The Paladin Knight

Brodin readied himself, raising his knife, "Shit, what's she doing here?" He muttered, "Astorias!" 

Everyone, including the Gargoyle and the remaining Oni turned to see where the intense aura was coming from; a single woman holding a massive greatsword. 

She was at least shorter than Brodin and Lucian, standing at 5'7 (170cm). She had ethereal white hair that flowed in the wind, giving off a shimmering glow. Her outfit consisted of a dark dress that was armored, her skirt had steel plates on her as it parted in the middle, revealing her pants and high-heels, all dark-colored and lined with steel plating. The upper part of her dress was suggestive, her arms were covered in thick and dark spiky armor, and she wore a simple cloth shirt that exposed her cleavage. She was wearing an iron mask, concealing the lower part of her face and on top of her head, a thin and iron crown sat. 

This was Astorias, a Paladin Knight of the Darklight Sect. 

But that wasn't all, she was the Death Knight, a vicious warrior that seeks out demonic activities and destroys them with little mercy. Her power rivaled that of Lunaris and even she was wary of the power this woman held. Everywhere she went, destruction and ruin followed, anyone who dared oppose her would be ruthlessly beaten down. 

And now, she was before Brodin....and Lucian, but he was a bit far away to get a closer look on her. Right now, he could feel the intense power, his entire body shaking in response. 

"W-What the hell?" Lucian muttered

"Ah, this is bad....." Ser Cretan said, "This woman's here now, just my luck." 

The Gargoyle was making its clanking sound, staring at the newcomer who was exuding an immense amount of power. Something deep within its instincts was telling it to run, but it wanted to refuse. To preserve its life, it had to do something about this, even the monster knew that. 

Astorias took a step forward, the ground slightly shaking to her power, "Ho..." She said, "Two Onis and a Gargoyle? How disappointing....." 

The remaining Oni took a step, raising its bone lance as it growled at Astorias. 

In a swift motion, she swung her greatsword at the monster, and in an instant, the entire upper half of the beast exploded in blood and guts, a massive shockwave erupting from the spot it stood. 

Brodin covered his face as he guarded himself from the shockwave, "In an instant?!" He exclaimed, "S-She's a monster!" 

Astorias straightened up, leaning her massive black and red greatsword on her shoulder, "Hoho...." She chuckled, "An Oni isn't enough for a warmup!! Maybe that Gargoyle will prove to be better." 

Her gaze switched to the stone monster, which had suddenly stopped its clanking sound. The mere sight of the Paladin Knight's red eyes lying upon it made the Gargoyle feel something it had never felt in its lifetime. It didn't know what it was; it didn't like it. 

In response to this sudden feeling, it began to have, the Gargoyle clutched its halberd hard. Its stone wings extended, releasing a shockwave as it let out a massive shriek. 

"Oh?" Astorias said as she took a step forward, "You wish to fight me? So be it, come at me!" 

The Gargoyle reared its halberd back to take a swing, but before it could do that, the halberd was pushed down to the ground, stumbling it. 

It looked back to see Lucian had crashed down on it as he held his silver flame greatsword. 

"I don't think so, bucko!" Lucian glared at it, "You were fighting me!!" 

Lucian swung his greatsword at the iron pole and to his surprise, it was able to be cut in half, releasing flames in the process. 

The Gargoyle shrieked loudly in response to this, immediately letting go of the Halberd and swinging its fist at Lucian. 

Lucian dodged the attack and swung his sword at it multiple times, striking at its stony body and combusting flames, but the Gargoyle's body was resilient, which proceeded to anger Lucian. 

"Oh fuck this." Lucian said as he landed a couple of meters away, "I'm done with this bullshit!" 

Lucian switched his greatsword to his left hand and extended his right arm, releasing a massive aura as he glared his blue dragon eyes at the Gargoyle. 

Astorias, who was taken aback by the sudden resistance the Gargoyle face, tilted her head in amusement, seeing Lucian from afar, not getting a good look at him. She could feel the intense amount of Ether overflowing from him. 

"Hmmm??? A Calamity?" She said, "Oh! That's Luna's Cursed One!" 

Brodin narrowed his eyes at Astorias, "S-She's not making a move?" He muttered, "What? I....this is not good at all, I have to get out of here...." 

