Knight

‘The stars… No, I can see again!’

Lilia immediately realized what was happening and shifted her gaze from the sky to the ground.

An incomprehensible scene unfolded before her.

The hideous, terrifying silver spider was somehow lying in a distant crater, its silver flesh torn open and stuck to the ground.

“This is…”

Lilia was dumbfounded, but before she could say anything, the sound of the wind returned to her ears.

In the blink of an eye, a black figure suddenly filled her vision—

It was a very tall, very upright figure.

A broad back, a slender form, but not of human flesh and blood, but a steel body gleaming with a black luster.

The structure of armor was faintly visible.

“What are you still standing there for? Hurry up and get that person out of here.”

The figure turned around, and Lilia was thoroughly startled—this was definitely not human.

Humans didn’t have such a metallic body and an insect-like head.

It had antennae-like structures on its head, similar to an insect’s.

Below were huge red compound eyes, reflecting Lilia’s figure.

Its steel-like face had a white structure resembling a mask, and a white scarf fluttered in the wind around its neck.

Apart from that, its entire body was black, except for the strange silver belt at its waist, which had three turbine structures arranged in a V.

But that alone wasn’t enough to startle Lilia.

As a magical girl who had seen so many Anomalies, she had witnessed all sorts of strange and bizarre existences.

What terrified her were the… scars on its body.

The word suddenly popped into Lilia’s mind to describe what she was seeing—

From the back, it wasn’t apparent, but from the front, she could clearly see that its entire body was covered in grotesque cracks and gashes, like a piece of glassware about to shatter.

Even more terrifying was that these cracks and gashes were constantly emitting frightening electrical sparks, and the sound of fine explosions was incessant.

The most severe damage was to the belt.

A huge hole pierced through the belt.

The three turbine structures were sparking and spinning.

Lilia even suspected that it would explode in front of her at any moment.

However, that didn’t happen.

Not only did it not happen, but it effortlessly reached back and caught a tentacle that was moving too fast to see.

Lilia snapped back to reality.

The giant spider had already gotten up from the ground and was roaring.

But she soon realized it wasn’t a threat, but simply an attempt to pull its tentacle back.

However, no matter how hard the monster pulled, it couldn’t budge it an inch.

The figure, as if cast from steel and iron, stood firm and unshakable in the shadows!

“Heh…”

Lilia didn’t know if she was hearing things, but she thought she heard a very faint laugh.

Then, she saw the figure in front of her flick its wrist.

The electrical sparks on its body erupted even more intensely, but at the same time, more sparks shot along the tentacle towards the spider!

Sizzle—

Then Lilia heard a scream unlike any she had ever heard before.

“Oooooh!!!”

The silver spider, which had just been toying with them, treating them as a meal, was now on the ground, letting out a heart-wrenching scream.

The electrical sparks burned its silver body, and its huge, terrifying form rapidly deflated like a balloon.

“I was talking to you just now, didn’t you hear?”

While it was torturing the terrifying Anomaly with its bizarre methods, it spoke in a human voice.

Lilia, who was staring blankly at the scene before her, was startled and subconsciously said, “Yes!”

“Yes?”

“No… I mean, no!” Lilia replied several times in a flustered manner before suddenly realizing something was off. “You… you can talk?”

“…Is this really the time to be hung up on something like that?”

Lilia vaguely heard a thick sense of helplessness, as if the speaker were a real human.

The thought startled her—how could this be human!

“Listen, I’ll take care of this. You take that little fool and get out of here quickly.”

“…Yes!” Lilia was stunned for a moment, then realized with a hint of disbelief that this black metal man, more anomalous than the Anomaly itself, was here to save her!

Although she didn’t know what was happening, it was best to leave this place of trouble as soon as possible.

After a loud affirmation, Lilia quickly went to Ye Huasheng and checked on her.

Though her face was pale, she was still breathing.

‘Thank goodness. As long as we meet up with Sister Lin, we’ll be safe.’

Lilia carried Ye Huasheng on her back and quickly took off.

The moment she entered the sky, she suddenly heard a fierce gust of wind from the ground.

She subconsciously looked down, and her pupils trembled—

She saw that it was still holding onto the tentacle, swinging its arm with force.

Even though it had shrunk, the eight- or nine-meter-tall silver spider was being swung around like a helpless doll.

Like a giant silver pinwheel, it whirred, kicking up a storm of wind on the ground.

After a dozen or so spins in the blink of an eye, it was slammed heavily onto the ground!

Thump—!

The terrifying tremor even made the magical girl in the sky tremble.

Looking at the spider, whose body was torn to shreds by the immense force, Lilia swallowed hard.

Suddenly, she shouted from the sky, “What… what’s your name!”

“Knight.”

‘Knight… so strong!’

Lilia imprinted the image of the metallic, gleaming figure with its back to her into her mind, then turned into a streak of light and flew into the distance, disappearing in an instant.

Sizzle—

More electrical sparks erupted from its body.

