As bone and steel clashed, Avaln felt his mind and body becoming one.

This was, after all, his first true fight.

To spar against Sgithe’s puppet and practice his movements against trees, even if good training, couldn’t be compared to facing a physical, intelligent being. Hence, as soon as he blocked Teppei’s first attack, he felt how something stirred inside him; it was invisible yet certain, enlightening yet shrouded by the shadows of the unknown. That sensation wasn’t new, however, as he recognized it from when he first used his Runecasting…

It was the process of materializing with his own hands what until then, he’d only learnt inside his soul.

Struggling before Teppei’s experience and training, he was forced to focus on defense, the spear feeling clumsy in his hands as he stepped back, deflected, or moved out of the sword’s path, sometimes even receiving some minor cuts. He could barely react, yet not because of being unable to follow his movements, but rather due to thinking twice or thrice about how to solve each one…

He didn’t lack the experience, just the wisdom.

I can do it. Avaln thought then, as his hands allowed Teppei’s edge to slide over the shaft of his spear, taking a step away. She was faster, deadlier. Just focus.

Teppei covered the distance between them without hesitation, a smile adorning his features as if success was already in his hands, taking a quick step, turning his approach into a small jump. That action added momentum to his vertical downward slash, two hands on the grip as he stomped the ground.

Receive the impact, keep your balance… Avaln instructed himself, placing the spear between him and that glinting edge. Push back.

Again, Teppei’s attack met an unlikely resistance, and couldn’t but stare dumbfounded as his opponent rejected him and even made him lose his balance for an instant.

There was a minor realm between them.

Yet he felt as if such a difference didn’t exist at all, Avaln being only slightly worse.

How? He was supposed to be faster, to be stronger.

And most worrying was the fact that just now… it seemed as if he had an easier time solving his attack. Teppei couldn’t but shake his head in disbelief.

Could it be?

Was that greenhorn actually getting better?

A fright crossed his chest then, as he redoubled his efforts, adding intent and purpose to his attacks. If that was the case, even if there was but a glimmer of a chance, he had to snuff it out.

That was his only choice.

Alary’s scarlet eyes were filled with realization as soon as the first signs of resistance aroused.

“Did you see that?” Alice asked, yet her question was answered with just a look. That light in her friend’s gaze was so pretty it almost stole her heart. “It’s happening.”

“What’s happening?” Gallathorn voiced, as his hands finally finished dressing Harold’s arm.

Garry looked in the same direction, helped by the flickering light of their fire, and was also the first to voice it out loud “The other demon boars… are resisting the alpha?”

“What?!” Was Harold’s only response. Between the pain and situation, his mind was too sluggish to draw conclusions from his experience. “Wait… you don’t mean… “

Yet Alice couldn’t care less about their questions. All she could think of was how her bet had finally paid off, as her seventh sense examined the insides of the giant demon boar. She nodded to herself, causing her white lock to fall in front of one of her green, leafy eyes. “Demon boars act as a species, not as individuals. So, what do you think happens when an alpha that doesn’t do the same, appears?”

Alary brought a hand to her chin. “Are you implying that the demon boars have decided to dethrone their boss?” She inquired, in disbelief, staring at the spellcaster as her own blond ponytail swayed before the sudden turn of her head.

In front of them, the giant demon boar’s movements had become slow, heavy, driven by will rather than muscle, and the rest of its prey were now circling him, evading its attacks, waiting, hesitating.

“I wouldn’t say decided. Their acts are ruled by instinct. After being led to death, only to be devoured… “ The alpha turned around, leaving its sides open, a chance that wasn’t missed by the most brave of the demon boars, who charged at him with all the might it was capable of, which wasn’t much compared to a beast a whole great realm higher. But then, as the alpha turned around to face and devour the one who attacked him, another pair of tusks found place inside its flesh, from the opposite side. “They couldn’t but become hostile against their now weak alpha. Right now, I doubt they even consider it a part of their own species.”

More and more demon boars came in through the entrance, and soon a real scene of carnage began. The Alpha would do everything in its power to trash about and get rid of its attackers, yet more and more would jump and dig their tusks in, even biting and taking chunks of flesh with them. Squeals of pain in different degrees resounded, and any will to fill their stomachs was completely erased from the group of adventurers watching the scene.

The cave shook, and under two powerful seventh senses, some hints of restlessness could be seen in the shadow tendrils controlling the alpha, its massive body now way too heavy to move freely. “It seems the boss’s body has finally died.” Said a pretty voice then, belonging to Alice. “I wonder… what will it do?”

