Within the narrow alleys of the Dark City, two sleepers moved through the shadows side by side, their quite footsteps portraying their paranoid expressions.
"Did you hear that?" One of them whispered to the other in hushed urgency.
The other sleeper paused and tilted his head sideways, listening to find any sounds his friend might have heard.
"Yeah… It's coming from…" The sleeper looked to the front and back of the alleyway, trying to locate where the sound coming from. It sounded like faint running. Both Sleepers tensed, their hands drifting to their weapons the closer the sounds got.
Then–
"!!!"
"!!!"
Both their eyes widen in surprise as their bodies slammed instinctively agaist the alley walls as both of them looked up in unison.
Swish—
A blurred shape flashed overhead, barely more than than a shadow against the glow of the sun, leaping across the rooftops at an outstanding speed.
…
Silence followed for a heartbeat, then–
Swish—
Another figure soared over their heads after it.
"What the hell was that?!" they whispered in unison after more than a minute passed, still staring at the same spot they caught a glimpse of the two figures blazing atop the rooftops.
***
As the morning light of the artificial sun brimmed with a haze of yellow and orange, two figures blurred through the rooftops of the dark city, each one faster than the naked eye, masking their bodies over the sun's shining brilliance, trying to hide their presence from one another.
The leading figure moved on all fours, its form leaping through the air with outstretched paws. Every few seconds, it flickered then vanished leaving an afterimage that dissipated under the sun's glare.
Behind it came the pursuer.
"Hmph."
It grunted mid-leap as it hurled its weapon at its target, the weapon screamed with a high pitch sound as it cut though the air, crimson light flaring as two glowing orbs burned on the throwers face–eyes lit up with savage delight.
For an instant, it seemed as though the weapon would strike true.
Then the creature flickered, than vanished.
The 'spear' piercing nothing but an afterimage, shattering the ground where the creature had once been.
"Dammit"
Bari growled in annoyance as Sunset once again missed its target.
Landing on the rooftop, Bari continued to dash forward in chase as sparks littered his palms, sunset once again being summoned.
As Bari continued to chase after the nightmare creature, he wondered how it escaped him in the first place.
"FLASHBACK"
Bari walked out of the Bright Castles gate after chatting with Jess and getting his name signed off.
His hands filled with Quests he had chosen from the Quest Hall. He had till this afternoon to complete as many as he could, before meeting a new set of people to accompany them in another extermination quest.
He rather looked forward to seeing the people of the Bright Castle in action, 'Hopefully, they don't disappoint.' Bari thought to himself while looking at the quest they issued.
***
Quest: Team Up
Type: Scouting
Description: You have been requested to join us in our hunts for this afternoon.
By: Boros
Rewards: 5 Soul Shards
Time Limit: Today, Noon.
***
With the rewards being 5 soul shards, he expected their group to kill at least 4 nightmare creatures, with most being monsters, demons and rare devils. Though, he doubted they would be hunting the ladder.
Flicking the small stack of quests, Bari flickered till he found the quests he would be completing before noon.
***
Quest: Metals & Leather
Type: Procurement/Extermination
Description: Bring a nightmare creature that possesses an alloy like body to Nightmare's Kitchen under my name.
By: Shamrock
Rewards: 2 Soul Shard
Time Limit: 3 Days
***
***
Quest: Leather and Scales
Type: Procurement/Extermination
Description: Bring a nightmare creature that possesses a scales and leather like body to Nightmare's Kitchen under my name.
By: Keith
Rewards: 2 Soul Shard
Time Limit: N/A
***
He found these two quests the easiest. They not only granted him freedom in the form of granting him the ability to hunt anything that possessed the required materials, but it did so without any restrictions or rigid objectives.
As Bari lowered the poster, his gaze drifting from the parchment, he realised he stood near the centre of the Dark City's western quadrant. From the knowledge Judith had bestowed upon him, the Dark City was divided into two major quadrants and four minor ones.
The Bright Castle sat at the city's heart. From a bird's-eye view, if one were to split the city with a line running east to west, it would form the northern and southern quadrants.
Split it again, this time from north to south and the city fractured into its four minor divisions, north-west, north-east, south-east, and south-west.
Now, you may be asking yourself, if you can see through walls, why not complete the scouting quest you were given to explore the sewers?
'Well, that's simple. Everyone saves their favourite for last,' Bari thought to himself as his eyes drifted downward, toward where most of the western sewer tunnels converged into a vast, circular pit.
