With the battle against the Creator Knight officially underway, Domino kept his eyes on the man in armor.

  Smiling, the man bowed politely.

  “Greetings Demon Slayer. My name is Dante Finthern. I am the Creator Knight of Water. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

  Domino got into a fighting stance as he held his fists in front of himself.

  “The pleasure's mine, Sir Dante.”

  Dante chuckled as a blade made of water appeared in one of his hands, and a shield made of water appeared in the other.

  He stared at Domino for a moment before grabbing a nearby sword and tossing it to the ground in front of Domino.

  “I notice you lack a sword. Please take this one. I got it off the last man foolish enough to challenge me.”

  Domino didn’t say anything and simply just picked up the weapon.

  Having accidentally forgotten his normal weapon back at the bathhouse, he indeed lacked a weapon. So he was perfectly fine with taking this substitute.

  The two stared at each other in silence for several moments. And then charged at one another at full force.

  Domino was the first to attack.

  He brought his blade down in an attempt to get an instant kill, but Dante anticipated this and brought his shield up to block Domino just in time.

  He then brought his sword down onto Domino who brought up his own to block it.

  But to Domino's surprise, the blade of water went right through his sword and straight toward his face.

  Upon instinct, Domino moved out of the way just in time to avoid the attack.

  He glared at Dante annoyed.

  “Ha! Nice reflexes. Not everyone can dodge my water weaponry so easily. I commend you for that! But my whole body can easily turn to water, so don't think for a second you can win!” stated Dante as he gripped his blade.

  "Geez, don't surprise me like that," Domino grumbled frustrated as he tried to charge at Dante once again.

  This time, Dante brought his sword up and swung it down straight at Domino who dodged it with ease.

  However, the blade wasn't aimed at Domino.

  "Rorio! Look out!" Domino shouted.

  Rorio dodged the attack as he blocked another attack from the knight made of water that he was dealing with.

  Dante chuckled as he looked at Rorio.

  “I see. Your Demi-Human speed truly is no joke. I won't interrupt your battle any further.”

  This caused Rorio to glare at Dante for a moment before being brought back to his own fight.

  He dodged the water knight as it attempted another swing.

  “Damn. Talk about annoying.” Rorio grumbled as he attempted to use his blade to cut through the water knight.

  However, it easily fazed right through the weapon without any issue.

  “Grr. If these things didn't have a resistance to heat, this would be a lot easier,” Rorio mumbled.

  How right he was.

  Normally, water-based creations could easily be turned to nothing but steam by the heat of a weapon similar to the blade Char that Rorio had in his inventory bag.

  Char was a sword that gave off heat whenever fire magic was applied to it. Making it easy to fight against water-based creatures.

  However, the form of heat resistance the water knight produced was too much even for Char and made fighting with it pointless.

  Rorio swung Rolphin once more in an attempt to slice through the knight and was pushed right through it.

  In truth, Rorio had already come up with an idea on how to defeat the knight.

  However, he couldn't do it unless he was one hundred percent sure nothing would happen afterward.

  As these things were created through water magic, if one chose to set them up as a bomb using water with high pressure, the fighter could be none the wiser and risk losing even after victory.

  It was because of this, that Rorio knew he had to wait for Dante to be defeated. If his theory was correct, it all relied on Domino's success.

  Placing his faith in Domino, Rorio continued stalling the enemy as long as he could.

  Having her own struggles to deal with, Quinta ducked under the swing of the knight's sword as she attempted to throw some of her special daggers with heat magic attached to them. Unlike Rorio, she didn't know much about how magic worked, so she didn't know about fire resistance at all.

  But as her blades seemed to have no effect, she was starting to catch on that something was amiss.

  She had only ever been taught stealth and love magic, so stuff like this was new to her.

  She attempted a few more daggers while dodging the enemy's weapon.

  As Quinta fought her opponent, Dante glanced over at her.

  “I see. So you're not struggling very much. Let's see if we can fix that.”

  Holding his hand out, he began to move them in a strange manner before clenching his fist tightly.

  The water knight in front of Quinta froze and she looked at it, confused.

  Suddenly, the knight exploded from its armor and started to transform.

  Quinta's eyes widened as it started to grow multiple legs out from its bottom half and its top half started to expand.

  Before Quinta knew it, she now stood before a giant water octopus.

  It looked down at her and shot out its tentacles in an attempt to entrap her.

