Sylens turned to Heda, awaiting her instructions. The latter bit her lower lip. Her eyes were fixated on the corrupted Pawel. "The Roosa'al has possessed him. If Friede chases the shadow away, Pawel will lose his life." 

"So what?" I asked. "They'll all die once the witch is done with her ritual." 

Heda turned to me with black stare. "We are champions, chosen by the almighty Primordials. If we don't protect the weak, what right do we have to fight the new G.o.ddess?" she hissed. 

I chuckled. "You'll protect them now, only to see them all die once the Eternal Moon s.h.i.+nes above their heads. Don't you understand how this works?" 

Heda was about to retort when Friede pulled her from the shoulder. "We can discuss this later. What do we do with this one?" She jerked her head toward the corrupted man. 

"I think he's about to make a move," Sylens said through gritted teeth. 

Sure enough, Pawel dashed toward Heda. He threw a punch aimed at her stomach. Heda slid away from the corrupted man and ended up behind him. What she didn't see coming, however, was the dark smoke shooting out of the man's back. It hit her in the chest, sending her toppling on the ground. 

She screamed and squirmed as she held her chest. Friede ran toward her then gasped. A dark substance was eating away at her body, spreading from her chest to her neck and her nether regions. 

"Hold him off until I can deal with this spreading corruption!" Friede screamed at us. 

I took a step back and crossed my arms. "I think I'll watch the mighty champions repel their natural enemies," I said, grinning from ear to ear. 

Pawel didn't seem to notice me either. His dark eyes fixated the champions with insatiable fury. He screamed, a guttural wail that sent s.h.i.+vers down my spine. Then he jumped at Friede, who was still busy healing the suffering Fate champion. Sylens blocked his way and blocked the corrupted man's kick. 

I saw the dark substance struggle to invade Sylens. The latter smiled then retreated. He punched Pawel in the stomach, and dark energy exploded out of his body. 

Pawel fell and rolled backwards until he reached my feet. He was wheezing heavily. Foam and saliva drooled out of his open mouth. He jumped to his feet. Only then did he notice my presence. 

"Youuuu..." he said in his guttural, ailing voice. "You must paaay..." 

He tried to land a punch but I swiftly dodged. I jumped away just in time as the Roosa'al shot out of Pawel and tried to hit me, as it did for Heda. I coated my hands with energy then slapped the dark cloud away. It hissed then quickly got back inside Pawel. 

"If we manage to get it out of Pawel, we may still save him," Friede said. She'd just finished healing Heda. The latter lay unconscious on the floor however. 

"What's up with her?" I asked as I nimbly dodged the Roosa'al's retaliation. I punched Pawel this time and sent him toppling back a few steps. 

He growled and showed me his canines. His eyes darted between me and Sylens. His chest heaved up and down, the man was at his limits. He screamed, and the dark energy shot out of his body. His body transformed from an ailing human to a large shadow that towered above us. 

I blinked, and the shadow disappeared. I felt its presence behind me and ducked just in time to avoid its heavy punch. It grazed my long hair then I heard it sizzling. I quickly jumped away from the shadow's range and unsheathed my sword. Then I immediately cut off the part of my hair where the corruption spread.

The shadow disappeared once more. I turned around and swung my sword, only to see it hit the air. "Looking for me?" I heard a coa.r.s.e voice speak behind me. 

I gritted my teeth and searched through my conduits for the energy required to perform my next spell. I knew an attack was bound to come as soon as the shadow spoke. I didn't have enough time to dodge, I had to take the hit and survive the spreading corruption. 

I felt as though a boulder hit my back. My body bent backwards as my feet left the ground. I rolled down the gra.s.s until I hit a tree, face first. I quickly got up and removed my gambeson. The only protection I had from human weapons had been corrupted. 

By the time I finished removing my armor, I found the shadow standing before me once more. I ducked underneath its next attack then jumped aside just in time to avoid another limb shooting out of the beast's chest. 

With the corner of my eye, I noticed Sylens leaning against a tree and watching the fight. I cursed under my breath and rolled backwards just in time to avoid a devastating stomp the shadow aimed at my head. I saw a shadowy limb shoot out of the shadow and toward my head. 

I ducked just in time to avoid it, only to see another limb shoot out from its shadowy legs. I tilted my head to the side as the new limb whipped the air with a resounding crack. I couldn't keep on dodging though. Sooner or later, the shadow with many limbs would soon catch me off guard as it did before. 

I coated my leg with my energy and kicked the thing in its dark torso. I saw my foot create a ripple in the dark matter. Then it went in, as though absorbed by quicksand. I supplied my foot with more energy, then urged it to explode outwards. 

The ensuing shockwave caused the shadow to wail, a croaky scream that made my head buzz. The shadow left Pawel for a brief moment, and I took the opportunity to punch the man in the stomach and send him flying backwards. The shadow regrouped above us as a cloud, hissed once more then hurled itself at me. 

Friede appeared out of nowhere. She extended her hands toward the shadow and projected her energy backwards. I felt serene as warm light enveloped us. The shadow hit Friede's hands, wailed then retreated into the dark woods, whimpering as it did. 

Friede turned to me. Sweat trickled down her brows and supple neck. She smiled then bowed to me. "Thank you for covering us, even though you said you wouldn't." She was out of breath, which made her voice break between words. "I'm sorry we left you alone back then, but the beast was our nightmare the last time we came here. We didn't think any of us stood a chance." 

Sylens joined us then. "How did you get away from it?" he asked. 

"I killed it," I dryly replied. "It was just an oversized Katoblepas, corrupted by Rimbaldi's technology. This Roosa'al we just repelled reminds me of the mad scientist's strange artifacts." I searched my bottomless pouch and produced the crystal I extracted from the Katoblepas. 

Friede's eyes widened. "I've seen this before. Last time we managed to cross the lake. We saw the same kind of spheres at the lab's entrance." 

"Did you manage to get inside?" I asked. 

Friede shook her head. "Rimbaldi has fortified his lab. He won't let anybody inside." 

"He's also installed spheres, much like the one you're holding, around the lab. Some of them can turn you into an animal, or some monstrosity..." Sylens said then shuddered. 

I shot a quick look toward Heda. "Is she alright?" 

Friede nodded. "She's still recovering. The corruption almost killed her, but she's not in any mortal danger now. I think we should spend the night here. She needs time before we could move forward." 

I shrugged. "Do what you will. I'm heading to the lab right now." 

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