Blood Oath of the Shadow

Chapter 2

"Don't move. One more step and this silver will erase your soul."

Axel held the spear tip exactly one inch from the woman’s neck. They stood in the corner of an old long abandoned building and she was pressed tight against the wall. Her face was deathly pale yet her striking Asian features remained clear even through the exhaustion that weighed heavy on her.

Axel studied her closely. He could see fine blue veins fluttering fast beneath her skin. The silver spear in his grip hummed faintly as if the metal itself could sense the darkness standing before him. But this vibration felt nothing like what he felt facing other demons. There was no burning heat no blind urge to drive the blade deeper.

This woman Rena met his gaze without the slightest flinch. Her pale eyes glowed dimly catching the faint moonlight seeping through holes in the roof. There was no fear there only bone deep fatigue and a sadness that had settled there long ago.

"You are the Order’s pet dog aren’t you." Rena said softly. "They sent you alone to kill me. How brave."

"I am an executor." Axel replied coldly. He pushed the spear closer still near enough to feel the warmth of her skin against the cold metal. "And I do not need a squad to deal with one mage."

Rena smiled faintly. "You think I am alone? You think that giant shadow you saw earlier belongs only to me." She shook her head slowly. "You truly know nothing at all Hunter."

Axel tightened his grip on the shaft. Her words stung sharp but he refused to be swayed. This was an old trick of dark things confusing their prey with riddles before striking. He had seen it a hundred times before.

"Be quiet." He ordered sharply. "You can die in silence or die screaming. The choice is yours."

Then Rena moved faster than thought. Instead of running she swept the spear aside with her bare palm. The clang of metal meeting thick black aura rang through the room. Axel felt a cold jolt travel from the tip all the way up his arm but he did not let go. Without hesitation he struck to kill. Blow after blow aimed straight for vital spots throat chest heart. Yet every deadly strike was turned aside by shields of shadow that rose from nowhere.

Every time the spear nearly touched its mark black shadow darted up from the floor the walls even empty air catching the metal with an impossible gentleness. It felt like striking water always sliding off or held fast. The dark energy filling the room bit cold but did not hurt. It only pressed down slowing his movements making every breath heavier.

Axel snarled in frustration. He had unleashed every trick he knew fast combinations that usually dropped demons in seconds. But Rena only defended stepping back with fluid grace never once striking back.

"Why do you not fight back." He shouted eyes blazing with anger and confusion. He swung the spear wide but Rena twisted like wind and shadows crawled along the wall to block the blow.

"I do not want to kill you Hunter." Rena gasped between short breaths. She stumbled backward blood still seeping from the wound in her chest soaking her black robes yet she kept moving. "You are different from them. I can feel it. There is still doubt in you."

Axel froze for a heartbeat. Doubt? He had no room for that. Decades hunting dark things had never shown him a creature that held back. Every monster craved blood every demon tried to tear him apart. That was what the Order taught that was what he had seen since his first day of training. But this woman was deliberately turning every stab aside so she would not hurt him even a little.

Old memories rushed back of the Old Commander explaining Shadow Mages. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘈𝘹𝘦𝘭. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺 𝘰𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬. But if Rena wanted him dead why had she not done it already? Why choose to endure and run instead of striking with power that clearly outmatched his own?

Rena suddenly coughed fresh blood splattering across the cracked wooden floor. Her chest wound gaped wide and Axel realized his earlier strike had barely missed something vital. Slowly she sank to her knees one hand pressed hard against the wound as blood spilled between her fingers. This was the moment he waited for. One more thrust between the ribs and the mission was done. He could end everything right now.

But his feet would not move.

The spear in his hands felt suddenly as heavy as stone. Axel stared down at the kneeling figure her pale face her eyes still holding his without fear. Even broken and bleeding she made no move to run no move to fight.

"What are you waiting for." Rena whispered weakly. "Did you not come here to kill me? Do it."

Axel lifted his arm the spear tip raised to strike. But his chest grew tight. Something unfamiliar something he had never felt in all his years fighting darkness churned inside him. A question far more tangled than any order he had ever been given.

Who was she really? Why did she have to die? What made the Order mark her as their highest threat when she refused to harm the man sent to end her?

He stopped just before the metal broke skin. The air around him grew taut. He heard his own heartbeat thudding fast and loud. And over that sound another voice echoed up from his training days 𝘖𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘭𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘴𝘬 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘪𝘦. 

It was the Old Commander’s voice from when he was still a boy and this spear felt too heavy to lift. But tonight with this wounded woman before him those words sounded faint and very far away.

"Why do you not fight me." Axel asked slowly. "You are clearly stronger. Your shadows could crush me whenever you wish. Yet you only hold back. Why."

Rena lifted her head slowly. Through strands of damp hair falling across her face Axel saw a faint smile that felt both sad and gentle all at once. "Because you still ask." She drew a ragged breath and coughed again. "The Order kills without asking. But you do not. And that is..."

That split second of hesitation was all the opening she needed. Before she finished speaking Rena stamped her foot against the rotting floorboards. Old timber snapped with a sharp crack and from every crevice a wave of darkness exploded outward. Thick swirling black mist swallowed the whole room in an instant blotting out sight dimming light and bringing a cold that bit straight to the bone. For a moment Axel saw nothing heard nothing but the howl of a wind that had no right to be there.

He slashed blindly through the dark swinging his spear at empty air. His left hand brushed the wall and found only cold damp wood. No sign of Rena.

"Rena." He shouted calling his enemy’s name without thinking.

No answer came. Silence rushed back thicker than before. Slowly the mist faded leaving the room completely empty. Axel stood still in the center spear still raised but with no target left to face. The floorboards under his feet were cracked and charred as if burned by invisible fire. And lingering in the air was the faint scent of burning flower petals soft and delicate for a place so harsh and worn.

Axel stood rooted. His heart still hammered but not from anger or battle thrill this time. It beat for all the questions he could not answer. Then he heard it a whisper so close it seemed to brush the back of his neck Rena’s voice softer than before speaking right into his mind.

𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘺 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨

He went rigid staring at the bare wall that suddenly felt much colder than it had moments before. In the corner where Rena had knelt her blood was already drying dark. He looked down at his spear and saw the silver tip was not clean. Her blood clung there and strangely it glowed with a faint quiet light.

He touched it with one finger then looked up. His own shadow on the wall did not move when he moved. It stayed frozen staring back at him with eyes he did not have.

Axel drew a long slow breath and for the first time in his life he did not know if he should file his report or keep this all to himself.

To be continued