Chapter 80: The Knight & The Key!

The obsidian gate’s runes bled golden light into the catacombs, casting long, warped shadows that rippled across the walls.

Albedo holstered Havoc and Ruin slowly, eyes narrowing as he saw it, “Stay sharp.”

Then the darkness inside parted, not from any light source, but as though the shadows themselves thinned, and revealed the room beyond.

Albedo stepped forward, his boots crossing through the portal alongside Ember, and the world shifted alongside them.

The chamber that unfolded on the other side was immense. The oppressive, winding corridors of the catacombs gave way to a vast cathedral of black marble.

Pillars of polished black marble the width of siege towers lined the sides of the chamber, stretching to the vaulted ceiling above.

Banners hung between the pillars, their fabric thick and pristine despite what must have been centuries untouched. Each bore the same symbol, an angular crown resting atop a skeletal hand.

The air was cold but thick, carrying the faint metallic tang of blood beneath a heavier, older scent, like ancient dust.

The floor beneath them was made of inlaid bone and gold, arranged into intricate spirals that drew the eye toward the center of the room.

And there…standing perfectly still upon a dais of black stone… was a Death Knight.

Its armor was ornate, sculpted from black steel with veins of dull crimson running across it like dried blood locked within the metal.

The helm was a jagged thing, shaped into a permanent skull-like grin. The eyes beneath were empty darkness… until Albedo stepped forward. Then, they lit, twin embers of baleful green.

Across the Death Knight’s back was a greatsword wider than Albedo’s chest, its edge serrated and cruel, the steel warped as though forged in the heart of a volcano.

In its gauntleted left hand, it held a single object, a key. Black as the deepest abyss, yet its outline shimmered faintly, making it seem to exist in several places at once.

The moment the Death Knight’s gaze fell fully upon them, the gold light of the room dimmed, shadows bleeding inward as if pulled toward the dais.

When it spoke, its voice was not one sound but many, an echo of countless warriors whispering through a hollowed tomb.

“Only through blood may the path to Seraphyne’s Tomb be unbarred. Claim the Key… if you survive the trial.”

No further words followed, no further words were necessary, its point was very clear.

The Death Knight stepped down from the dais without haste, each movement causing the black marble beneath its boots to crack in hairline fractures.

The massive greatsword slid from its back with a shriek of metal on metal, the sound reverberating through the chamber like the wail of a dying world.

Albedo’s hand twitched. In a blur, Havoc and Ruin were in his grasp.

The moment the blade’s point kissed the ground, the air shifted, heavy and suffocating, as though gravity itself had turned predatory. Ember pawed the floor, white-blue fire spilling from her mane and hooves in restless streams.

Then the Death Knight moved, blurring.

One instant it was twenty meters away, the next the greatsword screamed through the air at a diagonal slash. The force behind it warped the space around its arc, tugging at Albedo’s coat and hair before the blade even came close.

~BANG!~

Havoc roared in Infernal Mode, a crimson round slamming into the Knight’s chest. The detonation splashed molten flame across its armor, flaring bright enough to scorch the gold inlay beneath its feet.

The knight staggered, but did not stop. The swing came down regardless, but the swing only hit a mirage of Albedo, as he had already repositioned.

~BANG!~

The greatsword struck the floor, cracking the bone-gold mosaic in a fan-shaped fracture. A second later, black liquid light oozed from the cracks and began crawling up the pillars, dimming the banners.

Ember surged forward, intercepting. She hit the Knight in the flank, her weight and celestial flames slamming into the black steel.

~BOOM!~

The impact echoed like a struck bell, sending a shockwave of heat outward. The Knight slid half a step, gauntleted hand tightening around its weapon as it immediately decided to retaliate.

The greatsword sweeping low toward Ember’s legs. She vaulted upward, hooves igniting, and brought both down onto the Knight’s helm.

The flames seared the jagged crown, but the thing did not cry out, it simply turned the momentum into a spin, trying to backhand her.

However, Ember could easily pivot, and unleashed another wave of flames that clung to the Knight’s armor relentlessly.

Simultaneously, Albedo fired Ruin in Graviton Mode. The slug hit square in the Knight’s side, the impact crushing the black steel inward, and a gravitational implosion yanked the Knight sideways mid-spin, its footing tearing great gouges in the floor.

A nearby pillar groaned and split where the pull dragged fragments of its stone toward the implosion point.

~THOOM!~

The Knight anchored itself with the tip of its sword, embedding it into the marble, and wrenched free just as Albedo closed the distance, shooting Havoc twice, two Infernal rounds, point blank, both detonating against the Knight’s torso in overlapping bursts.

The flames painted the entire chamber red-gold. For an instant, Albedo thought he saw bone beneath the armor. Then a gauntlet closed in around his forearm, but Albedo moved, the hand only catching his mirage as he reappeared alongside Ember.

