"Stop it!" she roared, her voice cracking with rage. "Stop hiding in the shadows like a coward!"
She pointed her spear at the nearest silhouette. "Is this the only way you dark mages know how to fight? With tricks and deceit? You are a rat scurrying in the dark, afraid of the light!"
Her voice rose to a desperate shriek. "Face me! Face me like a man, or are you just like another dark roach who fears a true battle?"
This time, all the clones just smirked instead of being angry. Slowly, the shadow clones wavered, then dissolved into smoke.
Silence fell over the field.
Then, Riku appeared. He solidified from the shadows directly in front of her. He stood not ten paces away. His form was no longer a void. It was solid, real, and radiating an immense, terrifying pressure.
