A wave of gravity-warping magic pulsed out from Claymore, forcing the other wizard to slink back into the shadows of the makeshift circus top. He could catch Mindplay before falling to the ground and propping himself on Claymore's shoulder. Claymore then poured some of his magic into Minplay to speed up the healing on the recent stab wound, but with every attempt made, the other wizard tried to attack the king from behind.
Mindplay deduced that the wizard was using simi-tangible illusions as distractions, and he was somewhat able to tell Claymore, but he wasn't sure how much that helped. Aside from minor irregularities such as the lions' and the audience's dissonant sounds, the lions acted like normal animals, making them real in Claymore's eyes. If someone believed what was in front of them in this shadow realm was real, it was real.
This was different from his sister's. As long as she could access her target's mind, it didn't matter if they weren't physically real because she could heighten the fear her illusions caused, making said target incapable of looking past the illusion. In the past, Mindplay had to block her from intruding into his mind, but in this shadow realm, he had to ignore what his senses told him.
The wizard continued his attacks as other things appeared to attack Mindplay and Claymore. Knife throwers swinging from trapeze and dancers with swords coming out of their mouths, though relentless, were incapable of getting through Claymore's defenses. Even when bombs rained down from nowhere, Claymore simply redirected them at the lions, sending them flying out of the circus ring in a cloud of dirt. However, they were all ultimately distractions.
It was inconsistent, but every so often, Mindplay could sense the wizard's murderous intent and barely got himself or Claymore out of the way of his knife. It could have been better, though. Mindplay had suffered more cuts, and Claymore was healing himself where he received damage.
"I can break this shadow realm if I could just get time to breathe," said Claymore.
Mindplay had, by that point, swapped his usual rounds with the exploding ones. He didn't expect to have to use them so soon. He spent four of them going clockwise and pulling the trigger at ninety-degree angles. While the attacks from the ground slowed down, the air assault continued without hesitation. Some would say that Mindplay shot frantically, but the PI prided himself on not wasting shots.
Within the chaotic gasp of the invisible audience and the fading ring of explosions, Mindplay searched the darkness for the mind of the other wizard. Up to this point, the wizard was doing a fantastic job of suppressing even his surface thoughts. At one time, Mindplay would have thought such a thing was impossible, but clearly, this wizard was a master at mind manipulation. However, even he could slip up in the face of a random event.
With the speed of a supercomputer, Mindplay not only located the wizard in the darkness, he wasted no time forcing his way into the powerful magician's head.
Mindplay attempted this before regarding Jurya. Unlike last time, Mindplay was in the presence of the originator of the spell that scrambled the dryad's mind. Back then, Mindplay almost passed out at the pushback alone. This attempt could kill him.
With the wizard distracted, Mindplay found it easy to enter said wizard's mind. However, as soon as Mindplay was in, an unbearable pressure weighed down on him.
Being in someone else's mind meant you couldn't use your senses normally. While everything from sights to touch seems to act as one would expect, Mindplay had to remind himself that none of it was "real" in the physical understanding of the word. So when he "heard" footsteps approaching him, it would be more correct to say the essence of the wizard's consciousness began to focus on Mindplay in the form of a shadowy humanoid.
"It has been said that the human brain can process 11 million bits of information every second. However, the conscious mind can't even handle a tenth of a fraction," The voice projected from the wizard was static and had no distinctive tone between male and female.
Mindplay continued to be oppressed by the wizard's power, but he was able to keep himself from being kicked out.
"Pesky remora. Surely, you know that every minute you perceive here is only a real nanosecond. To hold on will only spell doom for you as your mind gets shredded to inactivity."
Minplay was starting to taste blood as it slid down the back of his throat. Despite the growing headache, Mindplay held on, which annoyed the wizard. He tried to speak to Mindplay, but the voice grew muffled. Mindplay's grip was slipping like trying to hold on to a rope in a ragging stream. But he couldn't let go until…
Suddenly, the pressure on Mindplay lifted. The wizard's subconscious form reeled in pain while gripping his head as Mindplay weakly smirked. Just like when he was dealing with Jurya, Mindplay was keeping the wizard's attention directly on him while the PI wormed his way deeper into the wizard's mind to find an exploit. Without the booster, the task was significantly more dangerous and could have cost him his life, but like most others who came across Mindplay, the wizard underestimated him.
