Chapter 17 The Cold Taste of Defeat

The Green Shadow took a step forward, the asphalt cracking under its foot. The air around it still sizzled from Enji's Blue Flame explosion.

"It would seem you prefer the hard way. Fine. I will swat you myself, human. Like a bug you are."

"SWAT THIS, TRASH!" 

Blue fire exploded from his feet, his hands, his entire body. Enji became a comet of pure, volatile energy. 

"BLUE FLAME: JET HAMMER!" 

He rocketed forward with a fist wrapped in a spinning vortex of flame.

The Shadow simply raised its palm. Enji's attack hit the center of it—and stopped. The force of the impact created a visible shockwave that peeled the asphalt and blew out the windows of every building still standing on the block. Concrete walls and ground cracked and melted from the heat, but Shadow's arm didn't budge an inch.

It closed its massive, shadowy hand around Enji's flaming fist. There was a crack of bone.

Enji screamed, not in pain, but in pure, unadulterated rage.

 "RAAAAAAAAH! Let's see how you'll like this!"

He shoved his other hand against the Shadow's chest. He turned his entire arm into a cannon.

"BLUE FLAME: POINT-BLANK ATOMIC BEAM BURSTOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

 A continuous, concentrated beam of blue fire, hotter than anything he'd ever produced, erupted at zero range, engulfing them both in a miniature blue sun.

He poured everything he had into the blast, his body trembling from the strain, his mana reserves gone. Half of the street block got melted.

The beam faded. The Shadow's grip on his broken hand remained. Its chest was scorched, its form slightly less dense, but it was far from destroyed.

"An impressive spark... for a bug. But not enough!"

Then it swung its other arm in a casual, backhanded swipe.

The blow didn't just hit Enji; it obliterated the space around him. The air itself shattered. Enji's burning aura died instantly. He was launched backward like a discarded shell casing, his body carving a melting trench through the street before smashing through a concrete pillar and coming to a crumpled, motionless stop in a cloud of dust and fading blue embers.

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Instructor Arata maintained his assault, the barrage of invisible wind blades keeping the Blue Shadow flickering and off-balance. He was searching, probing for a weakness, a pattern, anything to turn this stalemate into an advantage.

Suddenly, the Shadow ceased its defensive movements. It condensed in on itself, collapsing from a humanoid form into a perfect, silent orb of absolute darkness.

"What? It teleported away. It can't be, did he run away? This is bad, it might have figure out our plan. It could have gone back to the others, to Shota—"

Suddenly a pain erupted from his lower back, punching through his body and out his abdomen. He gasped, the wind knocked from his lungs. He looked down, disbelieving, at the two long, solid spikes of pure shadow that now protruded from his stomach.

The whisper came from directly behind him, cold breath ghosting past his ear.

"Human... it would seem you are under the impression that we, the Ancient Shadows, are weaklings, that we are just your regular Ancient Shadows. Don't you see the difference? We have color shading, and colored shadows are much stronger. It's just my guess, but it would seem you have fought the lesser shadow before, with no color shade, and just assumed we all the same."

The spikes twisted, and Arata cried out, his knees buckling.

"But let me tell you, before you die... we are, as you humans measure it, A-tier evil forces. There was never any chance you could have beaten any of us."

It yanked the shadowy spikes free. Arata collapsed to the ground, his blood pooling around him, the world fading to black.

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Mirai’s plasma-drill screamed towards the Red Shadow’s core with the force of a meteor strike. It was her ultimate attack, a perfect fusion of her earth magic and sheer, destructive will.

And the Shadow caught it.

Its clawed hand snapped forward, meeting the tip. There was a sound like a dying star—a shrieking, grinding wail of metal against solidified darkness. The Shadow’s arm didn’t flinch, its grip tightened.

The rotation of the massive steel drill slowed, fighting against an impossible force, until with a final, sickening crunch, it stopped entirely.

