The Light In The Dark

Watching that first rock get crushed Xilo moved into position as fast he could at the moment and rushed outside their area to distract the beasts while he stalled for time. "All you have to do is run around, seems easy right?" With that thought he heard the crashing of other rocks behind him again as they started to collapse and fill in the hole he ran through. Seeing that entrance blocked again he knew there was no turning back now. Turning to the beasts in front he stared them down as they looked at him in surprise.

While it was still dark he was able to see better then before and in front of him stood 4 creatures he had never seen or heard of before. Standing on all fours sat four huge creatures entirely made of rock that shined faintly in the dark. With a large set of wings that spiked out of their backs with two tails that leaked from the side of their bodies with one head . At the end of each their legs giant claws protruded from their feet that looked like metal. Looking at their faces Xilo saw their red glowing eyes staring viciously at him and worst of all from their posture they didn't seem to be slow either. "What are these things, I've never read about them before." But these four weren't even his biggest concern.

The thing that worried Xilo the most was the creature standing in the background floating there silently that he almost missed at first glance. It was almost like a living shadow as it blankly stared at him. It reminded him of Astral Spirits almost but there was something different about this shadow. "The Spirit I saw before had life in it. This thing looks dead." Unlike the four beasts in front of him the Shadow didn't do anything but float there and look at him.

"Well one less thing to worry about, I hope."

*Grrrrrrrr*

Four growls entered his ears as they started to pounce on him before he could think about it anymore. Thankfully due to their light he could faintly see the outskirts of the room and at least see where his enemies were. If not he might not have been able to last even a minute in this kind of place. Jumping to the backwards he watched all four jump where he was just before in an instant. "fast!" The speed they showed just then was almost to the point where he couldn't even keep up. "So they're faster than me." Not bothering to stop moving anymore and risk it Xilo kept running away from them as they turned around and pounced again.

*Rumble*

*Grrrrr*

Another rumble sounded in his ears but he didn't have time to pay attention to it as he watched them jump in front of him. "Fuck." Gathering all the energy he could at the moment he braced himself as he picked one out of the pack and focused on throwing himself at that one. If he was going to get hit it was better one then all four. Seeing those sharp claws gleam in the light he chose to avoid them and instead he aimed for the head to hit his arms in hope of an easier impact.

*Bam*

Feeling that heavy impact hit his arms he backed off with the momentum and gained some distance. "Heavy." Feeling that pain run through his body though one thought came to mind. "That didn't hurt as much as I thought it would." Confused why someone stronger than him hit so weak it took him a second to try and figure it out why but remembering their speed he had an idea. Backing up he ran power throughout his body in advance as he constantly kept an eye on that Shadow as well to see if it did anything.

"So you're all speed eh? Well that makes this easier."

Their size and physique may be terrifying but it turned out they were a lot weaker then he first imagined but he wasn't complaining. Though he couldn't fight them still. But all he needed was time.

*Rumble*

More sounds of rocks sounded out as he ran in the open area. "How much longer?" With no time to look at the progress he could only hope Xelfia made it out in time and safely. Though he was the one in real danger at the moment. Three charged at him again as the one he collided with was a little behind them. But this time he decided to take their approach a bit differently. Since he couldn't out run them entirely he would have to try and slow as much of them down as possibly. Though he still didn't want to take any attacks head on from their claws. He luckily avoided those last time but getting stabbed by those would probably hurt as much as he thought they would.

Looking at the three in the air he chose another target of the bunch on the end and ran towards them to see if he could deal any damage. But as he was about to attack their head the wings on its back started to move and it began to fly leaving XIlo hitting nothing. "Of course." But at the very least he didn't get hit again by any of them. "But why use them now?" If they could use them the whole time why didn't they use them from the beginning especially the others just now. With their wings they could have changed their direction and attacked him but instead they had only one use them once for dodging

"Weird."

Watching it flap to the ground it shortly flew until it landed again and faced him. "It chose to land again as well." Questions entered his mind but the fourth and last beast was already on top of him. "Let's try again." Trying to attack once again he let the beast pounce at him. Aiming for it's head he punched again but the same thing as before happened. His fist hit nothing as he watched it dodge in the sky and fly away. Frustrated he took a quick look at the shadow again but noticed nothing as he focused back on the problem in front of him. But this time only two of the four beasts attacked him as the ones that had used their wings stayed back on the defensive.

*Rumble*

This time XIlo chose to dodge though since he couldn't hit them. It was just a waste of energy after all and he didn't know when the next time he could take a break would be. Jumping to the side he avoided them successfully as he began to run.

*Whap*

But in the next second he felt a giant pressure hit him right in the back and knock him off balance sending him forward. Pain ran through his back as he steadied himself and began to stand up again. "How?" Looking back at the creatures though they weren't even looking at him. But looking closer the one closest to him had one of its wings curled slightly almost as if it was in a fist . Seeing that he only had one guess as to how he got hit. "So they can use them like that too." When he dodged before he didn't go near their wings so they didn't hit him though so that meant they had a limited range at least.

*Rumble*

Standing there he looked at the entrance as he hoped to see Xelfia coming through there soon. Fighting all four of them alone was nearly impossible it seemed and he still had that shadow to worry about afterwards. But at the very least he had made it this far alive. Which was better than he initially thought. He didn't really have much confidence in his strength yet to be willing to take the risk of fighting something so much stronger than him. However at the very least these beasts seemed near the fifth Stage which made it easier on him. Though he was unsure about the shadow's strength. "Not that it does anything." Seeing the same blank stare as always he dodged the other two's attacks again and backed away.

"Annoying.."