Ayla dropped into the settlement without a sound.

The moment her boots touched broken concrete, her knees bent just enough to absorb the impact and with it, all the sound, before she straightened.

Her grey eyes calmly scanned her surroundings as she noticed a few more things now that she was closer.

The air here was thick and completely stale, heavy with the scent of dried blood.

The scent of It clung to everything, reminding her of a memory of her past.

She didn't like places like this.

Not because she was afraid, but because they reminded her too much of the rift she was stuck in and it felt suffocating.

The Settlement was completely void of Eclipsed, saved for a couple of tier threes prowling around.

It seemed the thing controlling them was smart enough to leave a few for its protection, because of she guessed correctly,

Then it meant that the thing couldn't move or abandon its current position. Still, Nox had done a pretty good job in acting as bait as all the other Eclipsed had been drawn away.

The Eclipsed noticed her almost immediately and unlike with Nox, they didn't hesitate, instead they immediately rushed towards her.

But instead of fear, Ayla just sighed softly, "you're being too noisy."

After her words, umbra energy immediately wrapped itself around her, producing a subtle glow.

The moment the first Eclipsed reached her, she calmly stepped forward and passed through it.

Literally.

She passed through it as if it wasn't even there and the next second, the creature froze mid-lunge as its shadow peeled away from its body, tearing free like wet paper.

A moment later, it collapsed into ash.

The other Eclipsed let out a low growl as they warily looked at her, neither understood what had just happened, but they didn't need to.

All they had to do was stop her from reaching the mother.

With that, the second Eclipsed lunged, aiming to stay high enough for her not to pass through.

But Ayla didn't look very impressed by its strategy and she lifted a finger. She moment she did, black spikes rose from her shadows and quickly impaled the Eclipsed.

The rest met the same fate, and within minutes, the outer edge of the settlement grew quiet.

Almost a bit too quiet.

She tilted her head slightly, wondering if she had taken care of them, after all, she could've sworn she sensed more.

An answer was provided a second later.

"…They're pulling back."

She could feel it now.

She hadn't dealt with all the Eclipsed instead, they were leaving. Retreating deeper into the settlement, abandoning positions they should've defended.

Something was calling them again, and Ayla just did the most logical thing to do in this situation.

She followed them.

...

The deeper she went, the worse it became. The scent made her feel as if she was getting closer and closer to the source.

Which she was.

And at the center of it all was a massive mound of flesh, bone, and corpses.

They were of Humans, Eclipsed and animals, all fused together.

From this close, the scent was even worse, but there wasn't a single change in her expression.

Her steps slowed as she approached the pile.

"This is...the incubation?" she murmured.

The pile soon moved and a low, wet sound could be heard as something moved out of it.

The outer layer split apart, revealing a towering Eclipsed, easily tier 4...at least from the energy she felt from it anyway.

Its body was swollen and disfigured, an indication that it was capable of using umbra energy...if the pressure it released wasn't enough of an indication.

The creature dwarfed her and its limbs seemed overextended. Its face lacked eyes, as the only feature on it was a wide open maw with rows of dagger sized teeth.

Its fingers were extended into claws, each probably capable of turning her to paste in a single swipe.

The Eclipsed seemed capable of standing upright, but right now, both its overextended arms and legs were on the ground.

The Eclipsed roared and the ground itself trembled, but Ayla didn't flinch, instead, she simply said,

"You're also loud too."

The creature immediately charged at her, the ground shook with every movement the creature did, its claws leaving deep craters on the ground.

The moment it reached him, it raised its claws and swiped at her with full force, aiming to turn her to smaller bits.

But just the claw could reach her, Ayla vanished.

The claw slammed down where she'd been standing, obliterating the street and creating a deep crater, the shape of a claw.

Ayla reappeared midair behind it, she wrapped umbra energy around her legs before driving it straight into its spine.

The monster let out a pained bowl, but didn't fall.

It turned unnaturally fast, backhanding her across the settlement.

She crashed through a wall, sliding across debris before stopping.

"…Annoying," she muttered, standing up as dust fell from her hair, fortunately, she had created a shadow barrier and just before it hit.

Else, it would've been bad.

The reassessed the threat of the Eclipsed again, it wasn't like she sensed danger from it, no.

It was the fact that it was too big to use some of her skills on. Severing it from its shadow would turn it to ashes, but due to its size, it would take a lot more energy.

She preferred saving her energy incase something unexpected happened.

"Let's use that," she muttered.

The settlement suddenly darkened as shadows started like a tide.

The Eclipsed, seeing the spectacle, tried retreating, but it was useless. The shadows quickly surrounded and wrapped around it.

The tier 4 Eclipsed roared, thrashing wildly as Ayla walked calmly toward it, each step she took caused the ground beneath her feet to crack, due to she sheer pressure radiating from her.

This ability wasted a lot less energy but it was just as potent as severing their shadows...well, not exactly, but it worked well.

Ayla raised her hand.

And the moment she did, the shadows collapsed inward.

The monster screamed as its body imploded, layers of the Eclipsed's flesh tearing apart under crushing pressure.

After a while of thrashing, the Eclipsed went completely still, and its corpse, that was even more disfigured now, fell to the ground.

Ayla observed it for a while, before turning around and muttering, "Nox is also done."

But before she could take another step,

BOOM!

A deafening explosion ent off behind her.

Umbra energy erupted outward in a massive shockwave, vaporizing anything in its path, hurling debris skyward, and with it, a pressure of pure dread fell on the land.

Ayla was thrown back but she managed to cocoon herself in shadows just before any harm could come to her.

She looked back at the corpse of the Eclipsed and noticed that it was twitching. A moment later, a claw tore through its flesh before ripping it open,

Allowing whatever was within to come out.

The creature soon revealed itself, it looked similar to the Eclipsed she just fought, but it was a lot smaller, and it stood on two legs.

But Ayla didn't let its size fool her as she could clearly feel the pressure from it.

Tier 5.

It lifted its head and looked at her.

Ayla stared back before saying, "the incubation is complete?"

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