----------
Chapter - 13: Grimm
-----------
[Magic Dimension - Magix]
[Darkar's Fortress]
Darcy's Pov
The remnants of Lord Darkar's fortress loomed before us, shrouded in a greenish mist. Even in ruin, every piece of that structure still conveyed a sense of power and malevolence, as if it had never truly left.
The fortress, once solid and menacing, was now reduced to a series of shattered towers and broken walls, precariously suspended above us and threatening to collapse at any moment.
"I'm glad you thought of this place, sister," Icy said, her tone measured but with a rare hint of respect. Compliments weren't like her, so her appreciation meant I had truly hit the mark.
The memory of this place had suddenly come to mind while we were searching for extraordinarily powerful magical creatures. At that moment, it had seemed obvious to me:
What could be more satisfying than drawing power from creatures born of the might of an ancient god?
Stormy, with her usual impatience, quickly intervened, a flash of lightning dancing between her fingers. "You're right, it's a good plan. We have everything we need here. And we don't even have to roam around looking for prey; they're all here, within reach."
"Exactly," agreed Icy, her blue eyes as cold as the ice she wielded. "It would have been risky to move elsewhere, with the Templars still searching for us. And I don't want those annoying fairies interfering with our plans, not this time."
I allowed myself a small, satisfied smile. "Well, it immediately occurred to me that with Darkar out of the picture, we can capture all the shadow creatures we want without any trouble and bring them to Maxwell," I explained, shrugging as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
The idea had seemed natural, as if it had been there all along, ready to be used. There was so much unused power in the destroyed fortress, just waiting to be harnessed.
Stormy, ever skeptical, couldn't hold back a question that revealed a certain degree of concern. "But are we sure these creatures will be suitable for him?" she asked, doubt evident in her voice. "After all, they're evil and wild beings, lacking any form of intelligence..."
The shadow creatures, which we knew well from our time with Darkar, were born from his dark power, which permeates the darkest places of the Magical Dimension.
They are the result of his negative emotions so intense and powerful that they took physical form. They are beings fed by the anger, hatred, and pain that infest the hearts of anyone who dares to approach them.
They are entities of pure malevolence, thriving in the dark, where their strength grows exponentially. However, they are also dangerously primitive creatures, following only their instinct or whoever they perceive as stronger.
Light, especially the sacred light from the Great Dragon, is their main weakness. A simple ray is enough to disperse them, reducing them to nothing more than insubstantial shadows.
Icy shrugged nonchalantly, her cold gaze as she pondered Stormy's words. "They'll be fine," she said with icy confidence. "Maxwell has already absorbed the power of the prisoners from the Omega Dimension, and we all know those weren't exactly nice guys."
Stormy shook her head, still concerned. "Yes, but those prisoners were weakened from being frozen in ice for so long. We can't know how powerful these shadow creatures are, or how well Maxwell can really control them."
As the two continued to debate, I decided to intervene. We were now close to our destination, and I didn't want their conversation to trigger an entire wave of creatures against us.
"I don't think Maxwell will have any problems," I said, ending the discussion with a confident tone. "After all, he has already absorbed the power of the dragon flame fragment without any issues."
The words seemed to reassure them, at least for now. However, I knew both were right to be cautious. Maxwell's power was something to be taken seriously, and we could never be completely certain of our safety.
Nevertheless, the temptation to harness the dark power of the shadow creatures was too strong to resist. We were in a dangerous game, but the rewards could be immense.
Finally, we arrived at Darkar's fortress. The place hadn't changed: it was still an intricate labyrinth, where it was easy to get lost among corridors and rooms that all seemed the same.
Despite the unsettling appearance and oppressive atmosphere, it was a refuge for us. It was the ideal place to operate without worrying about the curious eyes of those who would try to stop us.
We ventured deeper, passing through long corridors, until we reached a vast hall shrouded in a greenish mist. There, before us, shadow creatures moved, but they were different from those we had faced before.
