Chapter 3 – The Dark knight

Kate watched the knight as he stared into the sky where Lucina and Eri had just vanished. Now impossible to see thanks to Cali blending in with the night. She watched as Arthur stalked him from behind and she once again drew her silenced pistol from her white coat.

"That is unfortunate. Well, we all fail sometimes" Kate provoked, her gun pointed at his head. She needed to keep him distracted on them, they couldn't afford to risk him going after Lucina and Eri again.

The knight didn't respond, he remained motionless staring into the night sky his captives had escaped into. 

"It seems I took you children too lightly" He finally spoke "My mistake". He looked away from sky and faced Kate. Yellow sigils began to form all over his armour like he was being drawn on by an invisible pen, and it began to leak black smoke and yellow flames.

"You said I failed. No all I need to do is kill you two and intercept them before they reach Elysi" He explained calmly. Instantly his mana levels soared, and dread filled Kate as an overwhelming pressure leaked into the air. Kate gasped as she struggled to regulate her breathing under the weight of his mana, it felt as if someone was trying to suffocate her. He slowly began walking towards her. Arthur attempted to intercept him, but the knight swung his sword and yellow arc ripped into his chest. Before Arthur couldn't even process what just happened, the knight was in front of him shield raised, an eruption of yellow flame and black smoke streamed from its sigils and engulfed Arthur, launching him back. The smoke then contorted and curved like a snake slamming him into the ground, before The knight then swiftly thrusted his sword through Arthur's chest. Instantly his shield then came crashing down onto Arthur rupturing the earth like it had just been hit with an earthquake, sending dirt and dust into the air.

As the air cleared, Kate's heart dropped, she saw Arthur laying in a crater, the size of the cabin, he was bloodied and scorched with a sword piercing his chest. The knight got up off Arthur and turned to face Kate, tearing his sword from Arthur's body without even giving him a second glance. 'Shit' she thought.

"He was harder to kill than I thought. But you, I doubt you'll prove much of a chall-" he was interrupted by an array golden bullets. However, they proved useless and dispersed against his armour liked they'd never even hit it, Kate cursed and began retreating. With an annoyed grunt, he slowly followed her, ominously marching towards her however, that exactly what she wanted. Unlike Eric or Lewis she couldn't just brute force her way out of every situation instead, like most of the life-threatening scenarios she found herself in, she had a plan. She tripped on a rock she 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.

Suddenly she stopped and a sly smile grew on her face that made the knights body pause. She pressed her fingers deep down on her wrist just below her palm and infused mana, a circular white sigil began to glow. The same sigil then appeared below the knight's feet and his body instantly tensed up, white sparks and tendrils leaping from sigil into his armour.

He struggled to move 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 and infused the spell with more mana letting it evolve. Then almost as if it was alive, the sigil began to spread from her fingers to her lower arm and the intensity of her spell increased. The knight reeled back as the sigil beneath grew brighter and more complex, more 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!" he growled. Suddenly her arm began to tremble as he began to resist and poured mana from his core overpowering her spell, cracks appearing in the sigil below him. Kate shuddered as she attempted to maintain her spell sweating dripping down 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 flash of white sparks that sent her recoiling back.

He reequipped his weapons readied himself to slice her in half but, she remained calm. She had stalled him long enough.

A fist struck him across his helmet at such speeds it looked like a blur, the knight was sent crashing to the ground. A boot then came down on his chest with such force the ground quaked. Arthur stood over the knight, his wounds were healed, and his muscles seemed to have swelled, becoming even more defined. Due to what he was he always had a good physique however he now looked inhuman. The golden eyes of a predator beamed down on the knight, and a demonic growl escaped its' throat.

"I get the feeling you're angry" the knight stated while trying to remove the foot from his chest.

"Pissed" Arthur growled. 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 the woods darkness, terrifying amounts of mana erupted from the knight, and he charged towards Arthur. They became locked in a grapple slamming each other into the ground and throwing strikes whenever the opportunity appeared.

"It seems you're more of a threat than I first thought" The knight stated while throwing his elbow into Arthur's jaw.

"You have no idea" Arthur replied, thrusting his knee into the knight's abdomen.

Kate struggled to keep her balance, as their brawl 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. It was like she'd been caught up in a brawl between an earthquake and hurricane. The knight called his sword to his hand and slashed down at Arthur however, black bone like material developed from his knuckles and wrapped around his fingers. Smooth, Sharp, Bone like claws grew around Arthur's hand and clashed with the sword. Arthur grew claws on his other hand, and they began to duel, sparks flying into the air every time they struck each other. Kate stared motionless as they dashed around the battlefield, almost too fast for the naked eye, the clanging of their blades vibrating through the air.

