The world didn't literally turn black like a blackout, but everything became shadows.

The sky blurred into a trembling curtain of darkness, the ground melted into a shifting field of ink, and even the trees warped into silhouettes without detail.

It felt like they were standing inside a living abyss… almost like they were submerged in another dimension entirely.

All they could clearly see was Wendy.

And she finally moved.

The monstrous figure that had previously guarded the cave without twitching suddenly bent her limbs backward like a puppet snapping its strings.

Then, without warning, her whole form collapsed into a wisp of living shadow… a streak of darkness sharper than an arrow and blasted toward them at a speed that broke the sound around them.

"Move!" Mira shouted, her instinct taking over before thought.

She rammed her shoulder into the ground to fling herself right, skidding across the shadow-floor. At the same time, Azel grabbed Mynes by the waist, yanked her against him, and pushed left in one smooth motion.

The shadow bullet tore through the center, carving a crater-like gouge through the shadow world, leaving behind violent ripples as if she had torn through fabric instead of space.

Azel landed in a crouch then the System window flickered.

[You have been given a new Main Mission]

[Defeat 'Gwendolyn's Shadow']

[Reward: Your Life]

'How do you give a mission without a reward?' Azel's eye twitched. 'What is this, unpaid internship?'

He immediately let go of Mynes.

"You're strong, do your own heavy lifting." He said flatly.

She puffed her cheeks, but before she could complain, Azel's body ignited.

He released his first aura point.

A surge of raw energy burst from his core, cascading around his body like swirling comet trails.

He forced the rampaging aura into an outline that hugged every curve of his muscles, letting it explode behind him in controlled bursts of propulsion.

He drew a bone sword from his storage ring… the pale white blade glowing unnervingly bright against the dark world and launched forward so fast that even the shadows rattled from the shock of his movement.

"Star…" he whispered.

Time slowed.

No… the world slowed. His own movements remained natural as everything else crawled in molasses.

"Gwendolyn" had just begun to turn her malformed head toward him when he slashed downward.

"…Strike."

A line of pure starlight ripped through her, splitting the shadow beast in half.

But the halves liquified and rejoined instantly, reshaping into an even more grotesque silhouette.

Her body contorted, bones snapping in phantom echoes, and dozens of tendrils erupted from the surrounding shadows like spears all aimed at them.

However…

Every tendril froze in place.

Then they were sucked… violently into a single glowing rune hovering over Mynes's palm.

"Tch." Mynes flicked her hair smugly, absorbing more shadow than a human should ever hold.

With the shadows suddenly gone, Mira inhaled sharply and raised her sword.

Aura surged into the blade, making it glow purple like ethereal moonlight. She steadied her stance perfectly, the point of her weapon aimed dead center at the monster's head.

"Spirit Thrust."

Her sword shot forward… not physically, but with a projected thrust of pure spiritual force that screamed through the air and slammed into the shadow's forehead with enough power to send the entire beast flying backward like a ragdoll hit by a truck.

Azel extended his hand calmly.

Holy energy flared.

Dozens of divine spears materialized in the air behind him and launched at once, piercing into the back of the shadow mid-flight.

Each spear burst into radiant light, making the creature writhe and wail in a sound that distorted the air.

'This feels like Elden Ring…' Azel thought as the shadow skidded across the ground, deforming and remolding chaotically.

Just then, Mynes lifted two fingers.

"Convert."

The leftover shadows attempted to spill outward again but instead of forming tendrils, they twisted into sparks of lightning. A jagged web of purple electricity exploded downward, frying the creature with chain-like crackles.

Azel paused.

'She's converting elements…?'

Oh, he was absolutely pestering her later.

The shadow shrieked as Azel lifted his sword and Mira retrieved hers with a sharp spin. They both stepped forward.

Two martial killing techniques activated in perfect synchrony.

"Third Style… Dragon Claw."

"Tenth Style… Converging Slices."

Azel swung, releasing five dragon-like slashes of pure divinity that carved through the darkness like meteors.

Mira's arms blurred as she unleashed ten razor-thin aura slices, each following Azel's in a perfectly timed harmony.

The combined barrage obliterated the shadow.

It screamed once before its body tore apart into a cloud of dissolving fragments.

As the creature faded away, the pitch-black world rippled like a disturbed pond.

The shadows peeled away layer by layer, revealing the original forest beneath them.

But Wendy herself… the one who had been guarding the cave was gone.

"Let's check the cave," Mira said, sliding her sword back into its sheath. "I think she's still alive."

They descended the small hill and noticed the entrance to the cave was dark and foul.

Once the smell reached them…

All three wrinkled their noses.

"It smells like… shit." Mira muttered.

"It really does…" Azel added, stepping inside cautiously.

They entered single-file… the tunnel was too narrow for anything else.

"Hey, let me be first." Mynes said, nudging herself forward until she led the group. Azel was behind her with Mira behind him.

The space was so tight Mynes's shoulder brushed Azel's chest as they moved.

Mynes began swaying her hips dramatically.

"Like what you see…?" she said over her shoulder.

Then she felt something poke her ass.

Her face instantly lit up.

'Is… is that him…?' she thought.

She turned with a knowing smirk…

And saw Mira behind her.

Mira calmly jabbed her sword's hilt into Mynes's backside again.

"Move," Mira said.

"Ahhh!!!" Mynes yelped as she shot forward, tumbling out of the narrow passage and rolling into a wide cavern.

Azel and Mira stepped out after her.

And immediately froze.

The cavern was filled with crystals… hundreds of them, glowing faintly blue and red like dying stars.

But what caught their attention was at the center.

A woman.

Or what had once been a woman.

Her corpse lay sprawled across the ground with her skin shriveled, ribs protruding, and her cheeks hollow.

She looked like she had aged a century in a week. Yet her eyes still moved… slowly… painfully… turning toward the newcomers.

Then they locked onto Azel.

And Azel felt something invade him.

His breath hitched.

His heart twisted as if a fist squeezed it. His vision blurred and sharpened then blurred again.

Every instinct screamed to look away… but he couldn't. He was frozen in place.

The woman's jaw creaked open.

"Ya…" she whispered, her decaying lips trembling.

"…Yah…"

"…Yanog?"

Mira's reaction was immediate.

Her blade flashed.

SHING!

The woman's head separated from her shoulders in one clean strike, rolling onto the stone floor as her body slumped.

Mira turned instantly to Azel.

"Are you okay? You're… crying."

Azel blinked.

He touched his cheek.

He was crying…

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