Joyride

Both combatants were ready to begin. 

The fight started with Caster dashing in a blitz of speed. Attacking straight on, he swung his ghostly jian overhead. 

Feeling the prick of danger as well as seeing the attack allowed Aldric to perfectly time a parry. He raised his claymore at an angle that caused Caster's blade to cross against the surface. 

"SCREECH"

The sound of metal against metal spread through the camp. This movement stunned Caster as he shifted too much weight into the attack. Aldric used this chance to attack with a forward swing.

He had resolved to not use his aspect and wanted to focus on training his battle style. At its surface, it was a basic style that preferred a mixture of strong and fast blows that he learned from Instructor Mako. But with the synergy of his [Insight] ability, Aldric had subconsciously begun to incorporate parries and counters in his battle art. The danger-sensing abilities of his attribute helped him time his counters; however he was starting to realise that some people were just that much faster than [Insight].

In a flurry of clashes, Caster slowly began to speed up. He was shocked at how well Aldric was responding to his speed. It was not that Aldric was just as fast as him but his reflexes were inhumane. 

Whenever Caster attempted to blitz him and attack his back, the cury-haired teen reacted instantly and met the collision before he even looked back.

Having no choice, Caster began to go faster and faster. Quickly draining his soul essence. 

'He's moving too fast for my eyes to follow fully. I can only rely on [Inisight] to keep me in the fight'.

Caster faked an attack on his back and used his maximum speed for a brief second to attack his front. Dealing a shallow slash across his chest. 

With Caster drawing blood first, the battle was over. 

"Well done. No one has been able to keep up with me at that speed before."

Caster complimented.

"Thanks"

Aldric accepted the compliment at face value and gripped his wounded chest.

Nephis came to heal Aldric's injury. She placed a hand on his chest and a warm feeling spread through him. Aldric had to suppress his darkness so that Nephis' soul flames could heal him.

The sight gave Sunny a feeling that he couldn't quite put into words.

With that, she jumped back into the fray.

----------

3 days had passed in the blink of an eye. Their ride was here.

The 7 humans were standing at the edge of the vast canyon. The twilight of dusk falling behind them. The dark sea slowly rising to meet them.

They stood still in the face of the flood.

It was times like this that Aldric was grateful to be here. To see these amazing sights. An ancient city in ruins as the backdrop for a setting sun. While a nebulous dark sea encroaches the horizon bit by bit. It was nothing compared to what he saw back home. He wanted to see more. It was part of his motivation to be an archaeologist. The role would allow him to explore all types of areas in the dream realm and learn more of its rich history. That was more aspirational though as he had more important things to do.

Raising her sword, it shined incandescently bright. Attracting all sorts of horrors from the dark depths.

A large body of the sea was parted by a ginormous shape. As it slowly got closer, Aldric could make out a headless statue that was attracted by the beacon of light.

"Prepare yourselves"

Nephis spoke. 

Once the statue reached the edge of the canyon, Nephis made a large leap and dug her fiery sword through the stone. Using it as a perch, she climbed onto the statue's shoulder.

Caster disappeared and reappeared beside Nephis in a show of speed.

Aldric jumped towards the side of the statue and coated his feet with darkness. Allowing him to grip the statue with his feet to jump off again and land near Caster.

Kai flew straight on the platform while holding Cassie in his arms. Aldric could see Effie help Sunny climb the statue due to his short stature.

They made their way to the headless platform of the builder and stood in the dark. They were relying on Sunny to be their eyes. While Aldric could see in the darkness as well, he did not have shadow sense. So he could only rely on his sight alone which was less useful than Sunny.

As the statue continued its march south, Sunny shouted hurriedly.

"Get ready. The bastard is going underwater for a couple of minutes."

'Damn it. How do we know how long it's going to take for it to cross the canyon?

Aldric complained as he prepared himself to hold on for dear life. 

The dark sea enveloped his body completely. Being in such a large pool of darkness felt alien to him. It was as if he were a brightly lit candle standing next to the sun.

Holding in his breath, he tried his best to calm his racing mind by focusing on his [Tranquil Core] attribute. It was harder than usual with the biting cold water surrounding him but he made do. 

Completely devoid of all his senses, time was hard to quantify. 

Luckily he began to feel the pressure of the water decrease just as his lungs were starting to burn. 

"WHOOOSH"

The displaced water crashed the body of the statue as it emerged from the vast canyon. It took a while but they finally could breathe again.

Immediately, Aldric felt his [Insight] signal something to him. To his left, he could see the unconscious body of Kai floating in the air. Dragging Cassie along with him by the rope as she couldn't hold on any longer. It seemed the statue raised itself out of the canyon so quickly that it launched them off the platform. 

Aldric immediately launched a tendril of darkness that tugged on the middle of the golden rope towards him. The two bodies were pulled in his direction. He created a soft wall of darkness 1 metre around his body to catch them. 

Aldric quickly awoke them with the help of Effie as Sunny was looking down at the body of the statue.

"We have a passenger."

He spoke in a grim voice. 

On the flattened chest of the statue, a monster attached itself to the surface. A cross between an eel and a jellyfish; it was the size of a train. In the centre, there was the deformed skull of a giant humanoid. 

Aldric could hear the familiar whispers that signalled its rank. A fallen creature. 

Nephis' eyes lit up with the brightness of a flame but Sunny stopped her.

He placed a hand on her shoulder and said.

"Don't. Your flames could attract something even worse." 

Just as he was about to resolve himself to do something stupid, Aldric spoke.

"I'll handle it."

 **********

Thanks for reading.

Will Aldric finally let loose?

Rereading shadow slave to make this made me realise how many details I missed the first time. Guilty 3 is a very detailed writer.

Not much to say. Till next time.