The mutant raeven vanished before Ace’s eyes as it rushed toward him, morphing into a blur of shadow. By the time Ace could see the raeven clearly, it was already right in front of him poised to strike.

Ace pulled the trigger on the revolver, blasting another hole in the raeven’s chest. The raeven didn’t flinch; the hole repaired itself in mere seconds.

In the instant before Ace was eviscerated by raeven’s talons, the rope that was coiled around his arm—the one he had taken from Ronan’s office—shot out toward the raeven. It constricted the raeven’s talons and wings, halting its assault.

It just keeps regenerating.

Destroy its heads, Riven said.

Ace took aim and sent his final two shots straight into the raeven’s skulls.

Boom! Boom!

The walls became coated in black blood as the bullets detonated inside the raeven’s skulls. The raeven’s body swayed from side to side. Suddenly, the raeven’s body surged with life; it caught itself just before it collapsed to the ground. Its heads regrew. All four of its eyes were fixated on Ace.

The rope dropped down to avoid being caught up in the blast, then bound the raeven’s legs.

Didn’t work!.

Try fire, Riven said. Cauterize the wounds so they can’t regenerate.

The raeven struggled against the rope as it slithered along the raeven’s body, evading its strikes, and tightened itself even further. The raeven plunged its talon through its chest, tearing through one of its wings, and caught the rope on the other side of its body.

The raeven ripped the rope through the wound it had bored in its chest, and out the other end, raising it in the air triumphantly. It grasped it with its other three talons and tore the rope asunder.

[ A vessel has been destroyed. ]

[ The spirit desires another vessel. ]

[ The spirit has found another vessel. ]

[ Would you like the spirit to inhabit this new vessel? ]

Hey kid, if you can hear me, just stay alive. I’m on my way.

Is that you Kegan?

Yeah, it is. Stay safe. I’ll be there in a second.

Ace didn’t understand what was happening, but he didn’t have time to question anything. His mind raced to think of ways to stall for time.

The sound of chanting and rushing footsteps grew louder behind the raeven. One of the raeven’s heads spun around 180 degrees, tearing its neck muscles in the process; its eyes fell upon the young man it had been fighting earlier. The young man rushed toward the raeven with his sword in hand, blood running from his arms down across the blade’s edge.

“[Cross Slash]!” The young man knew that adding a chant or crossing a skill would put too much strain on his body to where he would surely collapse. This final swing would be his last gambit; an attempt to buy Ace whatever time he could.

With two swift strikes, the young man cleaved an X into the raeven’s body, splitting its torso into four parts. The young man clutched his chest, breathing heavily, as blood dripped from his lips. The chunks of the raeven slid off its body, but before they hit the floor, tendrils of muscle shot out from them, latching onto, and binding them back to its main body.

The young man tried to stand, but he had long surpassed his limits. Ace could do nothing but watch, as the raeven shot the feathers from all four of its wings into the young man’s armor. Though they didn’t pierce the armor, the velocity of the feathers’ was great enough to carry the young man across the room, slamming him into the wall. He went unconscious and his blade clattered to the ground.

The mutated raeven turned to Ace, only to see that he was gone. Its eyes raced around the room, and just as it spotted Ace on the opposite end of the room, a chair slammed into its head.

Ace used the opening Jahad’s son had given him to create distance between him and the raeven. He continued to launch whatever he could get his hands on—chairs, glasses, books—at the raeven.

[ A spirit desires a vessel. ]

Ace could feel Jahad’s spirit wanting to aid him. Somehow, Ace had a natural sense of how the [Pact] skill functioned—he figured it was part of being an avatar. The spirit must have some tie to the vessel. As he glanced around the room searching for a suitable vessel, his eyes fell upon Jahad’s son’s sword.

The sound of feathers ripping through air, broke Ace’s concentration, as he ducked behind a couch, barely managing to evade them.

As he raised his head over the couch, he saw the raeven looming over him; in the brief moment that Ace lost sight of the raeven, it managed to close the gap between them. The raeven raised its talons, but before it could strike, a sword pierced through one of its heads, momentarily stunning it.

Ace grasped the sword that was now inhabited by Jahad’s spirit. He had no idea how Jahad’s spirit was here if he was still alive, but once again, he didn’t have time to question these things.

