Chapter 43

The street lamps flickered as day turned to night with the setting sun creating an unassuming twilight hour. The upper district of Hargeon was a place where the city's rich and elite resided. Picturesque town houses lined up side by side, with lush green gardens separating the homes added to the ritzy feel of the neighbourhood.

Between the rich business men retuning from work and the bored housewives taking their miniature show dogs for walks, a shadow crept by unnoticed. The living shadow evaded detection and artfully made its way along the sidewalk and to a quaint little house.

Once she was in completely after sliding in under the door, Amelia returned to human form. Wearily she pulled back her hood, breaking the shadow illusion that kept her face hidden. The spell drained her magic but it was a necessary evil she had to endure for her endgame.

As she walked through the house, it proved to be just that. The building was a house, not a home. Only the bare essentials of furniture were present and no personal touches in sight.

Amelia began to unzip her jacket as she passed through her bedroom on the way to the in suite bathroom. All she had in the room was a drawer for clothes, her bed and a curtain if you counted the silver one that came with the house.

She began to let water into the porcelain tub as she drew her bath adding several drops of scented bubble bath. As the bubbles grew with the increasing water levels she cast aside her jacket and then removed the most annoying part of her Cyrus getup, the bandages on her chest.

After an hour she stepped out of the bathroom towelling her hair, she was already dressed for bed. In lose baggy track pants and a yellow shirt she had 'acquired'. She slumped into bed hoping to finally get a good night's sleep for the first time in over a year.

She closed her eyes and tried drifting off into peacefully slumber but it was anything but. Her eyelids trembled as images of that night played over and over. She couldn't stop recalling how she wielded her shadow god slayer magic and used it to kill him.

As she tossed and turned her hand slipped under her pillow and caught hold of something cold. The strange feeling was enough to free her from her nightmare and bring her back to the world of the awake.

In a daze she sat up and pulled out the foreign object from under her pillow. Her mind was hazy and her eyes heavy as she lifted the chain up. Amelia stared at the trinket that she held in her hands. It was a blood stained metal pendant in the shape of a wolf. A pendant she had seen countless times, a pendant whose owner she had slain with her own hands.

Amelia stared in awe at the charm. She had seen it so many times but never held it before. The thought finally crossed her mind, how did the pendant end up on her bed under her pillow. The last time she had seen it, it was lying a pool of its owners blood in a dark alley way.

The chilling reminder of that night was enough to bring her mind into a state of hyperawareness. Amelia's hand closed around the metallic trinket, breaking it. She opened up her hand and stared at the crushed pendant.

"It's a fake…" She mumbled as she began looking around the room.

The sound of her window shattering barely registered as a figure burst into her room. In her emotional state the best she could do was reverting to her shadow form as she scurried off the bed avoiding the figure.

"I guess you really are as fast as they say Amelia." Ronin scoffed as he dusted himself off as he stood atop Amelia's bed.

Amelia was lying on the floor on the other side off the room staring at him in a state of complete confusion; she couldn't believe that someone had discovered her.

"Who are you? What the hell are you doing?" Amelia tried to process what was happening.

"You can think of me as a spirit of vengeance." Ronin retorted as he stepped off the bed.

"I don't who you are but you made a mistake coming here!" Amelia shouted.

"I came here prepared for your worst shadow god slayer, show me your might." Ronin taunted.

Amelia didn't respond but instead tried reverting to her shadow form, Ronin counted by quickly pulling out his stave and sticking it into the floor activating it. The stave unleashed a bright wave of light and continued to illuminate the room with intense radiance.

"Ah!" Amelia cried out as the light forced her back into human form, stripping her off her shadow powers. "What?"

"Ama-Terasu!" Ronin shouted.

Amelia then jumped forward and tried attacking the stave but Ronin intercepted her and blocked her off.

"You're pretty light on your feet." Ronin mumbled as he pushed Amelia back.

"Why are you doing this?" Amelia demanded to know as she tried covering her eyes from the light.

"I'm here to make sure you pay for your crimes shadow thief." Ronin responded.

Amelia knew she had to fight and do something about the stranger; she couldn't afford to allow her secret identity to become exposed to the world.

Amelia attacked with wild punches while Ronin dodged. The attacks were sloppy and feral with Amelia mostly blinded by the light. As Ronin dodged he slowly got used to Amelia's attack pattern and began mount a counter and responded by throwing in some kicks that caught Amelia in the mid-section knocking her across the room into the wall force fully.

"You're strong." Amelia coughed as she got clutching her ribs.

"You are…" Ronin began to speak but stopped when the light from Ama-Terasu began to fade.

"My turn to hurt you." Amelia smirked as she felt her shadow powers return.

"Hana." Ronin cursed as he couldn't fathom any other way Ama-Terasu would fail him. "I guess this just got interesting."

