Every mage perceived their element slightly differently. In most cases it is only a small difference, but as was typical with magic, nothing was quite the same for everyone.

Ever since she had been freed from the shackles of slavery, shadows had always felt safe for Vuthe. A protective shell around her that would comfort her in her darkest times. And she had incorporated that feeling into her own unique kind of magic. It was, in fact, a large part of why she as the Dragon Queen of Thelvadore was heralded as its protector, even beyond her former role as its patron deity.

The beauty of Shadow magic was its ability to remain unnoticed to most. While magic always had some impact on the world, unless you had some kind of unique gift like Saiam who could cast spells “silently”, shadow magic was pretty good at hiding that to the world. Especially in chaotic environments like cities or the battlefield.

In most cases that would reassure Vuthe, since she would almost always be the most subtle person around. Now, however, after learning that Apocalyptica could encroach on her own domain, she had to be even more vigilant.

In a way her heritage, as much as she hated it, helped her in this regard. Not because it helped her find any kind of hidden spells, but because her magic inherently felt superior to any other, just as she had felt when she first found out about her inability to manipulate shadows around the complex she had found. That inherent superiority complex made it easier to spot, if she was level headed enough to look out for it.

Yet, even despite that she almost missed the first signs. Actually, if she was honest with herself, she had missed the first signs. It should have been obvious to her, but it hadn’t been. And now she found herself finding more and more hidden surprises, none of them too threatening to her and her people, but enough trouble to humans to make a difference.

It was quite the jarring experience. She was so used to being the strongest person around that she was not used to being subverted like that. That was not how draconics usually functioned. Yet, at the same time, she was almost glad about this lesson in humility. Hopefully it would help her learn from her mistakes in the future without having to pay too steep a price.

It took quite some time but slowly she managed to find the hidden surprises Apocalyptica had left behind for them. It came at a price, as she was unable to protect everyone under attack from monsters during the time she spent on the hidden spells, and no matter how often she told herself that this was for the greater good she felt like she had left those people behind.

But she had no time to weep, she had an Apocalypse Dragon to kill, one that had willingly gone against her and her people. In the past she had been lenient with Apocalyptica. He had been useful and peaceful enough to keep around. Now he had overstepped her patience by leaps and bounds.

It left her very emotional, but compared to recent weeks and months she managed to keep those emotions in check. This was not the time to fall into a mindless rage. This issue required planning and a level head, only then would she be able to punish him with the full extent of her authority.

Easier said than done, however. No matter how many surprises and traps she uncovered and disarmed, it felt like there would always be more. A single trip around the city became many, minutes became hours, which eventually became nearly two days, and she still found new threats.

It was almost as if they multiplied faster than she could deal with them. Like something worked actively against her.

Diligence had been one of the leading tenants of her training in the guild. Her mentors had drilled it into her to always check and double check, to not leave any possibility unconsidered. And while she had followed this lesson to the letter up to this point, it had been her least favourite teacher that had given her the most valuable lesson.

If no kind of preparation was sufficient, the first step was to look deeper. Sometimes it was more valuable to observe your opponent than to oppose whatever plan they had.

So, after hours upon hours of insufficient results, she decided upon a new approach. Letting her opponent lay out more and more traps was a risk, of course, but she needed to know how Apocalyptica managed to go around all her attempts to deal with his efforts.

There was something going on that she wasn’t seeing, and the most important facet of stopping your enemy was being one step ahead. So, against her better judgement, she vanished deep into the shadows surrounding the city, letting herself lose track of all humans, beasts, buildings, and other points of interest. Everything corporeal began to slowly turn into an unrecognisable vagueness, a blur that slowly shifted into the background of her senses.

If Red would be present she would have scolded Vuthe for this, fully immersing herself in only one aspect of her senses and ignoring everything else, but considering her circumstances this felt like the most useful thing to do.

Yes, in normal circumstances this might have led her to miss many important things. But this was not normal circumstances. Apocalyptica had some kind of way to escape her senses, to avoid her long and arduous training. So now it was time to go back to the basics.

As she settled deep into the realm of shadows, far removed from the reality happening around her, she carefully kept an eye out for every single ripple that flowed through this world of darkness.

Hours went by with nothing noteworthy happening, and the more time she spent down here the more she felt like she was wasting time. Who knew how many humans were dying up there, how many people she would be able to help if she returned to spend more time helping them.

Yet, no matter how often these thoughts crossed her mind, something told her to remain down here. It wasn’t an instinct per se, at least not a draconic one. It also wasn’t outside influence, that much was for certain. She had felt this kind of response only during one time in her life, and that was her time in the guild.

Her training was telling her something, but no matter how much she tried, she was unable to decipher what this feeling was. So she remained here, lost in the dark of the world, looking out for any kind of surprise.

Then she felt a blip. At first she almost missed it, it was that subtle. Even when she felt it, she wasn’t quite sure if it was real. But the more she concentrated on this new feeling, the more certain she grew. There was something else here, something inherently non magical. Whatever she felt was not the result of a spell or of any racial magic, it was simply the very tail end of some kind of phenomenon that was decidedly non magical.