Wielding a sword for the first time in his life, Ace engaged the mutant raeven in battle. His clumsy movements were aided by the guidance of Jahad’s spirit, allowing him to barely keep pace with the raeven.

Each time Ace clashed with the raeven he felt like his arms were about to come off. None of his attacks were capable of causing any significant damage; often his slashes caught halfway on the raeven’s body, as he lacked the strength to make a clean cut.

As Ace swung toward its heads—one of the few places he could get a clean hit off on and seemed to stun the raeven slightly—the raeven, rather than dodge, lunged in to strike.

The blade cut halfway through one of its heads, though in exchange, the raeven managed to wrap its four talons on the blade. Ace desperately tried to pull away, but his efforts were all in vain. The raeven locked its talons around the blade, tightened its grip, and shattered it.

[ A vessel has been destroyed. ]

Ace stumbled backward, nearly falling to the floor. The raeven picked at its feathers, removing metal shards from its flesh. Once, all the fragments had clattered to the ground, the raeven burst out its wings as it turned to face Ace.

Right on time.

Soaring through the air like an arrow, a katana engraved with intricate yellow, orange, and red markings of a radiant sun, burst through a window, and skewered itself through both the raeven’s heads.

The blade pulled itself from the raeven’s body and flew toward Ace, who grabbed it without hesitation.

[ You lack the necessary affinity to wield this artifact. ]

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Can we tag out?

I don’t know, Ace said.

Suddenly, a splitting headache lanced through Ace’s mind. He grimaced in agony, and dropped to his knees, clutching his head. The voice of the Devil crept into Ace’s mind.

Now what have we here? Letting you play would spoil all the fun. But, I suppose fun isn’t something one considers when they’re in my position. I am curious what The Moonlit Shadow of the Sun can do. Fine, I’ll allow it.

As Ace’s mental anguish subsided, text filled his vision.

[ You have unlocked the following skill: [Possess]. ]

Ace looked down at the katana. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

“[Possess].”

[ A spirit has possessed your body. ]

[ You have been temporarily granted access to their skills. ]

[ Warning: Unable to access all skills. ]

[ Your physical and mental attributes have been adjusted to match the spirits. ]

[ Warning: Due to a large gap in ability unable to properly match the spirit’s attributes. ]

When Ace’s eyes opened, they were no longer blood red. Instead, his right eye had become a bright orange sun, and his left a shining silver moon. His body was no longer his own. Kegan was now in control. He glanced down at his blade.

[ Your affinity with this artifact has increased. ]

[ You have reached the maximum affinity with this artifact. ]

[ The artifact has granted you the following skill: [Radiance]. ]

The mutant raeven shook its heads, as it regenerated, and fumbled out of its stupor.

The mutations undergone by the raeven had dramatically warped its instincts to the point it would plunge its own talons into its chest or let a blade slash through its skull. Having lived with the ability to regenerate had numbed the raeven’s sense of danger.

Despite its mutations, even if the raeven were to live for a hundred more years, surviving countless injuries, nothing could ever dull its instincts to where it would feel anything other than what it currently did: fear.

On the surface, nothing about Ace’s body had changed drastically despite his eyes. However, the aura Kegan gave off was similar to that of Galland’s: a disparity in power so large that while attempting to comprehend it, the mind shuts off, and the body freezes.

The raeven wanted to, no it needed to run.

The raeven rocketed off the ground and burst through the house's ceiling, fleeing skyward.

Kegan casually strolled over to where the raeven had taken flight from. As he gazed upward through the splintered roof, through a downpour of rain—the result of the connector on the water tower—he saw the raeven rushing upward. He rested his katana at his hip, and a sheathe with a symbol of the sun on it materialized around it.

Grasping the sheathe with one hand, and the katana’s handle with the other, ready to strike, Kegan looked toward the raeven.

“[Flash Step].”

A pillar of white light shined down through the sphere of darkness that surrounded Wickerbound through the hole in the ceiling, engulfing Kegan. At that moment, the entirety of Wickerbound stood still, mesmerized by the light.

The mutated raeven turned toward the beacon of light. As it dissipated, it gave way to Kegan, who was now hundreds of feet in the air, right beside the raeven.