XXXXX

A small crowd of worried neighbours gathered outside Amelia's home. They were drawn by the bright light and were now staring at the broken window. In the midst of panic and confusion over who should call for help an explosion of shadows ripped through the walls, sending bricks and dust into the air as Ronin crashed into the street.

Amelia couldn't help but smirk as she emerged from the hole in the wall wearing her full shadow thief get up to conceal her identity. Ronin propped himself up with his stave as she prepared to continue the fight.

The blast of shadows sent the gathered crowd running for their lives affording Amelia the chance to pull back her hood with the worry of being spotted.

"You were awfully confident earlier." Amelia reminded.

Ronin just nodded he steadied himself. Ronin raised his hand and gestured, daring Amelia to attack. The fight continued on the street, this time Amelia's fists and feet were covered in shadows as she fought.

The shadows added resolve and force to Amelia's movement as she became stronger and faster with each attack.

Ronin then retaliated with Ama-Terasu, the stave was flickering with light increasing his own attacking force and allowing him to defend against the shadows. The two clashed in a dazzling display of dark and light as they skilful attacked and defended with neither being able to land a blow.

Amelia back stepped out of the close combat situation and put distance between herself and Ronin.

"Shadow God Shuriken!" Amelia swung her arm, spawning dozens of shuriken shaped masses of shadow, which were sent flying at the Ronin in consecutive reprises.

Ronin stood his ground and with sleight of hand he pulled out a card from his metal pouches before he crouched down slamming it into the ground. The card created a brown magic circle for a brief moment before it caused a wall of earth to erupt out of the ground and act as a shield protecting Ronin from the shuriken.

The wall of earth managed to withstand the assault barely. Amelia used the wall to her advantage transforming back into a shadow and slithering along the ground at an incredible pace slipping around the wall unnoticed.

She reformed and attacked delivering a rising kick to Ronin knocking him down. Amelia then went for two footed stomp onto Ronin's chest but he was able to use his stave to block and roll away.

Using his hand to push off, Ronin thrust his body at Amelia using the momentum, to deliver a reverse roundhouse from a lower position which was strong enough to push her back.

"This has gone on long enough; I'm going to end this now." Amelia threatened.

"My sentiments exactly." Ronin scoffed.

Amelia spread her arms and feet, taking a deep breath as she gathered and concentrated her shadow god slayer magic in her chest.

Ronin reached into his pouch and pulled out several cards which he tossed it the air, scattering them around. The cards burst like fireworks creating multiple Ronin's running around catching Amelia off guard. All the Ronin's attacked.

"Shadow God's Bellow!" Amelia unleashed a torrent a shadows at several of the Ronin's revealing them to be fakes as they turned back into cards.

"Shadow God's Scythe." Amelia created a scythe from shadows, which she swung at the remaining Ronin's also revealing them to be fakes.

Amelia spun around searching for the real Ronin but when she couldn't find him she looked up and found nothing. He was gone; Ronin had vanished seemingly into thin air.

As Amelia dropped her guard she looked down and found a card lying on the ground near her. The card bore a picture of Ronin and before she could react the card started glowing.

Ronin appeared from the card and delivered a rising upper cut to Amelia catching her flush on the jaw. Ronin then ducked under Amelia's instinctual slash of shadow magic. He then swung his legs around to trip up her and followed up with a stave strike to the gut as she fell over unleashing a burst of light magic as he did, the force of the impact causing the ground beneath her to crack.

"Bastard…" Amelia cursed as she clutched her gut unable to breathe properly.

"Murderer." Ronin accused as he pointed the stave at her.

Amelia's eyes widened as she thought about the only person he had ever killed.

"You will pay for what you did. I know a prison where even shadows can't escape." Ronin spoke.

"I…I…" Amelia stuttered before she passed out.

The sound of applause and footsteps echoed through the empty streets as Hana strolled forward. The smirking demon had been watching the battle unfold from the house directly across from Amelia's.

"To be honest I expected her to win this battle given the circumstances so I must say bravo Ronin." Hana cheered.

"What are you doing here?" Ronin demanded to know.

"I'll be taking her with me." Hana revealed.

"Like hell you will." Ronin shouted. "We had a deal."

"Our deal was that I would give you her location, I never agreed to let you have her." Hana clarified.

"Why you…" Ronin gritted his teeth.

"As much she and I despise each other, we are part of the same guild." Hana replied.

"If I have to fight you then I will." Ronin threatened.

"I believe that but I also believe that you will do anything in your power to protect Howling Winds." Hana smirked.

"What are you talking about?" Ronin demanded to know.

"XVII believes that Merric Williams is still alive. He intends to attack Howling Winds during their S-Class exams and slaughter a majority of them. He hopes that Merric will return to save the survivors." Hana explained.

"You're lying." Ronin scoffed.

"Are you willing to take that chance?" Hana questioned.

Ronin didn't respond, instead he pulled out a smoke bomb and used it disappearing in the resulting cloud.