Samson charged from the left whilst Marybetha charged from the right, trying their best to perform a pincher manoeuvre that would split the saints' attentions between themselves, and also allow themselves to keep an eye on one another.

  As he ran, Samson activated his skill King's Pawn. Purple chains wrapped themselves around his body, binding his hands together to restrict his movements, yet granting him the full strength of his Overview. It seemed that the flashiness of his skill managed to draw the attention of three male Fallen Saints who turned towards him, hammers in hand and perfect eyes locked on him intensely.

  Samson, too, had drawn his weapon. It was hard to wield a greatsword with bound hands.

  As he closed the distance between them, all three saints charged in unison. They leapt with their hammers overhead and swung down. Samson managed to raise his guard in time, but the hammers struck his blade with enough force to send him sliding backwards. Right afterwards, the two saints from the outer sides charged again. Samson was forced to step backwardsagain, dodging another hammer swung, and parrying another with a great metallic clang. Meanwhile, he noticed the saint in the back with his hands shoved in the flames of the furnace, as though gaining power from it.

  Have to stop him.

  Samson flicked through the skills granted to him by King's Pawn. There were a variety of options to choose from; it seemed many were being used by others at the moment, limiting his choices severely and leaving him compromised. Some were powerful, but far too dangerous for him to use at his current awakening stage.

  He decided to settle on a convenient skill named Extinguish. With a mere thought, he activated the Fire skill without having the Fire Mage class. Immediately, he was able to extinguish the flames of the furnace with a mere thought, which made the demon look down at his hands in confusion. Before Samson was able to finish the demon with a ranged attack, the two others came again.

  ---

  Marybetha's battle was much easier. She estimated that if she played her cards right, she could finish the demons in a few moments.

  There were only two of them, compared to Samson's three. A male and female saint, both wielding hammers, charged at her together. Marybetha drew her longsword and activated two skills at the same time: Oath of Righteousness and Divine Coating. The Divine Coating covered her blade in a white glowing essence that would burn the dead and allow her to send a distant arc strike from the weapon. Oath of Righteousness would increase her physical capabilities, depending on the righteousness of her battle, assumedly decided by the Allfather.

  However, it was at that moment that she was hit with great surprise. Immediately after attempting to activate the skill, she felt something shift within her Overview. Before even being able to glance over it, she felt a hammer crash into her side with a crunch, sending her flying to the side and tumbling over a rack of weapons. The pain came immediately, followed by a cry from the realisation that an arm had been broken.

  "My arm!" She cried, losing all of her cool. "It's broken!"

  Her vision was blurred, but as she used her free hand to lift the injured one, it fell limply and at an odd angle. She had been caught off guard and was given no chance to defend herself.

  Why... Why didn't my skill work?

  She glanced at her Overview, only to find that Oath of Righteousness, the Paladin skill, was no longer there. Didn't the Allfather deem her battle righteous? Was Adola not a decent man, who deserved to have his death at the hands of demons be avenged?

  Amidst her thoughts, Marybetha looked up to find the two demons charging at her. She wondered whether she would have enough time to defend herself.

  ---

  As Samson defended strikes from the two demons, he suddenly became distracted by a sickening crunch from the opposite side of the room. One glance over and he saw Marybetha falling to her side with a broken arm.

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  "Shit. How was she defeated so easily?" He cursed, using the flat of his sword to deflect another heavy hammer strike. From the background, the third demon had now started stalking towards him to join the beatdown. That meant three on one, and would soon become five if he allowed Marybetha to fall.

  Samson grit his teeth with fury until he felt like they might crack. What sort of knight would he be if he allowed the demons to take his ally?

  He activated a swordsman skill called Quickstep that he had earned from his fight against the Leviathan, and dashed backwards, putting distance between them at a speed much faster than what was normal. Afterwards, he filtered through the accessible skills granted to him by King's Pawn once again. This time, he did not ignore the skills that were too powerful for his awakening stage. If he wanted to survive and help Marybetha, he needed to push himself to his absolute limits.

  He landed on a skill that he had never even considered using before. It didn't suit him at all and was completely unrelated to the concept of knighthood that he was so familiar with. Not to mention, it carried great risk. But at that moment, it did not matter. Sometimes, the Pawn had to abandon the concept of self and draw on powers that were beyond his understanding, even if advised otherwise by the King.

  He activated Borrowed Future, the Chronomancer skill. It would allow him to access the strengths and capabilities of his strongest future self for ten seconds. It was a true gamble. A hope that someday he would become someone useful. Someone who might break his own chains and walk his own paths. A borrowed skill from a King, which in turn allowed him to rely on his own powers.

  Samson felt a great change take place around him and within his body. The change even brought a pause to the Fallen Saints.

  He felt his body being detached from reality. It was as though his body was no longer a part of the world and behaved separately from it. One of the most important laws of the Fourth World no longer applied to him, as he felt his face shift and his muscles and bones swell and contort. Great pain came with the change, forcing him to scream and cry so loud that the demons felt fear. Yet it only lasted for a few seconds.

  Samson was kneeling on the ground, staring down at the palm of his hands. Callouses and scars riddled the flesh that it hadn't before. He felt the new power resting inside of him and wanted to smile at its capacity; however, for some reason, he felt unable to smile.

  He then noticed a timer that was counting down on the skill.

  Six seconds left.

  It was more than enough to put an end to the demons.

  ---

  Although Marybetha suffered from the pain and dishonour granted to her from her skill, she was still conscious enough to notice that none of the demons was paying attention to her anymore. They were much more focused on the kneeling, screaming boy that she had arrived with. However, when she glanced over, she did not see a "boy" there. She saw a man with six thick locs of hair that travelled down to his lower back. His upper body was incredibly muscular, and he had ripped off his shirt due to the additional size he had gained in both height and width. His skin was mottled in countless scars where chains seemed to have once clung tight to his body for many years.

  The man rose to his feet and lifted his greatsword in one hand. A feat that should have been near impossible.

  "Samson... Is that you?" Marybetha croaked.

  The man didn't answer her. He outstretched his free arm with his palm facing towards the five demons staring at him with confusion. They tried to react, suspecting an incoming attack, but there was nothing they could do to defend against the five glowing purple chains that erupted from each of the man's fingers at blinding speed. Each chain had a sharp end and pierced the hearts of the demons with such force that they entered through the chest and left through the back, getting a good grip on them.

  The man closed his fists with ease, and the chains pulled the five demons close to him. All of them resisted, but were too weak to fight against a single finger of the man's strength.

  Then, when they stumbled into range, he swung his greatsword in a horizontal line. His blade didn't slice into the demon's flesh, but rather the air before them. It was enough to cleave them all in half, and the energy continued until it crashed into the furnace, cleaving that in half as well. Golden blood flew as the demons' upper bodies hung in the air for a moment before falling to the ground lifelessly.

  Marybetha could only stare in utter disbelief. If this were somehow Samson, then wasn't his strength far greater than hers, Astra's, and Leox's?

  But when she looked back at the man, he was lying on the ground unconscious. He was no longer a grown man with long hair and a ferocious aura around his body. He had been reduced to his previous, thirteen-year-old self. Still impressive, but far from what it was.

  Marybetha pushed herself to her feet, holding onto her broken arm and still wincing from the pain as she made her way over to Samson.

  "What was that?" She tried to ask, but to no avail. She glanced at the demons, making sure they were all dead. There was no question about that.

  Then, she slapped Samson in the face, hoping that he would wake up. He didn't, but he still had a pulse, which was good news.

  Marybetha sighed.

  "Now, how am I going to carry you to the palace with one arm?"