Down below, draped in heavy shadow, several figures moved—or rather, it moved. The thing was so massive it encompassed an entire sector of tunnels, its bulk swallowing the stone passages whole.
As Bari continued to stare, six glowing red orbs split the darkness, restless and angry, pulsing faintly like embers breathing in the deep.
Bari smiled in amusement. While he wouldn't enjoy going down there, he would enjoy gaining the attributes it had to offer.
Just as his eyes began to delve deeper, probing the creature's runes, his senses flared in sharp alarm.
Not because he was being attacked.
But because he was being watched.
Looking up from the ground, Bari's gaze locked onto an alleyway bathed in shadow, the Crimson Spire's morning rays failing utterly to penetrate its endless abyss. Light died at its threshold, as if swallowed whole.
That's when two crimson eyes met two yellow ones.
From the mouth of the alley, the shadows thickened as if compressing, then something stepped forward.
A massive, panther-shaped nightmare creature emerged in utter silence. Its pitch-black fur merged seamlessly with the alley's darkness, as though it were an extension of the shadow itself. Faint blue and red markings glowed across its face like ritual scars, framing unblinking eyes that locked onto Bari with unsettling intelligence. Its mandrill-like jaws parted just enough to reveal two pairs of crushing fangs slick with saliva, while its long forelimbs ended in hooked claws that scraped softly against the stone.
Bari watched the creature approach, his gaze piercing beneath its hide, tracing the coiled muscle poised to explode into motion. It stood over eight feet tall on all fours. Bari did not want to imagine it standing upright.
Name: Shade Bearer
Attributes: [Swift V], [Mind III], [Strength IV], [Durability III]
The creature, now named Shade Bearer, smiled in response, baring its numerous fangs.
Sparks littered Bari's hands as he summoned Sunset. Yet before the spear could fully materialise, Shade Bearer crouched, muscles compressing, and launched forward at terrifying speed. Its five-fingered paw extended mid-air as it swung at Baris face, black claws unfurling, each longer than twenty centimetres.
As the creature sailed past him, Bari leapt into the space it had vacated, back turned deliberately, creating distance. Mid-leap, he spun around and saw—
'Nothing?
He skidded to a stop, Sunset flickering into existence at last. He scanned once, then twice, eyes piercing through walls, beneath him, and into the vast grey sky above.
And yet he saw…
Nothing.
Frowning, confusion barely had time to settle before Bari collapsed, clutching his chest as agony unlike anything he'd ever known tore through him. It felt as though his soul itself were being ripped free.
That's because it was…
As Bari was on the ground, clutching his chest, he gazed around trying to search for where the beast had gone, and yet, no matter where he looked, he just couldn't find it.
That's when another wave of confusion hit Bari, someone was yelling, as he looked around to pinpoint who, he noticed it wasn't anyone nearby, but himself, he was in an unending state of pure agony.
As Bari lay on the ground, clutching his chest, he desperately searched for the beast. No matter where he looked, no matter how deeply he focused, he could not find it.
Then his eyes landed on his shadow.
At first, nothing seemed wrong.
Then, he saw it.
Shade Bearer, clawing at its surroundings inside his shadow.
Eyes wide in terror, Bari recalled a sentence from his fathers journal, "A shadow, while usually impartial, can be the gate to the soul."
Bari plunged his hands into his own shadow and seized the creature's tail. Muscles bulged as he roared, hauling backward with everything he had.
Shade Bearer resisted, claws anchoring deep into the shadow as it howled silently. Each pull felt like razors tearing through Bari's soul as it resisted.
He screamed—but did not let go.
With a final, furious heave, Bari ripped the creature free.
His shadow convulsed violently, rippling like liquid as Shade Bearer burst out and was flung through the air. It landed silently on its feet, then instantly pounced again.
Bari hurled himself backward, driving Sunset into the ground between them just as the creature tried to dive back into his shadow.
They froze in a standoff.
Sweat poured down Bari's face, his breath ragged. Shade Bearer, meanwhile, looked almost relaxed, its grin returning as it exposed its jagged maw.
"I'm…" Bari heaved before roaring at the top of his lungs "GOING TO TURN YOU INTO A RUG"
As if understanding his words, the panther-mandrill hybrid growled before dashing forwards aiming for his shadow.
Bari, instantly spotting its intent, back-paddled sideways, positioning himself in front of the sun, trying to put his shadow behind himself while keeping the beast in front, as such, making it harder to access his shadow.
