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The Ebon Knight is a mysterious and extremely powerful dark knight, serving as a major villain in the medley mobile video game Echoes of Mana. He is a double of the Mana Swordsman Diospyros created by the False Goddess Dema. But while he first appears to oppose the heroes, he is in fact trying to save Dema from herself at all costs.
Appearance[]
The Ebon Knight is a tall and threatening figure, clad in a purplish black armour fixed with red laces, with bladed, fur-linen shoulder pads, a horned helmet over his upper face, and a torn, purple cape fixed to his waist.
His helmet hides a youthful, handsome face with short, teal hair, two locks framing his face, and lilac eyes. He wields an evil-looking red and black sword, and he can alter his suit of armour as he pleases, for instance to grow huge black, bat-like wings from his back.
At full might, the Ebon Knight inserts himself in a gigantic centaur-construct, with a massive build, muscle-bound arms with dark-red claws, a teal-coloured tail like his hair, and two lilac-coloured spiked ornaments protruding from its back. It wears a black armour like his own ornate with red gems. The knight stands at head-level, still wielding his sword and sporting very long hair and huge horns on his helmet.
Personality[]
The Ebon Knight is a man of a few words, who seldom deigns speaking to his foes more than he must. He immediately jumps into action and tracks down his target relentlessly, no matter how far they run.
Nevertheless, he only attacks his target and avoids needless violence, though if bystanders stand up against him, they become fair game. He is very confident and boastful, albeit within reason given his might.
Like his model, the Mana Swordsman Diospyros, he is serious and driven. But while the real one is aloof and brooding yet gentle and caring, he is harsh, unforgiving and blindly devoted to his duty. Being born from Dema's doubts and guilt, he is plagued by them, hence the extreme methods he takes to alleviate it.
As such, he refuses to see the heroes as anything else than willing accomplices to Dema's demented dream, scorning them as lowly pretenders to be erased at all costs. Nevertheless, he grows impressed by their resolve, wanting to know why they keep going.
Powers and Abilities[]
Unsurprisingly, the Ebon Knight is an extremely powerful warrior, supremely fast, strong, spry, and skilled with his sword. To the point of sending a group of well-built people reeling with a mere backhand. He masters deadly sword techniques and can channel his powers into his blade for a wide array of powerful attacks. In addition, his armour can withstand normal attacks.
He controls the Shadow element and wields formidable powers. His dark-purple energy stem from the repressed evil that he was spawned from. He can travel across the Multiverse through dark portals, which he uses to teleport, summon servants, or warp targets where he wants. In addition, he can alter his armour following his needs, growing wings to fly expertly enough to keep up with a legendary White Dragon of Mana.
When unleashing his full power, he transforms it into a giant centaur to vastly boost his might. His strength, his range, and the size of his attacks increase considerably, and he can gather tremendous energy to infuse his blows or his sword strikes, and release devastating energy waves. He can even conjure gigantic swords or comets.
Origins[]
Back when Dema and Nona were little girls from the Mana Clan, they were friends with a boy named Diospyros. He was named the Mana Swordsman when Nona was chosen as the new incarnation of the Mana Goddess in her sister's stead.
Dema spawned the Ebon Knight from memories of him, as her repressed guilt given life. Diospyros stayed by Nona's side, never daring to speak to her out of guilt of failing to save both, not knowing of his double.
Role in the Game[]
First Season[]
The hero, either the boy Quilto or his twin sister Quilta, is tasked by the Mana Goddess to restore the multiverse, by exploring echoes of worlds. They start in the village of Pinzton, befriending the girl warrior Duffle and the teenaged mage Honeycomb, but their spirit guide Baashear is abducted by monsters.
They rescue him, but the Ebon Knight suddenly appears and attacks them, unaffected by everything the heroes throw at him. They try to flee after he knocks down the hero with a dark beam, but he teleports ahead of them wherever they go, forcing Baashear to send back the hero in the Mana Sanctuary.
The Ebon Knight reappears as the hero, the amazon princes Riesz (Lise) and the ninja thief Hawkeye are flying on the White Dragon Flammie's back, the series' mascot and main mean of transport.
He uses wings to catch up with them and attacks the hero once again. Defeated, he flies away, swearing that he will not allow anyone get the Mana Sword, which they are searching. Sadly, the hero is barred from the Mana Sanctuary (where lays the Mana Tree) of this echo.
