Alim watched the red-green asmurn rear up on its head back; its head seemed fixed on him. He braced himself, expecting the worst, but before he could even flinch, the asmurns head shot forward, and a deafening explosion from behind him rocked the ground beneath his feet. The force of the blast sent him tumbling forward, his face slamming into the dirt. As he struggled to regain his bearings, he could hear the sound of falling rubble.

"What an annoying beast," Alim whispered as he stared at the ground.

The sound of the rubble falling down the cliff grew by the second as if the whole canyon was falling behind him. Alim didn't even bother to look behind him, knowing exactly what was happening as debris fell around him.

"What an annoyingly smart beast," Alim said with a click of his tongue.

Although technically, the seven colored asmurns were divided into seven colors, on rare occasions, combined asmurns like the one now could appear, taking the abilities of each color and combining them to make a more deadly combination. With the green's ability to increase the speed of their projectiles infinitely until they made contact with a surface and the red's ability to burn the life essence, it only took a slight graze from a red-green asmurn to spell the death of even a well-prepared seedling.

The crackling of a roaring fire could be heard from behind Alim as he pushed himself back to his knees. As he turned, he noticed a stream of flames beginning to stretch across the canyon pass, along with the still-falling rubble from higher up the cliffside.

"Did it really manage to find a life spring?" Alim could only stare with his jaw slack at the fire pouring out of the cliff face like water.

If the situation had not been bad before, it would have become the worst possible. If this life spring was flowing through here, it meant an explosion was waiting to happen.

Soundlessly, the asmurn threw its head forward again, and another explosion rang from a further distance behind Alim.

"It seems that its aim is poor, but its luck is very high," Alim said, watching the top of a further cliff fall down the side, further blocking his path back.

"And here I thought that everything would be easy and I could get back to Clover after a few weeks but this is going to add months to my travel back."

Alim stood up and began to stretch as a smirk grew on his lips; he watched as the beast pulled its head back again, "Just keep making a mess, beast. It only helps me more,"

As the beast threw its head forward, Alim dove behind a rubble that had fallen not far from him, knowing the best way to take advantage of the green asmurns abilities. The rock was blasted to dust after the asmurns projectile made contact with it; although the blast sent Alim back a bit, it was enough. Alim threw his feet into the air with a growing smile and a laugh as he was being blasted back. His shadow had never receded to him and only grew using the debris and rubble to extend to the unaware asmurn a distance away.

"Simple thing, you should not have blocked my path home."

"...Jump."

Another interesting trait of the combined asmurns is that the locations of the life seeds for both beasts are a combination of the two colors. For this red-green asmurn, the life seeds were located in the head, the back of the shoulder, and finally, the back of the hips, all in a perfect line down the back of the beast.

"...Minor Mirror."

Alim's arm shoved deep into his growing shadow, and when it finally reached his elbow, he could feel the resistance from the other side. He could also see his blade and two others stabbing through the asmurn so far away. Although the other blades were actually illusions created by his shadow, could you explain that to the dying perception of the target getting stabbed? It felt so real to them that your words would be nothing but comforting lies. They would never believe that it was their own minds that killed them, not the blades piercing their bodies.

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"hehe! That was the first time I was able to use that art, and I must say it works a little too well!"

Alim pulled his arm out of the shadow while he stared at the small pillar of growing green light; his jaw was a little slack as he stared at the dead body of the asmurn. This ability was only the fourth-star art, and it was already so lethal what would happen with Major Mirror at the eighth-star level or Perfect Shadow at nine-star, if that was even possible. Being like the other Shadow Lords and being at the seven-star was enough to lead the race and terrify other races. So, if just one of the Shadow Race Lords could gain the Major Mirror, then what could they do with that power?

Alim shook these useless thoughts from his mind.

"If someone like me could think of these thoughts, then there would probably be more who would think the same. And the only way we know about the arts is if someone has already made them, so that means that whatever I thought of has already been done and failed... sigh."

With his sigh still floating in the air, Alim dashed after the man and asmurns. He needed to catch them before they exited the canyon and entered the forest because if they did, it would be next to impossible to find them, especially in the deeper, denser parts.

Alim ran as fast as he could, and as he sped past the cliff walls, he noticed the effects of the brown asmurn alchemical mixture decorating the surrounding area.

The last three seven-colored asmurns that Alim had to fight were the brown asmurn that spewed a viscous liquid that seemed to melt whatever the liquid touched. The other, a pair of blue asmurn, spat a solid projectile that, when it burst, would release a hypnotic gas; the hypnosis varied between a few different things, such as suicidal thoughts to absolute fear and panic.

Alim was excited that his luck was high enough not to run into a black asmurn, but unluckily, he didn't fight a white asmurn. If he had gotten that, he could sell the corpse enough to 'retire' or move to a better district for Theo and Clover.

Alim stopped in his tracks when he noticed his train of thought. When did he become so concerned over the pair of mother and son? They were not his family; just extras thrust upon him to ensure his cover wasn't exposed, so why and when did they become so important?

Alim glanced around to try to pull his mind back, and by looking, he noticed some small trees dotting the canyon along with other plants growing on the cliffside.

"We are getting too close to the forest... I need to hurry."

Alim tried to pick up his pace, but as the trees became taller and more dense, he knew that somehow this man had managed to outrun him by so much that he had made it to the forest. Frustrated, Alim threw the sword he had been awkwardly carrying. Although it was broken, it could still have served its purpose of slashing the beasts, but now he had no choice but to use his hidden daggers. It was good that he didn't have his green metal daggers with him.

The density of the trees had already grown so that they were disrupting the field of vision, and the stony ground had at some point turned to a softer ground where roots were sprawling, creating hazards that Alim had to keep an eye on as he ran through the growing forest. With the sounds of screams, he knew he was getting close, but the sour smell in the air meant the blue asmurn had been close enough to spew its hypnotic mixture. This was ominous since there was no telling what they could be under.

"NO HE DID IT NOT ME!"

Alim heard a scream from not far away, along with the sound of something moving through the air. When he finally arrived, he saw the man, Irmin, with distant, frantic, unfocused eyes swinging a large branch at the approaching asmurn.

"HE KILLED HIM, NOT ME! TAKE HIM! BLAME HIM! NOT ME! HE DID IT! HE KILLED AGER! IT WAS HIM!"

Alim couldn't help but laugh. Did this fool even know who the 'him' he was blaming was or that that 'him' was about to save him? The irony of the situation didn't escape him. Fate is such an interesting thing. It brings enemies together and rips those with close bonds away from one another, but what was the use of complaining when the winds have already shifted? Might as well see where these new winds blow.

With a light jump forward, Alim effortlessly dealt with the distracted brown asmurn while the other two blue asmurns snipped at Irmin, swinging his branch. Alim treated this battle like a stroll as he killed the asmurn. It was funny because it seemed as if, by some miracle, they had hypnotized themselves, not even noticing him.

Alim stared at the flailing Irmin, and with a sigh, he walked behind him and knocked him unconscious.

"Well, it was busier than I thought it would be. I'm a little upset that it ended so easily, but what can you expect for asmurn? At least it's done now ... and with this useless baggage, it should take about two, maybe three months to make it back home. Annoying!"