Chương 48: Duty of a Knight

Glaring at the Forsaken Knight, I felt my body tremble; the bastard was still standing and seemed even fiercer than ever.

'Damnation.' The knight spared me a glance before turning his focus to Saint.

Shifting my attention, I saw Saint emerging from under Krabs, gripping her greatsword firmly. Her eyes were no longer indifferent; they burned with fierce determination—a determination to kill the knight.

"A little help would be fantastic! I'm just a bit outmatched by the walking fortress over here!" I heard Regis yell. Looking over, I saw Regis ready to pounce at a moment's notice.

Glaring at the shadowy wolf, the Forsaken Knight's shadowy hand became more refined as a longsword of darkness manifested.

Tightening the grip on his other sword, the knight swung the one made of darkness at Regis, who barely dodged. Showing his teeth, Regis's claws were infused with the strange, eradicating amethyst flames.

With a bark, he leapt toward the knight. Holding his longsword with one hand and trying his best to seemingly protect it, the knight swiped, but Regis turned into a shadowy mist, causing the blade to glide right through him.

Then, Regis became corporeal again and pounced on the knight's back. With a low growl, he bit into the knight's shoulder, and amethyst flames erupted forth.

Sinking his fangs deeper, Regis held his grip while the knight tried to grab him, but Regis shifted his size, making it impossible for the knight to catch him.

[Don't use the flames; you'll completely erase it, we need the armor.] Pleiades sent over, and Regis begrudgingly complied. The flames disappeared as Regis pushed off the knight's body and leapt away.

Stumbling forward, the knight turned to face Regis, but Saint was already closing in on him.

Krabs scurried toward the knight from the other side, with me riding on his back. I saw the Forsaken Knight look around as the darkness within him pulsed once more.

(Curse it! Pleiades, can you do something?)

[Probably, but damn this spammer.]

Saint was the first to approach him from the left, slashing at him. The knight placed his sword of darkness in his arm of darkness and, with a single defensive maneuver, guided the massive greatsword away, then aimed to pierce her with the nearly broken sword at the gut.

Clicking my tongue, I hoped she could withstand it, but suddenly a black tentacle rose from the ground and wrapped around the knight's hand, stopping the hand from piercing saint midway.

(Good save) I sent over, then jumped from Krabs' back.

Th Knights armor began to fix itself and a new and intact arm began to form around the one made of darkness.

Saint let go of the greatsword and stood facing the knight bare-handed. I positioned myself to the knight's left and hacked away at his now regenerating arm.

Gloomy and Lazy glided across the ground to augment Saint, thickening her stone surface as she clenched her fists in preparation. The knight raised his hand to slash down at Saint, but I quickly slipped between them.

Grabbing a small bottle of blood, I took hold of the greatsword and commanded the two shadows to now augment me instead of Saint.

[I'll strengthen your strike; you have one chance.]

Silently understanding, I felt my body grow stronger as I angled the hulking blade to the right and broke the bottle of blood. The blood glowed, channeling Pleiades' attribute to use enchantments through his blood.

I felt something ethereal rise from my core, and with a single upward slash, I severed the knight's intact arm at the wrist, it glided through the air and the sword that it held fell to the ground.

Without losing momentum, I turned slightly and drove the blade into the knight's shoulder, burying it deep into his armor.

The knight shot me a murderous glare and turned to the direction of the sword, but suddenly my view shifted. I found myself a little behind Saint. Pleiades had likely used his sorcery to switch my position, but I had no time to ponder that.

Letting the shadows slip from me, I directed them back to Saint.

Circling around for a better view, I commanded Krabs, who clamped his pincers onto the knight's other arm, pinning him in place.

Casting a sidelong glance at the scavenger, the knight was helpless as Saint pummeled him relentlessly. Her continuous flurry of punches added more dents to the knight's armor as it attempted to fix itself.

With a powerful right hook, she struck the knight on the side of his head, snapping off the horn adorning his helmet.

Moving at blurring speed, she grabbed the horn with her left hand and drove it into the open visor of the helmet, extinguishing one of his gleaming red eyes.

Letting go of the horn, she seized the knight's shoulders and elbowed the horn even deeper, creating a gaping hole in his visor.

Still holding his shoulders, she brought both arms down on the top of his helmet, forming a visible dent in the battered armor.

Jumping back, Saint grabbed the greatsword and dislodged it from the knight. She swiftly raised it, aiming to cleave him in half, but her blade was stopped as a pair of shadowy hands grasped the weapon mid-swing.

Noticing this, Saint looked downward. I flinched as I saw Krabs blasted away by a surge of darkness emerging from the gaping wound on the knight's shoulder.

Krabs crashed onto the ground, only for dark tendrils to form into weapons and pierce his belly, causing the shadow to screech in pain.

Grimacing, I dismissed Krabs, watching him dissolve into white sparks. The dark weapons, hovering where Krabs had been, turned their attention towards me, while the knight focused on retrieving his dropped weapon.

"Eyes up, buddy! You've got projectiles with your name on them!" Regis shouted, sprinting toward Saint.

