Way of the Knights

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"I like you kid." One of the Cleansers approached him and pulled down his mask, revealing a rather handsome face ruined by a large diagonal scar. "My name is Garen, a Sophomore. Welcome to the club…"

"I'm Sam, Senior Outer Disciple. Nice to meet you kid."

"I'm Magna, Sophomore." 

"Lewis, Sophomore. Welcome to the club."

"Natalie, Sophomore as well."

"Vicky, Senior Outer Disciple. Nice to meet you." She then pointed at the man who boasted in front of Monica and said: "That's Peter and you've already met Monica as well as heard about Senior Brother Theo. That's basically all of us, of course not counting the others from the other chapels too."

Everyone introduced themselves to him. Raven nodded and replied: "Nice to meet you all, I'm Raven."

"Hey Kid, let me tell you right now. Monica is taken, alright? Don't get any weird ideas." Peter interjected all of a sudden, causing Raven to raise a brow in confusion. 

Sam walked beside him and knocked Peter in the head, he then told Raven: "Don't pay attention to him. He's just a hopeless cause."

"He's wooing Senior Sister?" Raven asked. 

"Pfft…" Vicky snickered and said: "Yeah, right. Instead of wooing, he's more like, embarrassing himself in front of her."

"Shut it, Vic. He doesn't have to know that." Peter huffed and faced Raven, asking: "Why kid? Got any problems with that?"

"Not really." Raven smiled, "You don't need to feel threatened. I'm married. Plus, Senior Sister told me that she's old enough to be my grandmother, I'm not into that so you don't need to be wary of me." 

"Eh? She told you that? How strange." Natalie interjected. "How old are you anyway?"

"Less than 40 years old I think. I don't know, I stopped counting when I turned 20." 

"Same." Majority of the Cleansers hummed causing laughter to fill the room. 

"Oh right, that reminds me." Garen turned to Raven and asked: "I know that Monica already implied it before, but I just want to confirm it. Are you really a Flame Seed Bearer?"

His question caused the atmosphere within the room to turn strange. Raven noticed this but didn't mind, instead he answered them by saying: "Yes. How do you want me to prove it?"

"Summon the flames, we'll know once you do." Lewis said, causing Raven to nod and invoke the flames at his fingertips. 

This trick isn't something that utilizes the 9 Cleansing Plumes, he just summoned a very tiny amount of Cleansing Flames. Upon him summoning a wisp of flames, he saw how all of the Cleansers jolted as if something struck them. 

That was a weird reaction, what confused Raven even further is by how they started looking at each other and not saying anything. 

"Alright, kid. We're convinced." Magna smiled and patted Raven's shoulders. The wisp of flame disappeared from his fingertips and he nodded at him. "You don't know how much of a god-send you are, specially in this current times."

"Hey, Peter. Make sure you teach this kid well. If you don't then your Nut Beatdown will doubled." Vicky smacked Peter's back before walking out of the room. Before she left, she passed by Raven and whispered something: "Learn well from him, he might look and act like a clown but his skills are the real deal."

Vicky smiled at Raven before going out of the room. 

"You heard her, Peter. Take care of the kid." Sam added, he then looked at Raven and said: "Good luck kid, we'll be waiting for you there. We have to go to work." He similarly patted Raven's shoulders before leaving the room along with the others. 

Before long, only Peter and Raven was left in the room. It was quite awkward at first but eventually, Peter let out resign sigh and whispered: "Whatever, let's do this again."

He then faced Raven and said: "Alright kid, let's start all over again." 

Peter smiled and said: "My name's Peter James, a Senior Outer Disciple. You can call me Peter or PJ, depends on you. I'll be in charge for you today so let's work together alright?"

"Sure Senior Brother Peter." Raven nodded. 

"Alright, good." Peter nodded too, "Monica told us that you're sharp. Have you learned a plume already?" 

"Yes."

"Okay, show me." 

Raven then closed his eyes and chanted the words needed to conjure the White Gloves. Peter watched closely with a serious expression. Once he's done, Raven opened his eyes and saw that Peter was already closely inspecting the flames on his hand, 

"Not bad." Peter nodded, "Considering that you've learned this last night, this is not bad at all. However, it's still not enough. You can't use that to erase any residual wills just yet."

Peter then started walking out and said: "Come with me."

Raven remained silent and followed Peter behind. They walked through a series of turns before they eventually arrived at another room. This room was an empty room which has a different composition compared to the rest of the chapel. 

This room has metal floors, walls and ceilings. Raven could see several burn marks here and there as well as other signs of damage. As soon as they entered, Peter gestured to him to sit on the floor whist he did the same. 

"This is our training room, the most sturdiest place within the Chapel." Peter introduced. "Here, even if you make a mistake on your training, you won't harm anyone. The flames won't be able to escape this room, not until they're extinguished at least."

Raven nodded in understand. Similar to Peter, Raven was also wearing a serious expression right now. The little fiasco earlier was fun but work is work. 

"As a seed bearer yourself, you are bound to be vastly different compared to us - normal Cleansers." Peter said, "I take it that you are already aware that we cannot use the Cleansing Flames outside of the Chapels right?"

Raven nodded, "That is where you differ from the rest of us. Since your a seed bearer, you are the source of Cleansing Flames itself. Therefore you can use it anywhere that you like and as you please."

"Simply put, you can directly use your flames against the lurking devils outside. Which will make your life easier but also troublesome." Peter added. 

"What do you mean?"

"The Cleansing Flames is mostly used to erase the residual will of the Devil Emperor, I'm sure you've heard about this before. Additionally, it's also highly effective against devils." Peter stated, all of this are something that Raven actually knows. "But you see, the Devil Emperor isn't dead. It's sealed, yes but it's not dead. This means that it can sense when it's will is being erased."

"Sure, you can use the flames against devils but beware since you'll most likely be mobbed by them." Peter stated, "Like moths hypnotized by the flames, you'll find yourself flocked in no time. Well, if you can handle them, then by all means use it. But if you can't, then it's best to refrain from using it outside."

"My advice is that, unless you can use the flames like an extension of your body, don't use them during your patrols. If a time comes when your flame seed blooms, then forget stopping you, I'll actually advice you to use it against them. However, that'll most likely not going to happen anytime soon." Peter stated, feeling a little bit discontented. 

Raven could more or less know why but he didn't mind, instead he replied: "Thanks for the warning, I'll be extremely careful."

"You better be." Peter replied frankly, "We can't afford to lose you. Who knows when will the next bearer will come? If it's just me, then I wouldn't hesitate to pull you out from all missions that requires you to venture outside. If it's necessary, I'll lock you up here until you reach a point where the seed blooms."

Raven could only smile wryly when he heard that, again he understands where Peter is coming from but that's not really necessary. In the end, he opted to not say anything and just wait until Peter moves on to the next subject of their discussion. 

"Another area where you completely differ from us, is by how you summon the flames itself." Peter stated, catching the attention of Raven. "Sure, for now we start at the same starting point. You are required to chant the syllables provided in the book in order to summon the flames just as we do, but once you become more proficient about it, you can directly omit the chants and just use the flames however you like. That's something that we'll never be able to do, unless we become a seed bearer like you as well."

"Why?"

"Because we don't have a seed, duh?" Peter replied rhetorically, causing Raven to roll his eyes. "Aside from that, if you translate the chants that is recorded in the book, you'll be surprised to know that its creates a plea or a request to a certain entity."

Raven's eyes widened a bit as he said: "You mean, the chants are actually a request for permission to use the flames?"

"Exactly." Peter nodded, "

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