The lancer lunged forward, dragging its colossal weapon in a sweeping arc, sparks exploding as steel scraped against stone. I met it head-on, spear raised, every muscle in my body screaming in protest.
CLANG!
Steel collided, the sound echoing like cathedral bells in a place forsaken by gods.
But this time, I did not yield.
Step by step, I forced my way closer. Every strike it unleashed, I bent, turned, and punished. My spear stabbed at joints, finding weakness in its armored bulk. I drove its lance high, ducked low, and cut across plates of steel. I swept its footing, hammered its balance, chipped away at its monstrous frame.
The lancer swung sideways with hurricane force. I ducked, cloak tearing as the gale skimmed past. My boots struck the cavern wall and rebounded in a burst of momentum.
"Too slow!"
I sprinted along the vertical face, spear blazing blue fire. Its helm snapped to follow, lance rising in a brutal sweep. Stone shattered behind me as I leapt from jagged outcroppings, my spear whipping down across its shoulder in a shower of sparks.
The knight reeled, blood and black mist spilling. I vaulted higher, twisted midair, and thrust again for its helm, only to be swatted aside by its monstrous reach.
"—Ghkkk!"
The blow hurled me across the cavern. I slammed into a stone column, air ripped from my lungs. I hit the ground rolling, teeth gritted, knees trembling, but forced myself upright as the beast advanced.
We met once more, weapons drawn. Its massive frame pressed forward, mine straining to hold the line. The glow in my eyes deepened as fire spread across my body, strength rising with every heartbeat.
We leapt back, then surged forward together. The lancer snatched up a jagged boulder, shattered it, and hurled it at me with raw fury. I spun my spear, blue and black light flashing as I struck. The projectile split into shards and fell harmlessly.
We collided again.
CLANG!
CLANG!
THUD!
The cavern thundered with each exchange. Sparks lit the air. Crystals rained in shards.
The lancer's reach was monstrous, but I was finding the rhythm. Every strike grew clearer, more predictable. Where before it towered untouchable, now it stumbled when I carved at its knees, reeled when I twisted its lance away. Inch by inch, I turned the tide.
"Not unyielding after all," I hissed, lunging.
The giant shoved back, lance shrieking against stone. I twisted, knocked its strike aside, and slammed the butt of my spear into its chest.
The armor cracked. It staggered for just a step, but a step all the same.
"Got you—!"
I thrust for its helm. My spear blazed, but the lancer twisted with inhuman speed. The strike carved across its helmet, peeling steel like paper. Black ichor hissed, droplets vanishing on stone.
It roared, staggered, but I pressed harder. Step, strike, turn. My spear stormed against it, arcs of blue lightning hammering weak points, ringing the cavern with each blow.
The lancer raised its weapon for a crushing overhead strike. I ducked, drove forward, and swept its legs.
KRRAASH!
The monster crashed to one knee, ground splitting beneath its weight. Flames surged along my weapon, heat scorching my grip.
"Fall already!"
I spun, momentum carrying my spear in a blazing crescent toward its throat, but its claw shot out like a trap.
CLAMP
It caught the spear mid-swing. It's grip was strong,much stronger than an undead's grip should be.
The helm lifted. Crimson eyes glared through the slits in the helm.
"Grrrraaghhhhh!"
An inhuman scream.
The roar rattled my bones. With a heave, it hurled me across the cavern again. I skidded, sparks screaming under my boots, body aching, lungs seared with smoke and blood.
My body screamed at me to stop,to run away,to simply give in and die.
But I rose.
And so did it.
My spear blazed, streaking blue flame across the dark. I ripped open its stance, then drove for its chest.
THRUM!
Mana surged through me, wild and unchecked. I poured everything into one final strike, flame flaring like a newborn star. My arm surged with pain and power alike and focused all of that into a throw.
"RAAAAHHH!"
I hurled the spear with painful precision.
It sang through the air, a burning streak. The blade slammed into its chest, punching through rotted armor and bone.
KRRAAAASH!
The impact drove it back, pinned against jagged stone. Its chest split open, ichor spraying in black ribbons. For the first time, the knight stood still.
I staggered forward, lungs burning, cloak in tatters, body cut and bruised, but alive.
The cavern fell silent. The whispers receded. Only the drip of black ichor remained, hissing as it hit the stone.
I tore my spear free from its chest. More ichor spilled, soaking the floor.
I waited. For it to dissolve into mist, as they all had.
But the mist never came.
Only blood. Black, tar-thick, seeping into stone.
"…What?"
The lancer did not fall. Did not fade. It simply stood, chest cored open, leaking endlessly.
Its helm tilted upward, slow and deliberate. Crimson light burned hotter within.
"…Impossible," I breathed.
Then it moved.
The lancer raised its colossal lance, turned it inward, and drove it through its own torso.
The cavern shook as steel tore through armor and flesh. Black blood erupted in torrents.
Then came the screaming.
Not words. Not echoes. A jagged shriek, tearing the cavern like nails on stone. The helm split, fissures cracking across its surface.
SNAP!
A gash ripped open across its face. Not a mouth. Not a jaw. A wound. A raw, jagged maw leaking ichor, stretching until it split cheek to cheek.
The sound grew worse. No longer a scream—
A howl of hunger.
Its limbs writhed, elongating grotesquely. Fingers snapped into claws. Legs bent wrong. Arms stretched until the lance swung with impossible reach. The knight's form collapsed into something feral, animal.
Its crimson eyes burned brighter. Wilder.
I stepped back, spear raised, chest heaving. Blood dripped down my side.
"No longer a knight," I whispered.
"A beast."
It crouched, maw dripping black blood that hissed on stone. Its breaths came wet and ragged, each exhale a growl.
Then it roared.
The cavern shook, crystals shattering in waves. Shadows deepened. The whispers returned, screaming now, endless and incoherent.
What stood before me was not a knight. Not a warrior bound by oath.
It was wrath made flesh.
And it wanted me broken.