The Consumed Knight
"Whatever art thou… Stay Away"
He froze. His hand was lifted, ready to push through the fog.
"Soon, I will be consumed"
The hand fell, landing on his sheathed weapon. The Uchigatana.
The voice had stopped. He glanced behind him, ensuring it wasn't Chester that he was hearing.
Again he lifted his hand and, when no voice spoke, he pushed through into the Coliseum.
He allowed himself a moment of awe. The Arena, while simple, looked magnificent, If old and decrepit.
"By "Them"…"
The voice seemed to growl and the wanderer noticed an inescapable feeling to look towards the center of the arena. He winced as his gaze landed on the monstrosity.
Its arms looked as if they'd been stretched and warped. Its head was painful to look at. Bloated, scaly and multiple red glowing dots that he would guess to be eyes.
He was just about to draw his blade when suddenly a blur of blue and silver caught his eye. It landed on the abomination, impaling it with its weapon.
"By the Dark"
The Knight pulled slightly on his weapon then slammed it back down ensuring that the abomination was dead. His left arm lay limp at his side damaged beyond repair. The Knight finally noticed the Wanderer and moved his head to acknowledge him.
Suddenly an Aura of Darkness seemed to coagulate and gather around The Knight and he let out a small grunt. As the Aura grew thicker and thicker The Knight's grunts grew louder and more growl-like, causing the Wanderer to draw his blade and hold it with both hands.
Finally, as the Aura seemed to melt into the Knight's armor he moved, swiftly, twirling in a circle and facing the Wanderer. His weapon landed on his shoulder with the Abominations corpse still impaled on it. A moment later and the corpse was flying towards the Wanderer.
The corpse landed long before it reached him but the threat was from the Knight roaring and rushing towards the Wanderer, the great-sword following in an overhead strike. The Wanderer stood his ground and solidified his stance, his katana already moving to intercept the Knight's blade.
His arms burned and screamed in protest as a massive amount of force collided with his blade and he just barely managed to direct the force down his blade and into the ground, dust being kicked up from the weight of the blade. The Wanderer took the opportunity and stabbed the blade into the Knights shoulder before quickly retracting it and dashing backward.
It was as he moved back that his eye caught an engraving under the blue cloth.
Artorias.
Artorias, The Abyss-walker.
The Wolf Knight.
The Wanderer slumped.
His stance held but as he ran towards Artorias his movements were sluggish and wasteful. Artorias managed to free his blade from the stone floor and the Abyss that was controlling him forced the knight to face his surely recovering opponent yet he dashed back in shock as The Wanderer's blade swiped at where Artorias' neck had been moments ago, sliding off the shoulder armor.
The Wanderer didn't follow up with another attack, merely standing in a ready stance. Artorias could feel the Abyss within him seemingly shrink at the aura that permeated the air. How much strength did this Wanderer hold inside him? Surely more than the average human and the Abyss wasn't controlling him unlike the Abyss within Artorias.
Yet, this Aura… He could feel the hidden power the strange human possessed. It was cold, yet electrifying. The Abyss could feel it as well and for the moment, while it was still controlling his body, Artorias had control of his mind during battle.
"Thou art strong human, surely thine kind are more than pure Dark"
Artorias felt his legs tense up and the Abyss started taking control again. Under his hood, he smiled a sorrowful smile.
"I beg of thee, the spread of the Abyss…"
Artorias dashed forward sword moving in a horizontal arc hoping to bisect the Wanderer.
"Must Be Stopped!"
The Wanderer gasped and ducked half a moment before it was too late, yet, the hood that obscured his features was the sacrifice. He dashed forward weapon held before him aiming for the Knight's hip.
His aim was true and the katana pierced directly through the degraded armor before cutting through the rest as it was violently pulled to the side. The injury barely fazed Artorias as he turned, sword already being swung in an overhead arc. His opponent was already facing him and his strike was once again parried and forced into the ground.
