A Sunless Dream | Shadow Slave Fic

Mordret's castle remained eerily silent as he stood there motionlessly, the air thick with tension with each side preparing to attack. Jet's finger twitched in preparation causing Mordret to dissolve his stance and stare at the four of them inquisitively.

"Do you genuinely think you can win this fight?" He asked, a look of sincere puzzlement written on his face as he awaited for their answer. Revel's face boiled with anger, there were words she wanted to say that would cloud her judgement in battle, so she kept them to herself.

'Twenty minutes, we just need to last twenty minutes.' Nephis thought to herself reassuringly, the sight of space contorting itself around Mordret's figure did little to comfort her thoughts as his grin remained ever present upon his features.

"If you won't answer me, let's get this started!" Mordret exclaimed. Nephis stirred first, her white-hot flames igniting across her blade as she closed the distance between the two. The heat of her flames distorted the air as she slashed downward, aiming to cleave him in half.

But Mordret didn't move. Instead, he flicked his wrist, manipulating air resistance to slow the swing mid-strike. The flames sputtered in the air aimlessly as her blade stopped inches away from his chest, unable to overcome the invisible wall.

Unperturbed, Nephis spun around and attempted to slam a kick into his chest. Mordret flicked his wrist once more as gravity increased, pressing Nephis downwards. However, the scion of the immortal flame clan surged forward, slamming her weight increased foot into her chest as Mordret brought his hand up to block.

"Oh? You can still move? Gravity x200." In a moment, the force pressing down upon her increased two-hundred-fold. Nephis knees staggered as the ground cracked beneath her, her posture struggling to remain upright under the weight of the invisible pressure.

Revel darted in next, her dagger wreathed in pure darkness. She struck from his blind spot, intending to insert her dagger in between the gaps in his ribs. Mordret didn't turn, instead space shifted slightly as the distance between he and Revel increased randomly.

In a moment, Revel found herself farther than where she had once stood initially. Mordret was in front of her in moments, a casual swing of his hand connected with her jaw and sent her flying into the wall of the castle. Revel's mind span and became blurry as she attempted to endure the force, it was unlike anything she had ever experienced before.

Placing a hand on the floor to ground herself, Revel found her hands slipping across the floor as though she was moving on ice. Mordret watched the scene in amusement as Revel transformed and took to the air, surprised at the sudden speed increase she had gained.

Darting towards Mordret from the air, gravity slammed her into the floor however it only acted as a launching pad for Revel to continue her attack. Closing the distance, Revel bent low as she slashed at Mordret's legs however her balance was quickly taken from her due to the lack of friction.

Sliding across the floor, Revel slammed into Nephis kneeling body with a thud. Leaving only Cassie and Jet currently mobile. Cassie darted in, her rapier flashing towards Mordret's exposed side. Every movement she made was flawless, calculated from the infinite futures she had foreseen.

Her blade grew closer to Mordret, only mere millimetres away when space twisted. The rapier's tip passed harmlessly through the air as Mordret's body shimmered out of her reach, taking a step to the side, Mordret slammed a punch across her chin sending her barrelling backwards.

To his surprise, Cassie raised a hand to block the blow, minimising the force of the attack as she hissed silently "I've seen this already, but it still hurts so much." Adjusting her stance, Cassie prepared herself for another strike.

Before Cassie could react, he pointed a finger towards her sword arm. Her arm shot forward against her will, dropping her blade and attempting to bend it. Cassie quickly dismissed the blade as it dispersed into sparks as Mordret stared at her curiously.

"Mordret thinks this is magnetic force, there is iron in your blood after all" he exclaimed, his voice was warped and twisted almost as though it wasn't completely his own. Before Cassie could follow up, Mordret slapped his head lightly before shaking it, his smug grin quickly returned onto his face as he beckoned her to charge at him once more.

Jet, who had been observing the fight so far, finally struck. Dissolving into mist, her scythe materialized from thin air as she lunged at Mordret's back. Her intangibility made her impossible to hit as her scythe curved towards his lungs.

An indescribable feeling of pain erupted through Jet's body as she felt herself being dismantled the closer, she became to Mordret. Quickly materialising herself, she found that the pain had disappeared as she shrugged it off and continued her onslaught.

Swinging upwards, Mordret ducked down before levelling a punch to her stomach. Jet blocked the blow and spun her scythe to grab him, then, she pulled herself towards him and levelled a kick at his chin. Space distorted causing her attack to glide aimlessly away from his jaw as Nephis came from behind, her flames streaking through the air in preparation to burn him.

In moments, Nephis was slammed onto the ground, her flames quickly quietened under the immense force of gravity as Cassie used the opportunity to close the distance alongside Revel. Cassie aimed for his flank, however Mordret span quickly and slammed his fist into her jaw causing her to glide backwards.

Revel slammed her dagger downwards however Mordret simply caused her limbs to no longer obey her as she swung her hand harmlessly away from her body. "I've figured it out!" Cassie exclaimed silently, before mentally relaying the rest of her message to her allies.

[It looks like he can manipulate the laws of nature or something along those lines. I'd speculate how but it doesn't matter, but I don't think he can manipulate them all at once. And if he can he's not choosing to, he's holding back.]

None offered a reply as the message rang through their minds, the plan was simple, one that they didn't need to speak to one another to understand. Jet rushed towards Mordret, who waved his hand as space around him distorted, her attack collided with the void and scattered, sending her flying backwards.

In the same moment, Nephis surged forward, her flames roaring like a wildfire as she swung downwards with all her might. Mordret leaned to the side avoiding the blow as air shimmered from the heat, as soon as she made contact with the ground it erupted into molten slag.

Soon enough, the gravity around her increased tremendously, threatening to crush her internal organs. Revel took advantage of the opening, darting in with her dagger. The true darkness around her lashed out like tendrils, aiming to pierce Mordret from every angle.

Eyes widening slightly, Mordret increased the air resistance around him, slowing Revel's attack to a halt before Cassie appeared above him, thrusting her rapier downwards on top of his skull. However, her attack too was stopped in it's tracks.

His usage of air resistance forced him to dismiss his gravity as Nephis flames shot towards him in a concentrated beam. Mordret dodged the ray of light as his shirt got seared by the heat, a look of annoyance filled his face as he slammed grabbed Nephis by the face and slammed her into the ground.

"It doesn't take being a mind reader to tell the strategy you're all using. If you want to take the cowards way out, fine. I'll crush you all with pure strength."