You weren't the most powerful, nor the most promising soldier Liones ever welcomed within its ranks. To be fair, the new Holy knight's fervor in preparing for the holy War against demons and the seven deadly sins played a huge part in your admission, else the recruiters would never have looked twice at you.

Struggling at the beginning, you bonded however quickly with three holy knights : Hosier, Gilgamore, and Gilthunder. The three young men were this constant presence that made training more bearable, and theory less obscur.

Following their example, you started showing up to practice early, wooden sword in hand, eyes set on the training dummies, ready to learn. And maybe it's this misplaced thirst for improvement, this ambition to turn into someone better that almost got you in big trouble...

One night, as you were dragging yourself back to your dorm after another evening studying magic inside the royal library, failing once again to awaken any form of elemental power, you stumbled upon two knights you'd never seen before. They were carrying what looked like a heavy crate, but smelled like rotten meat.

Trying to stay concealed in the shadows, you peaked around the corner, but one of them sensed your presence, and snapped his head around at an unnatural speed. Scared, you jumped back, but collided with a hard plate. Looking back, you thought your last hour arrived when your eyes landed on the serpentine green irises of the Great Holy Knight himself, Hendrickson.

Hosier had told you about him, and Gilthunder had been oddly adamant you avoided him and his reactor knights at all cost. But as you were about to try to bargain for your life, fearing he might turn you into one of his new augmented knights, he grabbed your arm, and demanded with a finger on his lips and an icy glare for you to stay quiet.

When one of the knight, who you now guessed was one of those augmented knights, rounded the corner, a snap of his fingers summoned a violet flame in his palm, revealing you, him, and the knight with its gloomy black eyes.

"Great Knight Hendrickson!"

The knight stammered, bowing before you and the man, still holding you still before him.

"What are you doing here so late?..." The knight continues, his gaze flickering between you and the man he obviously feared behind you.

Hendrickson let the tension rise with his silence, before answering with an ease that caught everyone off-guard.

"I was showing my squire around their new room. I trust your task is going smoothly."

The last words were spoken with a hint of threat in them, the hidden message clear : do not question my presence.

You only caught your breath when you were several halls away, Hendrickson still pulling you with him.

"Whatever you saw..."

He suddenly spoke, his low voice cutting through your thoughts like a knife.

"... Keep it inside a corner of your brain. For now, don't act on it. You're too weak, but you just became my squire."