Sorry for the wait, I had to do a book critique. But now with that and scholarships out of the way I can relax a little bit till I go to college.

Anyway, if you all don't mind would you settle a bet between me and my friend, Nicki/DeathDealer.

So here's what happens. We're playing Tales of Symphonia and Nicki/DeathDealer figures out that Kratos is Lloyd's daddy. So I go and explain that he was a 4000 year old angel and how he met Anna and the things that happen. When I finished Nicki/DeathDealer made the comment that Kratos was like Edward from Twilight! Her reason is because both Kratos and Edward constantly try to protect the people they love from their past and the problems that follow. Because of who they are they don't seem like they will have a true chance of being happy, even though both couples seem to be worthy of eternal bliss. I said how dare you say something so horrible about my favorite character. Kratos could kill Edward with a flick of his wrist.

So here's what needs to be settled; do you agree with my twi-friend or do you think as I do.

P.S. Please don't judge her too bad, she is one of the few people who understand the insanity that is my mind.

Enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 11: The Black Knight

The sky began to shine a brilliant orange as the sun rose over Castle Nados. Lloyd and the others looked from the top of the hill at the place they would soon capture.

"So we're supposed to be the first wave and keep the army occupied till our main forces over runs them, right?" Lloyd asked Titania one last time to be sure he understood the plan.

The red headed knight nodded. At about noon Ike will lead the main army to attack the already worn down Daein army that Lloyd and everybody else had been fighting. Once they arrive the first wave was to fall back. "Alright Sheena, you're up first," Titania motioned her forward.

Sheena nodded as she walked in front of them. Holding one of her spell cards in front of her a summoning circle formed beneath her. "I call upon The Hammer of Godly Lightning! I summon thee, come, Volt!" Out of nowhere a large purple sphere of pure lightning appeared before them. Many of the soldiers who hadn't seen Sheena summon Undine all that time before were startled by seeing the spirit of lighting.

Volt, himself, began casting his personal spell. When it was finished large purple lightning struck many of the Daein soldiers. The air was filled with both screams of agony and horror. Lloyd could barely stand to watch. It's either them or use. With half of the enemy killed, Volt disappeared and Sheena collapsed from exhaustion. She was done for this fight.

Two people came over and helped to move Sheena back to the camp. With her gone Titania led the charge to attack.

The soldiers were still dazed from Volt that they weren't prepared from the next attack. The Liberation Army mauled through the Daein with such ease it felt like they were fighting a completely different enemy.

It wasn't until they crossed over the gate that they began to run into resistance. But they pushed through. It wouldn't be too long before the main army arrived so they had to cause as much damage as possible.

Soon the hall they had been traveling branched off into a smaller hall. Titania then ordered Lloyd's group to clear out that way while the rest of the troops continued on. The hall they took was well lit and narrow and they could faintly hear the battle cries of the main army but they couldn't see or hear anything down the hall they were going. After a while a large arched opening came into view so the group began to slither across the stone wall. If there were soldiers up ahead they would catch them by surprised.

Only there weren't as many soldiers as they had anticipated. Only a lone knight in pitch black armor and a crimson cape stood over a girl with pick hair who was on her knees. There was something familiar about her, Lloyd just couldn't place his finger on where.

It's that dragon girl from the capital! Lloyd soon realized. Then the knight raised a huge double-edge sword into an arc, He was going to kill her! But why?

Without another thought on the matter, both Lloyd and Zelos drew their blades and shouted, "Demon Fang!" Their art combined into one powerful blast. But the attack was too late.

The knight's blade had already cut down the laguz by the time the art hit the knight's hand. The sword flew out of his hand and went spiraling through the air, cutting through any air resistance in its way, and embedded itself in the stone floor.

The armored head turned toward them to see everyone emerging from the hall and moved into a large v formation. Only Lloyd and Zelos had their weapons drawn, everyone else was at the ready.

"So," a deep voice echoed from deep in the armored body, "you fools decide to come at me eight against one, hmm." The knight didn't sound worried as he causally walked over to retrieve his sword, his armor making loud clanking noises with each step.

