In the north, there was a clan of knights called the Ironclad Clan, which highly valued strength. Those who didn’t have the strength or courage to fight stayed behind in the villages and cities, doing other jobs to support the brave knights.
Tanermore was one of those villages, though it was on the verge of becoming a city, as it became another valuable asset for the Clan. The place had vast fields with crops and dozens of fishing boats on the sea.
Though no one from this village became an exceptional knight, the Clan decided to build a stronghold to keep the village safe. The workers barely began the construction when Tanermore was attacked by a Tide. The village only had five towers near the shore and small walls that weren’t enough to stop even one Anchor monster. The wall was quick to collapse and let the wave of Barnacles into the settlement.
Some people had heard of a city that fell to the tide, the fall of Brimwon. It was a tragic day for the Beronian Empire and an even greater tragedy for humanity as they stopped feeling safe even behind the walls that had protected them for years.
Yet another settlement was about to fall under the Tide of monsters from the depths of the sea. The monsters rose from the misty shore. The few knights stationed at the village to oversee the construction of the stronghold were quick to react. A whole platoon of knights in training, with two of their leaders, ran to the front. The people were cheering as the knights moved to save them.
The knights in training were wearing simple leather armor with metal helmets and short swords in their hands. They were well-trained to fight the barnacles, but they kept their distance from the single Anchor that towered over all of the barnacles and people in sight. The monster had the head and shell of a turtle, but the muscular body of a bodybuilder. The anchor held by the monster was attached to the chain, which the monster grabbed and began to twirl around, slowly lifting up the anchor from the ground and sending it right toward the platoon of young knights.
Even in the middle of the fight, a few of them were able to spot the massive flying object and shouted, “Look out!” Those who were quick to notice spread around to avoid the anchor, but many didn’t.
A sword went through Barnacle’s chest, as its body fell prone to the ground, the knight took out the sword. With the monster out of the way, he saw a life flashing in front of his eyes. The life he had and the life he could’ve had. Taken by fear, he froze and watched as the giant piece of metal was about to smash his body into a pulp. The time slowed for him, and that’s when he saw something the rest of the knights didn’t—right in front of him appeared a man in red armor and a crooked sword. An aura of flames moved around the blade and allowed the sword to cut through the thick metal anchor, slicing it in half.
As the remaining two pieces of anchor were about to crush the knights behind the red knight, another man jumped in with two short warhammers, directing the two pieces of anchor down to the ground. His white fur cape followed his movement from the fall. The two platoon leaders arrived at the scene.
The man in red armor had a single black feather on his helmet, which made him easy to spot, even in the crowd. “Red Crow is here!” The young knight shouted, glad to see someone strong on the front line to help them. Then the other young man realized who the second knight was. “And that’s the White Fang!”
White Fang had white fur on his back and silver armor, matching the fur on his back. Unlike other knights, he didn’t wear a helmet and let his wheat hair, tied into a braid, fall onto his back.
“Rookies! Look how the real knights take care of pests like those!” The White Fang announced as he lifted his hammer, but he grunted in surprise as the Red Crow dashed forward, cutting clean a dozen Barnacles on his path. “Hey! Wait for me!” Shouted the man with white fur as he tried to catch up to the man in red armor.
The Red Crow quickly cut a path through the army of Barnacles and arrived in front of an Anchor that only had chains at its disposal. The knight swung his crooked sword at the fist wrapped in chains as the monster threw a punch at the man, its fist as big as the knight himself. The crooked sword, enhanced with moving flames like a chainsaw, cut the chain, but it barely scratched the skin of the monster. The man gasped and braced himself for the impact.
“I’ve got your back!” The monster’s attack was repelled by a hammer of White Fang. “You have your gate while I have my strength!” Both of his hammers were half as heavy as the anchor, but he had the power to lift them effortlessly.
As the Anchor lost its balance due to White Fang’s attack, both of the knights saw an opportunity and one went for the right while the other went for the left leg. The crooked blade cut the tendons while the heavy warhammer broke the ankle of the other leg.
The monster fell down, making White Fang grin as the Anchor became an easy target. “I’ll finish him!” He shouted as he ran toward its head to land a finishing blow, but a red shadow flew past him, and the Red Crow stole his glory by striking the crooked sword into the monster’s skull. “Hey! Didn’t you hear me!” The White Fang shouted as he got annoyed.
“Good work with the assist.” Answered the Red Crow with a calm voice, yet he seemed fulfilled by stealing White Fang’s kill.
“The assist?! You stole my glory! If not for me, you would’ve ended up with a broken bone or two!” The White Fang easily fell to Red Crow's playful mockery.
“Which I appreciate. That’s why I thanked you for the assist.” Said Red Crow, trying to put a dot at the end to finish their conversation, but the White Fang wouldn’t let him do that.
“I’ll show you an assist! Bring me another Anchor! I’ll show you what I got!” The White Fang shouted as he prepared both of his hammers for a strike to jump into the fight faster than Red Crow.
“Can it be something far stronger than a mere Anchor?” Suddenly, he heard a whisper between the army of moving Barnacles. Between the moving tide of monsters stood a man in a black suit and black hat. Leaning his head down, he only showed his shark-like teeth with a smile.
