Chapter 176   - Old Friends

Inside the Master knights meeting room, Bernardo was patiently waiting sitting down on a long table placed in the centre of the room. He had been told to gather for an emergency meeting by one of the white sash knights and to come to the room immediately, so he did.

Eventually, Delbert and Rose both walked through the door and made sure to shut the door behind them. Unknown to Bernardo but Delbert had also made sure that the door was locked behind him.

"Ah, Bernardo I see you have made it," Delbert said with open arms.

The two of them then greeted each other with a hug. Bernardo had known both Delbert and Wilfred since they met each other at the academy when they were only students. The three of them constantly did missions with each other until eventually they had all been promoted to Master knights.

"Will Wilfred and Sir K be joining us any time soon?" Bernardo asked.

"I'm afraid this matter will only involve the three of us."

Bernardo's face suddenly became serious.

Bernardo always took a neutral stance when it was matters involving Wilfred and Delbert. For some reason, Delbert felt like his accomplishments were always overshadowed by Wilfred. This had caused Delbert to always act strangely when Wilfred was around and Bernardo could see that it had only gotten worse since Wilfred had become head of the Master knights. Even though technically Delbert was more skillful and powerful.

"I want you to cast a revote on the entire Council of elders." Delbert said, "We already have Rose and all we need is one more Master knight and then we can have anyone we want on the seat of elders."

"And what is wrong with the current selection of elders?"

"Can you not see? The system has been corrupted so much that we have allowed even a young girl to take a seat. I know you had some say in that as well of course but I believe you were only doing so because you believed in the prophecy."

Bernardo didn't say anything and remained silent, he knew there was more to this than just wanting to change elders.

"Sigh, You see, I have inside information that the city will be attacked today by the Dark Guild once again."

"Then we must inform the whole city, what are we doing standing around here?" Bernardo said panicked.

"Bernardo, you know we don't stand a chance against them currently. Our Army is spread too thin. We have already sent forces to intercept the Shadow plague to the nearby cities and villages and sent some more to the front line of the kingdom. If we were to be attacked now we wouldn't stand a chance."

Bernardo hated to admit it but he was right. But what else could they do but fight? Were they meant to run away and just let the Shadow plague take over like they had done to all the towns and cities before?

"This is why I've come to you today, I have made a deal with the Dark guild. As long as we allow two of them to become a member of the Council and allow them to join Avrion, then they will not attack."

"Have you gone mad!" Bernardo said in anger as he stood up from his seat. "There entire aim this whole time has been to kill us all, you've been deceived. The minute they enter this city we're all dead. I've heard enough of this."

Bernardo then picked up his trusty axe and started to walk towards the door. It was clear to him that Delbert wasn't thinking properly and he needed to inform the council of the attack.

But the second Bernardo's back was turned, he could feel a sharp cold metal through his stomach. As Bernardo turned around, he could see Delbert's cold face. There wasn't a hint of regret for his actions.

"Since when had he changed." Bernardo thought.

Then Delbert took out the blade and slashed at Bernardo's neck.

"I guess this means war?" Rose said as she just stood there watching the whole thing at the side.

Suddenly, the doors to the room had burst wide open and Ray and the others had entered the room.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!" Harry shouted.

Sylvia's emotions got the better of her and she started to shed tears once again. Although Bernardo didn't have a close connection with any of them, he had trained every single one of them every day. Bernardo was in charge of the daily training.

He always gave the students tips and never treated anyone differently like some other master knights.

"Looks like the cat's out of the bag!" Delbert said, "Would you believe me if I said he attacked me first?" Delbert said with a grin on his face.

Then when Delbert saw Ray he immediately dashed forward.

"This is all your fault!" Delbert shouted, "If you had never come to the academy then I wouldn't have had to kill my dear friend!"

Delbert swung his blade but Ray remained still and stood in place. Before the sword could even reach Ray, it had clashed with another mid-air.

"What are you doing Harry, going up against your own father!"

Harry ignored Delbert's words and instead turned to look at Ray.

"Please let me deal with this."

Ray understood what Harry was going through. He had seen his father slowly turn into a monster and he wanted to deal with it with his very own hands. Something Ray had just recently done himself.

Then an arrow shot came from the corner of the room aiming straight for Ray. This time Slyvia had taken out her shield and blocked the arrow but the shot was powerful as the energy continued to push Slyvia back. Then Slyvia suddenly felt a hand on her back holding her firmly in place and the arrow eventually fell to the floor.

When Slyvia turned around she noticed that it was the old man Von.

"Jack, Ray, we will deal with these two." Von said, "I'm afraid that something might have happened to the other elders above, you must go to them quickly!"

Although the two people they were facing were powerful, l Ray had no choice but to carry on moving. The more time wasted only meant there was more chance of them losing this battle.

Ray and Jack quickly left the room leaving the battle to the others.

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Special thanks to Fenrir2040 and Alexander_Bingham for the gifts you guys are stars.