Standing in front of the cathedral were eight people -and an Echo- and each of them had their role. Effie with her shield was going to tank the first impact. Kai with his bow was going to try to harass and land arrows wherever he could, honestly he was not going to have much participation in the plan. Then Cassie was only going to participate if things went very wrong and there was no other option.
Sylvie was going to create mana shields and bother the Black Knight in whatever way possible. Her shields were going to be very weak anyway but that was better than nothing. Then Caster and Arthur were going to be in charge of distracting him and creating openings with their speed. Nephis was going to lend a hand whenever she could but her first objective was to drive away the True Darkness from the cathedral and deprive him of his powers.
And lastly, Sunny and his Echo, Stone Saint as he called her, were going to focus only on breaking his sword.
Eight Sleepers against a Fallen Devil.
Before starting the fight, however, Arthur looked at his runes, which had not changed much since he arrived at the Dark City, only his cores and a couple of memories.
Name: Arthur Leywin
True Name: Paragon of Purity
Rank: Dreamer
Class: Devil
Aether Core: [4/7]
Aether fragments: [226/4000]
Memories: [Infinite Lash], [Dawn's Ballad], [Umbral Husk], [Last Oath], [Silent Whisper], [Drowned Oath], [Veiled Edge], [Hidden Spring], [Tempest Shafts], [Bound Vault]
***
Name: [Drowned Oath]
Memory Rank: Ascended
Memory Type: Weapon
Description: [A king swore to protect his kingdom even when the sea began to claim it. He fired his last arrow as the waves covered the walls, promising that his will would not drown with him. This bow was born from that oath. Each shot silently builds pressure, like the depths that crush without haste until something gives.]
***
Name: [Veiled Edge]
Memory Rank: Awakened
Memory Type: Weapon
Description: [There was once a weapon that never had an identity of its own. It was wielded by too many hands, forced to become whatever its bearers needed to survive. Over time, it forgot its original form.]
***
Name: [Hidden Spring]
Memory Rank: Dormant
Memory Type: Utility
Description: [In a nameless desert, a traveler found a spring that no one else could ever find again. He drank, survived, and never spoke of it. This vial holds a fragment of that impossible source. It is not abundant. It is not grand. But it never denies water to one who still breathes.]
***
Name: [Tempest Shafts]
Memory Rank: Ascended
Memory Type: Weapon
Description: [The arrows of a hunter who learned that the wind is not an enemy but an ally.]
***
Name: [Bound Vault]
Memory Rank: Ascended
Memory Type: Tool
Description: [A collector lost everything in a single night, relics, weapons, memories. Not to theft, but to the simple wear of time. Unable to accept that even the valuable had to fade, he sealed a fragment of space where nothing could be claimed by the world. What is stored within does not belong anywhere until it is called back.]
***
Echoes:
Attributes: [Djinn], [Former King], [Being of Aether and Flesh], [Life], [Realmheart], [Static Void]
Companion: Sylvie
Returning to reality, inside the cathedral darkness drowned the hall, clinging to the walls and its tall columns. The occasional rays of light that managed to enter through the windows only made it seem darker, more sinister.
Six humans entered, Kai and Cassie stayed at the door, into that oppressive darkness that even managed to dim the lights generated by their memories.
At that moment silence reigned until suddenly a shout broke it.
"Now!"
At that moment Nephis raised her sword and from it burst a radiant white light that pushed the darkness toward the corners. And in front of the group of humans, a giant clad in black metal armor was revealed, his sword already raised to take the lives of the fools who dared enter his cathedral.
Effie ran forward and raised her shield to block the attack, and she did, but from the impact a cry of pain was heard as she was thrown several meters back.
The Black Knight looked surprised to notice the absence of his dark element but that surprise only lasted a moment.
Without paying attention to Effie whom he had sent flying, he focused on the cause of his darkness being pushed away and with an efficient movement his sword was already heading toward Nephis.
Before it reached its destination, a rock the size of a human flew toward the armored giant at full speed. The Black Knight could only twist his body to receive it on his shoulder.
The rock shattered into millions of pieces. The Devil remained without a mark, but his attention was already elsewhere.
At that moment Stone Saint entered his field of vision, struck her shield twice and propelled herself forward at full speed.
Simultaneously two figures passed by her side as blurs due to their speed. They were Caster and Arthur. The first thanks to his Aspect that granted him impressive speed and the latter thanks to the four augmentations on his body.
Meanwhile Sylvie at the very back created three shields in front of each of them.
Faced with such an assault the Black Knight would have to sacrifice something. He could not defend three different fronts. Or so they thought.
At a speed even greater than the other three, the giant moved and attacked the one he identified as weaker. Caster was in his sights.
Fortunately he had already thought of this and at the last moment Caster moved as far as possible from the range of the sword. The Black Knight also canceled at the last moment and refocused on the other two.
