After entering the next floor of the castle, Cyrus looked about him. Seeing not only the staircase on two sides of the room leading to the top floor. But he could see humans looking about the area, some even shouting at one another.
"Burn the place to the ground! May this God forsaken place be send back to Hell!" The other men cheered as they were tossing aside books, furniture, and even destroying the decorations of the room. Cyrus was wondering why they were doing something like this, but it seemed a little off to him.
'Why suddenly would there be humans inside the castle that aren't dead by the beasts?' He thought to himself. With his sword still drawn Cyrus walked around the room. He had this odd suspicion that he couldn't get away from. Something in the room wasn't right, as he went over to one of the men attempting to tap one of them. That is when the man turned towards Cyrus and held up a cross, the man's eyes widened by fear.
"Back beast! You will not harm a servant of God!" As the man began to exude a dark aura and drew a slim sword that looked like an epee. A type of fencing sword that had a good reach. Cyrus backed away quickly as the man started to stab wildly.
"Hey I am on the same side as... whoa... that isn't normal." All of the men inside the room, roughly eight were visible to Cyrus, turned his direction. Repeating a similar phrase another one would say almost as a delayed playback.
"Kill the demon! Kill the demon!" They chanted as the aura around them got stronger. They seemed either possessed or tainted by some dark power of Chaos he has never seen before. Swarms of bats started to leave the shadows of their auras. Causing Cyrus to prepare to fight, for he had no choice now. He either had to put them down or die by their swords. Which he did not plan on such a fate to be dealt now.
The one Cyrus was closest to ran at him with the sword. Flicking up his own blade to parry the attack. He then did a quick spin which sliced the back of the man. But, nothing happened, for a dark shield had protected the man from the blade. This wasn't good, not only did he have to deal with the man's reach, but he also had to deal with a shadowy force that can block his attack.
The dark mass seemed to retreat as an attack did not follow. Cyrus has to think what would be faster to deal with them. Pulling out his Berretta, taking aim he saw the shadow make a shield wherever Cyrus was. Deciding to swap mags to conserve bullets, he loaded the Gunslinger's Mag. Pushing his energy into the mag created 5 bullets from his reserve.
[CEP: 13/20]
"Enhance!" Feeling the small boost of power might be enough to tip the scales in his favor. He fired the first round of the Chaos Bullets. A purple light shot out of the gun with increased speed. Before he or the shadow could react, the shadow shield was impacted by the bullet. It had left a dent in the shield that went back four inches towards the man, but didn't break.
"This is not good," Cyrus said as the other men started to advance on him. Looking up to the second balcony he used the Devouring Chain to pull him away from the attackers. He needed space to think, "How can I get rid of those shields? They are incredibly durable, more so than any beast I have fought against other than Fenrir."
Even if he used the Shackles of Pain it wouldn't help for how much it consumed of his energy. He could slowly recover his energy by using the Devouring Chain, but he didn't have time. The shadows around the men seemed to move and flow about. Like they were living beings attached to the humans like a parasite.
But in order to break through their armor, he needed something that can damage it more effectively than his explode rounds. That's when he remembered the Withered Dragon Hatchling. Summoning the Hatchling and pulling up it's "Spit" ability. Reading it again he saw that it had the ability to destroy armor. This would be his ticket to deal more effective damage.
The Hatchling looked up at Cyrus and let out a low chirp. Happy to see to him again it climbed up his leg and onto his back, sticking its head over Cyrus' left shoulder. Looking for a good place to keep the Hatchling protected from direct attacks was his best option. For if he wanted to defeat these shadows he needed to defeat the host.
He didn't like the idea for they were still humans. It was a necessary sacrifice he had to make for they were no longer humans. Finally seeing a spot where the Hatchling could sit without getting attacked was the chandelier that was hanging above the lobby. He just needed to get the dragon up there.
Looking to his left he saw the men shambling towards him like they were on puppet strings. He then said, "Alright I need you to sit up there to shoot these guys. I'm going to get you as close as I can but you need to jump up there and stay there." He wasn't sure if it would listen but he had to try.
Using the chain again to pull himself as close to the chandelier as possible. Cyrus was right next to it at the top of his ark. The Hatchling spread its wings and pushed off his back. The momentum of their movement allowed the Hatchling to glide to the chandelier's top. When landing it caused it to wobble and shake about.
Holding onto the frame of the chandelier the Hatchling waited for it to stop swaying enough for it to move around the chandelier. While Cyrus had continue his movement to other side of the lobby. He was realizing what a good traversal tool the chain was. Not just to avoid danger, but as well as a means to travel up to new locations. He wondered if it could be enhanced.
He closed his hand as the chain had vanished. Looking back towards the enemies before him, they all swayed his direction. "Alright let's get a couple points back, then I might Level my summons up while I'm at it." The chandelier had finally managed to slow down giving the Hatchling the chance to move forward and be ready to spit at an enemy. Cyrus taunted one of the men towards him, letting him get close.
