She stood alone in the vast open fields of the Deadlands, carrying the weight of many who pleaded for salvation in her shoulders. The excruciating burden that had fallen into her hands began to sink her feet deep into the ground, tearing every muscle in her body just to keep herself standing. She fought back against it, yet not even a gladean knight could carry such a titan on her own, one that brimmed with the demonic power of a god.
Its eruption would bring with it a wave of irrepressible chaos and destruction, expanding further into every corner of the Deadlands as to spare none from its devastation. The knight resisted, but her efforts only served to delay the inevitable, as the black and crimson titan prepared to reveal its indominable power.
She, however, was a gladean knight. One who dreamt, trained, and endured for centuries in order to protect billions. A knight that would fight and die to protect the dozens, like those who came before her, like those that had fallen before her. That was the fate of every loyal knight, the ones that would diligently follow their word to the grave, and meet their maker with a smile at the end of their journey.
A sudden and bright crimson light almost blinded her vision, as the colossal horror she carried in both hands began to shake violently. Its condensed and unstable energy threatened to escape with a furious ignition, tearing fissures into its spectral recipient in an attempt to break free.
The gladean knight lowered her head with a sigh, as her decision could no longer be delayed. Her strength alone failed to lift the hefty weight of the time bomb that was dropped into her shoulders, leaving her with a single solution that would protect everyone from its catastrophic power.
Her divine pathway fired up with a fierce azure light, creating sparks of golden lightning that crawled all over her surroundings. As her own energy expanded far into the distance, gold turned into azure, and her crawling waves of electricity shaped themselves into a gigantic dome of lightning, confining everything within its vicinity to allow no escape to anything, or anyone trapped inside.
Southern Region of the Deadlands: 936, December 31st, Monday, 4:30
Devoured by absolute darkness, where the ordinary eye would loss itself in the shadows, Sebastian fought tooth and nail for his life against the violent onslaught of an infuriated gladean knight. The powerful strikes of her kicks and punches echoed in the depths of the enormous crater, too far down for their sounds to even reach the surface. The major protected himself with the blade of his sword, but even its supernatural spectral steel was put to the test by the might of The Golden Lightning.
Her wrathful mind allowed itself to be consumed by rage, utilizing its power as fuel to strengthen her attacks. Despite the pitch-black atmosphere of the battlefield, her azure glowing eyes functioned like sensors that scanned for the heat created by the major’s spectral energy—giving Atalanta an image of the man’s crimson artery network.
Sebastian in the other hand, made use of the powers granted to him by specter to track the gladean knight’s divine pathway. His crimson eyes followed her azure silhouette through the darkness, sparking with crackling waves of electricity that crawled all over her body.
“Please, wait!” the major begged as he was forced to retreat one step at a time, feeling the sheer force of the blonde knight’s attacks channel into his arms through the sword.
“Die already!” Atalanta roared, refusing to listen to her opponent.
Her incessant assault became more aggressive the further their battle prolonged, and the magnitude behind her impacts began to shatter Sebastian’s spectral blade with every hit. The blonde knight had locked her opponent in a blocking state, destroying her own knuckles in the major’s weapon just to get through the man’s defenses with brute force.
“Wait…” A thought crossed Sebastian’s mind, failing to recognize the fierce yet always composed knight he had fought twice before. “Ngh… please snap out of it!” he pleaded to her. “You are becoming a daemon, miss Atalanta!”
“Die!” was all The Golden Lightning could reply, as she propelled her fist forward with a powerful punch.
“Urk!”
Sebastian’s fears arrived sooner than he’d anticipated, as the spectral steel of his gigantic sword finally gave in to the pressure of the gladean knight. Its blade cracked with a snapping sound on impact with Atalanta’s fist, and while the weapon refused to crumble at first, a second strike from The Golden Lightning proved enough to change its fate completely.
Atalanta curved her fingers into a shaking fist, forcing her veins to surface through her skin by the absurd pressure on her grip. She launched a thrusting punch against the major’s sword, and completely demolished its armored spectral blade at contact, creating a blast of sharp black steel that erupted like a fragmentation grenade. Some of its chunks sliced the face and body of both Atalanta and Sebastian, while others embedded themselves in their flesh like shards of glass.
Ignoring the pain, the blonde knight had no time to waste now that her staggered opponent recoiled backwards with pain. Despite having lost her glaive, years of harsh and focused dedication to her training had transformed Atalanta into a fighting demon—a strength that only grew in power with the demonic influence of the Deadlands, scouring through her veins for a path to dominate her mind.
