Dang Convergence Vol. 1

Chapter Twenty-one The Darksent, Part 3

Chapter Twenty-one

The Darksent, Part 3

"SLIPSTREAM DANCE!"

The wind vortex trapped Arkanis within it, sending him spiraling around uncontrollably, which was exactly what Megan wanted. She slipped into the vortex itself, landed a powerful blow and before Arkanis could retaliate, she'd slipped back into the vortex that had surrounded him.

Megan emerged again just a moment later, delivered two swift crushing blows and then remerged with the vortex just as Arkanis sent forth another shadow slash. She continued to do this, slipping in and out, delivering blows quicker than Arkanis could react to. After all, it was impossible to catch wind.

Each blow did considerable damage, with the monster already bleeding purple out of his nose. But she timed her next hit wrong. She emerged from the vortex to strike and knew at once that she'd gotten it wrong when Arkanis regarded her, his eyes glowing brighter in that moment.

Her eyes widened and breath stilled; time seemed to slow to a crawl. She saw the shadow move, and attempted to shield herself with the wind. It wasn't enough. She felt the sting of the slash as it cut across her, the impact sending her flying through the air; her blood trailing behind her as she flew.

She plummeted toward the ground, eyes struggling to remain open. However, a few feet before she hit the ground, she generated a strong enough gust of wind to break their fall and landed gently on both feet.

Megan stared at her hands – which were covered in grazed abrasions. [A1] [A2] [A3] Their last-ditch effort to shield themself with the wind must have negated much of the slash's power because it should have been more than strong enough to cut straight through them.

She felt some relief, genuine relief at having survived that. Once she'd caught her breath and regained her composure, she sent herself flying through the air, right back at Arkanis.

This time, they were joined by Daniel who propelled himself alongside her. He glanced sideways at them and took note of their wounds.

"This guy's starting to irritate me," he muttered. "What the hell even is he?"

"I don't know but he's been dealing with our attacks pretty well," Megan responded. "But he's not invincible though," they pointed out. "He's bleeding. I think Dang and Dante did significant damage before we got here. We just have to finish it somehow."

"Any ideas?"

"We need to hit him at the same time," Megan answered. "With our strongest attacks. We need to maximize the damage each attack does before he can fire off one of his shadow slashes. I think his power has a delay."

"A delay?" Daniel queried. "What do you mean?"

"What's stopping him from just slicing us in half right now?" they asked, getting closer and closer to Arkanis. "I think he has to wait every time he uses a shadow slash, he needs to charge up the next slash. It's like a cooldown mechanism from a game. He launches a slash, takes a few hits, launches another. When he's not using the slash, he's fighting with the shadow constructs but those are harder to deal with."

"So that's it then," Daniel smiled, his eyes lighting up. "We just need to time it, figure out how long the interval is. How long does he need to charge up a slash before it's strong enough to cut us? If we can figure that out–,"

"We can avoid the slashes," Megan continued. "And we can deal the most damage during his cooldown."

"It's just like playing a video game," Daniel grinned. "You ready?"