“Turn to ash, [Iaijutsu] X [Radiance].”

In a single strike, Kegan, his blade ablaze with a heat rivaling the sun itself, cut the mutant raeven in two. The intense heat radiating from the katana burnt the raeven to ash. The incandescent blade slashed not only through the raeven, but also the darkness that surrounded Wickerbound itself.

In the dome of eternal darkness that enveloped Wickerbound, a small slit of sunlight emerged. Though it was for only a moment, the sunlight in tandem with the artificial rain caused a rainbow to stretch over Wickerbound before like displaced water, the darkness reclaimed its space.

[ Pact Fulfilled! ]

[ Active Pacts: 1/2.]

Ace awoke in his body and felt himself falling. He noticed the katana with sun engravings falling beside him and quickly grabbed it.

Sorry I didn't have a whole lot in me, Kegan said.

Can we do this when I’m not falling?

My time is about up. That took just about everything that small part of my spirit had.

Small part? Ace asked.

Yeah, this was only a fraction. If you ever wanna find me again, look for the other half of this katana. You’ll know it when you see it. That’s where the rest of my spirit is.

Ok. Good to know. Now will you help me get down? Ace asked.

I think you’re doing a great job of getting down..

I meant safely!

I think she’s got you covered.

As Ace tumbled through the sky, plummeting toward Wickerbound below, rushing through the air Cili swooped in to snatch him from gravity’s grasp.

I got him! Cili informed the group.

Alright, then, I’ll catch you around kid, Kegan said.

[ A spirit has vanished. ]

[ Active Pacts: 0/2. ]

“Thanks,” Ace said, as Cili let him down onto the ground.

“Eh, no problem.”

The two were quickly joined by Riven, Draxl, and Kai.

“You good man?” Kai asked.

“I’m alive, I think.”

“Well I think that’s that,” Riven said

“They better throw us a fucking party for this,” Draxl groaned.

“Never took you for a party guy,” Ace said.

“Oh, I'll hate it, but that doesn’t mean we don't deserve one.”

“Can’t we just do the right thing, because it's the right thing?” Ace asked.

“Fuck that,” Kai said.

“Yeah, fuck that,” Cili said, echoing Kai.

“You’re a terrible influence,” Draxl said to Kai.

“I’m the best influence.”

“Well, what do we have here!”

Calling out to the group, and walking toward the group was a slender woman with fair skin and long silver hair. One of her pupils was red, and the other black. On her head, she wore a titled fedora with a red ribbon and an ace of spades playing card sticking out from beneath the ribbon. She had on red-buttoned black dress pants and suit vest, underneath which she wore a white dress shirt with red cufflinks and a bright red bowtie.

“Who are you supposed to be?” Draxl asked.

“Cally, Cally So.” She pointed to the katana Ace was holding. “I’m just here to reclaim my property. Don’t suppose I could take it off your hands.”

“Oh, sorry, I just needed to borrow it for a bit.” Ace handed the artifact back to Cally.

“Seems you put it to good use.”

“Eh, wasn’t really me, but that’s a long story.”

“You wouldn’t happen to know the owner of the Night Owl?” Riven asked.

“You’re lookin' at her.” Cally gestured to herself. “Galland told me about your group. Though he’d said there’d be seven of you.”

“Wait, where are Galina and Halvor?” Kai asked.

“Over there!” Cili said.

Through a thick cloud of smoke, the silhouettes of Galina and Halvor could be seen approaching the group. As they emerged from the smoke, and into the sight, the group immediately froze seeing Halvor drenched from head to toe in blood, not black raeven blood, but red blood.

“I’m gonna assume that ain’t yours,” Cally said.

Halvor just looked away at the ground, not saying a word.

“Well, I’m sure you all are tired. So I’ll be taking this back where it belongs, and in exchange have this.” Cally tossed a ring of seven keys each with a 3 digit number engraved on them. “Come and stay the night. It’ll be on the house. We’ll talk in the morning.”

Once Cally departed the scene, the rest of the group instantly rushed up to Halvor.

“Are you alright?” Ace asked.

“Yeah big guy, what happened?” Riven asked.

Halvor took a deep breath, wiped the blood from his face, and looked at the group. “We need to talk.”