The Golden Knight had already crossed the distance with its blood trailing off while stretching its face towards Reinhard.

Reinhard's eyes widened before he swiftly reacted as he saw the others turning to him.

Drasil Step!

Blue ripples swept from beneath his feet as time began slowing down almost to a standstill. The knight's charge became sluggish and slow to the point that he looked frozen in front of Reinhard. He could see every detail in the Golden Knight's cracked armor, the blood leaking, and the desperation in his golden eyes.

Zenuken appeared in Reinhard's grip before he took a step forward and thrust his sword through the knight's chest, where the heart would be. Then he pulled out of the knight before sweeping out and cleaving through the knight's neck.

Reinhard then moved to the side a bit before releasing Drasil Step.

Time returned to normal, and in the next section. The knight's head spun through the air in slow rotation before landing on the floor with a hollow clang. His body continued forward two more steps from momentum before collapsing.

Reinhard sighed, watching the knight's body hit the ground. As he turned to the others who had slowed down, a light shone from behind, erupting from the corpse. The illumination condensed into a sphere that rushed toward Reinhard.

Before he could react, the light struck his chest and was absorbed into his body.

Reinhard trembled violently before his knees buckled, nearly sending him to the floor. The knight's emotions rushed through him like a flood.

He felt the belief of duty so absolute it transcended death, determination that refused to acknowledge impossibility, love for something lost that still demanded protection.

Then the memories came.

Images crashed into his consciousness with overwhelming force, each one sharp and vivid despite being centuries old. He saw himself as the Golden Knight walking through a golden street, one that he quickly grasped as Meli City in its prime.

Buildings gleamed in sunlight while blurry figures lined the streets, cheering and waving. Children threw flowers, adults bowed with respect, and other knights up ahead walked with pride.

The scene shifted before he found himself standing before the Memories Pillar, but without centuries of names. It was nearly empty then, only a few hundred inscriptions marking the early dead.

The knight's hand traced over them, reading each name with reverence, with Reinhard grasping his friends, family, and comrades' names.

Another shift that shows massive roots rising from the horizon like massive serpents. They advance on the city while stretching above the walls with a forest of them moving behind.

Alarm bells rang throughout Melo as people screamed.

But he stood on the walls with others in similar armor, all of them raising weapons against the impossible.

The image flickered.

Reinhard found himself swinging his sword at Night Terrors, cutting through their shadowy form with fragments scattering.

But then a new one quickly took its place, and then more, so many more rushed over. They swarmed like locusts, overwhelming defenses, and began consuming the knights in front of him.

But he still fought, swinging his golden sword of light.

Then Reinhard felt his own memories flash, it felt intrusive and foreign within this stream of ancient experience.

He saw himself and his friends venturing toward Eastern Hesod, moving through the forest, and the Chimera's appearance.

And then other scenes flashed by, blurry and indistinct because they weren't the knight's memories but Reinhard's own.

The Veryn and Casseo are talking about the Saint wanting to end the Dark Silence. Reinhard and his friends agreed to help. Learning the Star Jewel was needed to push away the roots. Discovering the Star Jewel was in Melo City.

The knight was seeing Reinhard's memories through their connection. Understanding why these intruders had come and their purpose.

As the memories faded, Reinhard felt himself fading too.

The knight's presence was too strong, too old, and too heavy, his own couldn't compete with it. It threatened to overwhelm and consume Reinhard's consciousness entirely into its own.

Blue light shined, this felt like Brunhilde's magic sweeping over him with a golden light in the middle of the blue light. Energy rushed through Reinhard's body, pushing back against the encroaching presence.

His own identity reasserted itself, creating boundaries.

A voice echoed through his mind, the one carrying relief. I see... Now... That's why you are... Here. It's to help end the... Dark Silence... Then go. Take it and do what we couldn't.

The pressure reduced instantly. The knight was withdrawing, no longer fighting for dominance, and instead, he offered everything freely.

Reinhard felt more emotions flood through him. The pride in duty fulfilled, joy that his sacrifice had meaning, sorrow for everything lost, and finally relief that his watch could end.