Back to Lucian, his arm burst into a swirl of Black Ether, his glare piercing the Gargoyle that was shrieking again. 

"I don't know how I managed to sprout dragon heads on my shoulders earlier, but if I'm capable of doing that, then fuck it, I can do a big one..." He thought to himself, "Just have to focus my power, my Calamity, and think of the word....'Dragon', right? Right?!" 

As a response to this, Lucian's Black Ether suddenly formed into a massive silver dragon's head with thick horns that jutted outwards, with glowing blue eyes as shiny chrome teeth. 

"W-Whoa!" Lucian said with surprise, "F-Fuck!" 

He felt the unstable surge of power in his sudden transformation as he saw that the head slowly extended from a thick scaly neck that connected to his shoulder. 

"This seems familiar, where have I seen this before?? Ah, never mind! Focus my Calamity-Boosted element into the dragon's maw and fire it off in a massive breath attack!!!" He thought to himself, "I can do this!!" 

He raised the Dragon's head and channeled an intense amount of silver lightning in its maw, condensing it to a point a bright silver orb of crackling lightning formed, the pressure of this pulling in air towards it as the ground shook. 

The Bronze Bull Knight looked at this, "Oi oi oi, what the hell?!" He said, "This is a Calamity's power?! What the fuck! That's an insane amount of ether!" 

Astorias, who was feeling it, still not getting a good look at Lucian, was amazed. Brodin was too stunned to speak, merely looking at this with a shocked face. 

"Wow." She said, "I think Luna said he was barely past the First Seal....and he's this strong? Incredible potential....." 

Lucian then pointed the dragon's head at the Gargoyle who proceeded to charge at him with a loud screech. 

"Fuck you!" Lucian shouted 

"Silver Dragon's Cannon!" 

The Dragon fired off a massive concentrated beam of lighting right at the Gargoyle, incinerating a hole through it's left side, disappearing its wing with it. The Stone monster stopped in its tracks, surprised at the attack's effects, letting out its clanking sound. It was almost as if it was surprised by this; merely looking at the massive hole, smoke and cinders emitted from it. 

Lucian panted as the Dragon's head slowly disappeared, his arm replacing it as he stumbled forward. 

"S-Shit..." He said as his entire body shifted back to normal, his scales disappearing completely and his flame sword flickering slightly

This was the limit of his Calamity's power, merely leaving him and his sorcery. His entire body felt light and he got nothing but chills on his spine, like that feeling one gets when getting out of the water after spending an extended period of time in it. 

He looked down, "D-Damn....was that it?" He said softly, "Shit...." 

The Gargoyle clanked even more, looking at Lucian with surprise. It took a single step forward before a figure crashed into it, exploding it completely, debris of stone and dirt flying everywhere. The impact was so powerful that it extended through the Gargoyle and into the ground, the entire earth rippling like water as the shockwave hit both Lucian and Cretan. 

"This power!!" Cretan said, "This is like my Quake Sorcery! But I know she's not a wielder of that!" 

As the ground stabilized, shattering due to the effect of the sudden rippling, Lucian stumbled backward, raising his flame sword as he panted.

"T-the hell?" He said as he tried to focus

He heard laughing as the dust cleared, revealing Astorias to have her sword planted on the ground, looking at Lucian. 

"Interesting!" She said, "You! You're the Dragon Calamity, right?!" 

She pulled her greatsword out and pointed it at Lucian with one hand. 

Lucian narrowed his eyes, getting a good look at who was before him. His eyes and brain processed the sight that was Astorias; a beautiful woman with white hair, red eyes, and wielded a greatsword.

In that moment, Lucian softened his gaze and took a step back, almost as if he was taken aback. 

"W-Whoa..." He said simply

Astorias raised her eyebrow, "Hm?" 

"Pretty." Lucian thought to himself as he readied his greatsword

Astorias noticed that there was a different reaction to her from Lucian; everyone that was there reacted to her in either fear or caution due to her power and reputation. But Lucian wasn't responding due to that, it was something else and she didn't realize what it was....not yet at least. 

"Hm." Astorias said, "Listen up, Cursed One.....Luna messed up with you, letting you go. But me?" 

"Nah, I'll make sure you don't run off anywhere."