Chapter 25

After an hour Vain and Veto soon reach their destination. But to their surprise it was oddly quiet and empty. No enemies at the gate, inside the town, or inside the castle. But the dark knight was sitting in the throne and stood up out of his seat, when he saw Vain and Veto enter.

Soon they stopped walking and Vain asked, "So, where's the welcome committee?"

The dark knight slowly walked towards them, saying, "I'm more then enough to take care of you two."

Vain took off his coat while saying, "That so? Then I ain't holding back."

He then drew his weapon, and rushed at the knight, swinging with all his might, but the knight blocked it with his sword. They stood in a deadlock, until Vain summon his devouring hand and struck the dark knight's sword. But he couldn't devour it and only knocked his hands upwards. Before swinging his sword towards the body, which made the dark knight step back, and dodge his attack. But he then jump back, several times, as a hail of magic bullets came down from above. Veto was firing bullets out of his two hand cannons, straight up, and letting them fly to their target. The dark knight, not wanting to dodge them, activated god release and absorbed them with his aura.

"Tch, how annoying," as Vain said that he activated god release and dived right back into the battle. A furry of slashes and the sound of metal striking each other rang through out the throne room. Until Vain was struck by a fist and sent flying backwards. Vain rotated his body, firing a dark wave towards the knight, before throwing his sword behind him, embedding it in the floor, and landing on it. His sword sliced through the ground, as it slowed him to a halt, once he stopped, he grab the handle, and kicked off the blade. The dark knight sliced the sword wave in half, absorbing it into his sword, and clashing his sword with Vain's. But Vain then struck him in the stomach with his fist, sending him through several walls.

Vain looked at Veto and said, "Hey, head on back. The lack of enemies is giving me a bad feeling."

Veto left without saying a word and the dark knight slowly stood up. Vain turn his attention back to him and was about to rush in. When suddenly a bursts of black flame enveloped the dark knight. Sucking the air and everything else around him towards it. Vain didn't budge an inch and once the flame died down the dark knight became a death knight. He made the first move and rushed at Vain. Clashing their swords against each other, but Vain wasn't able to keep his feet firmly on the ground, and so they crash through a lot of buildings. Once they crash through the town's outer walls, Vain punched him in the side, and knocked him away.

Vain rubbed his back and said, "S**t... that f*****g hurts my back. How many f*****g walls did we crash through?"

The death knight let out a deep sigh, before rushing back at Vain, and they start furiously slashing at each other. Every time their swords collided it caused the air to boom and soon the ground beneath them shattered. They did one final swing, sending each other both sliding back, and they inspect their weapons. Vain's engine blade's edge had chips and cracks all over it, so he sheathed it, and created two black katanas from his aura. The death knight's sword was cracked and chipped as well. But he surrounds it in his aura and continues to use it. Vain reverse grip his left hand katana and they once again clash their swords together. Vain blocked his sword with his left and swung at him with his right. But his body and sword phase through Vain's blades and after ending his phase, he delivered a clean cut on Vain. His blade devouring Vain's aura and cutting from his left shoulder down towards the right of his stomach. Blood sprayed out of his wound and covered the death knight, but Vain reverse grip both of his katanas and tried to stab the death knight. He phased out of the attack and stepped away from Vain.

Blood began building up in Vain's mouth and he spat it out, before saying, "Tch, f*****g b*****d. Using cheap tricks, what a f*****g wuss. Scared you're gonna lose, huh!? Then let's get wild, DARKNESS DEVOUR!"

A giant dark flame completely enveloped Vain and when it died down, a five meter tall beast stood in his place. He then charge forward at the death knight, who phased into the ground, and Vain bit into it. Creating a cloud of dirt, as he raised his head, and saw the knight standing behind him. Vain rushed at him over and over trying to bite him. The death knight struck at his armored body every time, but he couldn't scratch it. Vain was about to dive back at him again, when a voice spoke to him, "Is this your full strength Vain? Letting your power go on a full rampage? Letting it do all the work? Will you repeat those same mistakes and make her cry again?"

Vain closed his eyes and flashbacks ran through his mind. He destroyed their home, family, and their world. He destroy the place that they called home and because of that he made Luvia cried. Vain replied to the voice, "No... I don't want her to cry because of me. I don't want her to worry about me. If darkness wants to devour me then I'll devour it first. For her sake I can't lose myself!"

The beast's body then shattered and Vain appear in the center of it. He open his eyes and the shattered pieces were absorbed into him. Vain floated down towards the ground, but he didn't touch it, instead he floated an inch above it. He was wearing a glistening dark suit of armor, as if it was made of obsidian. Waves of dark aura still floated around him, but this time they were glistening in the light.

A man with a full face mask was sitting in a throne and watching Vain through a screen. He had his left hand under his chin and said, "Good, good, hopefully I'll get a chance to see how strong it is. Before a certain someone gets back."

He then looks up at a water bubble above his head, smiles, and says, "Don't worry princess, your knight in shining armor will come rescue you soon. Hopefully, before the knight in clear armor does."