The Third Time

Night ignored Rafael's demoralizing comment as the wraith to his right moved. It's tentacle-like arms shifted into a human's hands; the only difference was that it was five inches long, had sharp edges, and glowed under the occasional peek of the moonlight.

The wind blew as the shifted arm of one of the wraiths slashed sideways in his direction. There were no attacks in sight, but Night heard something slicing the air at rapid speed towards him.

In much haste, Night threw his body to his left and managed to avoid any fatal injuries. However, there were three small gashes on the right side of his waist, which painted his white shirt red with his own blood.

Night suppressed a groan from coming out of his mouth as he tried to immediately balance himself. The other two wraiths actions became abnormal as their whole body wriggled as if they were being electrocuted before they became still, and just like how the first wraith shifted its tentacle-like arms, the other two shifted theirs in other forms.

The middle wraith charged towards Night with its newly shifted sword arm. Night jumped back and reflexively raised the short sword in front of him.

The sword-armed wraith's attack was offset by the short sword, but Night's hand trembled from the impact.

A level 11 Legion was nowhere on par with a calamity-tier Chaos creature's strength.

The wraith's slit lips rose as it stared at Night's relieved eyes. And at that moment, his eyes widened after he felt his hand, which was holding the short sword, grow heavier.

Night grabbed the end of the hilt with his other hand as his feet dug through the muddy ground but still slid.

It did not take a second for Night to go flying a few feet away. He shifted his body and tried to slow down the fall by spreading his arms and having the wind blow through his loose sleeves.

As soon as his feet touched the ground, a different wraith came charging at him. It's arms were shifted into a mace.

The wraith appeared in front of him out of thin air and swung its mace-shaped arm. Night could feel the force the wraith put in that one swing as he could hear the air cutting through such a blunt weapon.

If he didn't want to be blasted into pieces, he absolutely needed to dodge that attack. However, there was a slight problem. Other than the sound of the mace cutting through the air, Night could hear something else coming from behind.

The first wraith that had attacked him was up on the attack once again. Night gritted his teeth, thinking that no matter what he did, he couldn't just move his body swift enough to evade attacks coming from the front and back.

However, to his surprise, his body moved on its own, as if by reflex. No, it was as if someone else was controlling his body.

His legs bended, and within a second, his body was up in the air with his back tilted into a perfect curve, making the invisible attack of the wraith, who had arms shifted into something like that of a mutated human's hand, hit the wraith with a mace-shaped hand.

As soon as the attack hit, the mace-armed wraith turned into white smoke and dissipated into the air.

"I guess that's not the real body."

Night whispered as his body landed back on the ground, and without wasting a second, he darted to the sword-armed wraith.

'Why is this bastard still? '

As if the sword-armed wraith were stunned, it wasn't moving in its place. It's position stayed when its attack missed Night.

Night's pace slowed as he turned to the other wraith with invisible attacks, and just like the sword-armed wraith, it was still for a moment before it moved as if it had recovered from a temporary stun.

Night's eyes narrowed. He dashed to the sword-armed wraith, giving it no time to attack him first.

'It's about time for the five minutes to end.'

As he took a step closer to the sword-armed wraith, his head reflexively ducked, and a mace swung behind him.

Using his leg stepped in front as leverage to support his weight, his body made a 180-degree turn and thrust his short sword into the mace-armed wraith, which had resurrected when the ten-minute interval ended, his right hand holding the hilt while the other pushing the end, which had also acted as a support.

As soon as his short sword reached the mace-armed wraith's head, it was like thrusting through air, but after seeing the mace-armed wraith dissipate into a white smoke, he knew that his attack worked.

He didn't have time to watch the mace-armed wraith disappear completely as he turned his body once again to the sword-armed wraith, which had its arm raised high in the air, ready to strike down on him at any given moment. Night's arm, which was holding the short sword, trembled.

He was about to block the attack, but his body resisted the command from his brain, and instead of blocking with his arm, it moved on its own as if again by reflex and swung on the sword that was coming down on him.

Night's eyes squinted, anticipating an excrutiating pain as the sword hit him, but through his narrowed eyes, he saw his short sword slashing through the wraith's sword-shaped arm and cutting it in half. As the other half dissipated into white smoke, the wraith's body stayed still for a moment before...

'One, two, three.'

It moved again. It's eyes, like those of a dead fish's, looked at Night, but it didn't dare move or attack him. It stayed still, as if waiting for its chance to attack.

Confused by the situation, Night narrowed his eyes. Why would the sword-armed wraith, which never waited for even a second to attack, suddenly do the opposite thing?

However, he found the answer a few seconds later.

The wraith with mutated human hand was behind him, its claws ready to end him. Night tried to turn around and stop the wraith from attacking him, but it was too late. The wraith's claws pierced his waist and created three small holes in it.

"Ugh, fuck."

Night grabbed the wraith's wrist and swung his short sword at it. The wraith's severed hand turned into white smoke and blood instantly gushed out of his wounds. 

But that was not the end because the sword-armed wraith was still lying in wait for the right opportunity to deliver the final blow in case the other wraith didn't manage to finish him.

Thrusting his arm shaped like a sword, the wraith almost managed to pierce Night's heart but failed.

An aura of death spilled through Night's entire being. His wounds, which were causing him agony, disappeared, and he became numb to the pain. The wraiths flinched after feeling the aura of death. The two remaining wraiths jumped back away from Night.

Night, who had his back bent and his hands placed on his new wounds, trying hard to stop them from bleeding, stood straight.

His eyes met the sword-armed wraith. His face, devoid of emotions, looked like that of a sovereign that could destroy anything in his path.

"You're just a mirror too, aren't you?"

As he cut the wraith with mutated human hands' claws and it turned into white smoke, he found out that there was no way it was the main body. That now leaves him with the information that the sword-armed wraith was the main body. But there was another crucial factor that he must consider.

The wraiths needed time to recover after their attack. And the sword-armed wraith had the second-longest recovery time, with the wraith, which had mutated human hands, being the fastest to recover.

"The main body is not here, isn't it?"

Night asked as if the wraith would be able to answer his questions. The aura of death continued seeping out of him and with each passing second it was growing stronger and thicker.

Night's eyes drifted far from the wraith's back. One Whisper was standing facing his direction.

Slowly, whispers started to appear one by one until there were more than a dozen of them encircling the area.

Just as the Whispers stopped multiplying, a large figure descended from above.

'What a deja vu.'

The thing that had fallen looked like a large boulder, but as it stood up and stretched its limbs, it became larger than a two-story house.

With its almost transparent body, Night knew instantly that it was the main body. Its size did not compare to the mirror wraiths, which were no bigger than three meters.

"Help me."

Night muttered under his breath, but it was loud enough for the Whispers to hear and heed his plea. Some became formless and flew in his direction. The formless Whispers became his armor and momentarily patched his injuries to prevent him from bleeding. As the whispers attached to him fed on the aura of death, he could feel them growing stronger.

Night's eyes locked with the wraith's main body as he released his divine power. He just knew how to do it as if it were something that he was born with. The main body showed no reaction to Night's power manifestation, but at the same time it couldn't deny the rumbling which was growing stronger beneath its feet. 

The first Whisper to appear had already declared Night's victory.