He and Tufani sprinted through the tunnels, and Galen was forced to burn some more Ether to enhance his eyes so that he could faintly see in the darkness.

  Tufani, being the faster of the two, was slightly ahead of him. She briefly turned to him and said, “My eyesight is sharper than yours! Stay behind me and follow!”

  He nodded with no desire to protest. He reached out to Redian in his mind, Hey! Make sure you keep an eye out for any enemies!

  He got a feeling of frustration from the sword, What’s wrong?

  “My Ether radar is all jumbled up, boss! It’s like there’s some weird interference…” the sword explained.

  Don’t tell me… they can scramble your signal?! Galen thought.

  “Tch. Looks like. Thankfully, I think I can pierce through the interference given time.”

  You do that. As quickly as you can! Galen ordered.

  “You got it, boss!”

  The sword grew quiet as it went to work.

  Privately, he thought with a nervous drop of sweat, So, the Dominion had even prepared for the possibility of their own technology being used against them, huh? Damn it!

  They moved quickly through the network of tunnels, with the elf girl not missing a beat. He briefly wondered how she could see when it was nearly pitch black in here, even with Ether enhancing his vision.

  Surely we’re almost out of here, right?! Galen wondered after God only knows how much time passed, a spark of hope in his chest.

  As if he’d jinxed things with his thought, Tufani stopped.

  “Enemies!” she called back to him.

  Just then, he noticed the tunnels slowly lighting up.

  He hissed, and drew Redian from his sheath. Tufani did the same, and they both braced themselves as a group emerged from the corner.

  The ones in front wielded what looked like extremely bright flashlights, shining with a bright white light that nearly blinded Galen. He was forced to squint and put a hand up to shield his eyes.

  “A knife ears!” cried out a voice.

  “And the Champion next to her! Quickly! Save him from that monster!” cried out another.

  Yep, definitely enemies, he thought as he brandished his blade.

  His first instinct was to use Flame Slash to do group damage. However, fire in an enclosed tunnel, even one as large as this one, could be dangerous. The gases, smoke, and loss of oxygen in such an enclosedarea could prove lethal.

  That hadn’t stopped the Shadows, but the chamber they had used their Arts in had been rather massive. That, and their skill with Ether would no doubt make them inhumanly resilient. Something like being unable to breathe might just be a minor inconvenience to them for all he knew.

  It was good then that he wasn’t alone.

  And even more so that Tufani was far more decisive than he was.

  “Swirl and take with you that which gives life…” Tufani cast, an arm raising into the air as she finished her Art with a clench of her fist. “Aerial Void!”

  When she had begun Casting the Art, he didn’t know, but he was grateful for it as winds picked up and began to swirl around the group. The effect was immediate, as the ones that had been in front and charging at them had suddenly collapsed to their knees, followed shortly by the rest.

  The ones that had been holding flashlights let go of their lights, their hands clutching at their throats in reflex to the suffocation. The lights rolled along the ground, with one spinning and pointing the light at the group, revealing there had been about ten of them.

  Galen swallowed. He wasn’t sure if he and Tufani could have taken so many at once. Particularly when their foes’ level of power and skill was unknown.

  Within seconds the group lost consciousness, and he breathed out a sigh of relief.

  “Alright, they’re out. Let’s go,” he said, turning to Tufani.

  But she remained in place, glaring with a wide-eyed intensity at the unconscious enemies.

  “...Tufani?” he questioned nervously. “Come on. Stop your Art.”

  “No.”

  Galen took a step back, eyes widening, “Tufani, I’m being serious.”

  “So am I,” she hissed, still glaring at the fallen soldiers. “I’ll stop when they’re dead.”

  “What?! You can’t just kill them!”

  She snapped her head in his direction, her expression utterly incredulous, “Why not?!”

  “Because it’s…” he trailed off as he finished mentally.

  Because it’s wrong.

  Tufani seemed to pick up and what he’d left unsaid, and grew red-faced with rage, “Don’t tell me you think it’s wrong of me to kill them?!”

  Galen couldn’t meet her eyes.

  There was so much hatred in them. Not directed at him, he knew, but it still unnerved him. Worried him…

  Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw her eye begin to twitch, before she barked, “Grow up, Daxton! If I let them live, they’ll simply come after us as soon as they regain consciousness. Either that, or they’ll hunt down my people as they try to escape! I will NOT allow that!”

  She spat on the ground, “Besides, how many elves have these humes slaughtered already?! You’ve heard how the Dominion is enacting a GENOCIDE against my people! I will show NO MERCY to those who have shown the elves none of it!”