“…!” Recovering from the pain, Sebastian crossed both arms at the front while hiding his face behind them—preventing a clean hit from his adversary. “Augh!”
Her powerful strike forced the major to slide away through the dirt, making him drop on one knee in order to stop himself from drifting further away, aiding his stop by planting one hand on the ground. Given no time to rest however, his tired eyes quickly caught the bright azure silhouette rushing at him with an aggressive push, prompting him to jump back on his feet by instinct alone.
“You have to kill her…” a voice resonated in his ear.
“Sovereign!” the major reacted with shock, proceeding to leap away from Atalanta’s diving kick. “Is it—”
“Listen to me, Sebastian… there’s nothing you can do to save her.” Claimed the young voice. “You have to kill Atalanta.”
The intense battle continued, and while The Golden Lightning’s restless assault prevented the major from moving into the offensive, he would find little gaps between the fight to speak to the young man that whispered in his ear. While skepticism over took him during his conversation with Sovereign—as his presence being nothing but a trick from the god still remained a possibility, the honest and familiar tone behind his voice proved more than enough evidence for the major’s innocent mind to believe in the young man’s words.
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“I… can’t…” he said, struggling to keep up with his opponent’s growing strength. “You have to help me…”
“She is getting stronger as she fights, Sebastian. I… I can’t help you in my situation. You have the strength you need to defeat her in such a state, but you won’t stand a chance if you allow her corruption to grow.”
“What? Where are you? What happened to Loki?”
“Lionheart is on her way, Sebastian.” Claimed the voice. “You can’t allow Atalanta to leave that place… a daemon like her would be too much for anyone to handle at this point. Lionheart is still here, and she won’t stand a chance against her if they were to meet in the battlefield.”
A gasp escaped the major, as the terrific consequences of letting such a dangerous foe to be corrupted suddenly dawn on him—the safety of his precious daughter replacing every thought in his mind. Sovereign’s words urged him to fight, while Claire’s happiness reinvigorated his old spirit to remain strong. There was no choice to make, with everything on the line, Sebastian had to break the chackles that restrained his power, and confront The Golden Lightning with everything he had to offer.
He ducked under Atalanta’s swift horizontal kick, and with no chains holding him back, responded with a powerful punch against the abdomen of his opponent. His fist connected successfully with the blonde knight’s stomach, shaking the ground on impact, and flinging her away into the distance—allowing him the space he desperately needed.
The major wrapped his fingers around the shotgun hanging from his left leg, tearing it off its leather holster to hold it in his hands. “I’m doing it…” he whispered to himself with closed eyes, inhaling deeply as he tightened his grip on the spectral shotgun. “Sovereign…”
“This isn’t the time.”
“Promise that my daughter will be safe.”
“I already did,” replied the young man. “And you won’t be going anywhere, not until you see her again. I promised you that too… don’t think for even second that I’ve forgotten.”
Sovereign’s words drew a happy chuckle from the major, who—with the crushing force of his hand, shattered the demonic sawed-off shotgun into a million pieces of black steel. Its fragments scattered in the wind and joined with the shadows of the Deadlands, however, all the power that was kept sealed within it, crawled into Sebastian’s skin while inserting itself into his flesh to invade the man’s body. The crimson flowing waves of energy entered every artery within him, joining with the major, and altering his body into a spectral appearance.
His arms and legs hardened with the black exoskeleton of the demons, crawling through his chest, and overtaking the right half of his head. Sebastian’s eyes glowed fiercely with a crimson light, as a large horn emerged from one side of his forehead, curling its way to the back. His power grew remarkably, and the crimson light of his spectral body brought light to the total darkness that once surrounded him.
The enraged Golden Lightning was quick to recover from his attack with an aggressive roar, and with no mind for the man’s transformation, continued her assault with even more intensity than before. Her mind had almost been lost to the Deadlands, the brutal marks in her body becoming proof of the horrors she endured during her path towards the god—a path she chose to neglect, all to protect those in desperate need of her powers.
Both knight and specter engaged in a fight that refused to meet its inevitable end, as not even the deep shadows of the battlefield served as an obstacle for either contender. Their fists clashed in a thunderous display of might that would never leave the depths of the Deadlands, reached the ears of those hiding outside of its walls, or seen by the eyes of history.
