Garden Of The Abyss

"You're big, but not very fast, are you?"

Evading a flurry of four sword strikes from the monstrous knight, Jae-Seong taunted his enemy as he swiftly danced around the malicious steel.

Despite the words spoken from the curly-haired man's unbroken, confident smile, the four-armed knight dripping with miasma only groaned in response before attempting to cut away his foe.

Wielding the greatsword with cobalt-tinged steel in its top-left arm, it slammed it down towards the smaller man—resulting in a complete miss as Jae-Seong back stepped.

"Woah there!"

Jae-Seong yelled out behind his smile as he felt the power behind that swing, watching the peculiar wind pressure unleashed carve through the flooring.

Those slashes aren't a joke—he's not very fast, but one hit from those blades…let's not think about that, he thought.

Using the window of opportunity after the giant, hunched over knight missed its swing, Jae-Seong unleashed a quick succession of blows across its body that only registered as one to the naked eye.

Stumbling back from the punches that resounded like cannons, the knight paused for a moment as it groaned low.

"Intruder…Execute. You will be punished. For the king."

The hooded knight spoke as his shifting words traveled from the depths of its shadowy veil. With this malicious proclamation, the enigmatic knight, dripping black grime from the creases of its desecrated armor, spread all of its arms out.

Something's coming, Jae-Seong thought.

"Tristan. Mordred. Agravain. Lancelot. Traitors of the King. My sin. I am…the Knight of Sin. In atonement, I shall execute all who challenge the King. Eviscerate. All."

The knight spoke in a gravely, nebulous tone as it's voice shifted with every word, emitting an aura that caused a tangible shift in the air; a dreadful cold that caused every hair to rise on Jae-Seong's body.

"What're you on about? Making amends before I send you to your death?"

"Execution Order: Morgan."

—The only response from the Knight of Sin made little sense to Jae-Seong's boastful question, but it's meaning was understood by the man as his senses spiked.

Without any inclination to what was happening, he moved, only because his brain told him standing there a moment longer would result in death—and he found out why.

In the place he previously stood, a half dozen blades were embedded into the flooring; something he didn't hear nor see.

Magic? Or is this it's ability? He thought.

Keeping his distance, a sudden burning sensation swelled up from his leg—realizing a moment after it already happened that another blade appeared, nicking his thigh as it narrowly missed.

"What's the…?"

Jae-Seong muttered as he winced, briefly looking back to see the simple sword in question having shot past him, already stuck in the farthest wall.

I didn't see or hear anything; is it using something to mess with my senses? He thought.

His attempt to decipher the true nature of the attack launched against him was taken advantage of as the four-armed, monstrous Knight of Sin crept up on him; rearing two of its arms back.

"Iron. Clarent."

The knight's cold words caused the blackened blade in its bottom-right arm to shift into the form of a battle-axe, while the broadsword exhibiting a design of a lion on its steel he held in his bottom-right took on a vermilion sheen.

As both mystical weapons slammed down, Jae-Seong twisted himself in a spin that allowed him to avoid the edge of both instruments of violence as they smashed into the ground with a castle-shaking tremor.

While the Knight of Sin was hunched over with two of his weapons lodged into the shattered ground, the otherworlder slammed his boots down on both of the implanted weapons to keep them seeded.

"...Just where I want you!"

Jae-Seong yelled out as he unleashed a vicious straight punch against the shadowy-veiled face of the giant knight, causing the knight only to seemingly flinch from the hit before retaliating with its two free arms.

Crap, forgot about those! Jae-Seong thought.

With little time to react from his position, he evaded the reach of the top-right blade which exhibited an abnormal, saw-like edge as its bloodlust-coated aura drove him to duck. However, this left him only being able to raise his left arm and amplify his reinforcement as the cobalt blade slammed against his forearm.

"Gh…!"

He winced as the blade managed to penetrate his skin and a few inches of the flesh underneath, quickly pulling away as his new wound gushed out with crimson.

As he jumped back, the Knight of Sin methodically retrieved its blade stuck in the ground as a miasmic breath seeped from its veiled face.

...I'm off my game today. Only reason I still have an arm right now is that I managed to clench my muscles to catch the blade. Focus, Jae-Seong. This isn't a game, he thought.

Taking in a deep breath, he flexed his bleeding arm as tight as he could as blood trickled down to his clenched fist; bulbous veins pressed against his skin as sweat escaped his pores to mingle with his blood--finally managing to close the wound through strict muscle control.

"If I'm being honest...I've been off my game for a while now."

Jae-Seong spoke with a small smile as he let his arms hang down by his sides without any fighting stance held, standing in front of the malicious foe who cautiously circled him.

"Intruder. Execute."

The Knight of Sin spoke in a dark whisper, sliding the steel of the blades he held against one another in an ear-grating screech of metal.

"...Yeah, yeah. Be quiet for a second, would you? I'm having a moment here. Anyways, I guess in reality, I've been holding back without thinking just so I could have a bit of fun. It's because of that immaturity that people died--because of me."

As Jae-Seong spoke to the fiendish knight that didn't seem to listen, the four-armed, amalgamation of a soldier interrupted the curly-haired man with a swift slash of his sable battle-axe.

Jae-Seong didn't budge from the strike as the moment the weapon made contact with his shoulder, the steel cracked.

"I think it's time I stop messing around...maybe just for a little bit. You see, when I really try, you can't even hurt me, can you? If I let them see this, they'd think I was a real ass for holding out on them, wouldn't they? Well, it'll just be between you and me, big guy."

Without batting an eye at the failed strike, Jae-Seong continued to speak calmly as he looked up at the Knight of Sin, who backed away after having his slash miserably fall short.

That's right; I'm strong. Too strong to let others die because of me. The question is: am I strong enough to not let the same mistake happen again? Let's see, he thought.

"Let's do our best, knight."

As if recognizing this challenge, the four-armed knight stood tall, straightening its hunched over posture as all four weapons it wielded held a mystical glow, holding them as if presenting their magnificence to his opponent.

"A maximum threat. Must be handled immediately. Without fail. For the king."

The Knight of Sin spoke as its imposing figure made the lavish, marble lobby feel claustrophobic to the man.

"...Knights of The Round: Mordred, Lancelot, Tristan, and Agravaine. For the king we betrayed, we will atone, we will execute any who challenge his authority. This castle is under our eternal protection; in death, we will accomplish what we failed in life."

Speaking each of its true names, the tall-standing knight's blades responded to each original wielder's name.

"Camelot."

--A single word, but Jae-Seong quickly realized the intent behind it as the voice carrying it was laced with a deep, magical reservoir.

A tertiary spell? Jae-Seong thought.

In the next moment, a rumble came as the walls pushed outward, expanding quickly as the ceiling lifted higher--leaving them in a vast, open space as embedded in the ground, an uncountable number of forgotten blades laid in rest.

"Intruder whose fangs could reach the king, stopping you will be our atonement."

This time, the nebulous tone that laced the odd knight's words were gone as an air of nobility coated the amalgamate knight's speech.