Chapter 8: Nyctophobia

I approached Hunter. My hand tightened around the hilt of my sword. I would have been scared of fighting Hunter, someone who I believed to be miles ahead of me . But after taking the energy Frederick gave me I felt stronger, faster, I finally felt like I had an actual chance at beating Hunter and I'm not letting that chance slip away. Lifting my sword I used energy to shoot forward. I swung my sword at Hunter as hard as I could but Hunter created a sword of pure purple energy and deflected my swing. shifting my body I dodged a swing from Hunter and shot my arm up elbowing him in the face. Hunter stumbled back and was unable to dodge my kick which sent him flying back. Hunter skidded then wiped the blood of his mouth

"Well it seems this world has a couple new worthy opponents"

This world?. it was hard to tell If he was spitting nonsense or if there was something else. But before I could give his vague sentence more thought Hunter spirited towards me jumping back I just barely dodged a swing from Hunter. I landed on my feet and quickly sidestepped another blast of energy. Hunter raced towards me and flipped over my punch landing behind me. He kicked me forward and I tumbled to the ground. I rolled to the side just dodging Hunter energy sword I jumped to my feet and started trading blows with Hunter I punched him in the face dodges a left hook grabbed his arm and pulled Hunter towards me as I punched him again but before my fist could connect bent back and went under my swing and pivoted his body and using my arm he threw me over his shoulder and into the ground. Hunter stomped on my chest repeatedly until James ran in tackling Hunter standing up. I ran towards them but I could tell even with James helping me he had completely exhausted his energy pool which mentioned he had practically no way to defend himself as Hunter threw him away. Hunter stood up and just barely had enough time to create a long staff of energy as I swung my sword at his side. The staff broke in two but was still enough to slow down my sword to the point where he could dodge out of the way. Suddenly a shadowy figure sliced Hunter in the chest. Hunter stepped back and placed a hand on the gaping wound on his chest. I followed the shadow with my eyes and was surprised to see it was Stan. he was bloody and his clothes were torn but it was him.

"Did you really think you could kill me that easily shit stain, I ain't never dying especially not to the likes of you skid marks"

Hunter gritted his teeth and dash at Stan who blocked the first swing with his curved dagger. I rushed to Hunter's side and slashed him, Hunter jumped back and seeped into the ground. Jumping up I dodge a beam of energy which shot up from the ground.

"You're not hiding this time shit head"

Stan ran over to the beam, grabbed Hunter's hand and began pulling him up out of without hesitation and threw a ball of energy at him which struck him in the chest sending him flying back. Hunter tumbled through the trees before stopping as he hit a lamppost which curved but stood strong. I noticed as I ran over that Hunter's wounds had already healed. I realised that he must be able to heal himself when in his shadow world but lucky for us the light from the lamp was stopping him from going back into his realm. Running in me and Stan both started repeatedly punching Hunter who tried to block are attacks but he couldn't block both of us. Eventually Stan's arm missed Hunter who grabbed his arm and twisted which sent Stan off his feet. Hunter pivoted and swung Stan around and straight into me. Me and Stan were sent flying and we both tumbled into the ground. Standing up I turned my head and was surprised to see a crowd forming just outside the park watching us

"So much for keeping all this secret"

"Yeah well no time to think about it now get moving shithead"

Stan almost pushed me to the ground as we both ran forward, I sidestepped to the right just dodging a blast from Hunter. Running up I swung my sword at Hunter who parried with his energy blade. But surprisingly Liam appeared from the bushes and struck Hunter across the head. Hunter stumbled back and an arrow pierced him in the shoulder looking up. I saw Noah who was now awake and perched up on top of a tree. Hunter grabbed the arrow and pulled it out of his chest, a thick purple ooze pouring from the wound.

