The pain almost caused him to black out.

His chest felt like it was burning him from the inside.

He tried to recall what was said about Shadowbringers: Deadly creatures of the night, that wield the shadows to their benefit. The dangerous venom stored in their stingers has slain many mighty warriors. Beware if you see one, for they are incredibly vicious and bloodthirsty. Only 2 people have fought a Shadowbringer and lived to tell the tale.

Gusion firmly hoped the venom wasn't going to kill him. He was only seventeen, and still hadn't gotten around to finishing all his wishes yet.

He would also hate to die under a rifle shelf of all things.

When he felt that he could move without hurting himself, he began to wriggle around under the shelf.

The cold metal of rifles were underneath him as he tried to squirm his way out when the shelf was lifted.

Gusion began coughing from the wood shavings in the air when sharp fingers closed around his neck.

Damn it, not again, he silently thought as Dyrroth lifted him up.

"It's funny, really," Dyrroth spoke. "I came here for Lesley's little brother, and here you are: one of the best fighters of the Light side. It's like-what's that idiom again? In for a penny, in for a pound?"

Gusion struggled as he desperately tried to inhale, but it felt like nothing was happening.

Suddenly, he felt the cool metallic taste of blood in his mouth, and then blood began dripping down his mouth.

Dyrroth released his iron grip on Gusion's neck, and Gusion sucked in gaping lungfuls of air as he blinked heavily, his vision blurring.

"Shadowbringer venom," he heard Dyrroth say. "Drains the blood and dulls the senses. I should have known he'd have removed the kill-"

But whatever that was said next became blurred and unclear to Gusion as his vision began darkening rapidly and all sense of feeling went away. He could vaguely make out Dyrroth speaking something and then all awareness left him.


Lesley walked home, half her face slick with greenish-purple blood.

Her left arm was lacerated with cuts and she was bleeding from a cut on her shoulder as she supported her rifle's weight with her right hand.

She probably should have accepted Lancelot's offer to be brought home, but Lancelot did live in a completely different area.

She would have called Gusion, but he'd been unreachable. Hopefully, nothing had happened to him, and he and Harley had been left alone for the night.

Lesley knew in her gut that that would not happen. After Alucard had managed to execute Yve, Alice's previous general, in a stunning landslide victory for the Light side, Alice had appointed a newcomer as her right-hand man-Dyrroth, a twisted individual who had beaten the Light side at several attacks.

He was also incredibly good at fighting, managing to defeat several of the Light fighters. Tigreal had managed to defeat him surprisingly quickly, but Dyrroth had made it away. He seemed to be able to identify the people to be eliminated.

The war may have raged on at day, but Dyrroth's tactics included assassination and torture to the point of insanity.

He'd killed Claude, and Miya had made it away with her life and bow. The heroes were always on their toes-no one could be sure who or where the enemy was.

Lesley had become Dyrroth's next target after she managed to shoot him in a battle. The wound didn't do much, but Dyrroth had looked at her and given her an open-wound smile that sent a shiver down her spine.

The next night, Lesley had tucked Harley in when she saw Dyrroth, his face pressed up against Harley's bedroom window. A horde of monsters surrounded the house, but they did nothing. They just stood there, watching and waiting.

Lesley received no sleep that night, and the next one, and the following one, and had collapsed from exhaustion when dawn broke.

Harley had called in Rafaela after trying unsuccessfully to wake his sleepless sister, and Rafaela had called Tigreal about it.

They had set up reinforced wards, but were unsure whether those could hold Dyrroth for long.

As her house came into view, she realised that the wards weren't enough.

The bodies of several creeps were strewn everywhere, and daggers lay shattered in some places.

"Lesley!" Harley called, and she swung around. "Harley! Where are you!"

"Here!" Harley's high-pitched voice sounded tinny, and Lesley finally saw him, leaning out of Gusion's window so far she thought he might actually fall out and waving frantically.

What the hell is he doing there? She thought to herself, racing to the house and pushing open the front door.

Harley bounded down the stairs, wrapping her in one big hug. "There were monsters!" he told her, his face pressed into her stomach.

"I saw that. How did you escape?" Lesley released him from the hug.

"Gusion threw me out the window," Harley muttered mutinously as he rubbed his back.

"I'll scold him later," Lesley said, inwardly thanking her best friend for his quick thinking. "Where is he?"

"He stayed in the house," Harley explained, and they both stiffened as they realised what that meant.

Instantly, Harley disappeared, leaving a top hat in his place, and Lesley saw him race across the pavement.

Lesley activated her camouflage skill and vaulted through the open window, speeding across the pavement and overtaking her little brother.

She pushed open the door and snapped her rifle up, ready to shoot anything that moved. Dead monsters littered the lower floor, and Harley retched as he poked a dead Crammer with his leg.

"Is this what you fight every day?" Harley asked, the revulsion as plain as day in his voice, but Lesley held a palm up. She sniffed the air and smelt blood.

She slowly walked up the staircase, fear building up a well in her chest as her heart hammered relentlessly.

She pushed open the door and was greeted with a horrifying sight.

Gusion hung upside down from the air, his leg suspended by a thin wire attached to the wall, with his chest nearly caved in and blood pouring from his mouth.

"I think I see a bone," Harley whispered, his eyes wide at the gruesome sight.

So I'm back again. Yay for me!

No reviews even after a year.

I don't own MLBB. Moonton owns it.