Then, it cracked.

The entire drill, from tip to base, fractured into a thousand pieces, bursting apart in a cloud of superheated metal shrapnel. But Mirai did not hesitate, she stomped her foot.

 “DRILL BARRICADE!”

The ground in front of her erupted with a dozen revving steel drills, creating a spinning, impenetrable-looking wall between her and the creature.

She didn’t wait. She crouched, slamming both palms to the ground.

 “DRILL STORM!”

Hundreds of smaller, foot-long drills shot out from the earth around her, flying in seemingly random, chaotic directions. But in mid-air, they all curved, zeroing in on the Shadow from every angle, slamming into it in a continuous volley of explosions and shattering metal.

She didn’t stay to see the result. She turned and ran.

But agony she had never known erupted between her shoulder blades just as she took off. The Shadow was already upon her, having phased through her barricade and storm as if they were mist. Its massive claw swept down, slicing through her magical Battle Dress as if it were paper. The enchanted armor shattered, absorbing the killing blow but transferring the immense force.

The impact lifted her off her feet and sent her crashing into a pile of rubble. If not for the Battle Dress, she would have been cleaved in half. As it was, she lay down, the world swimming in and out of focus, the euphoria finally, replaced by the cold taste of defeat.

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The world dissolved into a haze of grey static and ringing silence for Shota. He watched, paralyzed, as the other Ancient Shadows returned, casually tossing the broken bodies of Instructor Arata, Enji, and Mirai onto the bloody ground in front of his barrier. They lay motionless. The scene was a perfect, horrifying mirror of the toy store a decade ago.

"You are toying too much with your pray. Why is this one still standing?" the Green Shadow's voice asked.

"I am not playing around, you brute fool! I have slammed this wretched shell with everything I possess! It does not yield!"

One by one, the other Shadows took their turn. A concentrated beam of darkness, a physical blow that cracked the earth for meters around, a spell that unraveled matter itself. Each attack crashed against the pale blue light and dissipated. The barrier held.

“It should’ve been done when we struck. But the brat’s still kicking.”

“Slammed him full force. Nothing. This one’s… strong.” 

“Still—if it’s useless, leave it and move on. We’re wasting time.”

“We cannot stay. The Man's schedule is precise. But the leader does not tolerate loose ends."

 Pink Shadow slowly turned to face Shota.

"Boy. Here is our offer. Lower your barrier. Let us grant you a quick death. In return, we will spare your friends. They will live."

It leaned in close, its form pressing against the blue bubble.

  "If you refuse... we will butcher them. Right in front of you. We will paint your bubble with their blood. We will peel the flesh from their bones and press it against your shield for you to remember. Hang their faces to the wall so you look at them every night. Their final screams will be the last thing you ever hear before we find a way inside. Choice is yours."

Shota's world narrowed. The static intensified, swallowing the color from the world until only the red of his friends' and blood on his hands remained. He wasn't seeing the Shadows anymore. He was seeing the cashier turning to ash. He was six years old, powerless. Witch Queen dying in his arms.

"Damn it! I'm so weak... They're dying and I can't do anything... I can only watch... This barrier... it's useless! A curse! What's the point of being safe if I'm always alone at the end?! Why can't I protect anyone?! Why do I only get the power to watch them die?! Why can I only use it on me!"

He saw Mirai's ecstatic smile, Enji's furious pride, the Instructor's weary determination. He couldn't lose them. He couldn't be the sole survivor again. The Shadows were lying, he knew that. They would kill everyone anyway. But if he lowered the barrier, at least he wouldn't have to live through the aftermath. He could die with them.

"Not again. I won't live through this again."

One trembling hand rose and pressed against the inside of his own barrier, the very thing that had always been his cage. A single, hot tear traced down his cheek.

"I want power..." he whispered, "Power to protect my friends... Not this barrier... Not to just stand and watch everyone die... Not again. I rather die, with them."