In my hand, the Kord reappeared, manifesting from a web of sparks—Pleiades had to re-summon it after the wave of darkness had torn it from me.

Just in case, I summoned the azure blade and braced myself to parry.

"What's the plan?" I yelled to Regis, who was leaping between the dark, flying blades aimed at him.

"No idea! Just trying not to die!"

[Wait! Are you going to let Saint borrow your abilities?]

Regis dodged a flurry of swords and finally reached Saint. With a grin, he leapt into the air, made contact, and disappeared into her body.

>>Uhh, comfy in here. Hey Sunny, I'm inside your girl. Jealous?<<

Grinding my teeth, I parried and dodged the oncoming blades and arrows of darkness. "Ha-ha, hilarious. Not the time for jokes!" Ducking, I barely avoided a shortsword aimed for my head.

Then, the projectiles stopped in midair and turned towards Saint. The greatsword she held vanished into sparks, and her body grew even more shadowy as her eyes ignited in violet flames.

With a stomp, she left a small crater in the ground, her armor glowing with purple fire as complex runes appeared along its surface.

Two horns branched from her helmet, and a veil of shadows wrapped around her like a cloak.

The dark weapons rushed towards her without pause, eager to strike.

Saint raised her head, moving at such speed that she left an afterimage as she closed in on the knight who was only a a few steps away from retrieving his sword.

He glanced at her, but before he could react, a sword of purple energy manifested in her hand. The dark projectiles flew toward her, but arrows of purple flame sprang up around her, intercepting and consuming the darkness with a ravenous hunger.

The knight's remaining eye gleamed with urgency.

Saint pointed her ethereal blade, thrusting it up through the base of the knight's helmet. The blade erupted from the top of his helm, and the flames in his eyes paled and turned to the sword with a strange sense of desperation.

Running towards the blade i commanded my shadows to come to the kord, they glided from saint to the kord, the beautiful blad shone darkly and with one swing i drew and arc and shattered the sword.

His eyes quievered until they were completely extinguished, the darkness around him dissolved, and the amethyst flames dissipated into the air as his body went limp.

The rusty armor came apart, exposing the mass of darkness hiding within. The darkness stretched its limbs and rose above saint, the parts of the armor that floated in it giving the creature a vaguely humanoid shape.

A ghostly colossus made of darkness and rusting steel towered above the taciturn monster like an omen of death, two crimson fires burning furiously in the black depths. Another flame appeared just beneath them, like a twisted mouth made from the flames of hell.

And then, a terrifying roar shook the ancient ground.

Saint withdrew the sword, ready to engage once more.

With a harrowing fury, the creature of darkness crashed down on the Shadow. Its hands tore through the air and wrapped around the taciturn monster's neck, then raised the living statue in the air as if her stone body weighed nothing.

The devil brought the Saint high above the floor of the courtyard and squeezed her neck, as if trying to strangle the her. A net of cracks streaked through the Shadow's armor, bits of stone falling down.

But Saint remained steadfast, the flames around her flickered and spread across the darkness, another roar followed as the flames ravenously ate away at the darkness, until one last roar filled with sorrow and pain followed, only to be drowned out by the sound of burning.

A familiar, bewitching voice echoed in my ears:

[You have slain a Fallen Devil, Forsaken Knight.]

[Your Shadow grows stronger.]

Pumping my fist, I waited, hoping for a memory to claim, but to my disappointment, none appeared.

[That's how we do it! Let's go!]

Exhaling deeply, I nodded. (Ah, that went horribly—and also well, somehow.)

[Come on, as if Fated would've let you get an easy win] Pleiades chuckled.

I laughed, watching as Saint fell to the ground and wiped her armor from the viscous darkness. The shadows and flames surrounding her faded, and Regis emerged, shivering as he spat on the ground.

"Lending my abilities like that is draining" he said, his voice hoarse.

Thinking aloud, I replied, "You weren't in there for long, though—only a minute." Inspecting further, I saw his second core completely drained, with the first one barely half full.

Regis smirked mischievously. "Not my fault your lady almost sucked me dry."

[Hmm. Could've worded that better,] Pleiades chimed in, [but—oh, look! She's about to suck another one dry!]

Frowning, I shot back, (Enough with the phrasing!)

I turned toward Saint, surprised to see her tearing open the knight's rusted chestplate. Digging deeper, she pulled out a shining red ruby and, with a glance at me, pressed it into her own chest.

Her body shimmered before disintegrating into white sparks.

I blinked in confusion and looked at Regis, who sat down and shook his head. "No need to worry—she's evolving."

Nodding, I felt Pleiades reaching out to me.

[Now that everything's settled, mind if I take over? I've been meaning to try something.]

Slightly confused but intrigued, I shrugged and allowed him control. Feeling my body grow weightless, I watched as Pleiades clenched our fists and extended a hand.

Sparks coalesced in the air, forming a massive alabaster coffin. Smiling, Pleiades approached it and slid the lid open.

"Alright then. Let's get ourselves another knightly helper, shall we?"

Next Chapter: Cutting Corners