Collaboration of Pyromania99, Lucius Cypher, Ryonara and Konan ____________________________________________________________________ Just as the other students had defeated the Fallen Sorcerer, the next demon attacked. The Black Knight; a warrior of the Inferno. He watched the battle and knew who was the biggest threat; the eysire with the battle axe, who seemed to be have the mind to lead the others. The Black Knight made plans to eliminate him, but first he had to fulfil his objective; free Zaad. In the distance stood a tall pillar of Inferno Fire, so violent and intense that even demons would be burnt to ash being near it. He noticed the woman sitting calmly near by in a wooden Chair, and suspected wisely that she was an opponet to be wary of. He would have to strike hard and fast however, as all he needed to do was dispell the pillar and free the demon inside. As his fellow demons fought the battle around him, The Black Knight got itno a readied stance before shooting out like an arrow, over the footsoldiers and moving directly towards the pillar. As the Black Knight shot through the air, another flew as well. Her goal was different from his though. It was to stop him. “Not today!” Lyris shouted as she flew into the Black Knight and redirected him towards the ground. With that action, she chained into it a blast of air. If nothing else, she hoped that it would at least create a small diversion for others to help. The Black Knight was not expecting resistance like this. Rather foolish actually, as he did not want to fall to the same trap as the arrogant Fallen Sorcerer. Still, the Black Knight was forced onto the ground but on his feet. He looked towards the flying girl. She didn't seem to be too much of a threat, so he would kill her quickly. Angling his sword at her, the Black Knight vanished in a series of after images. His true form only appeared right as he had his blade poised to cut down the flying girl. [b]"Don't even think about it!"[/b] Meirin shouted as she finished a Weaving Spell, launching a gust of wind right at her feet to propel her into the air strait towards the Black Knight. She stabbed her spear at the Black Knight towards his chest to impale him through the folds of his armor, or at least knock him away from Lyris. Another foe appeared, the Red Haired warrior that he saw from before. Her spear bounced off his armor plates, but the only thing he could do to counter was to kick the Red Haired girl at the flying one as he was sent back onto the ground. He landed on his feet once more as he returned to his stance. Right now the flying girl was still the bigger threat, as he did not think that the redhaired girl could counter attack or resume her flight. To not waste his energy, he simply leapt towards the girl again to impale her on his sword. Lyris caught sight of the Black Knight leaping at her before her fellow student was caught in her arms and they flew back. With Meirin in her arms, Lyris used her wings to blast air and dodge to the side. Sadly, besides not getting hit, there was not much she could do right now. Her wings and her power help keep her afloat, but that can only last so long. “Not the best circumstances are these?” She asked Meirin as she recovered from the dodge’s blast. The Black Knight only managed to land his feet onto the shaft of her spear, leaving Meirin mostly unharmed aside from hitting Lyris. [b]"Yeah... This guy is tough! Damn bastard keeps jumping around."[/b] As the knight came at them again, Meirin braced her spear towards him, hoping that he'd impale himself on it as he tried to attack them. [b]"We need to keep him from being so mobile! I actually have an idea, if we can work this out somehow..."[/b] The Black Knight once again nearly found himself killed as the redhaired woman aimed her spear at his chest. It had a longer range than his sword, so at the last minute all he could do was block the spear and found himself back on the ground. He was wasting too much time trying to deal with these two. He looked towards the pillars and made a break for it. If he could free Zaad, he could than deal with the besky students. Lyris took off after him with Meirin when she noticed him bolt towards the pillar again. "Any plan then?" She asked Meirin as they caught up to the knight. "Tell me what you need me to do." [b]"If you have any more magic left into you, use it and blast me as hard as you can at that Knight!"[/b] Meirin's spear was still poised to the back of the knight, but she knew if she could just slide it underneath his armor, no matter how strong a demon he was, surely it would kill him. She just needed a speed boost to get the force behing her stab. Lyris nodded, "Just don't bite your tounge off." She set Meirin up so she could be launched easier. With all her might she launched the girl at the demon enemy, hoping that the red-head could kill it. "Good luck!" The demon had at least ten more yards to go before he felt something puncture through his armor. He turned his head to see that the red-haired girl had stabbed him in the back of the knee, forcing him to kneel. [b]"Damn..."[/b] The demon spoke quietly as he pulled the spear out, throwing it and the user towards the pillar of fire. He tried to stand, but his wound made that difficult even for him. Seemed like he won't be able to fulfil his mission... But at least he could die with a bit of honor left intact. The Fallen Sorcerer gave him his powers, which he used to restore his leg back to normal. He had put this off for longer than he should have; he would fight these two students, and defeat them. If he could, than there should be no one to stop him from freeing Zaad. And if they do stop him... It would at least be a worthy death. The Black Knight took on a defensive stance and was ready for any attack. Meirin wanted to impale the knight through the chest, but she supposed that nailing him through the knee worked to stop him. Too bad he seemed to have healing magic, as he was just fine by the time Meirin got back to her feet. It was very hot near the tall pillar of fire, wherever