"You could always surrender," Lloyd suggested even though he knew there was no chance of that happening. These Daeins seemed to have a "no surrender" policy. Regardless, Lloyd felt pretty confident they could take this knight out if he decides to fight them.

Suddenly everyone heard a rasping breathing. The dragon girl was still alive! Breathing was laborious for her as every exhale caused more blood to pour out of her mouth. All of them rushed over to her and Raine began to use her healing arts. Her wounds were cut so deep that it was remarkable that she was still alive. The blade had cut into her shoulder all the way down to her hip. Lloyd almost couldn't see the slash with all the blood that covered her upper torso.

The black knight drew his sword from the stone floor and began to laugh slightly. Everyone, save Raine who focused on healing the girl, looked up to the knight. "That one tried to kill you back at the capital. Why would you help her?"

How does he know we were there? Lloyd wondered. Maybe he's some officer. He concluded.

"For whatever reason you were trying to kill her she will probably know something useful," Yuan started, "she'll be in our debt if we save her."

"Yeah and I also want to know why that Nasir guy would save her for," Zelos added.

Nothing was said; the knight seemed to be analyzing what they had said. "You all aren't as big of fools as I had thought," he concluded. "But it matters not. None shall survive much longer for none of you will be able to lay a scratch on me. So why don't you surrender and I'll give all of you a swift death."

"We'll see about that," Presea said before she charged forward. The knight made on move of dodging the ax girl's attack he just stood there.

What's that guy doing? Lloyd wondered. Presea had the strength slice right though his armor like it was bread. Did he underestimate her, thinking she was just some little girl pretending to be fierce? For whatever reason, Lloyd doubted that was the knight's reason. Something else was going on.

His suspicion was confirmed when her ax dinged off the black knight's shoulder plate. Everyone but their opponent was stunned at this new revelation. How did her attack have no effect on that knight? All of them wondered.

With a flick of his wrist, the black knight brought his great sword down to the ground. The sword didn't hit Presea but the force of the impact sent her rolling back toward them.

"Presea!" Genis yelled when stopped rolling.

Everyone was about to rush to her aid when slowly began to rise. She struggled to all fours but other than that she appeared fine. "I am fine," she told them all.

Lloyd looked back at the knight who stood motionless. He kept wondering how Presea's attack did nothing, she should have been able to cut the black knights arm clear off. A ping of fear entered Lloyd, but he wasn't going to let that stop him. They've come way too far to be defeated by a single person.

"Now do you see how your efforts are useless against me," the knight advised them in the same monotone voice. "I wear the blessed armor of the goddess, no attacks can penetrate it. I am one of Daein's Four Riders, the Black Knight."

"The Black Knight," Lloyd repeated. The name sounded familiar but he had heard so many names that they were beginning to blend together. "Well, whatever you're called, we'll just keep hacking at you until we win," Lloyd smirked reading both of his swords.

"We've fought against worst odds," Genis agreed taking his kendama out of his pocket.

Colette brought her wings out as she got into battle position. "Goodness and love will always win," she said cheerfully. Lloyd could remember how he hated that dwarven vow but he pry that was true.

They waited for knight to reply, possibly make fun of Colette's line, but he was silent. He appeared to be staring at Colette, or better yet her wings. "So there are more people like him," the Black Knight said more to himself than to them.

Him? Lloyd lowered him weapons and stared at the knight. His heart began to pound rapidly in his chest as he wondered for a brief moment who the knight was talking about. "Are…are you saying that you've seen someone else with wings like Colette's?" Lloyd asked waiting with anticipation for his answer.

"Now that I have a look at you I now see a resemblance between you and that man. He was certainly a remarkable swordsman. I wonder how he would have fared if I had not worn my blessed armor," the Black Knight said.

"Are you saying that you fought with Kratos!" Lloyd cried out. That would mean that he was on his trail but another question popped in his head that made him stiffen up. "Is he all right? He's not…"

An amused chuckled escaped the man in the armor. "I see, so this Kratos person must be you brother or something. So what if I did defeat him in battle, what then?"