They were smaller and seemed weak, almost insignificant. Clearly, Darkar's absence had significantly reduced their numbers, leaving only the stronger creatures that preyed on the weaker ones.
"Look at those creatures," Icy commented with a tone of disdain. "They're so slow and powerless that they won't even make a decent appetizer for him."
The creatures appeared as red lizards, visible only due to the negative emotions they emitted. Their movements were slow and clumsy, but they managed to compensate with sudden and agile bursts when they tried to escape.
"They seem hardly threatening," I said, observing the creatures with a degree of indifference. "We should just ignore them."
I decided to move on, and we found ourselves in an even darker and more oppressive area. The negative energy seemed to accumulate, creating a heavy and unsettling atmosphere.
Suddenly, Icy stopped and sighed heavily. "I don't understand," she said with a frustrated tone. "We've been here for a while and haven't found anything truly powerful. Just these small creatures that aren't much."
Stormy nodded with a worried expression. "It's strange, really. From what I remember, there were many more creatures; we'd expect to encounter something more... interesting. But so far, we haven't seen anything worth much."
I shook my head. "Something's wrong. The fact that we haven't found any powerful shadow creatures should be impossible given how much negative energy is in this place—"
Suddenly, a strange and unsettling noise struck us. It was a guttural sound, as if something was being gnawed and chewed with force. The noise was unusual and out of place, a jarring contrast to the silence we had been moving through until that moment.
We stopped, each of us on alert, trying to discern the source of the disturbing sound. The noise seemed to be coming from one of the side rooms, and we decided to approach cautiously, trying to make as little noise as possible.
When we peered through an opening, what we saw left us speechless. In the dim light of the room, a group of massive creatures was engaged in a shocking scene.
These beings were imposing, with massive bodies covered in fur as black as night. Their heads were adorned with white bone masks, decorated with strange red symbols.
The creatures had red eyes that glowed ominously in the darkness. A dark aura seemed to envelop them, creating a sort of black mist around them. Their bodies were covered in bony spines jutting out from their arms and backs, and their hands and feet were equipped with sharp claws.
"They're a bit large, don't you think?" Icy commented, her tone betraying a subtle concern as her gaze fixed on the figures before us.
Neither Stormy nor I could find the words, completely shocked by the scene before us. The monsters were devouring the most powerful of Darkar's shadow creatures, an unimaginable idea since they had always been the predators since the beginning of this universe.
Their jaws sank mercilessly into the carcasses of the smaller shadow creatures, turning them into bloody, torn heaps. Each bite they inflicted on their prey was accompanied by a chilling noise, a mix of teeth crunching through bones and flesh, and tissues being ripped apart.
The creatures' jaws were gigantic and muscular, seeming to grind the carcasses with brutal force. The sound we had heard was a constant echo of crunching and cracking, mixed with the muffled gurgles and guttural growls of the creatures as they devoured their meal.
Stormy quickly noticed another worrying detail. "They seem much more aggressive," she observed, her voice tight and alarmed.
I, too, had obviously noticed the difference. These creatures seemed more aggressive, more structured compared to the shadow creatures we had encountered before.
"They're different," I murmured, trying to understand what these creatures were. "They're not the usual shadow creatures. They seem like something else—"
Just as I was speaking, something happened that made us hold our breath. The enormous creatures, who had been immersed in their feast until then, seemed to sense something new.
One of the creatures, with a sudden and unsettling movement, lifted its head and turned its snout in our direction. Its red eyes locked onto us, glowing intensely even in the darkness.
The other creatures followed suit, slowly turning their heads toward us. Their movements were synchronized and eerie, as if an invisible force was guiding them toward us.
Their attention seemed fixed on us, and the air grew even heavier. Every muscle in our bodies seemed to contract under the threatening gaze of those beasts.
The creatures began to move toward us with determined strides. Their powerful legs stomped the ground with a dull thud with every step. "They're coming toward us!" Stormy yelled, her voice filled with panic.