The black figure named Knight shook its head, seemingly dissatisfied with something.

But the next moment, it raised its head, its red compound eyes staring at the silver monster that was starting to stir again from the dust cloud.

That monster, like a congregation of all the world’s malice, a being incomprehensible to any material existence, let out a series of wails when it noticed the gaze locked on it.

It was almost like a pathetic plea for mercy.

But despite its pitiful and miserable cries.

The storm arrived in an instant!

The silver belt began to spin, and a surging storm enveloped the black body.

It leaped high, and a torrent of energy swept down with the wind!

“KICK!”

The black figure delivered a flying kick in mid-air, tearing through the silver at an incredible speed.

Then came a massive explosion, an explosion incomparable to Ye Huasheng’s magic, a pure, unadorned, massive explosion!

The surging flames engulfed everything, not even leaving behind a momentary scream of agony.

The lone black figure stood up amidst the exaggerated energy fluctuations.

Two seconds later, its body also exploded.

Bang—!

Clang—!

One on the chestplate, one on the belt.

The black armor was blown open, revealing a completely incomprehensible structure inside.

Of the belt’s three turbines, only one was still spinning weakly.

It was like a machine that had been overloaded for too long, finally reaching its end in its last use.

But even so, Knight remained unshaken.

Its red compound eyes lifted slightly, and everything around it was reflected in them, including an inconspicuous drop of silver liquid that had seeped into the sewer.

Knight didn’t pursue.

Instead, it took out a rather peculiar pendant.

A silver chain was connected to a blood-red crystal encased in metal.

The inside of the crystal was dim and motionless.

But holding it, Knight could hear a faint alarm.

This sound signified that it was not over yet…

Knight held the pendant and stood there, silent and still.

It was impossible to know what he was feeling at this moment as he waited quietly.

When the storm and fire subsided and everything around became calm, he was still waiting.

Until—

“Well, well, let’s see who we have here—”

A female voice with a hint of provocation suddenly sounded.

Her voice came from all directions, but the next moment, it was as close as if it were right next to his ear.

“So it’s Knight. Long time no see. How did you end up like this?”

Knight turned around and came face to face with a red-haired woman.

He opened his chest, which had turned back into flesh and blood.

Bai Hai said, “Yo, long time no see, Reina. No hug?”

Bai Hai was Knight. Knight was Bai Hai.

“Long time no see, Bai Hai.”

The red-haired woman named Reina smiled faintly, then lifted her leg and kicked.

“This is your welcome gift.”

Her red high heel kicked him squarely between the legs.

But Bai Hai didn’t show any of the reactions a normal man should have.

Instead, he laughed.

“Wow, that’s really great.”

With that, Bai Hai’s lips moved in for a kiss.

The other party clearly had no intention of refusing, and even expertly responded to Bai Hai’s “attack.”

After a long time, the two slowly separated.

They remained in a close embrace, their lips connected by a single thread of silver saliva, shimmering in the moonlight.

“Reina, it has to be you. Only you can make me this happy.”

“Get lost. This little bit of life energy is only enough for you to keep moving for a while. If it weren’t for me, you’d be a pile of scrap metal by now… Why did you transform? Why did you fight?” Reina paused for a second, her voice low.

“Why didn’t you die at sea? Why didn’t you come find us if you weren’t dead? Do you know how many times we searched for you in the Pacific!”

Bai Hai looked at the beautiful woman before him, her elegant eyebrows furrowed in anger.

After all these years, Reina’s appearance hadn’t changed a bit.

She still had that aggressive beauty, but now with a touch of humanity, she seemed somewhat cuter.

So he deliberately said in a teasing tone, “You can’t blame me for that. After defeating the leader, I sank to the bottom of the sea with him. I was truly dead at that moment.”

“But I was lucky. Half a year ago, a fishing boat pulled me up. Although the belt absorbed solar energy and brought me back to life, I had to recuperate for a long time to regain my mobility.”

Seeing Bai Hai’s expression, Reina gritted her teeth in frustration. “So you came to this country without a word, transformed and fought with your Typhoon Turbine severely damaged, and then called me to save you when you were on the verge of death?”

“I couldn’t help it. I can’t just ignore a beautiful young lady crying in despair.”

“You’re insane.”

“Are you jealous?” Bai Hai tilted his head, making a comical face.

Reina ignored him and just stomped on his foot hard.

“Alright, we’ll talk later. My foolish little sister is probably almost home by now.”

Bai Hai pecked Reina on the cheek and was about to leave, but Reina grabbed him.

“Hey, I said that bit of life energy is only enough for you to move for a while.”

“I know. So wait a little longer. After I deal with my mom and sister, we’ll find a high-class hotel and get to know each other… intimately. How about that?”

“You… fine. I’m really getting jealous now.” Reina crossed her arms, her light red eyes looking to the side.

Bai Hai laughed heartily at this and waved goodbye.

“I can’t help it. I can’t just ignore my naive and innocent little sister.”