Nightblade (Darkest night)

The wraith appeared suddenly, materializing before Morgan.

In the next instant, its hand was wrapped around his throat, holding him in a vice-like grip.

Morgan woke from his trance-like state, staring at the dark being in confusion.

The wraith reared back, then its clawed arm whipped through the air, hurling him across the room with devastating force.

" What the heck?!"

Morgan gasped in surprise, his limbs wildly flailing mid-air.

His body brutally cannonballed through the statue of the winged lion that was standing next to the mysterious figure.

The tenebrous sculpture shattered in an explosion of shrapnel and debris.

Morgan's vision blurred, blood thundering through his body and pouring from his nose in two thin streams.

The image of the wraith he was seeing split into two.

A painful, ear-splitting sound rang in his ears, distorting his focus.

Morgan's head felt like it had been bashed with a sledgehammer, throbbing furiously and rhythmically.

He struggled to get his bearings, raising his arms in front of him.

He groaned, rolling onto his side.

The ground in front of him was covered in a strange haze.

He slowly crawled to his knees, grabbing hold of a statue for support.

He slowly got to his feet, wobbling a bit, then blinked in confusion, staggering around before grabbing hold of one of the remaining statues.

" Ah, that hurt a lot."

Morgan was sure a crash like that would have killed a normal man, let alone a twelve-year-old kid.

But he wasn't just any twelve-year-old. The hellish training Luke had put him through had immensely fortified his body, vastly increasing the threshold of punishment his body could endure.

Using his awakened ability repeatedly had pushed his body to the very limits of what the human body could safely endure without breaking apart.

The umbralis continued flowing to his body in an endless stream, reforging and rebuilding it, despite the threat of the shadow wraith.

And so he survived the brutal throw.

In the next instant, the wraith's figure blurred through the air, the air exploding in its wake.

It lunged for him, its claws aiming for his face.

" Why is it suddenly attacking us? "

Morgan's mind was still in a daze.

One second, he was learning how to feel the flow of umbralis, and the next, he was flying through the air.

Morgan desperately threw his body backwards to avoid the wraith's claws.

But the wraith was too fast, too overwhelmingly strong.

It's cold intelligence far surpassed that of the bretnar and the growler he had previously fought, and even then, he had barely escaped with his life.

Morgan doubted he could best it in a duel even if he decided to use Blood Reaper's boost and his awakened ability in tandem.

" Do wraiths even bleed?

Morgan barely unsheathed his blades, bringing them up just in time to block a harrowing blow from the dark creature.

His hands forcefully flew back from the force of the bone-jarring impact, his muscles burning.

" What even is thing? I can't fight it. I'm not strong enough."

Morgan's eyes desperately darted around, trying to catch a glimpse of Emily.

The wraith gave him no respite, lunging forward in the brief moment of distraction.

" Shit!"

Its clawed hand wrapped around him once more with unyielding force.

Morgan's blades flashed through the air, passing harmlessly through the wraith.

Morgan's eyes widened in surprise.

At the moment his blades touched the wraith, its body turned incorporeal.

" Ah, what the hell?!"

In one fluid motion, the wraith raised Morgan into the air, then violently slammed him into the floor, cracking the stony tiles once more.

Morgan gasped, all the air leaving his lungs.

The wraith's arm whipped through the air, its claws extending towards Morgan's unprotected torso.

But in the next moment, everything froze in space, time crawling to a standstill.

A dark, eerie mist went up from the shattered statue, swiftly flowing into Morgan's body.

The mist floated up, rushing into his body through his mouth, eyes, and pores of his skin.

Morgan let out a muffled yell.

Suddenly, everything hurt. His body had been wracked with pain before, but this was different.

His entire body spasmed erratically.

It felt like every muscle in his body was being torn apart and regenerated countless times.

His golden eyes turned pitch black, dark tenebrous veins spread outward through the gold of his irises, painting them a vivid black.

His body rose into the air like a puppet on strings, the wounds inflicted by the wraith and even from the battles before, mending at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The dark mist surrounded his body like a haze, clinging to him like a second skin.

In the next moment, his body floated back to the ground, and the dark mist flowed out of him.

The mist condensed, forming a smaller version of the winged lion that Morgan had crashed into.

