"Be gone!" Stokie raged, unleashing a relentless barrage of sword strikes. I met each one smoothly, parrying with fluid precision as flames spat and flared with every clash. He dropped low for a kick but I slipped aside without breaking rhythm.
In the same breath, he pivoted into a backhand slash. I caught the blade, diverted it upward, and drove my foot straight into his gut. The impact sank deep, launching him across the floor. He rolled, skidded, then forced himself upright, clutching his stomach, grinning through the pain.
"I thought you said you were gonna kill me," I mocked, spinning my bat once before resting it on my shoulder.
"You arrogant bastard!"
He tightened his grip and lunged with renewed speed, his flaming blade roaring as he unleashed an even faster barrage of slashes. I parried them one after another, a grin fixed on my face, not even shifting from my spot. The chamber shook, the ground tearing under the force of each clash, and even the two prisoners stared in visible shock.
"I am a knight," he roared, "I shall not fall to a nobody like you!"
In the middle of his frenzy, I slipped a cut in then diverted one strike wide. His eyes went wide in that instant. I spun my bat and drove it hard into his side. A rib cracked. His eyes bulged as blood burst from his mouth, he was sent flying into the gate of an empty cell. Metal clanged, warped, then he smashed into the wall beyond it.
He coughed, then grinned as blood leaked down his mouth. I was almost impressed by the delusion that he could actually win as he spoke through gasping breaths.
"Night Fallen… was it?" he said. "You have great strength. It would be a shame to kill someone like you. If you join me, I'll put in a word with the Etheridge Church. I'm sure there'll be a suitable position for you."
I simply looked at him, my expression remaining serene. Still, I had to give him credit for playing the whole join me card. After all, it wouldn't be a boss fight if he didn't say it. I grinned and answered in a low voice,
"I, Night Fallen, have no place in the bright lights of churches."
His teeth clenched, then he grinned. "As you wish… so you've chosen death!"
He pulled out a syringe and drove it into himself. A dark shade of crimson mana began to ooze from his body. In the cell the elf shrank back in terror of what she was witnessing, the beast-girl also widened her eyes in pure anger, teeth clneched, they must've realized what they were suffering for the whole time.
"For decades, the experiments to create the perfect human have been failures…"
His body began to morph. His arms bulged—not like Ogre's, but in a far more controlled way. Black markings twisted across his flesh as the crimson mana flared higher, wind and debris spiraling around him.
His voice dropped, heavy and distorted.
"But now it's finally been perfected. Revel, Night Fallen, for you will be the first to witness the success of the first Devi-human."
His ears sharpened. His eyes burned red. Fur spread across his body.
He lunged, leaving shock waves that shattered the entire cell in shambles then struck as I blocked with my bat, crimson blackened flames and mana spraying through the area, as the two girls covered.
"Feel my wrath. Feel my fury," he laughed hysterically as he struck again. For the first time, he pushed me back, even my mana bat starting to give. That was when I knew we'd reached that point, and I smirked. He leapt away, springing off the walls, stone cracking beneath his feet as he rebounded through the chamber.
"Damned demi-humans should know their place," he snarled. "They were only ever born to further humanity's evolution!"
He came at me from my blind side, his sword slicing toward my head, inches away. I didn't turn. I backfisted him, my fist connecting as I rotated with the motion, our eyes meeting for a brief, calm instant before he was sent flying into the wall. Rubble rained down around him.
"I've had enough."
Before he could even draw breath, I was already in front of him. I drove punch after punch into his stomach, each impact rocking him as my relentless strikes sent him crashing through room after room. The entire hideout shook. His breath fled in broken gasps as walls collapsed behind him.
From afar, Black Rose watched with a silent smirk, a pile of bodies at her feet. 'Only Sir Night Fallen could crush weaklings with such overwhelming force.... amazing.'
Luna felt the tremor too and smirked while walking. 'Sir Night Fallen must've found the mastermind.'
In another chamber entirely, I stopped and drove a final jab into his gut. He coughed blood as the blow launched him straight through the sealing and out of the hideout. He flew into open air, and I followed. Terror filled his eyes, his mouth moving soundlessly—begging, cursing, it didn't matter.
I forged my mana bat midair, dark-blue mana flaring and shifting around it. I raised it high.
"Curtain.Call."
The bat descended, sending a blinding light shimmering across the forest. Even the moon's color shifted blue. Everyone in the hideout felt it—but it was purely for aesthetics. Destroying the entire forest would have defeated the purpose of a rescue mission.
