A stalemate.

The Wraith Lord and I both stand at opposite ends of the hallway, holding out our swords, pointed at each other. An army of skeletons on his side, and Michael on mine.

There are a tense few seconds where neither side moves, but the silence is broken by one on the skeletons literally falling apart for no reason. Instantly, the rest burst into action and start to march towards me. I hesitate, doubting my own ability to pull this off, but I have to trust in what I know I can do.

In that second, I swing my sword violently upwards, twisting as my sword is vertical, and then arcing my sword around at a slightly different angle. The golden arc travels most of the way down the hallway, obliterating a good third of the skeletons. The second swing kills a few more, but since half were close to the walls, they are relatively unharmed.

I can't pull off a horizontal swing due to the narrow hallway, so I charge instead, deciding to remove these undead figures from existence one by one.

I charge at the nearest moving pile of bones and slice neatly through it, showering the far reaches of the narrow room with odds and ends of white matter.

I systematically work my way through the corridor, cutting through the densest areas of bone. Dozens of kill notifications flood my vision, but I'm too focused on reality to let the messages bother me.

Finally, I'm face-to-face with the Wraith Lord. Its green and yellow eyes pierce into my own gaze, and I enter a defensive stance, initiating a challenge to it.

I can see more skeletons on either side of it as well as several more threatening undead down each of the paths of the T-junction ahead of me.

"Come on you shadowy bastard."

In response, the Wraith Lord coats the surrounding area with a flood of shadows, dropping my visibility massively. The lights above me are still shining, but only slightly.

I grimace in the dark. I didn't expect this, and the Wraith Lord has the definite advantage here. At least I can still see its eyes.

In the dim light, I can see a spike of shadow shoot towards me, and I twist my body to avoid it.

"Michael! Mind sword!"

I look behind me, and a silver blade shoots through the dim light like a bullet. I manage to catch the hilt of it with my non-dominant hand, spinning to reduce the massive force behind the throw.

At the apex of my spin, I release the sword after filling it with as much energy as I can. The sword must be relatively weak because bright blue cracks arc up the blade from where I'm gripping it. I'm shocked by the violent reaction and immediately know it's going to explode.

Before it breaks, though, I throw it towards the green and yellow lights that signify the Wraiths eyes. A blade of pure darkness passes in front of the oncoming sword, and slashes it, causing an explosion of neon blue light and glowing metal pieces to spread from the Lord.

It seems unperturbed, so I shout for another mind blade. I catch the second blade but hold it instead of throwing it. A spread of shadows reach for me so I jump back and use both my swords to slash them to pieces. The shadows dissolve into nothing as soon as I cut through them. Worryingly there is a surprising amount of resistance to both my swords. My powerful soul blade managed to cut through the shadow blade of the previous Lord, but I doubt that will work if it can prepare for such an assault.

Darkness is the biggest issue as the shadows begin to smother the overhead lights. I fill the mind sword with energy again, slowly so that I can better gauge how much it can take.

My issue is that while the Wraith Lord can cut away one sword, I know that another will affect it. But I don't want to throw my soul blade, neither do I want to put it back in its sheath.

My last option is a full-on sword fight against an enemy I know next to nothing about. I have very little idea about its durability, it's abilities, or how it wields its sword. All I do know is that its attacks are scarily fast and sharp.

I can see it gathering sharp waves of shadow around it again, whipping them around the base of its cloak.

"Come on, you charcoal piece of shit. Attack me. Michael! Mind!"

Before it can throw more shadows at me, I hurtle forwards, throwing my second charged kind sword at it. I look back a second too slow to catch the sword Michael hurls at me, and I can only watch helplessly as it does no more than skid to a stop just ahead of me.

The sword I threw does slightly more.

The shadows already in motion react defensively, attempting to intercept the sword instead of me. Each midnight-black spike carves a new glowing blue groove into the weakened metal, and it finally explodes when the Wraith Lord slashes it apart again with ease.

"Shit."

Apparently, since the enemy is targeting me, it won't be as easy to surprise. There is no doubt in my mind that throwing two swords at once will do nothing more than lose me my strongest weapon.

Bored with how we've been proceeding, the Wraith takes a long step forward, advancing on me with frightening speed.

"Oh shit oh shit... Michael! Two more mind swords!"