The knight began launching a plethora of yellow flames, streams of black smoke and yellow arcs. Arthur dodged in between the knight's attacks, clawing, and striking away 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. A golden glow began to emit from her fingertip, she carefully rubbed it along the barrel of her pistol and the engravings began to emit the same dim golden light. She raised her firearm and began firing at the knights' limbs, the golden bullets seeming to disappear 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?" Kate replied bluntly, her fingertip once again emitted a golden glow, and she drew and symbol in the air. Once complete the symbol scattered into the air, golden sigils then appeared on the knight's limbs where the bullets had hit, and chains forged from light shot out from them and plunged into the ground. The chains locked out restraining the knight in place, instantly Arthur was in front of the knight, he thrusted his claws into the knight shattering his armour and piercing his abdomen. The knight grunted in pain as he keeled over, attempting to resist the claws tearing through his insides, his body still restrained by golden chains. Arthur lifted him off the ground causing his claws to sink deeper into the knight's abdomen, groans of pain echoed from within knight's helmet.

The knight growled a word in a language Kate predicted to be Aetian and it didn't sound very friendly. He pulled against the chains however, there strength only kept increasing as Kate poured more mana into her spell.

"Arthur pin him down" Kate said as she approached them. She began to prepare another suppression spell moulding it in her hands using lines of golden light.

"Enough of this!" the knight snarled. Suddenly Kate sensed immense amounts of mana began to build up from within his core. Yellow flames and black smoke streamed from every opening in his armour as well as the stab wound in his abdomen causing Arthur to pull his claws back to avoid being burnt.

Realising what was about to happen Kate rushed to finish her suppression sigil, but it was too late.

"Get back" Arthur growled urgently. He swung his arm towards her with such force the air between them contorted, launching her back. In that instant mana erupted from the knight.

"Arthur!" Kate screamed, as she watched a yellow light engulf Arthur and decimate the surrounding area, the light so bright she had to close her eyes to prevent being blinded.

After opening them again she stared helplessly trying to see anything through the cloud of dust flooding the air. Her ears proved useless due to an intense ringing echoing around her head. The ringing began to die down and all that could be heard was the howling of the wind however, Kate felt that there was something of, in that instant the air began to quiver. Suddenly the air shook violently as a shockwave pushed out against it, the dust cloud of dust was launched outwards dispersing into the woods, swallowing Kate entirely. After coughing up the dust from her lungs she looked up to see the knight stood where the centre of the explosion had been, there was no sign of Arthur. Dread filled her body and her stomach curled. However, she was snapped back to reality has the knight turned to face her.

His appearance and aura had changed. Like he was supercharged. A heavy, suffocating pressure radiated off him, black smoke and yellow flames spilled 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 her he just raised is sword above his head. The blade was coated in a yellow-white light and black smoke poured from the blade edge. They must have been 10 metres apart, but Kate knew he could launch projectiles and she knew she wouldn't be able to avoid or block the attack. Her heart began to race as she faced death in the face. She tried to come up with a plan to survive but her mind remained blank. 'Well shit' she thought as she watched the knight swing his sword, the air seemingly parting for the blade, like it was scared to get in its way.

Abruptly an ear-splitting roar ripped through the forest and shook the air. Arthur emerged from the shadows from behind the knight, red sparks emitted from his body as he regenerated his scorched skin. Kate's heart skipped a beat as she saw her friend alive and healing. 'This is good if Arthur can grab me, we can escape back to Elysi before he catches us' she planned, as calculated how far Lucina would've travelled by now. However, after further studying her friend, her heart sank. Blacks claws coated his hands and he had golden, primal eyes that resembled more of a beast's than of a human's. A deathly pressure pulsed through the air filling Kate with dread. 'Shit he's losing it' she thought. 

"You are becoming a real pain" the knight mumbled annoyed. He lowered his blade and turned away from Kate to face Arthur.

"Arthur keeps it together and let's go!" she called out. However, he just ignored her either that or he was so focused on his prey he wasn't even aware of her existence anymore. Arthur's eyes remained on the knight, a low guttural growl escaping his throat.

"This is why I don't go to the fights" Kate grumbled to herself as she helplessly watched the two monsters approach each other. However, her attention was drawn behind her in the night sky when she thought she sensed something familiar. Someone familiar. "Is that?" she mumbled however, her attention was drawn back to the fight after Arthur let out and earth-shattering roar. The two of them went head-to-head for one final clash.

They both launched an onslaught of spells and attacks, bringing so much destruction to the environment that Kate was forced to retreat. Arthur brute forced his way through the knight's attacks healing any wounds dealt to him in an instant while trying to rip the knight apart his attacks getting faster and more vicious as he continued to lose control. Almost as if he had also noticed this, the knights demeanour changed almost like he'd finally began to take the fight seriously. The yellow-white coating that clung to the blade grew and the smoke became a black aura around the blade. At a speed Kate couldn't react to, he plunged his sword into the Arthur's heart stopping him in its tracks. He then infused more mana into the blade causing the mana coating to grow, doubling its size, and slicing apart more of Arthurs insides. Then like he was made of paper, he tore out his blade from Arthur's torso.

