??? "Hahahaha! Stop running! Come here!" a white haired man shouts while trying to grab a translucent ghost with black hands. In front of him are around twenty ghosts, all about 6-7ft and donning silver knight armour sprinting as fast as they can to escape this seemingly mad beings wrath.

Needless to say, this man is Reima, he'd not noticed how much time he had actually spent "farming ghosts" and had kept destroying them until only these twenty remained. This was quickly rectified as he finished the rest off with a few Haki infused punches, the number of souls he'd gathered numbered the same amount he'd get for killing a strong boss creature, a good harvest.

Reima finally reaches the end of the spatial barrier and sees the path ahead, a large stone tower with many intersecting walkways stands tall off in the distance, everything before and after it is completely covered in ash. Taking a step into it his foot sinks four inches causing him to almost stumble, were he not already expecting this. He keeps looking around and memorising this area before vanis.h.i.+ng in Turquoise light and reappearing standing before a bewildered Kaathe and a placid Solaire.

Reima waves his hand briefly at them, "Yo."

Kaathe finally seems to regain his bearings and exclaims, "How are you still alive! No being should be able to width stand the violent energies within the barrier without protection!"

Solaire "Are we set my friend?" he asks, looking as if he's been mentally preparing himself."

Nodding, Reima grasps his friends shoulder before teleporting them both back onto the ash covered land comprising the Kiln of the First Flame.

Kaathe however can only watch astonished at the audacity of this cycles chosen undead, they'd stolen his Dark Hand technique and not soon after betrayed him and the Dark he stood for... He'd even somehow managed to obtain the Pygmy's Dark Soul, completely obstructing his plans for the future, even without all of this though they wouldn't be a threat... That is if they didn't have the ability to bypa.s.s the barriers protections while retaining the Lord Souls, the alter was meant to ensure the cycles continued regardless of the outcome. Kaathe and the Primordial Serpents all awaited the cycle finally sputtering out, leaving nothing but a barren wasteland for eternity. Then finally, they'd become the true owners of this land, surely this strange undead wouldn't be able to jeopardise many millenniums of plans they'd devised...

When the duo teleport back to the kiln Solaire lands heavily and tries to step forward to relieve the impact, he however does not expect the inches of thick ash to disrupt his footing. He falls to the ground and gets ash everywhere, like sand at a beach but only softer.

Solaire "..." sits on the ground, seeming to contemplate his life up to this point.

Reima "Stop being a wuss, get up." he says and pulls his reluctant friend of the floor. "Did I ever tell you I hate sand?"

Reima shakes his head, "No, but I thought sand and sun come part and parcel..."

Solaire looks grave, "Indeed, whoever spread such lies deserves a glorious execution."

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The duo would continue they conversation further but they are interrupted as a black knight shoots it's Great Bow at them, the almost spear length arrow whizzing past Reima's head as he dodges it. "Alright, no time to talk. Let's finish this first." Solaire nods and prepares for combat as he sees many more black knights approaching them...

Reima doesn't hold back and immediately blinks behind the black knight who'd first shot at them and fiercely kicks them off of the raised stone platform they were standing on. They fall to their doom, even despite the thick ash cus.h.i.+oning their fall. Back with Solaire he'd just ducked under a large Great sword haphazardly swung at him while stabbing his sword into the joint of the armour, completely rendering it unusable. The black knight attempts to use his off hand to swing the giant blade but fails as his name is not Artorias, this allows Solaire to stun it with a bash from his s.h.i.+eld before plunging his sword into it's throat.

Reima appears back with Solaire as they finish each of their targets only to see more sprinting at them with various weapons raised, it seems they won't be able to catch a break against these annoying Black Knights. The duo decide to play the upcoming fight more defensively than usual, partly due to the respect they hold for the Black Knight's strength. Even when charred and hollow like they are now an army would certainly be difficult to deal with, so instead of biting off more than they can chew Reima and Solaire hunker down while allowing the hollow knights to make mistakes in the deep ash surrounding their current area. While Solaire's holding off two Black Knight's wielding s.h.i.+elds, Reima casts Impaling Crystal underneath one of them, it proves effective if a bit off target as the Crystal spear pierces the light armour protecting the bottom of the knights groin. Due to it coming out at an odd angle it ends up extending out of the knights leg instead of their torso, pinning it there despite not dealing fatal damage. Solaire quickly finishes them off as Reima turns to his own opponents.