"ARGHHH FUCK!" Arthur shouted out in pain.
"What the hell was that?" Arthur asked, looking around himself but not seeing any signs of the attacker. "It was some kind of claw made of shadows." Claire said, preparing for the next attack.
Out of thin air, a shadowy claw materialized behind Claire. It cut through her neck. It went through her like air, the clone not taking any damage. Claire appeared beside the claw, attacking it with her sword. The clash made the sound of metal hitting metal. Another claw materialized on the left of Claire, putting her in between both of them.
As Claire was thinking of a way to escape, Arthur appeared above the claws and struck down where the body of the beast should be. Before his sword could connect, he saw some shadows moving and both claws disappeared.
"What the hell?" Arthur asked, his back still bleeding badly from the surprise attack. "Artie...we might be in big trouble." Claire said. "The only beast I know that has this ability and lives in this forest...is the Shadowmaw." She explained.
"Shadowmaw?" Arthur asked, another claw materializing next to him which he barely managed to dodge. The claw disappeared as soon as it missed. "The Shadowmaw is a giant shadow-like wolf that can meld and control the shadows. It's Savant rank." Claire said.
At that moment, the giant creature revealed itself. It emerged from the depths of the night as a massive, spectral lupine creature with eyes that burn like embers and fur that seems to absorb the very light around it.
"Savant rank?! We need to get the fuck out of here." Arthur said. The creature disappeared once again. Arthur quickly activated his Essence, his speed doubling. He quickly grabbed and carried Claire, running towards the Stormcrest house. His speed was on a completely different level than before. Time itself had slowed down from his point of view, from the outside it was an unbelievable speed boost. Even the ground beneath him cracked when he took off.
Despite Arthur running with all his speed, the shadows were faster. It was following him, quickly catching up. Arthur saw shadows jump from shadow to shadow. "Fuck fuck fuck. It's gonna catch up!" Arthur said.
Claire whispered in his ear. 'Go left.' Arthur listened and instantly did a 90-degree turn to the left. The sheer force of his turn created more cracks in the ground, his speed being simply too fast. During that turn, Claire created two clones to keep running in the original direction and distract the Shadowmaw.
The Shadowmaw was momentarily distracted. Arthur ran with all his might, his brain was barely healed from him overusing it last time so he really didn't want to overdo it this time as well. However, he needed to absolutely escape as quickly as he could! Forget brain damage, if they get caught by that Savant Rank they're as good as dead!
"Stop." Claire said. Arthur listened instantly, coming to a stop but because of his speed, the momentum kept pushing him forward. Arthur tried to stop it by pushing his feet into the ground, creating a 5-meter-long line of two rips in the earth from his feet being dragged through it. "Why are we stopping?" Arthur asked.
Claire created 3 more pairs of clones. "Haaa...keeping up so many clones at once isn't easy." Claire said with a weak smile. "Listen, Artie, you need to run home and get help. You are the faster one out of us and I can keep him distracted with my clones." Claire said.
"No, I'm not going to leave you here alone with a Savant rank Zeal beast!" Arthur said. "It's our only hope of at least one of us surviving." Claire retorted. "No, we fight together. If we go down we both go down, if we survive we both survive." Arthur said.
Claire looked at him with a difficult expression. She hesitated for a moment before speaking. "Okay...fine. I will send a clone to call for help. We need to hold out till Dad or Mom save us." Claire said. Suddenly Claire looked around. "It found us." Claire said. "How do you know?" Arthur asked.
"Oh my god, he didn't teach you Zeal sense?" Claire said, quickly pulling Arthur to the side. A claw barely missed him. Arthur activated his Essence again and grabbed Claire, running away. "I can't keep my Essence active long enough till help arrives." Arthur said.
"I know. Turn it off, don't burn yourself out already." Claire said. Arthur stopped using his Essence. Both of them started running away using Gradus. The Shadowmaw was catching up quickly. "What's the plan?" Arthur asked.
Before they could strategize, a snout materialized on the right of Arthur, biting towards him. Arthur quickly used his sword, infusing it with Zeal and slashing towards it, trying to deflect it. The sword and maw collide, the force sending Arthur flying backward through a dozen trees until he tumbled into a big boulder. He crashed into it and suffered great damage to his back.
