Chapter 241: Shadow vs Hardening

If there was a place where Erin would’ve wanted to let out some steam, it would’ve been the training center, or the gyms. At least, that was what Layla thought.

When searching for her, Layla found that she couldn’t sense Erin anywhere near those two buildings.

"If anything, she seemed to be more around the boy’s dorms. Is she at Logan’s place?" She wondered.

She could go visit him, as training her shadow would prove to be useful once she was a higher level. So far, she felt like she had the same exact MC she had when she was a level 2 telekinesis user, so it was safe to assume she was a level 2 shadow user.

Once she arrived at the boy’s dorm, she headed up the staircase and knocked on Logan’s door. It opened automatically, and she peeked inside.

Logan turned around from his chair, and pointed in a direction, "The gaming pod machine is over there."

"No, that isn’t—" Layla cleared her throat, "I was looking for Erin, actually."

"Hmm, well she hasn’t been here all day," Logan said as he returned to the computer, "I was expecting her to return as we need to get another set of armor fitted to her."

"Oh, huh," Layla whispered, then took a seat, "I sense her nearby, so she’s probably on her way here. You won’t mind if I wait here, right? I kinda need to talk to her about something."

Logan shook his head, "So long as you don’t distract me."

—

Erin was in her full white armor, blood sword in hand, and staring Luke down.

Although what Luke had done creeped her out, she wasn’t going to back down.

She charged, blood sword aimed at his shoulder, Luke’s body encased in silver, and formed a shield. A loud, audible clang of metal against metal could be heard in the neighboring dorm rooms.

With his other hand, he flung silvery chains around her ankle, and tugged, but she kept her ground.

Erin threw a blood swipe, pushing back into Luke’s shield, which then formed into spikes with the width of a cup. They jutted out and pierced her in 5 parts of her body.

[- 15 HP]

[HP 80/95]

Erin jumped back, and activated blood bank around her wounds before Luke could see. They healed up, ensuring that no further bleeding would occur.

Luke got up, and laughed, "I didn’t think I’d be into a girl who fights back but... This is exhilarating!"

Spikes jutted out of his shoulder, and shot at Erin. Before they could, Erin raised a wall of shadow, and flash stepped up to him.

[MC 84/100]

She thrust her sword into his chest, but instead of receiving a boost in agility, her blade bounced off. The entirety of Luke’s body was now covered in the silvery material, a major problem for Erin.

Her weapons relied on piercing flesh. As a result, Erin had to resort to other methods of dealing damage.

Staring deep into his eyes, Erin’s eyes glowed red.

[Daze activated]

[Daze failed]

Taking advantage of the moment, Luke grappled Erin by the shoulders. Encasing her arms in metal, he slammed her onto the ground, and raised a spiked fist aimed for her head.

His arm got caught in another wall of shadow, and he scoffed, "I don’t know what kind of tricks you have, but you WILL be mine."

Spit sprayed on Erin’s face, and she nearly gagged. Having her arms encased severely limited her options, so she kicked instead right where his nether regions were.

"It’s fitting that I have the ability that I do," Luke smirking as if he wasn’t hit, "After all, that’s how I feel when I’m around you."

Luke was right over Erin, their faces so close to one another. Trying again, Erin’s eyes glowed red.

[Daze activated]

[Daze successful]

His eyes glossed over, and thinking quickly, Erin tried to break out of the metal casings. Unfortunately, they were too strong, so she had to do something else.

Using dimensional storage, a bloodied shirt appeared from the shadows of Luke’s face, obscuring his vision.

This shirt was the clothing that Layla wore when she killed and ate a person after leaving the gaming pods. It was evidence Erin kept in her storage precisely because she had no safe way to dispose of it, so she was glad it came in handy now.

The daze wore off, and Luke took back the silver around Erin’s arms to rip away the shirt. But by then, Erin raised her hand, and placed it onto his chest.

"Blood spray!"

A shotgun blast of blood escaped from her fingers, sending him crashing back into the kitchen counter, destroying it.

Erin got back onto her feet, and listened for a heart beat. She wanted to defeat Luke, and although she wouldn’t mind if he died, getting accused of killing someone wasn’t going to help.

Sounds of the destroyed marble counter shuffled, and Luke formed a silver pillar on his back, pushing himself onto his feet. Erin could see that his uniform top was obliterated, revealing even more silvery skin, but also a set of cracks where blood spray hit.

’If I destroy his silver skin, then that’ll be how I can get blood on my sword.’

Unfortunately, Erin wasn’t the only one to realize something about the other’s ability. Luke chuckled and spread his arms wide.

All around Erin, a large silver ring formed. Little protrusions appeared within the circle for a second, then thrust outwards, aiming to impale Erin.

There was enough of a pause that allowed Erin to easily react in time, creating a cylinder of shadow to block all of the blows. Still, with such a massive attack, it costed her a lot of MC.

[MC 23/100]

’That used up too much MC, I have to retract my shadow to conserve it.’

She jumped out of the shadow walls, and flash stepped again, aiming her free arm for another blood spray. Unfortunately, Luke had seen this a mile away, and raised another silvery shield, tanking the blow.

His feet slid against the ground, but he held strong. Then he formed a pair of blades with his arms, and swiped at Erin.

She redirected one blade with her sword, and used her shadow to block the second attack.

[MC 11/100]

Not letting her breathe, Luke thrust his chest, and a massive spike pierced the air. Narrowly, Erin managed to catch it in shadow, but a harrowing system message appeared.

[You have run out of MC!]

Luke raised his sword arms high, then slashed down, and Erin had to use her sword to block. He was strong, matching her strength, and she grit her teeth, trying to push back.

"Aww... What’s wrong Erin? Run out of MC already?" Luke taunted.

’Damn it, this is looking bad. How did he know to make me use up my ability?’

Although it was purely speculation on his part, Luke had a theory that Erin’s ability might’ve been weakened from whatever made her go from ice to her current power. It didn’t matter if he was right or not, as it worked out for him anyways.

"Now... The real fun begins," Luke grinned.