that came from. Seemed like it was the demon's objective however, and now that she stood between it and the Black Knight, perhaps now he would stop running and fight. From his stance he was prepared for Meirin to attack first, but she knew better than to try to fight him in his element. Instead she began to weave her magic together, and finished by blasting a gust of air at him. Meirin followed shortly behind the gust of air, and she hoped Lyris was still nearby to offer her support, however that comes. Lyris was exhausted to say the least. She never really exerted herself that much. She hoped it was this same exhaustion that made her see that the enemy healed himself. She finally grounded herself to take a rest and hoped to whatever god that her vision was messing with her. Sadly, that was not the case. He really had healed his injury and was already standing again. Lyris wasn't sure what she could do to help. The most, she figured, was probably lobing air balls at the demon. She looked around to see if there were anything else to help. She found stones laying around. . . Perhaps. . . The Black Knight stabbed his sword into the ground to prevent himself from being pushed back by the gust of wind, and than slashed upwards at the spear-woman as her weapon came close to him. He didn't waste much movements with fancy attacks; after slashing his sword to deflect the attack, he swung his blade the oppisite direction to cleave the woman from shoulder to hip. "Hey!" Before the sword could hit Meirin, another sword shot up to block the blade. Leith could feel the power of the swing travel all the way up his arm. [i]Maybe trying to block the attack was a bad idea.[/i] As quickly as he could, and with as much force he could muster, he pushed the blocked sword down and to his right. Meirin would have been half the woman she is now if Leith didn't come in and block the Knight's attack. She didn't let his efforts go to waste as she pulled her spear back again and thrusted towards the Knight's shoulder, hoping to penetrate his pouldron. But she didn't stop there. She launched a flurry of blows to the knight's shoulder, chest, gut, legs, and arm, as his weapon was being locked by Leith's sword. A new challenger appeared, deflecting the Knight's attack and leaving him exposed for the spearwoman's flurry. His armor deflected most of the stabs and only got a little bit scratched up. The Knight stepped back and away from the two fighters, noticing that one of them had a Daemon Artes. [b]"Hmph."[/b] He grunted as he took out one of his own; Sephira Sword, a small sword shaped amulet. Wrapping his hand around it and releasing it, he summoned an [url=http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130708043430/finalfantasy/images/7/71/Sephira-ffxii.png]absurdly large sword[/url]. It was larger than the Knight, but floated on it's own. And by the way it flew towards Leith, fought on it's own as well. The Knight charged at Meirin once more, sidestepping to avoid her stabs and swinging his sword in a wide arch at waist high. A hand grabbed the back of Meirin's shirt and yanked her out of the path of the blade. A tall man clad in robes leaned down and spoke into her ear over the sound of the fighting in the dining hall. "Go help the pale one. He needs help," he said as he pointed towards Leith. Sure enough, the man looked like he was about to keel over, even as he readied himself to defend against the flying sword. Darius straightened up and faced the thing in armor, unsheathing his sword as he did so. "I despise fights where one faces many. Let us fight like it should be." The knight watched as a new challenger arrived. Unlike the others, this one was not so young. He carried himself like a true warrior, an experienced fighter and someone who could pose a challenge. Indeed, the Knight rather would not have to fight so many opponents at once, even if it would make more sense for the weak. Either this man was strong or cocky, and the Black Knight would soon discover which. The Knight lunged towards the man with his sword aimed to impale him thorugh the stomach. While she wanted to protest being taken out of the fight like that by the stranger, Meirin did see that Leith seemed to be struggling against the magic word. So Meirin didn't argue with the stranger as she went over to help Leith, though she wasn't sure how. She could kill a demon easy enough, but how does someone kill a sword? Meirin pulled Leith up to his feet and away from the flying sword as Meirin attacked it, stabbing it anywhere that looked like a weak point such as the gem on it's hilt. Darius turned his body to avoid the knight's lunge. The sword barely missed him and instead tore through his robes, A hiss of anger escaped his lips as he took a step forward. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the redheaded girl attacking the sword while the pale man was circling around it. He grabbed the knight's wrist with his left hand while he brought his sword up and swung it horizontally at the knight's head. The Knight twisted his own hand to grab the mortal's hand, and lifte his sword up to block the man's own strike. The knight than leaned forward, smashing his helmeteted and horned helmet into the man's own face and freeing himself from his grasp. The Black Knight continued his assault, slashing fariously side-to-side at the man. The sword was able to block and parry Meirin's stabs well enough, but it was apperant that it was indeed trying to protect the gem on it's hilt. Without a master to wield it the sword's attacks came from imposible angles, such as sliding acros teh ground and simply falling down from above Meirin, even able to sharply turn on a dime after it flies towards her. as it tried to find a weak point on Meirin it quickly moved behind her and swung itself towards Meirin's sides. Lyris had found her strength regained, for the time being at least. "Guess he's got the knight under control." Lyris said as she saw Darius fight the demon knight in a one on one challenge. He attentions were directed at the