Magical concentration, one of the most dangerous magical applications this world has to offer. By condensing tons and tons of magical energy into a single point, you create a source of magical pressure never intended to exist. Release it, and you get an explosion powerful enough to rip a hole through the center of the planet.
That is the power of the atomic strike. It was my creation, an ability that challenged the power of magic so tightly and densely it created thin lines that ran across all nearby surfaces, including my body. It was the equivalent of a warning sign to those who attempted to strike me. Those who were foolish enough to stand in the epicenter of an atomic bomb.
Purple is perseverance, it's why I chose it. No matter what happens in this world, I will continue forward no matter what happens. Even when I lied to the Shadow Garden about what they fought for, when I turned my back on my family who attempted to help my shell of a personality, and when I finally decided to atone for my self-inflicted choices.
Red on the other hand is a sign of determination. A power which gives the person the strength to move forwards regardless of the consequences. Claire's spellsword always ran red, which must be why when she unleashed her own unintentional version of atomic strike, the lines ran red with magic instead of purple.
Claire, my own sister, used my own ability before me without realizing it.
That, and Claire should have never been able to use it in the first place. Her magical concentration was never strong enough to unleash an attack like that in the first place, but after I gave her the 'Shadow's Gift', I had failed to realize just how similar we were. As siblings, we share a lot of things about us, and our magical concentration patterns must have been nearly identical. That's the only explanation.
I have turned Claire from being someone who was fairly decent at battling to what was effectively the same level of power that I was, and I don't think she even realizes it. This isn't sword skills, it's purely magically orientated. Still, Claire is no dueling weakling and she is very good with a blade. So, with all of that said this begs a very serious question.
HOW DID SHE LET HERSELF GET CAPTURED!?
Claire would slowly open her eyes, feeling the cold stone floor against her rear. Her hands were chained to the wall, legs out in front of her, and the place had a scent of mildew…
"I've been kidnapped..." She thought to herself, remembering that late in the night she remembered partially waking up, and then the next thing she knew she was here. A dungeon.
Outside of her cell were two guards dressed in green uniforms.
Claire attempted to activate her magic, but found that it was restrained by the cuffs around her wrists. It rendered her unable to do anything…so for now, she'll wait. Something was bound to occur sooner or later, and she'd take advantage of it.
What Claire failed to notice was the man standing over her. Short white hair, dark green cape, older complexion but not past his late thirties. Not exactly someone who would be working in a dungeon unless it was for seniority or malicious reasons.
"You must be Claire Kagenou." The man said, looking down at Claire with a stern expression.
"Viscount Grease? Yeah. I've seen you around the capital before. Lost in the first round of the Bushin Festival to the Princess didn't you? First-round flunkie…"
"Hmph. We're bound by tournament rules, otherwise I would have never lost to her."
"Yeah yeah, sounds like somebody's a sore loser."
"Silence child, you know nothing about competing, let alone a real fight."
"I will in a year."
"I doubt that greatly. You won't be alive much longer, Claire Kagenou."
"Haha…sorry I didn't realize you were talking about yourself."
Grease, a man of stoic attitude attempts to kick Claire's skull in, however instead he hits the wall behind her as she moves her head just at the last moment. The impact formed a crater in the wall afterwards, which was certainly not good.
"Rude." She said in an almost bored tone.
"Consider what I offered you mercy. Your true fate will be far worse."
"If you consider an attempted kick to the head mercy, then I anticipate whatever you have in store for me will certainly be interesting at best."
"Indeed. Now, you are going to tell me what your brother is."
Claire's eyes would dart towards Greases's face, her pupils shrinking slightly.
"Pardon?" Her voice had gotten even more calm and composed, effectively quelling her anger and rage. The urge to rip off the shackles and bash the skull of Grease's head surging within her body.
"One of my scouts reported to me what happened yesterday night. Your brother cured your possession, and proceeded to kill everyone else alongside you. You are going to tell me what he is, and then, we'll bring him here too."
"Heh...you'll see my brother soon enough. Don't worry about that."
One of the guards would walk up towards Grease and the cell itself, gesturing for him to come outside.
"Watch your mouth, Claire Kagenou, or next time I won't miss." He would then turn around, exiting the room in order to speak to the soldier.
