A Royal Interlude
A part of Artorias hoped that one of the other knights in the room would step forward to backstab the gilded knight, or that two or more would take the opportunity to gank him while he had aggroed on Dame Maria. It was a wistful hope though. The other knights were maintaining their discipline, staying with the one it was their mission to escort, keeping themselves between the gilded knight—and the Lord Presider—as the La Sablican strode towards Dame Maria. Their steps were heavy, each step ringing with weight, and Artorias wondered if the armor actually was gold instead of just gilded.
Artorias' had twitched. It would be so easy to end this with magic, to simply throw his flames at the gilded knight and be done with it. Even usurped by the Dark Soul and weakened to the barest ephemeral spark from the raging inferno it had once been, the power of flame was still mighty. Armor could only shrug off such heat for so long before it becomes an oven that cooks the one wearing it alive.
He stayed his hand.
If he could resist the temptation to set the Lord Presider on fire every time the braggart opened his mouth, he could resist the urge to set a man under the influence of Dark Magic on fire. He was resisting the urge to set the Lord Presider on fire right at that moment, and was doing wonderfully.
"Hah ha!" the Lord Presider declared, his face set in a smug grin. "Let this be a lesson to you all! This is what happens when you stand against La Sable and the invincible power of my magic!" It was so childish—literally. The man sounded exactly Artorias' sons had when they'd first manifested their magic and were declaring they were powerful sorcerers who would strike down the dead gods in ONE HIT! As much as he'd have liked to ignore him completely… you do not just ignore someone with Dark Magic. And so Artorias was forced to divide his attention as the Lord Presider kept on bragging. "You're all just talk, running away now that you've been shown real power!" He waved his hand in what he probably thought was a threatening manner, and just seemed like a boy who'd picked his nose threatening to touch people with the offending digit. "There's no escape! As soon as this bitch has been taught her place, you're all next!"
The gilded knight continued approaching Dame Maria with that slow, heavy step, the pace even and measured. His knight, for her part, was retreating slowly to the far wall, drawing the gilded knight towards her. Despite the challenge, she was also doing her duty, kiting the confirmed aggressor as far away from Artorias as possible. Her saber and short sword were in her hands, steps wary. All too soon, she reached the far wall, the gilded knight drawing close—
The gilded knight struck first, the heavy sword he wielded swung in one hand as he executed a three-swing combo that Maria narrowly evaded with a backstep. The move put her dangerously close to the wall at her back, but before the gilded knight could press the advantage, she was stepping sideways in an energetic display that must have taken up a large chunk of her stamina, for she immediately slowed to a controlled, circling step as she tried to get behind the gilded knight—no, she was still trying to do her duty as she placed herself between Artorias and the La Sablican,
Only then did she attack.
Perhaps she was trying to a backstab, or even just to strike at the gilded knight's flanks, but if so she had overcommitted to her attack as the gilded knight turned to face her. Her saber and short sword swung, one blade following the gleaming arc of the other. The blades struck armor, but the gilded knight did not stagger. Instead, the gilded knight swung again, forcing Dame Maria back. This time the La Sablican swung more than three times as Dame Maria danced out of its range. The gilded knight finished with an overhead slash that Artorias felt through the ground.
All this time, the Lord Presider hadn't stopped bragging. "My knight is perfect! With my magic, he doesn't feel pain! He doesn't feel tired! He doesn't feel weakness! All he feels is obedience! So obey me already and kill that bitch! Make her suffer!"
It was as if he didn't realize how horrifying the things he was saying were.
For better or worse, the Lord Presider's word's didn't seem to affect the gilded knight. They continued to move methodically, the great sword in their hand swinging with slow, ponderous power and grace as if performed another combo, forcing Dame Maria to evade once more. While certainly having its own kind of drama, the black leather coat and half-cape was poor armor against her foe's blade. Once the combo ended, his knight struck, her weapons moving in their own graceful, dangerous combo that was dance-like in its grace and smoothness. The blades aimed for her opponent's limbs, trying to pierce elbow, armpit, and knees. The blades drew back with tips bloody, but whatever damage she managed to do seemed ineffectual. The gilded knight's movements remain unchanged, even as blood began to drip down the knight's arm.
"Ha ha ha!" the Lord Presider laugh obnoxiously, turning to sneer at Artorias. "This is the knight you picked to protect you, girlyboy? She can barely make my knight blead with those toothpicks of hers! Do you need your dick milked so often you had to keep her around all the time? Still, you've got taste. I think I'll take her home with me and—"
A sound like the crack of thunder echoed through the balcony, followed immediately by a metallic ring as if someone had dropped a massive bell. Everyone flinched, knights grabbing the ones they were escorting in case it was a violent expression of fire magic. Only Artorias recognized the sound, even as it made his ears ring, and his eyes snapped towards his knight.
