01.18 - The Ghost in the Darkness

Terra and Mary had witnessed the scene in silence from the treetops above.

“Looks like a Nine-Tailed Shadow Fiend,” said Mary.

“Guess we found the source of our troubles,” said Terra. “If the monsters that usually prey on the Lesser Shadow Fiends got killed by this beast, it’s no wonder their numbers suddenly exploded. That one might be above the kids' pay grade. Shall we exterminate it?”

Mary shook her head. “Not yet. Let’s see if the kids can handle it.”

“Are you serious?”

“Just wait and see. I am not one to over-promise. I wouldn’t have asked you to be a witness today if I didn’t think they could handle this much.”

“But the plan was for me to observe how they handle Lesser Shadow Fiends and other regular foes.”

“Change of plans then. If they are in any real trouble, I’ll intervene, and you can be a witness to their failure.”

“Acceptable. Let’s wait and see. If they can handle a Nine-Tailed Shadow Fiend, Grant may even allow you to skip all formalities.”

“A single honorary license would be one thing, but I doubt even Grant can reject information requests from the other houses and cover for us if all nine of them get to skip the exam.”

“Acceptable. But if it seems like they can handle it…”

“I’ll intervene.”

The scene below seemed frozen in time.

The beast’s gaze shifted around the group. Its nine black tails waving in the midnight breeze, its mask held nine Cores in total: four embedded in each side and one on the upper middle part of the mask.

The young hunters seemed frozen in place.

All of them?

Not quite.

Before they could fully process the situation they found themselves in, an explosive blast hit the beast's position and reverberated throughout the forest.

Its pressure wave bent the surrounding treetops like straws. Its heat radiated outward and warmed their skin, which was cool from the midnight breeze.

Seconds earlier, Luc had forced most of his Aura into his projectile's speed, like he had done when sniping the Fire Elemental, while converting the rest of it into the Energy Creation spell that caused the explosion itself.

Startled by the sudden burst, most of the surrounding Lesser Shadow Fiends fled back into the forest.

Two white mask fragments fell to the ground, satin miasma like black cloth attached to them.

They reformed into two smaller beasts with four tails, each with a fragment of the original mask.

“My Aura is spent,” Luc said as he fell to his knees, his arms barely able to keep his body from collapsing on the forest ground entirely.

The four-tailed beasts to the left of the group let out a cry.

As if on command, the few Lesser Shadow Fiends that had returned began to encircle the group again.

The beast to the right jumped into the air, slowly gaining altitude by jumping on what might have been pockets of temporarily hardened air above the group.

“Mirai!” shouted Hannah.

“On it!”

It jumped toward Luc’s position.

“Three seconds. It’s going for his throat!” Mirai exclaimed.

Three.

It fell…

Two.

Readied its fangs…

One.

And dug into the flesh of its prey.

It would have been Luc had Gabe not switched Luc’s position with one of the Lesser Shadow Fiends.

“I am down to two,” Gabe said.

“Use at your own discretion, but coordinate it with Mirai,” said Hannah while thrusting her staff at the mask of the four-tailed beast.

It evaded the thrust with a quick roll to the side but clashed against a small ice wall freshly conjured by Rem.

Hannah pulled back and thrust again.

The force of her blow knocked out one of the remaining Cores, and one of the beast's tails vanished.

At the other side of the battlefield, Rafe made his way toward Hannah and the now three-tailed beast, using his wind slash spell to eliminate the occasional Lesser Shadow Fiend.

Sascha, Uriah, and Rogue were the only ones left who focused on the other tailed beast and a few of its lesser minions.

Their enemy had learned from its minions' prior failures and evaded Rogue's spell traps while following Uriah's earth walls, gaining ground by the second.

In a gamble, Rogue threw one of his daggers at the beast.

It dodged but evaded right into one of Rogue’s spell traps. It stumbled around senselessly before Sascha dug her claws into two of its Cores, severing them from the mask.

Two of its tails disappeared.

Sascha went for the kill, attempting to sever the two remaining Cores too, when she was paralyzed by an electric spell not unlike her own.

She was saved by the bell when Gabe switched Sascha’s position with that of the three-tailed beast.

“Down to one,” Gabe said.

The beast canceled its attack. Instead of following up with another, the two beasts' bodies met and fused back into one.

The resulting five-tailed beast’s mask was still heavily damaged, with two Cores on the left and three on the right half of the shattered mask.

Rogue did not wait for the fusion to complete. He aimed his remaining dagger at the beasts, but instead of an easy victory, he stepped into something else.

His momentum continued him forward.

With his senses inverted, he stumbled toward his enemy.

The now fully fused five-tailed beast tried to use Rogue’s blunder to jump at him and sever his neck.

It was met with the hard end of Hannah’s staff, which knocked out yet another Core, as Gabe switched Hannah’s position with that of Rogue after a warning from Mirai.

“And I’m out for a while,” Gabe said.

Rogue slowly regained his senses. “That thing can copy our spells!”

“Do you think I’m blind?” asked Hannah. “Everyone, reestablish formation. Luc and Gabe to the center, focus on Aura regeneration. Rem, stick to ice, don’t let it copy your Body Transmutation spell. Same for you, Rafe, stick to air slashes. Ignore my orders if anyone gets gravely injured!”