Ervin observed the shadow monsters surrounding him, his eyes flickering over to Giles who stood across the train tracks from him. The rest of the humans around him panicked as the exits had been blocked by a strange wall.
Ervin: So… you plan to ambush me here?
Giles snapped his fingers.
Giles: No, the plan is to keep you here.
Ervin: Keep me here? Why?
Giles: I'm not going to give you the details but for our plan to work, I need to keep you here.
Ervin: And you're using these people here as bait?
Giles: Well, if you attacked me right away, it would defeat the purpose of keeping you here. Plus I'm not dumb enough to take you on in a fight.
The shadowmonsters began to move and the people screamed in fear.
A woman tripped over her suitcase, a man grabbed his kid and ran, only to slam into the wall blocking the exit. Panic exploded across the platform.
Ervin didn't hesitate.
One moment he was standing still, the next he was a blur of motion, snapping into existence between two monsters and tearing through them with precise, crushing strikes. Every hit was meant to disable, not destroy the people around him.
A shadow monster lunged at a teenager.
Ervin intercepted it mid-air, driving it into the ground and dispersing it in a burst of dark smoke. Another rose behind him and he spun around and kicked it. It flew into the nearest wall and splattered into pieces.
But then, Giles casually turned a page in his book and from the ink on the paper, shadows poured out like liquid as five more monsters hit the platform.
Ervin skidded to a stop, breathing harder now. His eyes darted as he began counting the monsters as they formed.
Ervin: So that's how it is.
He rushed again, pushing his body past what it should handle. He blocked attacks, pulled people out of danger, broke through monsters that kept re-forming the second they fell.
But every time he cleared space, more shadows climbed out of Giles' book.
Ervin gritted his teeth.
Ervin: Tch… damn it!
He could feel it. The pressure building inside him. KOU was there, waiting. That massive reservoir of power, begging to be released.
But Ervin didn't activate it, not with this many people around.
Ervin: If I brought out KOU now, the energy output would be too much and it could tear through the station… and the people with it.
He clenched his fist.
Ervin: I can't go all-out… and I can't stop fighting either.
Another monster lunged and he took it down, but three more took its place.
Ervin: If it was anybody else they would have some trouble with this, but lucky for me I KNOW how to get out of this. But...
He looks around him.
Ervin: I'm worried about the people here. Can they handle what's about to come next?
As Giles prepared to release another round of Shadow monsters, Ervin made his move.
Ervin: [BLACK: SHADOW BEAST MANIPULATION, MNEMOSYNE]
A feminine figure rose from Ervin's shadow.
Mnemosyne.
She was the second Shadow Beast in Ervin Hashido's arsenal and like the Greek goddess she was named after, her power lay in memory itself. With a silent gaze, Mnemosyne reached into the minds of the humans around her.
Their thoughts unraveled as everything they had seen was being erased from their memory.
One by one, their eyes went glassy and then their bodies collapsed, unconscious, as the world faded from their minds.
But Ervin wasn't done yet.
Ervin: [BLACK: SHADOW BEAST MANIPULATION, ARATA]
Suddenly, a fearsome, ghostly figure rose from Ervin's shadow.
Arata.
A creature whose very presence existed to drown its enemies in terror. The moment Arata's hollow gaze locked onto Giles, a paralyzing fear seized him. His legs gave out, and he dropped to his knees, helpless and trapped inside his own dread.
Giles: (to himself) Damn it... Not like this…
Ervin didn't hesitate.
He rushed forward and slammed Giles' head into the ground.
The impact echoed through the station and instantly, every Shadow monster around them dissolved, turning into blank ink that melted across the floor, lifeless and still.
The battle was over.
Ervin: (sighs) Now let's wrap things up.