Shadow Slave

The black blade fell down, missing Nephis only by a hair's breadth. She rolled back and performed an impossible handspring, launching herself into the air from the ground. Landing on the marble floor with an effortless grace of a trained acrobat, Changing Star slid back a few meters and came to a stop some distance away from the devil.

But he was just as fast... no, much faster. The giant was already lunging forward to skewer her on the tip of his terrible greatsword. She shifted slightly, dodging the deadly attack, a dashed forward along the vast length of the black blade. Her sword flashed through the air and impacted against the vambrace of the menacing armor, leaving a deep scratch on its dark surface.

…Everything was happening so fast that other members of the cohort were having trouble joining the fight. The Stone Saint had just landed on the marble floor a moment ago and was currently rising back to her feet. Effie had recovered from receiving the full brunt of the Black Knight's first attack and was rushing forward, but she was still a few meters away.

Kai had drawn his bow, but couldn't send an arrow flying without the risk of hitting one of his companions. With how potent the enchantment of the Blood Arrow was, this was something he could not allow to happen.

Cassie mostly relied on Echoes to fight, and since they were not enhanced by the Dawn Shard, their utility in this battle would not have been high. More than that, they risked being destroyed by a single strike from the devil. As such, she was relegated to holding back for now, and would only join the fight if things really went south.

So for now, it was up to Sunny and Caster to slow the fiend down.

Their only saving grace, and the point that Sunny had explained in detail, was that the terrifying greatsword, while deadly and utterly unstoppable — well, almost — was ultimately an unwieldy weapon.

The Black Knight was strong enough to throw it around as though the giant blade weighed no more than a feather and skilled enough to turn momentum and inertia into useful tools as opposed to obstacles, but he still had to obey the laws of physics. Even more importantly, the damn thing was very long.

Which meant that they had to stick to the Fallen Devil like glue in order to use its long reach against him.

As the steel giant sidestepped and pulled his greatsword into a vicious horizontal swipe aimed at Changing Star, Sunny closed the distance between them and approached the devil from the opposite side. The Midnight Shard flashed, striking at the elbow joint of the plate armor.

All Sunny achieved was leave a small scratch on it, but he also pushed the Black Knight's hand down and closer to his body a bit, changing the angle of the swipe slightly. At the same time, Caster dove under the terrible blade and suddenly appeared right in front of the devil, thrusting his jian at the steel helmet.

The Black Knight just turned his head slightly, causing the ghostly green blade to slide off the helmet without doing any damage. At the same time, he let go of the sword with one hand and threw his elbow back, almost smashing Sunny's skull in.

…All the while continuing his deadly strike at Nephis.

Nevertheless, their tandem attack helped Changing Star avoid being cut in half. Taking a swift step forward, she raised her own sword and received the blow on its blade. Since she had time to close the distance and was now mere centimeters away from the devil, the part of the greatsword that hit her was close to the cross-guard, and as such, did not carry too much destructive force.

Still, it was enough to send her crashing onto the ground, the sword sliding from her hand.

Even with the three of them fighting together, they couldn't slow the cursed creature for more than a moment.

But then, a moment was all they needed. Because it gave Effie enough time to rejoin the fight.

It also gave Kai the opportunity to take a shot.

A black arrow streaked through the air… and plunged right into the crack of the devil's visor.

Sunny noticed a startled expression on the charming archer's face. He himself was stunned, too: no one had expected Kai to actually hit the bastard right in the only chink in his armor, least of all Kai himself.

The head of the Black Knight was violently jerked backward.

…But in the next moment, Kai staggered and groaned.

'Curse it! Why am I always right?!'

Sunny had anticipated that result, too. He had guessed a long time ago that there was no flesh beneath the menacing black armor. Rather, the armor itself was the Nightmare Creature, or at least the vessel for the evil soul of a powerful revenant. As such, there was no blood for the ghastly arrow to drink. That's why Kai had been affected by the backlash of his Fallen Memory despite hitting his target.

Just in case something like that happened, Sunny had tasked the charming archer with fashioning a few mundane arrows out of splinters of bone that was everywhere on the Forgotten Shore.

So Kai wasn't entirely out of the fight, yet. However, the amount of damage he would be able to do to the terrifying devil was not extremely low.

'Damnation!'

But Sunny had no time to lament this turn of events. The battle was only growing more chaotic and fierce…

Thanks to the incredible precision of Kai's shot, the Black Knight was disoriented for a moment. Effie arrived just at the right time to use it to their advantage. Leaning low, the used the momentum of her lunge and the bone-breaking weight of the Dusk Shard to deliver a devastating blow to the thigh of the steel giant. As another shockwave of sound rolled through the grand hall, the fiend staggered.

But a fraction of a second later, he brought his armored fist down on the mighty huntress, causing her to reel away with a pained scream. The pommel of the black sword lurched forward, catching Caster in the chest despite how fast the proud Legacy was moving. He crumbled to the floor like a broken mannequin.

Lastly, the Black Knight turned his blade to Sunny, causing him to retreat.

The damn bastard was simply unstoppable. None of their attacks had achieved anything except for annoying him a little.

'Not good, not good...'

…Pushing herself off the ground, Nephis looked at the Fallen Devil that towered above her like a bastion of darkness. Her face was pale, and there was blood flowing from her mouth.

What's worse, the silver sword had slid far away and was now out of her reach. The incandescent radiance disappeared from its blade, allowing for the darkness that hid in the corners of the grand call to slowly begin crawling back.

Nothing stood between her and the Black Knight anymore.

Suddenly opening his eyes wide, Sunny glanced into the depths of the cathedral.

And then, a simple scream escaped from his lips:

"Neth! Run!"