Three Worlds Collide

Chapter 19:Beyond Human

As you guys remember, Teardrop saw what Stephan had been talking about. And he apparently thought it was necessary to do something about it. So with a quick jab of air, here we are. From Stephan's perspective, we'll wake up. He has no idea what happened as he slowly opened his eyes, gazing up at the darkened sky. As he slowly sat up, he put his hand on his head and looked around to see everyone staring at something in front of him. So he looked and saw the shadowy figure sitting on the ground right in front of him. Stephan attempted to get up, but he was much too weak after Teardrop's attack to make any progress. The figure, however, teleported to its feet upon Stephan's failure to do so. The figure immediately made a fist, knocking Stephan into the crowd. It teleported directly to him to do the same thing, but instead of knocking him farther into the crowd, it knocked him back to the other fighters. Stephan was able to make his way to his feet this time, but barely. The figure attempted to knock him down, but Teardrop appeared between them before it got the chance.

Teardrop:I see you two have been acquainted with each other.

Stephan:*huff*You call that*huff*acquainting?

Teardrop:Something of the sort.

Hannah:Okay, so what is going on?

Teardrop:Humans, demons, and angels alike, this is known as a Shade.

MaKayla:What's a Shade?

Riaaz:Could it be some kind of Omen of Death?

MaKayla:In this world where we fight on incomprehensible scales? It may just be me, but the shadowman over there doesn't exactly remind me of an Omen of Death.

Teardrop:You'd be surprised. Shades aren't exactly a sign of oncoming death. Instead, they show unnatural amounts of evil in the heart and soul of kind-hearted people. 

Lostit:So you're suggesting that Stephan has evil in his heart?

Teardrop:Not at all.

Luna:Then wha-

Teardrop:I'm telling you.

Hannah:So what do we do about it?

Teardrop:The straightforward answer is nothing. Shades don't go away until they're ready, and from what I've seen in my eons of existence, they never do.

Stephan:So I'm stuck with that thing?

Teardrop:Any of the Elders or the few beings that are on par with us could get rid of it if they wanted to, but the chances of that are lower than the chances of the Shade leaving on its own. You'd be better off continuing your little tournament.

Hannah:With all due respect, you don't actually expect me to fight him while he's like this, right?

Teardrop:Why not? It would be the perfect opportunity to take specifically because of his weakness. Or do you humans actually have some kind of honor now?

Chaos:I believe these humans in particular have a thing for each other.

Teardrop:Oh?

Stephan:Yeah.

Teardrop:Out of curiosity, female human, what did you humans think of me at first glance?(He looked at Hannah with a blank stare.)

Hannah:(She looked up at Teardrop and stepped back a bit.)If we're being honest, I should've eaten my vegetables.

Teardrop:So you two are In Sync. Do you think you two could leave a significant mark on me if you were to attack me with all you have?

Hannah:Not really...

Teardrop:Well too bad, do it anyway.

With that, Teardrop stood by patiently as Hannah began to help Stephan charge a purple and black plasma orb for them to fire at Teardrop. Dream stood dormant next to Teardrop as everyone, including the fighters, looked on with curious eyes as the orb eventually reached the size of a beachball before Hannah and Stephan aimed it at Teardrop. The audience moved to avoid the blast as the orb became unstable and began to violently lash out. A few moments passed before a dark purple beam that was about ten feet wide and tall erupted from the orb in the direction of Teardrop and Dream. The beam completely engulfed both of the Elders as if it meant to hide them. Something like twenty seconds went by before the beam started shrinking, and another ten passed before it was completely gone. There was a long canyon-like crater that stretched  for what seemed like forever due to the smoke that was present. There was also a moment of silence that also seemingly lasted forever as everyone waited to see the result of Hannah and Stephan's work. Finally, however, the silence was broken by the very faint sound of someone patting cloth as if they were attempting to dust their clothes off. This, of course, turned out to be Teardrop, whose silhouette became more and more visible next to Dream's still silhouette. Stephan got down on a knee as he was exhausted and could barely stay conscious anymore. Once the smoke cleared completely, Teardrop was clearly seen again as he was dusting his jacket off with an annoyed expression on his face.