By then they had already reached him. Arthur changed his augmentations at the last moment to Dawn's Ballad.
The sword took on a purple tone instead of the original blue due to the four augmentations and besides the empowerment it received thanks to Dawn Shard, Dawn's Ballad was like a Transcendent rank sword.
Arthur attacked at knee height while Stone Saint struck the pommel of the sword with her shield and sent it upward. Then closing the distance she rammed her shoulder into the Black Knight's abdomen and Arthur's sword pierced the armor as if it were nothing.
His eyes opened wide knowing what was coming. In a single movement the giant completely ignored the sword stuck in his knee and with the same leg kicked Arthur who thanks to Sylvie's shield was not seriously hurt. Even so he was sent flying toward the nearest wall and upon impact let out a cry of pain.
At the same time falling onto his back he released his sword which fell to the ground throwing Nephis and Sunny off balance. With the free hand from releasing the sword he backhanded Stone Saint. The impact was so great that it sent her flying several meters and part of her armor cracked.
The Black Knight regained his balance and his sword moments later and turned toward Nephis, focusing on her as the number one enemy of his darkness.
That made her the perfect bait.
The black sword descended again, missing her head by centimeters. She regained her balance and moved backward dodging another attack. She was fast but not faster than the Fallen Devil.
He followed her and unleashed a flurry of attacks in such little time that for the rest of the cohort it was very difficult to follow. Only Stone Saint and Arthur could, who had already recovered thanks to the density of Aether generated by Nephis's bright light.
He thought he would be able to follow the Black Knight's movements even when hidden in his True Darkness, but no. He realized it as soon as he entered the cathedral. He could not perceive anything with his Aether sense and his augmentations were weaker because there was not as much density in the environment.
That was because True Darkness is an element in itself, so its existence pushes Aether outward. The same must be happening to Sylvie with her Mana and to Sunny with his affinity to shadows.
Getting back to his feet he noticed again how Nephis was dodging attacks by the hair's breadth. Kai stood at the door aiming with his bow waiting for the ideal moment to shoot but he suspected he would not be able to do much. Cassie was at the door with a terrified expression. Effie had recovered from the initial blow and was charging toward the center but was still meters away.
Only Sunny and Caster could help Neph at that moment and they did.
Sunny ran and pushed her out of the range of an attack she would not have been able to dodge and Caster with his speed distracted the Fallen Devil enough so he would not pursue her.
Caster carried his green jian and struck the right calf. The sword left no mark but the force made him adjust his balance slightly. Stone Saint took advantage of this and rammed again with her shield toward the pommel of the sword, but before the impact arrived the Black Knight switched hands and with the free hand struck the shield.
The blow came from above and changing stance at the last moment Stone Saint endured it, but the shield already began to show large cracks and the floor beneath her feet did not withstand the impact, forming two holes where her legs were.
Before the giant could strike again and either bury her alive or completely break the ground, Effie arrived and with her shield struck his fist at the last moment, deflecting the attack by centimeters.
Taking advantage of the opening, Nephis and Sunny who had already recovered attacked again, but this time they went directly for the sword.
The Black Knight was left in an awkward position after missing that last strike and that gave Kai the perfect opportunity to fire his first arrow and he did. The black arrow entered through the helmet visor and his head tilted slightly back.
Nevertheless it was Kai who let out a cry of pain next. There was no flesh behind the visor and therefore no blood and the blood arrow had nothing to drink, so Kai suffered the backflash of his own Fallen rank memory. It did not take him out of the fight but he was very close to being out.
The Black Knight recovered again as if nothing had happened. He had slight marks on his armor but nothing serious. On the other side the cohort was not in very good shape. Nephis had been constantly escaping attacks. Sunny could not get close due to the Fallen Devil's speed and something similar happened to Caster.
Stone Saint had part of her armor and shield cracked. Effie had taken a direct hit and Arthur had been kicked in the chest at the beginning and slammed against a wall. Sylvie had not received any damage but had constantly been creating shields and helping attacks go faster by pushing them with Mana.
At that moment Arthur came up with an idea and tried to approach Sunny.
The Black Knight had returned to his frenzy of attacks and was currently holding off Stone Saint, Effie and Caster simultaneously while trying to pursue Nephis who kept dodging him.
Reaching Sunny he grabbed him by the shoulders and said,
"I will keep him still for two seconds do not waste it"
Then he ran toward the Black Knight
Sunny stood there not understanding anything for a moment but when he focused his sight again Arthur had literally disappeared.
The only way to know where he was came from the shout moments later
"Get away!"
Focusing on the Black Knight, Sunny saw Effie and Caster immediately retreat upon hearing the shout while Nephis braced herself against a surface and moved out of the range of the last attack. Stone Saint looked coldly at Arthur and stepped aside just enough for him to run past and white sparks began forming in his left hand.
What formed in his hand was his oldest memory of all [Infinite Lash].
