Kate carefully watched the knight. He motionlessly stared off into the sky where Lucina and Eri had just vanished, now impossible to see thanks to Cali blending in with the starry night. Kate noticed Arthur stalking the knight from behind and she once again drew her silenced pistol.
"That is unfortunate. Well, we all fail sometimes," Kate provoked, her gun trained on his head. "Better luck next time big guy."
She needed to keep him distracted, even if that meant making themselves the target of his wrath, they couldn't risk him going after Lucina and Eri again.
The knight didn't respond, he remained frozen, staring into the night sky. "It seems I took you children too lightly," he finally spoke. "A mistake I won't make again." His gaze was drawn from sky and to Kate. Yellow sigils began to manifest across his armour, like its plating was being inscribed by an invisible pen, and his armour began to vigorously billow black smoke and yellow embers, from between its gaps and joints. "You said I failed. No. All I need to do is kill you two and intercept them before they reach Elysi," he explained calmly.
Suddenly his mana levels soared, rampaging to levels Kate would never have predicted. Now smothered in smoke and flames, the knight had warped into a demonic entity. Dread filled Kate as his magic filled the air with an overwhelming pressure. She gasped, struggling to regulate her breathing under the weight of his mana, it felt as if someone was trying to suffocate her. Just what type of monster were they facing? Why was a being like this, wasting his time, trying to kidnap a child?
The black knight slowly approached, uncaring and unthreatened. Arthur attempted to intercept him, but the knight simply swung his sword and a yellow arc ripped into Arthur's chest. Before he could even process what just happened, the knight was in front of him, shield raised. An eruption of yellow flames and black smoke streamed from its sigils and engulfing Arthur in its grip, throwing him back. The stream of smoke then contorted and curved like a snake pinning Arthur into the ground, before the knight then swiftly plunged his sword through Arthur's chest. Providing no reprieve, the knight's shield crashed down onto Arthur, rupturing the earth like it had just been struck with an earthquake. Dirt and dust rushed into the air, blinding Kate's sight.
As the air cleared, Kate felt her heart plummet. Before her, Arthur lay in a crater, the size of the cabin, he was bloodied and scorched, with a sword piercing his chest.
The knight turned away from Arthur to face Kate, tearing his sword from the boy's body, without even giving him a second glance.
'Shit,' she thought. This wasn't going to end well, for any of them.
"He was harder to kill than I thought," the knight said. "But you, I doubt you'll prove much of a -"
He was interrupted by an array golden bullets, unleashed from Kate's gun. Once again, they proved useless and dispersed against his armour liked they'd never even hit it. Kate cursed and retreated. With annoyed mutters, the knight slowly pursued, ominously marching towards her.
Why didn't he charge towards her with the speed he'd shown earlier? She'd stand no chance. For a man who was so desperate to catch Eri earlier, Kate found it strange for him to be wasting time on her. Was he acting cautious in case she was hiding her true potential? Well he wasn't wrong, in fact, he was doing exactly what she wanted.
Unlike Eric or Lewis, Kate couldn't just brute force her way out of every situation or fight her way out using natural instinct. Instead, like most of the life-threatening scenarios she found herself in, Kate had a plan. Utilizing her talents in arcane and sigil magic to set traps.
Kate purposefully tripped over a rock, she'd spotted earlier and fell to ground infusing a spell into the earth before scrambling back up. Just a little further is all she needed. The knight continued to approach, and he soon reached where she'd fallen. Kate stopped, a sly smile growing on her face that made the knight's body pause. She pressed her fingers onto her wrist just below her palm, like she was feeling for a pulse, and infused mana. A circular, glowing, white sigil appeared beneath her fingers. The same symbol then shone below the knight's feet and his body instantly tensed up, white, sparking tendrils leaping from the sigil into his armour, like unstable chains. His movements were immediately restricted, as the spell restrained him and disrupted his mana flow.
Kate approached, her hand balled into a fist except for her first two fingers which were pointed up, infusing the spell with more mana, letting it evolve. Like it was alive, the sigil, upon her body, began to spread from her wrist down to her forearm. The intensity of her spell increased.
The knight reeled back as the sigil beneath him grew brighter and increasingly intricate, his weapons crashing to the ground as he lost control of his muscles. She continued to pour mana from her core into the spell trying to suppress more of his magic.
"Enough!" the knight growled.
Suddenly Kate's arm began to tremble as the knight fought against her magic, pouring mana out from his core and overpowering her spell. Cracks started appearing in the sigil below him. Kate trembled as she attempted to maintain her spell, sweat glistening off her face as she strained against him, but it was no use he was too strong. The sigil below the knight shattered and the sigils on her arm vanished in a painful flash of mana sparks that sent her recoiling back.
