CHAPTER 53: DANCING IN THE DARK.

The creature’s charge was faster than Nero anticipated.

It covered the distance in two bounding leaps from its crouch, its massive frame moving with surprising grace. Nero had already begun his Shadow Shift, but the moment he tried to activate it, something went wrong.

The darkness didn’t wrap around him like a cloak. Instead, it felt like he was falling into a pit.

His body jolted sideways— not through conscious effort, but as though the shadows themselves were pulling him. For a disorienting moment, he lost all sense of direction. Up became down. The ravine wall seemed to phase right through him.

Then the sensation ended abruptly, and Nero found himself ten feet to his left, gasping for air.

The Abomination’s claws raked through the space where he’d been, scraping stone with a terrible shriek.

’What the hell was that?’

Nero didn’t have time to process. The creature was already turning, its massive body twisting with predatory intelligence. It charged again, and this time Nero tried to dodge without using the skill.

He rolled right, came up on his feet, and immediately realized he’d made a mistake. The creature anticipated the movement. Its clawed hand swept down and caught him across the shoulder.

Pain lanced through him as drops of blood— his blood, dripped onto the stone.

The Abomination hissed and pressed forward, its maw opening like an umbrella. It was relentless, driving him backward with each strike.

Nero raised the Silver Blade as he tried Shadow Shift again.

This time, instead of fighting the sensation, he leaned into it. He closed his eyes and thought of the Shadow Stalker— the macabre grace of its shifting shadow. way, the predatory violence of its form.

The darkness gushed at him.

It was overwhelming, raw and unfettered.

Suffocating. Like being buried alive in freezing ink.

But there was direction to it now. Intent.

Nero’s body moved with some imitation of grace.

By no means was it smooth, and he definitely didn’t have a lot of control, but with a desperate, jerking motion, he appeared three paces away, stumbling into a very uncoordinated stance.

The creature lunged after him.

This time Nero was ready. He drove the Silver Blade upward as the Abomination came at him. The enchanted edge caught it right under the jaw, drawing fetid blood.

The creature shrieked and pulled back, one massive claw lashing out in response.

Nero tried Shadow Shift again, but the activation was slower now. His body felt sluggish, resistant. The darkness tried to pull him away, but he fought it, refused to fully commit.

The result was worse than before.

He half-shifted, caught in what seemed like a barrier between the physical world and the shadows. The creature’s claws almost caught him across the ribs.

A bead of sweat drifted into the wind from his chin.

’This is much harder than I thought.’

Nero forced himself to breathe as his thoughts raced.

The Shadow Stalker’s use of its seal had been instinctive. After cultivation for what could be as long as a few decades, the creature didn’t need to think about using the shadows— it simply did use them.

But Nero was human. Or more specifically, he wasn’t an Abomination. And so, he had to understand what he was dealing with first.

Just as a bird could fly with its wings instinctively, Nero— a human born with two arms and two legs, had no idea how to use these wings he had suddenly been given.

The next time the Abomination charged, Nero didn’t try to escape into darkness. Instead, he moved into the nearest shadow cast by the ravine wall and held there.

His breathing steadied. His heart rate slowed slightly.

The creature skidded past him. It turned, searching, its green eyes scanning the darkness.

Nero could feel the shadows around him now. An intimate coolth that brushed across his skin like a lover’s tongue.

The Abomination hissed and charged again, more aggressively this time.

Nero ran then stepped out from the shadows and struck. The Silver Blade caught the creature’s arm, deep and vicious. Black blood sprayed across the stone.

But instead of retreating, the Abomination pivoted with surprising speed. Its massive body twisted, and its tail—Nero hadn’t even noticed it had a tail—whipped around toward his head.

He barely ducked in time, feeling the air crack above him.

A deep golden glow flashed in his eyes.

For some reason, something had clicked on that moment.

’Intent...’

’Visualization. I see. So that’s what this is...’

He activated Shadow Shift again, and this time he had a destination in mind.

The transition was gentler this time.

It was more like stepping through a doorway and less like mucking through mire. His body moved, fast, but with some semblance of control.

The Abomination’s tail slammed into stone where he’d been standing.

Nero sucked in a deep breath.

He understood the skill better now.

Shadow Shift wasn’t some strange teleportation. It was quite simply acceleration through darkness. And while that didn’t make much sense, it kind of did as well.

The faster you moved through shadows, the less time they had to pull you in. And if you understood where you were going, you could direct the movement rather than letting it direct you.

That was the concept he had been able to deduce at least. And for what it was worth, it seemed to have worked.

The creature turned, searching for him again. It charged into the darkness where Nero hid.

This time however, the Heretic was ready.

The shadows turned into dark fingers, guiding and giving him purpose.

They were soft, cold, and gentle.

Of course, it was simply his mind making things up. However, it helped him visualize it better.

And with that, he could see it.

A pathway.

A path in the darkness.

The collision was brutal.

Nero drove the Silver Blade forward with all his strength, using the creature’s own momentum against it. The enchanted edge pierced deep—into muscle, past bone, into vital organs.

The Abomination let out a gurgling sound and then a groan.

It thrashed, its claws raking wildly for a few moments as its vigor began to die out. Black blood poured from the wound, steaming where it hit the cold stone.

The creature’s movements became sluggish. Its thrashing slowed.

Nero twisted the blade and pulled it free.

The Abomination collapsed, its massive form shuddering once before going still.

***

{Rejoice, Heretic. You have slain a Elkerling}.

Seals of Sin: (110/1000).

***

Nero stood over the corpse, breathing heavily.

"That went better than I thought." He muttered.

Then he chuckled.

Nero looked down at his hands. They were shaking slightly.

But it was not fear. No.

His hand shook because he realized something.

The battle had been a close one, but ultimately, he was much more powerful than he had been a few days ago.

’Did hitting a hundred Seals really provide a substantial boost?’

Although he wasn’t really sure, the proof was in the pudding.

He had just sustained a few scratches from his ordeal. And that had only happened because he was dealing with a new weapon he had to navigate around.

How many times had he used the skill? Five? Six? The Oracle had said ten uses before complete depletion, but that was under normal circumstances.

Each use felt like it was burning something inside him, most likely his Ein Sof being consumed. However, Nero still had a faint idea of what the energy was and had yet to begin fully sensing it within him.

He pushed the thought aside and bent down to harvest the creature’s meat. It would be worth more than the lesser Abominations he’d fought before.

More fuel for the journey ahead.

As he worked, cutting away portions and binding them in cloth, Nero couldn’t shake the feeling that something fundamental about him had changed.

Once he was done he continued down the winding path.