She watched as the beast seemed to tire of talking. She assumed too much, thinking it would listen to reason. It was still a beast, it seemed, even with intelligence.
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Decades of hunting had taught her everything could be reasoned with if given a chance, or they killed them if not… This one chose poorly, it seems, when he was offered a chance to stand down and let things be…
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Less than a blink and the ogre was there, a fist slamming into her. She faded to shadows and mist around the impact. The strike flowed through shadows instead of her flesh.
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The feeling was… Nothing. Like wind through smoke. She had forgotten what it felt like to be truly threatened by these random beasts. Years of mastering the shadow left her complacent—a blade that could never be stopped.
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The surprise in the ogre's eyes was not lost on her as she returned a playful smile at his confusion. When she reformed from the strike, he did not wait for words, thinking she had a limit he could break, so the dance went from there.
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Relentless strikes swoosh into the mass of shadows, thinking it was getting closer to breaking her, pushing her to an edge…
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And the whole time she was never there…
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She watched from behind as he kept striking what he thought was her in the shadows, but it was just a copy she left in their midst with more shadows.
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A simple trick she mastered long ago when she accepted herself as a shadow, and there could be more to darkness's blessing than just pulling shadows or keeping herself as a separate shadow.
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It reminded her of the times she trained with Donald; the first time she used it there to tease him. Or even training with the elite guard to master not being touched by blades while keeping shadow clones.
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She blew smoke from the side. She was sure she could win, but still wanted a calm mind, and the beast paused in its mad rage, noticing the scent from the herb. The ogre was clever; it now knew she was not among that shadow he struck, but did not blindly chase to strike her firsthand. It was learning….
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She debated how she should proceed; she wanted to end this quickly to not draw out this threat as a game and was looking for the best angle to strike…
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ROAR
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It seems she lost focus, and it wished for her attention, so be it.
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Shadows extend from her side into the beast.
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Three strikes turned to four, then five, then an endless rhythm of shadows pierced the beast. It deflected a few with the wind, but the cuts showed they still had effects. As blood traces lines on the edges of its flesh, it tried to regain control.
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It was proof enough that it was mortal if she could make it bleed. It could be killed, and she saw mixed with it rage, something else… Desperation, fear, maybe?
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She did wonder what let this beast end up in this state, but it was a minor thought; what mattered was ending this.
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It reminded her of the first real hunt … a shadow panther. That made her bleed and stalk others in shadows. It was the first time she tried to show mercy, letting a beast live, and she almost regretted it. She wasn’t sure why she was willing to do it again with this beast…
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It ran from her while she was having those thoughts, fleeing her strikes… Was it the herb dulling her mind to not kill quickly, or was the beast skin just that tough…?
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She was mildly amused as it fled; she was sure not out of fear but as a clever ploy to gain space and regroup as it went deeper into a nearby door. Did it assume she would not follow?
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Foolish…
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It threatened her friends and family; she would not let it end like this. When she came to end it as a threat.
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Level 4
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It was an endless night forest. She had been in these types before; it was easiest for her to hide… The beast did not think highly of her, it seems. The open plains they just left were the best bet with the sun and nowhere for her to hide with shadows.
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The moon drifted between the trees. An endless sea of darkness mixed with the light flowing between the trees. No breeze, just an endless silent night. As I walked unafraid, this was my home. Darkness, the ogre, was not a master here.
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I flowed among the shadows, a calm fog of darkness, waiting, searching for whatever the ogre thought itself clever enough to spring on me. She would end it soon; the kids will be safe.
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She could hear it trying to gain distance from the nearby thumping. She knew it sensed her following, and she got close enough to see it turn its face full of anger, not liking being prey, and it tried to return the favor.
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CRACK BOOM
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It smashed a nearby tree, and it was coming down now. It was trying to use the forest as a weapon—clever…. Even if it ended up smashing and throwing the whole forest at her in a mad rage, it would never touch her…
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Yet even as the tree was thrown, she flew around it as it collided into the ground. The beast glared at her, letting her know it was still there and challenging her existence, so she returned the favor.
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Four spike blades puddled near its feet and shot up toward his skull. He jerked back, wind blessing making him narrowly faster as the spikes sliced air near his face.
