The Thirteen Knight

Chapter 11- New Armor

The digital clock on my desk ticked over to 02:00. The Academy dorms were silent, settled into the heavy slumber that blanketed the campus at night.

My roommate, Tal, was fast asleep, his snoring providing the only cover I had against the silence. I sat on my bed with the blackout curtains drawn tight.

In my lap sat the prize I had stolen from the Golem: the Type-4 Sealed Demon Crystal. In the dark, it pulsed with a low, rhythmic red light. It felt alive. It felt hungry.

I looked down at my right arm. Strapped to my forearm was the new device. The Apostate Armor.

It was a sleek bracer made of matte-black resin and exposed copper wiring, wrapping from my wrist to my elbow. Underneath the casing, I could see the grey strands of the Wasp’s muscle fibers lying dormant, waiting for a signal.

I checked my left wrist. The biometric bracelet was blinking a slow, steady green. The feedback loop I rigged was working perfectly, telling the central security server that I was deep in sleep.

"Time to wake up," I whispered.

I lined the crystal up with the circular socket on the top of the gauntlet and pressed down.

Click.

The reaction was instant. There was no mechanical whirring, and no flash of holy light. It was visceral.

The moment the crystal connected, the demon muscle fibers inside the bracer seized. They didn't liquify; they bloomed. Like fast-growing vines, the grey fibers shot out from the bracer, spiraling up my arm and across my chest.

They pulled the black chitin scales with them, snapping them into place over my skin with the sound of cracking bone.

I gritted my teeth as the substance tightened, binding to me. It wasn't just wearing armor; it felt like I was growing a second exoskeleton.

Snap.

The helmet formed last, the plates sliding over my skull and locking together at the chin. The faceplate sealed with a sharp hiss of pressurized air.

I exhaled. The air inside was filtered, tasting of ozone and recycled breath. I opened my eyes.

The darkness of the room vanished. The visor used mana-sense lenses carved from quartz. I could see the outlines of the room in high-definition blue wireframes and the heat radiating from Tal’s sleeping form.

I looked down at my hands. They were encased in black, segmented claws.

The Apostate Armor was finished.

It wasn't a tank like the first prototype. It was a predator. The Wasp chitin formed sharp, angular ridges along my limbs, deflecting impacts while keeping the joints open for maximum speed. It looked skeletal, dangerous, and absolutely forbidden.

I clenched my fist. The suit moved with my thoughts, powered by the chaotic demon energy coursing through the artificial veins.

I slid the window open. The cool night air rushed in. I stepped onto the ledge, looking down at the courtyard three stories below.

I stepped off.

The wind rushed past my helmet.

Thud.

I landed in a crouch. The muscle fibers in the legs flexed, absorbing the kinetic energy instantly. There was no pain. No shock. Just a dull thump swallowed by the grass.

I stood up, scanning the area. "Phase one complete," I said.

My voice was distorted by the acoustic modulator, deep and gravelly.

I started to run.

The speed was intoxicating. I wasn't sprinting; I was launching myself. Each step propelled me forward with unnatural force, the suit amplifying every movement.

I approached the Library Sector. Two security drones were hovering near the archway, their mana-scanners sweeping the path.

I didn't slow down. I sped up.

A mage would be caught instantly. Their mana signature would flare up on the scanners. But I was a Zero. I was empty space. And the demon armor absorbed radar waves like a sponge.

I ran right through the scanning beam. The drones didn't even twitch. They hovered there, blind to the monster rushing past them.

I laughed inside the helmet. I was a ghost.

I reached the outer wall of the Engineering Annex. It was smooth stone, twenty feet high. I hit it at full speed, digging the micro-claws of my boots into the stone. I ran up the vertical surface, vaulting the parapet to land silently on the slate roof tiles.

I walked to the edge and looked out over the Academy. From up here, the politics, the bullying, the caste system—it all felt insignificant against the power humming in my veins.

But then I heard it.

"Please... stop..."

It was coming from the alleyway behind the Cafeteria. I turned my head, the helmet's audio receptors picking up the sound and isolating it.

Below me, in the shadows, were three upperclassmen. They had a first-year student cornered against the dumpsters. I recognized the uniforms—Pyromancy track. They had fire glowing in their hands, casting long, dancing shadows against the brick wall.

