Delayed Judgment (XVII)

Before the Dark Angels took responsibility for the knightly orders and formally became Caliban's guardians, the beastly corruption had always been a thorny, difficult problem.

It took a child at least five years to grow from an apprentice into a knight reserve, while wars of extermination against the beasts routinely inflicted casualties in the dozens. Caliban had many knightly orders, each of which regularly declared campaigns against the beasts. Unfortunately, before Lion El'Jonson rose to fame, they always lost more than they won.

Some old knights who had survived the wars would even mock themselves when speaking to the young, saying that their survival had nothing whatsoever to do with superior martial skill, unwavering will, or fine equipment.

Those three things were merely prerequisites for facing the beasts. The only reason they had lived to this day was luck—or cowardice enough.

Though faced with such dire circumstances, Caliban's people still threw themselves into this seemingly unwinnable war without end.

They revered martial prowess and did not fear sacrifice. Besides, they were fighting evil now—to die for that was the highest honor.

Yet no matter how much they scorned death or worshipped honor, they had to admit one thing: before Lion El'Jonson appeared, not even Luther, hailed as the "greatest" knight, had been able to turn the tide.

By then, the situation had deteriorated to its limit.

Take one tiny example: the handling of corpses. A young man who had endured countless hardships to become a knight died in a war where he faced evil and protected the innocent. Should he not receive a grave and a coffin?

Of course he should. Yet the knightly orders simply could not afford even those two simple things. The beasts were corrupted, and those torn to pieces by their claws and fangs naturally could