MORPHORCE-Chapter 44 - 43: The First Gate Raid (8)
“WERAN SE REVENNA.”
The creature spoke again, its head lowered, blue eyes glowing faintly from beneath the shadowed brow.
“The hell is it saying?” the Association member muttered, irritation barely masking his unease. “It’s been repeating the same word from the beginning.”
“Who knows,” Rihan replied, eyes never leaving the creature. “But I highly doubt it’s anything good.”
A heavy silence settled between them.
Neither the creature nor the four of them moved from their positions. Though the shadow being didn’t move, none of them lowered their guard.
The creature stood motionless.
Its blue eyes burned into them, no longer amused.
No longer playful.
The smile was gone entirely now, replaced by something far more dangerous—
Recognition.
It had underestimated them.
And it did not appreciate that.
Slowly, deliberately, the shadow creature lowered its sword until the tip touched the blackened ground.
The four of them moved, taking up defensive positions.
“What the hell is it doing now?” Soraya muttered.
The Association member swallowed nervously. “Shouldn’t we attack it before it finishes whatever it’s trying to do?”
Then—
The air around the creature began to shift.
The red core in its chest pulsed faster—thump-thump-thump—no longer slow and rhythmic but rapid, urgent, like a heartbeat accelerating before a kill.
Blue light bled from its eyes, spilling down its shadowy form like tears of cold fire.
The ground beneath its feet cracked.
Crk... crk... crk...
Fissures spread outward in jagged lines, glowing faintly with the same blue light that wreathed its blade.
“Something is wrong.” Afraan muttered. “It’s—”
The creature spoke.
But this time, its voice was different—
Deeper.
Layered.
As if multiple voices overlapped into one.
"KHAL... DREN... VALETH."
The moment the final word left its mouth—
BOOM!
An explosion of pressure erupted outward.
The shockwave slammed into all four of them, throwing them backward. Soraya hit the ground hard, rolling through the dirt. Rihan planted his sword into the earth to stop himself from flying farther. The Association member crashed into a skeletal tree with a sickening CRACK! Afraan caught himself mid-air with a burst of wind, landing in a crouch several meters back.
When the dust settled—
The creature had changed.
Its body was larger now, more defined. The shadows that composed its form no longer wavered like smoke—they were solid, dense, rippling with barely-contained power. Its sword had grown longer, the blue glow intensifying until it hurt to look at directly.
And its eyes—
Those cold blue eyes now blazed like twin stars.
The red core in its chest pulsed violently, cracks of crimson light spiderwebbing across its torso like veins of molten glass.
Soraya pushed herself up, blood trickling from a cut on her forehead. "What... what the hell just happened?"
"I think... It got stronger," Rihan said grimly, pulling his sword free from the ground.
“Damn it!”
The tree the Association member had been slammed into earlier finally collapsed —
THUD!
Its broken trunk crashed to the ground in a cloud of dust and splintered bark.
He staggered upright, coughing, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth as he tightened his grip on his sword.
“It was already a hassle fighting that thing,” he growled hoarsely. “Now it’s gotten even stronger?”
The shadow creature tilted its head.
“WERAN SE REVENNA.”
The words rolled out like a curse.
Its glowing blue eyes flared.
Then its sword lifted.
The air screamed.
Pressure crushed down on the four of them like an invisible weight.
No one breathed.
No one blinked.
And then—
Flash!
The creature vanished.
BOOM!
The ground exploded where it had stood, dirt and shattered stone blasting upward as its sword tore through space.
At the same time—
FWOOOOM!
Soraya’s flames roared forward.
SHRRAAAK!
Afraan’s wind blades screamed across the battlefield.
The forest erupted in fire, wind, shockwaves, and deafening impacts.
The real battle had begun.
***
The creature moved first—at a speed too fast for the naked eye to follow.
And on the other side, the four of them reacted at the same time.
Despite fighting together, the creature was still too fast to track and too powerful to handle head-on.
Even so, they somehow managed to keep up.
Then—
The creature’s speed suddenly spiked.
FLASH!
It vanished and reappeared behind the Association member within a single heartbeat.
The man’s eyes barely had time to widen before the shadow blade carved downward.
CLANG!
Rihan’s sword intercepted it at the last possible instant.
Sparks exploded through the darkness.
The impact sent a violent shock through Rihan’s arms, bone-rattling force nearly tearing the weapon from his grip—but he held firm.
“MOVE!” Rihan roared.
The Association member stumbled backward, hastily raising his sword.
The creature didn’t give them a moment to breathe.
It twisted mid-motion and slashed at Rihan again.
Rihan had no time to properly block—but he still tried and barely managed to shift his stance—
FWOOOM!
BOOM!
Soraya’s flames and Afraan’s wind blade struck the creature simultaneously, blasting it sideways.
Rihan didn’t waste the opening. He lunged forward, thrusting his sword straight toward the creature’s core.
It was just about to hit—
FLASH!
The creature vanished.
“Damn it... it was that close.”
It reappeared instantly behind him.
The blade swung.
Rihan tried to dodge, but it was already too late.
“Shit!”
Just before the blade could slice into his back, he twisted and swung his sword behind him—
CLANG!!!
The impact blasted him backward.
THUD!
He slammed into the ground, rolling across cracked earth before skidding to a stop.
“Damn it!” Rihan snapped, pushing himself up.
“Is there even a way to deal with this thing?!”
FLASH!
The creature appeared right in front of him.
Rihan’s eyes widened as its sword came down in a killing arc—
BOOM!
Soraya’s flames slammed into its side, forcing its body to tilt.
In the same instant—
The Association member was already behind it, sword raised high.
From the right, Afraan surged forward, a blade-like wind forming around his hand.
Both aimed straight for the core.
But—
THUD—OOM!
The creature’s foot crashed into Afraan’s stomach.
Afraan was launched like a cannonball—
CRACK!!!
His body smashed through a skeletal tree, splintering it apart.
At the same moment—
The creature spun.
Its sword whipped backward.
The Association member’s blade halted midair.
His grip failed.
CLANG!
His sword slipped from his fingers and struck the ground.
Time seemed to slow. And the world seemed colorless.
Soraya’s breath caught.
Rihan’s eyes widened.
And—
SHRRRK.
The shadow blade passed cleanly through flesh.
The Association member’s head separated from his shoulders and fell to the ground.
Thud.
A heartbeat later, his body collapsed beside it.
Blood soaked the blackened earth.
The creature turned slowly.
Its blue eyes burned like frozen stars.
Once again, the same words echoed through the forest—
“WERAN SE REVENNA.”
