Next month, AfterShock Comics will release Seven Swords #4, the latest issue of the swashbuckling series from writer Evan Daugherty, artist Federico Dallocchio, colorist Valentina Bianconi, and letterer Dave Sharpe. Today The Beat has an exclusive preview of the issue, which finds D'artagnan and his crew continuing their search for the blades that will help them save the world.

Here's how AfterShock describes Seven Swords #4:

Cardinal Richelieu and his minions need only the blade of Lucifer's sword to enact their mysterious plan, and the fact that it's in one of the most secure vaults in the world, buried deep below the Vatican, won't deter them.

D'Artagnan and his crew now face the daunting task of infiltrating the vault themselves and stealing the blade before it can fall into the Cardinal's hand. But dissension in their ranks, the Pope's elite Swiss Guards and a trio of Templar Knight vault guardians will make this mission their most impossible yet.

Back when the series was announced, Daugherty, a screenwriter whose work includes Snow White & The Huntsman, described what drew him to telling this particular tale:

"I desperately wanted to tell a story in this genre," says Daugherty, "and it felt like a mashup of some of the greatest swashbuckling heroes in literature would be a clever way to do it." Noting that there is an "electric sense of fun and adventure" in those old stories, Daugherty adds that his goal with the comic was to give the series a "slightly darker, more modern edge."

Check out the exclusive four-page preview of Seven Swords #4 below. The issue is set to arrive in stores and digitally on Wednesday, October 6th.