Chapter Text
The legend said that the Sun Knight is the sworn enemy of undead creatures, needless to say, it's natural for the Demon King to detest the Sun Knight. Or that's how it's supposed to be.
What if there is a Demon King who not only does not hate the Sun Knight, but also seems to adore him?
A story where Lesus Judgment was the Demon King instead.
*
Chasel, the current Judgment Knight, strode to where Grisia was having a training session with Neo. To be honest, from the sight of it, it looked more like a torture session than a regular training. If he was being true to himself, Chasel’s a bit hesitated when he saw Grisia tired, bruised face and Neo's angry expression. But now, seeing Grisia's eyes lit up at the sight of him, Chasel guessed that he just saved him one more time.
“Neo, could I have a moment with Grisia?”
“What do you need him for?” Neo glared at him. Since there were only him and Grisia in the training ground, he had long threw the “manner of a Sun Knight” in the trash can. There's no need to pretend in front of Chasel as well for he had seen enough.
“I want to discuss some important matter with Grisia.”
“About?”
“Lesus, only ten minutes.”
“Fine.” Neo let down his sword, glowered at his poor student who was standing near them, beaten up like a pup with several bruises all over his body and face. “But you better come right back, unless you want to discuss the benevolence of the God of Light with him yourself.”
“Thank you, it will be quick.” Chasel silently ignored Grisia shivers.
When the distance’s far enough for Neo to not be able to eardrops on them even if he wanted to, Chasel lent Grisia the mini ointment bottle he always brought with him. It's meaningless for a Holy Knight like him to carry around medicine, since small cuts and bruises would heal fast with a simple healing spell. However, he just preferred small injuries to heal naturally. Grisia seemed to question the same thing, but received his kindness anyway.
“What did you do for Neo to be this irate?” It's really challenged Chasel why Neo was so angry. Ever since Grisia started taking over his job as an unofficial Sun Knight, it was rare to see Neo being mad at his student. Chasel believed that it's because he realized no one would finish his missions or do the paper works for him if Grisia was bedridden, so he tried to suppress his anger.
“… I accidentally broke one of his favorite wine bottles.” Grisia answered him with a helpless expression. If Chasel imagination was good enough, he would probably see the invisible tears coming with the sentence.
“It’s a reasonable reason for Neo to be angry.” Though Chasel didn’t want to admit that his Sun Knight was an alcoholic, but if it's one in the collection that he knew, then it costed Neo over three-month salary to buy it. It's truly understandable if he went on malice knowing his treasure was broken.
He led Grisia into the praying room at the end of the hallway, one that seldomly borrowed by others. Chasel carefully hang up the “Do not disturb” sign and locked the door after the teenager went inside. When he turned back to face Grisia, confusion could be seen on his face.
“May I ask what's wrong with Lesus that we have to discuss in secret like this, sir?”
Chasel took a deep breath before answer Grisia's question. The things he was about to say and the answer he was about to receive might change the fate of the world based on its content. So even though he looked confident, Chasel was silently praying for the best in his mind. Still, he believed in both Grisia and his student.
“What would you do if I wanted to switch Lesus with the back-up knight that I picked?”
Grisia's blue eyes wide opened as he could not believe in what he just heard. Surprise and disbelief was shown on his face, but as expected of the child who was protected by Neo despite not having the necessary skills of a knight, he soon regained his calmness. Grisia eyes cautiously stared at him as if he's calculating all the possible answers Chasel could give and preparing for it. Lesus was saying the truth when he told him Grisia was the greatest companion, but also the worst enemy he could have. Even Chasel would be trouble if he had to fight against him in a mind game.
“May I ask the reason why, sir?”
“What if I have a valid reason?” But that's in the future. Now, Chasel still far passed him in terms of experience.
“But why sir? Lesus has everything needed to be a Judgment Knight. He's calm, decisive, strict and takes his role more serious than anyone I have ever seen! What could be the reason for you to change him after all these years?” Grisia's voice started to lose its calming tone. It seemed like he and Lesus were much closer than Chasel thought for him to lose his calmness this quick.
“The back-up knight I picked also has those traits, it's possible for him to take over Lesus's role right away if needed.” Grisia was right. Although it's true that the back-up knight he picked was suitable for the Judgment Knight role, Lesus still outperformed him in almost every aspect. It's still a wonder how did Chasel be able to find someone like him among hundreds of children coming to the Church that year.
