After dealing with Javier and successfully rescuing Meilyn, Knox accompanied her back toward Kizen's campsite. It was the same place where all the students had gathered with Professor Aaron and the other Kizen staff before entering Death Land.
However, as the two made their way through the ruined streets, they gradually noticed that something was wrong.
Death Land was, as its name suggested, a land of death swarming with zombies. Seeing undead wandering through its abandoned streets should have been completely normal, yet the zombies they encountered along the way were moving strangely.
Meilyn, who was still somewhat tense after everything that had happened since her kidnapping, narrowed her eyes as she watched several groups of zombies moving through a nearby intersection.
"Knox... These zombies' movements, don't they look like they're..."
"Marching," Knox finished for her.
"Exactly!" Meilyn exclaimed. "But how could something like that even be possible?!"
"In fact, it's entirely possible." Knox watched another group of zombies pass through the street in an orderly formation. "As long as there's an existence capable of commanding them."
"Commanding the zombies...?" Meilyn blinked before her eyes suddenly widened.
"Ah! You mean that zombie who looks like a kid?"
"Yeah. I think he's the one who's been commanding the zombies, especially the ones that were targeting you and your group." Knox paused for a moment before deliberately adding, "Well, to be precise... he's one of the existences capable of commanding the zombies here."
"Huh?"
Meilyn immediately caught the strange wording.
"Wait, what did you just say? One of them? Then...!"
"Look at where they're going."
Knox pointed toward the direction the zombies were marching. Their groups were coming from different streets, yet all of them seemed to be converging toward the same area.
"If my memory is correct, I saw a large mansion somewhere in that direction earlier." Knox then gestured toward another group of zombies walking past them. "And haven't you noticed? None of the zombies we've encountered have tried to attack us."
"This..."
Meilyn finally realized it as well. Despite the two of them being completely exposed in the middle of the street, the undead simply continued marching as if Knox and Meilyn didn't even exist.
"If that zombie kid were commanding these ones too, they should've attacked us the moment they saw us," Knox continued. "But instead, they're completely ignoring us."
"But why...?"
Knox already knew the answer.
However, there was obviously no way he could explain everything he knew to Meilyn, so he merely gave her a vague answer while looking toward the distant mansion.
"Maybe..." A small smile appeared on his face. "There's about to be a huge war between those who can command the zombies."
"WHAT?!"
Meilyn's shout echoed through the street.
They continued moving for a while longer until Knox noticed that they were already close enough to the safer area surrounding Kizen's campsite. He suddenly stopped walking and glanced at the remaining distance before nodding to himself.
"Alright. This should be close enough."
"Huh?"
"But just in case..."
Darkness gathered beside Knox before an undead horse emerged from his shadow. Its hooves struck the ruined pavement as it raised its skeletal head, waiting obediently for its master's command.
"I'll give you a ride."
Meilyn stared at the undead horse before turning suspiciously toward Knox.
"Huh...? What do you mean by that?"
"Meilyn, ride this horse and head straight back to the campsite." Knox pointed toward the direction they had come from. "I'll scout around the mansion and search for any students who might still be nearby. Besides, Simon is still missing too."
"What did you just say?!"
Meilyn immediately stepped toward him.
"No! Knox, that's dangerous! Absolutely not!"
Knox stared at her for a moment before pointing at himself with a completely confident expression.
"Meilyn, don't you know who I am? I'm strong! Don't worry about me~"
Then his mischievous smile suddenly froze.
"Urgh."
Knox's expression became strangely serious as a horrible realization entered his mind.
"Didn't I just say something that sounds suspiciously like a death flag?"
"Eh?"
"Bah! Ptui! Ptui!"
Knox immediately pretended to spit onto the ground several times, as though desperately trying to expel the bad luck he had just summoned upon himself.
Meilyn stared at him in complete disbelief.
"What the hell are you doing?!"
"Preventive measures."
"What kind of preventive measures are those?!"
Unfortunately for her, Knox had no intention of allowing the argument to continue.
Before Meilyn could protest again, the undead horse suddenly stretched its neck forward. It gently caught the back of her collar between its teeth and lifted her straight off the ground.
"Huh?"
For one brief moment, Meilyn dangled helplessly in the air.
"KYAHH!"
With a quick toss of its head, the undead horse lightly threw her onto its back. Meilyn landed safely in the saddle, but before she could even process what had happened, Knox cheerfully raised one hand.
"Alright, driver! Please be fast!" He then looked directly at Meilyn and added with a grin, "And passenger, don't forget the five-star review~"
The undead horse immediately bolted forward.
"WHOA!"
Caught completely off guard by the sudden acceleration, Meilyn instinctively grabbed the reins and held on for dear life. Within seconds, the horse was already carrying her farther and farther down the ruined street.
"ARGHHH! YOU DAMN KNOX!" she screamed over her shoulder. "JUST YOU WAIT!!"
Her furious voice gradually faded into the distance.
Knox watched her disappear before finally failing to hold back his laughter.
"Pfft! Isn't that supposed to be a villain's exclusive line? Why are you saying it?"
He chuckled as he imagined Meilyn furiously shaking her fist at him.
"With the blue hair, noble bloodline, and tsundere personality, shouldn't you be saying something more like..." Knox cleared his throat and put on an exaggeratedly dignified expression. "'Mark my words, vengeance will be mine!'"
"Hahaha!"
His laughter echoed briefly through the empty street as the undead horse carrying Meilyn disappeared from sight.
Once he was certain that Meilyn had disappeared into the distance and that no one was around to see him, the playful smile on Knox's face slowly faded.
And as the last trace of that smile disappeared, the aura surrounding him gradually began to change as well.
Shadows suddenly rose from beneath his feet and engulfed his entire body. They crawled upward like living darkness, swallowing his Kizen uniform, his white hair, and finally his face until nothing of the first-year student could be seen anymore.
For several seconds, only a human-shaped mass of darkness stood silently in the middle of the ruined street.
Then, as the shadows surrounding him gradually dispersed, Knox's figure slowly emerged from within the darkness, revealing that his appearance had completely changed.
Jet-black armor now covered him from head to toe, fitted closely enough to preserve his tall, lean silhouette rather than making him look like a heavily armored warrior. Layered plates overlapped across his chest, arms, waist, and legs, their sharp contours giving him the appearance of a knight clad entirely in darkness.
Faint violet light seeped through several narrow gaps between the black plates. The glow was especially noticeable around his chest, gauntlets, and joints, pulsing subtly beneath the armor as though something alive was hidden within.
His head was completely enclosed by a jet-black helmet. Its upper edges rose into several sharp, crown-like points, giving it the appearance of both a knight's helmet and a monarch's crown, while his face and even his white hair were completely hidden beneath it.
Only a pair of brilliant violet eyes shone through the darkness of the visor.
A long cloak hung from his left shoulder, leaving the opposite side of his armored body exposed. Its outer surface was as black as the armor itself, while flashes of deep violet could occasionally be seen from within as it shifted behind him.
Yet the cloak became increasingly unnatural toward its lower edge.
Instead of ending like ordinary cloth, the fabric gradually dissolved into wisps of black and violet shadow. They drifted through the air like living smoke before silently merging back into the cloak, causing its shape to constantly shift even though there was no wind.
Standing alone among the ruins of Death Land, right now, there was no Knox Aznable. The cheerful and playful Kizen student everyone knew was nowhere to be seen.
In his place... stood the Monarch.
And with that... the Monarch stepped onto the battlefield.