“What do you mean?” Asked Alary, who had also realized the Essence inside the alpha had become stagnant. “Do you think the parasite will try to jump to another body?”

Alice touched her nose with a finger, twice. “Exactly. A newly sentient being requires massive amounts of Essence in order to nurture their soul, and so they seek a healthy host to do so, and more often than not, jump to another one if the first is no longer suitable. But there is also another option, or rather, there may be only one option.”

Alary winced as another demon boar bit a chunk of flesh, releasing a stream of thick dark blood onto its surrounding kin. The massive body turned around then, slamming that demon boar against the walls of the cave, yet with nowhere near as much force as before. “What other option could there be?”

Alice tapped her lips, thinking. “It’s just a theory… “ Yet her words were interrupted by a squeal, long and torturing, as if it was an ultimatum. Then… the alpha’s body seemed to regain its strength.

“What?!” Gallathorn shouted, as he saw how the beast hurled itself against the group of demon boars blocking the entrance, shoving them aside or splashing them against the ground with its sole weight.

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“Why isn’t it switching hosts?” Questioned Alary, as under her seventh sense she could see how the tendrils had no intention of ever moving, but were rather using all of its energy into making an escape.

Soon, it disappeared through the entrance, and all of the other demon boars, without even sparing a glance at the group inside the temple, followed suit, the gallop of hooves quickly fading from their hearing.

“Because it doesn’t want to remain inside the barrier.” Alice explained, as she grabbed her staff with her other hand in order to stand up. Only that much effort was enough for her chest to start heaving from exhaustion, which made Alary reach out, grab her arm, and place it around her own shoulders, even though her own state wasn’t much better. “Thanks, Aly.”

“Gallathorn, Garry, help Harold. I doubt we’ll ever have a better chance of leaving this place.” The swordswoman ordered with a brief glance. “One of you should put out the fire. Do remember to take a torch though.”

The men obeyed in a mix of disbelief and solace, for the veteran adventurer was slightly pale, and was sweating even though the place wasn’t that much hot despite Alice’s spells. Getting out of there would do wonders to improve his mood.

“What do you mean, Miss Dothein?” Gallathorn asked, in part out of curiosity, in part to pull Harold’s mind away from the pain, even if only slightly.

“All this time, I think, that sentient being has wanted to destroy the barrier, but hasn’t been able to.” Alice continued, as it indicated with a hand that they should get moving. Alary led the way, yet didn’t dare to interrupt her friend, for under her constant observation, she could see how her skin was beginning to lose its colour. “I don’t know how it was born, nor how it was able to make a demon boar advance all the way to the 4th order, but for some reason it saw the barrier as something that needed to be destroyed, even though it should have been able to get out as soon as it started failing. Another enigma, I may add.”

A few breaths of silence followed, while the group carefully got over the obstacles in their way, for the aftermath of their and the beasts’ fight had left many rocks and debris laying around. Given their current state, and despite the alpha’s body clearing some of the way, they still needed to focus on their steps, else they fell.

Alice also required some time to recover after talking so much, which worried Alary more and more. She too had used some of her own lifeforce, but it had been only once, and just a tiny amount in order to supply her skill’s needs, so one could say its power, albeit great, wasn’t that much different from the usual if she had used only her mana.

But Alice…

She had forcefully poured her lifeforce into The Fire-Shaper, not once but twice, and given the strength her attacks gained, Alary dared to say she may…

Her thoughts were halted, not by any outside interference, but rather by her own inner turmoil. In the end, she didn’t dare to even imagine it.

In moments like these, she wished she had a god to pray to.

“But now that its leadership was rejected, and its host has died, it preferred to get out rather than being imprisoned in a place where it may be targeted in the future.” Alice continued then, feeling a lock of Alary’s hair tickling her cheek.

“I don’t really understand what you are talking about.” Gallathorn said then, from behind, his gaze fixed on the spellcaster, while his other hand held a torch. Right now it was their only source of light, since The Fire-Shaper, now out of mana, looked like any ordinary staff. “But can whatever was inside the alpha reason that far ahead?”

Alice chuckled. Her laugh was weak, and her voice, albeit pretty, felt dim. “How unusual. You’ve actually admitted to being ignorant. Remember that, ignorance is not a sin. Remaining ignorant despite being aware, is. And your question was also quite good.” She took a few breaths to recover. “It’s a newly sentient being, so I can’t answer anything with certainty… but depending how it was born, it may be quite smart. Enough to know its existence is rare, and that we knew of it because it was directly attacked.”

