Night of the Hunt

[Jaixe]

I want more! I WANT MORE! Jaixe's thoughts screamed from inside his mind as he wandered aimlessly, a group of shadows following him at the same pace. His desire for hearts, his desire for killing, was overwhelming him. It flooded into the others, forcing obedience to the one with the strongest will of them all. He could hear them, too, chanting similar thoughts in his mind, compounding the strong desires.

[Jaixe]

Jaixe stopped as he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. Prey! He immediately thought and bolted after the target. Leaping forward from the walkway to the center plaza and chasing after the target to the gizmo shop, his shadows weren't far behind. More prey, MORE DEATH!

[Jaixe]

Jaixe was sprinting on all fours, leaping back up as he chased the target into the gizmo shop. Whirring gears and colorful machinery greeted him past the door as he scanned around. The shadows finally catching up to him and spreading out, searching for the same prey.

[Jaixe]

Jaixe heard whispers above him. Looking up, he saw a shadow of a person rocking back and forth. His prey was atop the machinery, trapped and hiding. It was whispering, "Oh god. Oh god. Please don't find me... just go away... oh god..." You will DIE!

[Jaixe]

Jaixe morphed and crept his way around the floor. Leaping up to behind the man, it was a young adolescent boy, cowering from the Heartless. He turned, eyes wide with shock and fear as he saw Jaixe and the other shadows. Jaixe's eyes turned red from the normal beady yellow as he screeched at the boy. I'LL KILL YOU!

[Jaixe]

The boy jumped backwards out of fright and instinct, landing and bolting away from Jaixe. But he couldn't break him off so easily. Jaixe chased after the boy, sprinting out of the gizmo shop on all fours as the boy was heading for the gate to the first district. The shadows were also giving chase, barely able to keep up.

[Jaixe]

Jaixe screeched again, leaping up and catching hold of the boy's jacket. He tore it off as the boy kept trying to get away. "Leave me alone!" He yelled back, slipping out of the jacket as it was torn from him, not wanting to get caught by such a creature.

[Teldranis]

As the boy ran, he would suddenly impact against the chest of someone large. "get to the first district." Teldranis warned. "Do not look or turn back for any imaginable reason. Move as fast as you possibly can."
Teldranis thought to him privately, seeming simply silent to the heartless around him, before stepping forward. "If you're looking for prey, you'll find naught but death here. Back, abominations!" Teldranis thought in a wide broadcast to them, filled with fury.

[Jaixe]

Jaixe stopped and stood before Teldranis, dark energy pulsing from his feet outward as the shadows grouped around him nearby. You! YOU AGAIN! You're the prey I seek! I WILL DEVOUR YOU! Jaixe screeched again, purple energy exuding from where his mouth should be.

But a few moments passed before a maw formed and opened up, with sharp white, metal-like teeth lining the inside. Jaixe's claws also extended, exuding purple energy. He roared at Teldranis, rather than screeched, showing clear anger and hatred, his eyes glowing a bright red. I WILL DESTROY YOU!

[Teldranis]

"Vile creature! Think you that I care for your wants or needs, abomination!" Teldranis yelled back, standing his ground. "Leave this place or taste my blade!" Teldranis held his stance with a glare, igniting a single warp blade, the blue hum of the weapon glowing within the darkness.

[Jaixe]

The shadows sprung forth from behind Jaixe as he gathered energy around him. Black mass of swirling power formed around the neoshadow as it glared at Teldranis hungrily. The shadows morphed and flanked the Protoss warrior, striking from the front and both sides. Numbering five in total, and weak overall, they were nonetheless persistent and annoying.

[Teldranis]

Teldranis managed to catch the first with a psionic bolt, knocking it out of the sky and throwing it against a nearby wall, before switching to a wider stance, his legs bent and ready to move in any direction necessary. Looking around, he kept a watch on both sides of his body, before sliding out of their circle to the left the moment one of them moved to strike.

[Jaixe]

Jaixe waved his hands as the Shadows closed in on Telldranis. The one Shadow he eliminated returned to its proper form, once more surrounding the Protoss as they converged on him. Jaixe, himself, slammed his fist into the pool of shadows and dragged out a sphere of dark energy. The sphere pulsated in his hand as he raised it and threw it into the sky. Energy came raining down on the combatants, detonations singing the ground around them.

[Teldranis]

Teldranis watched the shadows, much more aware now of how their peculiar morphing ability worked, and stabbed just as one appeared from the ground with enough force to outright disperse the creature. A second appeared near him and he took this one out with a sweep of his second blade, though a slight ding in his shielding told him that one of the shadows had scored a slight hit in the meantime. He would have continued fighting, but upon seeing the energy rain, Teldranis chose instead to dodge away from the scene, using slide several times to attempt to dodge the blackened explosions.