Shadow Bearer noticed this, and instead of turning its body and continuing to rush Bari, it continued with its momentum and used a building as a spring board to try and get behind Bari, where his shadow stood.
Bari, who foresaw such movements was already on the move, closing the gap in a blink of an eye while thrusting his hands which were sparkling with the signs of a memory being summoned forwards.
Claw met steel as sunset and the beast's paw met mid-air in a clash of pure strength.
Instead of a usual parry that Bari seemed to favour, this time, he contested the creature in pure strength, Grinning while watching it being pushed backwards until it decided to move with Bari's pressure and jump backwards.
While Shadow Bearer seemed to be above him in speed, it seemed that Bari was slightly stronger, even in his fatigued state.
That's when something unexpected happened. Instead of rushing Bari like usual, it seemed to grin before slowly moving backwards, once again enveloping itself in the shadows of a building, disappearing from sight.
Bari watched it go with a scoff, thinking it could escape his sight. And yet, he let it, because it would do nothing but benefit him if it thought so.
Bari gave no signs of knowing which way it lurked, and yet, he never let it leave his peripheral vision.
Shade Bearer continued to circle Bari through the shadows, looking for an opportunity to strike until it stopped and once again crouched low before leaping towards Bari.
Bari who moved before it even materialised out of its shadow, saw its eyes widen in surprise at his ability to sense where it was and disappeared.
It wasn't a burst of speed his eyes couldn't track, it was pure teleportation.
The moment it clicked inside Baris mind, he lunged forwards while once again twisting his body around, yet this time it seemed too late.
The moment Bari's eyes landed on the beast, he noticed it was too late, Shade Bearer was mere meters away swinging its clawed paw at his face.
He could not move Sunset in order to intercept its claw, as such, he decided to lower his head as quickly as possible. Yet, it wasn't enough, the claw raked across his forehead, carving two horizontal gashes as blood spilled down his face.
Bari shut his eyes and dashed backward, crimson warmth flooding his vision. Even through his anger, Bari couldn't help but admire the creature's intelligence.
When it failed to gouge out his eyes, it immediately adapted.
As futile of an attempt it was, Bari still gave it credit.
Believing Bari blinded, Shade Bearer lunged again, fully committing to tearing his head from his shoulders.
As the spear clashed with its claws, Bari observed as it over-extended on its block, leaving it open for an attack.
Bari wasted no time in seizing the moment.
Timing its jab perfectly, Bari's spear clashed with its claw for what felt like the hundredth time during their fight, and yet, it couldn't have been more than four times.
As Bari perfectly parry its claw into a second jab aiming to return its favor on 'blinding him'.
Bari watched through closed eyelids as the creature's eyes widened to an almost comical degree as it lifted its chin, letting sunset enter its neck.
The moment Bari's spear made contact, Shade Bearer was already on the move swinging its paw down on Bari's chest.
Foreseeing this, Bari would try to leap backwards with sunset, only to look in amazement as the nightmare creature tensed its neck muscles in resistance, successfully halting Bari's retreat.
Having no other option, Bari would leap back while dismissing sunset. Watching as it dissipated in a bunch of sparks, only to leave a hole the size of a baseball bat within the creature's neck.
Shade Bearer howled in a mixture of pain and anger as a gush of blood started spewing out of its wound.
As Bari thrust his hands forwards, Shade Bearer opened its maw to bite his hands off, and yet it was too slow as Bari's hands flickered and snapped forwards at blinding speeds to square it right on its nose, his crimson eyes blazing in glee.
Shade Bearer's body flew across the air as it hit a building with an impactful force, sending spiderweb-like cracks across it.
Resummoning Sunset, Bari hurled it forward
Still, Bari did not feels satisfied as he resummoned Sunset, his eyes revealing how its minor twitch of the body saved its internal organs.
As if sensing danger, Shade bearer to the naked eyes, vanished in a surprising burst of speed it did not display before, leaving an afterimage in its wake.
Bari's eyes caught it moving in slow motion, slowly retreating atop the rooftops, in hopes of losing his trail.
killing intent flared to life as he gave chase, leaping from the side of one building to another until he reached the top and sprinted at full speeds in hopes of not letting his target escape.
Flashback End
Soul Still numb from its attack, Bari felt pained, fatigued and slow and he gave chase. Not physically, but mentally and he guessed still spiritually, his soul still recovering from the soul damage it had taken. His body contained the accumulation of eight soul cores, making fatigue and normal exertion exponentially harder, he felt like he could run for days.