Alary nodded at that, suddenly struck with an idea. “Do you think it chose to reside on the tusk rather than the main body?”

Alice made the effort to shrug, yet all she managed was to make her shoulders tremble slightly. “Could be. As I said, I can’t answer with certainty.”

Garry furrowed his brow then. “But how will it get out if the barrier has been restored?”

The spellcaster smiled. There was something resembling an apology in that smile, yet not even Alary, who was by her side, was in a position to see it. “The barrier is intended to keep inside the amount of demonic Essence a 2th order beast would possess, so It may be able to get out if it conserves the alpha’s body long enough. Even if dead, it still belongs to the 4th order. Besides, the parasite’s own attribute isn’t demonic, but rather shadow, so the barrier may not reject it as strongly.”

“Shadow Essence?” Muttered Harold then, his voice coarse. “Here?”

Alice would have shrugged again, but she soon saw no point in doing so. She hit a rock then, and if it weren’t for her friend’s support, she would have met the ground face first. After the jumpscare that crept inside her chest, passed, she decided to answer Harold, “Probably related to how it was born, but that’s all I can infer. In any case, albeit in theory demonic and shadow are all on the same side of the Essence’s hue wheel, their properties are quite different.”

Alice took in a few breaths before continuing. “Demonic is corrosive, invades the Essence of living creatures and in most cases poisons them, unless exposed to it through some sort of secret art. We don’t feel it because the temple has a restricting effect from here to Gale, but deeper inside the mountain we wouldn’t last a day before dying or turning insane.”

“To think the battle between Nemesis and Astraea actually left such a scar…” Alary muttered then, recalling her classes back at The Tower.

Alice nodded, then resumed her explanation. “Shadow, on the other hand, lacks that kind of tendency, and actually can’t really interact with other attributes, yet it excels at surviving encounters with them. Darkness, for example, can be easily extinguished by light, but shadow never truly disappears when exposed to it. In fact, one could say the origin of the attribute itself is the fusion between those two.”

The group made a turn to the right, and Alice’s explanation was halted by what they saw there. Organs and flesh were painting the rock walls, and the very ground was slippery from the fresh blood; it seemed the alpha had to fight with all it had in order to get rid of the demon boars blocking its way, then shook off the ones who had caught up to it.

“Something tells me we’ll see more of this.” Garry commented, and everyone expressed their agreement with a hum.

They walked slowly, sorting the zone of corpses carefully so as not to fall, Alice especially, who was the weakest and the one who hated the idea the most. Once they were out of it, she began to explain again, “finally, shadow is an attribute that tends to imitate others. I know, mind-blowing, right? But precisely because of that, not many adventurers have been able to truly make use of it. When you refine Essence, you try to match your attribute with the creature you are refining, right? That way it’s more effective… but shadow is so far away in the wheel hue, its conversion ratio is… subpar, at best, and shadow creatures are incredibly rare, and not very strong. The attribute itself too, aside from some third-rate camouflage and illusion spells, has no real use in the Domain of Magic, and much less in the Domain of War.”

Once her voice faded, only silence and the sound of their steps became her answer, which struck her with a realization shown by covering her features with a pale hand. “Cirse’s shoes. Why am I explaining all of this to you? I bet I’ve bored you to death.” She staggered a bit, but Alary’s arms found the unusual strength only care can grant, and steadied her steps.

“Do you need to rest?” She asked, but Alice shook her head.

“Alary, I’m sorry.” The sentence caught her by surprise.

“Why are you apologizing?” There was fear in her question, and it cut the words as they were born in her throat.

“The parasite… it will seek a host…” Her sight, the same as her balance, was beginning to fade.

“Yes, we talked about that. C’mon Alice, stay with me.” Alary shook her friend’s body, yet the sensation she got from it crept from her arms all the way to her chest.

“And the closest place… for it to find one…”She continued, yet she never got to finish her sentence.

Her silence alarmed Alary, who quickly examined her condition through her seventh sense, then placed a finger right beneath the side of her jaw to check her pulse. A sigh of relief left Alary’s lungs next, realizing she had only lost consciousness.

Despite how grave her state was, it seemed they still had some time.

“The closest place…” Alary muttered then, quickly trying to find the missing piece.

Of course. She thought then, and cursed internally.

The closest place, outside of the barrier, with possible hosts for the parasite… was Gale.