Dungeon
New Sol continent (former seven continents of Terra)
Terra, Gaea, Solar system
Milky Way Galaxy
Luminary Star sector
15th Vetraeus cycle, 50 New Solaris Prime
"What the hell is going on?"
Henry's voice echoed sharply across the chamber, breaking through the rising tension like a slap. He, Trini, and Callum rounded the corner, only to halt in their tracks as their eyes landed on the abomination that loomed before Sam, Emily, and Rosa.
They froze.
The air had changed—thickened—pressurized. The temperature had dropped several degrees, and the scent of sulfur hung heavy in the space. Before them stood the monstrous figure, the black-armored wraith now fully formed and emanating an overwhelming aura of darkness.
Emily narrowed her eyes.
She'd read about entities like this before—studied their nature in forbidden grimoires smuggled from the ruins of the Black Archives. This wasn't just a summoned entity. This was a Wraith Knight—a type of Greater Demon born of the Infernal Realm. Its presence was an affront to the natural world, a violation of all that was sacred and balanced.
It let out a guttural, soul-rending howl that vibrated through the walls, sending small cascades of dust falling from the ceiling above. Its aura surged outward in waves, the oppressive mana pressure descending like a lead blanket on their shoulders. For most of them, it felt like their lungs had turned to stone.
Emily, however, stood her ground.
From its energy signature alone, she estimated its power level to be around Master RealmIn other words, the demon before them possessed power equivalent to a high-tier Ascendant, and far beyond what any of the others—save perhaps Sam—could match alone.
"Stay back!" Emily shouted to the others without taking her eyes off the creature.
With a flash of motion, she drew her twin blades—silver steel etched with ancient runes that shimmered with ethereal light. As she channeled her mana into them, the runes lit up like constellations, casting intricate symbols across the chamber walls. The blades began to hum with power, and the air around Emily shifted.
Her mana synchronized with the swords' core enchantments, and for a moment, she glowed with a subtle radiance—a barrier of will and essence that shielded her from the suffocating pressure the demon exuded. Her spiritual energy surged in resonance with her blades, forming a perfect triad of mind, body, and weapon.
The demon—no, the Infernal Knight—responded.
It raised its jagged longsword, coated in flickering black flame, and with a single sweeping motion, it sliced the air in front of it. The motion tore open space like cloth, forming a yawning black rift—a Void Gate. From its depths, the world groaned.
And then… they came.
Grotesque, malformed creatures poured out of the void—limbs too long, mouths too wide, flesh twisted into abominable shapes that defied logic. These were not Mystic Beasts, not creatures born of awakened World Energy. These were Demonic Beasts, purebred horrors from the Infernal Realm.
Their screeches clawed at the ears, their forms dripping with shadow and ichor. They moved like a tide, surging toward the group.
Sam didn't hesitate.
Slamming her palm into the floor, she channeled Earth-aligned mana through her core and into the stone below. The ground answered her command.
Jagged stone spikes erupted in an instant, impaling a dozen of the demonic beasts mid-charge. Black blood hissed as it hit the stone, releasing small bursts of heat and smoke. The creatures howled in pain, thrashing, disintegrating—but more came, wave after wave, until the void rippled and snapped shut.
And then, everything went quiet again.
The Infernal Knight bent one knee, its plated fingers resting atop the hilt of its longsword. For a heartbeat, it looked still—statuesque.
Then it moved.
In a blur of impossible speed, it shot forward—faster than thought, faster than breath. The Infernal Knight appeared above Sam in a blur of shadow and flame, its black longsword already descending, wreathed in hellfire, aimed to cleave her in two. The force behind the strike was immense, enough to shatter reinforced steel and tear through enchanted armor.
But Sam was ready.
A bastion of light erupted above her, forming a radiant barrier in the shape of a hexagonal dome. The blade struck it with a thunderous crack, dark flames hissing against the pure light. The barrier trembled violently under the impact, but it held—pulsing once, then again—before responding with a counterpulse.
A surge of light-elemental energy exploded outward in a burst, blasting the Infernal Knight backward mid-air. Yet the Demon twisted its body unnaturally, regaining balance midflight, and disappeared once more in a blur of motion.
It reappeared directly in front of Sam, its black blade already swinging in a wide diagonal arc.
Sam didn't flinch.
Her arms shimmered with brown motes of light, the Earth element coalescing at her will. With practiced ease, she invoked Terramorphosis—her secondary Ability Factor—and shaped the elemental energy into a formidable weapon. The soil, infused with her mana, hardened and compressed until it gleamed like forged steel. In an instant, Sam was wielding twin gauntlets of living metal, each molded from refined earth essence.
The demon's blade clashed against her guard with explosive force.
The ground beneath Sam fractured, her foot plunging ankle-deep into the stone floor as the impact rippled through her body. Cracks spiderwebbed outward in a shockwave. The sheer strength of the Greater Demon was overwhelming, but Sam stood firm, her eyes blazing with resolve.
She was no ordinary Master Realm combatant.
As a master of the Adamantium Fist Style, Sam had long surpassed conventional strength limits. She had not only mastered the four foundational forms, but had gone on to develop her own style—a unique evolution of the technique, born of her own fusion between martial skill and metaphysical power.
She called her third form of her unique style Adamantius Validus: Eternal Resonance Armor. Unlike its predecessors, this form wasn't just about offense or defense—it was symphonic. By integrating her rare Symphony Ability Factor, Sam harmonized her mana with the world energy around her, creating a living rhythm that oscillated with her mana skin, which amplified her power. Her strikes resonated through the earth like a drumbeat, each motion building upon the last in a seamless tempo of destruction and protection.