Hunter blocked a swing from Liam and kicked Stan but was unable to block my sword which pierced him in the chest Hunter's face flashed with panic for only a moment before he began seeping into the ground but this time he pulled me down with him. Liam tried to pull me up but I slipped from his grasp and was pulled back into the realm. Darkness, there I was back in darkness yet somehow I could see it was so strange but now was not the time to think about that as Hunter shot towards me blocking his punch with my sword and was knocked back. I had now just noticed that Hunter's purple blood which once stained my teal sword a dark purple was now gone which proved my theory which meant if I wanted to beat Hunter I needed to do it in one attack to stop him from regenerating. Taking out my torch I showed it forwards but before I could leave Hunter kicked me in the chest and sent me flying back. Luckily the metal plate on my chest absorbed most of the impact but I still didn't have enough time to react to Hunter's next attack and his sword cut straight through my shoulder thinking fast I shot a blast of energy sending me back and dislodging the purple sword from my shoulder. I swam with all my might and eventually made it to my torch and made it back on the surface before I could take even a single breath a barrage of bullets shot in my direction and a few landed in my shoulder one grazed my leg but luckily James grabbed me by the shoulder and pulled me behind a tree where I saw Liam who had made a small shield of energy which Noah used to cover himself as he shot arrows. I followed the direction of the arrows and saw around 10 adult man dressed in all black who looked to be special forces they all held ar pointed and firing towards us

"WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING HERE JAMES"

I was shouting yet I could barely hear my own voice.

"I DON'T KNOW I JUST WOKE UP AND THESE GUYS CAME AND STARTED SHOOTING OUT OF NOWHERE"

Well shit. Hunter was bad enough but now we had to deal with armed soldiers, things weren't looking good and I couldn't figure how we were supposed to escape this situation. Just then Hunter emerged from the ground and was immediately shot dozens of times. Hunter turned and swiped his hand and a massive beam of energy formed and knocked all the soldiers to the ground and from what I could tell he had knocked them unconscious as well. Hunter turned and without hesitation I shouted

"EVERYONE NOW"

I ran towards Hunter I threw my at James who struggled to keep up

"James this could be our only chance at beating Hunter he's wounded and I need you to make sure he can't go into his shadow world and heal"

James nodded and we all ran towards Hunter who tried to enter his world but James made sure he couldn't. Hunter was mid sprint towards James before I intercepted and sliced his arm. Hunter stood back clutching his arm when an arrow pierced his leg. Liam striked Hunter with his staff and that's when I noticed, where on earth was Stan turning my head for a second. I saw Stan passed out about 50 maybe 60 feet away from me but something felt off. No I couldn't focus on that now i had to stop Hunter who i saw grabbed Liam and hold him in a choke hold i ran over but I wasn't fast enough as Liam passed out Hunter threw Liam to the side and walked over to me with only a small barely noticeable limp but that's when I knew we were close we were finally beginning to hurt Hunter and it was showing. As Hunter walked towards me he grabbed Noah's arrow out of mid air and threw back at such speed that Noah couldn't react and the arrow pierced his chest. Now It was just James and I against Hunter but with James' energy core being practically empty I was the only one who could still fight and I needed to win. Hunter threw a punch which missed me by a hair as I tilted my head to the side. Lucky for me I had banked on this moment and had purposely been using little of my energy for this moment. Charging my energy I imbued my arms in energy till a small green aura exited from my fingers all the way to my shoulder and I punched Hunter square in the face which sent him stumbling back but I didn't let up and kept punching Hunter who was unable to keep up. All the bullet wounds, all the arrow and strikes were finally getting through and for the first time since Hunter first showed himself to me I had the advantage and Hunter knew this and he wasn't happy. Punch after punch after punch after punch. Just as I threw another punch my foot slipped and I missed which gave Hunter the chance to grabbed my face

"I'VE ALREADY DIED TWICE I'M NOT DYING AGAIN"

Suddenly a purple mist spewed from Hunter's mouth and into mine but only for moment when James ran and tackled Hunter

"NATE THAT'S TWICE I'VE SAVED YOUR ASS YOU OWE ME BIG TIME"

Hunter threw James of him and punched the ground

"NOOOO DAMMIT, DAMN YOU ALL"

Hunter stood up but it was clear whatever he did to me took most of his energy which was good for me since my energy was beginning to run dry. Grabbing Hunter I punched him again and again until his face was nothing but a bloody pulp dropping him he fell to the ground reaching for my back I grabbed my sword and pointed it at Hunter who began laughing at something but I wouldn't let him finish as I drove the sword into his chest right where is heart was.

"I'm sorry, Hunter, truly maybe in the next life we could of be hero's together"

pulling my sword out I watched as Hunter's body faded away.

Turning I went to help James but I noticed he was gone looking over I saw Stan's body was also missing as well as Liam and Noah. I held my sword up and quickly swung as a black flash entered my vision but whatever I saw was able to duck under my swing and I felt cold metal hit me in the chest and a burst of electricity ran through my body as darkness overtook me.