Chapter 2506: Story 2507: The Silent Horsemen

The four armored riders continued their slow advance along the rusted railway tracks.

Their horses never neighed.

Their armor never rattled.

Only the steady rhythm of iron-shod hooves echoed across Raven’s Crossing.

Victoria Kane stood in front of her companions, one hand resting on her revolver while the black steel badge at her belt glowed brighter with every passing second.

"They’re too calm," she whispered.

Cole Mercer raised his rifle and peered through the scope.

"They’re not even trying to hide."

Father Gabriel Ward lowered his eyes.

"They don’t need to."

"They believe they’ve already won."

The riders stopped less than fifty yards away.

The leader slowly lifted his head.

Behind the cracked visor of his ancient helmet burned two crimson lights.

Not eyes.

Something far older.

Dr. Evelyn Brooks took a nervous step backward.

"I’ve seen that armor before."

Everyone turned toward her.

"It was drawn in the oldest journal I recovered from Silver Creek."

She hurriedly opened one of her notebooks.

Inside was a faded sketch of warriors wearing identical black armor, each carrying a spear marked with the crowned symbol.

Across the bottom of the page, someone had written:

The Hollow Guard never dies. They simply wait.

Lucas Reed swallowed hard.

"Who wrote that?"

Evelyn carefully turned another page.

"The journal belonged to Professor Henry Lawson."

"He disappeared while searching for Blackstone Ridge nearly twenty years ago."

Cole frowned.

"I remember hearing about him."

"They never found his body."

Father Gabriel looked toward the silent horsemen.

"Perhaps they were never meant to."

Without warning, the leader of the Hollow Guard lowered his banner.

The remaining three riders instantly spread apart, surrounding the station from different directions.

Victoria shouted,

"Take cover!"

A heartbeat later, all four knights charged.

Their horses exploded forward with terrifying speed.

Cole fired first.

His bullet struck the lead rider squarely in the chest.

The armored knight barely moved.

The bullet flattened against the ancient breastplate and dropped harmlessly onto the tracks.

"They’re armored too heavily!" Cole yelled.

Victoria drew both revolvers.

She aimed for the horse instead.

Two shots rang out.

The creature stumbled—but instead of bleeding, black dust poured from the wounds.

The horse continued charging as though nothing had happened.

Lucas climbed onto an abandoned freight wagon and fired arrows from his compact hunting bow.

One arrow slipped through the visor of a charging knight.

For a brief moment, the crimson light inside the helmet vanished.

The rider collapsed from the saddle and shattered upon the ground.

Not into flesh.

Into dry bones.

The remaining knights immediately stopped.

Every one of them turned toward Lucas.

Their burning crimson eyes locked onto the young scout.

"They’ve chosen a target!" Father Gabriel warned.

Three riders charged directly toward him.

Victoria kicked Midnight into a gallop.

The black stallion raced across the platform and intercepted the first knight.

Steel crashed against steel as Midnight slammed into the undead horse.

Victoria leaned from the saddle and ripped the fallen knight’s banner from its pole.

The moment the crowned banner touched the black steel badge at her belt, both relics erupted with blinding golden light.

A powerful shockwave burst outward.

The remaining Hollow Guard were hurled backward across the railway yard.

Their horses dissolved into swirling clouds of black ash before vanishing completely.

The surviving knights struggled to stand.

Then, without another attack, they slowly retreated into the desert.

Cole stared at Victoria in disbelief.

"You drove them away."

Victoria looked down at the glowing badge.

"I didn’t."

"The badge did."

Father Gabriel approached cautiously.

His face had become pale.

"The First Marshal’s relic has accepted you."

Silence settled over Raven’s Crossing once again.

Far beyond the western mountains, hidden within the towering walls of Blackstone Ridge, a pair of ancient crimson eyes slowly opened.

A deep voice echoed through the darkness.

"So... the Marshal has found another champion."

The voice laughed.

"Bring her to me."

Across the fortress, thousands of armored undead warriors awakened as massive gates of black stone began to open for the first time in a century.