The Saintess and the Villainess

Chapter 76

The Unseen Rain swore under her breath.

Eva launched an attack, jumping forward and punching the air. As she moved, the tendrils of shadow behind her coalesced into the shape of a spear, hovering just above her arm. When her arm was fully extended, the shadow spear launched forward at great speed, directly at Rain.

Rain dodged, but just barely. In fact, if she hadn't reflexively... enhanced her own movements when she jumped away, she would have been hit.

Rain landed heavily on a low tree branch and had to brace herself against the trunk to stop from falling. The tree branch groaned loudly under her weight and Rain hoped it would be able to hold her weight. "Is this your idea of a conversation?" she called down to Eva.

"So you are a true magic user after all," said Eva, looking up at Rain. More shadow tendrils were gathering behind her.

Eva can sense the use of true magic, then, thought Rain. But the cleric hadn't been certain until Rain used magic in front of her. So Eva didn't have the same powers of Sight that Rain had. That possibly gave Rain an advantage, although it didn't make much difference in active combat.

"I use small amounts of true magic, when necessary," admitted Rain. "I'm not reckless, like you are."

"I'm not reckless," said Eva. "I'm just willing to do what it takes."

Eva launched another shadow spear, forcing Rain to jump to another tree further on while Eva followed below.

"Do you not know what true magic is?" asked Rain. "Do you not know what fuels it?"

"I know," said Eva, with a shrug. "I just don't care."

The shadow tendrils around Eva collapsed into a dark pool around her feet. Then the pool suddenly launched upwards, quickly lifting Eva towards Rain's perch. At the same time, a smaller amount of shadow flowed up Eva's side and then down her arm, forming into a curved blade around her hand.

There was no time to dodge. Rain raised her dagger to block the blow from Eva's shadow weapon, but when the two blades clashed, the shadow blade suddenly dissolved. The shadow blade flowed around the physical blade like some form of viscous fluid, and when it had gone all the way through, it solidified again.

Rain shouted as the blade cut deep into her shoulder.

Rain blindly kicked outward. The blow barely landed, but it was enough to send Eva tumbling out of the tree. Before the cleric could recover, Rain jumped away again, trying to increase the distance between them.

Rain had trained her whole life to carefully control various forms of magic. The small amount of divine magic she'd inherited, apparently from some long distant elven ancestor. The true magic she'd awakened to in her childhood. The alchemy she'd learned through careful study. By combining them in the right way, Rain could achieve remarkable effects with little risk.

But how could any level of subtle mastery hope to stand up against sheer, reckless power?

"Get back here!" Eva shouted from the ground, launching another shadow spear. It nicked Rain's ear, drawing blood, as Rain fled further into the forest.

Rain had sensed something like this in Eva the first time they met, which is why she had quickly retreated every time Eva had arrived on the scene. It wasn't that Rain understood right away exactly what Eva was capable of, it was more that she could tell Eva was capable of something. And whatever that was, it was bound to be both terrifying and unpredictable.

It was Eva's aura that gave it away.

In Rain's experience, every person had two auras. Their body aura, which manifested as a faintly glowing outline around a person's body; and their soul aura, which manifested as a similar glow on a person's chest, around where their heart would be.