THE GENERAL'S DISGRACED HEIR

The knight approached with that same graceful, measured pace, its claymore dragging along the floor and leaving a trail of sparks. Each step was perfectly calculated, a predator closing in for the kill.

"The marked one falls," it intoned, raising its weapon for the final blow. "The feast begins."

David's vision blurred as the Blood Seal's effects intensified. He could feel his strength ebbing, his will to fight being sapped away by the insidious mark. The knight's claymore rose high, bloodfire wreathing its edge in preparation for the killing stroke.

Then the shadows around David exploded outward.

Luna materialized from the darkness like an avatar of primal fury, her golden eyes blazing with inhuman light as she underwent her transformation. Her human form dissolved, replaced by something far more terrifying, a massive wolf-like shadow creature with teeth like obsidian daggers and claws that could rend reality itself.

The shadow terror that was Luna slammed into the Vampire Rot Knight with the force of a landslide, driving the creature back from David's prone form. Her massive jaws clamped down on the knight's sword arm, shadow-teeth meeting organic armor in a shower of sparks and torn metal.

Simultaneously, Elara emerged from David's shadow, flames wreathing her entire body as her true power unleashed itself. The temperature in the cosmic room spiked dramatically as she raised her hands, fire magic of the highest order gathering around her like a miniature sun.

"Get away from him!" Elara roared, her voice echoing with elemental fury.

A lance of concentrated flame, white-hot and thicker than a man's torso, erupted from her hands and struck the knight centre mass. The organic armour that had shrugged off ice blades and shadow daggers cracked under the assault, pieces of blackened carapace falling away to reveal the grotesque fusion of flesh and bone beneath.

The knight staggered but didn't fall. Instead, it grabbed Luna's massive shadow form and hurled her across the throne room with strength that defied physics. The wolf-creature struck one of the cosmic pillars with a sound like thunder, but was already moving before the echo faded, her supernatural resilience keeping her in the fight.

"Impossible," the knight hissed, its hollow gaze fixed on the newcomers. "The shadows should not have hidden them from my sight."

David struggled to his feet, supported by Vespera's ethereal form. "My amour has many secrets, leech," he said, wiping blood from his mouth in a daring grin. "That's what happens when you underestimate your enemy you fucker."

The knight's response was to raise both hands, crimson energy building around them with intensity that made the air itself scream. When it spoke, its voice carried a note of genuine anger for the first time.

"Then all shall be marked. All shall feed the reservoir."

Multiple Blood Seals erupted from the knight's position, crimson sigils racing across the floor like living things seeking targets. Luna's shadow form twisted away from one, while Elara countered another with a wall of flame that made the seal hiss and dissolve.

But the knight wasn't done. It began to move again, that impossible dance of death that had nearly killed David moments before. Now, however, it faced multiple opponents, and they were ready for it.

Luna attacked from the left, her massive shadow claws leaving gouges in the starlight floor as she tried to pin the knight down. Elara struck from the right, lances of flame forcing the creature to dodge and weave. Vespera provided support from range, ice shards and frozen barriers disrupting the knight's movement patterns.

And David, still marked and weakened, used his [Celestial Wheel] to coordinate their assault, calling out warnings and directing their attacks with tactical precision.

"Luna, it's going to pivot left—cut it off!"

"Elara, flame wall on my mark—now!"

"Vespera, ice the ground behind it!"

For the first time since the battle began, the Vampire Rot Knight was being pushed back. Its graceful dance became more frantic as it struggled to deal with attacks from multiple angles. Pieces of its organic armor fell away under the sustained assault, revealing more of the horrific fusion beneath.

But then the knight did something unexpected....

It laughed.

The sound was like breaking glass mixed with funeral bells, a noise that made everyone in the throne room flinch. The knight's form began to glow with crimson light as power flowed from its reservoir, restoring the damaged armor and enhancing its already formidable abilities.

"Fools," it hissed, its voice laced with resonant power that made the cosmic gate tremble. "You haven't delayed death, you've summoned it."

