In the Court of the Blind King

Chapter 8 - Forgotten in Darkness

   Diavolo looked at Doppio, who seemed to have almost no traces of confidence left in his body, standing there with a paralyzed fearful expression.

   "Don't worry Doppio, we have been through a lot already, we can do this."

   Behinds these words, Diavolo hid his true feelings of dread. Something did not feel right about that opponent, as if he was not just there in the center of the room, but instead all around them, watching from every corner, inhabiting every shadow at once.

   Finally, he mustered the courage to challenge Nameless. He approached him from a safe distance and looked into his eyes.

   "We are ready."

"Then you trial starts right now."

   The duo summoned their stand, side by side, and started to devise a plan. Diavolo turned to Doppio and whispered to him.

   "Doppio, try to understand his ability first with your Epitaph. If we know how he fights, we can beat him."

   "Yes, Boss!"

   Nameless just stood still in his position. Doppio looked at Epitaph's premonition, and could only see him in the same spot for the following moments.

   He whispered back to Diavolo.

   "Boss, he's not going to move at all in the next 10 seconds, you should just jump on him when he least expects."

   Diavolo just nodded at Doppio, slowly approaching Nameless. Without saying a word, he activated the ability of King Crimson. Walking among the dark void of erased time, which seemed to be much stranger than usual, he approached his foe from behind.

   For the few remaining second, he had left of his time erase, Diavolo closely inspected Nameless' body.: even at that range, it was impossible to discern any human characteristic of that body within the dark mist that cloaked it, outside of its vaguely humanoid shape.

   When time resumed to normal, without missing a second, King Crimson launched its fist towards Nameless with immense force. As it was about to hit its target...

...it disappeared.

   Diavolo stumbled and almost fell. It was all too fast for him to understand what had just happened, but before he could try, he heard a haunting sound behind him. Turning around, he could see Nameless standing there. Not a second went by, and the fog around his body condensed into a new being, that formed right in front of Diavolo's eyes.

   Just like the other trials, it resembled King Crimson, however, this time it was uncannily similar. Its body was exactly like King Crimson's, but Black where it would be red and dark grey where it would the white. Its face was also similar to King Crimson's current form, but its eyes were bright red X shaped cuts, and the mouth was in the same style, cut to appear as it was sown shut. In the middle of its chest, there was a small, bright red face, exactly like it's other face, but with black cuts instead.

   Diavolo only looked at it enough to see it's appearance before it punched back at King Crimson with equal strength. He was quick enough to block the incoming attack with King Crimson's crossed arms. That attack hit hard, as Diavolo's arms immediately started to bleed. Still startled, he was met with another attack, which was again blocked but was strong enough to launch Diavolo back in the air.

   "Boss!"

   He fell down, still surprised and trying to regain his composure. Doppio had a mortified look on his face as he stared at Diavolo from across the room. Nameless approached him, and attacked once more, manifesting its true form for a second time. Diavolo rolled to avoid it, then looked at Nameless, noticing that his stand had disappeared once more.