chapter 48- Dark knights

"When does all this shaking stop?" Max grumbled from inside the coffin.

"Once your mother starts going on a diet," 

"Priest my ass, you're the de-" Before Tommy could finish, the creatures - or beings, we didn't know yet - emerged. Four black knights crawled from the floor pits.

"Tommy, aren't they your cousins? Tell them we mean no harm."

"Shut up, why do they get capes and better helmets? This frog-shaped helm is ugly. No chicks would dig this monstrosity. It's not fair they look cooler than me."

Two eye sockets glowed with red lights, steel horns protruding from their helms. Red capes billowed behind them. They were definitely not human.

Then, a hidden wall shifted bricks aside to reveal a passage. I knew there would be a hidden room - I just knew it.

A cloaked specter floated out - a dark, long robe concealing white, gnarled hands.

"Plan A, we kill that thing first. I've seen enough movies to know these wizard necromancer types are always the cause," I said.

They nodded. I, meanwhile, focused and summoned my dagger. The wraith waved a finger and suddenly knights in each corner stood, unsheathing iron swords.

Then, an even bigger surprise - water started flowing in from an unknown spot, filling the arena. It just kept coming, our bad luck refusing to stop. Was this trial telling us we had little time to defeat these things?

"Tommy, get rid of the wood on the coffin. You and I will be standing atop it as a platform. Max, can you bless us with the ability to walk on water?"

"Yes, I can. Are you going to try something?" he asked warily.

"No, not yet. But if you can bless walking on water, then that means their another possibility, right? Some other Jesus miracles?"

"Wait, you sure about that?"

"Better than nothing, and I know for a fact you won't boil in that coffin, okay?" I motioned Tommy to ditch the barricading planks as I leapt atop the coffin. "We can do this. Miracle time."

I felt a vibration beneath me as Max channeled a blessing -A Jesus spirit stigma, I think. The rising waters already lapped at ankle height as the creatures closed in.

"Okay on my command...hold it...trigger it now!" I shouted.

A phantasmal image of Jesus Christ appeared, walking on the water, eyes piercing into my soul. This aura alone was terrifying yet warm like hope in the darkness. I reached out, and the waters shifted to a deep red, like wine, giving off a sweet scent. The source of the transmutation was the phantom's blessing - I felt the surge of a miracle flow through my very existence.

The waters quickly converted to red wine.

Using the coffin as a platform, Tommy formed a molten red blade facing downward - he was going to drop it in. Red wine is not flammable and wouldn't normally catch fire, but who said Tommy's flame was normal?

His third ability, Inferno Temper, allowed him to increase any object's temperature within his grasp. The flame source came from within, his emotions the ignition, temperatures reaching solar flare levels with enough emotion and mystic fuel, even recreating radiation.

As the blade splashed into the wine, the room erupted in brilliant orange-yellow-red. Heat radiated over our faces, the air shimmering. A sea of flame.

The black knights struggled to advance, metal armor clanging as they thrashed, wailed with inhuman screams. The ghostly necromancer frantically evaded the inferno, seeming scared.

This went on for minutes - we were shocked by the sheer effectiveness.

But it didn't last.

"James, I can't hold on much longer. My mystic reserves won't last, and I'll actually burn in here. I need to cancel it," Max warned.

"No worries, I've got a plan. Quickly revert the waters back. Tommy, create another blade and heat it up. Once you do, we'll create a smoke screen while I lead you toward the creatures to deal with them one-by-one."

"Understood, big boss," Tommy replied, forming a second molten blade as the sea of flames transmuted back to water, quenching it to unleash billowing steam across the room.

"Quick now, let's attack the closest!"

This was kill or be killed situation, no more hiding no more running away, we must move forward, we have a clear destination, just not a clear mind, but that changes now.