  Sensing the danger, she jumped away at the last moment. But she wasn't as fast as she hoped and one of the tentacles grabbed hold of her leg.

  She tried to aim a dagger in order to slice off the tentacle holding her.

  However, another grabbed her arm and tied her down. Her body was starting to get entangled by tentacles.

  “No! What am I supposed to do if Rorio sees me like this!?” she thought.

  This thought helped her keep her focus long enough for her to put as much strength into her arm as possible and managed to cut through the tentacle keeping her arm in place.

  The octopus let out a roar of frustration before releasing its grip on Quinta and throwing her at the wall. Quinta dropped to the ground and rubbed her head.

  “I..really hope...Rorio didn't see that,'' she muttered, embarrassed.

  Another tentacle tried to tackle her, only for Rorio to jump in front of it and slice it up.

  “Get your head in the game you damn idiot!” he shouted as he blocked an attack from his own opponent's blade.

  Quinta immediately perked up at the sight of Rorio.

  “Of course darling!”

  “Don't call me darling!”

  Rorio ran away from Quinta with the water knight on his tail as Quinta got up and brought out more daggers from what seemed like nowhere.

  “All right, you tentacle thing! Bring it on!” she shouted as she charged at the monster which complied with its tentacles shooting at her full force.

  Risa and Astra both watched from the side, restrained.

  At least, Astra watched. Risa was still attempting to break out. But no matter how hard she tried, the chains wouldn't break.

  Astra watched Quinta dodge more of the tentacles as she sliced through them one after the other.

  Then her attention was drawn to Rorio as he evaded the water knight attacks several times still handling himself quite well.

  Domino, however, was just trying his best to keep up with Dante as his enemy only seemed to be getting faster.

  Dante dodged another attack from Domino who tried bringing his own weapon up in order to slam it into Dante’s chest.

  However, Dante managed to dodge as he smirked at Domino.

  “I see you have the skills of a knight! While your strength in brains seems to be lacking, your brawn makes up for that!”

  Domino glared at him.

  “I'm not sure what you mean by that, but I'm pretty sure you were mocking me!”

  Domino aimed his blade at Dante once more only to be blocked again.

  This caused Dante to chuckle as the battle continued.

  “Such determination! The perfect nature of a knight!”

  Domino didn't understand this man's strange obsession with knight stuff.

  All he knew was that this was one of the Creator Knights that had to be put down.

  The two continued to try and exchange blows on one another as Domino attempted time and time again to bring down a powerful blow only for his attacks to be fazed through.

  Meanwhile, Dante's swings never made an impact as Domino's instincts made it pretty much impossible to land a blow in a one-on-one fight.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  They truly were evenly matched.

  Quinta slashed away at another tentacle as she groaned in frustration.

  “Dang! These things just keep coming!” she shouted annoyed as she jumped over a tentacle that attempted to go for her feet.

  She slashed through another as she looked at the ones she had previously cut.

  They had been regenerating since the start of the battle and made this feel truly endless. No matter how many times she dodged, they just wouldn't stop.

  Rorio wasn't faring that much better.

  He may not have been feeling physically exhausted, but he was reaching his mental limit.

  Domino ducked under Dante's blade and was about to move again when he noticed something next to him.

  Before he had time to react, a water chain whipped at his chest and sent him flying into the wall.

  It cracked upon impact as Domino coughed heavily in pain before landing on the ground.

  “Talk about a dirty trick,” he muttered as he looked at Dante who had a water chain at his side.

  “A knight takes use of all his abilities to protect himself and those he serves.”

  Domino growled at him, annoyed.

  “Knight this and knight that. Can you stop talking about that knight stuff already?” Domino groaned.

  Dante just frowned as he prepared his next attack.

  He shot his chain at Domino who dodged and slashed through it.

  It broke in two for a moment before reconnecting itself.

  Dante flung it back at Domino who ducked under it and turned to Dante and charged straight at him.

  Dante prepared his sword and shield for an attack from Domino who continued to charge at him. Dante didn't know this, but in the time Domino was fighting, he was also thinking through the situation.

  And it was when he hit the wall that Domino began to realize a way to beat Dante.

  Noticing the look on Domino’s face, Rorio turned over to Quinta and shouted out to her.

  “Quinta! When I give the signal, aim one of your daggers at the spot between that tentacle thing's eyes!” he shouted.

  Quinta raised an eyebrow in confusion before nodding as she slashed away another tentacle.

