In Tosk's Ratway, which ran beneath the entire city, Selo Delien, the Black Knight, had just slain another monster from a nightmare. He looked back at his followers and found that only the elderly butler wearing a monocle remained.
Selo rested on his sword and asked in a low voice, "Varys, how long have we been trapped in this so-called Ratway?"
"Your Excellency, time is difficult to track when we pass through one nightmare after another, but I know it has been three days." The old man adjusted his monocle and answered with practiced elegance.
Selo nodded. Then he suddenly raised his black greatsword and stopped it at the old butler's neck. "Who are you? Varys would never speak to me like that! Are you one of those 'rats' hiding in the sewers? Do you think you've got me, so there's no need to keep pretending?"
"Your Excellency, I'm on your side." The old man showed no fear. His lips curled into a smile as he answered.
"If you won't tell me, I'll graze your soul and ask it directly. That works just as well." Black Knight Delien put his strength behind the blade, and the black greatsword came down trailing deep darkness.
A deep gash appeared instead on the Black Knight's own shoulder. Something seemed to have sliced through his sturdy black armor, and the wound spread rapidly toward his heart.
This was the Black Knight's Blade of Spirit and Flesh. It could corrode flesh, extinguish souls, and cut through barriers. It could also render the defenses of any creature harboring fallen thoughts useless. It was the Black Knight's core Beyonder Ability, born of the Fallen domain.
Yet that powerful strike had now landed on him.
"Why go to such lengths? I was hoping you'd help me explore what