I turn away from the source of darkness and sheathed my sword. It's a risky move, but I need both hands free for my plan.

Michael has learnt to not go so overboard with his assistance and I catch both swords with ease. I spin again and stab both the swords into the floor as hard as I can. The metal of the base resists at first but allows the swords to be firmly jammed in once I let in a little power.

As soon as they are firmly grounded, I then pour energy into them, letting both swords crumble under my grip, turning them into little more than blue beacons. Beacons that are filled with volatile energy.

"Now one of the soul ones! No, both!"

"But-"

"Both!"

I don't let Michael argue with me anymore.

Almost reluctantly, he throws the two soul swords to me and I pull off the exact same manoeuvre just behind the two saturated mind blades. Unlike the blue cracks that spread randomly down the metal, the soul blades react differently as I fill them.

Golden flaws do appear in them, but the lines are all angular and run parallel to each other, crossing at identical angles.

The blades seem to grow, lengthening and widening in the ground. But I can feel them becoming less stable. The metal is beginning to shake.

I let go of them, and thankfully the golden lines remain. I'll have to ask... whoever the living expert on soul is around here about the swords. Later though.

The Wraith Lord approaches the grounded mind swords with some caution. Maybe it recognises that it's a very unsubtle trap, but since it's not tearing through the swords one by one with its shadows, I can only hope it's reacting with equal parts wariness and curiosity.

I start to sprint away from the Lord, spurring it to move faster. Over my shoulder I can see it gathering the shadows onto its body, thickening its armour. It's trying to tank whatever damage it might sustain.

I breathlessly reach Michael and push him back into the branch of the corridor, so that he's standing with the rest of the nervous looking mercenaries.

"Stay here. When I give you the signal, charge."

Michael grabs my hand before I can run back to the remaining swords.

"Wait. What's the signal?"

Tempted to fulfil the same stereotype that I had seen a dozen times in films, I debate whether to tell him that he'll know the signal when it happens. Then I realise that's incredibly stupid. This is literally a life or death situation.

"There's going to be an explosion. A big one hopefully. Everyone! When you hear it, charge!"

I get a few silent nods and a concerned one from Michael. I like the guy but can tell he worries for me way more than he should.

I run back to the pile of mind swords and pick up the top two. Looking down the dark hallway, I can see the Wraith Lord has slowly edged its way through the basic barricade of swords and is watching me as it stands still, keeping the shadows wrapped around it.

I grimace and charge up both the swords, rolling my shoulders in preparation of an epic throw or two.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

The Wraith Lord waits for me, keeping its defences high. With less than twenty feet between us, I'm comfortably out of range of its sharp shadows, but it is also far away enough to deflect my swords.

So I take off running, only a few steps to build up momentum before I spin on my toes and throw first my right sword, then the left, aiming both at the dark centre of mass. But as I throw the second sword, I draw my own soul blade and with a neat flick, throw that too. But my second target isn't the Wraith Lord, but the fully charged swords behind it.

As I expected, the shadows coating the dark figure shift towards the front as the piloting skeleton breaks both the swords aimed at it.

The blue explosions mask my final throw and my sword flies past it with a dull flash and impacts the first of the charged soul blades.

Having been in more than enough explosions, I know to shut my eyes and influence my jaw. In my anticipation of the final throw, though, I forget to cover my ears.

A flash shears through even my closed eyes, and I feel the shockwaves blow me back into the far wall.

-162hp

-51hp

Deafened (0:39)

I collapse to the floor a numb mess. I can't see what happened due to a wall of dust rolling towards me, an I can't hear anything through the static running through my head.

I push myself into a sitting position slowly, noticing something soft and wet under my hands. I come to the conclusion that it's either part of my own or someone else's body as a slight rumble and passing of shadows tells me that the mercenaries have charged.

I haven't seen a notification that the Wraith is dead, so I can only hope that I did enough damage to weaken it enough for the rest of them.

I sit against the wall for somewhere between seconds and minutes. At some point, my hearing returns, and the dust settles.

Darker shadows cover the walls than before. Probably a defence mechanism of the Wraith Lord. I can hear the sounds of combat, but one by one, I hear voices cry out in pain and then fall silent.