"Die! Burn in the flames of Hell!" The man shouted as he swung his sword. Parrying it again allowed for Cyrus to attempt to strike. However the black shield manifested again, blocking his strike.
"Now!" He shouted as the Hatchling's chest expanded, revealing the glowing orange sack under the durable wood-like flesh. It let out a sound of a "PUFF!" as it launched the goo at the man. The shadow attempted to block it as he expected it to. Goo splattered all over the shield, the sound of hissing as the shield was melting. Cyrus was right, with the shadow distracted by the sizzling shield it left itself wide open for an attack.
Cyrus didn't hesitate, using the Devouring Chain which pierced the man's chest and dragged him closer to Cyrus and his blade. A quick stab to the chest and the man gasped as the blade started to ignite inside his body. The shadows attempted to close the wound but the damage was done.
[Defeated a Mad Man: 40 points to your Chaos Meter]
[CM: 175/180]
"F-free...dom..." Was all the man said as he died, vanishing and in his place a crystal of Delta quality was revealed. Cyrus finally understood why they were difficult to kill. It wasn't that their health was high, it was more over the fact that their defenses were really good. Even with his sword being a level of a Beta, that still meant nothing to the defense of the shadow's powers that protected the men.
Having gained back an additional 2 CEP from the chain hitting the target. He noticed that the shadows were now linking up to form a wall of shadow shields. The men were just screaming about him being a monster and sending him to Hell. It really was the shadows doing all of it, which bothered Cyrus a bit.
With them now grouped up he needed to come up with another plan of attack. The Hatchling's Spit wasn't enough to cover them all and they would just prevent Cyrus from finishing one off. Everything was going down the drain fast, which didn't help the situation. Looking around for something to help separate them was the only way he'd be able to finish them off.
"They are smart and know knew how to counter it as soon as one was defeated." Cyrus thought to himself, "Now how am I going to get them to..." He thought about his Devouring Chains. They had the ability to pull a target closer, even having the force to pull him to a target. He called for the Hatchling to spit again, it began to swell its chest.
Cyrus didn't waste the opportunity as he used the Shackles of Pain to slow down the middle Mad Man, then used the Devouring Chain to yank the left one's shield. This slowed down the group just enough to allow the Hatchling's Spit be fired at the shackled Mad Man. With no way to stop the goo from impacting the body and shield, the man attempted to swipe it off. While the Mad Man that Cyrus had hooked the shield of had a look of angered surprise.
The man's shield was yanked free of the Mad Man's arm. The shadow writhed in agony as a part of itself was torn away. That was when Cyrus had to finish off the two first before the other one managed to sneak in a quick strike. With the blade ignited, drawing a scorch mark alone the ground he roared.
"RRRRAAAAAHHHHH!!!" He took the step forward and rolled over the balcony. This was a diversion as he used the chains to pull himself up from the other side and stab shackled Mad Man. With his sword down facing to the ground he stabbed it through the shoulder to the hip. The Mad Man collapsed, quickly Cyrus dashed forward and this time leaping into the air above the Mad Man.
Using the chains to throw himself over his target, then immediately using the chains again to pull the shield-less Mad Man. With the additional two points added he activated his Enhance. With the target up in the air it flailed about trying to recover any sense of balance.
Instead it received a sword through its chest. The Mad Man that had the goo on the shield tried desperately to get it off. While the remaining Mad Man had went in to attack Cyrus. Using its shadow, it reinforced the man's arm. Cyrus was still pulling the blade from the body as it was turning to ash. He didn't have enough time to dodge it as the strike came in.
[HP: 9/16]
[Shadow Being tried to invade your body, but the System prevented it from controlling you.]
The attack knocked off 7 points of his HP. He could feel the pain of the strike as he was knocked over the railing. He fell to the ground and landed on his chest, knocking the wind out of his lungs.
He tried to gasp and get air, but it was difficult for it was like trying to breath in sand. As he finally got a breath in he saw the Mad Man coming down for another strike. He used the chain to pull him away from the strike like before with the werewolf. He flipped in the air and righted himself, panting from now getting the air he needed.
He had noticed the notification from the system that prevented a Shadow Being invading his body. "Well, that's interesting... But I won't let it hit me again." He then saw his Hatchling glide down, it was so silent that the Mad Man didn't expect it.
Landing on the man's back it tried to strike at the Hatchling. But with where it was and the Shadow controlling the Mad Man, it couldn't properly angle its strike. That's when it used its Tail Strike to whip Mad Man repeatedly. Blood splatter about as the man's back was constantly being whipped. When the man let out a cry of anguish the Hatchling has inflated its chest and climbed to the head of the man.
What Cyrus saw was disturbing. The hatchling used it's goo to spew directly down the man's throat. His chest started to glow and begin to melt away. When the man fell over the hatchling went to the chest and buried its head into the body of man. It tore out the Chaos Crystal and swallowed it. The notification popped up showing him that the Hatchling gained Chaos Energy.
[Chaos Meter: 40/200]
[Mad Man defeated, you gain a shared amount that is halved.]
[CM: 15/200]
[1 Stat Point acquired]