"Viscount, we have analyzed what remained of the scarface team's reports and there is a cause for concern. Should we prepare a carriage for you?
"Now? When we have a cured child of possession right here? Absolutely not, go find the doctor and prepare the blood work material." The Viscount would say before walking off, leaving the soldier to do the same.
Claire would watch the two leave, letting out an irritated huff as she'd made herself as comfortable as she could.
"I hope you don't intend to keep me waiting too long…Shadow."
Shadow would drop down from the sky, his large jacket pulling itself inwards after he landed as he had been using it to glide across the sky to reach the shadow encampment as fast as possible. This arrival would not go unnoticed.
Delta, who would often jump and hug Shadow when he first arrived, would notice the urgency and altered position of Shadow's arrival, along with the most important detail.
Typically when Shadow came to the shadow encampment, he had his hood down and allowed his facial expressions to be visible. This time, Shadow had his hood up along with his facial expressions being masked by a ominous dark smoke that radiated around his hood, masking his identity completely. There was also a faint red glow coming from his eyes on the other side of the smoke, which indicated where he was looking but that was about it.
"Delta will go gather the others!" She'd exclaim, immediately jumping into action as she'd sprint off to go get everyone else.
Shadow would let out a calm breath through the dark smoke around his face, a little of the smoke being pushed out by his breath as he would begin walking off towards Alpha's command center.
As Shadow walked, blurs of darkness moved in his peripheral vision, each of them rapidly moving towards the building he was approaching. Swift, agile, and deadly, like a knife's blade being grazed against the surface of the skin. Each of the shadows moved inside the building barring one who tripped midway, but Shadow pretended not to see them.
By the time Shadow opened the door, all seven were waiting for him. Each of the shadows were wearing their signature black and yellow slime bodysuit along with black cloaks. Shadow would look over each of them before nodding, dispelling the black smoke around his face.
"What did Delta's prey lead us to?" Shadow would ask, looking over towards Alpha directly. The rest of the room would follow his gaze towards her.
"A forgotten mine shaft being used as the cult's main base of operation in this area. Thanks to what you left behind for us, we have determined that this location may be where Claire was taken."
"So you are well informed then. Good, this will not take long." Shadow then pointed at the position where the mineshaft was located with his index finger.
"One entry, we get inside with a show of force. Once inside, two trios with the seventh being my escort. Additionally, if you see someone called Viscount Grease, capture them alive if possible. Not a priority, Claire Kagenou is." He would then gesture for Alpha to speak.
"Beta, you will neutralize any exterior targets once Shadow performs his opening. Delta, you will kick in the door. Trio one is myself, Gamma, and Zeta. Trio two is Beta, Delta, and Epsilon. Eta, you'll be with Shadow."
Silent nods followed from everyone in the room which led for Shadow to retake the stage one more time.
"Kill everyone else inside."
After he said that, a lamp would flicker inside of the room as it briefly plunged it into darkness. The next moment that it came back on, everyone inside of it was gone. The only sign they were ever there was a slightly ajar front door which a moment later gently shut itself.
The shadows were on the hunt.
It was a quiet night guarding the entrance of the mineshaft. After a bandit leader came running yelling about seeing Viscount Grease and mentioning someone survived their possession, Clark went inside to tell the boss what had happened.
The raid team that went to capture Claire Kagenou pulled it off without a hitch, and now that they're interrogating her it was only a matter of time before the boss furthered his plans, and they all got raises. Clark was pretty excited about that prospect, nodding his head to a song he was thinking of when he heard bushes rumbling ahead of him.
"Who's there? Identify yourself immediately!" He would call out, pointing his spear towards the bushes that were about twenty feet away from him. He wasn't afraid, he was annoyed that it could be another dying bandit.
What he would find however was indeed a dead bandit. The head of a bandit that was not attached to its body rolled towards his foot.
"W-What the hell!?" He would exclaim, immediately turning to run inside.
He would be stopped by an arrow that slammed into his back, the sound of his spine shattering echoing out as that caused him to drop to the ground in pain. As soon as he hit the ground Clark began to cough and cry out for help, crawling for the door with both of her arms.
