Bloody mess though it was, the pair hesitated to advance.
'Punctured vitals, severed throat, broken shoulder joints. The bastard won't go down.' Victor hesitantly took a step to his right, placing himself firmly between the gate and the outpost.
Standing behind him a moment later, Bishop wiped away a bead of sweat. "It knows our abilities."
Victor kept his eyes on the monster as he spoke."That stunt before..It baited me. How do we kill the thing?"
"We don't." Bishop replied firmly. "It's a void, theres no killing it. Injure it enough to stop it from moving, then we finish the ritual."
Victor remained silent, observing the Void. "You just magically know it's name do you? Just full of tricks today aren't you elf."
Before Bishop could respond, a bright light flashed in their direction. All three heads turned simultaneously to the now open gate, observing two small boys holding a large piece of glass smeared with blood.
___
The boy had just dug a grave, ran for his life, and was now holding a large shard of glass alongside his irritatingly good natured companion. The anger was building in his chest.
'I'm going to kill you.' he thought internally, only getting more angry.
"I'm gonna kill you." He finally blurted out.
The boys stared at each other for moment. "I can hear you." Leo replied beaming.
"That thing is too weak to do it anymore." The boy replied, looking over at Leo.
"You an expert on refractions are you? you'd have to be to let one loose on the damn outpost."
The empty space in front of them was now occupied by large, muscular thighs. Looking up, they paused, then cranked their heads much higher.
'Corn stalk!' they both thought, as they gazed in amazement at the yellowed haired behemoth in front of them.
Victor was not actually looking at the boys, but at the large mirror in both their hands. More specifically, the name written on it.
"You're sure this is right?" He asked them both. Leo replied first with a nod. Both boys were still too dazed to speak due to his sudden appearance.
Taking it from them, he broke a smaller shard off and carefully carved the name into it.
'I didn't see him move, didn't even feel anything. ' The Boy thought to himself.
___
Predator that it was, the Void had never stopped observing its opponents. Even as its true prey revealed themselves... even as they were dangled so openly to it.
It slowly observed their position. It knew it needed those boys, and so did the men engaging it.
They were baiting it. A trap so obvious was an insult to its intelligence. Yet, it also knew it had no choice.
The strong one was standing by the boys, the other one was as elusive as ever.
His disappearance made him seem invisible but they always seemed to know each other positions. No... they could see each other's positions.
'Distorts the mind.' It finally concluded
This entire fight, the void had been absorbing energy from the plant life beneath it feet, too weak to pull it from the air itself. Stopping its body from shutting down has cost it a lot, but it still had enough for one more clash.
So far it had traded its body for information on its opponents, now it was time for the culmination of that effort to come to fruition.
___
Victor was ready. He was sure of it and so was bishop. That thing knew their tricks but it had shown them all it had to offer. They'd torn the thing apart, they just had to finish it.
Bury it with the shard and its soul would pass on.
He was careful not to look towards bishop, that thing would notice, but bishop knew his intentions all the same.
It was too weak to be a threat to them, the two boys were the perfect bait. They knew it understood it was a trap but the thing had no choice.
Even as victor shielded the boys with his body, and as bishop walked behind the Void erased from its perception, they hadn't truly thought the thing could survive this.
___
Leo looked over at his companion, slightly concerned. As oblivious as he was, he knew when he was being used as bait.
Their only goal was delivering the name to the two guards, but the behemoth had told them to stay put and by the looks he was sending behind himself, he wasn't about to let them sneak off.
Then there was his companion. The boy had been sending Leo death stares the entire time.
"I told you not to do this you insufferably optimistic idiot." He finally whispered in anger.
"No you didn't, we couldn't actually talk before." Leo replied with a smile.
"What do we do anyway? Just stay here until they kill it?"
"You can't kill it." The boy replied. "I'm no expert but a refraction like that... has to be a Void."
Leo looked at the boy beside him as if he was talking to someone a bit special in the head
"What? Is an extinction level event too much for your liking?" The boy said with a sigh.
Looking at the boy with contempt, Leo turned his head back towards the Void.
Only for its outstretched hand to grab towards his face in a fraction of a second.
___
Two perfectly healthy souls appearing with the Void's given name carved into a shard of glass was nothing short of a cursed blessing.
Both their souls were powerful batteries with which the Void could ascend, while being the perfect bait to make its movements truly predictable. The real boon however, was knowing the entities true name.
Bishop sighed as these thoughts flashed through his mind. Both he and Victor had the exact same thought the moment the boys appeared. Protect them from the Void while using them as bait and so far it was working splendidly.
As it finally allowed itself to gaze towards the two youths, giving in to its hunger and emptiness for a fraction of a second, Bishops blade flashed forward.
It sunk itself merely a centi-meter into the creatures flesh before plunging further down into... absolutely nothing. The Void was gone.
___
They had once again underestimated its abilities.
The two men were not new to fighting intelligent beings, nor was it their first time dealing with a refraction. The Void was simply a creature they had failed to truly fathom.
As Bishops blade made contact with its flesh, the creature shot forward with a speed it had not displayed before. The energy it had been rationing this entire fight was being put to use as it was forced into the creatures legs, surging them with power as it pushed forward with terrible force.
It knew where the behemoth was, but the elusive 'ghost' was almost impossible to pin down. Unless it intentionally left itself unguarded that was.
The Void was too weak to handle the force of its own power, the power sending it flying towards Leo.
Victor, while surprised, was fast enough to intercept. Adjusting his own weight and density to counteract the Voids, sending his cleaver forward with lethal efficiency.
The eerie creature used what little force it had left to contort its body mid air, the blade instead severing its arm.
As its limp fell to the floor, the Void landed in a roll and stretched towards Leo. Once again contorting its body awkwardly just as Victors blade severed its throat cleanly from behind.
The boys stood in shock, Victor in relief, and Bishop in pure horror as the abominations severed head flew through the air towards it true target.
___
In truth, the grave digger was no hero. He wasn't even that good of a friend or person, but he did not want to see his companion die.
That is why when the Void surprised them both his arm instinctively stretched towards Leo, attempting to pull his friend to safety.
The creature born from a human soul understood this simple principle, the human desire to protect.
So when it placed its back towards Victor, a being whose speed it knew first hand, it wasn't concerned. They had already all fallen into its trap.
The abominations head landed perfectly into Muninn's hand.