Chapter 8 - Weak

Although she was a bit worried about the appearance of the strange creature, which only brought more questions to the ones she already had, she was at least confident in winning if she had to fight. As long as she didn't misjudge the power of the creature, she would, at the very least, be able to escape. She was only thankful that she wasn't faced with that creature from before.

Back inside, Lilith finished up her revenge. She had also gotten all the information she wanted from him, such as if their families were okay. Both she and Ray were completely oblivious to the danger that was approaching them.

"Well, that's that. We might as well end him and be on our way," Lilith said casually after standing up from her previously crouching position.

"I agree. I plan to head straight home since my sister is fine." Ray stretched, obviously relieved that they had finally gotten rid of this ticking time bomb. Oh boy, was he in for a surprise!

Lilith summoned her scythe while looking down on George. She knew that it was probably due to her lack of sanity, but she felt a lot better after torturing him. She was finally ready to move on and look at all of this as a bad dream.

Lilith looked down at him and said one last time, "Just remember that even in death, you will always be...a massive pussy." Following this, she swung her scythe and decapitated him.

"Let's go. It's finally over," Ray put a hand on her shoulder and sighed. However, before they had a chance to do anything else, the lights in the room turned off, and the darkness deepened quickly. It wasn't as pitch black as the strange world they had been dragged into once, but it was close. They then heard a gruff voice behind them.

"Unfortunately, it isn't over yet. But, it will be soon."

Both of them were alarmed and quickly spun around, only to be face to face with the strange shadow wolf creature. In fact, it wouldn't be wrong to say it was a shadow werewolf, but with a human's chest and arms. Its four hands were still wolf-like claws, however, and its 'hair' or 'mane' was still a mass of shadowy tentacles.

The duo was sufficiently frightened since they both had felt nothing before this creature had spoken. Not to mention...It could speak! They were unsure if the previous creature could speak, but it seemed as if it acted more like it lacked sentience. This creature, however, was clearly intelligent. Maybe they could get answers this time.

Ray wasted no time and summoned his chain before asking the creature, "We encountered a similar creature as you before. May we ask why you are attacking us, and if there's any room for negotiation?"

"A similar creature? I highly doubt that, since, I'm going to be honest, you two would have no chance of survival, just like right now. I have no personal grudge against you, but orders are orders. You won't get anything else out of me aside from that." The creature replied, showing a strange level of patience. They had honestly expected it to be violent and not care for conversation.

"Well, you were pretty similar. Made of shadows, tentacle-like...hair? But, it didn't seem intelligent, and, aside from the tentacles, its body was only an eye." Ray responded. He did believe it saying that their chance at survival was low. After all, the only thing he could feel from this creature was danger and death. It was extremely dangerous.

The creature's expression warped into what seemed to be anger, "You dare compare me to those things? Okay, I was planning to talk to you a bit longer before killing you, but you've pissed me off, congratulations," After saying this, it dashed forward toward the startled duo, and it was fast! Like really, really fast!

Lilith, who hadn't spoken till now, swung her scythe to intercept the creature, who jumped back, easily evading the strike. Lilith wasted no time and stepped forward, sweeping her scythe outward, to which the creature reacted by stepping forward and blocking the pole.

"Annoying fucking flow users. I'd rather not waste my time with you. Just die." The creature spat as it disappeared into the darkness of the room.

Ray, immediately generated light along his chain and whipped it out at the area behind Lilith. The creature appeared in the illuminated area, but his attack was too slow. The creature simply jumped over it with a somersault. Lilith turned around and performed an upward slice with her scythe, but the moment the creature landed, it stepped to the side and punched Lilith in the stomach with its two right fists which sent her flying a few meters before she landed and continued to roll on the ground for another meter or two. She was in a lot of pain and had already let go of her scythe, which lay some distance away from her. She was hit only once, yet she was in no condition to continue fighting.

Ray saw this and was both shocked and terrified.

