All kinds of projectiles were assaulting Salome as she desperately flapped her wings and rage baited the chameleons to continue chasing.

Rocks, bones, sticks — she had to dodge them all.

Salome, as she retreated, spotted Chameleon Champions, or what appeared to be at least, trying to maintain order and call off the attack. But whenever it looked like that order was close to being restored, Salome would swoop down, kill a chameleon, then rip out its heart, fly back up…

And devour it in full display of the horde….

It wasn't a pretty sight. In fact, it was completely fucking horrifying!

If Vale saw her take such an action, he'd probably never look her way again!

But Salome's natural racial ability and Trait gave her the ability to eat and break down all forms of an Aether Construct, so this worked to maintain her power while also intimidating and pissing off the chameleons. Besides, it's not as if she was disgusted when eating the meat of a beast; no, that's the ultimate form of intimacy after all…

Truly becoming one with one another.

'How romantic ᥫ᭡.'

Salome neared the first bend of the beginning and tried her best to stave off injuries, but the sheer number of shit being thrown at her was enough to cause some meaningful damage to her eventually.

Rocks smashed into her wings, and some of her protective quills began to fracture. Pebbles pelted her body. Shattered and sharpened bones cut her flesh.

Yet, with each hit she took… she simply grew stronger.

Salome rounded the corner and momentarily looked up to see a pair of golden irises look back at her before quickly retreating.

Salome brought her head back down to the savage horde and continued flapping away, while watching a few climb up to the ceiling to check for workers. At the same time, a few light orbs were activated and set around the place, allowing the warriors to see.

'Hopefully they can stay hidden…'

If they couldn't, at least not until it was time, even Salome wouldn't be confident in her ability to save them.

Salome watched as the invaders spread out along the walls and hopped on the ledges made for Two and Vale in their fight against the wolves. Pausing for a moment, she tried to look through the crowd and identify the Champions…

Which got a little more complicated since the Champions had given up on holding back their forces. Instead, they began attempting to organize the attack.

Though some features stood out…

It wasn't their size or color; not necessarily… but a few of the invaders looked just plain… different. Their bodies were proportioned differently; some were not chameleons at all. There were even two non-reptiles.

Salome jumped with another flap of her wings, springing herself to the ceiling while continuously using her quills to block the most dangerous projectiles and simply allowing others to hit her.

'Ten…'

In just the front of the tidal wave of chameleons pouring after her, she'd counted ten potential Champions. Meaning, there was probably more or a similar amount at the flank of the force, and more she'd failed to count.

Salome retreated around the bend, but not after consuming the heart of one more Chameleon Warrior, just to solidify their hatred for her.

As she backed down the long hall, she felt a chill tickle her back, causing prickles on her skin.

A familiar chill which Salome dreaded and hated. Yet, for once, this chill was on her side.

As the cold grew more and damning and ferocious, Salome screamed out:

"Ice bitch! Incoming!"

Then, as Salome shot back through the air, she threw a cursory glance at her mortal enemy, who'd already unleashed the entirety of her power. Her crimson eyes turned to a soft blue… Her purple wings unfurled; her outfit was now truly made of crystal. The fabric sash was floating around and being used as a shield.

Ximena hadn't unsummoned her crystals, no…

They'd been reversed to help project her power instead of contain it, their red side now pointing inward, the soft, deplorable iridescent blue shining outward.

She was now in her complete, unrestrained state… The state she'd been in when she slaughtered Salome's subjects.

'These poor fools…'

They had no idea of the terrible fate awaiting them around the next corner.

Salome split and backed down the right side to a path that led nowhere, while Ximena took a step into the open and used the crystals to direct her murderous aura into the ocean of their foes.

It didn't take long for the majority of the horde to swap their targets from the demoness, who had momentarily disappeared, to the glacial freak of nature.

After waiting around the corner, she sent a few of her quills into the group that decided to continue chasing her; Salome healed herself and bolstered her reserves as much as she could before beginning her terrible journey back to the start, flying over the masses.

***

Awilix and the group of workers hid behind a thin stone wall, the scurrying of chameleon footsteps echoing below and on the other side. All it would take was one scratch from a worker to crumble it. Awilix was diligently counting in her head to three minutes…

Or at least she was supposed to be. But after getting distracted counting all the way to two (seconds), she'd decided to wing it, and just go when she felt like it.

'Eclipse, eclipse…'

Awilix still didn't exactly get what her ability had to do with such a thing, but she at least understood her ability now. Or it was better to say, she had an elementary understanding of it.

Awilix didn't necessarily block light… well, she did. But it wasn't her body…

At a random moment, Awilix screamed at the workers:

"Now!"

The tiny imps cut through the wall and were once again connected to the rest of the crawlspace and immediately met by the hungry eyes of crouched Chameleon Warriors. Awilix bounded around on all fours and cleared out the immediate area, but the ones she killed were swiftly replaced, their presence now made known.

However… Awilix's job wasn't to sit there and protect the workers, killing the stragglers who got up there… no, not at all.

The workers' survival would be on themselves and themselves alone.

Awilix looked through a pitfall toward the ground, and couldn't even make out a single meter of open space. Seeing this… Awilix let a creepy smile take hold of her face, and she extended her claws to their maximum length and breadth.

She had two things on her mind… Murder and the subsequent—

"Reward!"

Awilix dropped from the pitfall, landing on a Chameleon Warrior and sinking her claws deep into its head, instantly one-shotting it. Then she activated the Dawn's Eye and screamed:

"Be Blocked! Swallowed! Fade and Die!"

A phrase that helped transmit her soul scripture outward…

Whatever that meant.

Awilix didn't understand, but the bitch of a succubus had told her to coin a phrase that would help channel her Trait. She didn't necessarily need to say it to trigger her ability, but it would help while her proficiency was still low.

In any case, as Awilix rode the dead chameleon's body to the floor and the mass around her paused their advance in lieu of attacking her, a field of darkness exited from her feet and spread out. Then, after spreading for about ten meters, a wall of darkness rose and filled the space. In the immediate radius around her, whatever was touched by light became consumed by darkness.

A darkness where only two golden irises shone and nothing else.

This area of darkness wasn't physical at all. Anyone could go in and out as they pleased. Neither could the cubic field be moved. And what it encompassed was only areas affected by light, as well as its natural limit. If light no longer shone, then darkness would have no shadow to cast, and an even more damning dark would consume the Eclipse.

But, while the field couldn't move and anyone could come in and out, it was wide and long enough to cover the whole passage. If one wanted to go further in or out, they'd have to go through the Eclipse.

The chameleons who'd been closest to Awilix paused in a panic as their sight was completely stolen from them, save for two golden balls of light; however, Awilix could see perfectly fine… in fact, she not only could see everything clearly, but she could sense it too.

It didn't matter where an enemy was while in the Eclipse; she could feel their every movement and even intended movement.

Awilix dodged the awkward swipe of a Chameleon Warrior before lunging and thrusting her claw through its chest. Then, in one swift and agile movement, Awilix dislodged her hand while performing a pirouette and sending her other claw into another Chamelon Warrior.

The Chameleon Warriors desperately stuck at the floating golden irises, but those irises danced around in the air as if they were merely figments of their imagination.

While it was all going well for Awilix, that was until a particularly nasty foe slipped into her field. One that made all of her senses scream and her hair stand on end.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.