"So, what do we do now?"
The shadowspawn asked as it sat beside the ascended. A small smile appeared on Orion's face. They had just killed a man, and here was this shadow asking what they should do?
Truly mad. However, he knew he wasn't sane either. But it couldn't be helped; his hand was forced, and she was the only one he could think of.
The only one who trusted him with her life, and the best option to sacrifice.
"...I don't know, I am just tired. Let's stay here; we will win this war, anyway." He muttered to the wicked shadow beside him.
The shadowspawn grumbled, but chose silence too.
Was it five or seven years since it had stayed in this silence? It didn't know. It remembered how the Shadow God, its father, had sundered it from the family.
A bitter memory.
The shadowspawn turned its gaze at Orion and asked:
"Do you think the two of us will survive till the end of this war?" Its question was sincere, and within it were hope and anger, not at Orion but at death. Death meant returning to the Shadow God, whom the shadowspawn despised.
Orion raised his brows at the question.
"Where did that come from?" He asked, but the shadowspawn just shrugged its broad shoulders.
Orion's gaze turned solemn.
"I don't really have an answer for the future. The war has already moved far from the point of return; only blood awaits the future. Will we survive? Maybe. However, no one knows the fate of this war, not even the gods or the daemons."
The shadowspawn's expression shifted slightly at the mention of the word 'Fate'.
"What about Weaver, the demon of fate? Shouldn't they know about it?" At the question, the ascended human chuckled.
Orion answered.
"The lady once told me that even the demon of fate can't completely control fate. And even if they knew something, no one knows what hides behind that mask." He stood up and put his hand in front of the shadowspawn.
The shadowspawn grinned, took his hand, and stood up.
"Let's leave—" Orion began, but before he could finish his sentence, a loud crashing sound echoed through the air.
Then, a feeling far more oppressive than the sense of death trembled through his entire self.
Slowly, he turned his head. Then, a feeling far more oppressive than the sense of death trembled through his entire self. Slowly, he turned his head.
Darkness, deep and impenetrable darkness; it was all he could see, and then it shifted, and a form revealed itself.
"H-How?..?" The shadowspawn muttered in utter disbelief, but Orion was in a far worse situation.
It was him.
The man they had just killed, or so they had thought.
The man stepped forward, his armoured boots clanging on the cold floor, as furious darkness bloomed, shrouding everything in blindness.
Orion reached for his waist, taking out a short dagger. Channelling his essence, the blade burned in starlit flames, driving the darkness away.
He muttered a few words, and the flames on the blade burned more brightly, enough for him to see that the shadowspawn was fighting the enemy, and...
It had lost two of its arms.
'I have to intervene.' Orion raised his dagger and lunged at Wren, his leg muscles tightening as he moved.
Without even looking, Wren raised his hand. A blade of solid darkness materialised in his grip, effortlessly parrying Orion's strike.
Wren kicked the shadowspawn in the face; the vile creature was sent back into darkness. A grin appeared on his face, and then he said in a cold voice.
"Can't cut it?" The dagger disappeared before he swung his sword at Orion, grazing his cheek.
Before blood could ooze from the small wound, starlit flames ignited and healed it. Orion jumped a few steps backwards, the darkness reeling away from the gaze of his burning sword.
However, Wren didn't give him the chance to keep his ground. The man moved through the darkness and reappeared in front of him, raised his sword and attacked with a diagonal slash.
Orion braced himself against the heavy blow, his teeth gritted, the floor cracking under the pressure of the sword's slash as he planted his foot firmly.
"You should have stayed dead." Orion said. He kicked Wren in the chest, pushing him only two steps back.
Wren looked at him with empty eyes.
Just then, a figure lunged from behind him, aiming for Wren's unprotected neck. The shadowspawn's remaining claws sliced through the air with lightning speed, but they couldn't even reach him.
Without even turning around, Wren's hand shot forward, catching the shadowspawn by its throat in mid-air before smashing it on the ground.
The impact of his force was so devastating that the shadowspawn could only feel and writhe in pain.
Wren didn't even look down at the struggling creature. He kept his cold, empty eyes locked entirely on Orion.
