Even as every sip he took sent another gush of the blood he was drinking spraying out of the wound on his neck, the man continued to drink greedily. Lucius had underestimated just how strong the urge to consume would become once the man began feeding. Not willing to waste this opportunity, he stabbed forward again with his dagger, this time aiming for the heart. The man's body attempted to shift into the shadows as it sensed the lethal danger approaching its most vital organ, but the moment the enchanted blade touched the blackened skin, the shadows were pulled back into the form of human flesh, and the blade pierced the unprotected chest.

The strike finally snapped his opponent out of his ravenous gluttony. The man tossed the goblet he had been clutching so desperately a moment ago to the ground, a pained grimace overtaking his face as he staggered backward, clutching his chest.

"What have you done..."

Bubbles of black, oozing liquid, blood, and air sputtered from the man's mouth and neck, making it difficult to understand his words. The man swung his cane at Lucius, forcing him to duck nimbly out of the way, buying the injured man enough time to retreat. A flood of shadows coalesced around his shadowy figure from nearby, consuming his body before spreading out like a collapsing wave. Lucius rushed forward to try and catch his fleeing foe, but he was a step too slow and lost sight of the man's form as it blended into the multitude of shadows within the church.

The shadows on the floor started reforming into the same snakelike ropes that had trapped Lucius before. It was only a matter of time before they resumed their pursuit. "Damnit!" Lucius clenched his fists tightly as he cursed, throwing a heavy punch at the cracked window beside him. The crack widened, spreading to the top of the large archway that held the glass pane, creating just enough space between the magical material to let in a small beam of light. The beam landed on the floor a few meters away, and the shadows moving in that direction immediately retreated. Lucius’ eyes widened as he witness the shadows reaction to the light, before turning his head toward the cracked window with a smirk.

Leaping onto the nearest pew, and using it to propel himself to the top of the window, the high pitched sound of metal against metal spread through the room as Lucius stabbed into it forcefully with his dagger. Whatever magic the man was using had also created this church, and it was just as susceptible to the enchantment Patrick had created to fight ghostly magic. The sound of hissing and strange purple sparks came spraying out from around the knife as it passed through the glass. It took all of Lucius’ strength, as well as the force of his body, to press the weapon through the glass. The material did not behave like anything he had ever encountered. Once the dagger pierced through, he hung from it with all his weight, dangling in the air as the blade slowly moved downward, opening a long slit from the top of the window to the bottom. After reaching the ground, he forced the dagger sideways prying the glass apart just enough to fit his fingers through. Gripping tightly around the sharp edge of the material, he pulled.

By now, the shadows had crept across the floor and reached the spot where Lucius had landed. He made the decision not to retreat, maintaining his focus on his task even as they crawled up his legs and wrapped around his body. The material between his fingers resisted him every step of the way, and even with his full strength, it barely budged. The shadows pulled at his arms, trying to rip him away from the window, and his hands began to bleed from the combined force of his grip and their assault pulling his flesh against the sharp glass. His face turning red, the veins bulging in his neck as he strained, refusing to give up. Slowly his efforts bore fruit, as cracks began to spiderweb across the glass, starting around his hands and spreading upward as they grew.

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"Gaaah!"

With one final burst of effort, and as the shadows began to stab into his flesh, he achieved his goal. A loud noise, like thick tree branches being violently snapped, echoed through the room as the window collapsed into a burst of golden light.

The shadows attacking him let out high-pitched screeches, like small animals screaming, as the light from the opening spread over them. They released Lucius as they fled, leaving purple sparks and puffs of smoke that smelled like burnt hair lingering in the air. Lucius wiped the blood from his hands, taking deep lungfuls of air to catch his breath. He gazed into the darkness of the church from the safety of the sunlight, his jaw and fists clenched tightly as he thought about how close he had just come to death.

The window was open, and he had a clear view of the outside. His rational mind knew what he should do. "It's not worth it. I should just escape."

Lucius turned and jumped onto the broken window before stepping through and letting himself fall. His feet crunched lightly on the leaf-covered ground outside, the fresh smell of the damp forest clearing the stink of death from his nose. He took two steps away from the building before stopping. The furrow on his brow deepened, and the muscles in his arms tightened as his fingers squeezed tighter and tighter around the handle of his weapon. He turned to look back at the church for a few moments. Then the anger faded from his face, replaced by cold determination.

Lucius walked back towards the building’s outer wall and leapt up, forcing his dagger into the outside of an unbroken window. He steadily repeated the same process he had used before to break the magically enhanced glass.

As the second window loudly collapsed into a pool of golden sparks, he glanced through the new opening and watched the shadows scream as they fled. Now at least half of the interior was covered in sunlight. A quick look up at the sky told Lucius he still had a few hours before sunset, but he needed to quicken his pace. If the man inside the church survived until nightfall, it might be impossible for Lucius to protect himself, let alone kill his foe.

One by one, he worked his way across the west side of the church, exposing its interior to the rays of the setting sun.

Finally, only one window remained. All the shadows had collected in the last dark corner of the church. Lucius jumped up and pressed his knife into the remaining window, creating the slice he would use to finish the job. Wrapping his bloodied, aching hands around the last piece of magically hardened glass, his enhanced perception picked up the soft sound of a raspy voice drifting out from inside the church.

"Please... I do not wish to die again. The spell is lifted. You are trapped no longer. Let me live."

Silence filled the forest as seconds stretched into minutes. Lucius let out a deep, tired sigh, staring at the sky above him for a long time before answering. "You attacked a fellow human being. What will happen when someone weaker than me crosses your path? To show mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent."

The end of Lucius' response came accompanied by the loud snapping sound of the magical glass breaking, as the last refuge of darkness in the church was flooded with burning light.

With nowhere left to hide, the large mass of shadows was fully exposed to the searing rays of light. Thick clouds of smoke poured out from the church as deep, pained moans echoed through the forest. The shadows rolled across the floor as they burned, slamming into walls and crushing furniture.

Lucius watched as the flaming shadows leapt through a broken window in a crazed attempt to escape their doom, landing among the moss and leaves of the forest floor. The loud crinkle of burning leaves reached Lucius' ears as the shadows raced past blindly, crashing through gravestones before slamming against the trunk of a tree and collapsing. They twitched and bubbled for a moment before transforming back into the man’s body. Steam billowed from his bubbling flesh as it slowly disappeared. In the end, all that remained of the man was a single oval-shaped black stone the size of a fist, it caught Lucius' attention as the sunlight brightly reflected of it's smooth surface.

You have slain Novis Tenebris, Level ??.

You have reached level 20. You have 8 attribute point available for distribution.

You have reached level 21. You have 16 attribute point available for distribution.

Congratulations! You have defeated a novel creature, you have received 1 [Rare] grade item upgrade!