The chaos still rumbled in the throne room when a section of the side wall collapsed in a cloud of dust and rubble. The stone, weakened by previous battles, revealed an old, narrow, and dark service passage.
Vaekas Drelnor wasted no time. He slipped through the opening, a dark silhouette among the shadows. His two curved-blade daggers gleamed with a dull light, each engraved with an ancient rune: the Rune of Loyalty, a spell allowing him to recall them to his hand no matter what.
Behind him, a sudden movement—animalistic and swift.
"Running away already?" sneered Helydia, emerging into the passage.
"No. I'm inviting you."
She followed him without hesitation.
The corridor led them through a forgotten wing of the castle, where tattered tapestries and broken stained glass allowed only faint, pale light to filter in. They finally emerged into an old, open-air cloister, overgrown with wild grass, ruins, and memories. Collapsed columns cast long, slanting shadows over cracked stones.
Vaekas Drelnor stood calmly in the center, confident.
"Here, the shadows are mine."
He opened his arms, and darkness slithered toward him like obedient serpents.
But perched atop a column, Helydia watched him.
She leapt. In midair, her body shifted.
Cracks of bone and flesh echoed as chitinous legs burst from her back—long, black, and sharp as blades at the tips. Her torso bent, her eyes darkened. Her skin shimmered with dark reflections.
A semi-spider form, both elegant and nightmarish.
"So I'll show you how to hunt in the dark."
The fight began.
Vaekas launched the first attack.
"Night's Embrace."
A wave of shadow surged from his daggers, forming shadowy arms that tried to wrap around Helydia. She leapt onto an archway, barely avoiding the shadow chains crashing onto the stones with a viscous sound.
With a swift motion, she extended her palms.
"Steel Thread."
Two nearly invisible silver threads shot out and hooked onto a column behind Vaekas. She yanked hard.
A large chunk of ruin collapsed. But Vaekas vanished in a blink.
"Shadow Slash."
He reappeared behind her, dagger aimed for her neck.
CLANG.
A hind leg blocked the strike. She pushed him away with a swipe.
"You move fast. But you make too much noise."
She stepped back and spat sharply.
"Venom Spit."
A greenish jet flew toward Vaekas's torso. He crossed his daggers to block, but a drop touched his hip. He grimaced.
"Tssk… burning."
Helydia sprang on him, her legs spinning in razor-sharp flurries.
Vaekas activated:
"Twin Blades."
His daggers spun in perfect mirror, parrying each strike. He seemed to dance within the shadows—fluid, precise, elusive.
But the venom's effect was already taking hold.
He stepped back, raised a hand:
"Shadow Strike."
His shadow lengthened and thickened… then lunged in a bestial form, jaws wide open. Helydia screamed back:
"Piercing Cry!"
A sonic wave tore through the air. The shadow shattered into black tatters. Vaekas staggered, ears ringing.
Helydia took advantage. She pounced, all legs forward.
A deadly dance.
Each strike sliced, clawed, forcing Vaekas onto the defensive. But he held firm, countering with a stealthy dagger, a vicious dodge.
He cast:
"Shadow Fissure."
The ground split beneath Helydia, swallowing one of her legs into a black crevice. She screamed in rage.
He rushed at her, daggers raised.
But… Helydia activated "Accelerated Regeneration," quickly closing a slash on her side, though her leg remained trapped. In a desperate move, she severed the trapped tip of her leg, freeing herself.
She leapt instantly, spinning in midair despite the pain.
"Too slow."
She extended a leg. A red line appeared across Vaekas's chest.
He staggered back, bloodied.
He spat on the ground, then cast:
"Call of Loyalty."
His two daggers, dropped earlier, flew back like arrows into his palms. He caught them midair.
"Let's go all out…"
A cloak of trembling shadows enveloped him.
"Silent Veil."
He vanished completely from sight.
Helydia sensed the danger, every sense alert.
A left strike—she parried. Another from behind—she spun. She was no longer fighting a man, but a void. A killer without a body.
Then she spat again. Not venom this time. Just a thin veil of saliva.
The air whistled. Something moved in the fluid.
"There."
She turned and struck.
Her legs pierced the shadowed cloak. This time, they went through.
A groan. A fall.
Vaekas Drelnor reappeared, impaled on three of the semi-spider's legs. Blood trickled from his mouth. His hand trembled, trying to recall his daggers.
Helydia approached, still inhuman in appearance.
"Want to get them back?"
She raised a leg and stomped on the hand bearing the rune.
CRACK.
"Too late."
She withdrew her natural blades. Vaekas collapsed silently.
Silence fell again over the old cloister.
Helydia, breathing hard, skin still moist with effort and transformation, slowly returned to human form. The battle was over.
The shadow had lost to the huntress.