Emily watched the unfolding chaos in awe.

" That's a Drayghar."

Emily had gotten up earlier than Morgan and decided to take a look around the decrepit hall.

She had silently moved around, studying the plaques carved beneath the statues and memorizing the names of the different beasts.

That's when she'd learned the name of the winged beast that had been standing next to the mysterious figure.

The plaque beneath the statue had read: "Drayghar, Emperor of beasts."

Morgan passed out on the floor, his body twitching rhythmically.

The shadow wraith blurred forward, lunging for Morgan's limp form, like an inescapable grim reaper.

Emily's breath caught in her throat, her eyes widening in panic and desperation.

" No!"

Her voice cut through the chaos unfolding in the chamber like a blade.

Emily's arm reflexively shot forward with her palm outstretched.

The wraith froze unnaturally mid-lunge, its clawed hand hovering inches away from Morgan's throat.

The wraith's incorporeal figure flickered for a moment, its claws trembling slightly.

Emily's eyes flickered, lighting up with green light for a moment.

The air in the hall thrummed with power, the ripples of energy crashing into the nebulous statues.

Cracks formed on the surface of the statues, while others shattered outright from the metaphysical battle that was unfolding.

The wraith slowly turned its dark eyes towards her, then an insidious sound escaped what passed for its throat.

A chilling malevolent laugh emanated from the depths of its maw, raising the hairs on the back of Emily's neck.

With a slow, lazy effort, it broke free from Emily's invisible grasp over it, flying forward.

Emily instead stumbled back, her knees wobbling weakly on the ground.

Her green eyes reverted, and a searing pain erupted in her head, threatening to split it in two.

Emily screamed in pain and frustration, reflexively grabbing her pounding head.

She grit her teeth, a steely glint of determination appearing in her eyes.

" Morgan, wake up!"

Then the Drayghar moved.

It silently stalked forward until it stood between Morgan and the wraith.

Emily's eyes widened in surprise and disbelief.

The shadow wraith paused hesitantly, staring warily at the small drayghar.

The wraith growled in challenge, then a split second later, it lunged forward.

The drayghar let out a sound akin to a purr, and the wraith stopped once more in its tracks.

In the next moment, the drayghar morphed, growing in size until it stood at the same size the shattered statue had been.

The giant creature had dark, glossy fur that fluidly shimmered in the light of the hall.

A large mane of black fur flowed majestically down its back and shrouded its face.

Two large feathery wings erupted from its back, spanning the length of its large body.

For all of its harrowing beauty, the most startling feature about the drayghar was its eyes.

Its eyes were an unusual white and gold, standing out in stark contrast to the rest of its dark body.

The drayghar casually flapped its wings, the sheer pressure generated violently pushing back the statues around it.

Emily stumbled a few steps back, her body trembling involuntarily from the sense of dread radiating from the drayghar.

Her mind struggled to come to terms with the reality that was unfolding before her eyes.

" This whole time, we've been sleeping next to this monster, and we didn't even know."

A terrifying thought formed in her mind, her eyes darting to the rest of the statues in the hall.

" What if they're not actually statues? What if they're also..."

She didn't have time to ponder the issue because in the next moment, the ground quaked from the sheer violence that ensued.

The wraith grabbed a gargantuan statue, deftly hurling it at the giant drayghar.

The drayghar effortlessly raised a paw and swatted the statue aside, gazing at the wraith with an almost bored look in its eyes.

The wraith howled furiously, a chilling wail rippling through the hall, shattering even more statues. Then it burst forward, the ground violently cracking in its wake.

Emily ducked behind a large statue to escape the flying debris.

She cautiously peeked around it, noting that Morgan was still fine.

The area around him hadn't been affected by the wave of destruction unleashed by the wraith.

A curious suspicion formed in her mind.

" The drayghar appears to be protecting him..."

The wraith lashed out in a flurry of claws, but the drayghar evaded each blow with a grace unusual for a creature of its size.

The two creatures circled each other, probing for weakness in a lethal dance across the hall.

More statues shattered from the sheer force of the blows unleashed by the wraith every time the drayghar dodged.

Then, in the next moment, the brutal clash came to a swift conclusion.