"This is not working," Nox muttered to himself as he teleported away.

One of his eyes were closed mostly because of the blood from his head that had dripped within, temporarily affecting his vision.

There were multiple cuts here and there on his body, but at least this time, he wasn't missing an arm.

Even with his newly discovered ability, he was barely keeping up with the Eclipsed.

He had detonated rock after rock, flooding the area with SE just to keep his barrier and constructs alive but they dispersed faster than he liked.

The Eclipsed, though, wasn't as unscathed as before.

Nox had separated its arms from its body multiple times now, only to have it regenerate again and again.

But that was exactly what he wanted it to.

Keeping its barrier up and healing from his attacks made it burn a lot more umbra energy.

Compared to Nox, who even though had some kind of restriction placed on his SE, the Eclipsed didn't have infinite umbra energy which meant that it was running on a timer.

If it doesn't deal with this pest soon, it'd only end up running out of energy, leaving it vulnerable.

All Nox had to do was maintain the SE in the air and stall, though, he seemed to have underestimated the amount of umbra energy the Eclipsed possessed.

"Die already," Nox let out in annoyance, but the Eclipsed had no intention to.

Slowly, the creature was getting used to his attacks and he knew that it'd only take a moment or two before he completely lost whatever little advantage he just gained from creating SE constructs.

He created a barrier again, and the Eclipsed's claws slammed into it a second later.

But the moment it came in contact with his barrier, he felt it immediately.

There was a sharp tug in his chest as the SE maintaining it thinned out faster than he could replenish it.

"Tch—"

He teleported the moment the barrier shattered, reappearing several meters away just as the creature tore through where he had been standing.

But the Eclipsed didn't give him time to breathe. It lunged again and this time, Nox barely reacted in time.

He threw up a crude wall of light that the creature smashed through with brute force and he was sent skidding across the forest floor.

Before he could recover, something slammed into him, lifting him off his feet. He felt ribs crack as he was sent flying, tumbling through the air before crashing into the ground again.

He spat out blood and forced himself to roll, narrowly avoiding a downward strike that created a crater in the earth where his head had been a second earlier.

"This… is getting bad," Nox muttered as he teleported to safety, "I can't keep this up for much longer."

He was right, everything hurt right now, he was barely staying conscious as his vision continued swimming in and out of the darkness.

His SE was getting harder and harder to channel as the seconds passed making him realize that the Eclipsed wasn't the only one on a timer.

If this fight didn't end soon, he'd pass out mid battle.

Taking out yet another rock from his inventory, Nox tossed it at the approaching Eclipsed and by instincts, it caught the high speed projectile.

The moment it made contact with its hand, the rock exploded causing the creature to reel and retreat.

But this time, instead of creating a construct with the SE in the air, he pulled it towards himself.

The SE soon became similar to golden threads which wrapped around his arms legs, torso, fists and feet.

It wasn't an armor per say, it acted more like a reinforcement that kept him in the fight even if for a little while longer.

He put his fists up and waited for the creature to approach.

Now, he didn't know much about fighting with his fists, but he figured if he threw a hard enough punch, it might do something.

He was tempted to use Morphos, but with how much his SE output was being restricted, he doubted he could even activate it in time.

So for now, he'd stick to his fists.

Though, for just incase the need arrived,the was slowly funneling SE into the unassuming weapon by his side, and the need soon arrived.

Nox's golden pupils started glowing, allowing him a clearer view of the world around him.

He could even see the motes of golden SE dispersing. But that wasn't the only thing he saw.

"I see..." He muttered, only to teleport away just in time to avoid the Eclipsed's claws aimed at his head.

The creature dashed towards where he was reappeared but Nox managed to block its claw this time.

Though, the attack did cause him to slide a couple steps backwards, it dealt no damage.

He threw a punch of his own and the Eclipsed block it, what it didn't expect though was that the moment Nox's fist made contact with it, an explosion would happen.

Bang!

It was its turn to be sent barreling backwards and it only stopped when it crashed into a tree.

Nox would not let this chance slip up, he was soon upon the Eclipsed again and his fist slammed into it again, causing an explosion between it and the Eclipsed which sent it barreling again.

He didn't let up.

Each step forward sent another jolt of pain through his body, but he ignored it, forcing his legs to move as he kept pressure on the Eclipsed.

Bang!

Another punch landed on the Eclipsed.

The explosion ripped through the air, snapping branches and sending shards of bark flying as the creature was hurled back yet again.

Its hooves dug into the soil, carving trenches as it struggled to stabilize itself.

Nox, meanwhile, stopped himself from passing out yet again. Every explosion was costing him more SE than he could afford, but he didn't stop.

He had to distract the Eclipsed long enough to power the unassuming cylinderical metal.

The Eclipsed stood on its hooves again, annoyed at how much this fight was dragging on.

Within its barrier, this pest was supposed to be nothing. It had even placed a seal on the pest and yet, taking it down was becoming a chore.

It launched forward, towards the annoying pest.

Nox quickly teleported away, narrowly avoiding a claw that tore through the space beside his head, and when he reappeared next, he hurled Morphos forward with a grunt.

The Eclipsed reacted instantly.

It vanished in a blur of shadow, reappearing several meters to the side as the weapon flew past where its chest had been a second earlier.

Its attention flicked back to Nox in what almost looked like a gaze of disappointment.... Until it noticed the smile on his face, and that's when it realized.

Morphos didn't seem to slow down.

It slammed straight into the invisible wall behind the Eclipsed and for a second, nothing seemed to had happened.

Then suddenly, the space around them started showing cracks as if it was glass.

The creature's barrier was breaking apart as a deafening shockwave tore through the forest.

Trees were uprooted, the ground split open, and the oppressive pressure that had blanketed the area vanished in an instant.

The Eclipsed quickly dashed towards him before the barrier could completely crumble, the creature dashed towards Nox and before he could react, the creature had his neck in its hand.

Instead of panicking, he muttered with a smile, "you seem mad."

The Eclipsed's hand tightened around his throat, but it still didn't work to make him panic.

Instead the golden light that acted as reinforcement moved away from him and wrapped itself around the Eclipsed.

The creature tried pulling away, but Nox would let it, he gripped its arm tighter as the light tightly clung around it.

"Thanks for the battle experience," he said with a smile, "but i think it's about time we wrap this up, shall we."

The Eclipsed trashed even more and its wish was soon fulfilled as Nox let go and it tossed him towards the opposite end of the forest.

He teleported and safely landed to the ground. But the glow still stuck to the Eclipsed.

He turned to the Eclipsed outstretched his hand, before clenching his fist, the moment moment he did, the SE got brighter and just as the barrier fully shattered, the Eclipsed also exploded in a blinding flash of light.

Nox stood there for a second longer, arm still extended, before the light around him finally faded and his legs gave out.

He fell to the forest floor chuckling as relief flooded him. He finally relaxed, as the edges of his vision slowly darkened.

The last thing he saw was another glowing crack in space before darkness swallowed him.

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