Stepping towards him from behind was a dark figure, black smoke covering his face with a hood over his head. He would approach the downed Clark, and kicked him from the side, forcing him onto his back.
"Please! Don't!" He would cry out, reaching out in an attempt to save his life.
"Sinners like you belong on a cross." The shadowy figure would say before lifting his boot, stomping on the head of Clark as black slime spikes dug their way through the skull and into his brain, killing him instantly.
Shadow would motion for his shadows to move up on the door, having dispatched the front guard.
Delta would be leading, reaching the door as the shadows lined up on the left and right side of it respectively while Shadow stood directly behind Delta, waiting for her to act.
A moment later the door would be blown apart, wooden chunks flying down into the rock hallway ahead of them as the noise would have alerted everyone inside.
With a single hand motion, six of his shadows would move inside down the left and right side of the hallway as they took out their slime-based weaponry of choice. Eta would stay behind, remaining at Shadow's side as he himself would enter last at a slow and calm pace.
There would be a split up ahead, prompting Beta to take the lead on the second team as she took an arrow out from her quiver and put it into the nock. The diverging path went right while the main path led further forwards deeper into the mineshaft.
Beta would lean across the corner, holding the bow in a ready to fire position. However, there wouldn't be anyone there as she would gesture to the others behind her to move forwards down the main path.
Shadow and Eta would move down the right path, splitting off from the rest of the group of six as they headed for the main room. As the six did, they would find that it was populated with dozens of men and this was actually their living quarters. Upon the six entering the room the various men inside would only have time to scream as they would be torn apart in only a matter of seconds by the highly skilled and trained killers.
The screaming would have however gotten someone's attention as exiting through the opposite side of the room through another passage was three men. Two of them wore basic attire similar to their slain brothers, but one was different. They had a green cape on their shoulders, short white hair, and an aged complexion.
"Viscount Grease, we're under attack!" One of the two men would exclaim, seeing the six cloak wearing individuals standing in various positions in the room.
"They cannot be allowed to live! Kill them!" He'd order, drawing his blade before rushing into the room followed by his two allies.
One of the two men would fire a flintlock towards Delta, only for her to cross her arms and tank the hit like it was nothing, a wide, toothy grin appearing underneath her cloak hood as Beta would lean around Delta's shoulder, firing an arrow straight into the gunman's neck which pierced into the spinal cord, killing him instantly.
The other man would dash towards Gamma with their sword. However they would be interrupted almost instantly by Zeta would slashed them in the stomach with one of their circular blades. This sudden damage caused them to trip and fall, which by extension left them vulnerable to Gamma who would drop her sword at just the right angle to pierce the man through the skull, killing him.
Viscount Grease wouldn't even have time to process his two associates dying before he slashed at Alpha.
Without hesitation, Alpha would evade it with almost disregarding attitude. Even if Viscount Grease continues his assault, none of his attacks would come close to landing. He had come so close to striking his target, being a hairbreadth away from slicing through the bodysuit which his opponent wore and yet…
Nothing he did actually mattered, because Alpha was better prepared than he would ever be.
The price was a slash that dug deep through his chest.
"D-Damnit! Who are you all!? Answer me!" He'd demand, yelling at the group of black bodysuited figures who had butchered his men.
"We are Shadow Garden." The one fighting him would say, slashing his blood and skin off her sword with a swift motion.
"Resurrected and reborn to annihilate the Cult of Diablos." Another would say from his left, aiming a bow directly at his head.
"We know everything." A third would chime in, wielding a giant blade that had just killed one of his men as it was drenched in their blood.
"The revival of the demon Diablos, the heroes's descendents." One more would say, wielding a scythe as they stood off towards the back of the room, blue hair leaking out from the hood of their cloak.
"...and the truth behind demon possession." The lead one would say, finishing by pointing their sword directly at Viscount Grease's neck.
"The Cult of Diablos!? How do you…that secret…" He'd stammer, his body struggling to operate with the wounds inflicted to him as he began to stand back up.
"I won't kill you, not until you spill everything you know."
"I won't let you learn the truth!" He'd shout, shoving a red pill into his mouth.
To the shadows, Grease would undergo a violent transformation as his body doubled in size, his complexion darkened, his muscles bulged, and his eyes became a menacing black with glowing red pupils. Most importantly, his magic capacity increased dramatically.