"You two are outrageously weak. You have no sense or control of your elements, nor do you have a lick of real combat experience. You're both just waving your weapons around on instinct, and from what I'm feeling from you both, you are extremely wasteful in your use of your elements. To think two wholes, one of which is even a source, would be such utter trash is beyond my comprehension. Well, I'll just treat it as free contribution points." The creature spoke in disdain, but some of its words confused Ray. He couldn't focus on it now though, since it was coming at him now.

Ray was stronger than Lilith, although he was probably unaware due to having no way to test it, or, to be precise, no time. The creature ran up to Ray who swung his light-coated chain in its direction. The creature easily ducked under the attack, but Ray continued to attack, swing after swing.

"You know, after I'm done killing you, I can brag for the rest of my life that I killed a source. I can already picture it, my name spreading far and wide."

Ray, of course, had no idea what it was talking about, but he didn't care, 'How the hell is it evading my attacks so well? None of my abilities work either. Whether I try to decrease its speed or increase its complacency, nothing is working. ' He was unable to hit it, so Ray stopped attacking to conserve his energy. He thought that if he could get closer, he would have a chance of hitting the other party, but he wouldn't be the one doing the advancing. It was easy to make mistakes while making extra movements.

"Finally stopped your futile struggle?" It asked in a condescending tone. Though seeing Ray's focus, it knew that wasn't the case.

Ray had to admit that the enemy didn't seem overly powerful, just skilled. As it dashed toward Ray at a faster pace than Ray himself could achieve, he could see some kind of rhythm in its steps, not that he had the time to focus on it. When it got within two meters, Ray began to move. He himself started dashing to the right as he whipped out his chain.

"Aside from its annoying length, your chain isn't a threat of any degree. In your hands, it's just a chain." The creature said as it let Ray's chain hit it. Though it was burned when the light touched it, it paid it no mind.

Grabbing the chain with its two right hands, it pulled strongly, dragging Ray toward it with sheer force. Ray wanted to let go of the chain, but he had a feeling that if he did so, he would die. When he was up close to the creature, it struck out with its left fists which were free. Ray barely managed to dodge, but he could feel the power in that punch from the slight amount of wind it generated, 'Okay, tanking a hit is fully out of the question.' Ray thought as he, who had just regained his footing, countered with a punch of his own, coated with light. The creature, which had already let go of the chain, jumped back slightly before jumping forward to deliver a kick.

Ray hadn't noticed that the dark and light rotating circle had appeared once again, but this time, it was in his eyes. Ray jumped backward, dodging the kick while swinging his chain at it from both sides. Ray fought while holding his chain in the middle, leaving a length of the chain between his two hands. This way, he could diversify his attacks, and it helped. The creature was forced to duck under the attack, which Ray was ready for, and he immediately pulled his chain downward, but the creature was definitely experienced since it seemed to expect as much, easily dodging.

The woman outside was watching the fight with interest, "It's toying with him. It could have long finished this fight. It is definitely much stronger than this or I wouldn't even be feeling a sense of threat. That guy though, is very talented. With each passing moment, he gets better. His attacks are more precise, his reaction is quicker. But that's it. Reaching the level of that creature, much less me, would be a pipe dream at this rate. Looks like I'll have to intervene after all."

The woman had no plan to make a move yet though. She would only move at the last moment. Observing and knowing her enemy had always been her style, and with her abilities, she easily understood this creature's behaviors and patterns. She was inclined to let the fight play out, not only so she could continue to observe the creature, but also to let Ray get more experience. He gravely needed it.

Back inside, Ray and the creature had been fighting for a few minutes, and it was starting to take its toll. Ray could feel himself becoming more sluggish and his mind becoming exhausted. However, he did not have a choice but to keep fighting. It was either that, or die, which he didn't want to experience a second time. Technically he hadn't died the first time, but it was sufficiently close.

Suddenly, the creature disappeared into the darkness. Ray felt his hair stand on end as he ducked, dodging a kick from behind. If that had hit him, he might have died instantly from the shock to his brain.

"Oh, so you can even dodge this now. Well, I think it's about time to wrap up though. It's getting boring," The creature said. It had its fun, so it was time to end this and go back to claim its mission reward.