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She frowned, hoping that would have ended it. Close but not close enough, it seems, even with the darkness masking her strike, that wind speed gave him an edge…
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The spikes that missed buried into the wood of trees nearby, she saw in its eyes that it knew it came close to death, and she wanted an end to this farce. She pitied it before, and now just wanted to end this battle. This was not a hunt she cared to toy with anymore; it caused the town panic and her to call in a favor needlessly, so let it end here. Before something went wrong.
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Yet as it watched her, knowing this place of shadows gave her an edge, it made a choice.
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The beast ran once more, a chase, it seemed….
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She drew on her pipe, still lit. Even among these trials, she wondered once more if she was taking this too lightly. Yet the herb helped calm her mind and keep her focused, and she never stopped hunting or trying to strike it….
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So she watched as the beast went blowing smoke to the side as she shifted to mist to peruse.
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It was foolish to think speed or distance would be an issue for her… Old she may be, but not unskilled. She pulled herself among the trees with shadow vines to match its speed, nearly surpassing it as it had to dodge to move forward. She followed as it went deeper, looking for a chance to strike….
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She flowed easily among the darkness like water in a sea. Since she was not physical, she would never tire, though it did affect her mental state. She was used to worse in old hunts and learned to balance her mana use.
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She hoped the beast running would lose its bearings and get tired, and she would end it and be home to her children and to the town that needed her. They all would be free before morning light.
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Yet it seems the beast, by fate or desperate madness to be free, found another door to go deeper still…
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She would not flee.
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Level five
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A cathedral? Nothing was hers beyond this place; she could see other than the ogre slightly ahead and a broken throne as the beast collapsed to its knees near the throne….
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This place felt hollow, a place that should not be…
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A trick from the beast? No… It’s weeping…. Did it all start here? She was momentarily in a daze; she never knew a beast to weep, only those seeking mercy or to be saved… What happened to make it feel this way?
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Reflecting on the stories the kids spoke, they did say it was a cathedral where they found the herb…. Was this it, home? Before it learned to leave, was this it? This small place was where it was meant to die…
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Perhaps this was all it knew, and it went mad from their….
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A laugh near madness from the ogre gave her pause.
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“The kids took my prize.”
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“Then the gods took my purpose by also taking me away from here…”
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“Yet now they let me find the door back to this realm, to what? die like I belong nowhere…”
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She knew that feeling of being lost, trying to find something, a reason to believe maybe there wasn't only one truth.
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Yet she still waited for the strike, the ambush, anything from the beast, yet it never came as it stayed on its knees and did not even look at her from there.
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a simple strike to end it all…
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The great beast we all feared was nothing more than a broken creature….
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She could have ended it with that one clean strike… Yet would she be any better than this monster that lost its way, thinking only to hunt the kids? It did hold back more than once…
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Maybe if it could regret, it could choose better; maybe now it will listen. With neither one of them having to be the monster that kills, the hunt can end, and she can just be a mother, and he can choose to leave and live…
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“Perhaps I was wrong to judge you so cruelly.”
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“We did push you to an edge, and you had nowhere to go, so if you’re willing to try, I’m willing to listen.”
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The words felt strange to say, knowing she came here to kill with indifference. She wondered when she stop being just a hidden blade with no mercy and become one who started to care? Maybe the day she learned she loved her son? The day she tried adopting a daughter, not out of pity but love…
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There was a reason she retired from being that blade: she wanted peace with words, not only through death.
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The silence was deafening. Now it no longer laughed with madness or wept in pain. She wasn't sure what to feel or think…
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She could feel its hate growing even from here. It seemed her mercy was a cruelty for that beast even now…
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As the ogre slowly stood, never facing her, she felt it was full of pride as it spoke the last words she wanted to hear.
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“No more running… I will break you, and those kids will die by my hands. Your son, I think I will save for last…”
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The words chilled her—an open threat to her mercy—and for a brief moment, fear replaced her pity until she killed her kindness, and all that was left had no mercy.
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Just the blade that does what was needed.
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He turned, facing her full of malice, and smiled so assured, even after being pushed to this edge, he would be able to challenge her.
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“He made shadows like you, right? I remember him now. The first to run like a coward when I face him."
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He thought he was better than her now? To mock her sympathy and try to be a hunter and threaten her son, even when cornered…
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I put away my pipe. It seemed now we really were done… No talks, no mercy, just an end.
