Shadows of a God

~In Hell's Jaw~

A battalion of soldiers, humans, elves, and dwarves combined, marched through the narrow hallways of the A-Class dungeon, a light green-haired elf commanding it.

None of them knew that they would be marching to their deaths.

When they entered the open area at the end of the dungeon, only one person was waiting for them.

The man had skin so pale grey, that one could mistake him for a corpse. His lanky arms hung to his sides as if they were popped out of their sockets. For clothes, he wore nothing but a black mantle over thick dark bandages that covered his entire body. But the most striking features of him were the pair of horns that jutted out of his forehead.

The demon, for there was no other word to describe him, held up two fingers and spoke, "Two options."

His voice alone would send even the most veteran mages into a frenzy of fear, "Dismember each of your teammates one by one, and I will let you go."

"Or," he scoffed, "You can try and fight."

The mages would never stand a chance against him, against someone so painfully powerful.

And they would be meeting their ends there...

Had it not been for one man.

"I'll take option two, thank you very much." his voice echoed through the walls of the dungeon as if he was choosing what to have for dinner rather than what the demon had proposed.

The mages looked around themselves, searching for the source of the sound.

Even the horned demon glanced around the room, nervous for the voice familiar to him.

Something whistled through the air, embedding it in the ground between the demon and the mages.

It was a sword, made of a single black material as if it was carved out of obsidian.

It had a simple cylindrical crossguard that extended on both sides, and the width of the blade shortened for a few inches, before enlarging and shortening again, giving it a spiked appearance at its edge.

A man appeared behind the sword, gripping its hilt, black smoke releasing from his body.

"Sup, you horned bastard?" the man greeted, yanking his sword out of the ground and resting it on his shoulder.

The horned man only growled in response.

Fayden POV:

"You." he spat out, "You are the one who interrupted me last time aren't you?"

I grinned at him, "So what if I am?"

He raised his arm, and I felt the shadows in the room bow to his command.

With a flick of my fingers, I interrupted his spell.

"You're not the only one with control over the shadows, you know." I pointed out, "And my authority is stronger than yours."

He scowled at me, "But can you keep it up for the whole fight?"

"No," I answered truthfully, "But what makes you think that was my plan?"

He stared at me warily, jumping down from the boulder he was sitting on.

I smirked, and raised my arm, forming a dome of translucent blackness around us.

"No one will interrupt us this way."

I had expected him to get angrier, shout at me, and call me a coward. But I had not expected him to start laughing, "You understand, don't you? The sheer frustration when someone barges in on your fight."

"I do, actually. But enough chatting, why don't we start?"

"Exactly what's on my mind." he sneered, his hand blurring as he shot a spike of inky black metal at me.

I sidestepped it, cloaking myself in black lightning and enhancing my speed.

He was fast, capable of keeping up with me even in this enhanced state as we exchanged blows.

And his hits were no joke. Even with mana augmenting me, his strikes jarred my bones.

Soon, the damage would accumulate enough to break them.

So I moved away, sending a barrage of ice shards his way.

I can't use fire magic here, the oxygen might decrease to dangerous levels soon since there's a lot of us here.

He raised both of his arms up, spikes emerging from every shadow in the dome, and headed towards me at supersonic speeds.

And not even a second later, the place where I had been standing was now a pincushion of spikes.

He looked victoriously at his handiwork, as I hung to the ceiling as if I was freaking Spider-Man.

How long can I keep him from using those spikes?

[About ten minutes.]

Ten minutes huh? That's more than enough.

I let go of the ceiling, dropping like a stone.

I maneuvered myself to land on my legs,

"You really think that's enough to kill me?" I asked rhetorically as I began expressing my authority over the shadows.

He looked startled, before smirking and raising his hands once more.

When nothing happened, he tried it again.

"What did you do?" he growled.

I shrugged, "As I said, my authority over the shadows is greater than yours."

He snarled at me, dashing forward.

I ducked under his first hit, grabbing his other hand and releasing thunder affinity mana into it as he winced in pain, yet smiling nonetheless.

I let go of his hand in favor of performing a low sweep, swiping his feet off the ground.

Seeing this opportunity, I went to stomp on his torso.

But before I could, he kicked me right where it hurt.

I Void Stepped away, wheezing in pain.

"That was dirty." I grumbled.

He only flashed me a smirk.

Fine then, no more games.

[Oi, that form strains you too much.]

I ignored him, entering my 'integrate phase' as I call it.

My silver eyes turned red, with my sclera turning black, as red runes appeared all over my body.

"Is that all you've got?" I whispered, appearing behind him.

He turned back, shocked at my sudden movement.