Above them, shadow poured from the vaulted ceiling, spindly, half-formed things with too many arms and no faces.

Ambushers.

Albedo snapped Ruin up and swapped to Mana-Drain Mode. The first shadow dropped toward him, claws outstretched, and he put a round through its chest.

The impact dissolved its body into smoke, and a rush of stolen mana flooded into him, cool and sharp

The others hissed and swarmed, but Ember was already there. She erupted into a gallop, leaping into the midst of the falling pack, her horn a scything blade of starfire. Limbs flew. Black ichor hissed where it touched her flames, burning away to nothing.

The Death Knight charged again, each step cracked more of the gold-bone spiral, sending tremors through the floor.

Albedo dashed sideways, keeping just ahead of a vertical slash that split a pillar clean in two. The top half groaned before collapsing, smashing into the floor with enough force to throw up shards like shrapnel. One such shard cut his cheek.

He swapped Havoc to Graviton Mode and firing, not at the Knight, but at the falling pillar fragment. The slug’s implosion caught the debris mid-air and hurled it toward the Knight’s helm.

The Knight swatted it aside, but in that moment Ember’s hooves struck its exposed flank. The impact knocked the greatsword slightly off-course, and Albedo slipped inside its guard.

Two rounds, Havoc Infernal, Ruin Mana-Drain, slammed into its chest. The first engulfed the Knight in flames, the second siphoned away the strength behind its armor, making it stagger for the first time.

A hollow voice rasped from within the helm,

“Better… than the last one.”

Once it finished speaking, the Death Knight surged forward again, but before it could hit an attack, the air in the room shifted.

Albedo’s pistols clicked together with a fluid twist reshaping into a single elongated weapon, barrel gleaming with etched runes that crawled and shifted like living things.

Execution Mode!

All sound seemed to drain from the environment as Albedo focused up, readying himself to fire.

The Knight sensed the power of the incoming shots and raised its blade for a killing sweep, the serrated edge hissing through the air.

However, Ember met it head-on, rearing high, her forehooves wreathed in blinding celestial fire. The clash rang out like a star exploding, steel against burning eternity. The greatsword’s edge shuddered under the pressure, sparks cascading.

Albedo didn’t waste the opening.

First shot!

The weapon’s core whined, then released, a beam of compressed crimson energy screaming across the space. It punched into the Knight’s shoulder, tearing through black steel and spraying molten fragments onto the gold-bone floor.

The Knight staggered greatly, its bone actually showing as the flames had burned through parts of its armor.

The shadows above shrieked and dove in retaliation, but Ember snapped her head up, unleashing a corona of flame that reduced them to falling embers before they could reach her rider. She kicked off, circling wide, forcing the Knight to split its attention.

Albedo stepped in.

Second shot!

A gravitational slug twisted reality around the Knight’s torso, dragging it half a step toward him against its will. Armor groaned, the plates pulling apart under the crushing force, revealing more blackened, withered flesh beneath.

The Knight roared in sheer defiance and tried to bring its sword down in a brutal overhead strike. Ember intercepted again, slamming into its side like a meteor.

The blow knocked the Knight sideways, its swing gouging the marble instead of cleaving Albedo in two.

Third shot!

Fired straight into the Knight’s exposed chest cavity. The round hit like a hammer, ripping away a surge of its strength. Albedo felt the rush of stolen mana course into him, sharpening his senses, making his next breath feel like lightning in his lungs.

The Knight faltered, one knee striking the floor with a sharp crack, armor steaming from the mingled assault of flame, gravity, and mana disruption. Still, it tried to rise, eyes burning brighter, green fire spilling from between the seams of its helm.

Albedo leveled the weapon, the final round’s runes flaring white-hot, brighter than any mode before. The hum became a scream, mana condensing into something denser than air itself. The Execution round.

The Knight’s gaze locked onto him. “End… it,” the voice rasped, almost like a challenge, almost like a request.

Ember stood to his side, her mane a raging halo, her hooves cracking the marble with every step in anticipation.

Fourth shot!

The blast was blinding, pure, condensed annihilation. It tore through the Knight’s chest, vaporizing steel and bone alike.

The force launched it backward, slamming it into the dais so hard the black stone cratered. For a heartbeat, the Knight remained upright, green fire sputtering within its helm… then the flames guttered out, leaving only darkness.

The greatsword slipped from its fingers and clattered to the floor. The body followed, collapsing in a heap of broken armor that dissolved into drifting ash. The black Key hit the marble with a dull chime, its edges still flickering in and out of reality.

Albedo lowered the weapon, letting it split back into Havoc and Ruin with a hiss of cooling metal. Ember stepped closer, pressing her blazing muzzle briefly against his shoulder before turning her gaze toward the fallen Key.

The chamber was silent now, save for the faint hiss of smoldering banners and the slow settling of shattered marble.

Trial complete & First Key Obtained!

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