Using Nephis as bait he sent the lash to the left leg of the Fallen Devil so it would wrap around it and commanded it to lengthen. Dodging an attack from above he slid and used the wall to his right to propel himself again, sending the four augmentations to Infinite Lash which thanks to that and Dawn Shard had power like an Ascended rank memory.
This caused both of the Black Knight's legs to be bound, then he commanded the lash to shorten so it would wrap the right leg as well. Obviously the giant did not stay idle.
Understanding what Arthur wanted he tried to lower his sword to cut the lash but at the last moment Stone Saint deflected it by striking the blade with her shield and out of the lash's range.
Arthur took advantage of this to propel himself again toward the left leg and summoned [Veiled Edge]. This memory was of the Weapon type but had no defined form. It could change into whatever he wanted, whether a sword, an axe or in this case a spear.
With the momentum he reached the back of the knee and inserted the spear where the two armor plates met. This removed mobility from the Dark Knight and moments later he did the same to the right knee but this time he stabbed [Dawn's Ballad].
With everything ready he grabbed [Infinite Lash] with both hands and pulled with all his strength. Obviously it was not enough but Caster and Nephis immediately approached him understanding his intention and the three of them managed to bring the Fallen Devil's legs together.
Next Effie rammed both legs with her shield and the giant lost his balance.
To avoid falling he stabbed his sword into the floor for support and at that moment Arthur finished his plan.
He activated [Static Void] and put all his intent behind it.
The two seconds began to run and Sunny did not waste them.
He sent his shadow to enhance Saint and she delivered a heavy blow to the weak point of the sword.
And the sword shattered into pieces…
Arthur deactivated [Static Void] at that moment falling to one knee from the ridiculous fragment expenditure. Luckily Nephis grabbed him by the waist with Caster's help and the three moved as far away as possible. Effie and Sunny did the same.
Everyone knew that an enemy at death's door is far more dangerous so they put distance between themselves except for Stone Saint.
The fragments of the black sword fell to the ground and at the same time a tremor ran through the Fallen Devil's body. The darkness hiding in the corners of the cathedral began to move and advanced toward the center of the hall.
However it did not manage to reach him. The light coming from Changing Star's armor disintegrated it before it could touch him.
The Black Knight stood motionless with hands hanging and back hunched. The black steel of his armor began to rust before their eyes. The shine disappeared and the metal turned dull as if time had suddenly caught up with it.
He slowly raised his head and turned it slightly as if looking at the cathedral statue.
The crimson light of his eyes began to weaken.
To fade.
And then it exploded into red flames.
The rusted armor opened revealing the mass of darkness inside. That darkness rose above Stone Saint who had remained kneeling while the steel remains floated within it forming a silhouette resembling a human.
His true form.
A colossus made of darkness and rusted steel rose above Stone Saint. Two red fires burned where his face would be. A third flame appeared below like a mouth made of fire.
A roar shook the cathedral.
The creature descended upon her. Its hands closed around Stone Saint's neck and lifted her as if she weighed nothing, holding her in the air and squeezing. Cracks began spreading across her armor and fragments of stone fell to the floor.
But Stone Saint's expression did not change.
However something appeared in her eyes, a different emotion.
Disdain
She released the shield, raised both hands and grabbed the Devil's arm guards. She broke them with force.
The monster roared again as she fell to the ground. She landed steadily and dodged the claws descending to destroy her. She stepped forward and ended up directly beneath the Black Knight's leaning torso.
She lunged forward and struck his chest.
Her hand pierced the rusted armor and sank into the mass of darkness where a heart would have been.
Or a Soul Core.
A second later the red flames exploded into intense light.
And disappeared.
The darkness dissipated and the armor remains fell to the ground.
The Black Knight had died.
At that moment Nephis, Caster and Arthur who were together let themselves fall to the floor and began breathing rapidly. Moments later Effie approached and did the same. Finally Sylvie approached and seeing none of them had serious wounds she remained standing behind them while Kai and Cassie came closer to the group.
Only Sunny remained standing smiling from ear to ear looking at Stone Saint.
At that moment she did something completely strange.
She brought the gem in her hand closer and after looking at it for a few moments as if analyzing it, she swallowed it.
Everyone absolutely everyone stood with their mouths open not understanding anything.
One moment Stone Saint had been analyzing the gem that Arthur assumed was the Soul Core of the Black Knight, then she swallowed it and immediately disappeared without a trace.
Several sounds of disbelief could be heard from everyone.
Sunny turned to look at them with a strange expression. While smiling with happiness his brows were lowered showing a lot of confusion.
Everyone remained silent until with a smile Sylvie spoke.
"Wow, that was very cool!!!"
They all turned robotically to look at her.
Under the pressure of so many gazes she swallowed and asked
"What?"
Arthur let out a sigh and simply smiled. "You are right, that was pretty cool." Then he added "Your Echo is quite peculiar Sunny."