A sliver glint shimmered under the night sky in the burning bandit camp as Ray shot his rapier towards Steam Cannon. Steam Cannon abruptly twisted his body and dodged the attack, only getting slightly grazed.
Shadow Spikes rose from the ground and extended towards Steam Cannon while Ray retreated backwards rapidly.
-Whoosh!
Two blasts of steam from Steam Cannon's open hands as the spikes were destroyed and sent flying away. A wave of psychic energy however immediately followed that caused a ringing sound to blare into Steam Cannon's and a heavy pressure to weigh onto his mind.
However a purple and golden light swirled around his eyes for a moment allowing him to dodge a shadow infused rapier strike by Ray while also delivering a palm strike to him.
And with a large booming sound a large blast of steam exploded from his palm sending Ray flying, his clothes tattered and destroyed while the skin underneath was red.
"Hghhk–!"
Ray barely managed to use shadows to pull himself away midair, dodging another blast of steam.
He skidded across the ground before hurriedly getting up and leaping away, dodging more steam blasts. Ray then created more spikes around Steam Cannon and attacked him.
"Khk!"
Steam Cannon struggled to defend himself against the all out onslaught from Ray, blasting steam blasts from his hands and dodging as much as he could.
Meanwhile Feyd kept sending waves of fire around him as he tried to slice at the vice leader, who continuously teleported around and shot at Feyd or strikes him with his blade.
Each attempt by Feyd to stop his teleportation was stopped, as the vice leader changed the frequencies of the spatial fluctuations that lead to his teleportation. It was a constant tug of war between the two of them, one trying to stop the teleportation while the other protecting it.
However as the fight continued Feyd became more and more adept at disrupting the teleportations or atleast slowing them down, allowing him to hit the vice leader multiple times. However Feyd now had multiple injuries all over his body, ones that could soon prove fatal.
The vice leader teleported once more, but this time Feyd's eyes seemed to almost trace his movements as he looked gazes with him just as the man appeared a distance away.
'I'm getting better at disrupting him, but he keeps stopping me! But his changes in spatial frequencies have a pattern, and I've got it now!'
The vice leader's expression seem tired and his body language haggard as he dropped his gun and grabbed his blade with both hands.
Just then a shadow appeared behind Feyd causing him to turn around slice. His blade bit into the vice leader's, slight sparks erupting from Feyd's blade.
An infusion of fire which hadn't been used throughout the whole fight, just for a surprise attack against the vice leader!
Flames bursted out and the vice leader attempted to teleport away when–
–With a fizzling sound the man stayed in the same spot, his blade still connected to Feyd's, while flames engulfed him.
"Arghhhh!!! Fuck!!"
He recoiled back in pain as his skin was burnt and melted while his clothes caught fire. He scrambled away from the fire before frantically looking around, finally resting his gaze on Ray who was fully focused on attacking Steam Cannon with Shadow Spikes.
Feyd furrowed his brows, having not expected the vice leader to survive the attack. It seems maybe he activated some remnant magic in the armour he wore.
Sensing his opponent try to teleport away Feyd tried to stop him, but the force within the spatial fluctuations was much stronger this time, maybe a surge of power due to a desperate situation.
The vice leader appeared behind Ray and brought his blade down, bringing his sword down. Ray's keen senses barely allowed him to detect the man appearing behind him, but unfortunately he barely had any time left to react.
He tried lunging away but the sword cut deep into him, almost slicing his left arm off as it passed down his shoulder and out his side.
"Aghkk!"
Ray shouted in pain before falling to the ground, grabbing his arm with his other hand. He glared at the vice leader before taking out a healing potion and chugging it down, while creating shadows that connected his arm to his body.
He then felt a weakened steam blast hit the ground beside him, and another fly past destroying some rubble. Ray instantly knew what was happening as he focused on the vice leader infront of him who was chugging down a healing potion himself.
The man's melted and burnt body began to magically heal but the damage was much more brutal and harder to heal than Ray's, thus reducing the effectiveness of the healing potion. The bottle in the man's hand fell to the floor and joined two more.
'Well if he already drank two potions than that means using more temporarily won't do anything. The effectiveness of healing potions reduces with consecutive uses. Now I just have to focus on this guy's shadow and try doing what I thought of...'
The vice leader growled in anger, his vocal cords too damaged to speak. He then rushed towards Ray brandishing his blade.
Ray raised his rapier while fully concentrating on the vice leader's shadow. And just then it dissapeared as another, similar in feel shadow appeared behind him.
All shadows feel different to Ray. Although it takes effort and focus to distinguish the exact details Ray can differentiate objects by their shadows. Though it's easier with living creatures since they all have their differences its harder for inanimate objects that are similar.
However Ray sensed the vice leader's shadow a beat too late as he barely manged to block the strike.
The vice leader leapt back and got into a stance before striking the air infront of him. And just as his blade reached its maximum force he appeared beside Ray. This time Ray reacted faster than before but the angle and position was awkward thus causing him to take a hit.
