Nadim opened his arms and created a shadow portal before him. From the center of that crack in the air, a rapidly expanding area of pure darkness radiated. Havel instinctively retreated to Ada, but the darkness overtook them in an instant, enveloping them in a thick, impenetrable bluish-hued fog.

“What the…,” Havel muttered, still in disbelief.

He frowned as he tried to maintain his grip on his partner. Within seconds, he felt the hilt slip from his hands, as if his weapon was dissolving into air.

“No!” he shouted angrily, turning to Ada, only to see his friend still clinging to him. He was about to breathe a sigh of relief, then he noticed that her weapon had also vanished into thin air.

The darkness stopped moving stormily. A new place appeared before them where the darkness seemed to pulsate, alive and malevolent. Nadim's smile shone through the shadows.

“In my domain, you have no need for iron toys. Here, it's just me, you, and the hunt that unites us.”

Ada staggered back, terror evident in her gray eyes.

“We… we can't fight him, I… Havel…” she whispered, her voice cracking with anguish.

The leader of the Equinox Flowers, frustrated and furious, gritted his teeth, clenching his empty fists.

“It does not matter!” he roared, taking a step forward. “I don't need weapons to send you before Cragar!”

But the boy's words, however determined, were lost in the growing darkness. Nadim continued to laugh, filling the new dimension with a sound that echoed ominously through the air.

“Why the hell are you laughing? What did you do?” Havel snapped, clenching his still free fist.

The creature's deep, dark voice boomed in their ears as its body seemed to blend in with the surrounding darkness. Ada shivered, it was no longer the voice of a human creature.

“It's your first time, I imagine. This, which our friend has already had the pleasure of experiencing, is my Dark Hallway” he announced in a solemn tone.

The shadows around them seemed to respond to his call, gathering even more around the two demigods.

“Here, all external weapons simply… disappear. It is the law that defines the lion's hunt, therefore this place: my corridor. Nothing material can exist in here, except what belongs to our body.”

Havel found himself instinctively clutching his empty hand, the feeling of vulnerability making his heart pound in his chest. Ada struggled to breathe, she felt as if the very air was trying to suffocate her.

“It can't be true… it's impossible… not again…”

Nadim tilted his head, his golden eyes glittering with mischief.

“Every wayfarer has his own hallway, a unique place that responds only to him, to his laws. Here, the rules of the outside world have no value. And this… well, it's my kingdom.”

He raised a hand, letting the shadows dance across his fingers like smoke.

“Do you understand now why you have no chance here?”

Havel listened to the director's words through gritted teeth. The blood boiled in his veins, influenced by the smell inherited from his father. He was ready to fight it, no matter the situation.

He looked at Ada to make sure she was behind him and gave her a weak smile. He would protect her.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Because I know you would do the same for me.

He looked back at Nadim, took a breath, and announced loudly.

“I don't give a fuck about your hallway and your rules!”

He lunged forward with the force of an enraged son of Torari. The thought of being unarmed didn't seem to affect his chances of victory, at least that's what his eyes told him. The demigod needed nothing more than his hands to strike down anyone who got in his way or threatened his companions.

“A suicidal choice,” noted the beast.

With a battle cry, Havel lunged at Nadim, his fist slamming into the monster with the force of a storm. But the creature was resilient, more than Havel had anticipated. He deflected the blow by ducking and pushing it away with his shoulder, after which he moved to the side and showed a smile on his lips, the knowledge of having avoided the attack pleased him.

“So impetuous...” he commented in an amused tone.

His body seemed to slip into the shadows as he prepared to counterattack, but Havel didn't stop. Even without weapons, it was a rush of pure attack, a force of nature.

He turned quickly, throwing another punch straight at Nadim's face. The shot grazed the enemy's face. The creature seemed amused, but behind its golden eyes lay a wild concentration.

“Interesting,” he murmured, “You have more fire than I imagined, but your shots are rather weak.”

“Shut up a bit.”

The fight became ferocious, with Havel charging at Nadim relentlessly, his punches and kicks hitting the air.

Ada, paralyzed with fear, watched helplessly as the two fought. The sound of banging rang out in the hallway, but it seemed muffled, as if even the sound was swallowed up by the darkness. She wanted to do something, anything, but the terror Nadim had awakened in her kept her frozen in place. The memories, dark and fragmented, of that obscure game the lion had spoken about throbbed in her mind, like nightmares she couldn't eliminate.

The leader of the Equinox Flowers shouted to make the lion retreat. A red aura developed from his skin and began to evaporate upwards, at the same time a strange crimson coating covered his fists. Ada recognized the typical tone of 'bloodlust' and admired the coating created around the fists of Sidal's son. Havel used to fight with his pair of axes, so he had never shown her that skill.

The two combatants engaged in a duel for about a minute, until Havel managed to hit Nadim with a violent punch in the side, causing him to stagger for a moment. The lion roared until movement at the edge of his vision caught his attention. A red sphere made of mana shone brightly and hit him exactly in the opposite side.

Nadim fell to his knees and Havel smiled. The lion was not aware of that technique, which the boy had been trying to apply to his weapons for over six months. By the time his punch had landed, the coating had passed through the enemy strike and condensed half a meter into a crimson sphere. The energy then traveled backwards, constituting a perfectly complementary blow to Havel's. A power capable of combining both physical attack and magic. That was one of the skills he inherited from his father: the 'double affliction'.

“Aren't you smiling anymore?” the boy growled, but immediately afterwards he found himself receiving an equally powerful blow to the chest, which made him take a few steps back. Nadim chuckled, his hands now glowing with a soft dark light.

“You are strong, demigod, but brute strength is not enough for me.”

Havel wiped the blood from his lip, his fiery gaze fixed on his opponent as he returned to his stance.

The fight between the two became increasingly violent. Sidal's son did not give in, but the wayfarer’s blows began to break his resistance. Nadim moved crudely, rarely dodging and counterattacking with a power that put Havel in trouble. With each blow from his opponent, the boy felt slower, as if the darkness that permeated that place was dragging him down, suffocating him.

Then, the blow came.

Nadim drove a brutal punch into Havel's side, making him groan in pain. The beast looked at its arm, now shaped like a paw made of pure darkness, with satisfaction.

Havel's armor had cracked. A hot, sticky liquid began to drip from the boy's rib cage: blood.

He bent over for a moment, the throbbing wound burning like open fire.

Ada, paralyzed by horror, saw Havel falter and terror nailed her even more to the ground. Nadim turned his predatory gaze on her, as if the fight against the boy was just a prelude.

“This is it, panther,” he hissed, his voice full of contempt. “You stand there still, just like when you were nothing more than scared little girl. He can't do anything.”

Sidal's son, although sore and injured, got up with immense effort. His breathing was very labored and he suspected that the wound had something to do with the problem. He cast a desperate look at Ada, knowing that if he didn't intervene, she risked letting herself be taken.

“Ada!” he shouted hoarsely. “You can't stay still! Don't let this fear paralyze you! You have to react… please, run! Run away!”

The words rang in Rutia's daughter's mind, but the terror she felt was too great. It was like a vice gripping her, making it impossible to move, speak, or act. Every fiber of her being screamed to run, to hide, as she always had.

Nadim laughed again, the cold, cruel sound dispersing into the darkness.

“Can't you see, little boy?” he asked teasingly. “She won't do anything. It's useless. The panther is weak. Always has been, always will be.”