New images began to be displayed in blurry flashes.

In the final days of the City of Melo, researchers were working frantically in underground chambers. The Golden Knight is being told to guard this place at all costs, the last hope of a dying civilization.

Flashes of the knight fighting beasts and roots. His armor is getting damaged, repaired, damaged again.

With his own blood staining the golden metal on his armor.

Flashes of the knight seemingly dying as a root pierces through his chest. But his body continued moving anyway, animated by will alone.

More flashes of the roots wrapping over his body, trying to control him. But his body resisted their commands, fought against their influence. He slew any beast, root, or root-being that came down the stairs.

Nothing passed by the knight who stood in the golden corridor.

Reinhard watched as beings who defeated the knight were forcibly taken over. The knight's golden soul rushed out, consuming the victor's mind before using the new body as a guard.

Golden armor formed from nothing, marking the new host before the cycle continued.

With the knight guarding, dying, transferring, and guarding again.

The knight muttered the years as time passed. Counting centuries like days as his voice grew hollow, distant, but purpose never wavered.

"One hundred years..."

"One hundred fifty..."

"Two hundred years..."

Reinhard realized in shock and disbelief that the Golden Knight had lasted for two hundred years purely on his will alone. Protecting through body-hopping, soul-transferring, and burning his very essence to maintain existence.

Simply because he loved Melo City.

Because he believed that by protecting this place, future generations would one day come to help defeat the foe they couldn't.

He had waited two centuries for help to arrive.

And now, finally, it had.

A final image flashed into Reinhard's mind, clearer than all the others, sharper because it held the most importance.

A golden hall.

A vast chamber crowned with circular layers of gold and glass, its architecture reaching toward the heavens. The center was dominated by a grand altar, a raised platform carved with intricate patterns.

Figures covered in golden robes knelt around it, their faces obscured but postures showing reverence.

Above the altar floated a shining golden orb, the sphere containing captured dawn, with tiny stars swirling inside. Sharp elegant pieces of metal shaped like crescent blades and spires encased it, some pointing outward protectively, others curving inward in embrace.

The orb gave off golden light that illuminated the entire chamber.

Reinhard instantly knew that was the Star Jewel, it had been summoned in the past and was being held here.

Instantly, all images faded before darkness rushed in.

Reinhard felt himself fully devouring the Golden Knight's remaining soul, but there was so little left. Only ten souls remained of what had once been a Peak Second Class Beast Master.

He recalled when Brunhilde had said the Golden Knight aura was Peak Second Class. That meant he should have had around ten thousand souls, but only ten remained.

The knight had burned over nine thousand nine hundred ninety souls. Burned his lifeforce, his very existence, to continue protecting this place for two hundred years.

That final attempt against Brunhilde had consumed the last of his reserves. He'd given everything, literally everything, to continue his mission and duty.

When Reinhard opened his eyes, everyone stood over him with concerned expressions. Marie knelt closest, her light-gold eyes wide with worry. "Are you okay?"

Brunhilde's fingers traced golden words in the air, diagnostic symbols checking his condition, healing any damage.

The words glowed softly, pulsing as they worked.

Reinhard blinked, processing the return, and then he smiled. "I'm fine. The Golden Knight didn't have much of his soul left. He burned it to continue guarding and for that final attempt against Brunhilde." He paused, letting the implications sink in. "Which also helped me see his experiences and memories. I know where the Star Jewel is. That's what the knight has been guarding all this time."

Everyone's eyes widened in shock before grins spread across their faces. Marie's bright and excited, Joseph's relieved, Amiya's triumphant, Janus's hopeful, Veryn in relief, and Casseo nodding.

Casseo sighed in satisfaction. "Then we should continue going."

Amiya nodded with a grin spreading wider. "We're so close!"

Reinhard stood, helped up by Marie and Joseph, his legs felt steady despite the overwhelming experience.

The knight's final gift settled into Reinhard's consciousness as he could recall the knight's relief and joy.

They had come seeking a way to end the Dark Silence, and now they'd found it. Guarded by a knight who'd waited two centuries for this moment.

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