87. Shadow III (Patreon)

The following days were less exciting, but that was a blessing for a shadow. Tranquility and peace was the best scenario one could desire for spying.

Whilst the not-so-an-arcanist Nightfallen mage was training, she was able to see his other affinity in full use. Nightfallen was pierced by a Leyline Beam, a powerful arcane ten-star piercing-type spell. But what should have been a serious wound, perhaps even mortal, was ignored by the man, and continued training as if nothing had happened.

Since the very beginning, she knew only five affinities could have led her fellow agent to take the suicide pill. Shadow, Light, Void, Soul, and Mind.

This exact moment was what she needed.

Whilst Void and Mind weren’t able to heal physical wounds; Shadow, Light, and Soul could. She hardly doubted the arcanist was a penumbra, as she could have detected shadow magic kilometers away, but that didn’t matter.

What she cared about was that the Nightfallen Private had either Soul or Light affinity. This meant it was incredibly likely for him to be the perpetrator.

Edrie Nightfallen was in Lan’el the day of the killings and had the appropriate affinities. He had also disappeared the following days, meaning he had no alibi whatsoever.

It was now free game.

Or so thought her superior when she contacted him. Enough proof, he said. But she knew he was impatient and wanted the possible rebel to be dealt with as soon as possible. The High Arcanist wouldn’t tolerate any bumps now that the deadline was closing in.

What she had to do, pained her, but she had an order.

Kill Edrie Nightfallen.

She waited for the sun to go out and the moon to come up. Do the deed whilst the possible ten-star enlightened or mystic was sleeping.

But something unforeseen happened.

The target left the perimeter.

She had taken this as a good thing, as now she didn’t need to kill someone in a military camp, a thing that would undoubtedly generate a lot of drama and investigations, especially after they had gotten another Private killed recently.

But the man moved fast. Far faster than any arcanist could on foot.

By the time she had caught up to him, as she needed to go with her own body as her shadows wouldn’t be powerful enough to break through a ten-star mage's passive defensive spells, Nightfallen had entered the library of the academy back on Sin’fal.

The library of the Academy of Applied Magical Arts of Ferilyn was a difficult place to spy on, if not impossible. It was protected with divination wards strong enough to rival those of the Arcane Sanctum, and while they were thought out to prevent people from stealing books, they also prevented others to scry the place.

She quickly changed clothes into a fake academy student persona.

The shadow made her way inside the library but kept her distance. She observed the perpetrator with her shadows. He stood before an overwhelmingly big book, lost in thought.

This was her chance.

As she walked toward the killer, with deadly intentions of her own, something happened. The man vanished.

She rushed to the previous known location, fearing he had detected her, and escaped. But there was just a book on the table, no sight of the perpetrator. Even when she sent all her shadows around the library, they all came back empty-handed.

He had truly vanished.

How? She pondered. Light and Soul practitioners don’t possess teleportation magic. Have I guessed wrongly? Teleportation is possible with Shadow, and voidwalkers aren’t called like that for no reason. Was Edrie Nightfallen truly the perpetrator?

The shadow continued looking for a few minutes but didn’t find anything. No trace whatsoever. Not even divination magic located him. As if he had vanished from this world altogether.

It was then that she read the book before her.

The sight was breathtaking. A completed eleven-star lay before her.

How is this even possible? A public library shouldn’t possess such important knowledge...

She would definitely kill for an eleven-star spell of the Shadow affinity. But there were more pressing issues. The book confirmed that Edrie Nightfallen was indeed a mystic.

But that out of itself was even more problematic. How had a mystic vanished? Their spells focused on manipulation, healing, and divination, the same type of magic she had seen Nightfallen use these last days, but teleportation wasn’t included in that list.

After an hour of searching, she decided to give up. Then went back to Lan’el’s new military section, in the vague hopes that the mystic had also gone there. Yet nothing. Not in the library, not in his dormitory.

With her shadows, she scried upon Alatea Decourse and Marissa Farlon, the two women who were close to the fugitive mystic, but still no results.

The man had truly disappeared from Ferilyn.

But then, two hours later, her seeking shadows finally detected something. It was a really low signal and it came from the northern side of the military camp. But as she rushed there, she realized something.

The signal comes from the ocean?