He tried to strike me, his right hand moving up to aim at my face.

In a split second he stopped, screaming in pain as he held the stump of his hand.

Taking this opportunity, I performed a roundhouse kick on his back, sending him crashing onto the ground, cracking the rock.

I squatted down, "Need a hand?"

I waved his severed hand in front of his face as I made that jab.

He glared at me, murder in his eyes.

"You don't have to glare like that, sheesh. Here, you can have it back." I taunted even further, throwing the severed hand at his face.

He began getting up, clenching his teeth from the pain.

"No, no, I can't have you doing that." I said as a blade rose from his shadow, stabbing through his torso as he cried out in pain once again.

I placed an arm over his shoulder, "Calm down will ya? Chill."

He cried out again, as his entire arm was frozen solid.

Placing my arm over his other shoulder, I said, "You're getting too fired up."

His remaining arm burst into black flames and was reduced to the charred bone in seconds.

He couldn't even cry out in pain anymore.

Seeing as how he stopped responding, I picked his head up with his hair, "Well, I suppose that's enough."

Placing my palm over his chest, I spoke, "Any last words?"

He muttered something incoherent.

"Guess not then." I shrugged, as a razor sharp black blade extended from my palm, piercing through his heart and exited from his back as he went absolutely still.

Removing my hand from his chest, I stood up, "Now that that's done, time to get you guys back.

I waved my arm, taking down the dome around us, and noticed the terrified faces of the soldiers.

I didn't even go that far...

[Apparently even this was too horrifying for them.]

Hmm.

I walked up to the green haired woman, "Are you the Lance?"

She was the only one who seemed unfazed, and on guard when I approached her.

"Who are you?" she demanded, vines rising behind her.

[How cute.]

I raised my hands placatingly, "Relax, I was sent here by the Eraliths."

"Why should I trust what you say?" she said skeptically.

I sighed.

"What do you know about the Legendary Party of S class adventurers?" I asked.

I hate to pull rank like this.

She looked confused at the question, "I know that two of them are brothers, with one specializing in ice magic and the other in fire magic. I also know that the other two are orphans, using mana strings and mana constructs."

I nodded in affirmation, she seemed well informed.

"What about their names?" I asked next.

"The brothers were called Ash and Vonde Bourne, I think. And the other tw-... You can't mean-!"

I cut her off, "Yep, I'm one of them. Now, do you trust me?"

"You could be easily lying." she pointed out.

[Sheesh, are all the Lances this skeptical?]

Force it is then.

I exuded my pressure, restricted but still enough to make the soldiers drop to their knees, wheezing for breath.

The Lance was affected less, she tried not to show it, but it was obvious she was having difficulty breathing and moving.

"Lance Alea Triscan, I have been sent here by your Royal family to save your sorry asses. It would be in your best interests if you stop suspecting me of lying." I warned.

She gulped, lowering her weapons,"You were sent here to save us? How did they know about that horned demon?"

"I told them."

"Didn't the four of you go missing after... the incident?" She questioned further.

I nodded, "Yeah. I only ended up in Elenoir because of your colleague."

"My colleague? Aya?"

"Yeah, she found me in the forests of Elshire."

"You were in-"

I interrupted before she could ask any further, "Save the questions for later. For now, you guys need to head back. Leave the dungeons to us."

"Why? And what do you mean by us?" She asked.

I sighed, "What did I say about saving the questions for later?"

"Sorry." she muttered.

I turned to the soldiers, "Anyone wounded?"

No one stepped forward.

"Alright then, what are you waiting for? Start leaving."

As they began moving out of the dungeon, I walked towards the body of the horned man.

Raising my arm, I opened a gate into my shadow storage, and stored the body inside.

As I was walking back, I heard a faint thud of something falling.

And judging from the look on Lance Alea's face, she did too.

I began moving towards the sound, the Lance following me close behind.

As we walked through the dimly lit passageway, we could hear someone coughing and groaning.

Did someone fall down here?

Reaching the end of the passage, I could see the silhouette of a young boy, holding his side in pain as he walked forward.

As he got closer, I could make out his appearance.

He wore a tattered uniform, parts of his skin visible where he was bleeding or burned.

He looked vaguely familiar for some reason, medium length auburn hair was tied behind his head, and azure eyes stared forward.

"Arthur?" Alea gasped.

"You know this kid?" I asked.

She nodded, "He is a student of Xyrus Academy."

"What are you doing here then?" I asked him.

He opened his mouth to speak, "I fell here from the Widows Crypt, our class was here for an excursion."

"I see."

[Why's he staring at you like that?]

Hell if I know.

"Are... are you Fayden?"