"It seems I'm better at utilizing each millisecond," Mindplay gloated. His expertise in computers and their manipulation gave him good practice whenever he needed to get in and out of someone's mind while taking what he needed. It was still far from ideal to be hasty as it would increase the likelihood of detection, but considering the wizard also had to defend against Claymore in the physical world, Mindplay's operation went without the wizard detecting his main objective.
"Remember my name for all time. Remember that it was Mindplay who was imperative in your defeat!"
In the physical world, the wizard was motionless for only a second while standing in the stage lights. Claymore needed a second to trap the opposing wizard in a gravity bubble and slam his opponent to the ground. He then slammed the butt of his staff on the circus dirt and shattered the false reality of the shadow realm. As the lions, cheers of the audience, and trapeze artists faded away like sand, Claymore and Mindplay found themselves in a small study room.
Before they could get a good look, the gravity bubble burst with a snap of the wizard's fingers and, with another, released a bright light that forced Mindplay to look away.
"Come on," Claymore commanded, "We have to follow him before he escapes."
Mindplay was just able to hear what Claymore said before his motor functions gave out, and his vision went dark.
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As Shadow Fang's grip grew more robust, his eyes grew redder. His sharp, white teeth were evident from the smile he gave Raya.
From underneath the black ghostly hand, Raya ignited her tonfa blades, which allowed her to rip through the hand. Once she was on the ground, she extinguished the fire and tried to hide behind the trees and stone pillars. She had to get to Shadow Fang's neck.
However, even though she was using her snake aspect, which should have been the best at stealth in any situation, Shadow Fang managed to counter her.
"You and I have never met face to face, now that I think about it," said Shadow Fang casually. "Perhaps back then, I wasn't much of a threat for the Order's best huntress."
Raya was confused. How could Shadow Fang predict where she would be at any moment? She could smell his sink on almost every stone and tree, but how was that related?
Raya rounded another corner, and just like before, he vanished from her sight. She couldn't pinpoint the vampire by smell, and given the chaos of the other battle, it was hard to focus on any other senses.
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Raya avoided black javelins by a hair's breadth but couldn't prevent Shadow Fang's first attack. He couldn't cut through her armor, but the principle of him getting a hit was throwing Raya off. She was able to continue to block his attacks, but she still needed to avoid the black arm that seemed to move on its own.
While using her goat aspect to dodge as many attacks as possible, Raya realized the black arm had spread itself across Stonehenge. Shadow Fang was using it as a sensor and possibly a means to warp across the area. Raya was surprised to find out that Shadow Fang was able to utilize his prosthesis in this way. The vampire had been running away from the Order after his escape and had only been running ever since. It should have been a red flag to the Order when he escaped the first time, and he was truly only captured as a fluke.
But it didn't matter. Raya was the Immortal Huntress of the Order of the Eye. She survived and killed far worse than this upstart vampire. She just had to create space for her to think, and then--
Raya had to quickly swap to her lion aspect to brace herself. The black arm sprouted from Shadow Fang's shoulder. It was twice as big as she was, which gave her no room to dodge. It crushed her against one of the stones, and she was left breathless. The hand pulled back only to quickly shoot javelins at her again. On instinct, her goat and snake aspect allowed her to maneuver her body so that vital organs wouldn't get pierced, but she was hit all the same.
Shadow Fang licked his lips as blood leaked out of Raya.
"So she does bleed," he said, his voice twisted with hunger.
Raya was panicking as her hair turned white. Her teeth felt sharp in her mouth, and her heart raced faster than it ever had in a long time. Her aspects were mixed and not by her will.
"You're probably wondering why I am so strong," Raya was thinking that, but she didn't want him to know that. The vampire poked one of his red glowing eyes and said, "I am not the true leader. Through him, I've been given power and influence beyond my years, and we are standing on his 'holy ground.'"
Raya's eyes widened as she muttered, "The Red Dragon is giving you power."
When Raya was told that Shadow Fang was the voice of the Red Dragon, she didn't think Shadow Fang was also getting power from the beast. He never showed that he was. And yet, Raya cursed herself for not preparing for such a thing.
Shadow Fang then lifted Raya by the neck using his good arm. She tried to retaliate by cutting the arm with tonfas ablaze, but she was stopped by the black arm by avoiding touching the fire.