Right after the heroes beat Julius Vandole, the Ebon Knight appears, knocks the hero out and drags them down through a Dark Portal, knocking away his friends when they intervene. The Knight brings the hero in a dark realm and summons monsters to kill them. However, hearing their friends' voice through the echoes, the heroes beats them then the Knight at full power, gaining the Mana Sword at last. Alas, it turns out that Dema swapped places with her sister to dethrone her, with her Golden Tree threatening every world.
Second Season[]
The hero is brought to the real Sanctuary by the high fairy Mousseline, where they meet the true Goddess of Mana and Diospyros, first sceptical of them, who laments that he failed as well. While the Goddess Nona tasks the hero to travel through the remaining echoes to gather the Elemental Spirits, Diospyros departs to destroy Dema's Fake Tree's roots wherever they spread.
Later, the Goddess Nona sends the heroes into an echo of her past, where they defeat Gossamare for the second time. The Ebon Knight then appears before them, revealing the truth of his existence and his goals, before fusing back with Diospyros who vows to continue his mission to stop Dema and save her from herself.
Boss Battles[]
The first battle is quite easy. The Ebon Knight can teleport and attacks with sword strikes, dashing strikes, crescent-shaped energy blades, huge frontal energy waves along the ground, or powerful spherical blasts around him. His techniques are very damaging, but he is weak to the Light element and the battle ends after a few attacks.
The second battle unfolds exactly like the first albeit notably harder. The Ebon Knight is faster, sturdier, more aggressive, and his attacks are as powerful as ever. He can now deliver a dashing stab, a flurry of stabs, raise his blade to conjure purple lightning, and fly high to stab the ground.
The party must pummel him when he is channelling power to knock him out and make him vulnerable, before he floats with his wings to deliver mighty attacks: Thunderous Reign (raises his blade to conjure a gigantic black lightning bolt), Illusionary Slice (a fast-dashing stab from atop the screen causing a purple blast), and Fading Dusk Slash (two successive stabbing dives across the screen surrounded with reddish-black energy).
In his centaur form, the Ebon Knight is mightier and sturdier than ever, and his attacks strike every hero for massive damage. He can charge, land energy-infused punches, rear up to gather energy and smash his hooves to fire a deadly, screen-filling purple wave, or gather energy in his hand to throw a gigantic, crescent-shaped black wave leaving behind an enormous trail of blue fire. Harass him without end with the party's best moves and heal frequently.
He can fire a blue energy pillar tracking down its target, or rain a fast-paced barrage of comets from a giant dark red sphere above him. He can trade life-points to cast Shattering Surge, a deadly dark wave and a purplish-blue shockwave over the ground around him. Impaling Providence stabs the ground with a gigantic, energy-infused sword, harming anyone getting close and remaining for the entire battle. His deadliest move, Ominous Aftershock, smashes his hooves thrice to blast the ground with a white energy onslaught, two huge and the final one being as tremendous as it is devastating.
As a Playable Character[]
The Ebon Knight can be unlocked as a bonus character, only being part of the party without playing a role in the narrative, albeit serving his purpose to defeat Dema. Under the Epithet of the Phantom Slayer, he unsurprisingly wields the Dark element and wields swords, both dealing heavy damage and resisting attacks.
He can buff himself with St Gauge Boost or Support Skill and heal with Surreal Shadow. He teleports, strikes and jumps, or attacks with Thunderous Reign or his mightiest move Blinding Nine Edges: a flurry of fasts stabs infused with purple energy ending with a mightier one.
Trivia[]
- In Ancient Greek, Diospyros means "god's fire", fitting for a warrior in service of a deity.
- The Ebon Knight is the last in a long line of swordsmen antagonists clad in a dark suit of armour using powerful sword techniques in the Mana series. It includes the Dark Lord, Sheex (retroactively, who shares some of his move in this game), Stroud, and most notably the Darkshine Knight, who bears a similar title and like him is the twisted version of a heroic character.
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Final Fantasy Adventure / Sword of Mana Secret of Mana Trials of Mana Legend of Mana Dawn of Mana Heroes of Mana Echoes of Mana Visions of Mana |