Recalling his weapons, the knight readied himself to slice her in half but, Kate remained calm. She had stalled him long enough.
A fist struck the knight at such speeds it looked like a blur, sending him crashing to the ground. Instantly, a boot then slammed into his chest, with such force the ground cracked and shuddered. Arthur stood over the knight. His wounds had healed completely, and his muscles seemed to have swelled, becoming even more defined. Arthur had always had a good physique however he now looked inhuman, like he was built from nothing but muscle and a thin layer of skin. The golden eyes of a predator glared down at the knight, and a demonic growl escaped his throat. Before anyone could react, Arthur lifted the knight and slammed him into the ground behind him, spun and then threw him into the woods, destroying every tree in his trajectory.
From within the wood's darkness, terrifying amount of mana erupted from the knight. He charged towards Arthur, and they became locked in a brutal brawl, slamming each other into the ground and throwing strikes whenever the opportunity appeared.
"It seems you're a greater threat than I first thought," the knight grunted, while throwing his elbow into Arthur's jaw.
Arthur didn't reply.
Kate struggled to keep her balance, as their battle ripped apart the ground. She was forced to imbue mana into her body to resist the wind and tremors being generated as they continued to clash, and even then she was barely able to withstand the battle.
The knight called his sword to his hand and slashed down at Arthur however, a black bone like material rapidly grew from his knuckles and wrapped around his fingers. Smooth, sharp claws manifested around Arthur's hand and clashed with the sword. Instantly, Arthur grew claws on his other hand, and they began to duel, sparks flying into the air every time they struck each other. They darted around the battlefield, too fast for the naked eye, the clanging of their blades vibrating through the air.
To Kate's shock the battle continued to evolve into further carnage. The knight launched a plethora of flaming and smoky spells. Arthur dodged in between the knight's attacks, clawing at his armour whenever in range, his movements becoming stronger and more savage as his rage grew.
'Shit, he's going to lose it again," Kate cursed to herself.
She started channelling her mana, a golden glow began to emit from her fingertip and she carefully rubbed it along the barrel of her pistol, causing the engravings across it to start shining the same light. Kate fired at the knight's limbs, the golden bullets vanishing into the black metal.
"Save your ammunition girl, your bullets are useless," the knight uttered as he sent Arthur reeling back with a fist of yellow flames.
"Are they now?" Kate replied bluntly, her tone suggesting he was the greatest idiot the world had to offer.
Her fingertip once again emitted a golden glow, and she drew a symbol into the air, forged from a golden light of pure mana. Once complete, the symbol shattered into the sparkling dust. Golden sigils then formed upon the knight's armour where the bullets had struck, suddenly chains, forged from golden mana, launched out from the markings and plunged into the ground. The black knight was restrained completely.
Instantly, Arthur was in front of the knight, he thrusted his claws into the knight, shattering his armour and piercing deep into his abdomen. The knight grunted in pain, keeling over. He attempted to resist, but with a single arm, Arthur lifted his gigantic body off the ground, causing his claws to sink deeper. Groans of pain echoed from within knight's helm. He growled words of the Aetian dialect, Kate had no idea what they meant but it didn't sound very friendly. The black knight attempted to fight against the golden chains however, it was useless, as Kate continuously strengthened her spell with more mana.
"Arthur pin him down," Kate said as she approached.
She began to prepare another suppression spell, moulding it in her hands, like a spider crafting its web, using lines of golden mana. It wouldn't hold the knight for long but would easily be sufficient enough for them to escape.
"Enough of this!" the knight abruptly snapped.
Suddenly, Kate sensed immense amounts of mana building up and swelling from within his core. 'He was still holding back his true strength,' she realised, horrified.
Ridiculous volumes of vicious yellow flames and black smoke streamed from every opening in his armour, including the stab wound in his abdomen. Arthur was forced to pull his claws back to avoid being scorched. Her confusion was brief, but even that was too long. Realising what was about to happen, Kate rushed to finish her suppression sigil, but it was too late.
"Get back!" Arthur barked urgently.
He swung his arm towards her with such force the air between them rushed, sending her flying back far from the battle. In that instant mana erupted from the knight.
"Arthur!" Kate screamed.
She watched helplessly as yellow light engulfed Arthur and decimated the surrounding area, the light so bright she was forced to clamp shut her eyes, to avoid being blinded.
Kate tumbled across the ground and, once she felt the battlefield settling, she finally pried her eyes, her vision was still slightly blurry from the sudden flashbang. A vast cloud of dust and dirt had engulfed everything, she could barely see more than a few feet ahead. Her ears proved useless due to an intense ringing that echoed around her head. Thankfully, the ringing slowly began to die down and was replaced by the rushing wind.
