She watched as the beast seemed to tire of talking. She assumed too much, thinking it would listen to reason. It was still a beast, it seemed, even with intelligence.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGDuBpQzWih
Decades of hunting had taught her everything could be reasoned with if given a chance, or they killed them if not… This one chose poorly, it seems, when he was offered a chance to stand down and let things be…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvXrjZCevtM
Less than a blink and the ogre was there, a fist slamming into her. She faded to shadows and mist around the impact. The strike flowed through shadows instead of her flesh.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIJ1Gi3G565
The feeling was… Nothing. Like wind through smoke. She had forgotten what it felt like to be truly threatened by these random beasts. Years of mastering the shadow left her complacent—a blade that could never be stopped.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUjmtxd6seb
The surprise in the ogre's eyes was not lost on her as she returned a playful smile at his confusion. When she reformed from the strike, he did not wait for words, thinking she had a limit he could break, so the dance went from there.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpOEkTzvXbm
Relentless strikes swoosh into the mass of shadows, thinking it was getting closer to breaking her, pushing her to an edge…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyHYM5Zl507
And the whole time she was never there…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡknd8XIV6Te
She watched from behind as he kept striking what he thought was her in the shadows, but it was just a copy she left in their midst with more shadows.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjl09gpSRLO
A simple trick she mastered long ago when she accepted herself as a shadow, and there could be more to darkness's blessing than just pulling shadows or keeping herself as a separate shadow.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9PlLA4UkqI
It reminded her of the times she trained with Donald; the first time she used it there to tease him. Or even training with the elite guard to master not being touched by blades while keeping shadow clones.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKwhEDvqhf2
She blew smoke from the side. She was sure she could win, but still wanted a calm mind, and the beast paused in its mad rage, noticing the scent from the herb. The ogre was clever; it now knew she was not among that shadow he struck, but did not blindly chase to strike her firsthand. It was learning….
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡycvv2WxhC0
She debated how she should proceed; she wanted to end this quickly to not draw out this threat as a game and was looking for the best angle to strike…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDU8mI9HuUo
ROAR
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnMLM9tDHAz
It seems she lost focus, and it wished for her attention, so be it.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH8QY8lLqev
Shadows extend from her side into the beast.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMRQRPhNk6L
Three strikes turned to four, then five, then an endless rhythm of shadows pierced the beast. It deflected a few with the wind, but the cuts showed they still had effects. As blood traces lines on the edges of its flesh, it tried to regain control.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKTWkNqk8yu
It was proof enough that it was mortal if she could make it bleed. It could be killed, and she saw mixed with it rage, something else… Desperation, fear, maybe?
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq6UjDp2NeC
She did wonder what let this beast end up in this state, but it was a minor thought; what mattered was ending this.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Vz03q59Pj
It reminded her of the first real hunt … a shadow panther. That made her bleed and stalk others in shadows. It was the first time she tried to show mercy, letting a beast live, and she almost regretted it. She wasn’t sure why she was willing to do it again with this beast…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ1oa5TDs6k
It ran from her while she was having those thoughts, fleeing her strikes… Was it the herb dulling her mind to not kill quickly, or was the beast skin just that tough…?
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa5xOWjX9KQ
She was mildly amused as it fled; she was sure not out of fear but as a clever ploy to gain space and regroup as it went deeper into a nearby door. Did it assume she would not follow?