  The unconscious bodies of the soldiers began to trash and twitch, drawing his horrified attention.

  Tufani stepped towards him, forcing him to turn to meet her hateful eyes as she brought her face in close, their noses nearly touching. The rage in her eyes made him the most uneasy as she snarled, “This, Daxton, is WAR. You agreed to join the Rebellion in exchange for giving me more aid in my mission. Make no mistake, I am grateful for that. Genuinely. But let me ask you. Did you REALLY think you’d be able to keep your hands clean of blood?”

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Galen swallowed before shaking his head.

  “I thought not,” Tufani hissed.

  Just then, the bodies of the soldiers stopped thrashing, and their bodies laid still.

  Are they… he thought.

  “They’re dead, boss,” Redian answered in his mind. “I detect no more signs of life in them.”

  His shoulders slumped.

  Tufani ceased her Art then, having realized the soldiers had died.

  “Take a good, long look, Daxton,” she said as she began to stride forward. “As hard as it was for me to believe initially, I now know you didn’t ask to be brought into all this. For that, I’m sorry. But this is your new reality. And the sooner you accept that, the better.”

  Galen struggled to get the words he wanted to say out. As he saw Aria’s retreating figure, however, he found the nerve to call out to her, “It’s not just the killing that bothers me, Tufani!”

  She paused, and turned to look at him.

  He met her eyes then, and said with an almost pleading tone, “It’s the hatred I saw in your eyes as you ended them. That’s what bothered me the most…”

  Her eyes briefly widened, just the barest sense of shame could be seen for but an instant. She smothered it just as quickly as it had appeared, however, as her callous, stoic expression returned.

  She gave no further answer as she continued her trek forward.

  Galen raced to catch up to her, taking a moment to grab the two flashlights from the ground. He fought down the nausea at seeing the corpses up close as he did so.

  “Hey!” he called to Tufani once more, tossing one of the flashlights to her. “These will make it easier to see.”

  She inspected the tool in her hand as she caught it, giving it a strange and confused look. She shook her head at it and nodded at him.

  The two then continued their flight down the tunnel, trying to find an exit back to the surface.

  Hopefully without running into more enemies.

  ***

  Zareb and Lusha fought the two Shadows side by side.

  He couldn’t remember the last time he’d fought alongside his wife like this. He was thankful that their coordination and battle chemistry hadn’t faded in the slightest.

  Each time an opening appeared in one of their defenses, the other was there to cover for them. The Shadows, despite their faces being hidden behind their helms, were clearly growing frustrated.

  More than once, one of them tried to break off and give chase to Galen and Tufani, but neither Zareb nor Lusha allowed them to. They even went as far as causing cave ins at the various entrances to limit where the Shadows could escape from.

  That said, it wasn’t as though they were overwhelming their opponents. Rather, things were at a stalemate.

  Neither side could gain a definitive edge over the other.

  Fire Affinity Arts could not be used very freely given their location. Flames would eat away the oxygen in the area, and that combined with the resulting smoke and dust would make this a more dangerous zone to stay in. That was just as much a restriction for the Shadows as it was for Zareb and Lusha.

  Now, if they had other affinities that could be used, that would be an advantage.

  Were it not for the terrain.

  All combatants here were powerful enough to easily cause a cave in if they weren’t careful. Doing as Zareb and Lusha had done thus far in caving in each entrance/exit was risky enough. Even for them, being buried underneath all that rubble so far underground could be their demise. Even if that death came only after a long, long period of time of being immobilized.

  There was one final restriction that only applied to Zareb and Lusha, and that came from the fact that the two Shadows’ Armor would adapt to their Affinities if they were struck with an Art.

  Tufani had given them extremely valuable information on what she’d learned of the Shadows’ capabilities and their arsenal. Zareb had been kicking himself for not considering the possibility of Sentient Armor after he’d learned of Sentient Weapons. Though, he admitted to himself that there was no way he could have imagined their Armor could adapt to and eventually outright negate a foe’s Arts. That fact was nerve wracking, and gave the Shadows an unbelievable advantage.

  It was for this reason why Zareb and Lusha were limiting themselves to physical enhancements in this bout. For now, the Shadows seemed to be limiting themselves similarly.

  Zareb was quickly reminded of how Galen fought with Redian’s assistance as he noted the unnatural reaction speeds and instinctual movements of the two Shadows. No doubt it was their Sentient arsenal lending them aid. This made it much harder to exploit any openings, thus prolonging the battle.