"An attack that I deflected did this much damage." Arthur said, spitting out some blood. He slowly stood up, with pain assaulting his back. The only reason the sword didn't immediately break already was because of him using Zeal flow.
Back at Claire, she sends a Zeal beam toward the Shadowmaw, which hit its side, sending it flying. It didn't take much damage. It growled, before disappearing into the shadows. Claire and Arthur quickly regroup. "Are you okay?" Claire asks. "Had worse." Arthur answers.
Both of them prepare themselves for another attack, staying high on guard. A few minutes pass with nothing happening. "Do you think it left after your Zeal beam?" Arthur asks. "No, it corners its prey like this and then waits for an opportunity to strike. Don't lose your focus, don't give it any opening!" Claire warned Arthur.
Both of them kept standing back to back, looking at every minor movement in the shadows that they could find. "There!" Arthur said, striking into a moving shadow. "NO DON'T!" Claire yelled, but it was too late. A claw materialized from the right side of Arthur. In a split second, Arthur activated his Essence and tried to block his strike. Unfortunately, he was too slow. It struck him, cutting through his right side.
"AGGHHHH!" Arthur screamed in pain, flying against a tree and crashing into it. Since it was a slicing attack and not a brute force one, it didn't send him flying too far. However, his damage was far worse. There were four deep slashes on the right side of his torso. His ribs were exposed, it went down to his bone!
"ARTHUR!" Claire screamed, sending a massive Zeal beam towards the Shadowmaw. This time it predicted the beam and melted into the shadows. Claire looked towards Arthur, which the Shadowmaw used as an opportunity to appear out of Claire's shadow and lunge at her.
Out of pure instinct, she protected herself with her arms. The Shadowmaw bit down, ripping off her left arm. "AHHHHH ARTHUR!" Claire screamed, sending another Zeal beam into the Shadowmaws eyes with her right hand. The Shadowmaw became blind on its right eye, quickly melting back into the shadows.
Claire had lost her arm, it was bleeding badly. Arthur saw that and clenched his teeth. He forced his broken body up, somehow standing. He activated his Essence again, rushing forward to Claire. A claw materialized, slicing down onto Claire. Before the strike could reach her, Arthur quickly grabbed and carried her out of there, barely avoiding her being ripped to shreds.
His nose began to bleed. "Haaa...haaa..." Arthur began gasping for breath. He was severely slowed down with such a wound. "Artie...this might be the end." Claire said while being carried by Arthur, she put a piece of cloth over her wound and was keeping pressure on it. She saw the shadows behind them quickly approaching, catching up. "Don't speak like that." Arthur said.
"Artie, listen. If this is the end I just want you to know-" Claire started to speak before being interrupted. "Shut up. This isn't the end. I won't let it end like this. Just keep pressure on the wound." Arthur said. "Arthur." Claire said, serious in her tone. "It took us hours to reach this spot. Since I sent my Clone it has maybe been 20 minutes at most." Claire explained.
"I know." Arthur said, not wavering in determination to make it out of here alive. "This time we don't have Dad to save us when it gets serious. Listen Artie...if-" Claire tried to speak but got interrupted again. "Didn't I already tell you to shut up? I'm going to take care of this." Arthur said, not letting her speak any more.
A claw materialized above them. Arthur quickly dodged to the left, the claw hitting the ground and causing a 10-meter-wide crater in all directions. It was out of nowhere but Arthur's speed increased! He somehow ran faster and faster. At this point, he was now running faster than before he was even injured!
'I hope you know what you're doing child.' The voice of Chronos spoke in Arthur's mind. For Arthur, his world had slowed down to 1/3rd of the time! He was 3 times faster than normal! Of course with his injuries, he was just barely faster than his 2 times speed.
Arthur was slowly leaving the Shadowclaw behind him, gaining more and more distance. His ears started bleeding. He pushed forward, not caring for his injuries or exhaustion. His brain was getting more and more overloaded, now having to bear the burden of 3 times the information!
The end is near.