The grip tightens on his sword as Lloyd clenched his teeth in frustration. "Where is he?" Lloyd demanded. He wanted to know. He needed to know where Kratos was. If he was okay.

"Lloyd, you don't seriously think Kratos could've been defeated by the like of him?" Yuan questioned him.

"Of course not!" Lloyd barked back. "But he's seen him so he'll know where he went!"

"If you want to know so much then defeat if you can and I'll consider telling you what I know of your brother," the knight proposed swinging his sword in front of him.

"Fine," Lloyd said before he charged right for him, ignoring all of his friends protest. "Fierce," his Exsphere began to glow brightly as he felt his mother's power welling up inside him, "DEMON FANG!" He slammed both blades into the ground and a giant, white shock wave took form and engulfed the Black Knight. Just before the attack swallowed him up the knight did raise his sword in attempt to block it.

There were skid marks on the stones from where the Black Knight had tried to stay his ground, but the force had pushed him all the way to the wall. There the knight leaned against the wall panting with the right side of his armor severely dented. Everyone gasped while the knight let out a surprised noise as he realized the state of his armor. He clutched his side; apparently there was some internal damage as well.

Lloyd couldn't believe it. He was more than thrilled about the damage of his attack but he hadn't expected it. "Lloyd, that's it!" Genis suddenly cried out. "His blessing must not protect him from our magic and arts!"

Of course! Deferent worlds, different rules! If only we use as many of our arts as we wanted. But this battle is far from over! I may not have the Eternal Sword but my pact with Origin should work against him.

"I think I heard something up here!" They suddenly heard from down the hall. All of them turned toward the source and saw a group of enemy soldiers appear and they immediately noticed the injured Black Knight. "No! We have to assist the Black Knight!" (Really! The Black Knight doesn't need any help! And if he IS losing what's a bunch of common soldiers gonna do? It's the frickin' Black Knight!)

Yuan wasted no time as he charged at the two in front and cut them down in one swift slice with his weapon. "Regal, Presea, and I will handle these idiots! The rest of you take out that knight!" They all nodded at the new plan as they took their new position. Regal and Presea joined Yuan in taking out the Daein with the rest of them formed a circle around the Black Knight once he stepped forward. Raine had put the dragon girl's life out of danger but she needed to get some were safe, but until then she joined in on the fight against the knight.

The twin swordsmen attacked first, leaping into the air and slamming his swords down on the knight to see if his regular melee attacks could harm him. The knight blocked his attack with his sword. He was clearly worried that his attacks would cause more harm to him so that was a pulse.

Zelos came next from behind and swung his blade into an uppercut, trying to hook the blade into the armored body. "Hell Pyro!" But he wasn't able to so when he twisted his body and shot a fireball at him it narrowly misses the knight; it merely scorched his helmet and caught his cape on fire.

But the knight didn't seem worried about it. In one swift motion he pushed Lloyd away from him and ripped the cape from his neck. He then swung his sword toward Zelos. It didn't hit him but the force of the impact sent him tumbling, not as bad as it did Presea.

Genis and Raine stood together and began casting a spell together. By the time the Black Knight realized what they were doing it was too late. "Prism Star!" The half-elven siblings cast together. Multiple balls of light began pounding into the Black Knight's armored body. By the time it was over the knight fell to his knees as rivets of crimson blood began pouring out of the cresses of his armor. They were overwhelming him.

"Have you had enough?" Lloyd demanded.

And then the Black Knight began to chuckle! "Perhaps I have underestimated you all." Then his voice turned somber. "But I have a few tricks of my own."

He stood up as graceful as a man in heavy armor could and swung his sword in a high arc. Then with such force he smashed it into the ground creating a much larger blast wave then Lloyd's initial attack. And it was heading right for him.

Colette rushed over to his side as the blast came closer. Both of them held the weapons in front of them.

"Guardian!"

"Damage Guard!"