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“So be it, beast. I was taking you lightly and showed you mercy. It seems I was wrong hoping you could be redeemed, but since you wish to hunt my son with intent to kill, I must return the favor…”
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She would show no more mercy, no playing games, no hidden assassin hunting a random beast—this was personal now, a mother protecting her son. She knew that was how she felt before meeting the beast, yet she let herself be swayed. It seemed she was showing her age….
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A rock smashed the wall and passed through my head. Even now, it doubted my Shadow Blessing and assumed it was a trick…
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Smart enough to taunt. Not smart enough to run.
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The stones it threw smashed against the wall, making dust rain like snow, yet I would end this long before it mattered what happened to this place.
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More of a volley of rocks stormed my form; it kept grabbing rubble from its broken throne to throw at me. Even as my form distorted and shifted, I still calmly moved forward to end it…
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Each rock throw was more desperate than the last as I flowed around the stones. Nothing he did had an effect that lasted or hurt me. I would’ve been amused at the attempt if not for that threat and my desire to return the favor and end this quickly.
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So focused it was on my main form in front of it, it did not see the shadow clones forming at its side that I made near it as they both struck, breaking his volley from the pain. His flesh was too thick; they did not pierce deep, merely flesh wounds, even when I was aiming for his head…
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It barely flinched beyond the first prick of their spikes upon its flesh. Proof this would not end with my clones hitting the ogre, I needed to get close with my main form…
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I need a stronger strike. I needed time to pool a dense enough spike he dodged last time in the forest. So I need to push the beast into a corner so it cannot flee or dodge…
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I tried a few testing blows to see if I could hit a blind spot, yet he was watchful with his wind sense and used it to pull at my shadow spikes, and anything he could not blast away, he smacked away with his fist and dodged my stronger attacks…
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I even tried a few shadow vines with clones to pin him now that I was done with Mercy, yet his brute strength proved it was pointless, as I feared I could not match this beast's pure strength with magic or not…
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It was learning, adapting, even being pushed into a corner. Even with losing itself to rage and grief, the beast was smarter than she gave it credit for….
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A cruel lesson she taught her son came back to her: never underestimate the monsters we hunt till they're dead or you are…
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ROAR
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The roar brought back her focus. So far, the mana used was slightly draining, I having not had to push myself this much in a long time….
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Decades of always winning against anything the king asked or whatever random thing she deemed worthy of striking gave her plenty of knowledge of how to hunt.
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Yet this was the first fight things were so different; she never tried so hard to reason with a monster, showing it mercy or even letting it plan against her in a prolonged fight. This was outside what she expected how things would go…
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But the sweat from the beast showed it fared no better; it went from mad rushes to focused strikes and trying to use air attacks, so neither of us was prepared for this…
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I aim for the legs. The flesh may be thick, but it still could be worn down, and he mostly guarded his head…
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Slowly, the strike went deeper with repeated piercing, and slowly, I drove him back. The cardthral was a bit long but not very wide, so forcing him back was merely a matter of calm, steady movement leading him deeper with nowhere to go…
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I took no pleasure, yet I was going to show this beast why it should run instead of openly mocking me…
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His strikes grew more frantic. Nothing it tried was working as she systematically ended its options.
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Yet even cornered and close to defeat, she remains cool, not underestimating it…
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He was learning something. She could see it in his eyes. Desperation mixed with... something more primal? No planning, she could see just the actions of something that refused to die quietly.
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she knew the most dangerous thing a cornered animal could feel is a chance at victory, as it would do anything to achieve that desire, no matter how slim. That's why she made sure he had none.
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There was perhaps a door even deeper outside these walls, or he could try fleeing for the door they came through to escape, but his stubborn pride made it easier to be led deeper into the back corner…
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Perhaps anyone else would have struggled against such a beast; it had size, speed, and even the wind's blessing, yet all those things meant nothing to her years of training herself as a shadow, something that you cannot touch…
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Or so she thought.
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Bloodily breathing hard and close to death, she watched the beast as she prepared the final strike to end this shame before it went any further.
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She finally cornered it enough that she could spring a deep spike from darkness. One strike. Through the eyes of the skull. Quick and clean despite everything that had come before.
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His wind fist lashed out in pure desperation, no aim, no thought, just raw fury at being cornered like the animal he was.