  Rorio turned back to Domino who was still attempting to get past the water chain.

  Dante just glared at Domino as he drew closer.

  “You may have skill, but only a true knight can defeat me!” Dante shouted as Domino drew close.

  But as he watched Domino, Dante felt fear begin to rise up from within him for some reason.

  He prepared his sword for an attack and let it become solid in his hand.

  Domino appeared before him at that moment and brought his sword down.

  Dante brought up his own ready to block the attack when he took notice of something.

  While Domino's sword was being brought down, something was coming in from the right.

  In that instant, he felt pain in his side as Domino's leg smashed into his ribs.

  Dante was sent flying before crashing into the ground below.

  As he got up, a bit of blood was leaking from his mouth and he growled in pain.

  Domino landed on the ground and looked at Dante.

  “Just as I thought. You can’t make just a part of yourself solid or liquid, so you have to turn your whole body into one or the other. It’s pretty easy to counter once you figure it out.”

  Domino gave a smug smile as Dante clenched his teeth in frustration.

  He was hoping they wouldn't notice that one flaw in his power.

  It may have seemed ridiculous, but no power comes without restrictions. Not even his ability with water.

  Domino's smile grew wider as he took notice of the anger in Dante's eyes.

  “What? Not confident anymore?” Domino teased.

  Dante shouted in anger and charged at Domino.

  Now that Domino had learned his flaw, he had no problem keeping up.

  Little by little, Domino dodged attack after attack as he managed to knock Dante around.

  In Dante's terms, it would've looked “less than knightly” as the battle continued.

  However, Dante wasn't ready to go down without a fight.

  He quickly recomposed himself after another blow from Domino and jumped back to rethink his plan.

  Domino gave him a smile as Dante felt himself growing irritated.

  Surprisingly, however, Dante also found himself smiling at the thrill this was giving him.

  He didn't understand why such conflicting feelings were inside him, but he liked fighting this guy. Despite how much he frustrated Dante.

  Dante prepared his sword again as he and Domino charged at one another.

  Domino tried to slice at his side, but Dante managed to block it in an instant as he swapped between his sword and shield as fast as possible.

  It was clear both of them were loving every second of this fight.

  The two continued their barrage of attacks before jumping back at the same time.

  Dante looked at Domino and shouted out to him.

  “No matter how hard you try, only a true knight has the skills to defeat me!”

  This time, his tone was less condescending and more excited.

  Domino chuckled as he dashed forward at an incredible speed catching Dante by complete surprise.

  Both were on the verge of defeat.

  Dante was bleeding from the mouth bit by bit, and Domino's head was bleeding from the amount of hits he endured.

  Neither was in a good position.

  As Domino brought his blade toward Dante's chest, Dante tried to liquify his body. However, Domino kicked him in the side one last time, causing him to lose focus, ensuring Domino's victory.

  “I see. So you do have the spirit of a true knight,” he muttered before the sound of a sword-piercing flesh could be heard echoing throughout the room.

  Standing there, Domino had his blade lodged in Dante's chest as blood leaked from the enemy's wound.

  The two were silent for a moment before Domino looked at Dante.

  “I'm not a knight. I never want to be a knight. There's only one thing I am.”

  Dante looked at him curiously as he felt his soul beginning to slip away.

  “The only thing I am is the Demon Slayer.”

  Dante just stared at Domino.

  And then, with a light chuckle,

  “Words...only someone like you...could say.”

  Those were Dante’s final words as the light faded from his eyes and his soul left his body.

  Dante had been defeated.

  “Now!” Rorio shouted.

  Quinta acted upon his words as she pulled out a dagger and aimed it directly at the point Rorio mentioned before.

  The dagger slammed into the middle of the eyes of the octopus.

  Rorio, at the same time, pulled out Char and it began to hiss as Rorio poured what little fire magic he had into it and swung it at the water knight's side. It seemed not only were any explosions removed, but whatever spell that was making the enemies waterproof was removed as well meaning now that Dante had been defeated, there was nothing left that protected the water creations. The water knight was the first to drop as Rorio sliced through its top half and brought it to the ground.

  The water knight evaporated into the air as Rorio looked over to find the octopus starting to boil and disappear.

  He had noticed its weak spot during the fighting and knew that as long as Dante was alive, defeating it would be an impossibility.

  Rorio sighed as he realized it was finally over.

  “Yay! I did it! I beat that tentacle thing! I'm amazing! Yay!” shouted Quinta with glee.