The gehrman in her hands seemed deceptively small, smoke still wafting from it even as his knight smoothly sheathed—no, not sheathed, holstered—the weapon back under her coat. The gilded knight had recoiled, weapon and weapon arm seemingly flung to the side as if he'd been parried. Stepping forward smoothly, as if the time before her enemy recovered wasn't measured in heartbeats, Dame Maria reached out with her left hand, gripped the gilded knight's helm, and pulled.
With most knights, that would have done nothing. Most helms were secured with straps and buckles so they would stay in place or not become dislodged from strikes to the head. Only a helm that was purely decorated wasn't strapped on in that manner, and sometimes even then, since decorative helms tended to be elaborate and top-heavy. The gilded knight's helm came off like it was a hat, so quickly that Dame Maria actually stumbled, obviously expecting more resistance. She dived into a roll immediately, barely evading the gilded knight's sword as he swung again.
"Hah ha! What do you think that was going to do, foo—!" any further words were interrupted as a golden helm was propelled into the Lord Presider's face with great force. There was a wet, pulpy sound that was probably his nose being broken, and he actually stumbled back until he hit the table, the helmet ringing as it hit the ground.
The gilded knight moved, his sword singing in a wide, powerful arc as he seemed to dart forward a short distance towards Dame Maria, who was drawing her short sword again now that her left hand was free. Without the helm, Artorias finally saw the man's face, which was the only thing visible through the chainmail hood—gilded with either gold or brass, and with the gilding visibly scratched by being worn under the helm—he had been wearing. His features were plain and unremarkable, and despite how aggressively he was pushing Dame Maria, the gilded knight's face was dull and empty.
His knight was keeping her distance, drawing the gilded knight to the far end of the balcony again as the gilded knight's attack continued. She was no longer trying to attack, merely keeping her distance as he swung. When the two were too close to the wall, the sword the La Sablican held would rebound off the stone, knocking him back. Dame Maria would dart in to attack, trying to get at his face, but the gilded knight would ward her back with a backhanded swing.
The Lord Presider was hexing vitriolically, but compared to the drivel he'd been trumpeting previously it was an improvement. The man also didn't seem to know he was supposed to staunch the bleeding, and so his tirade would was occasionally interrupted as he spat out blood that had dripped into his mouth. Still, the man pressed on. "Kill her! Ram her through with that pigsticker and make her squeal! Break her face! I want you to break her face!" That order made the gilded knight start to punched at Dame Maria with his free arm, armored limb trying to backhand her when she came to close to the man's left flank. Fortunately for his knight, the attack was easily dodged as Dame Maria managed to crouch at just the right moment for the attack to go over her head. There were impressed murmurs from some of the knight's watching at the perfect timing whenever she did that.
The gilded knight came at Dame Maria once more, his sword beginning what Artorias recognized as the start of his three-swing combo. One swing—
Maria dropped her short-sword, two-handing her saber and holding the weapon before her in a defensive posture as she took a small step to her left, the gilded knight's first swing missing her by a hair. The large sword came up, slashing diagonally in a backhanded swing—
There was the ring of metal meeting metal, followed by a shudder that came from Artorias' feet and up his legs as the gilded knight's sword slammed into the floor, imbedding into it. Before the La Sablican could dislodge his weapon, Dame Maria kicked the blade, twisting it in the man's grip before that same leg stomped down, trapping the weapon between the floor, her foot, and the gilded knight's grip. Dame Maria darted forward, sword rising as she used the leg resting on her opponent's sword to lunge their now-vulnerable head.
The open palm of Maria's left hand slapped into the gilded knight's face.
Both knights became absolutely still, Maria's leading foot resting on the La Sablican's armored forearm.
Finally, Dame Maria let out a sigh of relief, and the gilded knight collapsed to the ground like strings with its puppet cut, his sword clattering from now-loose fingers.
For a moment, there was a silence.
The Gilded Slave Knight
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Dame Maria Campbell, the Blade of Artorias
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PREY (NOT) SLAUGHTERED
"My squire makes that look easier than it is," they all clearly heard Dame Maria mutter as she reached down to pick up her shortsword.
"W-what?-!" the Lord Presider exclaimed. "No, no— GET UP! Get up, you useless waste of gold! That's an order! I'm ordering you to wake up and kill that woman! Obey me!"