The gash across his forehead had already sealed itself, courtesy of [Regeneration II]. Warmth lingered where flesh had knit together, but the damage to his soul was slower to mend. Even within his regeneration at work, Bari estimated it would take another four to five hours before he fully recovered.
That intelligence boost [Mind III] gave the mandrill-panther hybrid was no joke.
It possessed a level of intelligence to be able to gauge my aspect, and weakness. It even held minimal understanding of speech, which Bari still found hard to believe.
On its first attack, he wasn't entirely sure, as such, he thought of it as a fluke, but when the Shade bearer once again performed the same action, Bari was sure of its intelligence.
First, was it aiming for his eyes during every exchange, knowing that's how he kept track of its movements, it would have even succeeded in blinding me if I was any other sleeper.
Secondly, it is currently doing it now, being able to understand when it's a losing battle. Despite the numerous numbers of nightmare creatures, most if not all never retreat, and fight till their last breath, an admirable trait.
Whenever it moved, it tried to hide its figure behind the sun's light, trying blind me for any precious seconds in order to live. Its wound in its neck was still bleeding, and slowing it down by the minute, if it wasn't for its evasive power to be able to travel through the shadows, he would have caught it by now.
Ahead of him, Shade Bearer moved like a smear of ink.
Whenever it found an opening, it dove into shadows that stretched and compressed between rooftops. Each time Bari thought he'd gained ground, the creature flickered, its outline warping as it slipped through pockets of darkness cast by chimneys, banners, and broken towers.
Resummoning Sunset, Bari watched Shade Bearer run with all its might in an attempt to escape. A futile endeavour in Bari's eyes, literary.
'The only hope of escaping would be to have a… distraction…'
Bari's thoughts slowed as his gaze lifted, noticing the direction the creature was heading.
He cursed under his breath.
He needed to act, and quickly.
Tiles shattered beneath his feet as Bari skidded to a halt, twisting his body into a throwing stance. With a sharp exhale, he hurled Sunset ahead of Shade Bearer. The spear narrowly missed its head and embedded itself in the rooftop before it, forcing the creature to slow.
Shade Bearer turned its head to glower at him in irritation.
It was a mistake.
Bari grinned wider, silently mouthing a single word.
"Fall"
Alarms screamed in the creature's mind, but it never had time to react.
The rooftop beneath it collapsed.
Bari watched its eyes widen as it yelped, a sharp, cat-like sound escaping its throat as it scrambled for purchase. Its claws scraped against stone, but the structure continued to give way, collapsing entirely and sending the creature tumbling into a cloud of rubble.
As Shade Bearer panicked, scrambling for an exit, Bari observed its sluggish movements. Blood loss had finally caught up to it.
The creature dashed toward the only opening in sight.
Except—
It was a trap.
The moment Shade Bearer burst free from the ruined building, it was already dead.
Bari leapt from the rooftop, Sunset gripped tightly as he twisted mid-air and hurled the spear into the path the creature would take.
The weapon screamed through the air and pierced straight through Shade Bearer's back, punching into its lungs.
The creature collapsed mid-stride.
"You have slain a Fallen Demon, Shade Bearer."
"You have received an Attribute"
"You have received an Echo"
Landing on the stable parts of the rooftops that did not collapse, Bari's eyes widened in surprise.
'Well… that's unexpected.' Bari thought to himself
An Echo had been the last thing on his mind.
As he watched the creature's body finally still, Bari couldn't help but replay its final moments, the way its arm had stretched forward desperately, reaching for salvation that never came.
His gaze shifted to where Shade Bearer had been heading.
Bari scoffed.
Ahead stood the entrance to the Ruined Cathedral, concealed behind a towering statue of some long-forgotten goddess.
The creature must have known it couldn't escape in its wounded state. So instead, it had attempted to lure him, hoping the Forsaken Knight within might had intervened and killed Bari, or that the Forsaken Knight within would kill itself, denying him the spoils of its death.
"What a prideful little thing, you will fit perfectly as a rug on my floor." Bari murmured with a sadistic grin.
He dropped from the rooftop and approached the corpse, hoisting Shade Bearer's body above himself before running away.
The distant sounds of other nightmare creatures echoed through the ruins, setting his nerves on edge.
The last thing he needed now was a fight over his kill.