The battlefield went silent all Kate could hear was her own heavy, shaky breathing, the knight turned towards her and saw the fear that stained her face. But the fear wasn't because of him. He turned back towards the boy red sparks emitting from his chest as the mortal wound started healing, bone, muscle, and tissue all rejoining together again. The knight swung his sword towards Arthur's head, but at a speed not even no one could witness Arthur struck the blade from his hand. However, without hesitation or second of delay the knight raised his fist engulfing it in scorching yellow flames. Arthur glared with monstrous eyes and went to swing his claws at the knights torso. However, in that moment something plunged from the sky.

It crashed directly between them creating a force that sent them both flying in opposite directions. Dust and dirt filled the air blocking everyone's line of sight.

'What the hell' the Kate thought confused and then she remembered what she sensed earlier 'could it be?'. The battlefield was blocked by a cloud of dust, however, it suddenly dispersed in an instant. Before them stood a boy. A boy she knew very well.

He had dark brown, messy hair with emerald eyes that shone through his fringe and was dressed in black jacket. He wasn't armed with any weapons however, had a gold pendant around his neck composed of a violet gemstone, that stood out against his white top. He turned towards the knight a mixture of exhaustion and annoyance stuck to his face. 'That's not good, he pissed'.

"Lewis" Kate stated from across the battlefield, her face expressing a mix of shock and relief. He gave her a nod before turning towards Arthur, whose gaze was now laser focused on Lewis.

"Arthur you alright?" Lewis stated. After a long eerie silence Arthur stare softened and he then nodded. She noticed his breathing became calmer, his fangs become human, and his eyes returned to their original state.

"Good" Lewis said casually, "Couldn't be bothered dealing with you as well as this prick".

"Who are you?" the knight growled at the newcomer as he approached. Lewis turned to face the 7-foot figure towering over him, almost seeming amused.

"Fuck off asshole" Lewis cursed "Let me sort this and I'll get back to you". Rage flowed through the knight, and he swung his sword but before it could sever Lewis's head an immense force struck the knight's chest sending him flying into the darkness of the woods. Wasting no time Lewis then dragged Arthur over towards Kate and handed her a blue gemstone like device.

"Where's Luce and the girl?" he asked her.

"On their way back to Elysi"

"Alright take Arthur back there, Becka can deal with you all" Lewis stated smirking, his mood now seemingly back to normal.

"But what about you? I can't 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 orphanage he isn't going to get off easy" he said. Before she could argue flames erupted from the woods sending debris flying everywhere, the knight clambered from the wreckage and stared at Lewis remaining motionless, like he was unsure what to do.

"Are you sure you got this?" she asked, her demeanour now serious.

"Yeah" he stated while giving them his usual reassuring smile. She infused the gemstone with mana and her and Arthur disappeared.

2 Years later

Lewis felt cold like frozen winds were constantly brushing over his body. Everything was dark. Everything was silent. He remained in silence for what felt like eternity.

Suddenly it felt as if he'd been teleported to a battlefield.

"Lewis runaway!" A man shouted. His voice sounded familiar, but Lewis couldn't figure out why. The sound of explosions and magic warfare could be heard everywhere like a country was being torn apart.

"Lewis get out of here!" A woman yelled. Her voice was also familiar.

"Lewis help me!" a girl screamed. Lewis tried to go help but he couldn't move, he couldn't see. His vision remained dark, and he couldn't even feel his own body, he was helpless.

The screams continued and he remained useless however, slowly they began to die down leaving him alone in the darkness. He could now feel himself sweating and hear his own heavy breathing. Suddenly the darkness seemed to lift as light creeped in and a new voice could be heard. It sounded like a girl.

"Lewis! Lewis! Wake up! Come on wake up!" someone kept calling to him excitedly and he could feel a heavy pressure on his chest and reluctantly he woke up. That voice he recognised it.

He opened his eyes to see a girl with pure white hair, ruby eyes and a massive smile on her face vigorously shaking his body, causing him to smile.

"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 to understand.

"Alright slow down and give me a minute to get ready, I've only just git up" he said laughing.

"Alright we'll all be in the living room okay" she stated energetically before running out of his room.

"But hurry!" he heard a voice echo from the hallway.

He 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 walked into his bathroom to wash his face only then noticing that he was drenched his sweat, and his body was trembling. 'That dream again' he sighed. He hated getting it. Putting the dream or better to title nightmare behind him, he quickly washed up and entered his bedroom again. He got dressed and grabbed the card and wrapped presents on his desk before quickly heading to the living room, grabbing his black jacket on the way out. Walking through the double doors he entered the living room, that was filled with familiar faces all gathered for Eri's 11th birthday.