The Onyx Knight, upon sensing intruding presence, turned to the trio and lifted its greatsword from the ground.

  “Hey! We’re gonna break your curse! Do you think you can go easy on us?” The rider shouted as he pulled out his sword before coating it with a tough substance.

  The Knight raised its weapon and entered its combat stance.

  “Guess the answer’s no.” The rider began sprinting with his dragons as he shot a couple of seeds at the piano. The Knight reflexively deflected the projectile with its greatsword and roared. Ryder leaped into the air and aimed his sword at the instrument as gravity pulled him downward in a curve. The specter locked its sight on the human and prepared a killing blow. It was confident it could prevent the intruder from harming the piano. However, because Ryder had primed himself to be the sole attacker, in the split second that Knight failed to acknowledge the dragons, they smashed into him. Then, they both use their magic to drag it away from the piano.

  Once that happened, Ryder put away his sword, but still decided to land on the piano before jumping up again and stepping on the Knight’s face. That combination of action roused the Knight’s anger, but not so much that it began its berserk, just as they hoped for. When the specter began wrestling out of its bond, the two dragons undid their magic. Their rider swiftly wrapped vines around the Knight’s body and threw it forward with enough force to snap the vines instantly.

  “Now! Play the song!” Ryder whipped out his sword again in his draconic armor, smiling as a drop of sweat streamed down his cheek. “Let’s do this.” He rushed forward once more with his dragons as the Knight roared.

  Aoede and Findir promptly darted toward the piano. When they arrived, the cat-girl couldn’t help but take a second to admire the craftsmanship of a real piano before laying her fingers on the keyboard. She rapidly played out all the keys from left to right to determine if it was any different from her keyboard, which immediately drew the Knight’s attention to her.

  “What are you looking at, big guy?” The rider slipped to its back and stabbed through its waist. The phantom turned its head back, creating a deeply uncomfortable crunching sound in the process, and stared at its assailant with its hollow eyes, giving the human goosebumps. He pulled out his sword and hopped backward, but not before he erected an earth wall in front of the Knight to block its view of the piano.

  The cat-man, who had the task of keeping an eye on the fight, urged, “What are ya doin’? Play the song!”

  “I know! Just give me a second!” The girl curled her trembling hand into a fist and closed her eyes. A second later, the sheet appeared in her mind’s eyes. Then, as her fingers sprawled out and landed on the keys again, she began playing. Fortunately, the piano was loud enough that the dragon rider gang and the Knight could listen to it clearly.

  Upon hearing the first few notes, the phantom staggered as it placed its hand next to its temple. Gurgles could be heard rumbling from within its helmet. Then, it turned its heel at what seemed like the speed of sound and whizzed back to the piano.

  “Oh no, you don’t!” Ryder slammed his hand onto the ground. With the combined magic of his dragons, he created a puddle of sticky mud beneath it before vines burst out of the ground to bind every inch of its body down.

  “Findir!”

  The yellow-ear stood a tad further away from the piano and made eye contact with the rider.

  “The song is working, so prepare to run for it if we can’t hold him!” The rider shouted as he shot rock pellets at the Knight’s head. It let out an annoyed growl as it tried to chase him, who was running circles around it.

  “Understood!” Findir nodded and poured all his attention to the fight.

  Aoede smirked proudly and played the song with greater confidence.

  As the song approached its halfway point, the Knight shook its head so violently that it looked like it was trying to dislodge its head from its neck before another roar was heard. Through sheer force alone, it snapped all the vines and cracked the ground itself in an attempt to leave the sticky mud puddle.

  Upon finding out it didn’t work, the specter twisted its leg, creating a bone-crunching and metal screeching sound, and tore the bottom half of its left calf away. Then, after stabbing its greatsword into the crack, it lifted the ground beneath the puddle, thus creating a hole for its reformed leg to stand on. It swiftly tore its other leg away and hopped backward for the leg to regenerate.

  The Knight suddenly hung the greatsword on its back and charged forward. As usual, the trio tried to intercept it. However, instead of relying on brute force, the phantom became incredibly agile as it slipped past all attacks directed at it.

  “Shit! Lift the ground, Brown!”

  Both Ryder and the earth dragon raised their upper limbs before slamming down on the ground, propelling the Knight into the air so it could not escape. The specter, seemingly anticipating this, timed its jump so it would be launched in the piano’s direction.

  “Uhm, Ryder? Is it time to run?!” Findir widened his eyes at the falling specter. “Ryder!”

  A rock pillar protruded from the ground and sent the dragon rider zipping through the air as the song reached its crescendo. Thanks to the acceleration from wind magic, he arrived at the Knight’s back. Then, he contracted his legs like a spring, before blasting his target down back to the ground with his extending legs.

  The specter landed only one or two meters away from the piano as the song reached the final stretch. Before it could move, vines strapped it down to the ground, forcing it to stay put until the song ended. The Knight shook its head and gurgled again, but…

  “Something’s wrong.” Ryder furrowed his eyebrow as he stomped his right foot on the Knight.

  And something was indeed wrong, because after Aoede played the final note, the cursed specter of Attis remained.