Flyreh rubbed his eyes through his Armour, trying to clear the momentary blindness that the flash of rainbow energy had afflicted him with. "Scan," he growled, searching for the two teenagers.

  His Scan registered a single hostile figure that was rapidly growing in size. Flyreh scowled and his own Armour swelled, back-pedalling, because he could already guess what the teenagers were planning. One of them scaled upwards as high as they could to distract him with a frontal assault, while the other circled around to attack him from behind. The obvious answer to this, though, was for him to match them in size and put his back to the wall. Brass-Beat Brawler grew around him in response to his thoughts, pushing aside the crumbling remains of the shrine and letting it collapse around him as his helmet's horns scraped the roof of the cave.

  The pillar of rainbow light obscuring his enemy finally faded, and Flyreh prepared to go on the defensive. Which one was confronting him? The bulky Black Knight? The agile Skyward Grasscutter? Whichever it was, he could take them.

  But the answer turned out to be neither. There was a new Armour Core squaring off with him.

  Its legs bore the digitigrade knees of Skyward Grasscutter, but terminated in a more streamlined version of the Black Knight's boots. Its upper arms were clad in the spiky armour of the Black Knight, but its forearms were long and streamlined. In one hand, it held an even larger Sword that had been augmented with Grasscutter's wrist blades, becoming a new crossguard. In the other it carried a streamlined shield that ended in a wicked spike. On one shoulder it had Keldryn's crossbow mounted, and on the other Bluebell perched in a special housing. Its torso had become a triangular wedge, like a version of Grasscutter's helmet lined with serrated edges, and crowned by the Black Knight's jagged helm. In its sternum, there was a spinning nexus of rainbow-coloured energy, predominantly a yin and yang of black and green but with every other colour imaginable bleeding through at the edges.

  "Whoa," the Goliath murmured. "What is this? Wait, who's talking?"

  Mikayla was disoriented. She could feel Keldryn's mind. And Nocturnus' thoughts. She could see his face, she suddenly realised. Nocturnus was grizzled and scarred, with a greying beard and thick mutton chops.

  "I'm uncertain as to what you've done, but you've linked our minds. We need to maintain separation, or we might find ourselves unable to split back up," Nocturnus warned.

  Keldryn was distracted, his spectre bobbing in sudden shock. "Look at our profile!"

  "System, profile please," Mikayla requested, raising an eyebrow.

  [NAME: Mikayla Aiadon, Keldryn Thorntail, Nocturnus Virralis

  LEVEL: 42 (24+18+0)

  RACE: Human (Demigod), Beastkin (Foxkin), ????

  STATISTICS: (1 Lock Cleared, 125% Efficiency)

  HEALTH: 4000/4000 (1750+2250+0)

  MANA: 4250/4250 (2000+2250+0)

  STAMINA: 4750/4750 (1750+3000+0)

  STRENGTH: 47.5 (BASE VALUE: 14+24+0)

  DEXTERITY: 48.75 (BASE VALUE: 14+25+0)

  CONSTITUTION: 40 (BASE VALUE: 14+18+0)

  CHARISMA: 33.75 (BASE VALUE: 14+13+0)

  INTELLIGENCE: 42.5 (BASE VALUE: 16+18+0)

  WILLPOWER: 46.25 (BASE VALUE: 17+20+0)

  UNUSED: 4]

  Mikayla's eyes widened. "Level forty-two? With almost fifty points of Dexterity?!" She paused and squinted at the calculations. "Are those your stats? Twenty-four, twenty-five, eighteen -"

  "Yes, those are mine," Keldryn confirmed. "This combination, or whatever it is, seems to have completely refilled our Mana and Stamina, too,"

  "I'm contributing a lot of zeroes, I see," Nocturnus sighed. "Mikayla, you must remember to assign your unused points!"

  "Will do, will do," She flicked two points into Charisma and two into Willpower. They didn't have any potions available, so raising their maximums wouldn't help with the fight to come, but the additional regeneration might make the difference. "This is awesome. We need a cool name for it," Mikayla assessed.

  "Sort out such things later!" The aged man interrupted them, rolling his eyes. "We're still fighting!"

  While this had been going on, Flyreh had been awestruck. "So that's it. That's the power . . the power that should have been mine!" he snarled.

  "I've got it!" Mikayla piped up. "Black Knight Duplex!"

  As Flyreh charged at them, she brought their equipment up, shield ready to block. Mikayla couldn't help but feel confident. "With strength like this, we're -"

  Flyreh's hammer swivelled in his grip, bashing their shield aside, then the hammer-head came circling back around to strike their helmet. The combined Armour suddenly threw its arm and sword up, catching a strike from Flyreh's hammer that sent vibrations through their frame. "Focus on the fight!" Nocturnus barked.

  Mikayla and Keldryn blinked. "Nocturnus," she gasped, "did you just control the Armour?"

  The eyes of his projected face in their shared mental space widened. "I did,"

  They suddenly dodged away from a crushing kick as Flyreh pulled his weapon free. "That one was me," Keldryn reported.

