Luna ran down the lit pathway, twisting and turning through the shadows. Her ears twitched as a distant voice reached her. "I must be close," she murmured.
Then she sensed it—mana. She came to a skidding halt. From the darkness, a figure emerged, a hammer resting casually on his shoulder. Broad-shouldered, scarred, and extremely hairless. "Well… looks like an elf got out of its cage," he sneered.
His eyes widened when he saw her. "What?! What are you doing here? You were supposed to be at the Luminous Covenant…"
Luna narrowed her eyes. "Tell me… where are you keeping my brethren? Speak, and your life shall be spared. I swear it."
The man laughed hysterically, likely because a former prisoner was suddenly talking tough. His grip on the hammer tightened, faint mana flickering along its edge.
"You know," he said, "if the boss didn't like you so much, I'd kill you for even thinking you could kill me." His grin widened, teeth glinting. "Though he wouldn't mind if I brought you back in shambles."
He lunged, hammer aimed for a single, lethal blow. Luna forged a blade of pure mana in response, blocking the strike. The impact rattled the walls; fires flickered along the corridor as the man pushed harder, brute strength against skill, but Luna held her ground. The floor beneath her shattered under the force.
I felt like a proud father. She'd inherited the technique from me — mana shifting, I call it, and she was already using it flawlessly on her very first try.
The man began spamming attacks—I decided to call him Ogre. Luna parried each strike as dust and debris spilled from the crumbling walls. Ogre swung a cross strike, but she blocked with her sword, the force driving her back before she kicked off the wall and snapped a quick strike across his face. Staggered and off-balance, he barely managed to stay upright. Luna didn't hesitate. She surged forward, swept under him, and delivered a brutal spin kick to his groin. Ogre's eyes popped from the impact, spit flying from his mouth as he slammed into the ceiling before collapsing back down, rubble crashing over him.
She stood over him, her glare piercing, her aura radiating someone who meant business. I wasn't surprised truthfully, I'd always known Luna had the potential for serious badassery. She just needed the chance to show it.
"I don't want to waste time doddling in this filthy place," she said, voice low and cold. "Tell me, where can I find my brethren?"
Ogre shifted beneath the rubble, laughing through the pain. "I'll tell you… in your grave!"
Crimson mana flared around him. Luna instinctively stepped back, sword raised. His body began to twist and swell, muscles bulging, veins blackening, ears sharpening, a tail sprouting. The features of elf and beast-kin fused grotesquely, warping into something monstrous.
"Don't… don't tell me…" Luna whispered, eyes wide.
Ogre roared, veins bulging across his face. "Yes! The blood of beasts and elves flows in me! I'm on the verge of perfection, the peak of human form!"
Even I felt a shiver of disgust, but Luna's teeth clenched in silent fury. "So all this time… the pain you inflicted on my people…" Her violet mana sword ignited in her hand. "For this farce…"
In a flash, she was behind him. Violet light streaked across the chamber. Ogre's eyes darted downward, though all he really saw was the sealing. His head was already severed, his life snuffed out before his brain could register it, then his body collapsed. Luna didn't flinch or look back. Her eyes remained sharp as the mana sword dissipated, leaving only silence and the fallen body behind her.
*****
I'd been walking this pathway for a while, all I could see and hear was the reef flowing beside me. Cash always ended up at the lowest point of a hideout—secret hideout 101— but I'd been searching for some time now, and still, nothing.
Finally, I saw a faint light ahead, and when I stepped out, I ended up in a room full of goons. At first, nothing happened, then I just had to ask, "Uh, so… do you guys know where I can find your stash of cash?"
They didn't appreciate my politeness. Swords came flying, and I grinned at the chaos. I formed my baseball bat just in time to parry a strike, then dodged a downward swing then struck, One crack—rib. Another—head. Another—jaw.
More attacks came. I weaved, dodged, parried, switching my bat into a sword mid-motion, cutting through them with precision. Arms flew. Torsos flew. Blood splattered everywhere. One guy's arm got severed, sword still in hand, and I kicked it straight into another, impaling him with it. Over fifty people dwindled down to two in a room swimming in blood.
I sighed. Well, here goes that promise of doing things "much cleaner" this time.
I looked down at the two cowering guards, struggling to rise from their comrades' blood, practically soaked in it. "It's no mistake or luck that you're still alive. I do need someone to give me directions to the cash."
One stammered, "I… I don't know. I'm just a low-ranking guard. They picked me off the streets." He jabbed a finger at the other. "He knows!"
The other frantically denied it, and they argued like idiots right in front of me, cursing each other.
I raised my mana sword. "Fine. I guess I have no use for your lives."
They begged. Finally, they agreed to help me look. I'm not one to turn down free labor, so I spared them, pathetic as they were.
I walked back to the reef to wash the blood off, thinking I really need to figure out some kind of barrier spell. Water ran over my hands, my mana shifting around me, knitting my coat back into place. I set off again, and by chance, stumbled into the cells. One elf, one beast-kin… two in total. Luna had said eleven. Something was obviously missing.
The two figures stirred. The elf girl was small and fragile-looking, pressed herself against the wall, ears twitching nervously. Her jade eyes were wide, taking in everything, and her blond hair hung matted and unkempt but she still outclassed both Black Rose and Luna in the chest department.
Beside her, the beast-kin girl with a tail crouched, black ears and hair falling over sharp black eyes, a fang glinting as she growled softly, assessing me. They shared the cramped cell, chained side by side, both bruised most likely from whatever experiments they'd endured.
I watched them for a moment before asking, "So…you're happy here?"
They didn't answer.
"Wanna come with me, then?" I tried again. The elf girl gave a faint nod, while the beast-kin girl growled, "Mhmm. Mhmm." From the way they moved, I guessed they were suffering from the same memory loss Luna had experienced. No point pressing it.
Slow footsteps echoed from somewhere deeper in the hideout. I didn't need to see him to know this had to be the main antagonist for this little show. Time to step up my game.
"So, you must be the man… who's slaughtering my guards… and now you're trying to take my possessions… the gull," he said, voice thick with arrogance.
The elf looked visibly frightened, shrinking back as her eyes widened, but the beast girl growled, defiance written across every tense line of her body. I didn't even turn to look at him. "Your possessions? Well if I want it, I take it, what you own is of no importance to me."
He narrowed his eyes. "What's the name of the man who dares challenges the authority of the church?"
I smirked, tilting my head slightly. "Me? I am the one who will bring about a much needed dusk... I am Night Fallen."
"Night Fallen... what an absurd name." Flames licked along the blade as he drew his sword. "I, Knight Stokie Mcguire, shall slay you on behalf of the church. Night Fallen."
If that was meant to threaten me, it only pumped me up. The insults, the dramatic introduction, peak first-boss energy. I couldn't help but grin.
I formed my mana bat as he lunged and struck, blocking the blow without even turning. Weapons screeched against each other, flames erupted, and the building shook. "Not bad, Mr. Knight."