Kate felt something was wrong. In that instant the air began to quiver. Suddenly, the air trembled violently and a shockwave pushed out against it, the dust cloud was launched outwards dispersing into the woods. After coughing up her lungs and wiping her eyes clean, Kate glanced up to see the knight standing at the centre of the explosion, there was no sign of Arthur.
Dread flooded Kate's body, and her stomach curled. She was quickly snapped back to reality as the knight turned to face her. His appearance and magic had warped even further. It was like he'd became supercharged. A heavy, suffocating pressure radiated off him, black smoke and yellow flames spilled out from his entire body, covering it like a second set of armour, and what felt endless mana flowed through his body. The knight didn't approach, he just raised is sword high above his head. The weapon was coated in a yellow-white light and black smoke lined the blade's edge. They must have been over ten metres apart, but Kate knew she still wouldn't be able to avoid or block the attack. Her heart began to race as she was forced to face death head on. She tried to come up with a plan, but her mind was blank.
'Well shit.'
Kate felt as if she watching in slow motion as the knight swung his sword, the air seemingly parting for the blade like it was terrified of getting in its way.
Suddenly an ear-splitting roar ripped through the forest. Arthur emerged from the shadows from behind the knight, red sparks emitted across his body, regenerating his scorched skin. Kate's heart skipped a beat as she saw her friend alive and healing.
'If Arthur can grab me, we can escape back to Elysi before he catches us,' she planned. If she'd correctly calculated how far Lucina had travelled by now, and her math was always right, they were in the clear to escape. However her plotting was abruptly cut short after further observation of Athur. Her heart sank. Black claws coated his hands, and he his golden, primal eyes now resembled more of a beast's than of a man's. A deathly pressure radiated off him, pulsing through the air and filling Kate with terror.
'Shit he's losing it,' she realised.
"You are becoming a real pain," the knight muttered annoyed.
"Arthur keep it together and let's go!" Kate called out.
He ignored her and focused on his prey. "This is why I don't go to the fights," Kate grumbled to herself.
She helplessly watched the two monsters approach one another. But just as their battle was about to begin, a sudden surge of mana drew Kate's attention behind into the night sky. She thought she sensed something familiar. Someone familiar.
"Is that?" she mumbled.
However, the sensation was gone as fast as it came and before she even could process the thought, her attention was drawn back to the fight after Arthur unleashed an earth-shattering roar.
The two of them went head-to-head for one final clash. They both unleashed an onslaught of violence, bringing forth so much destruction that Kate was forced to retreat in order to survive. Arthur brute forced his way through the knight's attacks, healing any wounds dealt to him in an instant, while simultaneously trying to rip the knight apart. Worryingly, as the clash continued, Arthur's attacks grew faster and more vicious, as he continued to lose control.
As if he too had noticed this, the knight's demeanour shifted, like he'd finally began to truly take the fight seriously. The yellow-white coating that clung to his blade grew and the smoke became a translucent, black aura around the blade.
At a speed Kate couldn't register, the knight plunged his sword into the Arthur's heart, stopping the beast in his tracks. The knight flooded mana into his sword causing the light blade to double in size. It mutilated Arthur's insides and then like he was made of paper, the knight effortlessly tore out his blade from Arthur's torso, nearly splitting his torso in two.
The battlefield turned silent, all Kate could hear was her own heavy, shaky breath. After an exhausted breath, the knight turned to Kate to finally end this conflict. He hesitated, his gaze locking onto the fear and dread that stained her face. But the terror and dread wasn't because of him, it never had been. Realising this, he snapped his attention back towards Arthur. Red sparks danced across his chest as the mortal wound started healing, bone, muscle, and flesh all rejoining together. Without hesitation, the knight swung his sword towards Arthur's head, but at a speed no one could witness Arthur struck the blade from his hand. Unfazed, the knight raised his fist, engulfing it in scorching flames. Arthur glared with monstrous eyes and swung his claws at the knight's torso.
Something plunged from the sky.
It impacted the ground directly at the centre of the battlefield, creating a force that sent both warriors flying in opposite directions. Debris bust into the air, clouding everyone's line of sight.
'What the hell?' Kate questioned. 'Could it be?'
Suddenly the battlefield was cleared in a powerful rush of air. Before them stood a boy, one she knew very well. He had dark brown, messy hair and emerald eyes that shone through his fringe. As always he was dressed in simple clothes, a black jacket and a gold pendant hung around his neck, composed of a violet gemstone that stood out against his white top.
He turned to the knight, a mixture of exhaustion and annoyance contorting his expression.