Bolstered by this new discovery she started to put her full focus onto this new experience, to try and learn as much as she could. Yet, despite her best efforts, the results were vague at best. Something was out there, doing something. If she wanted to learn more details she would need to go out there, to finally leave her bastion of shadows to confront whatever it was that was hindering her efforts to stop Apocalyptica. So, after hours upon hours of searching she finally surfaced from the shadows.

Only to find herself face to face with a masked being and a dagger rushing straight for her throat.

The only thing saving her life was her training, an instinct that pushed her to move just enough to escape the maws of death. Despite that, however, it had left a deep red gash on her shoulder, even through her draconic scales making up her clothing.

All thoughts vanished from her mind and she fell back into the same mindset that Crimson had drilled into her all those millennia ago.

With one fluent motion she brought her own dagger to bear, pushing the blade towards the newcomer’s heart in an attempt to kill them in a single attack.

But despite her natural speed and strength, her opponent managed to bring a second blade up in time, blocking her attempted counter.

Sparks flew as her black metal blade met with the black crystal blade of her opponent. Then she found herself on the backfoot once more.

In the split second she had taken to attack her opponent, they had brought back the blade that had been aimed at her throat and now it was going for her heart. Only her highly trained reflexes prevented her from being killed on the spot, dodging just in time to leave a deep gash in her side.

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A burning pain filled her entire being a second after her opponent's blade pierced her flesh, a testament to its sharpness. Black blood began to flow down Vuthe’s side, as she desperately attempted to dodge the follow up attack.

But no matter what she attempted, it felt like her opponent was always two steps ahead. It was as if her opponent not only knew her every movement, but also spent their entire life formulating a fighting style against it.

Before her mind had even caught up, she felt another piercing pain penetrating her arm, her adversaries blade leaving a deep mark in it, cutting effortlessly through her flesh.

Trying to throw them off, Vuthe went into her own variant of the Guild of the Scythe fighting style that she had spent centuries perfecting.

Vanishing the daggers in her hands she summoned up four weapons in quick succession. First was a pair of katana’s, meant to simply give her a split second of breathing room. By the time their arc through the air had finished, her weapons had shifted into a pair of clubs that she sent towards their forearms. It would by no means be a decisive blow, but she hoped that it would disrupt their attacks for just another moment.

Before she even knew the outcome she had changed weaponry once more, a pair of spears suddenly threatening her opponents throat. They countered by the skin of their teeth, just barely preventing her from cutting open their windpipe, and sending her spears away from their bodies.

Not even a moment after her spears had begun their travel away from her adversary, Vuthe switched weapons again, this time to her favourite Kusarigama. With barely a flick of her wrists the chains of the Twin Reaper snapped towards its target, ready and primed to behead her opponent.

Even the most skilled fighters in the Order of the Scythe would be surprised by this sudden switch of weapons. Her opponent, however, barely flinched, almost as if they had expected this development. With barely a movement of their muscles the two chained blades missed them, leaving Vuthe in a very precarious situation. She had suddenly lost all of her pressure and now it was their opponents turn to once again put down the weight onto her.

Before she even had the chance to dismiss her weapons, a sudden movement of her opponent had her on the backfoot, a dagger’s blade on its way to introduce a new opening into her throat.

Unable to fully recover from her surprise she stumbled backwards, manifesting her tail and using it to try and deflect the blade.

Her efforts, however, were not enough. A piercing pain rippled through her entire being and she couldn’t quite stop herself from letting out a scream of pain as the black blade of her adversary cut off the tip of her tail, leaving behind the black obsidian blade that she was known for.

Only her training, her instincts, and her sheer will, kept her from being skewered a moment later. With a desperate roll to the side she escaped the blade of her adversary and gave herself a brief moment of respite.

But, before she could even take a breath, she found herself upside down, a sudden, but subtle pain around one of her ankles the only warning that something had attacked her once more.

In a way it reminded her a lot of Amber and Red’s fighting style, sudden surprises, impossibly hidden attacks, and constant pressure to prevent her from even noticing what was going on.

But despite the similarities, there was a distinct difference. Amber and Red would most certainly not be this precise.

In the split second she had these thoughts, another blade was already coming for her throat.

There was no way she would be able to dodge this attack, so despite her better judgement she decided that this was a good time to leave. It pained her, as this would mean that her attackers would be able to wreak havoc in the city, but at the same time they had to have done so previously anyways. And there simply was no upside if she would be killed this moment.

So, with a heavy heart, she vanished into the black of early evening, the shadows swallowing her.

She appeared halfway between New Thelvadore and Essen, breathing and bleeding heavily. The wounds in her side and her shoulder hadn’t healed yet, as well as her cut off tail.

Even in her worst moments she wouldn’t have thought that someone could have outplayed her this badly. It was as if someone had spent their entire life learning about her and her fighting style and then devised the perfect counter towards it.