sword. . . The giant sword, instead. There was really little she could do against such an opponent. Blasts of air would do very little to it most likely. She observed the swords fighting and found that it acted in a bit more wild way than if someone were wielding it. While Meirin and the other person fought the sword, she noticed it specifically tried to protect the gem on the hilt. "Hmm." She lifted up one a stone she saw on the ground. Decently sized, gray, hard as. . . Well, rock. Perfect material to launch as a projectile. Maybe even a bombing run. She took to the sky with a stone or two. She flew straight up for a bit and dropped as fast as she could (as safely as could be of course) to gain momentum. Flying down towards the mystical sword, she fired off one stone missing by a bit, the other she shot and was aimed right for the gem. The sword continued it's path until it felt a ping off it's gem. It suddenly crashed to the ground, only for it to quickly rise back up and fly away from Meirin. It seemed to swing around as though it was looking for something, and soon noticed Lyris in the air. It knew that she was the one who hit it's gem, and flew towards her. Leith had been waiting for the correct time to re-enter the battle with the sword that Meirin had saved him from. The time came when the gem on the sword was pelted by a stone. As the sword shot towards the winged girl, Leith ran after it. He dropped his sword and lunged for the hilt of the sword. Darius laughed as he fought off the attacks of the knight. Blood ran down his face and stained his robes red. The fight was feeling like one of the many brawls he had had in the past. He faltered as a trickle of blood ran into his eye, and he gained a deep gash across his left arm as a result. With a roar of pain, he jumped backwards and out of range of the knight's sword. He glared at the knight as he felt a familiar rage fill his mind. One that gave clarity instead of muddling it. In a fluid motion, Darius dropped his sword and drew his dagger before shooting under the knight's next slash with a speed that he had experienced very few times before. He intended to tackle the knight to the ground and get a few stabs in before the pain started. Meirin was having a hell of a time trying to fight off that sword, but luckidly it seemed that Lyris knew what to aim for. When that gem was struck the sword crashed, telling Meirin that it was it's weak point. Now if she could just land a clean hit on it, she was certain she could shatter the stone somehow. That's when Leith reached out and grabbed the sword by the hilt, stopping it from not only running through Lyris but also giving Meirin ample time to land a blow. [b]"Here I go!"[/b] Meirin roared out as she lunged with her spear, putting her full force right through the blue gem on the hilt of the demonic sword. The sword struggled against Leith's inhuman grip. It shook and tugged against him, even tried to turn around to slice off his arm, but before ti could really do anything Meirin destroyed the gem. In a flesh the sword imploded, and falling to the ground was a sword-shaped trinket. The Daemon Artes Sephira Sword. Currently it was in it's inactive state, and will remain so for some time as it's gem was destoryed instead of it simply being recalled. But by tommarow morning, it will be usable once again. Meanwhile the Knight continued to square off against the mortal swordsman. Despite landing several grievous wounds on him, the swordsman did not let up, and seemed to only become more furious. Fine by the Black Knight, however; the swordman failed to get past his armor and so far only succeeded in making the Knight somewhat winded. Right after the mortal parried one of the Knight's Blow, he reversed his swing to slash him across his mid section. However, the mortal somehow managed to duck under his attack and lunged at him, tacking him around the waist and knocking The Knight to the ground. This surprise attack even made him lose his grip on his sword, but made him no less deadly. As the two grappled, the Black Knight began to pummel the swordman around his head an shoulder using his demonic strength. The Knight was confident that he could survive a few stabs even if the man managed to put his dagger through the folds of his armor. After seeing the sword transform back into it's small state, she turned her attention back towards the Black Knight. The man from before seemed to have managed to get the demon onto the ground, and now the two were grappling. This would be her best chance to finish this once and for all. Her bones were weary, her body ached, but she was going to finish this. Gripping her spear Meirin ran towards the Black Knight. She knew that his armor would deflect a direct blow, she she had to hit him where he wasn't protected; right in the eyes. She leapt into the air with a practiced movement, looking at her target. [i][b]"JAOOOO"[/b][/i] She shouted off the top of her lungs as she plunged her spear right into the Knight's visor. The Knight's struggle came to an end as his last vision was that of the red-haired warrior hgih above him. The tip of her spear tore throguh his visor and into his head. For a moment, it didn't seem as though it worked, as he took hold of the spear and broke the shaft with his own hands. But that was his last act before his arms went limp and blood poured out from his head. The Knight was slain, and so ended the fight. Lyris stayed in the air long enough for the sword to be done with. As soon as it was "dead" she landed and took a heavy breath. When Meirin finished the demonic knight she was just glad that was over. She laughed a bit as her body rested from the ordeal. Leith picked up the item that the sword had turned into. A demonic-looking artifact with a unique ability. He was pretty sure that it was a Daemon Artes, like his gauntlet. Without another thought, he pocketed the item with the intention of getting Tyrael to have a look at it. He picked up his sword and took a seat on a surprisingly intact chair and tried to get his breathing in order.