The vampire didn't waste any time biting into Raya's neck, and her screams were music to his ears. The best the Order had to offer was at his mercy, and her despair was more delectable than her aged blood.
When Shadow Fang believed she had been drained of enough vitality, he dropped her on the ground, and she crumbled at his feet. He let the blood sit on the edge of his lips as he listened to the sound of battle. Shadow Fang didn't need to look to know the Order was on the back foot. He smiled, knowing they had put all their chips on Raya to quickly defeat the vampire and lost the beat.
From the ground and through the stones, Raya could see that Crucible had pulled out his second sword. He could win if he'd focused on killing the monster hoard. But Crucible had to defend everyone else who was not accustomed to fighting hoards. She had to help them.
Raya thought back to how Mindplay and Silver fought. She knew they were pushing themselves beyond what they were comfortable with to win their fights. That was the kind of the fighters they were. If they were willing to do that, even with a temporary ally, she couldn't hold back when her actual team was in trouble.
Raya closed her eyes and began to rise to her feet.
Shadow Fang laughed maniacally. "Yes, get up. Fight until you have nothing left."
Raya's hair changed from white to a mixture of white, black, and red. When she opened her eyes, they were a combination of the irises of a lion's, goat's, and snake's. Her fingernails grew out like claws, and her teeth were a row of fangs. The length of her multicolored hair extended to her shoulders, with bangs covering the side of her face. It was as if she hadn't cut them in weeks.
With her own smile, Raya replied to the vampire. "It seems we don't have a choice."
For the first time in centuries, Raya did not feel the tension of holding herself back. She was finally free, and she was hungry. What better way to celebrate than to defeat Shadow Fang once and for all.
Shadow Fang took a step back even though he was still smiling. What just happened? Just a moment ago, Raya was powerless against his power. He had weakened her to the point where retaliating would have been pointless. Now, she seemed more alive than before.
No. As soon as the huntress lept towards Shadow Fang while cracking the ground beneath her, he realized she was slower than before. He slashed at her with his clawed hand and was able to hit her, so for a brief moment, Shadow Fang didn't have a reason to worry.
Then, she grabbed his hand.
Bones snapped in the vampire's wrist as successful and influential punches landed on his chest. The pain was worse as the burning tonfa ripped and cauterized Shadow Fang's flesh. He used the demon arm to try to crush Raya to get out of the situation. He missed.
Shadow Fang looked around, using the arm's tendrils to sense where Raya went, but in no time at all, the arm pulled him down as Raya slashed where his neck was.
She didn't run away to gain space. She managed to get behind him for a counterattack. It was a foolish move, as the arm shot black javelins at Raya and successfully hit her.
Then the tonfas extended. The first slash burned the javelins, and the next was directed at Shadow Fang's neck again. The vampire managed to avoid the lethal attack again, but she was getting closer. She was nimble and quick, and her attacks left flaming shock waves in her midst. Worse yet, the damage she incurred did not slow her down. But she was slowing down.
Shadow Fang just had to wait for an opening and drain the last of her vitality. Perhaps he will turn her into a thrall. She would be even more valuable than Dina.
Or perhaps he was overconfident. The demon arm was retracted to replace Shadow Fang's cut-off legs. Raya had managed to reach the legs without Shadow Fang noticing. It wasn't enough to beat the vampire, but the arm had fewer chances to defend against Raya's next attack.
The huntress kicked Shadow Fang square in the chest, sending them flying backward into the main battle. A net followed Shadow Fang, and the arm prioritized deflecting the net, which meant Shadow Fang didn't have feet to land.
The arm continued to defend against Raya's barrage of daggers, but Shadow Fang's vision was obscured. To his horror, the arm started to burn away as it was diced until Raya cut it entirely through. Just before Raya's blade reached Shadow Fang's neck, he transferred the black arm's power to his right and stabbed Raya in her side. The clawed arm sunk deep into the huntress, breaking her momentum.
But it wasn't enough to stop her.
With a bloody smile on her face and without any acknowledgment of the stab wound, Raya cleanly removed Shadow Fang's head from his shoulders. His shocked expression was frozen on his face as it rolled into the battlefield, causing many of his followers to stop fighting.
Then, the black arm evaporated off of the vampire's remaining body as it collapsed to the ground. By all accounts, the fight was over.
But not for Raya.
From Raya's mouth came a roar that hadn't been heard in centuries, signaling that Gahara was ready for an onslaught.