The shadow hound lunged at Vikram. He dodged to the left, but the beast turned mid-air, its claws scraping against his leather jacket. The cold from the claws seeped through, numbing his shoulder.
Vikram counter-attacked. He threw a quick combination, but his normal punches passed right through the beast's smoky body.
"It's not solid!" Vikram realized.
"You have to force it to solidify!" Rohan yelled, throwing an electrical grenade at the second beast. The grenade exploded in a shower of blue sparks. The beast screamed, its body solidifying as it tried to absorb the electrical energy.
Vikram understood. He flared his Prana, letting the bio-electricity pulse through his fists.
The first hound immediately locked onto the energy signature and leapt. As the beast got close, Vikram compressed the shadow around his arm, forming a solid kinetic shield.
The hound crashed into the shield with a heavy thud. Vikram shattered the shield, turning the dark photons into a sharp projectile that pierced the beast's chest.
The hound dissolved into black dust.
But behind him, Rohan screamed. The second hound had caught Rohan's leg, its solid teeth sinking into his calf.
Vikram moved like a flash, folding the shadow to appear next to the beast. He drove a Prana-loaded punch into the hound's skull. The beast shattered, but Rohan collapsed on the tracks, clutching his bleeding leg.
"Rohan!" Vikram knelt beside him, ripping his shirt to bind the wound.
"Go," Rohan gasped, his teeth chattering from the shadow frost. "The mill... is just across the tracks. Destroy the transmitter."