought these puppets.

Was this what the White Stag wanted?

How long until it ended?

Erec forged ahead, pushing himself to keep together until the right moment. To be the most useful to the people around him, the key to his power wasn’t the Strength it offered. No, the key to finding the right occasion to unleash and not waste the potential impact it could have.

Desire warred with responsibility, but restraint was king.

Two hours into the fight, shadows dominated the sky—above them was a swarm of monsters, singular eyeballs, and long leathery wings flew in from the south. Damn near an entire second army of puppets to combat their legion, in numbers large enough to overwhelm their forces.

“New tactic. Split off and help support the army. Kill as many as you can as quick as you can—Stephen and Damien, on me, we’ll continue to handle worms—go!” Dame Robin screamed as the shadow of monsters began to descend on the field.

The inferno began to flare within Erec. This was it.

Now was the time to let loose. The fire inside him was fresh—the wait hadn’t been in vain.

Time to kill.