The Condensing Trial

The next morning Madd woke up in his mother's bed and he looked over to see if she is still sleeping. She was and she even had a smile in her sleep. When he was younger it was very rare to ever see his mother smile so he is happy that she is finally able to do it once again. Michelle woke up about five minutes after Madd did and they both got dressed and headed to where Korn is. They once again couldn't find him so they asked one of the maids to take them to where Korn was. The maid bowed to them and led them down to the shadow room floor and told them that Korn is waiting in the tier 10 room.

Madd heard this and he started to sweat a little because he knows what he is about to do. He takes in a deep breath and walks forward with his mom. After passing the long hallway of doors they finally made it to the end. Since Madd figured out how to open it last time he walked up to the door and injected his shadow power into it and he opened the door. Michelle was surprised that Madd was able to do that because it usually takes even a week for a prodigy to be able to control the shadow power within them. ' Well, he is my son so of course, he is special.'

After the doors open Madd sees Korn standing next to the center of the formation where Madd has to sit. Korn motions for Madd to sit down next to him. Madd moves forward and makes sure that he is in the very center before he returns his attention to his grandpa.

"Ok Madd, this will be the hardest trial that you have faced yet. Remember that no matter what make sure that you succeed because if you don't you can be stuck in your trial forever. But once you pass it you will have an easier time with every other trial because you will be able to manifest your shadow powers into abilities. So make me and your mother proud Madd so that you can grow even stronger!"

"Thank you grandpa, I will make sure to come back so that you can show me some special abilities."

Madd said bye to his grandpa and mother and started to activate the formation once again. Almost instantly his wakes up to the two monsters about to start their fight. The long monster that has been helping Madd screeched to the other monster to try and distract so it can take advantage of that and attack. When Madd heard the screech he covered his ears as hard as he could but he could still feel his blood running through his fingers.

Even though he is in a lot of pain from his ears bleeding he doesn't look away from the fight. 'He is going to be my ally after this trial so I have to make sure to pay attention to him so that we can know each other's abilities better.'

The long monster swings his arms parallel to each other to try and cut the Gerald monster into three pieces. Unfortunately, Gerald's skin is a lot tougher when he is not caught off guard. But all it can do is defend against the speedy attacks that are coming for the long monster. Eventually, blood started to be splattered around the room and it looked like it was not going to stop soon because as soon as the skin got penetrated and blood leaked out it would start to heal itself almost instantly. Gerald didn't look like it wanted to be on the defensive anymore because it started approaching the long monster while still defending itself.

Madd was still observing from the side and he was trying to think of a way to assist his friend. When he saw Gerald start to get closer he noticed that his main focus was on his head.

"Aim for the head. Attack as fast as you can and don't let it get too close to you!"

Without needing any other instructions the long monster focused all of it's attacks on the head. This managed to make Gerald once again to stop walking and completely focus on defending.

'Grandpa did say that I have an innate connection with the shadows so does that mean I can make this guy stronger if I somehow transfer my shadow power to him?'

While Madd was thinking this something strange started to happen in the surroundings. Every dark part of the room looked like it was getting brighter. I looked like someone was starting to slowly turn on the lights in the room. Because of this Madd was distracted from his thinking and looked over to Gerald. Its eyes were shaking madly like they were going to pop out of its head in a couple of seconds. Madd didn't understand what was happening but he noticed that the long guy was starting to attack faster almost like it was panicking a little. For some reason, Madd looked under where Gerald was standing and he noticed that wavy lines of shadow were going to its feet.

'It can use the shadows to strengthen itself!'

Madd also started to panic a little but before he could really freak out Gerald's whole body started to shake and the skin that was hanging off of its face was slowly going lower revealing another row of eyes going around its whole head. As soon as that happened it no longer was being scratched and it started to advance quickly to the long monster.

"Shit! Go on the defensive until I can figure out how to help you!" He screamed to the long monster.

Listening to Madd's command the monster immediately started to back away from Gerald and it put its arms up to get ready to defend. Madd saw this and started to close eyes. He was trying to do what Gerald just did and use the shadow power that is in him to help the monster.

After five minutes Madd still couldn't feel anything and the monster was looking bloodier and bloodier. Madd knew that it was losing and that he had to do something soon or he and the monster will die. So he did a last-ditch effort and finally felt a small tremble under his feet signaling that Madd had successfully managed to manifest his shadow power. He directs it to where the monster was still defending and sends that shadow to its feet. Madd didn't know if it had a shadow core or not so he just sent the shadows to its feet.

It looked like it was working because its wounds were starting to heal at a visible pace but it was still on the defensive. Madd tried even harder to try and send as much shadow power as possible in order to continue strengthing it. And after another 15 minutes of the monster defending against Gerald, a change finally happened. The long monster started to get buffer all around its body. If it looked like a skinny person with no muscle before, now it looked like a person who would constantly go to the gym. With the change in physique also came a change in power. It was no longer bleeding and it was only getting white scratches on its skin where Gerald was hitting it. Good thing for Madd because as soon as that change occurred he could no longer transfer and more shadow power to the monster.

"Now that you're stronger don't just defend. Tear him up so that both of us can get out of here."

Listening to Madd's command, the monster lowered its arms slightly and started to fight back. If before it only used its hands to attack, it now used claws to inflict more damage to Gerald. As soon as its claws would make contact with Gerald's skin, the skin would split immediately. The blood shower of Gerald started once again and he was forced to go back on the defensive. He also started to realize that the human helping the monster in front of it was supporting it with more power and is giving it strategies to focus more on his weak spots.

"Don't stop going for the head. If you can chop off Gerald's arms you will have a chance to go for the head."

Listening to Madd's command the monster focused all of its attacks onto Gerald's arms. Because of that, it didn't take long for Geral's arms to fall to the ground, revealing his vulnerable head. When Gerald felt his arms fall off of his body he knew that he couldn't last much longer and tried one last move. He gathered the rest of his shadow power and focused all of it on his legs and he jumped toward Madd.

Madd was waiting for this to end and to see Gerald's head go flying when all of a sudden Gerald disappeared. Madd's heart froze and the next second Gerald reappeared right in front of him. Gerald opened his mouth and went to bite Madd's throat off. Madd felt Gerald's teeth penetrate his skin and he knew that he was about to die. But just before Gerald could put more strength into his jaws he felt his head become extremely light and then it fell to the floor. Madd looked to his left to his the monster right next to him with blood on its nails from cutting Gerald's head off.

"Thank you. I don't think I would have any chance of passing this trail if you weren't there to help me." The monster gave a nod to Madd and entered his core. Madd got confused and he focused on his shadow core. Inside he saw the monster standing there and not doing anything.

"I guess that means he is now my partner."

Madd and this monster's journey has just started and in many years people all over the world will have nightmares about this duo.