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4WRkaXfRgq
Foolish…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp5cVXuL0AK
It threatened her friends and family; she would not let it end like this. When she came to end it as a threat.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmWtCmpDp9p
Level 4
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6bKqhI0uGI
It was an endless night forest. She had been in these types before; it was easiest for her to hide… The beast did not think highly of her, it seems. The open plains they just left were the best bet with the sun and nowhere for her to hide with shadows.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMT9dUGEs7C
The moon drifted between the trees. An endless sea of darkness mixed with the light flowing between the trees. No breeze, just an endless silent night. As I walked unafraid, this was my home. Darkness, the ogre, was not a master here.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXQ8oYeVVEj
I flowed among the shadows, a calm fog of darkness, waiting, searching for whatever the ogre thought itself clever enough to spring on me. She would end it soon; the kids will be safe.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCiohqerkpt
She could hear it trying to gain distance from the nearby thumping. She knew it sensed her following, and she got close enough to see it turn its face full of anger, not liking being prey, and it tried to return the favor.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGjWb0Fu4CI
CRACK BOOM
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAxlnW2DVeD
It smashed a nearby tree, and it was coming down now. It was trying to use the forest as a weapon—clever…. Even if it ended up smashing and throwing the whole forest at her in a mad rage, it would never touch her…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC5t0546tXJ
Yet even as the tree was thrown, she flew around it as it collided into the ground. The beast glared at her, letting her know it was still there and challenging her existence, so she returned the favor.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCQiWp5Y5ZA
Four spike blades puddled near its feet and shot up toward his skull. He jerked back, wind blessing making him narrowly faster as the spikes sliced air near his face.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnwMhPQawVy
She frowned, hoping that would have ended it. Close but not close enough, it seems, even with the darkness masking her strike, that wind speed gave him an edge…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqY1LyZZUoS
The spikes that missed buried into the wood of trees nearby, she saw in its eyes that it knew it came close to death, and she wanted an end to this farce. She pitied it before, and now just wanted to end this battle. This was not a hunt she cared to toy with anymore; it caused the town panic and her to call in a favor needlessly, so let it end here. Before something went wrong.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGzr7AXIyBB
Yet as it watched her, knowing this place of shadows gave her an edge, it made a choice.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1MMdXmTnAh
The beast ran once more, a chase, it seemed….
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFaIT9zecSD
She drew on her pipe, still lit. Even among these trials, she wondered once more if she was taking this too lightly. Yet the herb helped calm her mind and keep her focused, and she never stopped hunting or trying to strike it….
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbBIRDiJKRK
So she watched as the beast went blowing smoke to the side as she shifted to mist to peruse.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfyHxqqPtrQ
It was foolish to think speed or distance would be an issue for her… Old she may be, but not unskilled. She pulled herself among the trees with shadow vines to match its speed, nearly surpassing it as it had to dodge to move forward. She followed as it went deeper, looking for a chance to strike….
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI7IUpGNhuj
She flowed easily among the darkness like water in a sea. Since she was not physical, she would never tire, though it did affect her mental state. She was used to worse in old hunts and learned to balance her mana use.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0b1loncvZ7
She hoped the beast running would lose its bearings and get tired, and she would end it and be home to her children and to the town that needed her. They all would be free before morning light.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSdMecBnh4E
Yet it seems the beast, by fate or desperate madness to be free, found another door to go deeper still…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzs7Coib9Fd
She would not flee.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKnudim0w0i
Level five
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfLWve3q8lm
A cathedral? Nothing was hers beyond this place; she could see other than the ogre slightly ahead and a broken throne as the beast collapsed to its knees near the throne….
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXQbKBAruUe
This place felt hollow, a place that should not be…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsXnEvoFPvc
A trick from the beast? No… It’s weeping…. Did it all start here? She was momentarily in a daze; she never knew a beast to weep, only those seeking mercy or to be saved… What happened to make it feel this way?
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHm02Xwdd4H
Reflecting on the stories the kids spoke, they did say it was a cathedral where they found the herb…. Was this it, home? Before it learned to leave, was this it? This small place was where it was meant to die…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvAb6qcO8xp
Perhaps this was all it knew, and it went mad from their….
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbVhxt1nLLp
A laugh near madness from the ogre gave her pause.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ254m4LsDIP
“The kids took my prize.”
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqYX95DDnPI
“Then the gods took my purpose by also taking me away from here…”
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyuM3awNnsd
“Yet now they let me find the door back to this realm, to what? die like I belong nowhere…”
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXFksZkl3dY
She knew that feeling of being lost, trying to find something, a reason to believe maybe there wasn't only one truth.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNXPdJGawBk
Yet she still waited for the strike, the ambush, anything from the beast, yet it never came as it stayed on its knees and did not even look at her from there.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMiJBt7bxNB
a simple strike to end it all…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW5jWvh6o1G
The great beast we all feared was nothing more than a broken creature….
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXy1undh6YW
She could have ended it with that one clean strike… Yet would she be any better than this monster that lost its way, thinking only to hunt the kids? It did hold back more than once…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZJvIZn29l3
Maybe if it could regret, it could choose better; maybe now it will listen. With neither one of them having to be the monster that kills, the hunt can end, and she can just be a mother, and he can choose to leave and live…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGMWPMTZ43T
“Perhaps I was wrong to judge you so cruelly.”