The vice leader disseapred once more but this time would be different. The moment Ray sensed even the slightest hint of the vice leader's shadow he turned and twisted his body before slicing behind him.
The vice leader's eyes shook as he saw Ray dodge his attack while simultaneously cutting into him. He tried to teleport away but he just wasn't fast him, and his energy reserves also failed him.
And with a splash of blood the vice leader fell to the floor, a deep wound marking his heart and lungs. Then Ray waited for a moment before a white crystal permeated through the vice leader's head and floated infront of Ray.
He grabbed it and shoved it into his bag before turning towards Steam Cannon... And Feyd.
Every steam blast that came Ray's way was weakened and deflected by a blast of fire from Feyd, that's how Ray was able to fight the weakened vice leader without any interference.
Ray had already expended much of his shadow energy attacking Steam Cannon while also having a slight headache from the back lash of his psychic attack not working. He wasn't sure what blocked his attack but he had a feeling that things were a lot more complicated than he expected, and that Steam Cannon was probably not in possession of an artifact with powers related to shadows or darkness.
Feyd himself was at a massive disadvantage against Steam Cannon. He was now the target instead of Ray and had to deal with a continous barrage of steam blasts.
He knew that his blade would not help with this and thus his only hope was using fire, large, overwhelmingly large amounts of it at that, to counteract the natural weakness to the steam. He also dodged and used the surrounding terrain as cover but could not do so as freely as he wished since Steam Cannon could easily switch targets to Ray which would be bad for them.
But now that Ray was finished fighting Feyd could use blasts of fire to dodge the steam blasts!
Steam Cannon's eyes sank slightly as he noticed the corpse of his vice leader beside Ray. Although he hadn't used as much energy as Ray or Feyd him capacity was less, thus causing them to have a similar amount now. That is, very less.
He decisively moved his injured body to the side, dodging a blast of fire coming through a Rift behind him before blasting away spikes made of shadows.
Then a storm of blades came from all around him. Slashes and thrusts from a long sword covered in bursting flames and the piercing jabs of a rapier infused with shadows.
Steam Cannon barely fended against the onslaught of red and black that danced underneath the moonlit sky. A trace of purple and gold swirled around his eyes faster and faster as he gritted his teeth.
And then he waved both of his hands around him, sending steam swirling around him. Both Ray and Feyd dodged but just as they were about to continue their assault Steam Cannon grabbed his necklace and ripped it off his neck.
He fell to one knee and seemingly muttered some words to himself, "O great essence of existence, reason of all to live, and the drive of all things. Your humble Aberrant begs for your favor"
Purple mist seeped out from the necklace as a slight golden glow appeared around Steam Cannon's eyes.
Feyd and Ray both glanced at each other and sacred the same thought:
"Attack him now!"
Both appeared infront of Steam Cannon in a flash. Flames burst from Feyd's blade as he sent large amounts of fire crashing down. Shadows flowed around Ray and his rapier while spikes emerged all around Steam Cannon.
All of their attacks came down at once but just as they were about to hit Steam Cannon large amounts of steam exploded out extinguishing the fire and breaking the spikes, sending both Elves flying away.
The steam was purple in colour and as it slowly dissipated Ray and Feyd got a good look at Steam Cannon who was slowly rising up from the ground.
Purple steam was released by his body into the atmosphere that seemed to disturb the environment. Steam Cannon's eyes changed into a purple colour with a hint of golden inside them. But most importantly his aura changed completely
Now it felt like something wrong, something that shouldn't exist in this world. Feyd was greatly off put by it as he felt something within him churn and twist. A single thought flashed in his mind:
'Kill... Aberrant...'
Feyd's eyes dulled for a moment as he mechanically gazed towards Steam Cannon, killing intent overflowing from him.
Ray first noticed that although the strange energy and aura coming from Steam Cannon and his steam were disruptive and powerful in nature, Steam Cannon's injuries hadn't healed.
'A single good hit should be enoug–!'
But then he quickly turne his head towards Feyd who was releasing large amounts of killing intent towards Steam Cannon. Ray noticed his body language, gaze, and aura change significantly. Almost as if he had become someone else entirely.
'Wh-whats going on!?'
Ray panicked slightly as he tried to communicate with Feyd.
"Hey Feyd! What happened?"
But Feyd ignored Ray and rushed towards Steam Cannon who looked at Feyd with a strangely prideful gaze. He immediately attacked Feyd without backing down putting full effort into his attacks while cackling and shouting like a mad man.
"Kuahhaha! Experience the power of the true lord and savior! The original gods! Ahhh~"
The dissonance between the man's cold, prideful gaze and large stature, and the wide, twisted smile was incredibly unsettling.
Ray was both hurt and worried for Feyd, who had just ignored him completely. He got ready to help Feyd defeat Steam Cannon and hopefully bring him back to normal and get an answer, only if Feyd was willing ofcourse.
But just then he heard a chilling whisper in his mind.
[Kek! I never expected this from your friend... Ah, how incredible. I knew he felt familiar]
A few strands of Ray's hair began to turn black.