“Great, looks like it's already started.” Shade mutters with clear annoyance in his voice, stopping in his tracks to note the clear darkness overtaking the woods.

They’d barely made it past the barrier and now it was growing impossibly dark, the mana in the air growing heavy and smog-like with each passing second.

“What is this?” Wynn asks in fear, moving ever so slightly closer to Shade in the process.

Though she was caught off guard when he picked her up, holding her carefully.

“It’s an arena spell, no time to explain further than that… all you need to know now is that you need to hold on tight.” He replies in a more calm tone, keeping his eyes focused on the path ahead of him. “If we don’t hurry we’ll run out of time.”

Wynn quietly does as she’s told, grabbing onto Shade’s armor for dear life, not knowing what would happen next.

In a move she could not have expected, the winds began gathering under his feet, sparks of red lightning flying off his body as he took a deep breath and leaned forward. In the next moment everything was blurring past her field of view, the wind rushing past her so quickly that she felt like a bird in flight.

How was he moving so quickly?! And without crashing into a tree or tripping over any vines?!

Before she realized it they were already out of the woods and in the plains leading to a big walled city.

Something wasn’t right though, as once they’d gone a bit further the mana in the air began to swell more and Shade came to a stop.

“Looks like we made it after all…” He comments calmly, not a single hint of exhaustion from sprinting so far in his voice.

Carefully Wynn looks to see what he was gazing at, her eyes growing wide with horror at the sight before her.

The sun was pitch black, oozing a dark smog that was blanketing the entire sky, blocking out even the light from the stars above.

Surrounding the walled city were dozens of bonfires, revealing an army so massive that it could likely wipe out the entire city in one go.

Among the army were creatures of chaos, demons, monsters, beings that could take down even the most seasoned adventurer if they weren’t careful.

This was an event that no one in the Fell Blood cult could ever hope of replicating no matter how hard they tried.

Wynn tried to cling to Shade tighter, fearing for her life at the sight of this, but he simply placed her on the ground and walked in front of her, pausing only but a brief moment.

“You remember what I gave you?” He asked while glancing back at her.

Wynn carefully reached down and took hold of the necklace while looking at him.

“Good, just hold onto that while I take care of this mess.” Shade says with a small smile before turning back to the hoard he was walking towards. “Well, this should be a decent warm up for things to come… really wish Ryder and his little posse could’ve made it on time at least once though.”

There’s a flash of silver as Shade draws his sword, an audible ring and surge of magic gathering the attention of most of the troops that looked ready to march on the city, all of them turning to look at the mysterious swordsman striding up to them.

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Shade takes a moment to glance over the crowd, deciding his best course of action.

“Nah, not worth the excess usage, this should take care of most of them.” he mutters to himself while continuing his stride.

Before any of the soldiers could question the madman approaching them there was another distinct ringing along with another flash of silver as Shade swung his blade, there was a moment of silence and then a sea of red as each and every living creature was cut in two.

What had once been a major army was cut down to half its size with just a single swing.

Shade sighs a bit before letting loose two more slashes, dismantling the army even further in no time flat.

It was likely the only surviving troops now were those already in the city, or those on the opposite end.

Shade stops and looks up at the sun, surprised to see it hasn’t gone back to normal yet. “Huh, guess they must’ve moved those damn spellcasters to a different location again…” he muses to himself before looking back at Wynn. “You alright back there?”

The frightened girl nods, unsure of what she even just witnessed. She had known he was powerful after their first encounter but this? This was something beyond words.

“Good, we’ve done the first half of our job, we just need to wait for the second half to show herself now.” Shade pauses and looks to the city, narrowing his eyes a bit. “It’s up to you now Lily.”

…

…..

……

“Is everyone alright?!” Lily calls out, the barrier Six threw up now fading.

Behind her were those who had been in the guild at the time, Eillen, Midnight, Aida and Vonder.

Everyone seemed fine at a glance, but it was hard to see them in the darkness that was now smothering them.

“Yeah, we’re still here, the great hollow isn’t in sight yet.” Vonder remarks while calmly dusting himself off. “We need to move as soon as possible though, there’s no telling if that’ll be the only aerial attack.”

Eileen lets out a weak cough, using her staff for support as she tries to keep her balance. “I… I can’t breathe that well…” she gasps out “The miasma-”

“Save your strength kid.” Night cuts her off while walking over. “This miasma is caused by forbidden magic, spells that even dark sorcerers have deemed too unsafe to use practically.” she furrows her brow a bit, her face contorting in disgust. “It’s the shade, Raime’s Shade.”

Vonder stiffens up a bit at this, a look of pure dread forming on his face.

“Are you sure? It couldn’t be anything else?” He asks, trying to stay calm, though the emotions in his voice tell a different story.

Night shakes her head. “It's his, I’d recognize that scent anywhere… he’s the only one who could create such an evil spell that smelled this relaxing.” She looks to Aida. “Tell him, I know you can smell it as well.”

Aida hesitantly floats in front of Vonder, her face full of worry. “It’s true, the scent of Silver Lilies and morning dew is unmistakable…”

“Vonder?” Lily asks, slowly walking up to his side. “Is everything alright?”

The swordsman draws one of his swords without a single word, the white and gold pattern on the handle and guard leading to a shining blade that seemed to produce light all on its own, a beautiful humming noise radiating from it.

“Our course of action has changed.” he says flatly, marching out into the streets.

“Changed to what?!” Night calls out after him.

Vonder pauses, looking back at them only briefly before looking up at the dark sun in the sky.

“There is no chance of evacuation…” he points his blade up at the sky. “The miasma from that will slowly smother and kill every last living creature in this area, even the king is no exception.”

“What do we do then?!” Lily asks, terrified of what could possibly happen. “We can’t just let these people die!”

“And we won’t…” He slowly looks back down the path. “We just have to break the spell, do you know how to do that?”

“He can’t mean…” Six begins worriedly.

Vonder’s tone shifts a bit, a sinister nature hanging onto it.

“We must hunt down and kill every last enemy hiding in this city.”