Ford launched one fist at the giant man's face, only to be caught by one of the man's four arms easily.
Once again, Ford was pummeled by a series of fists that attacked him from all sides, forcing him to cover himself with his arms. The wooden armor which he had gotten from the salamander was being broken piece by piece into splinters, soon enough, the entire armor memory would be turned to dust under the barrage of the large man.
Lorelei didn't fare any better, she was being cut up easily by the masked woman and her black blade. Lorelei's armor wasn't damaged in any way, instead the black blade of the masked woman slipped between the cracks of the armor, slicing and stabbing quickly to leave a steady, evergrowing stream of blood pouring from Lorelei.
However, as quickly as the blood spilled, the wounds swiftly stitched themselves up.
I've never seen Eternity's aspect ability at full output, or rather the circumstances never really let Eternity use it to its full potential. The Great Plateau made it so that essence and making aspect usage at bare minimum, as going full throttle from the start meant we would die from exhaustion under the conditions of the wet plains.
Eternity's aspect ability allowed her to heal the wounds of anyone in her gaze, and it wasn't slow either. Barely a minute ago, half of the skin on Lorelei's face was stripped off by a blade, yet the wound quickly regenerated, leaving no scars.
I glanced at Eternity, her hazy green eyes rapidly darting between Lorelei's and Ford's individual fights. Her mouth was slightly open and beads of sweat flowed down her face to her chin. She barely even let out a breath, her brain entirely focused entirely on the scene in front of her.
Lorelei did an upward slash, barely missing the masked woman with a hair's breadth. Lorelei's sword flashed again, yet the masked woman was simply too elusive, bending under the blade and closing the gap with a single step. The woman twisted the obsidian blade in her hand, pointing the butt of the blade up and cracking Lorelei's chin, snapping her head backward.
Lorelei stumbled, her steel blue eyes staring into the sky above in a daze.
The masked woman stared at the dizzy legacy, then the woman spun in place and dashed across the chain at me and Eternity.
"Damn it!" I barely had a few seconds before the woman would reach me, I didn't have time to summon any memories.
Apparently, I still had time to loathe the idea of using my aspect ability.
I stared at my spread out fingers for a second, a precious second where the masked woman covered a dozen meters in an instant.
I bit my lip, and pointed my index finger at her figure.
"C'mon!"
My index finger exploded into a million fleshy bits and a streak of brilliant red ripped through the air. The red streak was an inch from the masked woman's face before her blade shot up to deflect the projectile.
Her obsidian blade shattered before disintegrating into disappearing sparks. The deadly blade of the masked woman was now gone, she was now armless.
Red blood, shining in the sun of the Chained Isles, splattered from the hole in my hand where my index finger used to be. In a moment the bleeding stopped, and I looked at Eternity who was glaring at my shaking hand. Her green eyes had an energy to them.
Combined with [Higher Healing Factor] and Eternity's aspect, the wound closed a small stub, a third of the size of my previous index finger, was growing.
I chuckled. I was right about Eternity being perfect for my aspect!
I now pointred two fingers, my middle and ring, at the masked woman. She put her arms up in front of her chest in an instant, yet the blood still pierced through both arms and cut her left shoulder.
She and I fell to our knees, I screamed. She let out a low growl, the first sound I had heard from her.
I got up first, the blood from my hand now forming a small pool under me. I didn't waste time, use this adrenaline! This momentum.
My pink finger exploded, breaking deep into the chain surface but missing the woman. No, she dodged.
She stood up slowly, red liquid flowing down both arms and one down her left shoulder. Though I couldn't see her gaze, I could guess what her eyes were on.
My left hand, the one with all fingers, shot forward to where the masked woman was.
She jerked her knee sideways and dashed across the chain, getting in closer to me.
Before I blasted off two fingers, she grabbed my left wrist and pulled it above her. Two red meteors ascended high into the sky above, harmless.
The masked woman twisted my left arm inwards and took a step back, giving her space to sweep my legs under me.
My back was now to the floor, the masked woman straddled me with both her hands holding my arm in place. She stared at me for a moment, before elbowing Eternity in the chest who was trying to punch the back of her head.
Eternity flew back out of my sight.
The punches then came.
Left collarbone snapped, fractured shoulder bone, 3rd right rib fractured, displaced left clavicle, snapped right humerus, broken nose, 2nd left rib broken, right zygomatic arch fracture, broken nose…
I don't know how I was able to name and describe the damage to each of my bones, yet I could.
It felt odd. At some point I lost vision in my left eye, only able to see half of the masked woman. Her fists were a blur.
I could feel everything, I could describe everything that happened to me. The blood rushed to my chest, through my body, diverting past crushed veins or spilling out into open air. The way my muscles rubbed against each other, pulling and pushing, ripping and tearing, bruising and blistering. The joints slipped into each other, or right now, the right shoulder just got dislocated.
