Way of the Knights

---

The face of the Devil Prince turned somewhat blank as he heard Old Lee call him by his name.

Silence permeated the underground district, it was then broken by the melancholic tone in the Devil Prince's words: "It has been a while since someone called me that. Sometimes I even forgot that that's my name."

"Unfortunately, that name has no power over me anymore. All I want is to destroy, and destroy I shall!"

Alastair's aura flared. A thick aura of death and decay rose in a form of a pulsing black flame that covered his entire body. All of a sudden, the dead were seemingly roused by his power and they crawled back to life. Needless to say, the dead weren't resurrected, all they were now are mere shells of their former selves, they turned into mindless beings that seek only to devour the living - Undead, if one should call them.

The Golden Knights who watched this scene grimaced in disgust. It didn't matter how many times they've seen him do this, the eeriness and hair-raising feeling still remains.

Whether it is Old Lee, Leona or Morel. All them lived for several decades, and their knowledge were vast. They have seen records about the mystical power of Death Laws.

Laws in particular are very demanding. It requires time, patience, creativity and luck to gain even the slightest chance of enlightenment over them. It only makes sense since comprehending Laws is comprehending the force of nature, manipulating Laws is similar to manipulating the force of nature. This is why it is imperative for Knights to seek enlightenment over them since the road ahead of them will only get harder, seeking and taking every opportunity to strengthen themselves is vital for their survival.

Laws are divided into stages, it differs depending on what Laws one gained comprehension into. Taking the Devil Prince for example, he gained enlightenment over Death Laws.

Death Laws are divided into several stages; Erosion, Requiem, Plaque, Decay, Erasure.

It had to be known how difficult it is to gain even the slight understanding in any type of Law, much less entering these stages. One could spend their entire lifetimes seeking for a chance to be enlightened and not receive it, but somehow in this remote place, a Lesser World incomparable to the Divine Realm, somehow someone managed to reach the second stage of Death Laws; the Requiem Stage.

It is precisely the method on how Alastair managed to have control over the dead. While the main advantage of the Requiem Stage of Death Laws is absolute control over the souls of the dead, humanity's ingenuity allowed them to create a technique that could also control the bodies of the dead.

Some call it Impure Rebirth, while some call it Necromancy. And this is the specialty of the Devil Prince. It allows him to summon Skeleton Soldiers, Undead, Ghouls, Ghosts, Specters, Wraiths and etc. This is what makes him terrifying, so long as he is surrounded with Death, he'll never run out of soldiers to command and willing to die for him.

Seeing the army of the dead running towards them without any concern about their well being, the Golden Knights spurred into action.

Just like before, Morel raised his hand and manifested numerous Wind Spears. As he waved his hand down, the spears flew in blinding speed and impaled the mindless undead in place. Despite the impalement, the undead feel no pain at all, they scurried and tried to extricate themselves from being rooted into place but found out that they can't. No matter how much they struggled to free themselves, they couldn't move an inch from their positions.

This is exactly the outcome that Morel wanted, he knew that his techniques had little to no effect in this undead so he thought that rooting them in place should be enough. He looked beside him and smiled, he saw Leona's sword producing a horrifying heat once more.

It didn't took long before she snorted and slashed horizontally. Suddenly, a sea of fire seemingly manifested and incinerated the ground as well as the undead who were trying to get to them.

The Undead screamed in pain, the smell of burning flesh became evident in the underground district. Due to the intense heat that Leona's attack had, it didn't take long before the undead became ashes that scattered on the wind.

The collaboration of the two Golden Knights were enough to stop the potential danger from becoming a serious threat. Of course, this left a bad taste in Alastair's mouth. Even though he purposefully allowed some of him men to die so that he could use them, it only took a few moments for these people to deal with them.

The Devil Prince's more specifically threatened by Leona. The heat contained in her flames are just overbearing. Normally, his undead should still press on even after receiving lethal damage, this is due to the Death Laws, it allows them to remain and cling into the realm of the living to do his bidding. But if someone would literally burn them to ash, then not even his Death Laws could reconstruct their bodies.

Of course, this doesn't mean that the Devil Prince is underestimating Morel or Old Lee. He faced them multiple times already to know better than to slight them.

Morel, while not as effective in speed nor as overbearing as Leona in combat, severed both his arms back them. In fact, whenever the Devil Prince see his face, the joint on his shoulders would tingle in pain, acting as a reminder to be careful around him.

Old Lee on the other hand, is actually more terrifying than the two in his opinion. If there's anyone he knew in this kingdom who wants him dead, it would be him. Alastair never defeated Old Lee, he could force him into a draw if he gave it his all but he had never become a serious threat to Old Lee, not even now that age is catching up to him.

Now that his minions were all turned into mere ashes by Leona, the Devil Prince had no other choice other than to bring in something that will be more effective against them.

Inhaling sharply, Alastair spat out a thick black fog from his mouth. The black fog spread out almost instantly, forming a blanket on the ground. Seeing this black fog, Old Lee's face turned solemn as he immediately said:

"Keep those fog at bay! Don't allow them to touch your body nor allow it to go outside! It's laced with his Death Laws."

After saying this, Morel instantly moved and grabbed his spear. He drew a long dividing line between them and the fog. A long gash that crossed from one end of the underground district to another, appeared. Morel raised his hand and grunted: "Windwall!"

Out of nowhere, a strong gust of wind raised from the gash. It's somewhat transparent but one could feel it's existence, the wind formed a massive wall that prevented that black fog from moving forward.

Leona also moved, she pointed her sword on the entrance of the underground district and then, a barrier of flame covered the entrance. This is another insurance for them just in case that the black fog managed to pass through Morel's windwall.

The Devil Prince wasn't surprised when he saw how they countered his attack. On the contrary, he smiled. It was evident that this is the outcome that he wanted. He clasped his hands together and the whole underground district shook.

Suddenly, pained cries and vengeful whispers echoed in every corner of the district. This sounds alone could drive mortals mad and insane, even those who had weaker cultivations would be greatly affected by this sounds. Out of nowhere, pale silhouettes rose from the ground.

These creatures were ethereal, they had deformed bodies and faces. Eyes red, moaning with harrowing sound, and carried an evil stench. They differ in sizes but they generally appeared as humans, at least they resembled one.action

"Vengeful Souls." Old Lee harshly spat, eyes narrowing in displeasure.

The battle to prevent the Devil Prince from going out of this place just became harder. Souls had always been the most difficult thing to deal with. Aside from Law-based attacks, nothing else could stop these things. Their incorporeal forms will enable them to pass through matter or energy without any problems. So far, no had developed any effective counters against them, specially considering the fact that these poor souls should've departed this world.

"Onwards." A solemn command escaped out the thin lips of the Devil Prince.

"OOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUU!" Pained roars and vengeful cries were emitted by the Devil Prince's minion.

The Golden Knights felt a shiver down their spine. From what they could tell, the Devil Prince made sure to make these things extra durable, it was evident by the intensity of Death Energy surrounding them. All of them knew that Morel's windwall might not be able to stop these guys from reaching them

Knowing full well about the destruction that these souls could do if they allowed them to pass, the Golden Knights resolved themselves to not spare in efforts to stop them.

It was then that Old Lee finally stepped forward and took charge of the defense. He raised his hand and a massive spear made out of pure lightning appeared his palms.. This evidently made the vengeful souls stop in there tracks with fear evident from the very core of their being.