"Now you will die in the shadows you call home!" He'd roar, Grease's steel sword swinging through the air without warning at Alpha, although the young woman would block it with minimal effort, she grimaced slightly from the impact. The impact forced Alpha to gain distance from Grease through the physical impact pushing her away.
Having briefly dispatched one, Grease would turn to look at one of the other shadows indiscriminately, swinging at the nearest one. The result was an arrow going straight through one of his eyes, blinding him in one permanently along with several scythe slashes and a single blunt force strike impacted his body, forcing him back towards Alpha whether he wanted to or not.
"Forcibly induced magical overload? That's not very smart of you." Alpha would say in a neutral tone, looking over at Grease with an expression to match her voice.
"GRAHHH!" Grease would raise his sword above his head, intending to bring it down with some kind of spellsword ability.
Alpha wouldn't have any of that, pointing up towards the ceiling at one of the support beams as Beta would fire an arrow at it, causing several large rocks to descend down towards the ground.
The result was Viscount Grease being crushed by falling debris so hard that it broke the floor underneath him, causing him and the debris to descend into a lower level of the mineshaft followed by a cloud of dust and small broken rocks.
"Do we proceed after him?" Beta would ask, looking over at Alpha.
"No. Lord Shadow will handle it. We need to clear the rest of this floor." She'd reply to Beta, twirling her finger in a circle to indicate for the rest of the shadows to rally on her.
"He's done it again, hasn't he?" Beta would say to herself, turning away from the hole before moving after Alpha.
"Yes…I sent him with Eta in case he needed directional support. Now let's go."
The rest of the shadows would swifty regroup before continuing their way inside of the facility.
"AAAA!" Another man would scream, collapsing to the ground from his entire torso being ripped in half followed by slime entering his body and splitting him apart.
His attackers were the same ones who had taken out his entire squadron, eleven dead men laying on the ground, murdered by either a sword or various small holes in their bodies. The cause of the matter was the in character Lord Shadow, and his ally Eta.
"All enemies…deceased." She'd mutter to herself and Shadow, looking down at the most recent kill with a level of sadistic satisfaction one could muster from an always tired expression.
"Have they displaced Viscount Grease yet?" Shadow would ask, taking point as he walked down the center of the hallway with his sword at his side.
"Likely…turn left." Eta would murmur, pointing with her index finger as a small trail of slime would exit her suit, moving into Shadow's point of view so she didn't have to move ahead of him or exert too much effort into the action.
Shadow would step up a few stairs before turning to the left, narrowing his eyes slightly through the black smoke covering his face as could faintly hear footsteps.
The walls were lined with proper labor construction including stone walls, decorated support pillars, and hand crafted marble displacers. At this point in time, Shadow had come to a conclusion about the nature of this facility.
"This is a military installation. Eta, how long ago was it constructed?"
"My guess…" She'd place her hand against one of the stone bricks against the wall, running her fingers against it before putting her index finger in her mouth.
"Several hundred years ago."
"Noted. Make yourself scarce, but stay close."
Eta would nod before vanishing into thin air. In truth, she was now manifesting most of her slime and herself directly behind Shadow in a manner which would be seamless with his own movement. Essentially, she was imitating his overexaggerated shadow to an extreme degree. It was also an excuse to sleep somewhat.
Retreating out from the left side of the tunnel Shadow and Eta were in came Viscount Grease who was still suffering from his pill intake and slash from Alpha. He was tired, out of breath, and from his face he wasn't expecting Shadow to be waiting for him as he looked shocked upon seeing him.
"You've been expecting me…but if it's just me, this should be a breeze." He'd say, a determined yell coming from his mouth before darting towards Shadow at such a blazing speed it was the equivalent of 'disappearing' for most people as he attempted to stab him.
Shadow did not take that kindly, raising his sword and impacted Greases's sword tip to tip, holding his blade with a single hand.
"Your magic is good, not as good as Alpha's, but it's notable at best. I take it you met her and the others upstairs." Shadow would say, his free hand in his long jacket's pocket as he spoke to Grease in a relaxed tone of voice.
"Shameful that your command over it is dismissible." Shadow would force Grease away by swinging and bashing Grease's blade, giving himself plenty of space to continue speaking.