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvka3NwVRPs
“We did push you to an edge, and you had nowhere to go, so if you’re willing to try, I’m willing to listen.”
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA1fUXrlNeH
The words felt strange to say, knowing she came here to kill with indifference. She wondered when she stop being just a hidden blade with no mercy and become one who started to care? Maybe the day she learned she loved her son? The day she tried adopting a daughter, not out of pity but love…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgx0OUIosro
There was a reason she retired from being that blade: she wanted peace with words, not only through death.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhgC2pldPCM
The silence was deafening. Now it no longer laughed with madness or wept in pain. She wasn't sure what to feel or think…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpftGtJZpyq
She could feel its hate growing even from here. It seemed her mercy was a cruelty for that beast even now…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqBjjrT1kmJ
As the ogre slowly stood, never facing her, she felt it was full of pride as it spoke the last words she wanted to hear.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIyyvp1bsai
“No more running… I will break you, and those kids will die by my hands. Your son, I think I will save for last…”
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡilOZSlpglC
The words chilled her—an open threat to her mercy—and for a brief moment, fear replaced her pity until she killed her kindness, and all that was left had no mercy.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUjKJwp26Ht
Just the blade that does what was needed.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEHDFkgA05E
He turned, facing her full of malice, and smiled so assured, even after being pushed to this edge, he would be able to challenge her.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgpdzDra0AH
“He made shadows like you, right? I remember him now. The first to run like a coward when I face him."
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOpoWPJCGy0
He thought he was better than her now? To mock her sympathy and try to be a hunter and threaten her son, even when cornered…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx06tTX1Y3Z
I put away my pipe. It seemed now we really were done… No talks, no mercy, just an end.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPbYHbjdNAC
“So be it, beast. I was taking you lightly and showed you mercy. It seems I was wrong hoping you could be redeemed, but since you wish to hunt my son with intent to kill, I must return the favor…”
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5U0zy8CMVx
She would show no more mercy, no playing games, no hidden assassin hunting a random beast—this was personal now, a mother protecting her son. She knew that was how she felt before meeting the beast, yet she let herself be swayed. It seemed she was showing her age….
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdIODeHlYXh
A rock smashed the wall and passed through my head. Even now, it doubted my Shadow Blessing and assumed it was a trick…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsrvTQg8h6r
Smart enough to taunt. Not smart enough to run.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvUu4q9WHZV
The stones it threw smashed against the wall, making dust rain like snow, yet I would end this long before it mattered what happened to this place.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAp2Fze7w6j
More of a volley of rocks stormed my form; it kept grabbing rubble from its broken throne to throw at me. Even as my form distorted and shifted, I still calmly moved forward to end it…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1P8IkCPfum
Each rock throw was more desperate than the last as I flowed around the stones. Nothing he did had an effect that lasted or hurt me. I would’ve been amused at the attempt if not for that threat and my desire to return the favor and end this quickly.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1244ky7J9q
So focused it was on my main form in front of it, it did not see the shadow clones forming at its side that I made near it as they both struck, breaking his volley from the pain. His flesh was too thick; they did not pierce deep, merely flesh wounds, even when I was aiming for his head…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYpOy9ruSFo
It barely flinched beyond the first prick of their spikes upon its flesh. Proof this would not end with my clones hitting the ogre, I needed to get close with my main form…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFRKZeWpkHR
I need a stronger strike. I needed time to pool a dense enough spike he dodged last time in the forest. So I need to push the beast into a corner so it cannot flee or dodge…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc4xOgWlnh3
I tried a few testing blows to see if I could hit a blind spot, yet he was watchful with his wind sense and used it to pull at my shadow spikes, and anything he could not blast away, he smacked away with his fist and dodged my stronger attacks…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGLe9scVbtq
I even tried a few shadow vines with clones to pin him now that I was done with Mercy, yet his brute strength proved it was pointless, as I feared I could not match this beast's pure strength with magic or not…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1o8OCYPAWc
It was learning, adapting, even being pushed into a corner. Even with losing itself to rage and grief, the beast was smarter than she gave it credit for….