Her body shimmered faintly now, coated not in physical armor, but in a lattice of vibrating mana threads that wrapped around her muscles and bones like a second skin. They pulsed with deep, resonant energy, humming in tune with the very rhythm of the planet beneath her feet.
The Demon snarled, pressing forward with another brutal strike. This time, Sam met it head-on. She brought her gauntleted fist up in a rising arc, intercepting the black flame blade with a seismic roar. Sparks of opposing energy—light and shadow, earth and fire—erupted from the point of contact. The chamber shook. And Sam—legs braced, heart calm—pushed back.
The chamber had become a war zone.
While Sam and Emily engaged the Infernal Knight, the others were locked in fierce combat with the demonic beasts it had summoned. Rosa led the charge, her crimson spear spinning with fluid grace as she carved a path through the tide of abominations. Trini's elemental blasts seared the air, flinging creatures back in bursts of raw magical force, while Henry and Callum struck like hammer and flame, their blows reverberating through the ground. It was a coordinated dance—lethal and efficient—as they held the lesser horrors at bay.
But the true battle raged at the heart of the chamber. As the Infernal Knight remained locked on Sam, Emily emerged from its shadow—silent and lethal. Her form flickered into existence behind the demon, twin blades drawn, their surfaces glowing with an ominous, violet-silver sheen. The runes along their edges pulsed in sync with her heartbeat.
But the Knight sensed her. Its awareness spiked, reacting instantly to the foreign presence within its shadow. With inhuman precision, it swung its massive shield toward her head in a sweeping arc meant to crush.
Emily didn't blink. She phased—her body turning incorporeal in the blink of an eye. The shield passed harmlessly through her spectral form, creating a violent gust of displaced air. Becoming tangible again, she exhaled sharply. The transition always left a bitter, hollow feeling in her chest, like being pulled through water laced with ice.
But she didn't hesitate. Her foot slammed into the Knight's armored chest with crushing force, sending the creature hurtling backward. Emily twisted midair, flipping once before landing in a low crouch, blades raised. The Infernal Knight slammed into a towering pillar of treasure behind it—gold, jewels, and enchanted relics collapsing in a deafening crash.
Sam and Emily shared a glance—silent, resolute—then charged.
The Knight burst free from the rubble in a surge of black mana, its sword igniting once more with explosive black flame. It swung in a wide arc, unleashing a crescent wave of corrupt energy toward them.
Emily responded without fear.
Her blade sliced through the oncoming flames, cleaving the attack in half. Her weapon burned with Soul Light—an ethereal orange flame that danced along the metal's edge, imbued with her very essence. As it met the demonic fire, it purified and unraveled it, dispersing the energy in a shower of flickering embers.
Sam blinked behind the Demon in a flash of green lightning, the ground cracking beneath her.
She used Rapid Steps, a high-tier Mana Art focused on momentum and aura compression, allowing her to achieve bursts of extreme speed. Her body blurred forward, her fist glowing with swirling green energy, laced with vibration and density.
Her strike connected squarely with the demon's side.
[Adamantium Fist – Fourth Form: Thunderclap Resonance]
A blast of concentrated kinetic energy detonated from her fist, sending shockwaves rippling outward. The green concussive force erupted in a directional explosion, launching the Knight across the chamber like a cannonball. Stone shattered under its trajectory as it tore through the floor.
But it wasn't over.
The Demon righted itself mid-flight, stabbing its sword into the stone to stop its momentum. It skidded to a halt, armor scorched and dented—no visible wounds, but its form flickered for a brief moment. Emily's eyes narrowed.
She felt it.
Her internal senses, sharpened to a blade's edge, picked up something... off. Sam's attack had damaged it, even if it didn't show it. There was a faint dent in its side, and its energy signature was fluctuating—erratic.
Then came the realization.
As the battle continued, Emily began noticing something strange. The Demon's movements were powerful, yes, but mechanical. Predictable. It struck in the same patterns: a descending vertical slash, followed by a diagonal sweep, then a burst of black flame. Again and again.
"Something's wrong," Emily muttered as she parried another strike. "This isn't how Greater Demons fight."
Sam ducked under the blade and retaliated with a palm strike to its torso. "What do you mean?"
"Greater Demons have intelligence. Strategy. Malice. This one… It's too rigid. Too repetitive. Like it's following a set of programmed instructions." Emily's brows furrowed, her senses extending again. "It's mimicking behavior, not thinking."
She stepped back, channeling her elemental energy.
Darkness gathered around her blade, swirling with violet-black tendrils. She infused it with a potent dose of mana-laced venom—so corrosive it would eat through spirit armor. The air around her chilled, the weight of her presence sharpening.
Then, with a single motion, she unleashed it—
[Dancing Twilight-Falling Dusk Slash]
The wave of darkness surged forward with the force of a runaway train, crashing against the Knight's shield. The impact shattered the shield in an explosion of twisted metal, the residual wave sending the creature hurtling into the chamber wall. As debris rained down, darkness seeped into the wreckage, clinging to the Knight's form like tar. Emily closed her eyes for a moment, pushing her senses deep into the shadowed fog. What she found made her freeze.
"No..." she whispered. "That's not a Demon."
Sam turned to her, confused. "What?"
Emily opened her eyes, her voice grave.
"It's... an Automaton," she said. "Some kind of arcane construct, built to imitate an Infernal Knight."