The scarred Gnome stared at his own darkness hand, still protruding from Grey's chest, trying to understand why an attack that had clearly passed through the young man's body had done nothing at all.
'An afterimage?'
He discarded the thought almost at once. He could still sense Grey's presence clearly. The hand had gone straight through him, yet it had left no wound, no blood, no reaction of any kind. The contradiction left him momentarily stunned.
Grey took a step forward. The darkness hand remained embedded in his torso as if it belonged there. The earth wall he had raised earlier crumbled into dust as he closed the distance.
Grey's approaching figure frightened the scarred. He dissolved the darkness hand at once and turned to fly in the direction of the sealed Ninth-stage, hoping the two of them might still stand a chance against this monster.
