Both Feyd and Ray rushed forward at the rat that was coming after them. They knew that the rat king was readying an attack so they didn't fully commit to an attack, not like they could've severely injured the rat in a single clash anyways.
After the power up the rat recieved it was not much more powerful, and as it acclimated to its new strength its pure combat capabilities seemed as though they would soon surpass the berserk rat by a good margin.
The rat's claws, teeth and tail all seemed to have aconsciousness of their own, each attacking Feyd and Ray the moment they git close.
The sounds of metal hitting hard objects resounded as they fought, but just as Ray and Feyd were getting used to the rhythm of the rat's attack its eyes suddenly glowed as its attacks stopped for a moment and its muscles bulged.
Ray immediately sensed the danger but instead of retreating chose to advance, thrusting his rapier forward while shadow spikes emerged to accompany it.
The shadow spikes managed to pierce the skin but couldn't damage the rat much further, while the rapier struck its organs. However just then the rat screeched out loud in triumph as it ignored its wounds and rushed towards Ray like an arrow let loose.
-BOOM!
A loud explosion sounded throughout the cave as the rat flew meters past where it originally was, almost completely unharmed except for the slight singes on its fur. It screeched out in irritation as it realized it had missed its target.
Some embers from Feyd's explosion fell to the ground as he looked towards Ray with a slight grin on his face.
Feyd had blasted Ray, and himself slightly, away from the rat's attack at the perfect time. Ray glanced at Feyd for a moment before snapping his gaze away and retracting a shadow that bound Feyd and himself.
Feyd felt a force pulling him from the chest as he immediately sent a blast of fire behind him to further accelerate him towards Ray.
-Crash!
The rat king smashed where Feyd was just a moment ago before dashing towards him once more. Feyd turned his body mid air before blasting both himself and Ray at opposite directions while the shadow that bound then both loosened and lost its strength.
The rat king immediately rushed at Ray after landing who seemed to be caught off guard at the rat king's continued, however just as u was about to bite into Ray's flesh Ray dissapeared while the rat king smashed its head into the wall.
"Hehe", Ray snickered.
Ray appeared right above it as he brought his weapon down to land a hit before escaping, but the rat king turned around and clawed at Ray the moment he entered its attack range.
Ray's expression immediately soured as he created a large mass of shadows to block the attack, not having enough time to Shadow Shift away. The claw unfortunately tore through everything and struck Ray on his arm sending him flying towards the ceiling.
It then crouched down slightly for a monet before jumping up with its mouth open, ready to deal a killing blow.
Flames swirled around Feyd as he got ready to help Ray the moment he saw the rat king claw at Ray, but then he instinctively reeled his back and nearly touched the ground as the rat clawed at where he previously was.
However just as it seemed that it was about to pass by Feyd its tail flicked through the air and struck at Feyd like a whip.
Feyd put his arms together to sent a large blast of fire that sent the hasty attack and the rat away before turning up to see Ray about to hit the ceiling and the rat king about to reach him.
He then lifted his hand upwards, his five fingers bent inwards towards his palm, and twisted his wrist causing his hand to rotate.
A small portal spun and barely formed behind Ray, who noticed it and somehow twisted his body to barely fit through the Rift. The large rat king attempted to go through too as its large frame hit the Rift. Its momentum seemed to pause for a moment before the Rift shattered like glass and the rat king hit itself with the ceiling.
A fatigue washed over Feyd as he barely turned around and blocked an attack by the rat, who then whipped its tail at Feyd and sliced into his leg.
"Argh!"
Feyd faltered for a moment which the rat immediately took opportunity of. But just as it was about to chomp down onto Feyd shadows binded around it and used its own momentum to swing it away.
"Ugh, Shadow Binds huh? Thanks"
Feyd's sore legs shaked slightly as he struggles to get up. His battered body beginning to weaken further.
"Mm. We gotta take care of the small one quickly otherwise we can't win"
"Alright, I have an idea, just follow my lead"
Feyd then rushed towards the rat who similarly reciprocated his actions and rushed at Feyd too. Ray paused for a monet while keeping an eye on the rat king who seemed slightly dazed from its constant head injuries.
'Do you have a plan, or are you just gonna follow your gut and see how it works out?'
Shadows flowed around the rat king and wrapped themselves around it and pushed it down, "Shadow Bind!". The rat king's red eyes glared at Ray as it began to resist the shadows binding it, tearing them with pure physical might.
Ray split its focus on both it and Feyd as he prepared to use Shadow Shift and escape the predictable attack from the rat king.
Meanwhile Feyd was engaging with the rat and attacking it with all his strength. However he also tries to reach out and seemingly try to palm strike it multiple times however it dodged Feyd every time.
Wounds began to accumulate on Feyd, who slowly became more anxious yet focused. He forced himself to wait for an opportunity to pull off his plan.