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡioELd0t1Ks
A cruel lesson she taught her son came back to her: never underestimate the monsters we hunt till they're dead or you are…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYz3QA6UWFm
ROAR
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlxV91OU9lK
The roar brought back her focus. So far, the mana used was slightly draining, I having not had to push myself this much in a long time….
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlcbwdaiMKm
Decades of always winning against anything the king asked or whatever random thing she deemed worthy of striking gave her plenty of knowledge of how to hunt.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNOokcWHkUS
Yet this was the first fight things were so different; she never tried so hard to reason with a monster, showing it mercy or even letting it plan against her in a prolonged fight. This was outside what she expected how things would go…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Lh7jIzXzr
But the sweat from the beast showed it fared no better; it went from mad rushes to focused strikes and trying to use air attacks, so neither of us was prepared for this…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZGws6wpFik
I aim for the legs. The flesh may be thick, but it still could be worn down, and he mostly guarded his head…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3bGUGVO9pM
Slowly, the strike went deeper with repeated piercing, and slowly, I drove him back. The cardthral was a bit long but not very wide, so forcing him back was merely a matter of calm, steady movement leading him deeper with nowhere to go…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAESDolEzQZ
I took no pleasure, yet I was going to show this beast why it should run instead of openly mocking me…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeruf7fSdBH
His strikes grew more frantic. Nothing it tried was working as she systematically ended its options.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkCnnIKoR02
Yet even cornered and close to defeat, she remains cool, not underestimating it…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmk2bO23ySi
He was learning something. She could see it in his eyes. Desperation mixed with... something more primal? No planning, she could see just the actions of something that refused to die quietly.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWltbJqtYL8
she knew the most dangerous thing a cornered animal could feel is a chance at victory, as it would do anything to achieve that desire, no matter how slim. That's why she made sure he had none.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbQSv0ry061
There was perhaps a door even deeper outside these walls, or he could try fleeing for the door they came through to escape, but his stubborn pride made it easier to be led deeper into the back corner…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMCDOiPX3Pb
Perhaps anyone else would have struggled against such a beast; it had size, speed, and even the wind's blessing, yet all those things meant nothing to her years of training herself as a shadow, something that you cannot touch…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqMG2y0Dnnk
Or so she thought.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIEd8PIem39
Bloodily breathing hard and close to death, she watched the beast as she prepared the final strike to end this shame before it went any further.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNthq0798qV
She finally cornered it enough that she could spring a deep spike from darkness. One strike. Through the eyes of the skull. Quick and clean despite everything that had come before.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqGj2IRCFIs
His wind fist lashed out in pure desperation, no aim, no thought, just raw fury at being cornered like the animal he was.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp9aPm4iThM
She would end this, not caring to pity this beast anymore; this was the end.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡysmttUfSh0
Yet he pulled his fist mid-wind strike since he missed an odd shift in the wind, pulled back, and…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYkQfsYOemr
CRACK BOOM
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa2wFjilAdw
"Only in these narrow halls where the stone walls trapped and doubled the blast's force - the same amplification that shattered her also doomed the cathedral itself."
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1MAeRsHGDq
a reverb that she did not know could exist; it was madness. It hit her like being shattered. Her flesh, her shadow, her very self scattered…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHsJ6iSypyy
Pain beyond description. Not physical, metaphysical. The very concept of her existence was torn apart as her mind was a shadow, and it now shattered.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU6MzGOpEko
Years of perfect unity with darkness that made her untouchable now allowed her to be broken by a deep sound blast that hit the walls just right and was too much for her form to just flow away from, as it was everywhere and not.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYMSE59JMep
The last thought before all faded to nothing was mirrored by the beast as the whole place broke down…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT18C8TdJZI
What just happened?
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlZgyrFHqWa
It was a rare fluke of a chance that it discovered a new way to use wind, and only in these narrow halls did it amplify it enough to truly hurt her…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGkROMPouNN
But once was enough to change everything and, with this action, allow it victory…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwNb4a56NVa
***
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGDtFOktEzE
The stupid woman thought she could reason with him. Thought mercy was what he wanted.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0a9d9sgl8F
She understood nothing.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlkvIFDGWNt
They took everything. His purpose. His meaning. Left him to wander these realms broken when he was not even a guard anymore and had no desire to live…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡojlqWQ5ujy
The throne. The herb. The reason he'd existed for an unknown time. Gone in a single moment when children playing hero came and stole what he guarded and did not face him or even give him the honor of death as a champion…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmHLcjN4yLv
"No more running… I will break you, and those kids will die by my hands. Your son, I think I will save for last…"
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOtgGoWlqQ1
“He made shadows like you, right? I remember him now. The first to run like a coward when I face him."