“As the future Sun Knight, may I keep my future Judgment Knight where he's supposed to be?” For the first time, Chasel saw a frown on Grisia face. Neo’s student was also the same as his - the pride of their teacher with the ability to maintain the perfect image of a Sun Knight and Judgment Knight even before they are granted the title. Because of that, it's strange for him, who had always seen a smile on Grisia's face, to witness another kind of expression of him.
“Even if he turns out to be a burden in the future?”
“If you truly want to talk about burden, then I'd rather kick myself out of the Church and let Adair become the future Sun Knight, considering the fact that I cannot wield a sword nor ride a horse properly or any other kinds of skills that a knight should have. After all everything I did is hide behind the back of my companions and let them fight the battle. It's more reasonable if my teacher come to ask Lesus about whether he wants to change the future Sun Knight or not before you ask me this.”
“Hahaha!” Hearing Grisia blurted his true thought out, Chasel finally let out a laugh of relief, which terrified the younger one since he, too, had never seen Chasel smile or even laugh.
After a brief moment, he finally stopped and looks straight into the child’s eyes. The sunlight began to shine through the dyed glass window, paint his figure in a ray of mutilcolors light. Seeing Grisia adored by the light, Chasel believed that if Lesus was in the same situation, he would also do everything possible to keep his Sun Knight next to him.
“Then I guess I could leave it to you. Grisia, could you please promise me one thing?”
“Yes, sir?” Still dumbstrucked by Chasel's laugh, he replied hesitantly.
“Promise me that no matter what, you'll keep Lesus, your future Judgment Knight, where he's supposed to be?”
“I pledge to keep Lesus, my future Judgment Knight, where he's supposed until the day he retires, on the behalf of the God of Light.” The determination in his eyes was incredible. That was the kind of look one would expect in a Sun Knight, a look that will make one want to put all their trust in this person. It has proven Chasel’s decision to believe in him, someone he didn’t know well, to be one of the greatest decisions he had ever made.
“But could you tell me why you want to change him?”
“Oh well, he is …”
“?!?!??!?!?!”
That day, Grisia discovered something he will have to carry for the rest of his life.
*
Lesus has had a bad feeling ever since the moment he woke up. It was strange because lately Leaf Bud was enjoying an unprecedented era of peace with the brilliant policies of the new king. As the result, Lesus has been freer than ever. However, this bad hunch kept messing with him the entire morning, which is why he decided to do a short patrol around the city. Only then did he finally confirm his hunch was right. A loud bang could be heard from the outskirt. The explosion is big enough for him to feel the ground underneath his feet shaking lightly. Immediately, he rushes to the scene, an impact at this scale cannot be anything good. On his way to the scene, he meets a few other holy knights.
“What's happening?”
“Knight-Captain Judgment!” The holy knights seem surprise but are quick to compose themselves. They were about to stop running to salute but Lesus stops them.
“We don't know, sir! We were in the square when the explosion happened.”
Lesus nods as a reply. This might just be another fight which includes either a powerful mage or, in the worst case, a necromancer. Still, Lesus can't figure out why he has a feeling it might be worse than that.
When he arrives at the scene, it is horrific. Whatever exploded, it left a giant hole as if a meteorite just crashed down on the ground. All the trees nearby are burning and the choking smell of smoke is everywhere. Luckily, the incident happened in the outskirt where few people live, so even though there are houses destroyed, no one was severely injured or dead. But when Lesus looks at the holy knights who are closer to the center of the hole, terror could be seen on their faces. Lesus feels like it is not because of his scary deep frown, but rather a product of something else, something that might be the reason for his bad feeling this morning.
“Knight-Captain Judgment! Knight-Captain Sun is-” Not waiting for the other holy knight to finish his sentence, Lesus instantly strides to the place. Nothing includes both Grisia and a giant accident could be good.
The smell of smoke and the fishy odor of blood mixing together is unbearably annoying. When Lesus looks into the bottom of the hole, what he sees terrify him. Grisia is lying in a puddle of blood, his face is crunching in pain. Lesus can't see any signs that tell him he's still breathing, so he jumps down, rushes to where Grisia is lying. Several clerics nearby have been chanting spells after spells before Lesus even reached here, but they seem to be unhelpful.
