Guardian Oath

Skeleton Horses, their leg bones burning with cold flames, struck the ground with clattering hoofbeats.

Countless such hoofbeats gradually merged into thunderous roars.

Amid those hoofbeats came even heavier steps. Their owners were Abominations, with enormous fanged mouths growing from their bellies, chewing without pause.

Green mist seeped from their bodies. Anyone who touched that mist, other than themselves, would have their bodies swiftly corroded—even other undead.

Sheets of sword rain came whistling down, blanketing the barrier formed by the knight.

The knight's barrier would not hold for long. The surviving knights under his command understood that their commander was merely buying them time to transform.

The remaining knights continuously recited their knightly oaths, thrusting their longswords into the ground before them. White light flared from their bodies as their forms gradually changed, transforming them into new Angels.

Though the Angels they became were not particularly powerful due to their own lack of strength, they were still far stronger than before.

Not only them—even the women who had remained in the city to care for the children fell to their knees and began praying. White light likewise appeared upon them, and they too began transforming into Angels.

Before the barrier created by that towering knight's self-sacrifice shattered, enough Angels had appeared within the city. As the power of light gathered—

A towering statue suddenly descended from the sky. It depicted an armored knight with a cloak hanging from his back. The knight knelt on one knee, both hands gripping the hilt of a greatsword planted before him.

After landing, his body gradually changed from stone into flesh and blood amid the white light. He rose from the pedestal, and the greatsword in his hands turned into silvery-white steel.

The white cloak behind him snapped loudly in the gale. His face