Previously in NWC-
Reno and CeCe finally manage to calm themselves, exploring further in the ruins. They find themselves taking every wrong turn possible, quickly irritating them. Their state of irritation is interrupted by the sound of an unknow creature screaming somewhere else in the ruins. Trying to lighten their mood, they make idle conversation. As they cautiously explore, they quickly find the source of the wails. In response to this, Reno says a single word, 'run'...
Without thinking, they both bolt down the hall, running in any direction. They make multiple twists and turns before they finally slow down and begins panting from their sprint. Their run lead them to a dead end, requiring them to backtrack. The walk out to a hallway that leads further in. They have multiple paths that extend to the left, but they opt to go straight, ignoring all of the off-shooting paths. Reno decides to stick to the wall, turning left, right, left, and finally right. After wandering around the maze of hallways that all seemed the same, Reno stops. He holds the torch closer to the open doorway in front of them and spots a bench. He takes a step closer, his body shivering and freezing mid-step. From in the room he feels an ominous presence, one that instill nothing but sheer fear and despair. His breathing picks up as he slowly places his foot down. CeCe clings to Reno's back, feeling the same terrifying aura from within. Reno looks behind him at the cowering CeCe. He turns back around, staring into the room. Despite the fact that nothing was currently in his field of vision, he felt as if he were standing face-to-face with an entity worse than the devil himself. He takes in a shaky breath, barely able to breath from the pressure he's feeling. "Stay here, CeCe." CeCe looks up in horror, almost too scared to speak.
"What are you doing?! We need to get away from here!" CeCe tries tugging Reno, but he doesn't budge. "Reno, please! I'll pay you extra if we avoid this path!"
Reno looks at CeCe and back at the room again. "And what if every other path is just like this one? What if there is no second path to begin with? Then what?"
CeCe grumbles and slowly lets go of his clothing. "Just… tell me if I need to run, okay?"
Reno nods his head and slowly begins inching towards the room. Reno's heart beat faster and faster with each and every inch closer he gets. Finally, he's standing in the doorway. He slowly holds up the torch, illuminating the room. The room seems to be a small prayer room with three benches and an altar. On the back wall was a sigil as well as something else that caused his heart to drop. His eyes widen as he stares at a shadowy figure that stands at roughly 7 feet tall (, the same one from before. He's frozen in place, standing and staring as it slowly turns around, staring a hole through Reno. Reno's breath is shaky as he slowly turns to CeCe, speaking a single word. "Run." Suddenly, the shadow figure screeches, sending a gust of wind that snuffs out the flame of the torch, leaving them all in darkness.
CeCe watches in horror as everything goes dark. "Shit!" She quickly takes her backpack off, rummaging through it as she begins to panic. Finally, she finds what she's looking for, just in time for the monster to let out a blood curdling yell that causes Reno's eardrum to rupture. CeCe tosses Reno a bag with various small items in it. "Reno!"
"Ahh!" Reno falls to his knees, gripping his ears. The bag that CeCe tossed to him barely makes it through the door opening before the door slams and locks via magical means. The bag hits Reno, falling to the ground. He quickly forces himself to regain his composure and he picks the bag up, quickly turning his attention to the monster before him. The monster in questions is a figure with a deformed and stretched humanoid figure, with no apparent physical body. The only source of light in the room was the Sigil on the wall that barely lit the room enough for Reno to not trip over everything. He watches as the monster opens its mouth, preparing to screech again.
Suddenly, CeCe screams from behind the door. "Reno! Use the fireworks!"
Reno, barely able to hear her, quickly opens the bag. Inside are multiple small fireworks. He pulls one out, tossing it directly at the monster. The firework goes through it's body, hitting the wall and erupting in a quick flash of light. The sudden light causes the shadowy figure to wail in pain. "I think it worked!"
"Reno! It's a Shade! You can't hurt it with no-"
"Woah!" Reno rolls out of the way of a knife that was previously on the altar. The knife flies at him via telekinetic means and almost cuts him. He looks around, uncertain of where another attack could come from. While Reno is distracted with trying to find where the next attack is coming, the shade seemingly teleports, leaving a small trail of shadows as it appears in front of him, it's arm already raised and the end transformed into the shape of an axe made of shadows. "Shit!" Reno jumps back, his back hitting the wall. He quickly grabs his sword, unsheathing it and pointing it in the direction of the shade. He swings, making direct contact with it's body. However, due top the fact that the shade is made entirely of non-solid matter, the sword swishes through with next to no resistance. "Oh! If I can't cut it then it can't cut me! That's way too easy!" Reno let's out a quick breath before noticing a metal looking object in the shade's shadow axe. Covered in shadows was a real axe, moving quickly towards his neck. "Guh?!" He quickly ducks, rolling through the shade and rushing to the middle of the room. He points his sword at his opponent, preparing to fight. As the shade turns around, Reno uses a hand to throw another firework that flies through the shade, exploding upon impact with the wall. The shade screeches, it's body shaking as it's temporarily paralyzed. Reno uses the opportunity to try and grab the axe to pull it away from the shade. To his surprise, it doesn't budge, almost as if it were frozen in the air. Quickly realizing the futility of his attempts, he jumps back just in time for the shade to regain its senses. The shade quickly swings it's axe, but Reno is able to redirect the attack with little issue. "It's not actually that strong?" He finds himself surprised at the revelation of the shade's lack of strength. He finds a rhythm, redirecting the attacks one after the other. Despite Reno being the physically stronger one of the two, the fact that he can't harm his opponent means all he can do it hold out until he runs out of energy. "I gotta find a way to hurt this thing!" Reno wracks his brain, breathing heavily as the fatigue from his repeated defending quickly begins building. His movements become sloppy as he tries to put some distance between them. He slams another firework into the ground, directly between the two of them. Using the stun time, he jumps back, tripping over one of the benches and crawling backwards. He pushes himself up just in time for the shade to recover and close the distance immediately. Reno's movements are shaky as he's barely capable of warding off the incoming attacks.
CeCe watches with horror, trying her best to calm herself. "(Speak! He needs to know! But what if it comes after me?! No, no, no!") CeCe hides around the corner, cowering. After hearing Reno struggling for his life, she makes a split decision, rushing over to the magically sealed door. "Reno! You can't hurt it with normal attacks! You have to use magic!" The shade turns after hearing CeCe's voice, it's red eyes staring a hole through her as it screeches at her. "NOOO!" CeCe cowers, not even able to run away. She holds her head and hides behind the door as the shade continues to screech. The door flings open and CeCe is violently pulled into the room by an unseeable force. "Stay away!" She screams, waving her arms in front of her.
"(I need to attack with magic?! Damn it!") Reno watches the shade raise its axe arm and begin swinging down on CeCe. "CeCe!" Without thinking, Reno raises his right arm curling his fist and extending his thumb and index finger. He braces his arm by grabbing it with the other, gripping it and holding it in place as he instinctively focuses mana in the tip of his finger. In a panic, a powerful bullet of water shoots from his finger, causing his arm to tense up.
TO BE CONTINUED...