Third Impact

As quickly as the flames had provided light, shadows stretched out and around, enclosing the group as only a small section was left untouched. 

"Shit, it's got us circled in," Damian remarked. 

It was only by virtue of the flaming sword wielded by Charlotte were the shadows kept at bay. 

"The infusion will only last thirty more seconds, max," Charlotte called out. 

Damian spoke, turning rapidly as skin-crawling sounds echoed from the shadows, "—Remember when I said this was a bad idea? Anybody else? I don't want to say I'm right, but…I was probably right." 

"Just calm down and focus—we're perfectly fine, as long as we remain composed," Finn said. 

He tried to recall what information he could on the skulking, yet aggressive creature as it pranced in the surrounding darkness. 

"Damian, you can bring it out of the darkness," Finn said, looking over at the warrior. "You have that skill, right?" 

"That one? Oh, yeah…haven't used it yet, but I guess now is the right situation. Okay!" Damian said, hyping himself up as he slapped his own chest. 

Charlotte looked lost on what the unspoken plan was between the men as the flames began to flicker, "—Almost out." 

A large breath was drawn into the lungs of the heavy-hearted warrior, puffing his cheeks out before expelling it all into a mighty shout— 

["Provocation of Might"] 

"Ruuuuaaaaahhhhh—!" Damian's challenging yell pushed outward into the shadows of the parking garage. 

From the gulf of darkness, a sound came— 

Finn latched onto the noise, readying himself as he lowered his stance: 

["Gale Blessing"] [2:59] 

The air around the assassin shifted, swirling around his body and guiding him with the swiftness of the wind. 

Just as the spellblade's flame sputtered out, letting the darkness inch closer, the fiend lunged out. 

At that moment, Finn watched as the bug-eyed horror leapt straight for the warrior that had provoked it. He moved to intercept it, moving one foot in front of the other as the wind carried him. 

The speed carried the momentum of his strike, allowing for his daggers to carve straight into the nightmarish fiend. 

["Spider Bite"] [9:59] 

As his blades left an "X" shaped wound on the creature's chest, a black substance was left in its torso. 

'—There,' Finn thought. 

He flipped back as the bug-eyed duke lunged at him with its jaws snapping. As it swept its elongated fingers around wildly, Finn watched as it was intercepted through the flickering darkness. 

"--Gotcha!" Damian said, using his shoulder to knock it back. 

The hard hit briefly stunned the creature before it shook its head, opting to lunge once more towards them, however–it suddenly froze. 

Though the wounds weren't deep enough to be fatal on their own, it was the essence of [Spider Bite] that brought the monster to a halt. On its feet, the pale-skinned, hunchbacked figure began to convulse and drool as the shadows it brought dispersed. 

"A poison?" Charlotte watched. 

The skill injected a unique venom from his strikes, causing the monster's skill to blister and peele as the ooze left its pores. It didn't take much longer for the creature to crumble to its knees before falling to a deathly silence. 

"Damn, that's more effective than I thought," Finn mumbled to himself. 

["Duke of Shadows defeated."] ["Anarch Coins x100 obtained."] 

[Experience Points: +600] [1850/12500] 

[Assimilated ability from [Duke of Shadows]: "Cloud of Darkness" 1 / 5]

A breath of relief was released from Damian's lips as the parking garage was returned to its normal, still eerie state without the supernatural shade engulfing it, "Man, I really could've gone without encountering that thing. I think I'm going to have nightmares tonight. Well, I've had them every night anyway." 

"It wasn't that bad. We handled it without any injuries," Finn remarked, patting his own body as he looked between his comrades. "If we were lower leveled like before, it'd have been much more problematic. Get what I'm saying?"

"Yeah, Yah, I understand now–it's important to keep getting stronger. Doesn't mean I'm a fan of confronting these scary bastards, though," Damian sighed. 

"So, what do you think? Are we up to par?" Finn asked, looking at the spellblade. 

Charlotte was quiet for a moment, seeming hesitant to give an answer before nodding slightly, "I can't say for sure…It's not like I was able to stand much of a chance on the second floor. But our odds will be better."

"Well, that's somewhat of a positive, I guess," Finn said. 

Before they took their leave from the concrete parking structure, Damian stopped them as he pointed to where the slain fiend was, "What's going on with its body?"

As Finn turned around to look at what his friend was pointing at, he saw that the Duke of Shadow's corpse was "gone", or rather it had dissolved into a black imprint onto the floor. 

