Shadow Play

The first statue pounced at them leaving pieces of stone flying where it was, its shadowy body moved quickly.

Leo barely had time to dodge as razor-sharp claws sliced through the air where his head had been. The creature's movements were quick yet deadly.

"Stay together!" Neo shouted, her knife flashing in the purple mist as she swung at another creature, and though the blade passed right through its dark body, the being jerked back as if it stung. It didn't make sense, her knife didn't cut it, yet it reacted anyway.

Kaori darted forward, her martial arts training showing in every step. She ducked under one creature's grasp, grabbed its arm, and flipped it into another, giving them a short breather. "We need better ground!" she yelled, scanning the misty valley.

Leo's mind raced, picking apart the creatures' attacks. They moved fluidly, but there was a pattern: surge in, strike, pull back. Always the same timing.

He put that aside as more statues cracked open around them, their stone shells splitting like eggs to reveal shadow beings inside. The purple mist swirled getting thicker at their feet.

"This way!" Neo pointed to a cluster of big rocks ahead. "We can guard our backs!"

They moved together, covering each other's blind spots as they retreated. Leo noticed something else about their attackers. They seemed to avoid the blue crystals on the ground. He kept that observation in his head for later.

The shadow beings kept coming, but their attacks felt strange. They'd rush in hard, then ease off right when they could've finished it. "They're herding us," Leo said, watching them shift positions. "This isn't a random attack."

Neo's eyes flicked around as she blocked another strike. "The mist is denser over there. They're pushing us into it."

Kaori swept a kick at one creature's legs, but her foot passed through like it was smoke. The thing let out a creepy laugh and swiped at her. She rolled away just in time. "My hits do nothing!" she snapped, frustration filling her voice. "It's like fighting air!"

Leo's marking burned hot on his arm as more creatures continued to emerged. When it flared brighter, the nearest ones paused, just for a heartbeat, as if they could feel it. "Neo!" he called. "My marking, they react to it! Maybe we can—"

He was cut off as three creatures attacked simultaneously, forcing them to scatter momentarily before regrouping.

Neo's brain was already racing. "The knife bothers them, your marking bothers them, they dodge the crystals…" Her eyes lit up. "Leo, does your marking feel different near me?"

He focused. "Yeah, it's stronger when we're close!"

"Kaori!" Neo deflected a claw. "Your kicks don't land, but they dodge anyway. Why do you think that is?"

Kaori grinned, dodging between two creatures. "They're pretending! Acting tough when they're not!"

"Exactly!" Neo's voice held the excitement of someone putting together a complex puzzle. "They're performers as much as predators. Which means—"

"It's a routine," Leo finished, narrowly ducking a swipe. "We can use that to our advantage."

Neo laid it out her hastily made plan fast. "We trick them. Form a triangle with Leo up front. Your marking holds them back. Kaori, fake attacks to steer them. I'll use my knife to box them in."

It was a risky plan, but it fit them perfectly. They'd turn the creatures' own tricks against them.

They formed a triangle, Leo up front. His marking made a shield the creatures couldn't cross, giving Neo and Kaori room to work.

Neo's knife would force them to keep up their act of not being solid, making their movements predictable.

"Now!" Neo shouted.

Kaori began executing complex martial arts moves, not hitting the creatures but forcing them to dodge in a predictable manner.

The creatures had to follow her lead to keep pretending they were solid.

Meanwhile, Neo used her knife to close them in from another angle, creating a path that the creatures had to move through if they wanted to maintain their illusion of being physical entities.

The plan was working. The shadow beings found themselves responding to Kaori's martial arts, moving exactly as Neo had predicted they would. Their routine responses trapped them in a pattern they couldn't break without revealing their true nature.

Leo felt hopeful as he watched the creatures fall into their trap. He could sense the shadow beings' confusion as their own predetermined responses worked against them.

But then something changed.

A deep rumble shook the valley, and the purple mist began to thicken dramatically. The shadow beings' movements became more erratic, less bound by their previous patterns. It was as if something was giving them permission to break their own rules.

"They're adapting!" Leo warned, seeing how the creatures' movements were becoming more less predictable.

Kaori's next moves, which should have forced three creatures into a vulnerable position, instead left her exposed as they simply went around her attacks. "The patterns are breaking down!"

Neo's knife passed through one creature completely, with no reaction this time. The being turned to her with what could only be described as a smirk on its featureless face. They were done pretending to be solid.

They found themselves being pushed back, their carefully coordinated strategy falling apart as the shadow beings violated every pattern they'd established. The creatures moved freely, their bodies becoming more ethereal and harder to track or predict.

"Fall back!" Neo called out, but there was nowhere left to retreat. They had been so focused on executing their plan that they hadn't noticed how the creatures had gradually pinned them against the cluster of rocks

The purple mist swirled around them, thick enough now that they could barely see more than a few feet ahead. Shadow beings emerged from the fog like nightmares taking shape.

Kaori's movements, so confident and precise before, now seemed small and ineffective against the creatures surrounding them. Leo could see the frustration and fear in her eyes. A master martial artist and powerful awakened reduced to swinging at shadows.

"Damnit, I can't fight what I can't hit," she said, her voice filled with panic. 'Everything I know, everything I've trained for... it feels so useless here.'

Neo's tactical mind was racing, trying to formulate a new plan, but the creatures weren't giving them time to think. They pressed closer, their earlier playfulness replaced by predatory focus. The time for games was clearly over.

Leo's marking burned hotter than ever, but even that seemed to have less effect on the beings now. They had adapted to its presence, learning to push through whatever barrier it had created.

Through the thickening mist, Leo caught glimpses of more statues cracking open in the distance, adding to the army of shadows surrounding them. Their backs were literally against the wall now, the cold stone pressing against them as the creatures closed in.

Neo raised her now-useless knife in an act of defiance. "Any more bright ideas?"

Before anyone could respond, one of the shadow beings surged forward with great speed. Its arm changed as it approached, becoming something like a spear of pure darkness aimed directly at Kaori's heart.

Time seemed to slow as Leo watched the attack, knowing they were too tightly packed in their corner for Kaori to dodge, too close together for him or Neo to intervene.

The creature's body turned solid for its killing strike, and in that moment, Leo caught a glimpse of something in its center, a pulsing core of darker shadows.

But they saw it when it was already late. The shadow being was already upon them, and Kaori's eyes widened as death reached for her in dark claws.