  “Someone seems happy,” thought Rorio as he watched Quinta jump up and down.

  He had planned to leave her be, however, in her excitement, Quinta tried to jump onto Rorio and he dodged her immediately.

  As she groaned on the ground, Rorio walked over to Risa and Astra whose chains vanished and they began falling to the floor.

  To her relief, Risa fell and landed in Rorio's arms.

  “You okay?” Rorio asked.

  Risa didn't respond at first, but her red face made things seem a bit more clear.

  “Oh. Sorry.” Rorio said as put her back on her feet.

  “Uh..thanks,” Risa said, still a bit red.

  The two stood there awkwardly for a few moments until...

  CRASH!

  A sound was heard near them and Rorio turned to see Astra lying on the ground twitching.

  “You..could've helped me too you know,” she said as she groaned in pain.

  “Eh, you'll walk it off,” said Rorio before walking over to Domino.

  Domino chuckled and brought his hand up for a high five.

  “Did you really have to say that at the end?” Rorio asked as he let out a sigh.

  Domino put his hand down feeling a little disappointed.

  “What's wrong with saying my title out loud?”

  “It just sounds a bit weird when you say it.”

  “Huh!? You mean it’s not cool!?”

  Instead of responding, Rorio just shook his head and walked away. Leaving Domino speechless.

  Having finished speaking with Domino, Rorio walked over to Quinta.

  “Hey, Quinta?”

  Quinta stopped celebrating for a moment and looked at Rorio.

  “Thanks for listening to me. You did good out there.”

  For the first time, Rorio smiled at Quinta.

  As she wasn't expecting this, her face suddenly went completely red.

  “It... It was nothing! Just glad to be here!” she shouted, embarrassed.

  Even she wasn't expecting praise from Rorio. She tried her best to contain her excitement.

  However-

  “My future husband just complimented me! Oh, what a joyous day!”

  -she couldn't keep it in.

  “And just like that, I take it all back!”

  Quinta immediately froze right there on the spot.

  Rorio turned back to Risa and Astra as they walked up to him.

  “Are you sure you're okay? You looked like you were hurting when you tried to escape those chains.”

  Risa shook her head.

  “Don't worry. I'm fine.”

  Getting reassurance, Rorio looked her over once then turned away.

  “Well if you’re sure.”

  As Rorio was about to walk off, Astra interjected.

  “Excuse me, but I tried to help too! I may have been caught, but I still tried to fight.”

  Rorio looked at her with an expression as if to say “You gotta be kidding me” which seemed to infuriate Astra even more.

  “I could've been useful! I swear!”

  Rorio just shook his head.

  “I would say you would be as useful as a stick, but that would be an offense to sticks everywhere.”

  Astra just gawked in disbelief.

  “It's not like I'm weak! I'm just at my best with healing and mental magic!”

  Rorio just rolled his eyes.

  “This type of attitude is why I never let you join our party when you asked. You're too much of a pest.”

  This caused Astra to go silent.

  Domino walked over and raised his eyebrow curiously.

  “Astra asked to be a part of the group before?”

  “Not recently. But on several occasions, she would ask for me to let her join our party so she could fight her rival consistently. I turned her down every time.”

  As he mentioned this, Rorio thought back to the multiple occasions where Astra would demand him to let her join the party and why she would want to.

  No matter how many times she asked, she would always sound high and mighty while doing so which only made things more frustrating for Rorio.

  “So why didn't you ask me about it?” Domino inquired.

  “Because there was a risk you’d agree and having her on the team which would be a pain in the ass.”

  Astra fell to her knees as Rorio's words continued to jab into her.

  Domino seemed curious.

  “Really? I thought having a God on your team would be one of the best advantages any adventuring party could have.”

  “This God isn't someone you'd want in your party.”

  Astra was no longer on her knees and now laid flat on the ground completely depressed.

  Rorio shrugged her off and started to walk to the door.

  “If we’re done chatting here, let's get moving. We need to save Astra's friend so we can get rid of her as soon as possible.”

  Domino still found himself standing there confused while Risa and Quinta followed after Rorio.

  “Coming!”

  “Wait for me, darling!”

  “I'm not your damn darling!”

  Domino let out a chuckle before turning his attention to Astra.

  He held a hand out to her.

  “Come on. Let's go,” he said with a smile.

  Tears still flowed from her eyes, but Astra nodded and grabbed hold of Domino's hand and they made their way out the door.