From ambushing her, to fighting her, to setting up traps to deal with her unique style. It was almost unfair.

Now that she had a moment to breathe, she spent that time revisiting the entire encounter, trying to learn as much as she could.

Her adversary, while masked, had some distinctive features. That in itself, however, was quite a surprise. While it wasn’t quite like Red, there were some parallels there. While Red was a very direct combatant, this newcomer had a bit of a silent side to it. Vuthe wouldn’t go as far as saying that Red wouldn’t be able to counter this, but it would definitely make life hard for her former teacher.

The most worrying component, however, were the parts of the fight where it felt like Amber had entered the fray out of the black, so to speak. It was as if a looming presence was waiting for just the right moment to ambush Vuthe, a feeling she most certainly didn’t appreciate.

But, before she was even able to continue this train of thoughts, her instincts suddenly flared at her like a dawn sun. Something was out to get her, and she had to escape as soon as she could.

Listening to her instincts once more she dodged the sudden attack, just barely, threads like those of spiders sprouting up all around her, before Vuthe once more vanished into the shadows.

However, despite feeling herself safe there, she could suddenly feel another attack coming. With all her will power she tried to escape, not quite managing it, losing her right hand in the process.

A single thought flashed in her mind, an instinct maybe, or perhaps it was a sudden realisation. But if she wanted to deal with these attackers, she had to present them with something unpredictable. So she immediately set out for Scythe, hoping against hope that it would be enough. Anyone who could surprise her like this was dangerous enough to present a serious problem.

It was by no means a safe plan, Scythe was in proximity to Scarlet, so perhaps this was a very bad idea, but at the same time she really didn’t have any other good options. Even if she could bring her army to bear on this new threat, her attackers had proven that they were more than capable to be on par, even win, against the best one on one fighter Thelvadore had. Namely Vuthe. And considering her inability to sense their movements it was highly likely that they would be able to escape the less skilled troops of her army. Not to say that her army was weak, but this was an entirely different league of danger.

Swallowing her worries and emotions, forcing herself with all her will to remain calm and logical, she made her way over to where she hoped Scythe would be. In the chaos of her surroundings and with most of her focus on her adversaries it was hard to pinpoint the exact location, and she didn’t have any leeway to let that focus slip for even a moment.

Strangely enough she noted on her way that all the surprise attacks were focused on her, utterly disregarding anyone else they were in proximity of during the trip. It gave her a small hope that perhaps they were there specifically for her. It would make sense if Apocalyptica sent them.

If she judged his goals correctly he wanted to sow chaos, and her presence alone was enough to keep her people in check. If she was to die she doubted that the Council would be able to keep her people calm for long, and the moment some of them thought that the humans had killed her there would be no way for the Council to stop them.

It would be another war, more chaos, and that was exactly the kind of thing Apocalyptica would want.

Not long after she finally sensed the remnants of what had to have been Scythe and her friends and she made her way over, her attackers hot on her heels. Most of the most dangerous wounds had healed enough by this point that she wouldn’t die of blood loss, but that didn’t mean that she was back to full strength.

Appearing out of the Shadows as soon as she judged to be close enough to Scythe she took a deep breath.

“ARCHANGEL! SCYTHE! ON ME!”

Her voice rang through the city, she knew that at least Archangel would listen.

The sudden sound of a gunshot and the explosion behind her blowing up half the street was confirmation enough.

By the time she arrived closer to where the bullet had come from she could see Scythe out on the streets, pistols in hand and looking severely displeased.

“What the shit, Sis, we have-”, she began but Vuthe cut her off.

“Scythe, on me, assassins, they’re good”, she explained in short cut off sentences, breathing heavily.

Then her state must have registered with her twin, as her annoyance vanished instantly and she began to move. Vuthe could hear her issuing orders to her friends, although the exact words eluded her. Turning towards her pursuers she kept her senses sharp. There was no way that she had escaped them.

And that thought was confirmed when her sense of danger flared up once more and she vaulted to the side, just in time to escape another blade to the heart. With barely enough time to block the follow up strike she let herself be pushed back, hoping to find a more favourable position after this new exchange, when suddenly the world around her flared up with magic.

By the feel of it, it had to be Cluster, and a moment later that was confirmed when all their surroundings began to transform into an incredibly advanced and heavily protected fortress of magic and steel.

And it seemed that not only Vuthe was surprised how good Cluster’s magic had gotten, as her opponent stopped their assault and looked around.

Instead of putting pressure on them, Vuthe took this moment to disengage and regroup, taking stock of the situation. Her wounds were bad and would need treatment as soon as possible, while her opponents seemed utterly unharmed.

Then two more figures appeared out of nothing, not with magic either which alarmed her greatly, all three of them looking first at the fortress, then Scythe, then back at Vuthe.

It appeared that even with Scythe and her friends as back up, this would not be an easy fight. But what worried Vuthe even more was something else. These three were different, sure, but they very much resembled Red, Amber, and Crimson in their style and posture, just with different skills and builds. Something was afoot, the question was now what Apocalyptica had planned.