With deliberate casualness, Dame Maria brought her two weapons together. There was a metallic snap as some sort of mechanism engaged, and weapons were suddenly combined into a twinblade. Thus she had a hand free as she suddenly darted forward and grabbed the Lord Presider by his flesh of his throat, as his neck was far too thick for her hand to fit around it. The man gasped in either pain or from difficulty breathing, his hands grasping at hers. His feet kicked, but what few of those managed to strike Dame Maria left her unmoved.
"Your orders, my liege?" Dame Maria said, unperturbed. Despite all her previous exertion, she wasn't even breathing hard.
Artorias remained composed, as if he can completely expected this turn of events. Which… well, he'd had confidence that his knight was capable, but he'd thought she would be more… energetically violent. "It seems your magic isn't as powerful as you thought it was, Horntuba," Artorias said sardonically. "Do you surrender?"
"La Sable never— ack… guh!" the Lrod presider managed, still clawing at Dame Maria's hands. "Obey me, woman!"
"No," Dame Maria said bluntly.
"Well, as you will not surrender… my knight, can you render him unconscious as you did his knight?"
"I doubt my foe was truly his knight, my liege," Dame Maria said. "Dark Magic isn't needed on loyal men. But as you command." Still gripped in her hand, the Lord Presider's limbs collapsed like strings cut from a puppet, his head lolling back bonelessly. Without preamble, Dame Maria released her grip, making him fall bodily to the ground.
"While I don't give a dead spider's legs for his well-being," Lady Zandra Ri said, eyeing the fog walls that were dissolving away from the edge of the balcony and the elevator's entrance, "won't dropping him like that wake him up?"
"No," Dame Maria said. "As he is, he will sleep like the dead unless I awaken him." She turned towards Artorias. "I beg your forgiveness, my liege. I did not ask for your permission before utilizing it on my opponent." Bowing, she offered her twinblade to him, held out with both hands. "I surrender myself to the king's justice for my actions."
Everyone blinked at that. Slowly, everyone's head turned towards Artorias.
He wasn't sure whether he wanted to smile or sigh in exasperation, and so did both. "You are pardoned and forgiven, my knight," he said. "This time. In future, please file a request as you usually do."
Maria nodded. "I thank you for your forgiveness and understanding, my liege," she said, taking hold of the twinblade again.
Artorias glanced at Miquella, "I don't suppose I could ask you to keep this quiet?"
"No, cousin," the Light Magic wielder, who had doubtlessly seen the Dark Magic Dame Maria had employed, said. "I think everyone would like an explanation as you why you have a knight capable of powerful Dark Magic."
"Can the explanation wait until after we've dealt with whatever foolishness the La Sablican's have decided to do this time?" Queen Siegmidala said, hefting her hammer.
"I second that motion," Queen Xiulan said. "While this is troubling, Cousin Artorias has shown himself to be worthy of trust. Let us not delay him in defending his kingdom."
"Thank you for the support, Cousin," Artorias said gratefully.
"Cousin Miquella, make sure that we remember there's something that's going to be explained," Queen Xiulan continued.
"Of course, Cousin Xiulan."
Artorias nodded. That was the best he had expected. Trust was all well and good, but most of them were rulers or the trusted representatives of rulers. Still… "My knight," he said. "Can you deal with any further problems without resorting to Dark Magic?"
"Yes, my liege," Dame Maria said with a bow. "I only needed to neutralize my opponent and the Lord Presider. It did not seem just to slay a man who was the puppet of another in this way."
He nodded. "With me then, my knight. Let us descend and end this madness."
They turned towards the entrance of the elevator just as the stone platform rose into place, and a dozen men who had been tightly packed upon it stumbled out swords in hand. "For the glory of La Sable!" one cried. "Lord Presider, we are here!" The men's blades and armor were stained with blood.
Artorias twitched as the men paused, finally seeing the state of the room they'd entered. "My knight, are any of them under the sway of Dark Magic?"
"No, my liege," Dame Maria said as she stepped forward putting herself in front of the Artorias and slightly to the left. "Their minds appear to be their own."
"Good." Artorias raised his right hand. "A bit more to the left, my knight."
Dame Maria stepped as ordered.
Attack his kingdom, would they?
Strike at him in his home?
Threaten his subjects?
Endanger his family, his friends?
"For the glory of—AAAARRRRGGHHHH!"
Any further battle cry was reduced to screaming as Artorias of the Black Flame, King of Sorcier, unleashed his magic, burning black with the impenetrable flames of humanity. He fed the fire until the last of the intruders were but cinders burning on the floor.
It looked like La Sable needed to be reminded once more of why he was the one who had been triumphant in the civil war for Sorcier's throne.
"So," Artorias said, turning to the manarchs and representatives in the room, "who shall join me downstairs?"