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She would end this, not caring to pity this beast anymore; this was the end.
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Yet he pulled his fist mid-wind strike since he missed an odd shift in the wind, pulled back, and…
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CRACK BOOM
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"Only in these narrow halls where the stone walls trapped and doubled the blast's force - the same amplification that shattered her also doomed the cathedral itself."
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a reverb that she did not know could exist; it was madness. It hit her like being shattered. Her flesh, her shadow, her very self scattered…
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Pain beyond description. Not physical, metaphysical. The very concept of her existence was torn apart as her mind was a shadow, and it now shattered.
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Years of perfect unity with darkness that made her untouchable now allowed her to be broken by a deep sound blast that hit the walls just right and was too much for her form to just flow away from, as it was everywhere and not.
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The last thought before all faded to nothing was mirrored by the beast as the whole place broke down…
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What just happened?
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It was a rare fluke of a chance that it discovered a new way to use wind, and only in these narrow halls did it amplify it enough to truly hurt her…
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But once was enough to change everything and, with this action, allow it victory…
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***
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The stupid woman thought she could reason with him. Thought mercy was what he wanted.
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She understood nothing.
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They took everything. His purpose. His meaning. Left him to wander these realms broken when he was not even a guard anymore and had no desire to live…
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The throne. The herb. The reason he'd existed for an unknown time. Gone in a single moment when children playing hero came and stole what he guarded and did not face him or even give him the honor of death as a champion…
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"No more running… I will break you, and those kids will die by my hands. Your son, I think I will save for last…"
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“He made shadows like you, right? I remember him now. The first to run like a coward when I face him."
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I gave my speech, letting her know where I stand, what her mercy was worth, and how far I was willing to go, even pushed this far…
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Let her see what mercy earned her. Let her understand what it felt like to lose everything that mattered; let me still see her offer peace when I offer her none.
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The shadow kid was not even that worthy to him; the stone girl fought more even head-on, and the kid with arrows was the only one to push him a little…
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Tired of the lies and being mocked, he was going to show her, not just with words but with actions, how serious he was as he grabbed stones from the rubble of his broken throne.
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The first rock he hurled passed right through her head. No surprise. Nothing seemed to touch the shadow that she was. But he had to try. He had to do something besides stand as he mocked her pity; now all that was left was his death as her spikes ate at his flesh, promising that truth and no revenge…
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Yet watching her smile was worse than those spikes. Condescending. Amused. He wondered if that was how his face would look if he was doing this to her instead.
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More rubble thrown. More useless strikes at darkness. She moved toward him with that calm certainty she would end this.
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As he knew, watching her, she never lost…
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And even with his strength and mana gems giving him hidden knowledge and wind blessing power, he wasn't proving her wrong.
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Each rock passed through her shadow made flesh like it was smoke. Like she was nothing. But if she was nothing, why did her eyes show only the promise of his death? And why did her spikes of shadow sting his flesh…?
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There had to be something he could do. He was trying to use the wind blessing more, yet it just blew her a little. Even his wind-powered rocks he threw did nothing…
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Her shadow clones struck at him while she watched. They were not new, but he was still surprised by them….
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The strikes from the clones tried to go deep in his flesh, but it seemed the shadow lacked her bite. Was she playing with him? No… This must be a limit to her magic; she's not perfect, or was she just wanting him to suffer before death…?
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Was this slow death for mocking her child, promising him death? He grinned a bit madly in that moment, not regretting his choice but wishing he could do more than take the strikes…
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Blood ran down his arms in thin lines. She was getting closer to killing him; they both knew it.
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Focus. Think. He could not smash her, but wind blessing was magic, like her shadows. That wind was his strength, yet it wasn't working…
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He dodged her testing strikes, growing more desperate. The cuts were adding up, even grazing his skin. Blood ran down his arms and chest. She was pushing him slowly deeper to the back; he was losing what few options he had….
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Each strike had the intent to kill. Yet the wind and his skin kept the bites at an edge as he was not wanting it to end like this, an end that went nowhere.