The creature suddenly accelerated to twice the speed it had been using against Ray and struck him in the chest. Ray could feel his entire body screaming in pain as the wind was knocked out of him and some of his ribs broke. He was sent flying further than Lilith and was left in an even worse state. He had not let go of his chain, however.

The creature stood where it was and spoke once again, "I assume that you are newly awakened. Even then, are you stupid? Why would you leave the side of your aspect when you are this weak? Now you are facing the consequences of your actions. Everyone will suffer because of your idiocy. Are you happy? Not that it matters to me though, since I'm not from here. I just wanted to see your face when the realization hits. Hahahaha!" The creature laughed at Ray, but it did not find the look of despair that it was looking for. It only saw his confusion.

"What are you talking about?" Ray, who could barely move, asked in confusion.

"What?"

"I said, what are you talking about?"

"I heard you the first time, but what do you mean, 'what am I talking about?' You, for whatever reason, just awakened your power, but decided to leave your guardian, and now, your universe will be royally fucked because of your death...You should know all of this." The creature was starting to become suspicious since Ray looked genuinely confused, 'There was no way he wouldn't know because his aspect should have explained it the moment he awakened. I have a bad feeling about this. This definitely involves powers I cannot afford to offend. I better just complete the mission and leave.'

"I don't know what an aspect or guardian or whole or whatever is. I just awakened these powers when I was on the verge of death, and came to take revenge on someone who hurt me and was planning to do so to my loved ones. I don't have a clue what you're talking about," Ray explained. He really wanted to know what the hell was going on. He was a bit concerned about the previous statement about his universe being fucked too.

"Well, whether you know or not won't change much for me. At the end of the day, I still have to kill you. I'll get rid of this bitch first though. Just thinking of keeping a flow user alive for any amount of seconds irritates me to untold levels."

The creature turned around and walked slowly toward Lilith, who was conscious, but unable to move. Lilith was afraid. She had just recently escaped death, and now, it came for her again. At this moment, all she could do was clench her fists in frustration.

Seeing the creature walk over to Lilith, Ray shouted, "Wait! I'm the one you want right? Just take me and leave her alone."

"My orders are to kill you, yes, but I'm also to kill anybody else involved. Not to mention that even if she wasn't, I can't tolerate the existence of flow users."

Ray didn't know what a flow user was but he could only assume that it was related to Lilith's water abilities.

"Please! Just leave her, she won't be a threat to you. You've already seen how powerless we are against you."

"No."

The creature then continued to walk toward Lilith, ignoring Ray's pleading. When it stopped in front of her, it smiled sinisterly with its wolf-like mouth, showing its teeth. Ray tried to move, but he just couldn't. His body was not in any shape to move even an inch, much less fight. He knew that he had developed some feelings for Lilith. It was only natural.

For so long, he was tortured continuously. He was also made aware of someone else going through the same pain constantly. For so long, they relied on each other's persistence. Finally, he almost died and awakened strange abilities, and soon after, he met her for the first time. Once again, she had gone through the same thing. Additionally, she was not only beautiful, but she was kind. Even if it wasn't excessive, she still rescued the other captives since it was within her abilities. Soon, they departed to achieve a similar goal, which was to get revenge and save their only remaining family. They had even fought together against that creature. It hadn't even been two full days, yet he already felt a closeness to her. He wasn't willing to just stand by and watch her die.

In his unwillingness, the circle appeared in his mind once more, and the black stone, which was in his pocket, flew out before bursting into black smoke and entering his body. He could feel his body recover almost instantly, and his power skyrocketed. His short black hair changed color to become half-white, and his body gave off a dim glow of light. Beneath his feet, one could see a rotating circle that was half bright and half dark. Soon, the circle disappeared.

The woman outside, who was already about to make a move, raised a brow with interest and decided to wait.

The creature could tell that something had happened behind it and decided to turn around. There he was met with a different Ray, staring at it with rage.

"Sigh! Things can just never be that easy, can it?"