Starship Commander Trapped In A Fantasy World 201 Imperial Knights 1

Staring blankly into a wall of golden runes that had formed right in front of him as he was about to leave the capital of Greendale, Dax expanded the sensitivity of his senses.

(Some kind of defensive barrier that envelops the entirety of the city, with the core of it being… In the central palace?... ICI can we reach the hawk uplink?)

(CONNECTION ERROR, MAGIC INTERFERENCE. LIMITED UPLINK POSSIBLE, UPLINK @ 0.3 MBPS.)

Looking more closely at the wall of runes Dax punched it to check on its integrity, finding that it strengthened by using the kinetic energy Dax input into the system while releasing a smaller amount of waste heat.

(Energy conversion is poor enough that the system would, in theory, fail if subjected to a large enough input of energy on a small surface area… ICI relay directives to offensive railgun turret #14 trough Hawk uplink.)

(READY.)

(Fire mission, on authentication Beta, send one times 540 mill UHV-APFSDS, target my relative grid, offset to follow: 00 00 +20. Acknowledge.

(ACKNOWLEDGING FIRE MISSION:

FIRE MISSION RECEIVED.

TYPE: SUPPRESSION AND ELIMINATION OF HOSTILE DEFENCES

HARD TARGET ACQUIRED, LOAD UHV-APFSDS.

RANGE TO TARGET: 5017 KILOMETERS 

FUSE: NULL.

ANTI MATERIAL MODE 92: FULL CHARGE.

AWAITING AUTHENTICATION BETA.)

(Yeah that's good, I'll go poke around and see if I can get out of this place on my own, but if not then there's something to fall back on.)

Deciding not to outright blow his cover Dax wanted to see if he could slip out of the current situation on his own, and so he jumped down from the outer wall and disappeared into the night.

---

"This is bad…"

Hiding in an alley, Chad looked on as a group of city guards lead by a single imperial knight went door to door, asking every citizen they ran into if they had seen someone who looked like his princess or Dax.

(Dax told us he would meet up with us here in the city so he must also be trapped in here somewhere… We should try and meet up to escape together.)

Reasoning that their best chance of survival was to meet up with Dax which was somewhere in the city, Chad went to retrieve her lady who remained hidden in a nearby abandoned building.

"What is going-"

"We need to move, imperial knights are after us."

Informing his lady in a straightforward and precise manner like he always did, Chad was momentarily awestruck as he looked into her blue eyes partially hidden by her long and free flowing blond hair.

(I must not allow any harm to befall her. Ever.)

Hardening his determination the ever loyal knight took his princess' hands.

"We need to move now."

"R-right."

Even as they were fleeing from the most elite force in the Empire, Xi still found herself extremely happy when her knight took her hand, although she worked very hard to make sure that didn't show on her face.

"What are we going to do?"

"Meet up with Dax, then find a way out of this city."

"But how are we going to do that? We have learned everything we know about hiding in such a situation from Dax."

"That's why he's going to find us, he must have figured out what's happening here by now and will be looking for us. We should keep moving in the meantime."

Blending in with the evening foot traffic Chad and Xi frequented the bars and the red light district while doing their best at blending in.

"Stop right there!"

But as almost complete amateurs at the hiding, they only succeeded at remaining undetected for so long. Making the mistake of starting to run away from the lone guard instead of eliminating him as fast as possible, Chad and Xi soon found themselves trapped in a narrow alley by countless guards.

"Surrender now!"

"There's simply no way I can do that! My family has sworn to protect the Ta'ia bloodline!"

Drawing his sword Chad took a stance before challenging mana through his body, strengthening every fibre of his being towards a single resolve.

"Come at me if you wish to die!"

"Heh! We did warn you!"

Drawing their swords in response to the youths provocations while a few mages formed the backline, the guards steadily advanced.

"Come on!"

Switching from his usual two handed stance to a one handed one, Chad took inspiration from how Dax fought and sidestepped the first guard before punching him in the face and slitting his throat open with a reverse grip slash from his sword. Dropping below another guards strike Chad secured his stance before destroying the guard's jaw with the pommel of his sword, kicking his knee at the same time to break it and incapacitate him permanently. 

(Too slow!)

With his mind racing Chad realized he would not win this fight with his current strength, at the same time the words Dax spoke to him the second day they knew each other still echoed in his mind.

"And you're dead. Now if you can't defend your lady from a single mercenary, is it really that good of an idea to travel around in something that is clearly marked with her ident.i.ty when there are people after her?"

(I need to be faster! Stronger! Please hurry Dax, save us!)

-

"Ha, haa."