He ruthlessly brought down his armoured boot on the shadowspawn's chest. The impact was devastating. Black blood escaped from the creature's mouth as its remaining limbs flailed weakly against Wren's unbreakable hold.
Despite the pain in its sound, Orion didn't crumble. Channelling the essence from his cores, the flames moulded themselves around the dagger, taking the shape of the sword.
He charged at Wren with full force, showing no hesitation. The enemy remained unfazed, confronting Wren's blade directly, despite it being the greatest weakness of Wren's darkness.
The starlit sword sliced clean through the dark metal armour, cutting deep into Wren's arm. Blood hissed against the white-hot edge, but there was no expression of shock on Wren's face.
Orion immediately planted his foot and kicked Wren in the chest, pushing him back. And like a whisper, he disappeared into the darkness.
The shadowspawn coughed up another thick wave of black blood, its chest wheezing beneath the ruined armour. Orion rushed over, supporting its heavy weight, and looked around the pitch-black room, his teeth gritted.
He couldn't sense Wren anymore.
"I can't sense him. The darkness is blocking everything." Orion muttered, his voice tense.
The shadowspawn then spoke weakly:
"You should leave; I will stall him, even if it kills me." With whatever strength remained in its body, it stood up on its own. The pain from having one of its hearts crushed was excruciating, but the situation was far more dire.
Suddenly, Orion put his hand on the wound, and starlit flames erupted on it. However, what it felt wasn't pain or the heat of the flames, but rather a soothing feeling as its wound healed.
A look of shock crossed the shadowspawn's face. However, Orion merely muttered:
"What? You think I am going to leave you behind and let you die here? Not a chance; the one who will die is that bastard." As he said, Orion looked up and pushed the shadowspawn away.
Suddenly, a thunderous shockwave erupted, driving away the darkness that had shrouded the entire hallway. The blade of light blocked the blade of darkness, while the shockwave caused cracks to form beneath the onyx floor.
Whispers of flames danced in Orion's oceanic eyes as he twisted his sword, forcing Wren to retreat five steps back.
Just then, a chain made of darkness wrapped around Orion's foot, pulling him with immense strength. However, he cut the chain wrapped around his foot and simultaneously blocked the enemy's blade.
Wren's blade clashed with Orion's once more, as they battled fiercely, each trying to overpower the other.
And then, a small gap appeared between their movements, allowing the shadowspawn to join Orion, but...
Despite their continuous onslaught, they couldn't breach Wren's defence. The man overwhelmed them entirely, using their own techniques—far more refined—against themselves.
He used darkness to create four extra limbs for himself, each moving flawlessly and threatening them.
Orion's flames were the only counter against his darkness, but the strange abundance of it left them exhausted, especially Orion. He was fighting while also healing the two of them, but the soul essence was bound to be exhausted.
With the final clash, they all pulled back. But instead of the silence that usually follows, Wren chose to speak a few words.
"I am willing to give you a chance to leave. The choice is yours." He said. The words didn't sound arrogant. It was just words; however, the two of them didn't seem to have taken a liking to those words.
The shadowspawn's expression contorted.
"Really? You said a few words, and think that's all it will take for us to leave? Leave you? Pardon your bullshit, and die." Its growl echoed in the vast hall, but it felt deaf to Wren's ears.
He gave them a long look, and then sighed.
The shadowspawn was about to move, but then it felt something was off with its movement. It felt light, as if the body had detached itself from the head.
'Why does my head feel so light? Wait...is it even light?' And the next moment, the shadowspawn's answer appeared right in front of it.
It watched Orion screaming in shock and fear; his eyes widened, and then the world rolled around, making it realise that it was already...
Dead.
[You have slain an Ascended Terror, Shadowspawn.]
The voice of the spell whispered as Wren fought Orion. The two clashed repeatedly; however, with each encounter, Orion realised his weakness and chose a final option.
He moved forward, pushed the dark blade aside, and spread his arms wide before embracing Wren in that final moment.
If a divine being peered deep into Orion's soul, they would notice a burning star whose radiance increased every millisecond, before...
It erupted in a sea of starlit flames.