As my bat neared his face, the last thing I saw were his eyes, wide with despair, before the strike sent him crashing into a mountain… which split in half, cracks spider-webbing across its surface, trees toppling, a cloud of dust rising. The blue hue dissipated as the night sky returned, and I hovered above it all, my coat fluttering in the wind. Truly it was a fitting ending for my true debut as the anti-hero of this world. Night Fallen.
*****
Below, Luna reached the cells. The elf girl's eyes widened as she stammered, "It… it… you… #10."
Luna smiled. "Don't be alarmed. You're finally free." She sliced through the gate.
"But… do say… where are the others?"
The elf girl looked down, while the beast girl growled in anger. "Dead… they all died from the experiments…"
Luna's eyes widened for a moment, then she composed herself. "I see… come, we should get moving."
The elf girl hesitated. "That… that man… who is he exactly?"
Luna's smile held pride. "Oh… you must mean Sir Night Fallen… he's a brilliant man."
The hideout trembled around them. Luna whispered to herself, "The place is coming down… I had hoped to take the drug they were making for study, but I guess that's not possible now." She looked at the two and said, "We're leaving."
They followed her without hesitation and got out just in time the hideout came crashing down on itself, completely destroyed. Watching it from above, it finally hit me. I never actually completed my goal of taking the church guys money, and now it was buried beneath rubble, damaged and lost.
'Well fuck....'
I descended to the ground. Luna and the other two girls were standing there, and Luna greeted me with a smile. "Sir Night Fallen."
"Luna…" I smiled faintly. I really was proud of how she handled everything. Then I looked at the other two. "Luna, get them washed."
'Seriously, they smell worse than dead bodies.'
Luna bowed slightly. "Yes, at once, Sir Night Fallen." She turned to the girls. "Come now, ladies. Time to get you washed." She pinched her nose as she started dragging them along.
After some time, Black Rose finally emerged from around the corner, and I couldn't believe my eyes. She was carrying bags of gold and two bottles of vials. I wanted to cry. I wanted to kiss her feet. But my expression remained calm.
"Black Rose… I see you've brought souvenirs."
She smirked. "Yes, Sir Night Fallen. I wanted to get more information on the experiments, maybe find out the Church's grand scheme, but all I came across were these vials and the bag of gold. Naturally, I helped myself."
"You continue to impress… dear Black Rose."
Black Rose's cheeks flushed slightly, but she never gushed. She was truly a master at hiding her emotions.
"I'm just doing my part, Sir Night Fallen."
'You do too much, Black Rose. I don't think I can handle you exceeding my expectations much more. But now, finally, I could get my art set—something for when I wasn't doing anti-hero work. And a nice violin too.'
Then I thought aloud, "But we'll need a base of operations too… this place is a bit too flat for my liking."
Luna returned with the two girls. "Maybe I can be of assistance… Sir Night Fallen."
"But Luna," I asked coldly, "now that I've fulfilled your wish for the demi-humans, why stick around?"
The question hit her hard, likely feeling like rejection. But I needed to know whether she was willing to dedicate herself to my goal. She knelt, lowering her gaze.
"I… I know I may not be strong enough yet, or as quick-witted as Black Rose, but… please give me a chance, Sir Night Fallen. Let me help you achieve your desires."
I smirked faintly. Without turning to her, I said, "Rise, Luna. Your services will be much needed." I stepped forward, a grin forming beneath my hood. "Now, show us to our new base of operations."
Luna's eyes widened—then a smirk took shape. "At once, Sir Night Fallen."
Black Rose merely watched her, wearing a smirk of her own.
*****
It was perfect. I could barely contain myself. An ancient city perched atop a high plateau in the East, hidden deep within the surrounding forest. Vines draped over stone and ruin, and at its center stood a palace-like structure, weathered yet imposing.
'So this is where Luna is from… huh?. The experimentation lab must have triggered fragments of her memories. How convenient.'
We stood at the highest point, the moon hanging low above us. This place—no, this sanctuary—was truly perfect. I decided then to name the blonde elf Miranda, and the beast-kin Titan.
"Black Rose. Luna. Miranda. Titan…"
They stood beside me, our shadows stretching long in the moonlight as the wind whispered past.
"We will bring about a new dawn but dusk must come first. We are dusk. We are the moonlight that shines upon the darkness. We are… Midnight Haven."
My eyes glowed blue against the night.
They spoke as one.
"Your will shall be done… Lord Night Fallen."