[Jaixe]

Jaixe growled, conjuring three spheres of darkness around his hand now. Aiming at the much larger Protoss warrior, he fired bolts of shadow energy. The same as those currently falling down upon them. The bolts fired at a small rate, but might prove bothersome in conjunction with the energy rain. The shadows, fortunately, morphed and retreated for the moment, regrouping around Jaixe.

Tech:

[Teldranis]

Teldranis dodged the bolts as best he could, using his slide, but was aware he could not do so forever. He grunted at the strain of maintaining this maneuver so many times, but chose to bear it until he could see a way to counter-attack.

Probing his opponent, he saw that he had been surrounded by the other, smaller abominations, and, remembering his training, searched for the slightest opening. Seeing a slight gap in his circle of shadows - slight enough, anyways, he slid forward and to the left, allowing the bolts to ping off of his shielding which quickly informed him that his battery was at 15%, the point further reinforced by what seemed to be blue electricity in front of him as the plasma shields slowly dissolved under the barrage.

This gave Teldranis an opportunity, however, and, seeing his opponent, he concentrated as his body turned misty blue, no longer a flesh-and-blood being but something transcendent, as he moved towards his opponent while he seemed to move in slow motion.
To his opponent, however, all he would see was a bluish aura around Teldranis, his eyes not capable of tracking the full transformation, before he appeared in a blur in front of Jaixe, immediately going for a pair of slashes with his blades from either side of him.

[Jaixe]

Jaixe backpeddeled quickly, immediately morphing upon Teldranis's arrival. Though the Protoss scored a hit on one of the arms, it was far from a critical one. Though the barrages stopped, the shadows did not. With another one being revived, all four leaping from their pools and colliding with the Protoss while Jaixe morphed a short distance away.

[Teldranis]

Teldranis managed to shift his focus long enough to slash through one of the shadows as they jumped, though the others collided, scratching. Teldranis's own panic nearly overtook him, but instead, training stood firm in his mind, and he let his reflexes work, bulling his legs from the grips of the shadows on his lower body while literally grabbing the shadow on his torso and throwing it at Jaixe at a high speed.

[Jaixe]

Jaixe leapt up into the air, avoiding the oncoming shadow as he howled in the sky. Falling down towards Teldranis, just before going to slice him, he casted a gravity spell as the other remaining shadows converged on him again. With the singularity slowing down his movements considerably, he was surrounded. Jaixe fell short of Teldranis purposefully, and morphed to behind him, slicing from the back while the others struck from the sides.

[Teldranis]

Teldranis was surprised by the vortex, turning to slide from the orb too late, and found himself sucked in, feeling the small slicing attacks of the shadows hit him from the sides disorienting him before a sudden slash struck him in the back, knocking him forward slightly and hitting with ten times the strength of the "taps" the shadows had gave him.

[Jaixe]

Jaixe continued forwards, clawing away wildly and with incredible speed at the shields that were blocking him. After a second of frustration, he jumped back and began charging energy again, as another Shadow formed and the four continued mauling the Protoss warrior.

[Teldranis]

Teldranis was knocked away from Jaixe by several feet, his shields utterly failing at Jaixe's last blow. Jaixe began charging energy, which Teldranis knew would likely cause him injury, and, sliding away from the now-frenzied shadows, Teldranis chose to use his chance, sliding towards Jaixe quickly. "Not this time!" Teldranis yelled, before slashing with a quick and unwasted movement, as his own blue energy seemed to charge into his arms.

[Jaixe]

Jaixe tried to step back and unleash the bolts of shadowy energy he collected, but found that the sword of the warrior was faster. Though his slices met against the Heartless's skin and failed to truly cut through, injury had occured to the dark being. Still, the other Shadows were present, now attempting to attach themselves to Teldranis's legs and arms and claw their way past the armor in an effort to save their "master."

[Teldranis]

Teldranis, seeing how quickly the shadows reacted, slid forward and behind Jaixe, realizing that for their small size, these shadows were nonetheless not the most agile or quick creatures. Immediately behind Jaixe, Teldranis would then attempt to go for a slash from behind, and, pushing most of his energy into fighting, Teldranis pushed himself forward with a surprsing amount of energy, shifting into a combo beginning with an upward slash with his left, a stab with his right, a crossed-blade slash, a pair of lightning-quick stabs to the fore of his opponent, and finishing with a slash from his right that transitioned into a slight jump in which Teldranis brought both of his blades downwards into a vertical slice.

[Jaixe]

Jaxe found himself sliced apart and cut in several different fashions all across his back. Crashing into the ground, shadow-esque fog started to emit from his body. He slowly stood up as violet cracks started to form all across his body. His form also became slightly larger and more muscular in appearance. He howled, turning towards Tell with violet, fiery eyes and smoke pouring out of his fanged mouth. Kill everything. Kill everything! I MUST KILL EVERYTHING! I MUST CONSUME, DEVOUR, DESTROY! He howled again as his claws extended even further, purple energy resonating on them.

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