The peerless bright eyes in the shadows beam right at us. A trail of sweat ran down my forehead. Shallow breathing of anticipation, gripping my sword tightly. Lukia aims her bow directly at the creature. Celia ignites the flames in her hands and summons multiple spheres to circle us. It disperses from the shadows; the glow of its eyes fades into the fog of shadow. A sudden realization sparks inside my mind; I quickly turn, grab one of the spears, and charge past Celia. After analyzing the creature, I have been trying to predict its patterns and behavior.
"Celia, get down!" I shout as loud as I can. She noticed the shimmer in her shadow as the beast launched its tendril directly at her.
I barely deflect the strike to the side, but the spikes on the tendril slash through the weapon and shatter it in my hands. It's gotten faster—a terrifying revelation. Gritting my teeth, I grab my sword and strike down—the Shadow Hunter ducks and rolls, launching a tendril at my stomach. Barely able to move, it ripped my cloak and clothes, exposing my undershirt.
"Lukia!"
"Right!"
She releases her arrow; it flies and hits the shoulder of the creature. The purple spray of its blood trickles down. Feeling threatened now that its advantage has been taken away, it unleashes a torrent of strikes with its tendrils. Reflexes kicking in, Celia rolls backward and gets as far as she can. I defend against a strike, but it knocks me to the ground. I cough from the sudden pressure in my chest. It had vanished into the shadows before I could set my eyes back on the creature.
"Where did it-" Before I can even finish, a looming shadow of death pounces onto me, and the jaw of the black-furred creature nearly snaps my neck in half. Holding my blade to my neck and propping it with my arm barely protects the vital part of my body from being torn. It thrashes with me; I grunt and try to free myself. Celia attempts to fire a sphere of fire into the creature's side, but it bounces off. Lukia releases her final arrow, which grazes and is reflected off the side of the moving creature.
The snarling creature has begun to lose any sense of strategy or cunning. It is out for blood; we have survived this long without any fatal wounds, and it is getting desperate. It jerks its jaw and flips me over—a quick tumble before it pounces again. I react again by placing my sword between the jaw and bracing it with my arm. A shocking pain flows through my arm as the pressure tightens from holding back the Shadow Hunter from killing me. It strikes with its tendril, the aim going for my head, so I summon a barrier just above my head to deflect it.
"Get this thing off me!" I knew I couldn't last much longer; the pain and exhaustion of the whole ordeal were starting to affect me significantly.
Celia attempts to rush forward, but a tendril slashes her side, blood spilling down her long skirt and torso. She gasps in pain while Lukia tries to attack with her sword but is rightfully pushed back. Seeing as this creature is now being reckless against me, I expand my barrier to push it back. It scratches and claws the barrier. The scathing sounds of the claws are deafening. The putrid, snarling creature froths at the mouth, trying to break through as I squirm myself back to gain distance, but one of the tendrils recoils and slashes my arm; I react to the pain.
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"Now!"
Lukia and Celia both charge, hoping to land an attack. The Shadow Hunter lurches upward and swings one of the tendrils to hit them both. Lukia grits her teeth as she blocks and defends the attack, allowing Celia to attack freely. She conjures a flame in her hand and clenches her fist. With a bright fire welling behind her eyes, she uses the most of her strength to deal a significant blow to the beast. It lurches upward as the searing pain of its flesh makes it recoil, freeing me briefly of its barrage of attacks.
"Lukia! Celia! Fall back!" I give them commands as I struggle to my feet, gripping my sword in the process. The Shadow Hunter ducks under and swats at Celia, knocking her to the ground. I look in horror as it presses the attack once again.
It aims its tendril right at me and swings it horizontally, trying to take my head with it. I raise my sword and aim it against my body to block it. I was putting all my strength and grit behind it. Sparks screeched off the blade as the tendril's spikes scraped across it. But as I give any sign of resistance, the sword finally shatters behind the force of the attack. My eyes are wide as the remainder of the tendril rips into my back. A painful shout leaves my lips as I am sent into the air by the brute force of the attack. Landing outside our circle, I roll and stop myself before going further.
"Caleb!" Celia struggles to get to her feet as the Shadow Hunter uses its tail to create an illusion of itself and fades into the shadows. The wound on my back wasn't deep, but the pain was. It seared my flesh like a hot iron, and I could think nothing but it. I see the beast charging me out of the corner of my eye.
Instinctively, I reach for one of the spears and roll onto my side. Just barely going past the held-up spears and aiming the tip for the leaping creature. Bracing for impact, I wait for the beast to either kill me or I kill it. But I feel a gust of wind brush past my face as the Shadow Hunter lands on the spear but phases out of existence. Shock ran through my body as the illusion that it spawned was the one that ran away, which meant that the real Shadow Hunter was still a threat to Celia and Lukia.
"Caleb, hang on! I am coming!" Celia, too blinded to realize the threat looming behind her, I stare as if she doesn't see the illusion right in front of me. The looming eyes of the Shadow Hunter set its sights on the oblivious Demon woman. This entire time, it was using me as bait to get them to drop their guards, causing me to worry about myself. But I should have realized it; it constantly attacked Celia first in each assault it threw at us. It wanted to kill her and drag her away to feast on her.
The thoughts of the creature tearing into someone like Celia caused my blood to boil. I am sick and tired of being baited and toyed with by this thing. I knew I had to protect her, protect the person who has been there for me as long as I can remember. With a burst of adrenaline, I roll to my feet and grab one of the shields in the dirt. I shout for Celia to get away. She doesn't notice that the Shadow Hunter extends both tendrils directly at her. A blinding flash of the bony spikes inch closer and closer. She turns her head to react to my warning.
Time slows down. The feeling that any millisecond of movement should not be wasted in trying to protect Celia. I push myself past my limits, past the limits of my training with Eckhart, the limitations of being human. I should not be this fast, but something inside me stirred me awake. An unfamiliar feeling. It wasn't normal, it shouldn't be expected, and it wasn't something I knew I could achieve. However, I did achieve it.
I rush ahead of Celia, a silver-white blur of motion. Raising the shield to block a tendril. It sticks into the old piece of wood and iron. I hold fast, not giving way as the cracking sounds of the shield splinters. Blood escapes my lips, the other tendril piercing the right side of my abdomen. I continue to push forward and feel the shield give way. The tendril breaking through and piercing my arm, a dark crimson spray of blood hits the ground. I yell in pain, but I hold firm, my eyes piercing deep at the Shadow Hunter, not giving it any ground.