Ray, who was watching Feyd with slightly worried eyes, immediately dashed away as the rat king struck the air where he previously was, having already broken free of its bindings.
Ray then began to run backwards towards a wall before using Shadow Shift at the last moment, causing the rat king to hit its head on the wall one more time.
Ray hid behind a slightly nearby rock, not too far away incase it switched targets to Feyd. The rat king shook its dazed head for a second before looking around for a moment, searching for Ray.
Shadows swirled around Ray for a moment as he heard strange, otherworldly whispers. A chill went up his spine as he knew things were getting dangerous on a whole different scale.
The shadow energy flowing through Ray began to shift in its properties slightly as it coalesced around him, flowing through his body.
Feyd pushed his body to its limits while using short bursts of fire to dodge attacks. The rat was hit a few times but nothing serious. Feyd, however, kept his focused sharpened while also keeping a slight eye on Ray.
And just then both the rat and the rat king each rushed towards their respective targets. Feyd seemingly faltered for a moment, losing his footing, causing the rat to go all in on its attack, putting full focus on landing a clean claw strike.
The rat king immediately destroyed the rock behind which Ray was hiding, turning it to dust. Ray had barely disseapared in time and appeared a bit away from Feyd behind a different rock. He then however grunted slightly as his wounds began to open up again.
And just as Feyd was about to be hit a blast of fire allowed him to dodge the rat's attack just in the nick of time. The rat looked bewildered for a moment as Feyd proceeded to twist his body and barely kick it towards Ray, atleast where he thought Ray was.
"Shadow Bind it, spin, and sent it here!"
Ray looked at Feyd kick the rat at a random rock beside him with a slight twitch of his eye. He sent a shadow to latch onto the rat while more shadows sprouted from it to bind the rat. Ray then grabbed onto the shadow rope latched onto it and spun it in a parabolic motion before sending it back towards Feyd.
However just as Ray let go of the shadows he saw the rat king about to reach him, claws ready to slice through: 'Crap'
The rat struggles to break free, and soon it manages to wriggle its claws and position them to cut the shadows, but it was already to late.
It soon reached Feyd who had already readied himself. The moment it passed him he palm strikes it causing it to wheeze slightly, before blasting fire and sending ut flying at the wall at high speeds.
A wall which had a Rift.
Feyd glanced at Ray who seemed to have barely blocked an attack from the rat king, and swung his blade at the air.
Just then a rat bound by shadows flew towards Feyd at high speeds emerging from a Rift. And with a clean slice the blade cut through the entire rat.
Its bisected body hit the wall behind Feyd and splattered, causing blood and internal organs to splash out.
Ray took multiple steps while looking at both Feyd and the rat king. He felt his gravely wounded body and narrowed his eyes.
'It was terrible timing, the rat king attacking me just as Feyd began his plan. I couldn't risk the rat king attacking Feyd if I Shadow Shift away so I had to take the attack head on. And now both of us are in terrible conditions and still have the rat king to fight. Tch, maybe we should just try running'
The rat king lunged at Ray one more time, who had begun to be increasingly mire influenced and disturbed by the whispers he was hearing.
He almost couldn't dodge in time yet luckily thick shadows bound the rat king for a moment, slowing it down just enough for him to dodge and reach Feyd.
Feyd quietly observed Ray, whose shadow energy seemed to constantly regenerate somehow and flow out from him. Ray himself seemed slightly different yet he couldn't put a finger on how.
'I'll ask him after surviving this...'
The rat king seemed fatigued as it breathed heavily while slowly turning towards the two of them.
Feyd closed his eyes and remembered the memories of his past self. An idea quickly formed as he felt the abundant shadow energy around Ray.
"Hey Ray, can you use all your shadows to bind the rat king in place?"
Ray paused for a moment before nodding slowly, his voice slightly hoarse.
"Yes... You got a plan?"
Feyd sighed before he began to concentrate.
"Yeah, and I think this might be the only way"
Ray felt the flowing shadow energy within him, and the growing influence of Eribos on himself.
'If I don't finish this fight quickly he will begin to grow even stronger, but if I use the shadow energy he will also grow stronger. What a load of crap!'
He didn't even consider using his psychic energy, which would give Eribos a chance to directly attack his mind while he was weak and tired.
'Let's hope Feyd's plan works, otherwise... I really don't want to consider an otherwise...'
The rat king eventually broke out of its stupor as it prepared to lunge and attack Ray and Feyd, when large, powerful shadows wrapped around it, binding it in place.
It screeched loudly for a moment while trying its hardest to break free.
Feyd glanced at the tired Ray, who was putting all his focus on channeling his shadows and binding the rat king. Feyd closed his eyes as he felt the nuances of his Rift powers, and the strange spatial mesh they worked through.
Space existed everywhere, and Feyd's Rift seemed to temporarily distort the mesh of reality, or atleast the spatial portion, and link two places together allowing teleportations.