The knight's next attack came with speed that made its previous movements look sluggish. It carved through Luna's shadow form with its claymore, dispersing her temporarily before backhanding Elara with enough force to send her flying. Vespera barely managed to dissolve into mist before the creature's follow-up strike could connect.

David watched in horror as the knight's organic armour sealed itself, the creature healing from their combined assault as if it had never been damaged at all. Worse, he could see the power flowing through its form, their attacks had somehow made it stronger.

"It's not just healing," David realized, his tactical mind putting the pieces together. "It's absorbing the damage. Every hit we land makes it more powerful."

The knight turned its hollow gaze toward him, and David could swear he saw amusement in those crimson depths.

"The marked one begins to understand. But understanding comes too late."

The creature's form blurred as it moved, claymore describing a perfect arc that caught David across the chest despite his desperate attempt to dodge. The Nightveil Embrace absorbed most of the impact, but the bloodfire still burned through his defenses, adding fresh wounds to his collection.

David hit the ground hard, the breath driven from his lungs. The Blood Seal on his chest pulsed with renewed vigor, and he could feel his life force being drawn away more rapidly now. Each heartbeat was weaker than the last.

Luna reformed behind the knight, her shadow claws raking across its back, but the organic armor had grown thicker, more resilient. Her attack barely scratched the surface before the knight spun and caught her with an elbow strike that dispersed her form again.

Elara's next flame lance struck the knight dead center, white-hot fire wreathing its form in an inferno that should have reduced it to ash. But when the flames cleared, the creature stood unharmed, its reservoir having absorbed and converted the thermal energy into raw power.

"We're not hurting it," Elara gasped, exhaustion beginning to show in her voice. "Everything we do just makes it stronger."

David forced himself back to his feet, his mind racing through possibilities. The knight's power seemed limitless, its ability to absorb and convert damage making conventional attacks useless. But there had to be a weakness...there was always a weakness.

His [Celestial Wheel] showed him the flow of power through the knight's form, the way energy moved from its reservoir to fuel its abilities. And there, in the depths of his enhanced perception, he saw something that made his blood run cold.

The knight wasn't just absorbing their attacks, it was absorbing their life force through the Blood Seals. Each mark it had placed was a conduit, slowly draining them even as they fought. The longer the battle continued, the weaker they would become and the stronger it would grow.

"We need to end this now," David said, his voice hoarse with exhaustion. "Before it drains us completely."

But even as he spoke, he knew they were outmatched. The knight's speed, strength, and regenerative abilities were beyond their capacity to overcome through conventional means. They needed something more...something unexpected.

That's when the knight made its mistake.

Confident in its superiority, drunk on absorbed power, the creature decided to end the fight with a flourish. It raised its claymore high, crimson energy pouring into the blade until it blazed like a falling star.

"Crimson Waltz," it announced, its voice echoing through the throne room with the weight of finality.

The knight began to spin, its claymore extending and multiplying as blood magic created phantom blades around it. The dance of death it performed was hypnotically beautiful and utterly lethal, each movement designed to carve through multiple opponents simultaneously.

David and his team scattered, but the knight's reach was too great, its speed too overwhelming. Luna's shadow form was caught in the whirling blades and dispersed. Elara was forced to the ground by a phantom sword that opened a gash across her shoulder. Vespera dissolved into mist but couldn't reform fast enough to avoid the follow-up strikes.

The knight's dance reached its crescendo, and David realized with crystal clarity that they were about to die. The creature's power had grown beyond their ability to match, and their exhaustion was making them sloppy. This was how it ended, not with a heroic victory, but with a gradual grinding down until they had nothing left to give.

Then, through the chaos of the Crimson Waltz, David heard a voice, calm, determined, and utterly without fear.

"Enough."

Seraphina stepped into view, her elegant coat flowing around her as she walked calmly through the knight's deadly dance. The phantom blades passed through her without effect, as if she existed in a space slightly removed from reality. Her eyes, usually so calculating and composed, now blazed with an inner light that spoke of awakening power.