We picked a rooftop not too far from the mine and took our positions. It was still a good distance away—far enough that we had a bit of breathing room.
Enough ti to think of a way to fight sothing we knew almost nothing about.
At least the rain was on our side. The streets were empty, the noise of the storm covered everything, and the darkness gave us space to plan. We didn’t have to hold back with our ideas. No one was around to question us. Nothing was around to distract us.
And honestly, it wasn’t like we had any other options.
It was just the two of us.
We were the only ones who could survive its mory erasure, after all.
"So... what’s the plan?" I asked.
"Eh...?" Julius stared at like I’d grown a second head. "You’re asking ...?"
"I hate to break it to you, but I know just as much as you do about this thing."
We both looked out into the distance. Through the curtain of rain, there was a faint disturbance in the air—a place where sothing big was pushing through, bending the downpour around it.
Whatever it was, it was headed straight for us. And it wasn’t wasting ti.
"Think we can just beat it down with brute force?" Julius said.
"If I’m being honest, our chances are slim..." I replied.
Slim or not, it didn’t change anything. If we couldn’t stop it here, the entire city was done for. The best we’d be able to do after that would be to grab the people we cared about and run, and watch this place fade into a blank spot in everyone’s mories.
And... I didn’t want Evelina’s efforts to end like that.
We’d made too many mories here already. I was way too sentintal to just let all of that vanish.
To think sothing like this would happen right after a few quiet days of peace.
I let out a slow breath.
"Let’s go."
"I’ve got your back," Julius said.
He placed a hand on my shoulder, and—
[Light Transfer]
We appeared in the abandoned part of the Outer District—the dead zone between the mine and the places where people still actually lived.
If I had to guess, this area was probably hit the hardest by its attacks before it got stuck in that hole.
We’d been staying here for days, and yet no one really talked about how strange this whole place felt. It was like everyone had silently agreed to pretend nothing was wrong.
Right now, though, that didn’t matter.
"It’s coming," Julius said.
"I see it," I answered.
The creature was invisible, but it wasn’t intangible. Wherever the rain suddenly split and flowed around an empty shape, that was where it was.
All we could do now was hope that what we had was enough.
[Light Guardian]
[Light Sword]
[Light Judgent]
[Holy Lance]
[Greater Fortify]
Julius flooded the street with light. Under the glow of his spells, he looked less like a person and more like so kind of divine figure. His earlier confidence suddenly made sense—it wasn’t just empty talk. He’d been putting in the work, sa as .
BOOM!
His [Light Judgent] crashed down where the rain bent away. A massive, echoing scream tore through the air. A solid hit.
But it still wasn’t enough.
FWOOSH!
Julius dashed in with his sword, swinging hard at the invisible mass. From the sound of it, though, it was like he was hacking into stone. His blade t resistance, but it didn’t feel like it was really biting in.
BANG.
BANG.
BANG.
He and the creature collided again and again. On the surface, they looked evenly matched, flashes of light against empty space. But with the thing invisible, it was almost impossible to read the flow of the fight.
[Dark Step]
[Requiem]
I blinked above it, keeping my distance so it couldn’t reach , and rained down explosions across the huge, unseen bulk below.
But—
FWOOSH.
A prickle of danger crawled up my spine. I jerked my head to the side just in ti as a thin line of black fla whipped past and scratched my cheek.
"It’s fast!" I spat.
[Dark Gluttony]
I threw up a thick wall of darkness in front of .
BOOM.
Good thing I did. A mont later, sothing incredibly dense slamd into it. [Dark Gluttony] began to eat away at the attack as it crawled and twisted through the air.
Even so, I could feel it—I was going to lose that clash if I tried to hold it.
[Dark Step]
I teleported away, leaving the spell behind to chew on as much of it as possible while I moved back up to support Julius.
[Endless Fang]
[Echo (On)]
SLASH.
We hacked away at the invisible mass, but we had no idea what we were actually hitting. Best case, we were carving into its head. Worst case, we were just shredding so useless part of its body that barely mattered.
But we didn’t have any better options.
SLASH.
BANG.
SLASH.
We clashed with it again and again, and with every passing minute, we were slowly pushed back. Bit by bit, we were forced closer to the populated parts of the outer district.
[Black Threnody]
[Light Judgent]
From afar, it probably looked like so kind of twisted light show—flashes of black and gold bursting against empty air. But no matter what we threw at it, the creature refused to slow down.
The only thing keeping going was the difference I could hear between Julius’s swings and mine. Whenever my blade connected, there was a distinct sound—like sothing soft tearing, like flesh finally giving way.
How much that actually hurt the creature, though... I still didn’t know.
"Did this thing get bigger!?"
"Hell if I know! It probably had an entire buffet of animals before it got to us!"
SLASH!
BANG!
CLANG!
BOOM!
"I can’t keep this up!"
I yelled, feeling my body slow down after swing after swing. There was no way [Dark Recovery] alone could keep going like this.
[Holy Speech]
[Cruel Chains]
I tried to slow it with [Holy Flas], forcing it to halt for a brief mont as I wrapped it in chains—and I honestly wished I hadn’t.
Seeing it bound like that, we finally understood just how massive it really was, the chains giving us a horrifying point of reference.
"What the fuck...!"
Julius staggered back, putting so distance between them so he could heal before diving in again.
The chains worked, but even then they only barely slowed its pace.
[Primordial Pr—CRACK
[Cannot Use Ability Against Target]
H-Huh!?
BOOM!
A huge tendril smashed into my chest. Black flas burst out around at the last second, barely keeping from being erased as I went tumbling across the street from the force of the blow.
"Shit..."
I spat blood onto the broken pavent, my hands digging into the cracks as I struggled to stand. That tiny mont of distraction had been all it needed to land a decisive hit.
"How the hell am I supposed to..."
I forced myself upright.
And—
[Nyx’s Presence Bathes You]
[What has happened here, mortal!?]
A huge holographic panel snapped into existence, swallowing my entire field of view the mont I stood up.
Is this what it feels like when soone throws open the bathroom door while you’re still using it?
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