However these Rifts were not completely stable as outside interference and force would cause it to break and shatter, releasing a slight shockwave and expelling its contents, if it had any. Thus anyone in the middle of crossing a Rift couldn't be cut in half when the Rift was canceled or destroyed.
More and more shadows erupted form the ground and bound the rat king, whose red eyes and golden mark began to glow brighter and brighter. It's muscles bulged and strength soared, tearing away at the shadows binding it faster and faster.
'Damn it! I have to... Push harder!'
Ray channeled his power harder, and harder, pushing past the limits of what he previously had. More and more shadows began to emerge from around the cave and move towards the rat king, binding it.
The shadows however seemed to turn darker, even more black in colour, as an ancient aura seeped into them.
The rat king's golden mark seemed to emit a light above its head, a shard that looked like a piece of a crown or a halo, but neither Feyd nor Ray noticed.
Ray tried harder and harder as he felt the rat kubf grow stronger. He knew his shadows were becoming stronger, and not cause of his own effort.
Chilling whispers flowed into his ears as a creeping feeling grabbed hold of him.
[Hehehe... Didn't expect you to push yourself this far]
Shadows swirled around Ray and began to try consuming him.
'Oh shut up! Just stay holed up in that dark room and wait for me to kill you!'
Ray's hair and eyes began to turn darker as Eribos began to exert control over him. Although the shadows binding the rat king grew stronger, one of Ray's hand began to turn towards Feyd who was none the wiser.
'And if two Rifts overlap at just the right spatial frequencies, the two connected spaces somehow intertwined within one another. Maybe, like I saw, I could...'
A blade of shadows formed in Ray's hand, pointed towards Feyd. Ray's eyes began to shake and he pushed back against Eribos' control.
Both Ray and Eribos attempting to take control over one body began to break Ray's body down but he cared not, for he knew that the moment he relented Eribis would kill Feyd and somehow begin controlling himself.
Two different shadows clashed, one ancient and powerful yet faint, the other young yet originating from the body itself. Both flowed around, into and through each other, devouring and destroying.
"Aghh! Aaghhh–!"
The pain began to overwhelm Ray as Eribos' control began to increase.
[Goodbye Feyd... I'll make sure to season your shadow before eating it]
However just before the shadow blade launched towards Feyd a large burst of shadow energy erupted around Ray as he barely managed to turn his hand away slightly, causing the shadow blade to pierce into the ground beside Feyd.
'Fuck you! Next time... Next time I come in there I'm gonna kill you'
Eribos felt the momentary control begin to fade away as he had failed his goal, yet he was not discouraged. He felt he had many more opportunities ahead, and anyways it was not like he lost.
However a stream of black remained in Ray's hair while his eyes seemed darker than before.
Ray began to feel his control over his bdiy return before feeling strange fluctuations in the air. His senses seemed to vaguely catch something yet none of his five main senses noticed anything. Maybe, maybe the strange thing was that his balance and sense of direction was wavering slightly.
Just then the rat king screeched out as most of the shadows binding him began to break apart, no longer strengthened by Eribos' presence.
'Shit! No no no no, just a bit more...!'
Ray attempted to squeeze out the last bits of his shadow energy to bind the rat king once more but barely manged to cause a ripple in its shadows.
"Oh come one, Feyd! How much longer do you need!?"
"I'm done! Thanks for stalling"
Just then a large energy wave erupted form where the rat king was. For a moment Ray thought it had gotten stronger once again as he almost let out a cry of frustration, but then realized something was off.
Not only did it not seem like an energy wave of a living creature, the rat king was still wailing. And... Feyd had a grin on his face.
Two circular portals began to emerge from the rat king, crisscrossing each other and occupying the same space where they both were yet weren't at the same time. It seemed as though the moment the Rifts fully formed they would begin to interact with the material world, and each other.
Sweat streamed down Feyd's forehead as he slumped to the floor, barely keeping his back upright and staying on one knee.
And in what seemed like the blink of an both Rifts fully formed and begun to shake violently. They both partially overlapped in the same spatial coordinates while being connected to each other.
This strange situation caused the two Rifts to violently destabilize and begin to break down, yet just as they both were about to release their energy they mutually stabilized the other for a moment by spatial resonance.
However this didn't diminish the impending explosion, no, the rebound caused by this further amplified the force. The momentary resonance and stabilization was the calm before the storm.
The rat king let out a loud screech that seemed poised to reach the ears of Ray and Feyd, yet due to its close proximity to the two Rifts it itself couldn't hear its own screech. It seemed as though it could feel its own doom as it began to violently try breaking out of the last shadows binds to escape.
Ray's eyes widened as he sensed the immense power about to be released form the two crisscrossed Rifts. And just as they were about to explode Feyd shouted.
"Rift Fracture!"