Forsaken

Two days later, they were here. 

Stood in front of the cathedral, they were prepared. 

Sunny was ready for his revenge. 

"Ok, let me just run through the plan one last time." 

Sunny spoke as he looked at the group. 

"The bastard is of the Fallen rank. A demon with the abilities of darkness."

He finished the sentence as he looked at Aldric. 

"Since we don't know if your aspect will enhance his capabilities, you are going to have to limit your darkness to yourself and the edge of your blade. Nothing crazy."

He practically ordered.

'This cheeky rat. Asking someone to hold back against a nightmare creature.'

"Yeah, yeah. I heard you the first time, gremlin."

Aldric responded in an annoyed voice.

Sunny shot him a dirty look and carried on.

"Nephis, you are limiting his darkness with your light and leading the attack. Effie and Saint will support you. Everyone else, remember. His weakness is not his visor but his sword."

Sunny stressed the last part in particular. Without a body, there was no point in aiming for the chinks in his armour. 

That was what annoyed Aldric the most. With Nephis blasting the light part of her aspect, he was bound to have his darkness dampened as well. Typically, Nephis wouldn't exert as much light as she was planning to during their time journeying. Also, the distance between the front and the rear of the group acted as a buffer such that their aspects did not clash. 

"And, finally. I want to end the bastard myself."

Effie rolled her eyes at the speech. She had heard all about this elusive knight for the entirety of their journey. 

"Enough talking. Let's go."

Sunny said.

With that, they were ready.

----------

Walking inside the cold cathedral, Aldric looked around. An ancient and abandoned site that had not seen any care for millennia. It was a sight to see. It reminded him of the Bright Castle with its tinted, stained glass that refracted light everywhere. At least it should have.

Aldric could sense the darkness immediately. It was his first time finding a source of darkness outside of himself and the ancient dark sea. Unlike the immovable, primordial darkness from the sea, this one was reachable. Hostile and hidden, it lingered on every surface of the building. He knew he would be able to fight against it if it attacked him; however, controlling it would be another story. 

"Now!"

Shouted Sunny. Immediately, a beam of pure white light lit up the interior of the building. Banishing the darkness into a corner, a giant clad in black armour stood with a massive great sword in hand. 

Without pause, the knight launched into an attack. 

Dashing forward, Effie met his charge head on with her shield ready to intercept. And it did. The shield withstood; however, the kinetic energy transferred stunned Effie and crumbled the concrete below her. 

Saint and Nephis went on the offensive. Trading blows, they could not deal substantial damage to the knight with the obvious difference in class and rank; however, Nephis had an advantage. 

An incandescent blade pierced through the torso of the knight's armour. 

Not staggered or damaged by the critical blow in the slightest, the Knight carried on its attack with a wide swing, forcing Nephis and Saint to retreat. 

Choosing his most dangerous enemy, the knight focused his attention on Nephis. 

Missing his next swing by a hairs breadth, she jumped into a backflip. Utilising her acrobatic abilities. 

Aldric was not planning to watch this play out without joining in. With his [Mantle of the Underworld] equipped, he bled his darkness through the cracks of the armour. With the enchantment [Synergy], he enhanced his armour with the capabilities of darkness. 

After all, without that enchantment, he would not be able to enhance the strength of his memories. That was a skill exclusive to Sunny and his shadows. 

With darkness coating his blade, he parried the great sword's swing away from Nephis. Caster used this chance to attack the blade itself and staggered the long blade. 

The battle continued. With Saint leading the next attack, and Sunny joining the fray. Now the five of them, utilising their teamwork, traded attacks with the knight. 

With Effie joining back, a small pause in the battle allowed Kai to take his first shot. 

And it rang true. 

Breaking through the narrow gap of its visor, Kai expected his blood to replenish, but it didn't. He staggered on to the floor, faint. 

'What else did he expect?'

Aldric questioned the archer's decision. 

The arrow was not for nothing. It roughly staggered the head of the knight backwards. Seizing the opportunity, Effie slammed the knight with her heavy shield. 

Aldric shouted at Effie. 

"Dodge!"

Reeling in confidence, she had not seen or expected the counterattack to come as fast as it did. Hearing the warning, she jumped back and avoided the back of the knight's fist. 

Caster was aware enough to now dodge the pommel of the greatsword from denting his chest. 

The knight continued his dance with the cohort. However, Aldric was waiting for his opportunity. 

Nephis and Saint were facing the brunt of the knight's attacks. Nephis was agile enough to dodge most of its attacks; however, Saint was not so fast. Ruby dust floated in the air from her wounds. 

Luckily, the darkness that the knight used to empower himself was still banished by Nephis' light. 

The advantage that the cohort had was based on the weapon of the knight. Swinging such a large sword allowed the cohort to avoid its telegraphed swings. That was what Aldric hoped to take advantage of. When making such a wide swing, force could not be applied through the full motion of the slash. A baseball player would not lock his wrists during his whole swing, would he? Aldric was waiting for the moment that the knights grip relaxed.

'Now!'

Stepping behind the wraith in its blind spot, Aldric extended a small tendril of darkness from his hand. Latching on to the hilt of the sword at the apex of his swing, Aldric used all his strength to yank the tendril down. 

"CLANK"

A sound reverberated around the cathedral.

Everyone was stunned at what just happened. Nobody had expected the knight to give up his greatest weakness. 

In fury, the knight turned around to attack Aldric, but he wasn't there. 

"SAINT!"

Sunny shouted at his shadow to seize the opportunity. 

Wasting no time, Saint used her shield to smash the sword with all her strength. Shattering it completely.

In a last-ditch effort, the knight attempted to call all the darkness in the cathedral to himself one last time. However, Changing Star would not allow that. 

She met the wave of coalescing darkness with a beam of white light. Instantly banishing it back to its origin. 

With no reprieve, the knight came undone. With its armour falling apart, a ghastly wraith unveiled itself. It grew into a massive shape of darkness, with parts of its black armour hanging off it. With red eyes of fury, it spread towards Aldric in revenge. 

He was confused at it targeting him, but he gave it no thought. Expecting a final attack, he readied his defences and did not hold back his powers any longer. 

However, that was not the nature of a wraith. To attack. 

It was to devour. 

With an abyss of darkness shaped like a mouth wide open, it began to absorb the darkness that coated his blade and held in his armour. 

Nephis attempted to banish it; however, this was different from the darkness inside the cathedral. This was the darkness generated from the core of the knight. It would take longer for her light to penetrate all the way through. Not enough time for Aldric. 

'What the absolute hell? It's never done this before.'

With his darkness leaking out of his body at a fast rate, he had no choice. It was do or die.

Knowing its weakness, Aldric prepared his attack. 

With the experience of hundreds of battles, Aldric instantly gathered a black orb at the tip of his blade as he lunged forward. The orb held the density of a black hole. No light could penetrate through it. 

'Maximum: Death thrust!'

With the more effective damage output from having an additional core and the increased effectiveness of the property of darkness, the entire torso of the wraith was gone. The legs and arms of the floating armour dropped on the ground in silence. 

A small black orb rolled on the ground to Aldric's feet.

[You have slain a Fallen Devil, Forsaken Knight.]

[Your soul grows darker.]

[You have received an Echo: Forsaken Knight.]

**********

Thank you for reading. 

So what do you think, your boy has received an echo? Did he reserve it?

Cannot wait for the second episode of danmachi. Probably will let the rest collect. Like rezero. 

Till the next one.