“What the hell…” Whispered, confused White Fang, suddenly he got pulled to the side by the Red Crow, and in the place where he used to stay appeared a black tentacle. He looked at the Red Crow, who was focused on the new enemy, and said, “Now we are even.”
“Stop with the childish talk and focus…” The calm voice of the Red Crow changed into a worried one as he regarded the man in a black suit. He almost choked as the man in a suit lifted his head, showing his eyes, or rather where they were supposed to be, as the man had no eyes or nose, only a large mouth with shark-like teeth.
The man disappeared between the Barnacles, making the two knights lift their weapons and look out for him. Both of them were on edge with one single racing thought, “Was that truly a human?” None of them ever heard of a human working with the monsters.
“My name is Ludwig Roslov.” Both knights snapped around and noticed the man in the suit bowing right behind them with a hat in his left hand and a cane in his right. The man’s skin looked like it was burned, with many veins popping out through the skin. Ludwig straightened his back and put the hat back on his head. “I am Nox’s Finger. Chosen by the gods to slaughter all of you.” His smile became even wider as if half of his head was a mouth full of sharp teeth.
From his back appeared two black tentacles. In a burst, they extended toward the two knights, forcing them to lift their weapons and attempt to block the attack. Both of them tried what they did best: Red Crow tried to cut through the tentacle, and White Fang tried to smash it away with his hammer.
Both of them were pushed away as Red Crow wasn’t able to cut the tentacle, and White Fang wasn’t able to smash it away with brute force. Once the black tentacles stopped expanding, both of them jumped away to make distance. Both of them were troubled after seeing their greatest assets not working.
“Those black snails might be unstoppable… But what about the user himself?” Playfully asked White Fang, as he didn’t falter even when looking weak compared to his opponent, unlike the Red Crow. This one question was able to fire up both of them for an attempt to attack.
Red Crow was the first to dash forward as he was the fastest, and White Fang followed after him. “How charming…” Ludwig whispered as more tentacles appeared from his back and stretched high into the air to strike the knights from above. They fell down like rain of arrows, yet the knights were able to evade them. The Red Crow used a burst of speed to close a gap between the man in a suit and preyed his sword at Ludwig’s neck.
Two tentacles crossed the path and blocked the sword. Ludwig leaned forward to take a look at the red knight. “Is that all?” He asked with a giggle.
“Don’t forget about me!” Shouted White Fang as he appeared behind Ludwig with a warhammer mid swing, flying right toward his head. A loud thud echoed all over the street. The attack that would definitely crash a boulder into bits was stopped with just two fingers.
“I haven’t forgotten. You’re just the most boring out of the two of you…” Ludwig lifted the hammer along with the White Fang, opening his shark-like mouth. White Fang watched in terror as the sharp teeth got closer to him; he could already feel the dribble on his body and the rotten stench from the man’s mouth.
Yet the terror was fake as he snorted, a grin and determination appearing on his face. “Thanks for a better angle!” The second warhammer struck Ludwig’s head and sent him tumbling on the stone pavement. Before God's Finger could recover, the Red Crow dashed forward and sent a dozen thrusts toward the man.
Ludwig barely stood on his two feet as he had to move back and create tentacles to block the attacks of Red Crow. The crooked sword slipped through a small gap and went straight into Ludwig’s chest with a hiss as the small flames burned the man’s skin and blood. As Ludwig gasped in pain and the tentacles vanished, Red Crow was sure that this was the end.
The Red Crow was staggered as Ludwig grinned yet again and took a step forward, letting the blade sink deeper into his body and making it stick out through his back. The knight tried to pull out the sword, but it was stuck, not moving an inch. He thought of letting go of his sword, but it was too late. Ludwig grabbed his head with both of his hands and pressed from both sides. The metal helmet bent and blood burst out through the hole. With the last push came a crack, that’s one he let go of the man’s head and let his body fall to the ground.
He took out the sword from his body and threw it to the side. White Fang watched in terror as his companion died and the man from the nightmares stood there unbothered, his wound slowly sealing itself with a sickening dark liquid.
“Good as new.” Ludwig chuckled, his wicked smile turned toward White Fang. He began to slowly move toward the remaining knight. The man took steps back, but he felt weak, unable to hold the heavy hammers. Both of them fell to the ground with a loud thud, then White Fang stumbled and fell down. He tried to crawl away, but suddenly something grasped both of his legs. As he turned around, he saw tentacles wrapping around his legs, and as he looked at Ludwig, he saw his grin widen inhumanely; he saw dozens of eyes around the man watching him and waiting for his death.
The tentacles pulled him closer to Ludiwg and then rose twenty feet into the air, lifting the man along with them and then pulled him down to the ground, smashing his body into a pulp against the pavement, leaving a bloody mush of iron, flesh, and bone.
Ludwig turned around toward the young knights who held back against the barnacles but were able to see the death of the two captains. The man cocked his head with a snap as he looked toward the group of knights, and the barnacles suddenly stopped attacking. Using the tentacles that appeared from his back, he moved closer to the knights. “How I love this sensation of fear… It gives me… Strength!”