-- James --

"What the rot was that?" I said shocked.

I didn't even see either of them move. I only saw the clash between the two and watched as the shadow fly back. I couldn't believe he was still standing after a hit like that from the Preaceptor.

How could humans even move so fast?

We had been tailing the shadow thanks to some type of tracking skill some of the guilds had and we had caught the tail end of his fight with the guards. I was able to keep up with him right up until the ax-wielding guard swung. He just seemed to appear on the ax and then stabbed the mage. Then what was even more baffling, as he ran away.

What is this guy even trying to do?

Luckily he ended up actually coming to us, on his flight. I only caught a single glimpse of him before he reached where we waited. I thought he was going to end up passing by before we could do anything when the Preaceptor intercepted him. The two stood for what felt like forever staring down each other. The shadow, a living nebula, direct window to the stars, crouched with a knife ready, and the Preaceptor standing tall sword moving. The tension building I could feel the entire guild tensing, behind their masks.

All at once, the tension shattered as the Preceptor finally made her move, blurring towards the shadow. A flash of silver arched down towards him, the shadow looked to be moving in slow motion compared to Preceptor, as he pulled his dagger to parry. A loud clang rang through the square as the two hits, the shadow used the power of the strike to spin adding a moment to a kick towards the Preceptor. She stopped the kick by bringing her arm down onto his leg. I was expecting a snap but instead saw the shadow's foot now buried in the stone road. All this happened in the blink of an eye. The only reason I was able to see it was thanks to my new level.

With the shadow now trapped in the road itself the rest of the guild made their move. Arrows, knives, bullets, and various other ranged weapons flew towards the star man, as a wave of owls flew down the buildings or shot out from the allies towards the two fighting. The shadow deflected another strike from the Preceptor when he noticed the weapons. He did something to the are around him blocking or guiding them towards the Preceptor.

Even with the extra attacks to block Preceptor didn't let up on her assault of the shadow. I could only stand and watch. I did not feel it was my place to interfere with this fight, between what felt like equals. Watching the rest of the guild move against this one man didn't sit right with me but there was nothing I could do to stop them.

I could only watch in awe at the incredible skill this shadow was displaying. Fighting off a Preceptor while stuck in the ground. But I knew once the rest of the guild reached him it was over. No matter how skilled they were the mad furor of the guild would end him.

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Why couldn't they just let the fight continue?

The wave of people was upon the man when he suddenly exploded into a cloud of starlight disappearing from where he was stuck.

The guild to their credit didn't freeze, they quickly searched for their target. Only to find a hundred different shadows already a good distance away running. The guild split chasing making sure that no shadow was left without a pursuer.

Unlike the rest of the guild, I could only stare gob-smacked at the place all the fighting had just happened. The speed at which my entire guild reoriented their thinking and moved I couldn't believe.

"What the blight was that?" How did he explode hundreds of different versions of himself?

Are the shadows really illusionists? No, they are rogues. Did this one study mage magic long enough to learn how to do that? I know I was told you could learn other schools of energy manipulation but it was supposed to be extremely difficult. My estimation of the shadow only shot up.

I looked out watching people running over the building tops and streets wondering, would they even be able to catch him?

The guild had a simple plan for catching a shadow, one would catch him and then send a signal to the rest of the guild to help. Then suddenly not ten feet away one of the shadows shot past me. Not wanting to miss this opportunity I shot off after him.

-- Aster --

I watched out the window, as all the owls left followed all my possibilities. It was strange I could slightly feel each one of the possibilities as though they were me and could feel a few of them had already dissipated from being attacked. I could even feel a slight pain every time one of them was destroyed.

Good to know that they are somehow still a part of me. Thanks to hitting level thirty I could push the clones farther than ever and hold on to that knife-edge much easier as I pushed to maintain my constructs.

Seriously Aster why did you run out in the open the entire rotting time! I was chiding myself for being stupid. I let being level thirty go to my head. I might have been stronger than most, but I was bound to run into someone stronger than me.

After all that had happened so far, I was completely shocked I was even able to make it this far. In fact, I was more certain than ever that this specific rank-up quest was a trap to put all cocky shadows into place.

The latest incident was the closest I came to failing, when my leg got stuck in the ground I thought I was done for. When the weapons were flying towards me I somehow stayed calm enough to pull in power and will my words "CHANCE redirect" I felt the power flow out of me seeming to grip onto as many weapons as possible and change direction towards the woman in the mask. I was still forced to block some as there were too many for my skill to grab.

It was when the hundreds of owls were moving towards me that I got the bright idea to fall away, and I pushed my power to the absolute limit. As hundreds of possibilities started to appear farther away than ever. I took my chance as I followed one of them to a possibility hidden in a room in one of the buildings. I figure if I tried to run they would just catch up and I'd have to do this all over again. I had a good view as the owls all left.

I had known the owls would eventually be after me but I was hoping I would be much closer to the edge of the city. They had caught me nearly halfway to the edge and I had a lot more to go. I was going to have to be extra careful now that they're in the mix.