"I haven't seen anything like that. Is it really dead?" Charlotte asked. 

Finn was quiet for a moment as he looked down at the shape of the body left on the ground like a chalk drawing, "...Yeah, it's dead. Let's get out of here–we probably made a bit too much noise. Don't want any other monsters flooding in here." 

"Agreed," Damian added, not wanting any more trouble as he began walking. 

As the others moved along, Finn stood there for a moment, looking at the imprint left on the concrete ground. It didn't sit entirely right with him, focusing on a small ounce of doubt within his mind on what he looked at. 

'It couldn't be that, could it? There's no way,' he thought when looking at the stain of the fiend's body. 

The voice of Damian called out from near the entrance of the parking garage, "Finn! C'mon already!" 

"Yeah, coming," Finn responded, turning around as he glanced back once more at the black stain. 

As he walked between the concrete pillars and past the abandoned vehicles, each step he took echoed through the lonely structure. 

He couldn't place it exactly, but something felt off. Ahead he could see the two silhouettes of his companions waiting at the exit of the parking structure, watching as the hand of the warrior waved for him to hurry. 

"Coming—" Finn called out again. 

He lightly jogged to pick up the pace before slowing again as his boot scraped against the ground. The silhouette he recognized as his friends were nothing more than shadows, gone with a blink as he reached the entrance. 

"—Huh?" Finn quietly let out as he stopped. 

A sinking feeling was felt as he stood there, staring outside of the concrete building back into the desolate streets of Daejeon. 

It was completely black; to call it nightfall wouldn't be accurate. There wasn't a single star visible in the darkness, only an empty nothingness above. 

"Damian? Charlotte?" He called out the names of his comrades, looking in both directions as neither way down the street did he see them. 

Unlike the night, the unnatural darkness that veiled the cityscape left him still, unnerved as it felt like eyes watched him from within the unseen. 

'...It's what I feared–I thought there was no way it'd show up, but I was wrong–the "Sovereign of Shadows" is here,' Finn thought, looking up. 

In the void of darkness that engulfed the sky, a sole object hung over the cityscape: an ominous moon that glistened like a radiant beacon. However, it turned as it revealed itself as no celestial body, but the face of something harrowingly vast in scale. 

The grinning moon revealed itself to be the one that harkoned the encapsulating darkness, wearing the shade itself as a cloak that stretched taller than any of the skyscrapers before it. 

["Sovereign of Shadows"] 

It leaned unnaturally over the towering buildings with its head in the void above the man.

As he looked up, his eyes met with the entity's own; craters that did not harbor life, yet flickered with unbound malice. 

A primal fear gripped Finn's body, not allowing him to budge even a finger as he stared at it, feeling a sheer sense of powerlessness overtake him in the presence of the one that brought the unmatched night. 

BA-DUMP. BA-DUMP. BA-DUMP. 

The pace of his heartbeat increased like the crescendo of a drum, feeling the fear swell within his chest before he forced his gaze away. 

'Where did Damian and Charlotte end up? It happened too quickly–or did it? Was I caught in its web already? Since when? For how long?' He questioned rapidly. 

He knew it wasn't mere darkness that encompassed the city, but a veil like that of a hex; the absence of light amplified fear and anxiety, warping one's mind. 

'…The Sovereign of Shadows isn't something meant to be fought, at least not at this level. It's a force of nature; a "world event" in Avalon that rarely occurred. I remember the "Malevolent Night" being imposed produces illusions, but in real life? I can feel my brain fogging up already,' Finn thought. 

As he stood there, he looked forward as he found something else standing across the street. It stood just in front of the alleyway, with pale skin that glistened like the moonlight, devoid of any features, nor eyes or ears. 

Only a smile perched across its empty face, pointed right at the perplexed man. 

Before he could so much as raise his dagger in a defense, it was already gone, like a passing breeze. 

'An illusion…? Shit, this is bad. Even knowing about the Sovereign of Shadows, I'm still at risk. I can't say the same for the others—they don't know what's going on,' he thought. 

BA-DUMP. BA-DUMP. BA-DUMP. 

Again, he felt his heart rate rising as he placed his hand over his chest, feeling the palpitations. He moved himself to the alleyway, out of the open street before focusing on his breathing. 

'It's just the darkness…It's playing tricks on my mind. Focus—don't let it get to you,' he reminded himself while slowly inhaling and exhaling. 

["At that time, I didn't realize that it had begun–the "Third Impact."]