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW2Lwvk6WRL
I gave my speech, letting her know where I stand, what her mercy was worth, and how far I was willing to go, even pushed this far…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNa73izlJ8c
Let her see what mercy earned her. Let her understand what it felt like to lose everything that mattered; let me still see her offer peace when I offer her none.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMzDFpd42V0
The shadow kid was not even that worthy to him; the stone girl fought more even head-on, and the kid with arrows was the only one to push him a little…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ0dQvJ2443
Tired of the lies and being mocked, he was going to show her, not just with words but with actions, how serious he was as he grabbed stones from the rubble of his broken throne.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoj97BAu12a
The first rock he hurled passed right through her head. No surprise. Nothing seemed to touch the shadow that she was. But he had to try. He had to do something besides stand as he mocked her pity; now all that was left was his death as her spikes ate at his flesh, promising that truth and no revenge…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrTVNscWjNs
Yet watching her smile was worse than those spikes. Condescending. Amused. He wondered if that was how his face would look if he was doing this to her instead.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYBnm2EcghX
More rubble thrown. More useless strikes at darkness. She moved toward him with that calm certainty she would end this.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9UMUtomdvF
As he knew, watching her, she never lost…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ98j60HVMl2
And even with his strength and mana gems giving him hidden knowledge and wind blessing power, he wasn't proving her wrong.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe4qYVz9j7f
Each rock passed through her shadow made flesh like it was smoke. Like she was nothing. But if she was nothing, why did her eyes show only the promise of his death? And why did her spikes of shadow sting his flesh…?
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAbFODD7YVS
There had to be something he could do. He was trying to use the wind blessing more, yet it just blew her a little. Even his wind-powered rocks he threw did nothing…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW9ctu2J8GO
Her shadow clones struck at him while she watched. They were not new, but he was still surprised by them….
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQS6z5j88aL
The strikes from the clones tried to go deep in his flesh, but it seemed the shadow lacked her bite. Was she playing with him? No… This must be a limit to her magic; she's not perfect, or was she just wanting him to suffer before death…?
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjrmHmcztg8
Was this slow death for mocking her child, promising him death? He grinned a bit madly in that moment, not regretting his choice but wishing he could do more than take the strikes…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi2uQc9miEa
Blood ran down his arms in thin lines. She was getting closer to killing him; they both knew it.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbtT9KtpkbG
Focus. Think. He could not smash her, but wind blessing was magic, like her shadows. That wind was his strength, yet it wasn't working…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlRHaRxnB8Y
He dodged her testing strikes, growing more desperate. The cuts were adding up, even grazing his skin. Blood ran down his arms and chest. She was pushing him slowly deeper to the back; he was losing what few options he had….
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZoXhzQwVGT
Each strike had the intent to kill. Yet the wind and his skin kept the bites at an edge as he was not wanting it to end like this, an end that went nowhere.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡljyapdLku2
Another wind blast. Amongst her strikes to try and push her back, yet the same before it did little…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVt51GR0EwE
His strikes grew more frantic, desperation fueling experimentation. Each failure taught him something new about how wind moved as he blasted wind forward, hoping it would lead to something, anything more than this endless, untouchable shadow…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1FygpqVkL8
She drove him back toward the far wall. Soon, there would be nowhere left to run. Soon it would end with her shadow-spikes through his skull and her walking away, proving the gods right: he had no worth but to die by others' hands.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXOz5q2Aj5J
I bet she's already planning on telling the kids about how their nightmare was handled. He would never get his revenge.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeMjE9Mjfhm
Unless...
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN9hFpaKMn4
One chance. One desperate gamble against impossible odds.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzTjqQlFskl
Cornered. Desperate. Nothing left but one final gamble.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBBZHmuT9oE
The accumulated pain of being able to do nothing, trying to push the wind, He lashed out with everything, not at her, not really; he needed something, anything new, and pulled the winds in an odd way as well as pushing in an odd mix.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvf2r7e2mbD
All his rage and wind mana focused on that desperate action for something, anything to work. The wind compressed in ways he'd never tried before, building strangely until it just... popped.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4bjMB6XO79
CRACK BOOM
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUtjaJENb30
The boom was agony. It tore through him like being flayed alive; every gust of wind that made up his essence rejected that blast, even though it was his doing….