"Now tell me, what's this about? Where's your real boss? I know this operation is well above you when I saw your matching uniforms beyond the front door."
"Isn't that what your accomplice said!? You really think you can stop the Cult of Diablos!? You don't even know what you're fighting against!"
"Ah yes, of course. I-" Shadow would stop dead in his tracks. What did this guy just say?
"Did you just say the Cult of Diablos?" Shadow would ask, his tone faltering as he was taken by surprise. Did Alpha tell him the name like she always did? Was this a coincidence? Maybe he just misheard Grease. These were the thoughts running through Shadow's head as he began to disregard everything and come to one conclusion.
"That's right, isn't that why you're here? To destroy the Cult of Diablos!? Because you can't, you will never win against them! They have their grips throughout the entire world, every chain of command, every government, and every organization! You and your brainwashed cult of women will never be able to stop them all!"
"..." Shadow was dead silent as this revelation was so powerful it dispelled the black smoke around his face, revealing a young boy with a completely flabbergasted expression. Shadow looked more like a naive young child than an expert killing machine, and Grease saw it too.
"You aren't ready for the path you are going to walk. The weight of their darkness is something you will never defeat!" Grease would say, narrowing his eyes towards Shadow as he prepared to strike again if need be, wanting to give this boy one chance to back down, knowing full well he could defend himself if need be.
"I…see! My friend, my glorious beautiful one eyed friend you have just made my day!" Shadow would exclaim before starting to maniacally laugh, a weight lifted from his shoulders heavier than steel as the laughter was from someone who just got told the best news of their life. To Grease however, this was an unsettling revelation that must end now.
"Enough of this!" Grease would yell, lunging once more directly towards Shadow, attempting to now slash his throat or behead him if the force was strong enough.
Shadow would raise his blade and block it, completely parrying Grease as he got a look at what was now an insane looking young man with a wild expression on her. This child wasn't happy, he had gone insane.
"I'm sorry, were you trying to do something?" Shadow would say back at Grease, bending backwards far enough to avoid being sliced before shifting to where Grease had just been a few moments ago.
"Oh I see, you're one of those 'brute force' characters! Don't worry, I got a few tips to help make yourself more useful with all of that magical potential of yours. Ready for lesson one?" Shadow would tap his sword against the side of the wall before suddenly appearing in front of Grease, having dragged his weapon against the side of the wall as he would slash, swinging debris into his eyes at the same time he slashed so that it prevented Grease from even seeing where he was swinging at.
"Lesson one! Speed is an asset, not a crutch. Just because you're fast means nothing if that's your entire gimmick!" Shadow would complete the swing by slashing Grease across the upper chest region, punching through Grease's incredibly regenerative skin and spraying blood every which way.
Grease would stumble back, grunting as he would attempt to counter with a swing of his own purely focused on outpacing Shadow.
"Lesson two. Strength is an illusion. Just because you can crush someone does not mean you have the intelligence to see it through." At the last moment Shadow would lean his head out of the way of the blade before punching Grease in the chest, slime claws forming at the edges of his fingers as he'd strike Grease similarly to how Delta attacked her opponents, shoving him backwards along the corridor.
"Lesson three. Both of things combined are what define you, and that makes you even less of a notable mob. It just makes you a randomly generated dungeon boss."
The following strikes from Shadow were nothing short of overpowering to Grease. From his stance, to the magic applications, all the way to his unremarkable swordsmanship it led directly into his strategy of swordplay. When intelligence is pushed into the mixture what you get out of it is a true display of skill and discipline.
With a heavy thump, Grease dropped to the ground clutching his chest. This boy, whoever he was, is playing with him. Toying with him as he relished the fact he was fighting the Cult of Diablos. What could he possibly get out of this? What inspired such enjoyment that caused this young man to break out laughing before completely and utterly pushing him to his limits?
"Why?" Grease would ask, lifting himself onto a knee as he used his sword for support.
"That's a rather simple question. We lurk in the darkness and hunt down shadows. That's the only reason we exist." Shadow would say, a distinct joy in his voice.
