Annoying.

That was the only way Nox could describe fighting the Fiend's shadow.

The creature seemed to have no blind spots because no matter how much he teleported to find an opening, it'd just reform itself to counter.

And even if Nox was able to land an attack and cause it to disintegrate, it'd just be recreated again and again.

Fortunately, the main body didn't move to attack, or was it that it couldn't move, since it was actively controlling three shadows.

But Nox couldn't be completely sure, so there was only one way to find out.

Morphos quickly became daggers as he intended, and he waited for the Eclipsed to approach.

The creature dashed towards him with blinding speeds, its hands were now the shape of shadow Scythes.

It swung, aiming to give his head a vacation from his neck, but moments before the attack could hit, Nox teleported away.

He reappeared just behind the Fiend and tossed the daggers at it, unfortunately, a pool of shadows rose and protected its back from the attack.

Nox teleported away again, just in time to avoid a massive hammer like Shadow which slammed on the ground, creating a crater where he previously stood.

Reappearing a distance away, there was a small grin on his face as he said, "I've finally figured it out."

"You can't really move while controlling multiple shadows, can you?" He added but the Eclipsed gave no response as its shadow dashed forward for an an attack again.

But instead of engaging it, Nox disappeared and reappeared midair, a glowing spear in his hand as he tossed it at the Fiend's main body.

The shadow quickly returned to the Fiend's side, acting as a shield between it and the spear.

BOOM!

An explosion of bright golden light covered this part of the forest as soon as the spear made contact with the shadow and Nox teleported safely to the forest floor.

His solar tech returned to his hand as he waiting in anticipation for the results of the attack.

He knew that the Fiend was still fine, a fact that was soon proven as the glow settled, revealing the Eclipsed still completely unscathed.

But getting rid of it wasn't Nox's goal with that attack.....

And judging by the fact that the shadow hadn't reformed, he guessed his plan had worked.

The Eclipsed was out of Umbra energy and it'd take a while for it to be replenished, a while Nox wasn't about to give it.

"Now then," he said, morphos taking the form of a katana again, "let's get properly started shall we?"

He seemed to forget one thing... As much as the Eclipsed was out of Umbra energy, it was still a tier 3.

And Nox was soon reminded of that fact.

His eyes widened when the creature suddenly disappeared, one second it was just standing there, and the next it was gone.

"Fast," Nox let out as his eyes widened, quickly positioning the katana to his side just in time to stop the incoming attack, though he quickly realized that the Eclipsed outclassed him in physicality.

He was launched backwards, his feet skidding on the forest floor, but the moment he managed to stop himself, the Fiend was upon him again, its claws aiming for his face.

Just before they could reach him, he teleported away, letting it's claw pass through the golden glow that was left behind, and put some distance between them.

"It outclasses me in strength," Nox muttered to himself as he readjusted his grip on the katana, "and I can only barely keep up with its speed, how do I deal with it."

He glanced to the side where both Elias and Lorenne sat covered by a barrier again, with Lorenne attempting to keep the black veins from spreading.

The Eclipsed hadn't targeted them because they were the weakest of the group and dealing with the two strongest would just leave it with one easy prey to take care of.

It moved again, leaving a crater behind and aiming for Nox again, and just like before he teleported, only to realize a second too late that it was a fient.

The Eclipsed hadn't moved at full speeds towards him and the moment he disappeared, it switched directions.

Nox reappeared only to see a massive claw covering his view. The Eclipsed grabbed his face and a second later, all Nox could see was the endless darkness hanging above them.

Boom!

A small dust cloud was raised the moment his head was slammed into the forest floor.

Nox felt his vision go white for a moment, but the Fiend was far from done with him.

It lifted him by the head, tossed him towards a tree and the moment his back slammed into the bark, it was upon him again.

Its claws slammed into his stomach, digging through it and causing him to throw up a mouthful of blood.

Using Nox's pierced stomach as a handle, the Eclipsed tossed him towards the forest floor as it finally enjoyed the wiggling of his prey.

All Nox felt right now was pain, so much pain that he thought he might pass out at any second.

But if there was one thing Astra thought him during the few weeks of training, it was to not lose his ability to think no matter how hurt he was.

Or maybe that was just the excuse she gave whenever she felt like beating him to a pulp.

Though, even that had its benefits.

Nox balled up, his hand holding his bleeding stomach. The Eclipsed, seeing its prey still moving dashed towards him and lifted its hooves, aiming to slam it into his head.

But the foot hit nothing but air, strangely though, it still felt something on its foot so the Fiend looked down, only to notice a circular device stuck to it.

It recognized it as the same device that had nearly killed it before, so it tried taking it off, but Nox wasn't about to allow him to.

His katana cleanly pierced through the distracted Eclipsed's chest as he overloaded it with as much SE as he could.

"DIE ALREADY!"

A second later, the entire forest was covered in a blinding flash of light, fortunately, Nox teleported away just before the solar tech exploded.

When the light receded, it revealed a massive crater again, but this time, there was no trace of the Eclipsed.

Nox was about to finally let his guard down and pass out, but a voice suddenly called out from behind him.

"Look out!"

He turned around to see what looked like a scythe made of complete darkness heading his way.

He tried teleporting only to realize that he was being kept in place by multiple hands made of shadows.

Nox braced himself for the attack but realized that it never reached him, and that's when the realization dawned on him, his nightmare was coming true.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.