Green spheres surrounded them just in time. But the blast pushed them back as Lloyd's had done the Black Knight; right to the large window.

/~/~/

"What's the situation here Titania?" Commander Ike asked his deputy out in the court yard.

The redheaded knight smiled as she gave her report, "We've nearly rounded up all the enemies' troops. It seems like we didn't look like we need the rest of the army to help."

"That's good," Ike relaxed a bit. But there was something that had been bugging him the entire time this battle raged on.

It's just nerves, he told himself. With the end of the war in sight everyone was on edge.

Ike scoped the room. Many faces were unfamiliar to him. But he tried to look past them to find the one he did know. He found it odd though that he didn't spot a single person from Lloyd's group. "Titania, Where's Lloyd and the others?"

"I sent them to sweep out a corridor and I haven't seen them since. I do hope they are all right."

As soon as she said that they heard breaking. Everyone in the area looked up at the source to see glass falling and smoke coming out of a tower about two stories above them. Fall through the smoke Ike spotted Lloyd and Colette.

Colette, with her wings already out, grabbed Lloyd by the waist and decreased the rate they were falling. She couldn't hold her own weight plus Lloyd's but managed to lessen their fall. They landed some ways from them and Ike and everyone else nearby rushed over to them.

"What the blazes happened up there?" Ike asked them as soon as he saw they were uninjured for the most part.

"Ask him," Lloyd pointed up at the window they fell from.

Ike followed his finger and his eyes gazed upon the man he had been search for. The man who had killed his father.

The Black Knight looked down on them as if they were ants. Then took a step forward and fell. He landed with both feet and the ground giving way to the knight's weight.

"It's you!" Ike shouted bring out Ragnell. He had waited for this day for the longest time. He wanted to make this knight feel as much pain as his father did in his final moments.

"You know that knight?" Lloyd asked in disbelief.

"This is the one who killed my father."

"This knight is the same one that killed Greil?" Colette asked.

Ike nodded at her. "I can finally face him and avenge my father!" He charged forward and brought his sword down hard on the Black Knight's sword.

"So now my opponent it you boy," the knight inquired. They separated and the knight added, "I wonder how much stronger you've gotten since that day in the forest?"

"Why don't I answer that for you right now!" Ike roared. He tightened his grip on the hilt of Ragnell as he went for his second attack.

/~/~/

Lloyd did nothing but stand there and watched as Ike and the Black Knight dueled to the death. He wanted to help him; he wanted to get answers out of him about Kratos. But he knew that Ike had more of a right to fight him. The rest of the army keep their distance from the fight, either because the sight of Ike's determination to fight him alone or just because it was the Black Knight.

The Black Knight was severely wounded from his fright with the world travelers, so Ike had the upper hand in this fight. But the knight had more than enough energy to counter Ike's attack. There was one moment when Ike staggered and the knight could have sliced Ike's left arm off had he not backed away in time and managed to escape with a deep cut in the shoulder. Some of the others wanted to assist him at that moment but Lloyd and Titania stopped them telling them it was Ike's fight.

It wasn't long until Genis and the others reached to courtyard, Regal was carrying the still unconscious dragon girl. They wanted to continue fighting the Black Knight but stopped when they say the battle going on. Then they explained to the rest of the army about the laguz that was injured. So Titania ordered some men to take her back to camp and to keep an eye on her.

They continued to watch as Ike and the Black Knight exchanged blows. But then it appeared over when the knight's next attack knocked Ike's sword into the air. Ike back stepped and ran straight for a pillar and then jumped off it and gained some air as he caught his blade. Then with gravity's help, Ike put all his strength and weight into slicing the armor of his enemy.

As soon as Ike landed he quickly backed away to inspect his attack, breathing hard to catch his breath. He had diagonally sliced thought the knight's breastplate with even more blood running out of the tear. Lloyd doubted that he had much blood left to lose.

"You've grown stronger," The Black Knight said as he fell to his knees. "... I...commend you..."

Without warning the ground beneath their feet began to shake violently. An earthquake?