"You haven't seen the darkness of this world. You don't know what the abyss holds, it will swallow you whole and devour everything you have! There is no safe place for you, or anyone! You will perish where nobody will find you!" He'd yell, his own words not meant for the boy, but to represent his own failures, and how his ambition for power went up in smoke. Of course, Shadow wouldn't know this.
"Believe me, we can handle it. I welcome the challenge." Pride. Eagerness. Greed. Shadow spoke with the tone of someone who had just gotten everything they ever wanted, and more. No matter what Grease said, it only strengthened Shadow's resolve.
"It's not that easy! I will show you the darkness of this world!" Grease would yell before reaching into his breast pocket, taking out a bottle of red pills.
"Do not…" Eta's voice would murmur from the pile of slime imitating a shadow behind Shadow.
Shadow would dash up to Grease, slashing the bottle and Grease's left hand off as the pills were knocked up into the air. He would then grab Grease by the neck before chuckling him into the slime shadow on the ground.
"No need." Shadow's final words would be to Grease before he flew into dozens of sharp slime tendrils, armed with blades as they would violently flail and slice every part of the man before leaving him a pile of meat, bones, and shredded clothing on the ground as blood was splattered in every direction.
The red pills in their glass bottle fell some feet away, which was shortly resolved as a black tendril from Eta would wrap around it. The bottle was then pulled into the slime puddle.
"You already did." Shadow would say with a chuckle, dispelling his blade before looking over at his own shadow.
"Eta, get up."
The slime puddle would turn over, revealing Eta underneath it. She had altered her slime-suit to both fight on its own and conceal her while she slept in the shadow of her lord. It was certainly a clever trick, and made for a very effective way to neutralize Grease's regenerative ability.
"It's over…already?"
"Yeah. We're done here." Shadow would say, glancing over towards something shining near the spot where Grease's neck would have been.
It appeared to be some kind of pendant, and when opened would show younger Grease and a young female, likely his daughter or younger sister. On the back it said Millia.
"Hmm." Shadow would reach down to grab the pendent, looking it over before tossing it back to Grease's corpse. He'd then reach a hand out to help Eta up.
Eta would accept it, climbing to her feet before lifting the glass pill container, looking at the red objects inside.
"Dangerous…power of the cult." She'd waddle the object to Shadow multiple times before offering it to him.
"Don't need it. Do something useful with it, Eta." He'd then turn to look down a hallway that led towards what appeared to be a cellblock.
"Regroup with the others, and leave the area. I'll rescue my sister alone."
Eta would nod, turning around and began walking back towards the way they came and Shadow would walk off alone towards the cellblock.
Footsteps would walk down the hallway towards Claire's cell. They were much lighter than Grease's, and faster as well. The black haired girl would adjust herself a little bit in anticipation to see who had arrived…and lucky for her, it was indeed not Grease.
Shadow approached her cell, and after reaching the door would crush the lock with his hand and open the door.
"You hurt?" Shadow asked, walking over to the magical binds before slashing both of them off with his sword, releasing Claire.
"Hardly. What took you so long?" Claire would ask, a somewhat friendly tone emanating in her voice as she'd pry herself loose of the cuffs with some effect while Shadow looked around the room.
"I had to get out of the house first, then locate you, then get into the place, and then fight a buffed Viscount in order to reach you." He'd say, lowering his hood to reveal his face once more to Claire.
"Sounds like I gave you trouble for the second day in a row huh? I'm sorry Cid." She'd admit, looking down at the ground with a mixed expression.
"It's not your fault. What could you have done?" Cid would offer his hand to Claire right after.
"Come on, let's go home."
"Heh, alright." She'd take Cid's hand as the two of them would begin making their way out of the cellblock.
"Did they say anything to you about Claire?"
"Hardly, just yammered on about how you stopped my possession and how they wanted to come get you as well."
"Hmm. Well, they won't be getting that chance now huh? Hopefully it died with them."
"Oh, and Shadow?"
"Yes, what is it-hey…"
"Hehe, kidding. I did want to ask though, since Sarah isn't the one who fixed my possession, why did you include Sarah in the story at all?"
"..." Cid refused to respond to that as they made it out of the mineshaft through a back entrance, and began to make their way home.
A/N: Happy ending? Feel free to leave reviews if you want. I read em before I make the next character usually.