The knight's sword cleaved through the abomination at last, scattering it into shards of bone that clattered across the stone floor. Dust and marrow filled the air, the echo of its destruction still reverberating like a drumbeat of doom.
Aria collapsed forward on her hands, gasping, sweat and blood mingling at her lips. Her chest heaved as she spat out, "Damn it… damn it!"
Laxin's face was pale, but his voice—tired, cracked—still found its way to humor. "Well… that went about as well as trying to hug a bear trap."
The Undead Knight turned, its crimson gaze locking on them. Step by step, it advanced—each stomp like thunder rolling down a mountainside.
Aria forced herself upright, shaking. "We're… not done." She clenched her teeth, summoning a pair of skeletal mages from the shattered remains. They rose crooked, one missing a jaw, the other missing an arm—but their eye sockets burned with her will.