So much, too much, no more. I want none of this.
I'll die.
The punches stopped, I saw a fist hovering in front of my mangled face. Hesitating.
A question that was somehow able to get past the incessant ringing in my head.
"Do you want to kill me?" Her voice was sweet, an invitation to conversation.
Kill…? Kill you? You?
Yes, what. Yes. Yes. Yes. Who wouldn't. You're monsters. No problem. Yes. Yes. Yes.
I can't move, move. Can't move at all.
I took a breath, my lungs heaved and were cut by my fractured ribs. A raspy sound came out of my mouth, like two sheets of sandpaper rubbing against each other.
"Yes-"
"I am a shadow." The masked woman cut me off. She paused for a moment, pulling back the fist which was hovering in front of me. "My aspect ability lets me transform into a shadow and attach myself to the shadow of others. I can then switch places with the object and the object's shadow with myself and my shadow. Simply put, I can hide in the shadows, your material attack will not reach me."
What was such a sweet sounding voice saying to me?
I can't kill her?
…
Of course, I can kill you. I need to kill you. Yes, Yes, Yes. Hide in the shadows, how do I kill you in the shadows?
My head spun in circles, circles upon circles, within each other and intersecting each other. All trying to find a way to kill her.
How do I kill her?
She answered, somehow. "I'm in a shadow, you'll have to kill the shadow to kill me."
Kill…a shadow? Possible? Possible, Yes. No, it's illogical, makes no sense.
No sense.
My thoughts were turning to dust, turning into red stars that flickered out of existence until a single entity was in the middle.
***
I was standing in a pool of murky black water, the darkness slightly above my ankles. I looked down at myself.
No damage.
While studying my hands, I noticed that my skin was illuminated by hazy white light. I stretched my neck up to see the black sky with pinpricks of stars, all of them parts of various constellations. It was only when I saw the fleshy red sun with blue veins did I realize I was in my soul sea.
The fleshy red soul core, my…heart core I called it, stared back at me.
Its surface pulsed steadily, a low hum that vibrated the air.
…
I stood there watching it for a moment, my thoughts slowly coalescing together yet falling apart like sand.
…
The stars in the night sky of my soul sea started to tremble and a slit opened up in the sky. White light slipped out of the slit and two suns appeared in the crack.
One a milky white, the other a flat black. Both were hollow, lifeless in a way in which they exuded no energy, yet their emptiness was a presence in itself.
I stared at them, they looked back.
Visions played in my head.
***
The view around me flickered out of existence and once again I was on the chains of the floating islands.
I was confused for a moment before I noticed a group of four approaching me.
Ford, Lorelei, Eternity, and…me?
How were there two of me?
The four of them walked past me, like they couldn't see me. I looked at them cross the chains, no mysterious masked figures attacked them.
Again the scene shifted into a bedroom with a dream pod in the center, morning light pouring in between the slits of the blinds. The dream pod's hatch opened to reveal another me. The other me's eyes opened and crystalline blood spread from his fingers and branched off like a tree. The shards of blood were solid like red ice, glittering with red and purple hue like rubies.
Was this my—the other me's awakening?
The scene shattered and something else came up.
Large steel ships of pure black cut through the dark waters of a large ocean containing unspeakable horrors. People were rushing across its deck, carrying black crates full of equipment. Inside were stacks of weapons, rations, metal, vehicle equipment, generators, and more.
There were so many people on board, many of them awakened. More awakened than I've seen before. They all wore military government uniforms. Another me was standing on board one of these ships, wearing the same uniform with Eternity next to me.
Her pale hair swayed in the wind, but it wasn't ghostly, more ethereal. Her hazy green eyes were more clear now, resembling emeralds. They looked into the dark eyes of the other me on board with her, smiling with her despite the grim atmosphere.
A sharp pain hurt my heart, but it was a good kind of pain. Exciting, thrilling kind of pain. What was this other me feeling?
Another scene, the other me leaning against a boulder jutting out of the snow. In front of me was a mass of predatory, dark beetles rushing towards my direction like a tsunami.
The beetles were ripped apart by a stone statue with flawless obsidian armor and glowing red eyes. The plume of her helmet floated behind her as she raised a sword and shield at the swarm.
I could see a small man in the distance with dark hair and pale skin rushing through the swarm of darkness, sweat falling down his face as he cut them with a ghostly jade blade.
Master Sunless.
Scene shifted again.
A huge pilgrimage of people going through a gigantic dream gate, leaving behind the ruins of the city and into the colorful and inviting dream realm.
A king and queen.
Valor and Song.
Then…
Light and shadow.
The other me was all there. No, I would be there at some point.
It was all so…glorious. So amazing. So bright.
I wanted to be there, like the other me was—Like the future me was.
Please.
Let me kill her.
…
[You have received an Aspect Legacy, Shadow Killer]