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Another wind blast. Amongst her strikes to try and push her back, yet the same before it did little…
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His strikes grew more frantic, desperation fueling experimentation. Each failure taught him something new about how wind moved as he blasted wind forward, hoping it would lead to something, anything more than this endless, untouchable shadow…
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She drove him back toward the far wall. Soon, there would be nowhere left to run. Soon it would end with her shadow-spikes through his skull and her walking away, proving the gods right: he had no worth but to die by others' hands.
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I bet she's already planning on telling the kids about how their nightmare was handled. He would never get his revenge.
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Unless...
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One chance. One desperate gamble against impossible odds.
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Cornered. Desperate. Nothing left but one final gamble.
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The accumulated pain of being able to do nothing, trying to push the wind, He lashed out with everything, not at her, not really; he needed something, anything new, and pulled the winds in an odd way as well as pushing in an odd mix.
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All his rage and wind mana focused on that desperate action for something, anything to work. The wind compressed in ways he'd never tried before, building strangely until it just... popped.
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CRACK BOOM
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The boom was agony. It tore through him like being flayed alive; every gust of wind that made up his essence rejected that blast, even though it was his doing….
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Parts of his mind were unable to stay sane. Wind-essence torn apart by impossible feedback from the blast. But if this was what it took... As he watched her…
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She had no form. The untouchable shadow-woman scattered, unable to hold herself, her perfect control shattered by an impossible blast from the wind.
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Success. Terrible, agonizing success.
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She reformed; she was no longer a thing he could not touch, broken at his feet…
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The walls groaned.
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Stone, stressed beyond its limits by an impossible blast, began to crack and fall. Dust rained from the ceiling. The price of their battle was becoming clear. His home couldn't survive the strain with the reverberation as the force that ripped at them ripped at the walls.
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destroyed in minutes by two creatures pushing the place beyond its limits.
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The woman he could not touch, a moment from his defeat, now collapsed. Broken.
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The only home he knew slowly wept, stone falling down. Ceiling chunks crashed where they'd been fighting. The place was coming apart, leaving everything in rubble and dust.
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He could have killed her then. Should have, maybe. But the children were what mattered now. The line he needed to draw.
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One death would mean nothing. But a message... a message would change everything.
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Stone fell around them as he lifted her broken form gently. Her death now would be meaningless and an unknown truth…
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It was ironic; now he was showing her the same care and mercy she offered him, but for a different reason. She did it in a sense of love to set him free; he did it to make sure there was a message sent with a broken woman and a purpose to hunt for him lest he do more…
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Through collapsing walls and a roof toward an exit that led to freedom, he went on carrying her as gently as he could with speed, lest they both remain buried and forgotten.
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Level 4
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He saw through the door that the whole place had fallen apart into nothing, burying his past in rubble and dust.
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The throne. The herb, the reason he'd existed. All buried now under tons of broken stone.
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He did wonder, with the cruelty of the gods, if it would just reappear later, new and untouched, as if everything was meaningless, but looking at the broken form in his arms, he did not care. He had a new purpose, and it would end on his terms, not theirs or anyone else's.
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The night forest was calm and quiet; he could not leave her here among the dark…. She was light in his arms, surprising him with how much trouble she gave him. Now he held her, wondering how easily he could finish breaking her….
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He left it at that; the kids were his prize as he went for the next realm.
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Level 3
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The plains, once more, he knew next would be a desert, and it would kill her… So here would be best he move her close to the door, wind sense letting him know no monster was close. He wasn’t sure if they would hunt her and could not risk them taking his prize…
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He set her down where she could crawl to safety when consciousness returned or be found. The message would be clear enough when she woke or they found her. He saw her chest slowly rise and fall. They both were bloody and hurt, but neither of them would die this day…
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He was about to walk away when he saw the pipe come loose - the thing she'd kept drawing on throughout their fight, staying so calm while offering him pity. The sight of it angered him more. He grabbed it and crushed it deliberately in his fist, watching the carved wood splinter. A parting gift for her mercy, letting her know how close to dying she came. He placed the broken pieces on her chest with a cold smile. The thing that kept you so composed while you looked down on me. Smoke that
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He hoped the kids were smarter than her and knew his intent when he held back, especially now with this message.
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Come yourself, or next time it won't be a broken body but a dead one.
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The children would understand, he hoped. They would come. And this time, there would be no running for anyone, just an end to a long wait and a game he was tired of playing.
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They would come, and he would be waiting.205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF1wtCbex8j
and then Add to home screen.