  Mikayla strategised on the fly. "Nocturnus, you have the ballistae! Keldryn, run the legs! I've got the arms!"

  "I can do that?" Nocturnus sounded baffled. Seemingly of its own accord, the crossbow on her shoulder fired, launching an arrow that narrowly missed Flyreh. "I can! Incredible!"

  Flyreh howled, a sound full of inarticulate range, bringing his hammer down. Mikayla went to block at the same time Keldryn dodged, and the hammer glanced off their shield.

  "How?" Flyreh bellowed. "How did you do it? For weeks I've been trying to get that miserable god to give up its secrets! You! You cannot just walk in here and steal it from under my nose! How did you do it?!"

  "To be honest?" Mikayla shouted back at him with a grin of schadenfreude as she twisted her torso and threw out a stab. "I couldn't have done it without you!"

  Flyreh's arm jerked back and deflected the sword, taking only a minor scratch. The Black Knight Duplex overbalanced, Mikayla having overcommitted to the strike, and Flyreh took advantage, swinging his hammer back around and using the spike on the rear of its head to punch a hole in their sternum.

  Mikayla strangled a scream, feeling the stabbing pain in her gut even though she knew she wasn't really hurt. Then again, based on the massive chunk of Health they'd lost, it definitely wasn't wise to just ignore the pain. [HEALTH: 3092/4000]

  Keldryn drove them away, kicking upwards and releasing his bladed-leaf spray Technique from the Black Knight Duplex's foot. The attack caused Flyreh to flinch, buying them precious seconds to recuperate.

  "Mikayla," Nocturnus' voice filled with sudden urgency. "Let me take over the arms,"

  "Huh?"

  "Bards would sing of the Black Knight's swordsmanship, feared by masters the world over. This man is no match for me!"

  Mikayla barely even had to consider it. "Alright. Go to town," She pulled back from the metaphysical controls, and felt Nocturnus' presence take her place.

  Flyreh had recovered faster than them, and his hammer was coming down in a crushing blow that would flatten their helmet.

  But then the multicoloured warrior moved, manipulating its blade with expert precision, and suddenly the hammer was going in the wrong direction. Nocturnus shifted their centre of balance, twisted the length of their blade, and dragged it across Flyreh's chest. Their shield swung around, forcing the head of the hammer to the ground, and at a shouted command Keldryn pinned it under their foot while Nocturnus delivered another slash to Brass-Beat Brawler's chest.

  Flyreh staggered back, yanking his foot free. His hammer vanished into a rain of blue glitter, and instead a pair of scimitars appeared in his hands, one green and one red."What is this? How do you suddenly know how to fight?" Flyreh demanded, going on the defensive, his blades assuming a ready stance.

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  "Strength is nothing without skill," Nocturnus rumbled, cautiously approaching and forcing Flyreh towards the wall.

  "Who is speaking!?"

  "The Undying Black Knight! Back from the dead to sever your head!" Nocturnus bellowed. "Threatening my apprentice was your last mistake. Do not bore me with your dying words, cur, for none shall remember them!" He braced the Black Knight Duplex's left shoulder against their shield, and Keldryn took the cue, charging forward and delivering a crushing shield bash with too much force behind it to deflect.

  "I recognise that voice. You're the assassin!" Flyreh snarled. "Assuming the Black Traitor's legacy? Cute," He lowered his swords and met the blow with a shoulder charge of his own, his superior Strength checking them and making the Black Knight Duplex bounce off. Flyreh drove his foot into the ground and a diagonal spike of what looked like fossilised bone shot from the earth towards their chest.

  "I assume nothing!" Nocturnus howled. Keldryn slid back, letting Nocturnus' decades of footwork guide him to dodge the conjured assault. Once they had a clear line of sight, he used Heel Propulsion, further amplified by Skyward Grasscutter's digitigrade legs, to send them springing forwards again. Nocturnus' mental lips split into a wide grin as he took the momentum and ran with it, two quick steps delivering a slash that Brass-Beat Brawler barely managed to turn aside on its chestplate.

  "You face Nocturnus Virralis, the remnant mind trapped within his old Armour Core. Who whispered in your ear when you wore him and drove you to waste your energy hunting for an imaginary assassin," Nocturnus let out a full-bellied evil laugh, just to be taunting.

  Flyreh's back brushed against the wall, and he snarled. If he was thrown by the revelation - or disbelieved it - he didn't show it. His foot dug into the earth, carving out a point to kick off from, and then he launched Brass-Beat Brawler's forwards, swords going forwards and outwards. "Then it'll be my honour to personally end your legend!"

  The Black Knight Duplex held firm, catching both blades on their own sword and knocking them aside, then launching a series of strikes that forced Flyreh right back on the defensive.

  "I may not understand what miracle my apprentice has wrought to let me take control, but I swear on whatever shreds of honour remain attached to the Black Knight's name, I shall part your head from your shoulders even if it kills me again!" Nocturnus bellowed, finally breaking through Flyreh's defensive stance by feinting to the left, then kicking off and around to the right. His sword lashed out and carved a chunk out of Brass-Beat Brawler's left leg.