Taking deep and quick breaths Chad struggled to remain standing, but still, his blood soaked sword pointed towards the countless guards who threatened his lady. Having fought for about half an hour the knight was covered in wounds and his dominant arm no longer seemed to function, still the guards didn't approach him carelessly. The reason for that was the countless dead or dying guards that laid at his feet, in the half hour he had fought, Chad had greatly improved his swordsmans.h.i.+p but his body started to betray him.

"Any… More… Want… To. DIE!?"

Being equally matched in skill, but unequally matched in motivation the guards hesitated in stepping up, leading to the current standstill. 

"Please save us."

Offering a quiet prayer Xi watched the haggard back of her knight standing against insurmountable odds. Just as Chad's resolve as a knight kept him standing, Xi kept a firm resolve and remained calm. As she couldn't fight Xi had the responsibility to remain calm and not burden those who fought for her, but still every time Chad was. .h.i.t by a spell or sword strike she felt her heart tense up, she wanted to scream out and cry.

(I have to remain strong.)

"Step aside, I'll handle this."

But even as she had once more hardened her determination Xi found herself shaking when she saw Chad's new opponent. 

"An imperial knight…"

Standing a bit under two meters tall the knight was an older beastkin with white hair and a scarred face, but still, he appeared to be strong without any comparable measure. Wearing dull black plate armour below a golden red cape carrying the insignia of the emperor, not a single person calling the empire home would mistake their presence. Just by being glanced at by the imperial knight Chad felt his hand shaking slightly, but still, he hardened his resolve.

"Come at me if you wish to die! I will protect my lady to the last breath!"

In response to Chad's steadfast will the beastkin knight formed a thin smile.

"Very well then! In recognition of your steadfast will and determination, I will kill you with my bare hands. What is your name, young man?"

Dropping his large two handed sword to the side, the imperial knight removed his cape as he tried to find out more about his opponent.

"I have nothing to say to an enemy of my lady!"

"Ha! A truly marvellous response. I will remember you, young knight."

As the imperial knight took an unarmed fighting stance Xi found herself wanting to speak up, she wanted to shout and scream for Chad to surrender by no words came out of her mouth, instead tears flowed freely down her face.

(DAX SAVE US! SAVE HIM!)

It was over in an instant. Before Xi even realized what was happening the imperial knight had buried his hand into Chad's chest, destroying his heart and spine at the same time.

"You did well in facing me without acting on your fear to the very last moment, rest now."

Closing the youth's eyes as he retrieved his hand and laid him carefully down on the ground, the imperial knight focused his attention on the dragonkin girl.

"Please come with me freely, I don't wish to use force."

Reaching out his hand which was not soaked in blood, the imperial knight tried to address the dragonkin girl, but she didn't hear him.

"Eh?..."

Looking into the now empty eyes of Chad Xi struggled to understand what was happening. 

(That's a lie, right?)

In a single moment, all her bright and happy plans for the future disappeared, all her hopes and dreams hinged on being together with Chad after finally working up the courage to confess her feelings. Without herself realizing the dragonkin princess started screaming out of rage, sadness and confusion, all those feelings came cras.h.i.+ng into her mind at once and triggered something. Quickly retracting his outstretched hand the imperial knight took a few steps back as his smile from earlier completely disappeared, being the most mana sensitive person around he noticed something change inside the dragonkin girl.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

Screaming towards the sky, large quant.i.ties of mana started to flood towards Xi as a pair of 2 meter wide white wings emerged from her back, breaking the study leather armour she was wearing. At the same time the spa.r.s.e scales which were visible on her face seemed to start glowing as they expanded all over her body to cover all vital parts of her body. Without warning, the ground around Xi started cracking as ever more mana flooded towards her.

"This is not good…"

Looking at the destruction the dragonkin was unleas.h.i.+ng as she still screamed towards the sky, the imperial knight decided to act. Closing the range instantly he knocked Xi unconscious, catching her as he was falling over and the destruction around her stopped.

"We have captured our first target. See to the fallen."

Snapping the stunned guards out of their daze, they started seeing to their injured as the guard captain came up to him.

"What should we do with that boy?"

"See to it that he receives a proper burial, he remained honourable to the very end and thus earned my respect."

"Yes, sir!"

After dealing with the guards the imperial knight started carefully carrying the dragonkin princess back to the palace.

(You sure are a special young lady… I'm sorry I had to kill your knight.)

As Xi had watched her beloved knight lay dead something broke inside her, a seal meant to keep her hidden power from destroying her underdeveloped body placed on her the day she was born.

-

(So that's why they want you, my dear princess… But still, that won't do, she's my possession and no one f.u.c.ks with my stuff and gets away with it.)

Staying out of sight Dax had watched the entire event unfold while judging the imperial knight's capabilities among with their overall response time and command structure.

(Well, time to pick them apart… Are you ready, partner?)

(Always~✿)