Chapter 6: Avatar of Shadow
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Standing beneath the titanic ribcage of a dead cosmic serpent, a looming shadow hangs high above, seething with malicious, hollow energy.
The shadow remained formless for a brief period, then slowly slid down towards ground level, where Elwin stood ready to strike with his hand resting at the side of one of his dual blades.
"I've been tracking you down for some time now, shadow… or should I refer to you by your true name, the formless one, Nyx of the calamities."
For a brief moment, a deep silence fell.
The shadow remained still after Elwin's comment, then slowly rose from the ground, forming an outline; then the full shape of a humanoid figure appeared before him.
A low, quiet voice echoed from the figure's mouth:
"How sweet of you to think that saying my true name will easily get a reaction out of me. Oh, you weavers are so predictable yet precious at the same time."
A moment after, Nyx's third eye opened slowly
as it began twitching sporadically for a few seconds before stopping and locking onto Elwin.
Elwin's natural weaver instincts reacted similarly as his own third eye opened quickly, looking toward the shadowy figure of Nyx. His blade was now fully drawn and ready.
Nyx looked toward him with a face of quiet intensity, and with each step she took toward him, more of her shadow began shaping into a full body; Nyx's hair cascaded down her back, forming into long, wavy curls that looked like strings of darkness; robes made of shadows colored a hue of light scarlet and obsidian black wrapped around her lithe, tall frame; furthermore, geometric symbols began to cover the left side of her cold, pale skin as two black wings extended outwards from her back alongside two large curved black horns.
A second pair of arms formed from her as she calmly pulled a black orb of hollow energy from her chest, floating gently above her hand.
Without delay, she snapped her fingers, causing the orb to rupture into the shape of a large scythe.
The scythe was massive and seemed to grow, as if it were continually sentient; the next moment, Nyx disappeared, appearing behind Elwin and aiming to strike him from behind with a clean slice to his backside.
Or so he initially thought; he reflexively swung his sword behind his back without looking, thinking he was going to block the attack, until he realized quickly that something was wrong, and instantly his third eye contracted, peering into causality & fate itself, seeing an image of him blocking the attack as he was getting struck by the scythe aimed directly at his shadow instead.
The vision cracked, and he returned to the moment before he aimed to block; Elwin coated his blade in particles of blinding light, causing Nyx to jump back from behind him.
"How dangerous, you don't just simply attack one's body but the very shadow of oneself."
Elwin turned to see Nyx smiling, her mouth agape as she showed rows of sharp, needle-like white teeth; her jaw extended as black flames spewed from the depths of her gullet, burning away everything nearby. At the same time, Elwin maintained a safe distance from the relentless fire of destruction.
He noticed that the black flames began spreading at a rapid pace, covering thousands of kilometers in mere seconds, and Elwin knew he had to act as fast as possible; from the palm of his hand, he formed multiple orbs of starlight, sending them across different points inside the vast expanse of the dead zone, but more accurately where he sensed the flames were to reach, utilizing his third eye in tandem with his trigger ability, Supreme Light and sword hope.
Noticing this change in movement and activation of his trigger ability, Nyx immediately moves in an attempt to stop him from gaining momentum anymore; she begins to summon shades of herself spilling out from her very shadow, forming into copies of herself, all carrying a similarly sized scythe in their hands; instantly, three of Nyx's shades teleport around Elwin using the cover of the massive cosmic serpent's bone vertebra hanging above them.
Two of the three shades swung with immense force in a downward arc aimed to cleave both of Elwin's arms off, while the third one came from the front, trying to strike at his chest and split it open violently.
However, the next moment, Elwin activated his flow of balance state, forming both of his weaver wings and letting his hollow energy output spike.
His eyes turned to a deeper hue of light blue, as dark blue markings resembling weaver symbols covered his arm and ran up across the right side of his chest, emanating a faint glow of luminous light as sharp, pointed masks appeared to form over his face, similar to that of an angelic being with small wings which jutted from the top of his head and a stream of white smoke coming out, forming a halo of light.
Both of his weaver wings outstretched, blocking the attacks from both sides, while from the front he swung his sword forward, parrying the attack back towards Nyx; however, she was relentless in her pursuit against him and continued striking one after another, each blow becoming stronger, more precise, and bone-rattling than the next hit.
She truly was a deadly fighter, and Elwin quickly realized this calamity was in no way inferior to his own capabilities; she was a class of the divine, equal to him, but for whatever reason he could sense subtly that she was a much greater threat than she was letting on at the moment.
The fight grew more intense as Nyx pressed Elwin; on the other side, the young weaver fought the shades attacking him from all directions. He culminated the fight with a series of blocks with his weaver wings, combining the usage of his starlight orbs to form long strings of powerful explosions to combat the shadows closing in on him.