Tears begin to run down my face as feeling returns to my body, my mind slowly shaking off the shellshock.

In the initial explosion, I took a huge amount of damage, most likely due to the shockwaves messing with my internals. It hurts to breathe and do anything else that involves shifting my torso.

When I hit the wall, I could tell that I'd broken something. It's only as I slowly poke and prod at my limbs that I figure out how bad it is. Both of my wings are broken in several places, and I'm sure I've hurt my non-dominant forearm somehow.

I ease myself to my feet. They still need my help, so now is as good a time as any for the trump card.

I pull the syringe-like contraption from my pocket. Mercifully, it's unharmed. Curiously, there's no needle on it, just a small blue ring where I would expect one to be.

I shrug, then wince at how it aggravates my arm and put it against my neck. One hard push on the plunger, and through some magic, the adrenaline enters my bloodstream.

For a few seconds, there's nothing. I take a deep breath and cough, blood spraying down my chin. A deep chill comes over me, but I know it's from the bleeding rather than the chemical.

I can feel my heart thudding in my chest. Fear is gripping me. It's not the fear of death or pain, it's the fear of leaving this all behind.

*ba-bump*

*ba-bump*

*bump*

*bump*

*bump-bump-bump*

Adrenaline booster has successfully taken effect.

- Health regen +500% (0:05)

- Health regen +50% (5:00)

- Sensory overload II (5:00)

- Pain resistance III (2:00)

- Body efficiency +100% (0:30)

- Energy overload II (5:00)

Fire and ice course through my body and I scream as the bones in my body knit themselves back together. It's a slow process. Painfully slow.

After the first five seconds of higher health regeneration, I'm back in fighting shape. I'm by no means close to full health, but my body responds and the pain resistance means that any lingering injuries don't hold me back.

Spurred by the energy coursing through me and the high boost to my body stat, I grab the first two swords off the ground that I can find and sprint into the darkness.

I can hear only a few laboured breaths around me. Two people are still fighting with the Wraith Lord. The sensory increase allows me to differentiate between them, and to my chagrin, I know that one of them is Michael.

He must be operating only by his helmets awareness sphere, an impressive feat. I can see his silhouette and that of another soldier as they take turns marrying and countering the attacks of the figure shrouded in black.

I charge up both swords, with only the one in my left hand responding and glowing blue. The one in my right must be a body sword, but I'll adapt.

I use the blue glow as a source of light to illuminate the hallway as I approach, hopping over a sizeable dent left behind by the explosion.

The mercenaries notice my approach too late as I leap between them, holding both swords in front of me, turning myself into a double-headed spear.

Both swords shear through the weak shadows coating the skeleton underneath, and it collapses back, both swords poking out of its ribcage.

I overcharge the mind sword, detonating the metal. The force is focused away from me, and I sustain no damage as the black bones shatter under the force. I start to pull away with my remaining sword when a dagger of darkness is shoved deep into my back just above my wings.

-63hp

The coat failed to provide any defence which I despise it for, but I got a good hit on the Wraith Lord. With all its shadows hiding it from the light, its individual defence is weak enough that I could remove half of its torso with one sword.

It still doesn't appear to have died though, as the familiar yellow and green eyes gleam at me from the charcoal skull. Knowing how low my health is, I grab the bone hand holding the dagger and keep it in my side. I then quickly shuffle my body around so that I have a good grip on the wrist and have braced my feet against the remaining half of its ribcage.

I can hear a cry of surprise or maybe just bewilderment as I begin to strain all my muscles, trying to tear the arm from the squirming and kicking Wraith Lord.

Its free arm is waving weakly, damaged by the sword. It can't do much except struggle uselessly as I straighten out my body, and with a silent final jerk, tear the arm off at the elbow.

The dagger in my side suddenly dissipates and I can feel blood running down my side.

Bleeding (1:00)

I frantically open my status, but I still have just over four minutes of increased healing which is more than enough to counter the bleeding effect. I still attempt to hold it shut through sheer reflex though.

"Ventra. What was that?"

There are arms on my shoulders and the light level begins to increase. The shadows on the walls and ceiling are dissipating into the air.

Michael looks at me, concern and a hint of fear on his face. From his perspective, I must have shown up from nowhere as a veritable missile of blue energy that then decided to wrestle an undead of incredible power.