  Though, this worked in his and Lusha’s favor. For their goal was not victory, but merely to buy time for everyone to get away, or, at least, get a good head start.

  The Shadows seemed to sense this as well, hence their frequent attempts for at least one of them to break away from the fight.

  Morpheus attempted to flee just then, though Zareb cut him off after Lusha intercepted the other Shadow’s attempt to block him.

  “Athanasius’s storm!” Morpheus cursed. “You are even more irritating than Arawn made you out to be.”

  “So I’ve been told,” Zareb barbed, trying to waste time. “Tell me, are you and that other one the only Shadows present?”

  Morpheus smirked, “You really think I’ll answer that?!”

  “No, but I figure this is the case. Otherwise, you and that other one wouldn’t be so focused on trying to flee the battle,” Zareb paused, smirking. “Or, don’t tell me… you two are afraid you’ll lose in a bout against us?”

  Morpheus, unfortunately, didn’t bite at the bait.

  “Provocation will get you nowhere, Zareb,” the Shadow huffed. “Retrieving the Champion takes priority over even you and your pathetic Rebellion.”

  “Athanasius places that much value in Galen?” Zareb questioned. “He sure has a funny way of showing it. If that’s how the Emperor treats those he values, then it’s a good thing we whisked him away.”

  Morpheus audibly sneered, “Watch your tongue, cretin! Everything Lord Athanasius does is for the good of humanity! Why can’t you people see that?!”

  “Why can’t YOU see that that isn’t true?!” Zareb bellowed. “Void, just look at what your precious Emperor, your god, had you and the other Shadows did to poor Galen! Lying to and manipulating him was one thing, but DRUGGING him and hooking him with an addiction just so that he’d become your pawn?! And this is done to one that the Dominion VALUES?!”

  “SILENCE!” Morpheus screamed as he charged with murderous intent.

  Zareb smiled.

  Lusha’s spear hurtled and impacted dead on against Morpheus’s helm. It failed to pierce through or even leave a scratch.

  Void, Tufani wasn’t kidding. That armor of theirs is ridiculously durable, he thought.

  However, the Shadow was clearly left rattled by the blow, and Zareb pounced on the opening.

  He grabbed the spear as it fell to the ground, and used the butt end to sweep Morpheus’s feet from under him. He then spun and stabbed the spear as hard as he could into the Shadow’s center while he was still in the air.

  The attack failed to pierce the armor, naturally, but the force of the blow sent the Shadow hurtling to the wall and lodging him to it as the impact left a massive crater.

  Zareb then turned, not missing a beat as he aimed the spear right at the other Shadow and threw it. The Shadow tried to dodge, but that left them open for Lusha to sweep them off their feet with a low spin kick. The spear impacted them on the helm as well, and Lusha then copied Zareb’s earlier maneuver, grabbing the spear midair and sending the Shadow flying back to another wall.

  Zareb and Lusha stood back to back, both looking composed.

  “Go, my love,” Lusha told him.

  Zareb turned sharply to her, “But-”

  “Going based off what I’ve seen so far, I’ll be fine. They won’t defeat me that easily,” Lusha interrupted.

  That was no prideful boast, nor was she putting on a strong facade to try to assure him. Still, he hesitated, “Are you certain?”

  “You may be superior when it comes to battlefield tactics and strategy. However, have you forgotten who it was that took your personal skills to the next level when I convinced you to join the Rebellion?” Lusha reminded him.

  Zareb chuckled, “How could I forget? It was one of the many things that made me fall for you.”

  Lusha flushed, but she smiled warmly at his words.

  She quickly turned and kissed him, and he returned it.

  When she pulled back, she said, “Go. And don’t you DARE die on me!”

  “Likewise to you. Maker guide you,” Zareb replied.

  Lusha brandished her spear, “And may He do the same for you.”

  She then charged at Morpheus, who had gotten himself out from the wall.

  Zareb saw her go, and gave one last, forlorn glance to his nephew and wife before he turned and sprinted into one of the tunnels, making sure to turn and unleash a fireball Art at the ceiling of the opening to seal it behind him.

  Stay safe, my love, Zareb thought to his wife as he sprinted into the tunnels in search for Galen and Tufani.

  A huge thank you and special shoutout to my Page Turner tier Patron, LOOKOUT, Myth Keeper tier Patron, Lukas Votava, and my Lore Master tier Patrons, Mountain Knight, Conman2731, ThoMiCroN, MCE 2 Munchen 2, and Voltrus. Your support is sincerely and greatly appreciated.