Chivalry of a Dark Knight [Batman x Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry]

CH4: Brought here to die (prt 3)

"Subject's movements appear restricted." one of the personnels announced.

The professor was already up from his seat seeing the development, the fact that the subject looked like he was in agony didn't escape his attention and he recalled the story that Nishimori told them: about what happened when the costumed man grabbed the sword. Could this be related?

"Professor, look at this." called out Maya as she pointed towards one of the workstation monitors.

He did and his eyes tapered a little. In front of him were Mana readings of the subject, all zero values as established earlier until just a few seconds ago. There was a massive spike of magic and then just like that it dropped back to zero followed by the flat line that preceded it.

"Could this be an anomaly?" he asked.

Maya was quiet for a while and tapped her cheek in thought.

"It's possible that outside interference can result in faulty readings." she concluded.

The professor pushed his glasses up, the light from the monitor reflected on the lenses and obscured his eyes but not his frown. He remained still with an unreadable expression as he set his sights on the large monitor screen. The subject's dulled movement, he had witnessed something like this among Blazers before and it normally resulted in one of two things.

"Do you know about the nature of fate, Maya?"

Maya blinked in confusion wondering why he asked something like that all of a sudden. Nevertheless, she cleared her throat as answered.

"Of course. As you've said many times in your lectures, it is the source of a Blazer's magic. Magic is a power that changes the world beyond reason, the power of fate itself guided by the wielder's will. It's what separates a Blazer from a Non-Blazer and the basis of the Mage-Knight System. Because the fate of a Blazer been decided long before they are even born."

He nodded slightly with his eyes see glued to the screen.

"I wonder..." he murmured.

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Although the wave of pain had passed, he still felt constricted and could even faintly hear the slight clang as he fought against the invisible restraints. "What the hell ARE these things!? "What's going on!?" were the questions abuzz in his mind. And then, as if something otherworldly decided to answer him, a strange idea formed. Was it because he had no chance of winning? Are these chains his..."fate"?

"Bullshit!" he internally protested. "I don't believe in fate!"

He didn't know where such a thought came from or why this craziness was happening but through his struggles he was able to push himself up slightly. Unfortunately, Iwadare had taken advantage of his momentary disability and punted him with enough force to send him on his back.

Not sparing him any time to recover, Iwadare slammed his fist into the Dark Knight's torso, then slammed his other and then repeatedly began punching him. Each blow felt like being hit with sledgehammer that was trying to drive in him into the earth but luckily the Batsuit's body armor did its job of dampening the impacts. However, the armor plates weren't designed to take this kind of abuse and were beginning to crack as Batman felt the trauma ripple through his body.

Iwadare wasn't done, he reared his fist back and activated another Noble Art.

"Ishinotsume!"

From the top of his fist grew a flat three-pronged blade like protrusion which he brought down and punctured through Batman's armor! Batman yelled in pain when it stabbed through the right side of his abdomen and then pulled out. His ears rang and his vision blurred as he instinctively held on to his wound and turned to his side.