"I don't have any money!" the first-year cried.

"Then we'll take it out in trade," one of the bullies sneered. He raised his hand, and the fireball grew brighter. "Hold him still."

I felt the crystal on my wrist pulse. The suit tightened around my muscles, reacting to my anger.

I didn't think. I moved.

I sprinted to the edge of the roof and jumped. I fell four stories, angling my body like a hawk. I landed directly between the bully and the victim.

CRASH.

The pavement cracked under my boots. A cloud of dust exploded outward. The three bullies stumbled back, the fire in their hands flickering wildly.

I stood up slowly. The Apostate Armor gleamed in the firelight. The black ribs looked like exposed bone. The red light from the crystal on my wrist pulsed, and the glowing red lines on the suit flared to life.

The lead bully stared at me, eyes wide. "What... what the hell is that?"

"Is it a Golem?" his friend stammered.

I turned my head toward them. The single red sensor strip on my visor glowed in the dark.

"Leave," I said.

The voice modulator stripped all humanity out of my words. It sounded like grinding stones.

The leader tried to find his courage. He was a Level 3 Mage. He wasn't supposed to be scared. "You don't tell me what to do!"

He threw the fireball.

It was a fast cast, sailing straight for my chest. I didn't dodge. I raised my left hand and caught it.

The fireball slammed into my palm. The heat washed over me, but the Wasp chitin didn't care. It was born in the magma vents of the underworld. I squeezed my fist.

The fire sputtered and died, crushed into smoke.

The bully’s jaw dropped. "That's... impossible."

I stepped forward, moving in a blur. I grabbed the front of his uniform and lifted him off the ground with one hand. The suit's hydraulics hissed, amplifying my strength and making him weigh nothing.

I brought him close to my faceplate. He stared into the black glass, seeing his own terrified reflection.

"You are loud," I growled.

I tossed him. He flew ten feet and landed in a pile of garbage bags with a wet thud.

"Run!" his friend screamed. "It's a monster!"

They didn't wait. They turned and sprinted down the alleyway. The leader scrambled out of the trash and ran after them on all fours before getting to his feet.

Silence returned to the alley.

I turned around. The first-year student was slid down against the wall, clutching his ring. He was trembling so hard his teeth were chattering. He looked up at me with wide eyes.

He didn't see a hero. He saw a seven-foot-tall demon.

"P-please," he whispered. "Don't eat me."

I froze. I wanted to reach out a hand. I wanted to say, 'It's okay. I'm a student too.' But I couldn't. If I spoke normally, he might recognize my voice.

I lowered my hand.

"Go back to your dorm," I said, the voice modulator making it sound like a threat. "Do not walk alone."

The kid nodded frantically. He scrambled to his feet and ran, disappearing around the corner.

I was alone.

I looked down at my hands. The black armor was cool to the touch. I had saved him, but I had terrified him.

"Good," I whispered.

If they were afraid of the Apostate Knight, they wouldn't look for Chase Royce. Fear was the best disguise I could ask for.

I raised my left wrist. I triggered the winch mechanism I had salvaged from the cargo loader. A thin, high-tensile wire shot out, embedding itself in the gargoyle on the roof above.

The motor whined, and I shot up into the air, vanishing into the shadows just as the distant sound of security drones began to approach.

I landed back on the roof, crouching in the darkness.

I checked the crystal on my wrist. The bright red glow had dimmed. It was pulsing slower now, weaker.

I could feel the hunger of the suit. It had eaten a significant chunk of the crystal's power just from that short run and one fight.

The suit was powerful, but it was starving. The Type-4 Crystal wasn't efficient enough. It leaked energy as heat. If I got into a prolonged fight, I would burn out quickly.

I needed better parts. And I needed more crystals.

But as I looked out over the sleeping Academy, feeling the wind against my armor, I couldn't help but smile behind the mask.

They called me a Zero. They called me dead weight.

I looked at the fist that had just crushed a fireball.

"Not anymore," I whispered.

I turned and melted back into the shadows, heading for the dorm window before the sun came up.

The Apostate Knight had made his debut, and the Academy would never be the same.