Aamon stood at the entrance of the cursed villa, his expression unreadable under the pale moonlight. Beside him, Alexia tightened the leather gloves on her hands, her crimson eyes glowing faintly. Yue remained quiet, the air around her stirring as if in response to a silent call. They had returned—not as the unprepared team from before—but as cultivators tempered by purpose, training, and a desire to push past their limits.
The creaking of the warped door echoed through the corridor as they stepped inside. Shadows danced along the blood-stained walls. The air hung heavy, filled with decay and madness, like a suffocating fog clinging to their skin. The chill they felt before had deepened—no longer just a sensation, but an omen.
Aamon motioned forward. "Stay sharp. They're here."
Barely had the words left his mouth when the temperature dropped sharply. Black mist crawled along the floor like sentient ink, and a dozen figures slowly emerged. Their bodies were malformed, spectral, and writhing in corruption. Hollow eyes stared from broken masks of what were once human-like faces, now twisted by hatred, greed, and madness. Twelve corrupted spirits. Each of them radiated the dark essence of the abyss.
With a screech that shattered the silence, the battle began.
Aamon leapt forward, his hand tracing the air as a glowing arc of wind gathered around his blade. "Wind Edge!"
His weapon surged with cutting wind, slashing through one spirit's midsection. But instead of falling, the spirit screeched and reformed, the darkness knitting back together like liquid shadow.
"They're resisting physical damage again!" Aamon growled, twisting mid-air to dodge a clawed swipe from another spirit.
"They've become stronger since last time!" Yue shouted. She clapped her hands together, channels of wind circling her body before exploding outward. "Gale Ring!"
A burst of compressed air blasted two of the spirits away, their forms dispersing briefly before solidifying again. Yue spun, planting her feet with practiced form, her left palm striking the floor.
"Earth Spire!"
A jagged spike of stone erupted under a spirit, piercing through its center. The creature screamed, pinned momentarily, but the darkness began to eat away at the stone, corroding it. The battlefield itself started to shift—the air growing heavier, the light dimming unnaturally as a layer of shadow blanketed the surroundings.
"They're changing the battlefield!" Alexia yelled, backing into a corner. She bit into her wrist, letting the blood flow.
Her eyes turned a shade deeper, and her veins glowed crimson.
"Bloodburst Veil!"
Her body blurred as a cloak of blood magic enveloped her. With a scream, she dashed forward, her daggers igniting with red flame. She pierced a spirit's chest and then spun, leaving trails of burning blood across its torso.
"I'll hold them off! Just burn them faster!" she called out, voice strained.
Aamon's mind raced. They were reacting, adjusting, surviving. Every time they tried to land a hit, the spirits adapted. His elemental attacks worked—barely. Physical skills had limited effect. The shadows thickening across the room distorted perception, slowing their reflexes and muting sound.
He switched tactics.
"Ember Pulse!"
Flames exploded around him in a wave of heat, pushing three spirits back. They hissed violently, the fire leaving scorched trails on their shadowed forms. Aamon used the momentum to close the gap and pressed his palm against one of their chests.
"Breaker Palm!"
A delayed shockwave surged through the spirit, causing its form to ripple and distort violently. It shrieked before collapsing into smoke. Aamon turned sharply.
"One down!"
But his victory was short-lived. Another spirit launched itself at him from above, claws outstretched. Before he could react, a blur of crimson intercepted it.
Alexia took the hit directly, blood spraying from her shoulder. She spun with savage grace and retaliated with a brutal slash to its throat, her blade glowing red-hot from her own essence.
"Don't space out, idiot!" she growled.
Behind them, Yue stood at the center of a cyclone of elemental fury. Wind howled around her while the ground trembled beneath. She pressed her palms together.
"Stormrend Pillars!"
Four stone columns rose in a square formation, trapping several spirits inside. The wind condensed in the middle, becoming razor-sharp.
"Now!"
Aamon leapt in, focusing his elemental control. "Aqua Lance!"
A spear of pressurized water erupted from his hand, piercing through the clustered spirits. A shattering sound rang out as two of them dissipated entirely.
The battlefield shifted again. The corrupted spirits, now only seven in number, began to chant in guttural unison. The darkness thickened, spreading like oil across the floor. The structure of the room distorted, walls cracking and bleeding shadows. Their madness was spreading into the environment itself.
"They're fusing with the house," Yue said grimly.
"We have to end this now," Aamon responded. "Alexia, can you push your limits?"
Alexia smiled, eyes half-crazed. "Of course."
She bit into her hand again, drawing more blood.
"Blood Reckoning!"
Her body glowed with red energy as the blood around her floated midair. She vanished from view, reappearing like a specter behind a spirit and severing its limbs in a spray of molten shadow. Another spirit tried to intercept her, but Yue redirected a gust of wind, sending the creature crashing into a wall.
Aamon activated Phantom Step. His body flickered, and he weaved between two spirits with blinding speed. His blade glowed faintly.
"Moonshadow Draw!"
A slash of silver energy cleaved a corrupted spirit clean in half. A second delayed wave followed, cutting through another. Both evaporated into mist.
The final three spirits merged into a single larger form—a monstrous wraith over twelve feet tall, with six arms and a face split by a vertical maw. It howled, darkness erupting from its core and extinguishing all light in the room. The air became void. The battlefield was reduced to blackness.
"I can't see—" Yue started.
"Don't panic," Aamon said calmly, his eyes shut.
He focused.
He couldn't rely only on sight. He grounded himself in the rhythm of the fight. The warmth of Yue's earth magic. The sharp, bloody scent of Alexia's spells. The malice of the spirit. He took a deep breath.
He stepped forward.
"Echo Cleave."
One hit. Then another. And another. The final strike reverberated with all the force he had stored. A ripple exploded through the room, illuminating the dark in a cascading shockwave of silver force.
The wraith staggered, cracking along its spine.
Alexia followed up, launching a crimson dagger into its core. "Crimson Bloom!"
The blade detonated within the monster, bursting in a spiral of blood and flame. It howled, clutching its chest.
Yue moved to deliver the final blow.
"Verdant Collapse!"
A monolith of earth crushed the weakened spirit into the ground. The shadow imploded in a burst of dark mist, fading into silence.
The corrupted spirits were gone.
The house was quiet once again.
The three stood in the remnants of the twisted battlefield, breathing hard. Their clothes torn, skin scorched and cut—but their eyes burned with new resolve.
Aamon looked around. "We survived."
Yue nodded. "We did more than that. We won."
Alexia wiped blood from her cheek and gave a feral grin. "Let's see what secrets this damned house was hiding."
They moved deeper into the villa, leaving behind the echoes of blood and shadow.