“How is the Knight-Captain Sun situation?”
“The impact leaves him with more than just one critical injury. We have been trying to heal him, but something is wrong sir! We cannot chase away the dark element, and our spells are not as efficient as normal!"
Lesus quickly turns to check up Grisia. There is a thick layer of dark element surrounds him. Whatever Grisia has fought, it must be incredibly strong for him to be wounded this badly. His uniform is all covered in the dark red color of blood, with wounds and cuts everywhere.
“Sun? Sun, can you hear me?” There’s no answer.
Lesus hastily picks him up, his grip shifting to a careful cradle as he moves, in fear of worsening the already-horrible- injuries the blonde has.
“Vedar! Call Adair to help you! Investigate the scene and search for any evidence of the causes and reports back to me!”
“Yes sir!” Vedar responds. The state of the Knight-Captain Sun has shocked him when he saw how terrible he was. If even he's this worried, Adair may faint when he heard the news.
*
When he entered the Church, everyone was about salute yet halted at the sight of whom he's carrying. All they could do were stared with feared eyes. Ignores all the gazes he got on his way, Lesus makes his way straight to the Sanctuary of Light, heading towards the Pope's room.
“Judgment? Who is, wait, is that Sun?!” He meets Ceo on his way, who was carrying a pile of paper works but throws it all to his vice captain when he saw the state of Grisia.
“What happened?”
“I don't know.” Lesus is speaking a brutal truth. No one knows what happened except for the fainted one in his arm. The only thing he's aware of is Grisia's breath is concerningly shallower and weaker than before. He doesn't dare to waste another second for the fear that Grisia might stop breathing.
Ceo hurriedly follows him after tell his vice captain to call others ten Holy Knight Captains to the Pope's room.
“What's could possibly cause this?”
“Might be a necromancer. The clerics said something was preventing them from healing his wounds.”
“A curse?”
“Could be.”
Ceo opens the door to the Pope's room with a loud bang, almost smash it to the wall in Knight-Captain Blaze' style, startle the small figure inside with the sound. The Pope’s so ready to yell in their face but has to swallow every word when he sees the bloody body in Lesus’s arms.
“You! Hey, what happened again??” He runs down from his chair, reaches their place and quickly examines Grisia's injuries when Lesus lays Grisia down on the floor. A table cloth has been placed underneath by Ceo to help ease even the tiniest amount of discomfort.
“I don't know. He might have caught in a fight. The clerics in the scene had tried to cast several healing spells, but they didn't work. The dark element covering him also refused to disappear.”
The Pope is quick to the situation. He does some checking on Grisia's body before rushing back to the piles of books on his floor next to the windows and pull out some of them. He then carries them back with a box of special chalk and start drawing a magic circle.
“What's wrong with him?” Both Lesus and Ceo move away and leave space for the Pope to work. They all believe that he could heal Grisia somehow but seeing a deep frown and how worried he is, even Lesus cannot say that he isn't afraid.
If there's anything they all afraid more than death, is to lose their Sun Knight.
“It's an old curse. Whoever his opponent was, they were so petty and cruel to not only cause enough harm so he's in critical state but not dead, but also cast a curse that prevents him from healing like his current state. The main point of this curse is usually to let the victim suffered from immense pain and die on their own.” The Pope says in a rare sadistic tone while he’s preparing to draw a magic circle.
Upon hearing that, both Lesus and Ceo breathe in a cold breathe. Such hateful method sounds too inhuman for anyone to bear their evilness. Just then, other Holy Knights also arrive, and they all freeze in shock at the scene in front of them.
“What happened to him again??” Again is not a good word. It only shows how frequent Grisia came back to the Church in bad shape. Honestly, Lesus doesn't like it at all. If only he could prevent his Sun Knight from risking his life for god knows what the reasons are.
“I know he's weak, but who could possibly cause him this much harm?”
“What's that thick layer of dark element? Is that a curse?”
“Does this have something to do with the explosion happened this morning?”
“Quiet.”
Instantly, what left in the room is complete silence. The second thing they fear more than death is a mad Lesus Judgment, and the said Judgment Knight is clearly in a bad mood right now. His voice is much lower and his frown is deeper than ever. The terror that expression could bring to mankind is uncaculable.