The Wanderer was quicker than anything the Abyss had faced before, and so, it couldn't react in time when he used the buried blade to spring-board up high enough to be face to face.
However, instead of the expected strike from his katana, which wouldn't have done much damage from its current position anyway, the Wanderer twirled and the back of his boot collided with the side of Artorias' head.
Time seemed to freeze as Artorias and the Abyss that controlled him registered the Wanderer's features. Long white hair that moved gracefully in the air. Sharp yet slightly chubby cheeks. A Firm, razor-sharp jaw. Small and pale lips held in a scowl. Thin and sharp eyebrows.
However, The Wanderer's most prominent feature was his eyes. They were cold and sharp like ice, with a sapphire blue coloration. Yet, as Artorias peered into them he could see the fire within them but it wasn't a fire in the literal sense it felt more like lightning moving in the pattern of a fire. It was entrancing and if it wasn't for the fact that gravity existed Artorias would have kept on staring into those eyes.
The Wanderer landed with a light thud as Artorias recovered from the shock of such a fighting style that involved attacks in such manner. Artorias' own style occasionally took advantage of his fists but that was only when he'd lost his shield.
The Wanderer dropped his combat stance for a more casual one, though his katana was still in a position to attack, and he inspected his destroyed hood using his left hand. He tutted in annoyance and despite his small size compared to Artorias he made a menacing view with his pure white hair flowing gracefully in the wind and his cold sapphire eyes seemingly letting off an ethereal glow.
"And I was getting attached to that hood, as well" The Wanderer released the ripped fabric from his fingers and his eyes locked onto Artorias "I'm sorry, Artorias. While this may be a mercy to you, for me it is sad and disappointing. I'd heard stories of the great Knight Artorias, and while I have only heard your name in Lordran your legend persists far further"
The temperature slowly dropped and the smell of Ozone permeated the air "The Legendary Wolf Knight who's sacrifice influenced events thousands of years from now. The Single Knight that spawned the legion of Abyss Watchers that contain and ebb away at the Abyss that remained"
The Wanderer returned to his stance and Artorias could feel his muscles tense in preparation "The only warrior skilled enough to use a blade left-handed and hold a shield in the right. You are just a shadow of your former self and while you may still defeat me here, I know that at full strength, The Abyss-Walker, Knight Artorias would never lose in battle"
Artorias barely registered the clap of thunder in the distance as the Wanderer blinked into existence less than two feet from him already mid-swing and as the blade ripped through his brittle armor Artorias heard the Wanderer speak one last time, his voice slowly descending into a growl.
"You are merely a being that is clawing at the false idea that you could defeat that which has already consumed you. You have long since lost the abstract idea of freedom. The last act of the Honourable Knight Artorias was to save the life of the being he loved the most, The Great Grey Wolf Sif. Now stop controlling him and let him have his peace, Manus!"
The Abyss flared within him and as his fragile control over his mind was ripped from him and he saw one last thing that gave him his peace.
"Ah, Sif! There you are!… All of you… forgive me… for I have availed you Nothing"
And thank you, You Lost Wanderer. For you have granted me peace… I only hope you find your own…
-]The Darkness Of Ice[-
He dashed backwards a few feet and watched as the Darkness that had previously fused with Artorias' armor be violently ripped from its residence and slowly coagulate into an opaque cloth like substance that draped itself over Artorias' shoulders like a cape. In that single moment as the cape settled against the knights back and the shadows he cast became pure darkness the Wanderer's scowl became a feral grin and the knight's limp arm started oozing an obsidian goo that dissipated within a few seconds of touching the stone floor.
The air grew cold to the point where the puffs of air became visible from his mouth and frost grew appeared on the stone surrounding the two even with the sun blazing in the sky and the smell of ozone growing stronger as the claps of thunder became more frequent, lightning flashing across the sky.