Icy, with her usual calm, watched the creatures carefully. "Whatever they are, we can't underestimate them," she said, summoning a storm of ice that froze some of them in seconds.
But unlike normal shadow creatures, these weren't intimidated. The remaining creatures continued to advance, breaking through the ice trapping them with alarming ease.
"They won't stop!" Stormy exclaimed, casting a powerful lightning bolt at a group of monsters. The lightning struck precisely, but the creatures hit quickly got back up, showing little effect.
The situation was rapidly deteriorating. These creatures didn't just react to attacks; they seemed intelligent and coordinated. And as if that weren't enough, they didn't even appear to feel pain.
"They're not just reacting. These creatures seem to have a clear objective," I said, trying to stay calm. "And it looks like that objective is us."
Icy cast another burst of ice, creating a barrier between us and the creatures. "We need to find a way to stop them for good," she said with a determined voice.
The creatures, however, showed no signs of stopping. They kept pounding against the ice barrier, and cracks began to form. We didn't have much time to come up with a satisfactory solution to overcome them.
"We can't risk being overwhelmed," I said urgently. "Let's use everything we have to capture as many as possible and then get out of here. We can't afford to underestimate these creatures."
Stormy summoned a storm of lightning that struck the creatures from above. The lightning exploded overhead, creating intense illumination. Some of the creatures fell, but most merely stepped back a few paces before resuming their assault.
"We can't tackle them separately," I said, realizing that the only way to prevail was to combine our forces. "We need to use a magical convergence."
Icy and Stormy nodded, and without hesitation, we formed a circle. We began to focus our dark power, feeling the energy flow between us and amplify through our collaboration.
The energy we emitted was so powerful that it overcame any resistance. A wave of dark energy exploded from our circle, overwhelming the creatures much more easily than I had initially expected.
Additionally, I thought I glimpsed a familiar figure behind us. However, I knew it was impossible, given that our Gloomix, provided by Darkar, had been destroyed before we were sent to the Omega Dimension...
When the dust settled and the battlefield fell silent, we stood, surrounded by our residual magic. "We've won," Icy said with a cold smile on her lips.
The creatures were completely swept away. Some dissolved into clouds of black dust, while others, too weakened to rise again, were easily captured with Icy's timely intervention before it was too late.
I couldn't shake a growing unease. Something in the air seemed to have changed, as if something powerful was distorting around us.
I looked around, trying to understand what it might be, but found nothing visible. It was just a feeling, but in the magical world, such feelings were never to be ignored.
"We have enough," I finally said, interrupting my sisters as they prepared to capture another group of creatures. "I don't want to take unnecessary risks. Let's take them to Maxwell and see what he can do with them."
Icy nodded, her usual coldness returning. "Agreed," she replied. "But let's stay alert. These creatures... might be more than they seem; perhaps Maxwell will know more about them."
"I hope so," I said with a sigh, feeling that this was just the beginning of something much larger.
-----------
Osmosian Sorcerer?: 3 advanced chapters:
Son of Li Qiye?: 3 advanced chapters:
patreon.com/Demon_King22
Chapter - 14: Magix - Chapter - 15: Bloom - Chapter - 16: Demon Sorcerers
Chapter - 4: Power Aspect Totem - Chapter - 5: Xaoi Ning'er - Chapter - 6: Wind Lightning Emperor Inheritance
A/N: I hope you enjoy the chapter!
On the other hand, if you want to see something specific in the next chapters, or even just have some good advice for the story as a whole, I am always willing to read a comment if it is constructive criticism.
If you see any mistakes, I would be grateful if you would point them out to me, so that I can correct them when I have some spare time, and make the story as complete as possible for myself and especially for you.
To facilitate a clearer understanding, I've retained pictures of the respective characters. Your feedback is always valued, and if you have any suggestions for the upcoming chapter, please feel free to comment—I'll be sure to respond as usual.
Please leave a review if you like the story.