  Mikayla took advantage of the opening. A Psychic Bolt flew from the tip of the crossbow on their shoulder, splashing across the injury before Flyreh could seal it and causing him to cry out in pain.

  In a flash of light, Flyreh was suddenly at the other end of the cavern, clutching his hip and ignoring the way a line of gardens and buildings had exploded in his wake. Clearly, he'd been keeping a mobility Technique of his own in reserve. His swords flickered out of existence, maroon aura instead manifesting what looked like a naval cannon stolen from a pirate ship.

  Which was probably exactly what it was. Thoughts flickered between the Black Knight Duplex's three pilots, Mikayla identifying the weapon and Keldryn pointing out that, with his status as a Core collector, they needed to be ready for Flyreh to continue to pull weapons from his collection at a moment's notice. Nocturnus was already preparing a counter to the incoming ranged assault - "Wait! Stop that, both of you! We must not let our thoughts grow too entwined!"

  "Shit! Sorry! Got it!" Mikayla consciously pulled herself back, and Keldryn did the same.

  The moment of distraction cost them, as a streak of energy left the tip of the cannon's barrel and hit them in the chest, knocking the Black Knight Duplex from its feet and sending them crashing into the wall of the cavern.

  Nocturnus groaned. "I did not miss pain," Keldryn didn't bother whining, struggling to get their Armour back on its feet as Brass-Beat Brawler closed the distance more leisurely. Mikayla checked their Health and paled. [HEALTH: 1640/4000] A single hit from that cannon had done more damage than every other blow Flyreh had landed so far, put together.

  Flyreh was already closing the distance. It didn't seem like the cannon was something he could use recklessly, either, because he had called out the scimitars again. Nocturnus got them back in a defensive stance as Flyreh bounced from side to side, making feints with his blades.

  But then they were surprised by a pillar of stone erupting between them. Armoured fists that were no longer wielding their swords broke it in half no sooner than it had struck the Black Knight Duplex's arm, punching a chunk of rock into their helmet and knocking it backwards. Nocturnus barely managed to get the shield up in time to defend against the follow-up blow, which nonetheless sent their own fist rocking back into their head.

  Mikayla, casting around for something that might help, fired an arrow from their crossbow into the eyes that shone through Flyreh's chainmail veil of a face.

  He didn't even seem to notice.

  Grimacing, she glanced at Bluebell, who was still sitting patiently on the shoulder of the Black Knight Duplex. Her legs were tucked in, and she was watching the fight with bated breath. And, on closer inspection, that didn't look like a saddle that she was sitting in.

  The Black Knight Duplex's recovery was interrupted as Flyreh's arms shone with a Technique that drove his hands inexorably forwards, forcing them backwards. He knocked Nocturnus' sword aside, exposing their chest. Nocturnus howled in fury, but wasn't quite fast enough. Even in this merged state, the Black Knight Duplex only had 42 Levels' worth of Stats to leverage, which paled in comparison to his Level 112 reflexes. His arms simply weren't moving as quickly as he expected them to, weren't hitting as hard as he thought they would.

  All Nocturnus could do was try to get the damnable shield up in time to mitigate the damage of the blow as Flyreh's hands raised and conjured his hammer once more, already bringing it down.

  Instead, a ballistic goat hit him in the face.

  Nocturnus's eyes widened as Flyreh stumbled back, his attack interrupted. "What was that?"

  "Turns out, we've got a missile launcher," Mikayla grinned as Bluebell scrabbled against Flyreh's maroon chestplate, then kicked off and somehow flew back into place on their shoulder.

  "Don't spam that, it took more than five hundred points out of our Stamina!" Keldryn warned Mikayla, flicking a popup in her direction. [STAMINA: 2432/4750]

  "Well, it was worth it!" Nocturnus barked gleefully, swinging the Black Knight Duplex's shield and forcing his guard open, then putting their whole weight behind a stab.

  The strike punched a gaping hole straight through the guts of Brass-Beat Brawler, which seemed to go deathly still.

  Nocturnus laughed triumphantly as they withdrew the blade, focusing on the injury to see if it was indeed fatal. "Had enough?"

  Something black writhed inside the injury. Before their eyes, bubbling black tar filled in the hole and sealed it with a viscous scab that looked like a dried oil slick.

  Flyreh's voice emerged from the helmet, laced with disgust, as tendrils of black flesh spread through the veil that served as its face. "You shouldn't have done that,"

  I think I've come up with an unusual and fun gimmick to explain the Progression Fantasy trope of 'main character beats someone much stronger than them on the regular'. (Worth noting, if you're wondering; even if it had just been Mikayla and Keldryn combining their strength, Flyreh would still have them beat. But remember when Anza said the only way to overcome a significant Level gap is sheer skill? That was foreshadowing. :P )

  Support me on Patreon!