A slight twist of his wrist caused the sun to reflect off the edge of his Uchigatana and, though he couldn't tell if it had blinded the entity before him, the Wanderer charged keeping as low as he could while preparing for a two-handed uppercut slash.
DANGER RIGHT! DANGER RIGHT!
He could barely register the message before Artorias' blade smashed into his side his Uchigatana just barely managing to prevent his own bisection. He was sent flying and bounced twice then rolled to a stop a couple meters away with the Uchigatana a few feet away.
He tried to rise to his feet but when he looked up to see where Artorias he was forced to roll away as the knight landed where he was moments ago in an attempt to impale him. Ignoring the pain, The Wanderer climbed to his feet and quickly dashed past Artorias as he tried to shatter the ice that had suddenly appeared and frozen his blade in the ground.
It was as he recovered the Uchigatana that Artorias broke the ice and quickly charged the Wanderer once more. Except, this time, he was expecting it and managed to sidestep the knight's diagonal strike and counter-attacked with a strike to the knight's leg. Dashing past him as the knight fell to his knees, He twirled then jumped and stabbed into Artorias' working shoulder and a cry of pain rang out.
Suddenly the limp arm came at him and he back stepped but the gunk on the arm was flung from its residence and landed on the Wanderer's face blinding him. What the hell was this stuff and why wasn't it coming off?
He started walking backwards as he tried to wipe the gunk from his eyes the but a few seconds later his back collided with the Coliseums wall just as he managed to free his left eye but before he could free the other eye the Wanderer was forced to parry Artorias' blade from a lance-like attack. It was close but he was able to redirect the blade enough to avoid it trapping him against the wall and instead trapped itself in the wall as more ice froze it in place.
However the Abyss-Controlled Artorias had finally learned and instead of attempting to free his blade he released the grip and grabbed the Wanderer's neck, holding him against the wall. He struggled to free himself. He couldn't use his katana as he had dropped it in shock when he was grabbed, he couldn't use Artorias' blade it was too heavy and trapped in the wall by ice, He didn't have enough strength to pull the hand around his neck away.
Damn it! What the hell do I do?! Ice won't do anything against this kind of armor and I don't have enough control to use lightning in this kind of situation without a few seconds of focus, Selene damn it!
Desperately, The Wanderer started hitting Artorias' wrist with the side of his fist but it did nothing and as darkness slowly started creeping in on the edges of his vision so to did the punches become weaker and less frequent.
The Wanderer took one final gasp of air as his vision blackened completely and with every sap of strength that remained he threw his fist.
CRACK!
His strength suddenly returned and his body's screams for oxygen were silenced as his mouth opened and he took one impossibly big, unimpeded, gulp of air. It took a few seconds but eventually, his sight returned as well and once it had the Wanderer looked to see why he had been released. However, It only gave him more questions.
Why was Artorias clutching his head? Why was he on his knees? Why hadn't the entity possessing him ignored the pain? And why was lightning arcing acro-
The Wanderer's eyes widened in shock as his train of thought stopped and focused on one thing. Lightning.
His head snapped up to the slowly dissipating storm clouds then back to Artorias and the lightning arcing along his body. Suddenly a tingling feeling registered on his senses and he looked down at the hand to see small sparks of lightning jumping between his digits.
The Wanderer didn't ponder on the fact that he summoned a lightning strike with his fist nor the fact that he could feel the power that had allowed him to do it and could allow him to do it again. He just charged towards Artorias' crouched form, recovering his dropped weapon along the way.
He covered the few meters of distance between in mere moments at the same time that thunder clapped in the distance and as lightning arced across the Uchigatana's blade he smiled grimly.
I'm sorry, Artorias. My unfair advantage is what allowed me to win against your hollow shell…
I hope you finally receive some peace.
It was as Thunder boomed across the land that The Consumed Knight was laid to rest by The Lost Wanderer.
The Abyss-Walker Was Dead.