Their perception of time was lost the further they fought for control of the battle, with both Sebastian and Atalanta becoming absorbed by the power of the demons. While the major showed near absolute control of his abilities, The Golden Lightning’s elegant and sparking azure eventually lost its vibrant colors, ravaged by a crimson light that overtook both her body and mind.
“Sorry…” the major apologized to the lost knight.
He raised one arm to his side to deflect the swift hook from Atalanta, flinging her fist away and stunning her enough to move into the offensive. Sebastian responded with a strong uppercut that forced Atalanta to stumble backwards, allowing him to punish his foe with a violent combination of punches to the face and torso. The blonde knight’s painful cries echoed at the bottom of the hellish zone, as the new sharp and spectral knuckles of the major began to shatter the bones in her body.
The Golden Lighting jumped away from her opponent as soon as the opportunity presented itself, holding her sides while groaning with agony as blood dripped from her mouth. She panted heavily with fatigue, yet her weakened and injured body had brought nothing but peace to the woman’s mind, just enough for her to break through her corrupted self. Atalanta escaped the influence of the Deadlands, only to witness the monstrosity that she had become. The azure glow that she was born with, solid proof of her lineage as a pure-blooded knight—a race she proudly belonged to, had now been tainted by a demonic crimson that did not belong to her.
She dropped her arms, and lifted her head to witness the powerful demon in front of her—recognizing the familiar shape of the horn in his head. The major prepared to execute his final attack, gathering every bit of energy within his body to form a blazing ball of crimson energy in his palm. A tiny spark inside of her begged Atalanta to fight, but the thought of becoming a daemon—a corrupted being that possessed the strength of an army of knights, lingered deep within her mind.
“Hah… ” a resigned chuckle escaped the blonde knight, who curved her lips into a tired smile. “I guess this is it…” she whispered. “Ninigi… Please forgive me. All that effort you put into saving my life… just for me to end this way. Maulik, Gal… I really wanted to train with you more… I had so much to teach you both…” her head dropped, allowing herself to crumble under the hundreds of wounds that afflicted her broken body. “Loki… I guess it’s up to you now… the one breaking her promise… will be me.” She amassed enough strength in her fingers to form a fist, shaking with frustration, anger, and sadness. “H… H… I’m sorry… I can’t believe… I can’t believe I’ve forgotten your name… I only hope you knew…” she huffed a chuckle. “How much you meant to me… you truly were a champion among all of us.”
Her gaze met the crimson light of the horned demon, illuminating her defeated expression within the depths of the Deadlands. Although he would be the one walking out the victor, Sebastian’s expression matched the sorrow behind Atalanta’s corrupted eyes, as their gazes met for the final blow of the battle.
“I’m sorry…”
“I heard you just fine the first time…” the blonde knight replied. “End it… before I lose myself completely.”
“Maybe there’s anot—”
“Do it… there is no worse fate for a gladean knight than becoming a daemon… you will be doing me a favor. I have no strength to go back and recover… and I’ve lost control of my pathway.”
“Right… Thanks for saving me from that Wendigo when we first met,” Sebastian told her, shifting his expression suddenly into a grateful smile. “He was kinda tough, and I loved watching my team’s reaction to your arrival.” He furrowed his brows, saddening his happy expression. “If only we could’ve met in different circumstances… I just know my daughter would’ve loved to get to know you.”
“Hah…” A second chuckle escaped The Golden Lightning, defeated, and with no further words to offer.
With the shaking ball of energy in his hand, Sebastian placed it near her chest in a gentle and comforting manner, watching as its energy flowed into the blonde knight’s corrupted pathway. Atalanta recoiled as the major’s attack crushed her artery network from within, groaning and twisting with agony before the pain forced her to drop on her knees. The crimson energy that consumed her eventually ignited at the core of her heart, killing off the light that granted life to the blonde knight.
“…” the glow in her eyes faded, shrouding the area into absolute darkness once again. Atalanta dropped to the ground motionless, her extremely long hair resting peacefully on her back—as if protecting her lifeless body from the silent battlefield.
Another gladean knight had fallen to the Deadlands, joining with the millions of warriors that met their tragic end in isolated obscurity. A fire that ignited from childhood, as she raced to the top in pursuit of the title of champion, culminated at the bottom of a dark and empty pit of darkness, created by her pure desire to save the ones she swore to protect. The Golden Lightning thundered furiously with pride, but would fall to the underhanded methods of the immortal god like the rest of her comrades, refusing to abandon those who begged to be saved at the cost of her own life.
END OF CHAPTER