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4aCRUxhmy4
Parts of his mind were unable to stay sane. Wind-essence torn apart by impossible feedback from the blast. But if this was what it took... As he watched her…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFdI7xBTh05
She had no form. The untouchable shadow-woman scattered, unable to hold herself, her perfect control shattered by an impossible blast from the wind.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡefbesvwErA
Success. Terrible, agonizing success.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8GgUyZS1rC
She reformed; she was no longer a thing he could not touch, broken at his feet…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz0chzhdV3n
The walls groaned.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMnUCbDlMan
Stone, stressed beyond its limits by an impossible blast, began to crack and fall. Dust rained from the ceiling. The price of their battle was becoming clear. His home couldn't survive the strain with the reverberation as the force that ripped at them ripped at the walls.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡECd0qq58QH
destroyed in minutes by two creatures pushing the place beyond its limits.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQMEeoXfoy4
The woman he could not touch, a moment from his defeat, now collapsed. Broken.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKMdTD2QPr1
The only home he knew slowly wept, stone falling down. Ceiling chunks crashed where they'd been fighting. The place was coming apart, leaving everything in rubble and dust.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdAw05FCkaC
He could have killed her then. Should have, maybe. But the children were what mattered now. The line he needed to draw.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLG2lnJw87A
One death would mean nothing. But a message... a message would change everything.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdspkbiV6zS
Stone fell around them as he lifted her broken form gently. Her death now would be meaningless and an unknown truth…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ83hgvCmGd1
It was ironic; now he was showing her the same care and mercy she offered him, but for a different reason. She did it in a sense of love to set him free; he did it to make sure there was a message sent with a broken woman and a purpose to hunt for him lest he do more…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHSO2ZcJajP
Through collapsing walls and a roof toward an exit that led to freedom, he went on carrying her as gently as he could with speed, lest they both remain buried and forgotten.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXsjtH80m0V
Level 4
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU4LBC4ieMM
He saw through the door that the whole place had fallen apart into nothing, burying his past in rubble and dust.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1QCKmuWzU9
The throne. The herb, the reason he'd existed. All buried now under tons of broken stone.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqdwsC3MMIe
He did wonder, with the cruelty of the gods, if it would just reappear later, new and untouched, as if everything was meaningless, but looking at the broken form in his arms, he did not care. He had a new purpose, and it would end on his terms, not theirs or anyone else's.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbj9ezzTUsb
The night forest was calm and quiet; he could not leave her here among the dark…. She was light in his arms, surprising him with how much trouble she gave him. Now he held her, wondering how easily he could finish breaking her….
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzungeyweBG
He left it at that; the kids were his prize as he went for the next realm.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBtvvcmx3fy
Level 3
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs6JBNvB7Kb
The plains, once more, he knew next would be a desert, and it would kill her… So here would be best he move her close to the door, wind sense letting him know no monster was close. He wasn’t sure if they would hunt her and could not risk them taking his prize…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHudVGASWsI
He set her down where she could crawl to safety when consciousness returned or be found. The message would be clear enough when she woke or they found her. He saw her chest slowly rise and fall. They both were bloody and hurt, but neither of them would die this day…
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK9SMSsIZPF
He was about to walk away when he saw the pipe come loose - the thing she'd kept drawing on throughout their fight, staying so calm while offering him pity. The sight of it angered him more. He grabbed it and crushed it deliberately in his fist, watching the carved wood splinter. A parting gift for her mercy, letting her know how close to dying she came. He placed the broken pieces on her chest with a cold smile. The thing that kept you so composed while you looked down on me. Smoke that
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ98onSwidc
He hoped the kids were smarter than her and knew his intent when he held back, especially now with this message.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfKuXKv7irZ
Come yourself, or next time it won't be a broken body but a dead one.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRCQtYxBhe6
The children would understand, he hoped. They would come. And this time, there would be no running for anyone, just an end to a long wait and a game he was tired of playing.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4abCbdmwpL
They would come, and he would be waiting.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtfnl0kC7bx
and then Add to home screen.