But that only seemed to drive it madder with rage.
A low, building rumble started deep within the Knight, escalating into a world-shaking roar of pure, unadulterated fury. The tactical intelligence in its movements vanished, replaced by a blind, destructive frenzy. It became a whirlwind of obliteration.
Its first wild swing caught Effie completely off guard. The dark blade whistled past her midsection, so close it sliced through her leathers and drew a line of blood across her stomach. She only avoided being bisected by throwing herself into a desperate, graceless backward lunge, hitting the ground hard. "Damn it!" she spat, scrambling away.
The Knight didn't pursue her. It swung its free hand toward the writhing shadows where Sasrir fought his silent war. A wave of solidified darkness, like a black tidal wave, erupted from the floor. It slammed into Sasrir's form, pinning him against the cathedral wall with crushing force. The shadows around him writhed and strained, but he was trapped, his crucial contest of the darkness momentarily neutralized.
Seeing my allies falter, Gemma barely holding the line and Seishan forced purely on the defensive, I knew my moment of waiting was over. The Crucifix was hot in my hand, but it wasn't enough. I needed more.
I slashed my own palm across the sharpened top of the Crucifix, a line of bright red blood welling up instantly. I ignored the sting and held the now blood-smeared artifact aloft. My voice, amplified by a surge of power, rang out through the cathedral, layered with the compelling force of my Bard abilities.
"God says Darkness is ineffective here!" I declared, my words not a prayer but a command. "God says Light is more effective here!"
The effect was immediate and draining. A wave of dizziness hit me as the "rules" of the battlefield were forcibly rewritten. The oppressive gloom in the cathedral didn't vanish, but it visibly recoiled, thinning and pulling back from the center of the room. The Black Knight, still mid-frenzy, visibly dimmed, its form losing its solid, glossy sheen. It staggered as if struck, its connection to its power source violently disrupted.
At the same time, a surge of revitalizing energy washed over my companions, brought by a gentle chorus of song. Gemma stood straighter, the fatigue lines on his face smoothing. Effie found her feet with renewed speed. Seishan twirled her hammer with a sadistic flourish.
But the cost was immense. I felt lightheaded, the blood from my palm dripping steadily onto the floor. And I had made myself the biggest target. The Knight's rampaging fury, robbed of its fuel, needed a new focus. Its head, with its helm now cracked, swiveled. Two points of crimson wrath ignited within the darkness of its visor, locking straight onto me. The blind frenzy was gone, replaced by a cold, singular, and utterly homicidal intent. It had detected me as the reason for its' current weakness, and was rightfully pissed.
As the Black Knight rushed towards me, tunnelling through the darkness—slower now, hampered by my Notarization—I didn't panic. A cold smile touched my lips. In front of me, sparks of silver light materialized, coalescing into the formidable form of Stone Saint. Her own blade was already in motion, a sweeping, unstoppable arc meeting the Fallen Devil's charging head.
He had invested too much force into his desperate charge. He couldn't react in time. Saint's stone sword smashed straight into his helmet with the sound of a cathedral bell cracking. The force was catastrophic. The Knight was thrown from its shadowy tunnel, spiraling backwards to crash into a wall of roiling darkness. It reformed further away, unsteady, but the damage was done. Its helmet was nearly popped off, hanging on by a twisted scrap of obsidian-like material. Vaguely, a writhing, formless blackness could be seen seething beneath the metal covering.
"Target the sword!" I yelled, pushing past my dizziness to channel another surge of power into Saint. She glowed with a faint, silvery aura, her movements becoming even more fluid and powerful. She charged ahead, a living battering ram, with Seishan, Effie, and a reinvigorated Gemma flanking her. To the side, Sasrir finally managed to shatter his dark bonds, his form erupting from the wall to re-join the fight as a vengeful whirlwind of shadows.
Swamped by five fighters, all empowered beyond their normal limits, the Black Knight was overwhelmed. It struggled to fend off the coordinated assault, especially as they proactively targeted the massive greatsword it wielded. Blows weren't aimed at its body, but at the weapon's blade, its hilt, the wrists that held it. Gemma's axe hammered the flat of the blade, deflecting it. Effie's spear-tip skittered along the edge, seeking a weakness in the dark metal. Seishan's hammer blows were focused entirely on the crossguard, trying to break the Knight's grip.
The Knight, desperate, blocked one of Seishan's most vicious, two-handed swings not with its sword, but by throwing its gauntleted hand in the way. The beaked head of the war hammer crunched into the armored fist, and we heard the distinct sound of shattering metal. It had saved its weapon, but nearly at the cost of its hand. The gauntlet hung limp, the fingers within useless.
That was the opening Sasrir needed. While the Knight was distracted by the agony in its hand, a tendril of shadow, sharper than any physical blade, lashed out from the floor. It didn't strike the Knight. It wrapped around the greatsword's hilt, right below the guard, and pulled with immense, sudden force.
The Knight's grip, already compromised, failed. The massive dark greatsword was wrenched from its grasp, clattering across the stone floor. Before it could even lunge for the weapon, Gemma was on it. With a final, roaring heave, he brought his own sword down on the center of the abandoned blade. There was a shriek of tormented metal, and the Fallen Devil's sword shattered into a dozen jagged, dissipating fragments of darkness.
The Knight froze, the crimson light in its broken helm flickering. Its primary weapon, the conduit for much of its destructive power, was gone. It stood disarmed, wounded, and surrounded. But it wasn't down yet.
"Everybody get back!"
They had just followed my order when, with a banshee-like screech, the Black Knight exploded in a cloud of all-consuming darkness. Its metal armour shattered and flew across the hall in fragments, and a part nearly took out my eye. Without the sword, the Fallen Devil had revealed its final form.
But for me, that was exactly what I was waiting for
"Now, Adam! Do it now!" Sasrir bellowed, once again trying to stall the Knight in a battle of shadows.
This was it. I raised the Crucifix. "Holy Light Summoning!" A beam of pure, concentrated sunlight, impossibly bright in the dark hall, lanced across the room. It struck the Black Knight directly overhead, enveloping its entire body without sparing a single inch.
It wasn't a beam this time. It was an eruption.