The Thirteen Knight

Chapter 2: Decision

The vault door from this side was sealed with a complex rune lock. A mage would need to solve a puzzle to open it. I didn't have magic but I had a heavy crowbar in my bag. The lock mechanism was magical but the hinges were just steel.

I jammed the crowbar into the gap of the maintenance panel next to the door. I wasn't trying to unlock it I was trying to bypass the magical lock by physically disconnecting the latch. I put all my weight on the bar and my muscles burned.

I am not strong I am just an average guy but leverage is a beautiful thing. There was a loud pop and the magnetic seal disengaged. I slid the heavy door open just enough to squeeze through.

The Containment Room was freezing. The air was so cold my breath misted instantly. Rows of shelves went up to the ceiling and on every shelf sat a crystal. They hummed with a low nasty vibration that made my teeth ache. Some were green and some were black and some were pulsing like hearts.

These were demons from the ancient times compressed into rocks. I walked down the aisle looking at the labels. I needed something specific. A High Lord demon would be too much power and it would likely kill me the second I tried to link with it. I needed a grunt.

I found the section labeled Class D Imp and Minor Fiend. There was a crystal on the second shelf the size of a soda can. It was glowing with a jagged violet light and looked angry.

The label said Imp Beta 7 Unstable.

"Perfect," I whispered to myself but my voice sounded too loud in the quiet room.

I reached out to grab it and my hand was shaking. If I was wrong about my theory the moment I touched this thing I would turn into a pile of ash. I hesitated. I thought about the exam next week and Valerius looking at me like I was garbage. I thought about getting deported to the Wastelands.

I grabbed the crystal.

It was hot and burned my glove. A shockwave of nausea hit me making my knees buckle. It felt like holding a screaming noise in my hand. But I didn't explode. My veins didn't pop. The energy was rushing into me looking for something to fight but it found nothing.

"Gotcha," I said shoving the crystal into my insulated pouch.

I turned to leave feeling a rush of adrenaline. I actually did it. I had the power source. Now I just had to get back to the workshop and plug this bad boy into the Gauntlet.

But then the floor shook.

It wasn't a small shake. The whole building groaned. The crystals on the shelves rattled making a sound like wind chimes. The emergency lights in the vault turned on and bathed everything in red.

The alarm started blaring and it was deafening. Did I trigger it? Did the crystal have a weight sensor?

Then the intercom crackled to life but it wasn't a recorded message. It was a person screaming.

"General Alert! The perimeter is breached! The Zodiac Corps are deployed to the city sector! We are under attack!"

I stood there in the red light clutching the stolen demon crystal to my chest. They weren't looking for me. This wasn't about the theft. Something was attacking the school.

I ran back to the waste chute because I had to get back to the suit. If there was a fight happening I needed a weapon. I scrambled up the pipe ignoring the bruises on my knees.

When I popped out of the vent and back into the maintenance corridor I could hear explosions. Real ones. The ground thumped every few seconds.

I sprinted toward Sub Reactor Bay 7. The hallways were flashing red and I saw a group of students running the other way screaming. They looked terrified. These were the same kids who were showing off their magic tricks this morning but now they looked like scared children.

I reached my workshop and slammed the door. I threw the crystal onto the table next to the Apostate Gauntlet.

"Okay," I said to the empty room trying to stop my hands from shaking. "Okay Chase. You wanted a test run."

I looked at the gauntlet. It was a mess of matte black plating and exposed copper wiring that I hammered together from trash. It didn't look like much sitting there on the table.

I picked up the heavy metal glove and slid my right hand inside. It felt cold against my skin. I tightened the straps securing it to my forearm. It was heavy and clunky without power.

I picked up the crystal with my left hand. The violet light reflected in my eyes. I jammed the crystal into the socket on the Gauntlet wrist.

It clicked into place.

For a second nothing happened. Then the copper wires flared to life. A violet pulse shot through the metal veins of the gauntlet. It hummed with a sound that wasn't mechanical. It sounded like a heartbeat.

My finger hovered over the activation switch. This was it.

But I hesitated. The building shook again dust falling from the ceiling. I hadn't tested the output yet. If I turn this on right now it might just blow my arm off. Or worse it might draw whatever is attacking the school right to me.

"Not now," I whispered. "Too dangerous."

I needed to get to a safer spot. Randar my supervisor has a reinforced workshop in the Engineering Annex. It is shielded and soundproof. If I can get there I can run a diagnostic before I risk frying my brain.

I grabbed my bag and ran out of the workshop the heavy gauntlet weighing down my right arm. The corridors were empty now. The silence was worse than the screaming. It meant everyone was either gone or dead.

I took a sharp turn into Corridor Delta 4. The air smelled like ozone and something else something rotten like sulfur. I knew that smell. It was the smell of a demon.

I slowed down and pressed myself against the wall. The corridor opened up into a secondary plaza with a huge skylight above. It was supposed to be a nice place where students ate lunch. Now it was a war zone.

Benches were overturned and the fountain was smashed. And there was a girl fighting for her life.

It was Sylvia. She is an Elf and my senior in Applied Magitech. She is always polite to me even though I am a nobody. Right now she was on the ground bleeding. Her blue combat armor was cracked and her mana blade was flickering weakly.

Standing over her was a nightmare. It was a Shadow Wasp. A tall insect monster made of black armor and razor blades. It buzzed with a sound that made my ears bleed.

Sylvia scrambled back trying to cast a shield spell but the Wasp was too fast. It batted her hand away like she was nothing. It raised a long sharp arm ready to stab her through the chest.

I froze behind a pillar. My logic screamed at me to run. This was a high level monster. I am not a hero. I am just a student with zero magic and a part-time job cleaning pipes. I should run to the bunker and save myself.

But then I remembered something. A month ago I made a mistake in the sanitation code and Sylvia fixed it for me. She didn't report me. She just left a note telling me to be careful. She was the only one who treated me like a person instead of a "Null."

I looked at the Wasp. It was about to kill her. I looked at the gauntlet on my arm. The crystal was humming in the socket waiting for the trigger.

I didn't know if it would work. I didn't know if I would survive. But I knew I couldn't watch her die.