Dashing through the monochrome landscape the shadows around them swirled in strange and off putting ways. Even with their enhanced visions curtesy of Violet it seemed like the environment was not eager to let them pass so easily.

A number of times the shadows would writhe in such a way to mimic the movement of a foe causing them to unleash attacks only to discover that their was nothing there and the actual danger was from the opposite direction.

This had led to a couple of thankfully small injuries during their mad dash forward. They had passed around 1 kilometre so far and they guessed that they were almost approaching the halfway point. At this time they did slow down slightly as they began to notice a worrying thing.

Where during their run so far a near constant backdrop of battle cry's had been present they suddenly found themselves in a zone of utmost silence. To the point that even their footfalls caused no noise.

Luna tried to speak up but found that even her own voice was muted and no sound came out. She almost began to panic but remembered their potentially greatest asset in this place. They didn't need to speak out loud to communicate.

"Hey something is wrong here Violet keep your guard up!" Sending over her own silent acknowledgement of that fact they both slowed even further to a light jog. Now composited to their speed when they first met this light jog would still be faster than they could sprint, but thanks to their increased levels and stats they could now travel at considerably greater speeds than ever before.

The shadows in this area were also acting strange, strange in the way that they were not swirling around or causing them to see things in the inky darkness around them. No it was doing quite the opposite, it was serene and almost inviting. If they were in any other environment than a world of shadows they could almost believe that this was something pleasant.

But in this world of darkness the seeming serenity around them only served to send shivers down their spines.

The vigilance that they were displaying paid off as less than a minute after they slowed down they saw something. It was small, less than a ripple in the darkness ahead but for less than a second something was visible ahead. And that something was by no means small.

The duo slowed down even more now only moving at a walking pace as they braced for any incoming blows. Luna instinctivly moving to Violet's side and positioning her back to her companions side to have a better view of the surroundings. It was a good thing that she did for it allowed her to survive the initial attack.

A blade of shadows ripped through the air heading straight at Luna's neck from behind them. She quickly ducked down and rolled away, narrowly avoiding the attempt at decapitation.

Violet ever alert responded with a swift barrage of void bolts in the direction that the shadow blade came from, only they hit nothing. The duo watched as the bolts sailed off silently into the distance erasing the shadows in their wake only for a moment later for the shadows to once more fold in and cover the once empty space.

Unnerved by this the companions kept their senses sharp as they strained to notice anything. The omnipotent silence making that process all the harder.

Then another shadow blade was launched from a new direction, this time aimed at Violet. She in turn raised a void shield only to open her eyes wide as the blade crashed into the shield and crash right through it, the shield only delaying the strike by a moment. That moment was key however, as she managed to duck out of the way. Luna this time responded with some ice bolts but again not a single one struck true.

Getting impatient now Violet began to summon bolt after bolt allowing them to slowly rotate around the pair, when she had 10 bolts around her she waited. When the next strike came she instantly responded by launching all 10 bolts in a spread around the direction the blade of shadows originated from. This time she felt one hit home.

As for the blade which was aimed at her once again she dove to the side but because of her delayed reaction she was still hit. The blade carved a vicious line down her side and nearly severed one of her wings causing her to let out a silent scream of pain. Yet she refused to allow herself to be distracted. For in the moment that her attack hit the shadows shifted and their foe was finally revealed.

A hulking abomination of twisted limbs and gaping maws floated before them, ever patch of exposed shadow skin was instead layered with disfigured eyes and ears. Each of the limbs was tipped with vicious claws of condensed shadows so deep she almost mistook them for void.

The rest of its horrific body was covered in innumerable mouths, each one partially open revealing rows of wicked fangs that glistened in the monochrome surroundings. Behind the rows of fangs a void of all light lay. Simply looking into the depths of the various mouths caused a sudden sharp pain to assult Violet's mind.

It was as if simply looking into that abyss was synonymous with death itself.

Luna's reaction was just as visceral if not tilted in a different direction to Violet's horror. For she just saw Violet be hit with a nasty attack and felt a rage boil up that one allowed for a single outlet.

She dashed forward with incredible speed, arriving before the abomination of shadows in a moment before unleashing a multi strike towards its many eyes. At the same time multiple spears of ice began to form around her as she unleashed her most powerful attack right at the start of the battle, this could either end the fight in a single move or put her usefulness on a timer.

For once the skill was activated more and more spears would continually form until she either won her battle or ran out of mana.

Her strikes landed and in the moment her first thrust struck true sound once more returned. Only for the first thing either heard was the ungodly screech that erupted from the creature.

SKREEEEEE!!

The wall of sound blasted Luna back not allowing her to even finish her initial attack but leaving the creature with one less eye. However, she was not deterred and even as blood began to flow from her ruptured eardrums she dove right back in to deliver more strikes on her foe.

Violet seeing her companion go all out also joined her by activating her void cannon. As the circle of magic began to form she also unleashed spears of void to hem on the abomination and fight off the flailing limbs that aimed to skewer her friend.

The barrage of blows that was exchanged by the two combatants up close was swift and vicious. Luna frantically slashed and stabbed her initial burst of offense was swiftly turned into a desperate defense as she worked to parry and block the multiple limbs that came down at her from seemingly every direction. Cuts and scrapes that easily pierced through her armour began to stack up on her arms and back.

Yet she still dished out as good as she got. The continual barrage of ice spears was now in full effect and multiple attacks rained down on the beast complimenting the void spears fired from behind her caused the creature to have to work on defending itself too.

As Violet's void cannon was about ready she quickly used void step to appear to the shadow beasts side a moment before her strongest attack was unleashed. The creature tried to dodge out of the way but found itself held in place by ice spikes that jutted out of the floor and dig into its body preventing it from fleeing. As the eyes facing Violet widened in apparent fear it tried to form a wall of shadow to block the incoming attack.

The shield did not hold. The blast of void punched straight through its hasty defence and drilled a hole straight through the beasts body. This was swiftly followed up with 2 much smaller ladies of void that flashed through severing multiple of the flailing limbs before they could respond.

However, at this point the beast was on its last legs and was soon felled by the continual rain of ice and void.

As the beast finally collapsed to the ground in a fetid pile of shadow flesh the two companions stood grasping for breath as they waited for the notification confirming their kill. Yet, it never came.

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