Yet, he's not mad at anyone, not other Holy Knights nor the Pope, or even Grisia. Lesus is just mad at himself for being incapable of complete his responsibilities. He once promised to himself to protect his Sun Knight and the path he chose with everything he has, but moments like this only proves that he has failed not just once, but multiple times.
Finally, the Pope finish drawing the magic circle. Several chants and spells are spoken, and the holy light filled in the room for a long time before it finally stopped. Grisia's breathing and face now certainly looks much better than before. But when the dark hue of blood still staining his white uniform, it remains a sight that causes others to forget to breathe.
“How is he?” Ceo worriedly asks.
“Not good, but safe from death. It might take him a few days to fully recover.” The Pope face is not as relaxed as he sounds. Beads of sweat dripping from his forehead and the shivering of his hands has show how difficult the ceremony is. It's hard even for someone like him to be able to neutralize such an old curse, but the good thing is not many people can perform it. They might be able to form a list of suspects.
Despite hearing the Pope reassurance, Lesus is still carefully checking on Grisia. His breath now much more stable than before but still weaker than usual. The areas that was painted the heaviest by blood on his uniform are the left side of his stomach, his right shoulder, the collar and his left thigh. Lesus tries to recall the images when he first saw Grisia. He remembers there were several bruises and cuts all over his body. It's likely that someone had managed to stab him in multiple places before blown him away, resulting in those small injuries. The holes on his clothes didn't look like it were made with a thin blade, rather they're quite round so he guessed it must be some type of magic, like those ice polar Grisia sometimes made out of boredom.
The perpetrator must be a powerful necromancer. Lesus does doubt Pink for a second, but soon puts his thought away when he sees the one who caused him headaches starts to move. But nothing more than that.
Grisia does move, and Lesus is sure that he's awake; however, the blonde doesn't open his eyes. Lesus is fully aware that Grisia is blind, but his friend has always taken effort in masking, making everyone believe that he's totally normal. But now seeing this strange behavior, another fear rises inside Lesus.
“Sun?”
The other turns his head towards him, but his eyes are still unfocused.
“Sun, are you awake?”
“Where is this? Who are you people?”
Instantly, everyone in the room takes in a cold breath. There it is, it's truly impossible for their leader to not brings home any problems, right?
“Sun, do you recognize this place?” Elmairy asks, kneels to get closer to where Grisia is laying. His voice is quivering.
“I should know this place?”
“Do you know who you are, Sun?” When he sees Grisia flinch at his angry tones, a part of Lesus wants to laugh. Even when he seems like he has lost his memories, Grisia's muscle memory still realizes that he's in deep trouble, huh?
“I am…? What's my name?” Grisia, still partially controlled by his muscle memory, subconsciously turns to Lesus to ask for help. From the past to the present, Lesus has always been the one who helps him with almost everything, making it impossible for Grisia to not think of him first when searching for help.
“Pope, is this a side effect of the curse?” Ceo is the only one appears to be sober as other was deeply confused and Lesus is… He won't dare to looks at the other's face again for fear of dying from heartache.
“It could be, it could be not. The curse is so old that there's not much left written about it.” The Pope kneels next to Elmairy to examine Grisia. There are no abnormalities that can be seen with naked eyes, aside from the fact that he has somehow lost his memories and currently being a jerk as he truly is, moving away from him.
“Sun.” But before the Pope could scold him, there's a bigger issue for the blonde to face with: an incredibly mad Lesus Judgment - a true terror to mankind.
The currently-without-memory-Sun-Knight move away upon hearing that deep, terrifying voice of him. Lesus can only sigh at that scene and divide tasks for others before leaving the room. He doesn’t think his existence here will do any good if Grisia is this afraid of him. It would be better if he gets out there and see how much progress Vedar has made in investing the case.
“Leaf, you will be responsible for taking care of Knight-Captain Sun for the meantime. Hell, guards his room, makes sure nothing can get inside to harm him and no one could get outside to harm himself. Storm, Stone, you two, along with Vedar and Adair will take care of this case, investing who has caused such trouble to the Church leader and make them regret it. Others share the works in the Church, is that clear?”
“Yes sir!”
Lesus seems to want to say something to Grisia, but disappears before any thought is shared, leaving the room in deep silence for a long moment.
“I don't think we should ever let Sun do anything that provoke Judgment anymore.”
“Agree.”