One of their soldiers ran up to them and said, "One of the Daeins triggered a trap before he died. This place is going to collapse!"

What! Lloyd was beginning to notice the stones freeing themselves from one another. The surrounding towers were going to fall of them. The Daeins were prepared to stop them from reaching the capital at all cost. "We have to get out of here, now!" Lloyd yells at the top of his lungs.

Nobody had to be told twice as they rushed for all possible exits, some making their own; all but Ike who stood over the Black Knight who was too wounded to move.

"Ike! We have to go!" Lloyd shouted over the chaos. But he still made no move to leave.

Colette run up to him and tugged at his arm. "Ike it's too dangerous to stay here any longer," she begged. He nodded and followed after her and Lloyd.

Just before Lloyd exited the courtyard he saw the tower they had fallen from earlier drop were the Black Knight was.

/~/~/

(I forgot that Nasir escapes…so he stayed with the army the whole time)

The remaining Deains were now buried under layers of castle stones. The liberation army had a few people injured from the trap surprisingly. The dragon girl, Ena was fine and was now in the care of Nasir after he explained his actions to them.

Turns out that Ena is his granddaughter, which surprised everyone, and that he wanted to help her in any way he could. He apologized to Mist for stealing her mother's memento, to Ike for deceiving him, and reluctantly apologized to Zelos for almost killing him.

They began planning their next move for the capital, there they would fight the King of Deain and with hope this war would end, but suddenly Nasir ran into the tent like a mad man. "Ena has awoken and with horrible news."

"What is it?" Ike asked, all of them wanting to know what has gotten the laguz so devastated.

"It's Leanne. Ashnard has her captured so she could release the dark god."

"Why?" Lloyd didn't understand this at all. "I thought the herons couldn't do that."

"They can't. But Ashnard doesn't know that."

"Blast! He'll kill Leanne just as he did Lillia!" Reyson growled from his corner. "Where is she Nasir?" He demanded.

"Gritnea Tower," he answered.

/~/~/

The rain began to pour heavily on Kratos as he continued his advance. Regardless all the pain he was in he persevered. No amount of First Aid would help. Of course it was his fault that he was in the state he was in; he had cast Judgment and it left his body numb and fatigued.

As he had pursued the man that had carried off the Exsheres, Kratos had crossed paths with a knight in black armor. He was forced to fight him. He tried disarming his opponent but that proved futile. So before he lost sight of his target Kratos decided to use Judgment. It worked for the most part, leaving the knight stunned just long enough for him to fly and catch up to the man with the Exspheres.

He flew until his wings gave out and so he was forced to walk for the last hour. But he finally made it to the tower he saw the strange man enter.

Kratos leaned against a tree out of exhaustion. Maybe I should rest for a bit, he thought as he slid down to the ground. He would have like nothing more than to sleep for about to week, maybe more. But he knew he couldn't, the sooner he retrieved those Exspheres the better.

Even under the tree Kratos could still feel the icy drops hit his body. Had he been a normal man he would have caught death long ago. He wondered if the reason he was in so much pain because of all he did with Cruxis, all the things he did as an angel.

He struggled to his feet and continued on his way. He didn't get far when a black figure swooshed down and cut through Kratos' side.

Turning around he tried to spot the enemy, but it was so dark and his hair was matted against his face it was difficult to see anything. But then he heard it, wings flapping! So he pivoted toward the source of the sound and saw that his enemy was a giant crow!

Drawing his blade in time he was able to catch the crow's talons. The crow was able to push Kratos up against a tree and attempted to peck at him. He knew it was a laguz he was fighting, he just wondered if this one had gone crazy but he didn't see an Exshpere anywhere on it.

Though his muscles protested he used what little strength he had and pushed the giant bird away. It cawed at him and began another attack, talons fully open.

Kratos went on the defense again but his body refused to do so. The wound the laguz gave him was in searing pain. He couldn't let this be the end.

"Come my slaves I want you to devour those Crimean bastards!"

"Kratos, look out!"

"Were coming for you Mad King of Deain,"