Shadow Slave: Shameless Self Insert

Fateful Battle

Six knights made of polished granite walked through the square. Their armor was seemingly created out of a deep black stone, yet still clanked like metal when impacting something. It should've been much louder than it was, however they knew the perfect way to walk to mitigate the sound.

Because of that, a female knight was able to hear a small creature attempting to get into the square.

Her shorter stature made her take longer strides in the direction of the sound, and if she wasn't corrupted, perhaps she would have called her allies to follow. However, she did not.

She walked into a decrepit building that seemed to be some kind of gathering place. Deep shadows littered the room,

She reached the area and raised her sword to her shield, striking it twice, right before something as heavy as herself barreled into her. It was wearing domineering onyx armor.

***

'Damn, she knew it was a trap! Yet she still walked in!'

Even as a Monster Saint was a menace. She was almost able to react fast enough to me flying towards her, able to just slide me off her shield.

Luckily, it wasn't quite fast enough due to Carrie being augmented.

I had summoned Carrie, and made him toss me in the air. I used the Oath's Ovule to activate the feather of truth. I was as light as possible until I was already on a good path, in which I then tried to make myself a bit more heavy than Saint, and it worked out.

I broke through her ironclad defense, which wouldn't have been possible in most other situations.

It hurt like hell though. Even with me immediately calling the shadow after.

Nephis and Effie were already making their moves, Neph had secured a hammer that had amplified striking power, while Effie made sure she stayed unbalanced with her strength. If I was to kill her, she couldn't be allowed to fall back into her steady battle style.

I kept the [Feather of Truth] activated to keep the armor light enough for me to actually wear. It was draining essence quickly, but it would last long enough to determine whether or not we would actually win this battle.

I landed and summoned the midnight shard, deflecting a desperate sword swing that threatened to lop my arm off.

At the same time, Neph struck Saint's leg, keeping her off balance for long enough for Effie to strike her shoulder with the butt of her spear.

Backing off, I noted Carrie was quickly making his way over to the site of the battle. I couldn't afford to give him the shadow, as it was keeping me alive in the relentless confrontation.

[Stalwart] was making sure that I wouldn't receive the full blows of the stonelike flesh, while [Blood Weave] was making sure I had enough stamina to get through the battle.

Carrie was trying to crush one of Saint's legs with his pincer before she was able to escape. By this point she had dropped her sword and focused entirely on defense as she attempted to get back onto both armored feet.

This had all only taken place within about thirty seconds, and yet Saint would not let herself perish.

It made me think, if Saint was giving them this much trouble, that was a terrible omen for the Forsaken Knight. Then again, they had the dawn shard by that point.

I would also most likely have two cores.

I threw my idle thoughts away and immersed myself back into the fight.

***

At this moment, Kai was regretting ever following the petite blind girl out of the Bright Castle.

One day, she appeared out of nowhere and asked him to follow her with the incentive of giving him a few soul shards, meanwhile an aloof girl next to her suddenly looked at him in horror. Surprisingly, she was being truthful and actually didn't have bad intentions.

They led him to a decrepit shack that looked like it was falling apart, and a feral looking young man was inside. He looked up and his eyes widened for a moment. His cheeks were starting to become red when he turned away and said:

"Welcome to my humble — temporary — aboad. My name is Jesse. What is yours?"

Kai was bewildered, this kid was just adorable!

Jesse saw Kai's expression change and looked back at him, slightly confused at his face.

"Kai! My name is Kai, although don't you already know that?" the young man named Jesse chuckled.

"Yes I do, but I wanted to do that anyway. Because my good friend, I need your help. I should be polite to someone I want something from, shouldn't I?"

Kai couldn't see any flaw in his logic, and his own Flaw hadn't really sounded any alarms.

"What would you need help with?" the kid suddenly seemed more menacing.

"Oh it's nothing much, I just need help finding a certain Fallen Devil."

Kai thought for a moment that he misheard.

"Excuse me?"

"Yeah, he's about thiiiiiis tall, with some horns on his head, and some red flames for eyes."

Kai almost fainted.

And now he was fighting something of... less dreadful power, but no less skilled. He wasn't entirely sure why they were fighting her, but Jesse said it needed to be done, so they were.

Changing Star seemed to have absolute trust while fighting alongside him, which gave Kai some much needed relief.

The statue seemed to be slowing down, with crimson dust flowing out of cracks in its arms and legs like blood.

Then, with his aerial advantage, he spotted something. A taller male statue, making its way into the building...

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Author again, sorry if I mess up some details of the dark city, I don't have the best understanding of the flashback arc.  Let me know your criticisms!