Awilix dropped to one knee as blood dripped down her arms and fell to the floor.

Yet she wasn't allowed to falter for long as a slash of wind immediately forced her to stand up and launch herself away.

Awilix landed on the stone floor gracefully, but a torrent of pain shot up her body from her ankle.

Eclipse was still covering the hallway, and she'd managed to remain at its epicenter. Still, she could feel her power approaching its limits, and she hadn't made any progress against the insidious beasts basking freely in her darkness as if they owned it.

At least Awilix didn't have to worry too much about the warriors as they were practically incapacitated the moment they stepped into the field of darkness; instead, she had to worry about two Champions… But these two Champions were particularly formidable.

One was a chameleon that looked like a typical warrior but was larger and could send slices of wind with its claws.

The other, more problematic one, was small and looked like a warrior as well, except violet seemed to be its base color. As for why this one was such a problem… it could manipulate and corporealize bits of shadows.

This was a major problem for Awilix because Eclipse itself was forcing a one-way shadow on the world around Awilix. But one-way did not mean she was the only one who could see the shadow from her perspective.

This bastard, who could control shadow, was not only unimpaired by her ability but empowered by it. Yet, Awilix was forced to keep the ability activated because if she didn't, the horde would surround and decimate her.

The kitty was already fighting a losing battle; a perfect counter just made things ten times worse!

At least she still had support from the workers above who were trying their best to clear out the chameleon warriors outside of Eclipse, so Awilix could focus on the important enemies. Sadly, it was clear their support wouldn't last much longer, so Awilix's battle was only going to get harder.

Awilix could never stay in one spot for long, as the shadow bastard could literally form an attack anywhere.

It seemed like everywhere the cat looked, a new shadow spike appeared in front of her.

The only advantage she had was that she could sense the spikes before they materialized, since they were born in her shadow. Plus, it seemed like the bastard could only control a limited amount, or else it would have overwhelmed Awilix by now with quantity.

By her estimation, it could control five separate points.

As for the Wind Slicer…

That large chameleon seemed to possess more overall strength, but it was blind and its senses dulled due to the Eclipse. All it was doing was sending wild attacks toward the only thing it could see — Awilix's golden eyes.

Whenever Awilix tried to close the gap and eliminate the Wind Slicer, the Shadow User chameleon would get in her way, which could apparently see, or at least sense, just fine.

In any case, Awilix was accruing repeated damage on her body while being unable to inflict a single wound. She did kill the occasional naive warrior who wandered aimlessly into the Eclipse, but that's all she managed.

Awilix stared at the Wind Slicer as it rended the air once again and sent an attack which Awilix couldn't see, but could sense. Awilix zipped to the side, but was forced to launch herself in the air when a sudden spike appeared in front of her eyes; however, this maneuver pushed her back into the path of the wind slice, and she took the blow on her left calf, causing more blood to amass on her delicate body.

Awilix cursed and bit her tongue to numb the pain.

'I'll be damned if I die before getting my reward!!'

As Awilix flew through the air, she sensed another shadow spike forming in her path.

She barely managed to swivel to dodge it, then grabbed the thin shadow protrusion using it as leverage to swing herself back down to the ground.

"Meyah!"

The moment her left ankle collided with the stone, a horrendous snap echoed throughout the dungeon.

A building injury had finally caught up with her after repeated stress.

Awilix winced in pain as she used her good foot to bounce herself to the side just in time to dodge another shadow spike.

When she landed, she tried to put weight on her left foot again, only for it to give way immediately. As Awilix fell to the ground, she looked down and saw a white bone covered in blood poking through her dark skin.

"Ow! Fuck! Shit! Fuck!"

When Awilix looked at her own injury, it was like the pain came in a tidal wave, having been delayed so that it could halt her at the worst possible moment.

Completely losing concentration, the Eclipse started to vanish and quickly reversed, getting sucked back into her. As it did, she felt a weird surge of power nestle in her core. But this bizarre power wasn't going to fix her ankle and help her survive this situation without some miracle.

The moment Eclipse dissipated to the point where she could clearly be seen, all of the surrounding chameleons looked at her with ravenous joy. The Wind Slicer, especially. That bastard smiled before reeling back and sending an attack aimed right at Awilix's chest.

Awilix tried to dodge, but a nasty tongue shot out from the crowd and held her still, and she lacked the strength to fight it.

Awilix had tears in her eyes as she watched the wind warp in the air and barrel straight for her. Death looked imminent for her.

At least, it did until a little red imp appeared in the attack's path, absorbing it for the cat. The attack rended through the little imp before fizzling out.

All Awilix could do was watch as the imp's blood splattered and covered her face, a little seeping into her mouth. At that same moment, the Eclipse finished retracting and nestled itself inside of Awilix, causing something dormant to surge.

***

Salome was covered in her own blood from head to toe. Even more stained the ground around her. Much more blood than what was even contained in her body.

If she didn't have Vitality Drain, she'd be dead about 3 times over. But because she had the insanely powerful ability, she was able to carry on with her dreadful slaughter.

Salome's quills rended through the Chameleon Warriors with ease and the Champions with minor difficulties. Each time sheer quantity tried rearing its harrowing head, Salome showed the pinnace of quality.

It was unfortunate for her enemies, but Salome's skill set was perfectly suited for one-versus-many battles. As long as she had Aether to consume, she was an unstoppable force.

Like she was dancing, Salome jumped in the air and spun while sending her quills whizzing in every direction, slaughtering the masses. She must have killed at least 40 by now.

After her most recent volley, Salome flapped her wings and shot toward a Champion, which was a weird humanoid amalgamation of soot and tree bark, then impaled it on her hand and greedily absorbed all of its Aether, killing it.

The moment it withered and died, Salome shot it in the air and shot a cursory glance toward the black wall, with a subtle, warped golden glow along its edge, which had formed a little further down the hallway.

Salome had no idea how Awilix was faring, but seeing the wall remaining at least signaled she was alive. Even if she wanted to help Awilix, she was better off not. After all, she wasn't immune to the Eclipse — her senses would be robbed too. Even worse, if she activated Vitality Drain while in Eclipse, she'd start killing Awilix in the same fashion she'd take in killing Ximena.

So all she could do was trust in the cat.

Salome turned her back to the wall and looked around at the 15 or so Chameleon Warriors surrounding her — a far cry from their numbers at the start.

Just as she prepared another volley, she heard a mass of hisses and looked around the bend to see the Chameleon Warriors stampeding at her.

'A retreat?'

As Salome dodged a few more tongues and slashes, she heard a weird suction sound and spun around to notice the edges of the shadow wall start to fold and wobble in on itself.

Then, it began to fall toward the ground.

What was revealed was a broken cat fallen on the ground, covered in blood.

Salome didn't even take time to analyze the situation thoroughly and crouched down, prepared to fly to Awilix's side, but it was clear she'd never make it in time.

As Salome flew through the air, she spotted two red streaks falling from the ceiling toward the cat.

'Sizzy and Aster.'

Salome didn't catch which one it was, but the moment they crashed to the ground, their body was eviscerated — torn to shreds and made Awilix wear their guts like a horrid dress. But they had protected her.

Salome just made it in time to decapitate the purple one before it could launch an attack, but it was clear she'd be too late to take care of the wind one.

But that was when the feline who wore the guts of her comrade stood on one foot with a soft golden glow surrounding her entire body.

The air grew momentarily cold, then swiftly heated up. Salome looked over at the golden cat as she slammed one of her quills into a nearby warrior.

Salome instinctively felt it…

A power greater than her own had just been made present.

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