Augmenting her sight with basic Shadow cantrips, she looked at the Violet Sky. It shone dimly, to not disturb people during the night, but it still difficulted looking at the outside world. But there was something beyond the High Arcanist’s mighty spell.

It was a small point of light, perfectly camouflaging with the violet wall of pure arcane energies, but it became bigger and bigger by the second.

That’s him. The sight astonished her. How is he outside of Ferilyn? And how did he get there from the academy?

The arcanist-mystic approached the Violet Sky and subtlety collided with it. Instead of a crash, he permeated with the arcane energies. It wasn’t a perfect measure, his body had taken severe damage, but the man wasn’t even bothered by it.

His speed was reduced but not because of the damage. He also became dimmer and approached the waters inside of Ferilyn. It was getting more and more difficult to keep track of the mystic, unnaturally so. The shadow honed her divinations to not lose him. She had to carry out her mission today.

Her instincts kicked in.

She dodged to the side.

It was futile.

There wasn’t an attack, just a presence. Something was looking at her. She backpedaled, trying to find the perpetrator, yet found nothing around her. There was lingering magic, but she couldn’t even pinpoint the exact location with her divination magic.

Then noticed her error.

Where is Nightfallen?

An ethereal voice responded.

Behind you.

Goosebumps assaulted her whole being, not only her body but also her soul. With an instinctual backflip, kicking the ground so hard that whiplash hurt her, she distanced herself from the figure that had been, in fact, behind her.

In a practiced manner, she threw a fan of Umbra Daggers as she twirled in the air. Her posture had been wrong, none had hit.

And there he was.

A man in a white tunic covered in magenta stains and a hole in the section of his heart.

She needed no further confirmation.

That was Edrie Nightfallen, the killer and perpetrator.

“Who are you and why were you scrying me?” The man asked as if her spontaneous attack hadn’t happened.

He truly didn’t intend to attack, at least not yet. She didn’t know her status or her intentions. Could I trick him into thinking I’m a guard? She thought. It was obvious that she couldn’t win a face-to-face battle. The man had killed a soldier and an agent, both of the ten-star. Her only alternative was to trick him and disappear. Then when his guard was down, finally struck the killing blow.

“I see.” The mystic commented, his voice cutting through the air.

Her goosebumps strengthened.

Then she was hit.

Sudden. Instantaneous. Omnidirectional. Metaphysical.

A spell like none other she had seen. Literally.

The shadow gritted her teeth and threw more daggers at the mystic. Her position had been somehow compromised. Mind reading? But before she could develop those thoughts, the pressure increased. It bypassed all her passive defenses.

The air in her lungs was forcefully removed as her body recoiled from the invisible attack. She wasn’t qualified for a battle, especially not where she severely lacked data on the enemy.

She used her trump card, the ten-star spell Gate of Shadows.

The world instantly shifted and she found herself in the location where one of her shadow constructs was a few instants ago. Unlike most ten-star spells, Gate of Shadows didn’t have a long conjuration time, but it did take most of her mana.

But she had escaped, and that’s what mattered.

The agent made her way into the alleyways of Lan’el and to one of her settled nests. She sat in pain. Only one attack and she was almost out of commission. Once she treated her wounds and restored her mana, she would ask for reinforcements. Edrie Nightfallen was a more dangerous target than she thought.

She almost fell asleep with the silence of the nightly streets of Ferilyn, but an ever-so-small step shot her wide awake.

With her fatigue, she had forgotten one key factor. Nightfallen was also a divinator.

Pressure violated her very core. Her consciousness rapidly fading away.

Oh, no.

Dread settled as she noticed the intentions of the spell. The mystic didn’t intend to kill her but to neutralize her. Considering what had happened with the previous agent, she didn’t doubt the man had his ways to make her talk.

So, she followed the same steps. She pressed her wisdom teeth, awaiting the quick embrace of death.

“No, you won’t!” Out of nowhere, Nightfallen appeared and shoved his hand into her mouth, making her gag. “It won’t happen again in my sight!”

But it was too late, the poison was already taking its course. She smiled at the killer. He wouldn’t have her.

Her life flashed before her eyes and time slowed to crawl.

Crawl?

Lavender smoke filled the nest, and the mystic’s eyes glowed with the same color. Her mind accelerated more and more, going back to conscious thought. She almost cried as she knew what was going to happen next.

The shadow had failed.

The mystic had healed her.

Unconsciousness preceded.

Darkness.