Jace stepped out of the hollow feeling… different. Not just stronger, but tuned in, like his body had been recalibrated. His boots hardly seemed to press into the forest floor. When he curled his fingers, strength rippled through his arms like a coiled spring. Heat beat in time with his heart, steady, almost pleasant—dangerously pleasant.
Beside him, Zara flexed her left arm, turning her shoulder as if checking it for cracks. Just moments ago, it had been broken. Now the skin was smooth, the arm solid.
"I still can't believe it," she murmured, tightening her grip on her sword. "The pain's just… gone. How is that possible?"
"Maybe one of my abilities I hadn't tried before? I'm still figuring myself out here." Jace replied.
"A healing ability?" She tilted her head, studying him like he was a puzzle. "Those are rare. First you read the battlefield like a veteran, now this. What else are you keeping quiet?"
He opened his mouth to deflect, but the undergrowth ahead stirred. Low, deliberate.
The beast panther.
Its midnight fur shimmered with those unnatural, shifting marks. Black eyes locked on them, unblinking.
"This time," Zara said, rolling her healed shoulder, "we're ready."
The panther lunged but it didn't run straight. It flickered out of sight, the air swallowing it whole.
"Where—" Jace twisted aside, instincts flaring. Claws sliced through where his head had been a heartbeat earlier. The beast reappeared behind him, then vanished again.
"Shadowstep," Zara breathed.
A sharp, glassy laugh echoed. The creature perched on a log above them, shadows bending around its shape then gone again.
Jace moved on pure reaction. A blur of claws came from his right, another from above. It never stayed still long enough to pin down.
"We have to keep it from slipping away," he called, catching a strike on his blade.
"How? We can't hit what we can't see!"
The thing was clever. It used the shadows to melt out of sight, slipping between fallen trunks and roots without sound or scent. Whenever they closed in, it was somewhere else.
"There!" Zara pointed to a patch of darkness that shimmered wrong. But by the time they got there, nothing.
Then it showed its hand—combining its invisibility with a pounce so fast it blurred. The strike blew past his guard, nearly crushing him. Jace hit the dirt, breath knocked out, and the ground tore open where claws had landed.
"This isn't working," Zara said through gritted teeth, light from her blessing spilling over her blade. "Every time we get close, it's gone."
High above, it crouched on a branch, watching. Jace's pulse steadied, eyes tracking. It wasn't perfect. It needed shadows to move. It had to be still to disappear. And the pounce—always a clean, open line.
"Zara—when I say, make it bright. As bright as you can."
"What?"
"Trust me."
The panther leapt. Jace waited for the weight in the air, then rolled aside. "Now!"
Her blessing flared like a burst of sunrise. Shadows tore back, leaving nothing to hide in. The panther blinked into existence mid-step and smashed into a tree.
Jace was moving before it could recover. His blade caught it across the shoulder, the cut shallow but enough to stagger it.
It whipped around but Zara's strike met its foreleg, biting deep before it wrenched away with a snarl.
The beast spun, claws slashing for her throat. Jace's sword intercepted, metal screeching against talons before he drove the tip into its flank.
Dark ichor sprayed, hissing against the light. The beast roared, shadow bleeding from its wounds.
It dove between them, claws striking at both. Jace's shoulder screamed as one blow grazed deep. Pain cut through the haze, snapping his thoughts sharp. It was faltering. Steps clumsier.
"Zara! Don't fight the dark—blind it!"
She understood. A narrow spear of light stabbed into its face. It reared, blinded.
Jace vaulted a log, landed on its back, and drove his blade deep into the base of its skull. The panther's thrashing nearly threw him off.
"Together," Zara said, stepping in beside him.
Their blades met in its heart. Shadow dissolved around them, the air stilling.
The forest was quiet again, save for their ragged breathing. The warmth in Jace's veins ebbed, leaving his limbs heavy.
[Combat Encounter: Corrupted Shadow Panther – Completed]
[Experience Gained: 3000 CP]
[NEW SKILL UNLOCKED: Umbral Hunt]
[Description: The user cloaks in shadows for up to 10 seconds, moving faster and silently, then instantly dashes to a target to deliver a powerful pounce with extra critical damage from the side or rear]
"That," Zara panted, "was one of the hardest fights I've had in a long time."
Jace nodded, chest still rising fast. Without the Surge, they wouldn't have walked away from this one. And something told him—they'd need every edge they could get for what was coming next.