The Black Knight Trials

Criminal Activity

Avath's Black Knights engage in a dangerous ritual in Apollo City.

Furthering her quest for power, Avath dispatched her Black Knights into the city of Apollo, each having their own flaming dome and runic symbol. In the center of the city was a much larger dome of purple energy, closed off while the Black Knights guarded it to ensure that Avath's ritual went off without a hitch. Unfortunately for them, the explosive pillars of flame and magic that disturbed the city summoned Apollo City's heroes to face off against them. The first knight, Edoma, was defeated by Sol, Link, Gwen, Jeanne and Director Faden. The second knight, Baldwulf, was fought by Augustus and Arthur. Although he was not outright defeated, their battle of attrition forced him to retreat.     Due to the ritual's time limit system and the other knights occupying Apollo's heroes, some of Avath's knights were left unscathed. By the time the ritual's time limit ended, the remaining knights were sacrificed to give the heroes a path into the central dome of purple flames in the city. Augustus, Arthur, Tundra, X1M41 and a few others entered the central dome only to find a labyrinth and an imitation of Apollo City. Although most of them tried to navigate the maze to make their way toward the large pillars, that were the source of the ritualistic disruption, Tundra ended up destroying them. Unfortunately for the heroes, this was exactly what the dome's owner wanted all along.     Continuing on through the labyrinth, they eventually came upon a sparkling garden occupied by Chronaphaess, the instigator of the entire event. She explained that the entire ritual was so that Apollo City could be turned into a holy site for her "Father", who Augustus identified as Avath. They tried to stop her ritual, with the small girl revealing herself to in fact be an immense dragon with power over the stars and tied in some way to the cosmic energy of creation. Tundra fought Chonaphaess while the others tried to stop the ritual, nearly succeeding. However, the ultimately ended up back in Apollo with all of the flaming domes and atmospheric disruptions suddenly gone. To this day, they don't know whether or not they were actually able to stop Avath's ritual but they unquestionably became much more suspicious of any efforts she would launch in the future.