"Lewis," Kate called out, her tone expressing a mix of shock and relief.
He gave her a brief nod before turning towards Arthur, whose gaze was now laser focused on him.
"Arthur?" Lewis said.
After a long, eerie silence Arthur's glare softened and he then nodded. She noticed his breathing become calmer, his fangs warp back human, and his eyes relax to their original state.
"Good," Lewis said casually.
"Who are you?" the knight questioned. He stormed over to the newcomer, clearly annoyed at the constant interruptions to his night.
Lewis turned to face the seven-foot figure towering over him. "Fuck off asshole," Lewis cursed. "I'll get to you in a minute." Rage flowed through the knight, he swung his sword but before it could decapitate him, Lewis raised his hand. Kate felt his mana rush, and the elements of the world bent to his will. An immense force struck the knight's chest with unreal force, sending his enormous figure rocketing into the darkness of the woods. It was like the knight had been struck by a natural disaster, the combination of an earthquake and hurricane.
Wasting no time, Lewis then dragged Arthur over towards Kate and handed her a blue gemstone like device. A transport gem, Kate immediately realised, with just a simple injection it'd teleport them away in an instant. She assumed its destination had been set to Elysi.
"Where's Luce and the girl?" he asked.
"On their way back to Elysi."
"Good. Alright you two head back, Becka can deal with you all," Lewis said smirking, his mood now seemingly back to normal.
"What about you? I can't just leave you here with that thing," Kate argued, ignoring his statement. "Just come with us!"
"I'll be fine. Now go," he ordered. "He kidnapped a girl from our home, he isn't going to get off easy. Besides we can't risk him trying again."
Before she could argue, yellow flames erupted destroying the remaining woodlands, sending debris flying everywhere and warping the battlefield into an empty, scorched terrain. The knight clambered out from the wreckage Lewis had put him in. His gaze cautiously locked onto Lewis, like he was unsure what to do.
"Are you sure about this?" Kate asked.
"Yeah," he said. He gave them his usual, reassuring smile. With no choice but to trust him, Kate infused the gemstone with mana and her and Arthur disappeared, returning back to Elysi.
2 Years later
Lewis felt cold, freezing in fact, like frozen winds were constantly brushing over his body. Strange he couldn't remember the last time he'd been cold, his magic always eliminated that problem.
Everything was dark. Everything was silent. He remained in a void for what felt like eternity.
Suddenly it felt as if he'd been teleported to a battlefield. He felt an overwhelming pressure in the air, that stole away his breath, and unfathomable powers of mana.
"Lewis runaway!" A man bellowed. His voice sounded familiar, but Lewis couldn't figure out why.
The chaos and horrors of warfare could be heard everywhere, like an entire nation was being torn apart.
"Lewis get out of here!" A woman screamed. Her voice was also familiar.
"Lewis help me!" a young girl cried.
'That voice,' he thought horrified.
Desperately, Lewis tried to help, but he couldn't move. He couldn't even see. His vision remained constantly dark, and now he couldn't even feel his own body. He was completely paralyzed.
The screams raged on however, thankfully, after what felt like centuries they slowly began to die down.
He was once again left alone in the darkness.
The sensations of his body steadily returned. He could now feel himself profusely sweating and hear his own heavy, ragged breathing. The darkness of void started to lift, as light creeped in, and a new voice could be heard. A girls.
"Lewis! Lewis! Wake up! Come on wake up!" someone kept calling to him excitedly. That voice he recognised it in an instant.
He could feel a heavy pressure on his chest. Reluctantly he woke up. He opened his eyes to see a girl, with pure white hair, ruby eyes and a massive grin on her face. She vigorously shook his body. A smile cracked across his face
"Happy birthday Eri!" he said, wiping his eyes and climbing out of bed.
"Come on! Everyone's waiting, but I didn't want to start without you," she said, almost too fast for him to understand.
"Alright slow down, give me a minute to get ready. I've only just got up," he said laughing.
"Alright we'll all be in the living room okay," she said energetically, before rushing out his room. "But hurry!" he heard her voice call from the hallway.
Lewis listened as she sprinted away from his room and downstairs before smiling. He always smiled when he thought of how far Eri had come these last two years.
He wandered into his bathroom to wash his face, only then noticing that he was drenched in sweat and his body was trembling.
'That dream again,' he sighed. He hated getting it.
Putting the dream, or more accurately titled nightmare, behind him he quickly washed up and entered his bedroom again. In record timing, he got dressed and grabbed the card and wrapped presents resting on his desk before quickly heading to the living room.
Walking through the double doors, he entered the living room that was filled with familiar faces all gathered for Eri's eleventh birthday.