Speaking of the undead, I look down at the disarmed Wraith Lord properly for the first time.

With half of its torso blown apart, and one of its arms torn off, it seems unable to control shadows anymore, and once all the shadows have disappeared, all that remains is a skeleton of matte black bones with a yellow and green set of eyes staring at me.

It's still moving slightly, but I can see it's no longer a threat.

But I remember Michaels question and fumble to answer it with my whole body still pumping in time with my heart.

"That was um... So Lich gave me this adrenaline booster, and after I got blown away, I used it and... wow, I tore its arm off."

I realise I'm still holding the forearm and hand of the skeleton, each individual piece of bone somehow held together by an invisible force.

"We should finish it. I... can't, Michael. You do it."

I step back out of his reach and lean against a wall, trying to figure out how bad the come down is going to be. A mix of emotions fly through Michaels' face, starting at confused, then concerned, then finally savagely happy.

With his sword in his hands, he lines up a strike and stabs his sword straight into the face of the skeleton, shattering both of the jewels that make up its eyes.

Wraith Lord killed (assist): personal xp (620) class xp (xxx)

Level up! You are now level 11.

+1 unallocated stat point.

Level up! You are now level 12.

+1 unallocated stat point.

Michael lights up as his own messages flash through his vision. I assume he's achieved the same feat as I did, which reminds me that I have so much to look through in my status.

Later though.

I slide to the floor, curling up as the pain resistance wears off. I still have the regen and high energy, so while I could potentially keep moving, I'm going to be distracted by the pain.

"Michael."

Instantly, he's by my side. I can see that he's accumulated several small wounds from his earlier clash.

"Are you ok? How's your health?"

Despite the pain, I manage to give him a somewhat reassuring smile.

"I'm healing quickly. I'll be fine in ten minutes. But we need to go sooner. I need to secure the entrance."

He nods, but motions to sit with me instead of being useful.

"Michael. I appreciate the sentiment, but help the others."

He glances over to the few mercenaries still moving and the other mobile person helping them. In a calm moment, I take a proper look at the other person besides Michael able to stand up to a Wraith Lord.

It's a woman, but I can only tell be the curve of her face and the smoother skin. She looks to be in her mid to late thirties and obviously has made efforts to appear less noticeable. What I can see of her hair under the helmet is cut almost to the skin like most men's. She carries herself with no obvious confidence or anxiety, nothing about her is given away.

An inspiration to few despite having what the ideal mercenary needs. I respect that.

I take a few more seconds to let myself recover. My wings stop grinding but feel strained as I fold them again. My most recent stab wound has partially healed and has stopped bleeding.

I grit my teeth as I stand again, trying hard to not make any noise. Michael would only worry too much.

Speak of the devil, he appears in front of me as soon as I'm standing. He's practically vibrating with nervous energy. His motions are quick and jerky. He holds a sword out to me, one I recognise as my own.

"I found your sword. Should you be up though? I can scout out the entrance myself if you want. This is the only corridor from that entrance that links it to the rest of the building. There's uhhhhh I think two or three splits in the route between here and the entrance."

I gratefully take the sword and nod as I sheathe it.

"Ok. First of all, deep breaths. You're no help if you're like this."

Making a face, he gulps and takes a few deep shaky breaths. With a moment of near silence, I shut my eyes and focus on the mental map I have of the route to the entrance. The path to the left splits and rejoins with the right just before the actual doors.

I explain my plan to Michael, focusing on him and the female mercenary watching us from further down the hallway.

"You and her go left up here. I'll go right. When your path splits up, you split up. It's not the safest way, but we can't leave a route open. We don't know what's between the outside and here.

"When we get to the point the paths rejoin, wait until we're all there. Then we go to the entrance and I'll see what we can do from there."

A suitably calmed Michael and stoic female mercenary both stare at me with obvious questions in their minds.

"Please leave your questions until the end of the operation. Now, you ready?"

Michael smiles at the bit, but nods. The other mercenary nods too in her own way. A single emotionless downward jerk of her head.

"Good."

I redraw my sword, questioning why I put it away in the first place.

I'm hurt, I'm tired, and my plan is flawed at best, but this is an unfortunately necessary chore. This will only make me stronger if I live through it.

If.