Aether froze, his foot halfway to the ground.
He leaned toward his companion and whispered softly. "Do you see..."
"I do," Noble answered, though what exactly she saw was yet to be determined.
Out in the darkness, pairs of pale eyes reflected Aether's warning light, staring at them like empty lanterns. The interlopers were small, coming up to Noble's slim waist.
The floating Master hadn't even sensed them until a moment before their appearance in the darkness. Their small faces look startled, with mouths frozen in the round shape of a horrified scream.
The creatures remained still, refusing to move now that they had been noticed. Perhaps they could not move, remaining like statues whenever viewed. If that were the case, then the floating Master would forever keep her eyes on them. Not that it was easy to look away.
'They look like...children.' Noble felt a chill run down her spine.
Apart from their withered skin, Child of Promise could have mistaken them for human in the pale starlight. Their willowy figures and arms made them look half-starved, and if not for their hatred for her that she could now feel, Noble might have pitied them.
Instead, she silently summoned her blade. The rain of sparks shed more light on the monsters' bodies.
They had no legs. Instead, their bodies tapered into a single point that dragged along the ground. Behind each one was a small hole. That is where the monsters had come from. They had popped up like seeds. Only they weren't seeds at all.
'They are roots.'
Without warning, the malformed heads turned in unison to spy the forming Zenith. Their eyes, which had seemed empty, filled with a sinister light.
The strange spell that had held them in place was broken.
Chaos broke loose.
Dashing forward, Noble summoned her armor. Sooner or later, Syrce would run out of tunics to lend her, but the celebratory garment was not something made for battle. Even if she had kept it, Child of Promise doubted that the dress would have remained wearable once this was over.
'And things were just turning around this evening too!'
At least the cape was still as beautiful as ever. The divine relic had no problem sitting atop her armor as it formed. Was there anything that the fabric couldn't handle?
'I can muse about fashion later!'
Noble pushed aside her wandering thoughts to focus on the first monster. The creature closest to her lunged to attack in the blink of an eye.
Its screaming face did not change expressions, but the open mouth gained a row of razored teeth ready to tear into anyone unfortunate enough to land in its path. And that someone was Noble.
'Definitely not children!'
The Zenith aimed at the mouth, but just as the blade was poised to cut into the monster's wooden throat, the creature bent down and bounced into the air like a released spring.
It was so quick and sudden that Noble almost missed the action as her sword cut only through air. Thankfully, her reflexes were faster than her conscious thoughts.
Using her levitation, Child of Promise stopped the root from biting off her head and threw it backwards. A moment later, the monster was impaled with a dagger made of pure starlight.
It wilted with a childlike shriek, filling the air with its death cry.
"Thanks," Noble nodded at Aether.
The man dipped his head. "You are most welcome."
He did not seem to be having any trouble seeing in the darkness. Under the night sky, he was in his element. His handsome face was determined as he prepared the next attack.
He was right about one thing: politeness had nothing to do with battling Nightmare Creatures. It was kill or be killed.
Behind them, the alarm sounded. Those who hadn't heard the shriek would surely answer the call to arms.
Noble wanted to spare the mundane soldiers a fight in the darkness against an enemy that could easily bounce over their heads. She suspected most of them were as drunk as Flint. If so, they would be coming to lose their life and might even be a hazard to others.
The celebratiry feast of one man's rescue could lead to the deaths of even more than they had lost in the mist. Noble would not let that happen.
If the determined Master wanted to avoid disaster, she would need to act fast.
Shutting her eyes, Child of Promise used her second sight and other senses to find the creatures in the moonlight.
It was time to get serious.
The world around her shifted into a palette of nameless colors. The monsters were numerous, but less than Noble had originally thought. They were only on this side of the camp, having come from the recesses of the forest and not the lake or city.
They also were disorganized. If they had planned better, they could have surrounded the camp. They could have infiltrated where only the mundane soldiers and the Pink Ones were congregated and consumed many of them while the alarm was still being raised.
Instead, they were concentrated in a tight group and focusing on one spot where two powerful people were sitting.
That was bad luck for them. But it also told Noble that the group had no leader.
That was good news for the humans.
The lady hummed softly. 'Divide and conquer it is, then.'
Ducking, she let the next creature bounce over her head. When it tried to come down headfirst upon her, it met with the point of the Zenith instead. The stunning blade cut into the skull of the monster with barely a whisper.
Like the one before, the creature shrieked, sounding like an infant crying out in the night. The sound was heart-wrenching.
[You have slain an Awakened Demon, Willowy Wight.]
The Spell announced the victory even as Aether crashed into the next of the demons. His created blade flashed by her face, deadly as it was beautiful. The recipient of the hit exploded, pelting Noble with the splinters.
"You go left and I'll go right!" She told her companion.
His weapons of starlight would be more effective if he had free range, and with what she had planned, it was better that they stay out of each other's way.
With a thought, Noble turned her cloak the same color as the darkness and flipped up her hood over the helmet. Her body melded into the landscape.
Lifting from the ground, Noble shifted her Zenith into one hand. It was not the ideal way to wield the sword, but the sharp blade adjusted its weight according to its Master's will.
In her other hand, Noble summoned the Paradox Fang. The fractal blade shimmered in the starlight, both reflecting it and letting it pass through unheeded. The dagger was almost as invisible as its master in darkness.
Noble gripped both weapons tightly, a cruel smile coming to her face.
So what if the wights could bounce? She could fly! They might appear like ghosts, but with Mirage's cloak, she could be a phantom.
Hovering over her enemy, she was a harbinger of death.
The Shadow Realm was calling.