Kurt no longer thought whatever he was chasing was simply a shadow golem. And what does that mean? It could travel through the gate. He looked at his surroundings and there were dead Valentine members on the ground. Most likely the guards were taken out at the beginning.

Kurt didn't exactly know where this was. The location of the gate was on another continent. So the area seemed to be guarded. It lacked a roof though so it wasn't inside a structure.

Unsure of what to do he came back to the other side to see what the result of the battle was. Harvey would have been looking at least.

When he got back to the courtyard the enemy had recently been defeated. There were no remains left as the shadows would dissipate instead of remain.

"Kurt," said Talia, "did you get that weird one?"

"No, it escaped."

"Escaped? How?"

"Through the gate."

"Damn. We are starting to search the castle but I don't think we will find them. But we did find the people here. All dead."

"They were most likely just trying to take a bite out of the clan, the balance has shifted with the fire clan being basically lost," said Luther.

"They probably didn't expect us," said Layla. "But now they know."

"That's true."

"I don't know what the thing was though. Or how'd it get through the gate," said Kurt.

"What do you mean it wasn't just a shadow clan member in some weird shadow armor?" said Talia.

"I don't think so, it was weird. And spoke to me like it was not human."

Talia and Luther looked at each other. "You don't think?"

"What?" Said Layla.

"There was this silly rumor going around a while ago."

"Rumor?"

"Well that the shadow clan inner circle consists of shadow demons."

"What's so silly about that?" said Layla.

"Huh?" said King Luther, "because shadow demons are a myth."

"A myth? I'm afraid not," said Layla. "If their gate was near an abyss void, the difference between an abyss Demon and a shadow demon may be a what was it,...tow-may-toe, tow-mat-toe situation."

"Dear gods," said Luther, "are you for real?"

"Ohh yes, very dangerous creatures, those abyss demons or shadow demons if you want. They usually grow weaker the further from the void they are though."

"But that wouldn't explain how they got through the gate," said Kurt.

"That's because I haven't seen the gate, they are different, you know," said Layla.

Talia and Luther looked at each other, then Luther spoke, "well might as well since Kurt has already seen it.

They went back into the gate room this time Kurt could take a proper look at it but it was different than the others he hadn't really noticed before because you generally just look at the portal. But there was a doorway made out of stone that seemed to be a part of the gate appearing on both sides. Other gates at the border just ended.

"You're right it is different."

"Yes," said Layla, "it is more fragile that the stone working is part of the gate. That must have taken a lot more time. But," she came closer to it. "Interesting."

"What?"

"You could physically move the gate," said Layla, "like on a train car. You'd have to be careful and dig it up."

"So what does that mean?" said Luther.

"Well some of the problem here is that since they can travel through shadows, these stones have shadows on both sides of the gate. It is possible because they can travel through it," said Layla, "I would suggest surrounding the gate with light from now on, make sure the shadow," she pointed at the floor, "doesn't touch the wall," moving her finger up to the wall showing. "It might not stop them coming in but they would have to shift out of the shadows to get far."

"Really?"

"Yes," said Layla, "it seems to be a flaw in the design. They must have not realized there was a gap in the protection slipping past it on the stone itself."

Kurt took a closer look at the portal pushing mana to his eye but this time some of the red mana came with it. The gate sparkled with strings and the stone created a broken shape of a crystal. What was this? Could he see the string of it now? He'd have to watch Layla next time. And take a closer look at their own. He shook his end up able to comprehend what he was seeing.

"It seems they defeated the defenders on this side," said Luther. "All so senseless." A few moments later a few footsteps could be heard. The battle had taken most of the night. Then there was a mess of shouting. Then a huge ringing of bells came out over the area.

After a few moments a few guards came spears drawn. Swords and shields for those that didn't have it. They recognized King Luther.

"What happened, my lord?" said one of the men.

"We were going to ask you that."

"We are here taking up the next shift, I'm sorry I was asleep less than an hour ago most of us were or getting ready to come here and relieve these men. And we found them like this."

"That actually makes sense my lord," said Count Douglass, "they must have come right after the last shift change. The timing of the events makes sense."

"I can't believe this, they attacked so fast we couldn't react. Then just ran before this side even noticed what happened. I'm guessing we had no or very few transfers from the last shift as well."

"It appears so everyone around the alarm bells seem to be not expecting their deaths at all," said the soldier.

"And with such limited access allowed," said Talia. "Those bastards. They knew the whole time they couldn't keep it. So they just used hit and run tactics."

"We don't know what they were after," said Kurt, "we may have stopped their plans. They may have succeeded."

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