Silhouette

James jumped from wall to wall to avoid the biting jaws of the abomination chasing him, its absurdly long neck still bent over its back to let the beast's head be placed roughly above its tail while it ran backward, the labyrinthine hallway being too small for it to turn properly - at least not without wasting precious time James could use to get away. James wasn't just mindlessly fleeing, he made to peek in on every door he passed and threw as many shadow bolts at the skinless thing following him as he could without risking hitting any of the stone pillars on the fourth floor, each one of them being covered in runes that could result in a massive explosion that would destroy the building if damaged, but each time the black energy just harmlessly bounced off the beast's muscles, fangs, or claws.

Of course, the mad run wasn't complete without the haunting sounds escaping from the depths of the creature's body, roughly where all of those eyes and mouths and holes were placed on its red fleshy frame. The beast screamed a horrid noise that reminded James of a howling wolf and the cries of the ghosts of the children and nuns when he first reached the basement of Mother Greenheld's orphanage, and the bladed tentacle of darkness James had formed to catch the thing by surprise slid harmlessly over its flesh, his shadowy constitution collapsing into an amorphous blob as soon as he tried to hit one of the legs.

James extended his body to try and trap the creature, forming dozens of appendages to hold it down while it was still running, hoping to at least unbalance it and make it fall and hit a wall, but the beast just ran through the trap, the shadows sliding off as its claws and teeth tore through as much of James' body as it could before he coalesced back into a smaller form that would be faster and harder to catch.

So, it's immune to magic AND my body can't keep its solidity while interacting with it... I can't just throw a spell at it or bind it with tentacles, and infusion won't work without a successful attack or prolonged contact, so what else can I do?

It wasn't the first time he had to deal with someone who could handle his shadow abilities, but nothing had been totally immune before. Even Sydakors the demon had been partially corrupted by his attack, even if in the end it turned out affecting a demon's body in such a way was useless and he had to hit the soul directly to end the fight. Sadly for James, Runar's surprise horror pet didn't have such an exposed weakness as even its disproportionately large gullet which he had attacked when its maw was opened had been able to shrug off his attacks. At this point, his best bet would be to tear off parts of the walls and throw them at the thing in hopes that damage would be enough or one of the runes on them would have some sort of reaction with the creature's own, or wait for the others to join him to gun down the thing with regular bullets, and even then James wasn't sure mundane weaponry would be enough to take it down.

Just as this thought crossed his mind, James' senses finally reached the end of the hallway, a relatively large room with no door which would have been empty were it not for the circle of white runes on the floor that a knight taller than any other he had ever seen so far was carefully finishing, his large metal-clad fingers carefully holding a simple paintbrush and delicately applying white paint filled with sparkly particles on one spot of the circle, covering a red mark on the floor that must have been a must draft or indicator with the last rune. He inspected his work before rising to his feet right as James and the beast following him entered the room, and while James went around to avoid both the knight and the runes on the floor, the beast made use of the larger space to finally turn around and finally have its body facing its prey once more, its head never letting the fleeting shadow escape its sight, yet it didn't continue to pursue and leap at him and instead waited by the doorway.

The knight observed the situation before taking out his sword from its place at his waist and his shield from his back, he too never once took his eyes off James as the runes of his armor began to glow green. The magic and the man's confidence seemed to indicate he was one of the Runarian knights, the only one James knew of but hadn't seen so far, Karadok. Still, aside from his size and the glow of power, there was nothing noteworthy about the man. His sword, shield, and even his armor were incredibly similar to those used by the regular knights, perhaps the metal was a little shinier than usual, whereas every other member of Runar's elite group had some kind of unique style to them. James' musings about the man's simpleness were interrupted by his deep voice echoing out of his helmet.

"I take it you are Silhouette. Surrender now, and your men may be spared."

A plan was quickly forming in James' head, and so he chose to play along. He rose from the shadow he had become on the ground and took on his usual Silhouette guise, an oval head framed by two wide spiky shoulders that thinned down to form a roughly humanoid torso that kept on shrinking until it merged with the ground in a point from which shadows and tentacles formed.

"And I take it you are Karadok. Though I must say I am unfamiliar with the beast at your side."

The knight nodded but didn't move his head, keeping his gaze locked on James.

"Glapissant is a new development, one you are responsible for. The Patcher specifically tailored it to hunt you down, and master Runar improved it even further."

James may not have been a local, but he had lived here long enough and dealt with enough people who'd been here all their lives to recognize the name that left Karadok's lips.

"I may not appreciate Runar and his methods, but I thought he at least had the decency not to work with such a man."

"A sword is a sword, no matter its origin. So long as it is functional and under its master's control, then it is a good sword."

He lightly shifted his grip on the handle of his weapon and the green glow emanating from the inscriptions on the blade grew even brighter.

"I suppose that circle you were working on was for me?"

"Indeed. It is a runic cell, meant to keep you quarantined until you become loyal. It will only work on you, so do not attempt to trap me or the beast."

James nodded.

"I expected as much. Though I doubt telling me about it was a wise choice."

"Under the circumstances, there was no way for me to hide it, and its purpose was obvious. All I did was tell you that you had no way to turn it against us, and therefore you have no hope of victory. Enter it yourself, and your punishment will be light, and your men will be spared."

"I think you are mistaken. My men are performing well, and very soon they will all join us here. I doubt Glapissant and you, as strong as you are, can take out a well-equipped assault group. My shopkeepers beat your raid last time, what do you think my fighters will do?"

"If you are so certain of their abilities, then you will not mind entering the cell. They can break you out when they arrive after all."

The abomination appeared to grow impatient at the back and forth, the cacophony of misery escaping from its entrails - and now that he knew of the creature's origins, James had no doubt this was exactly what it was - grew louder and louder as its head began to snarl and growl, the noise echoing oddly in its malformed mouth.

"Glapissant, down. Silhouette, just get in the cell."

Two of James' tentacles grew longer than the rest until their suddenly bladed tips were roughly level with Karadok's sword.

"I'm afraid it won't be this easy."

The orc in shining armor grunted.

"So be it."

Karadok stepped forward, paying no mind as his metal boot covered one of the runes, and, much to James' displeasure, nothing happened. As the knight had said, it appeared the circle wouldn't react to Runar's forces. James' tentacles bent and struck at the orc who raised his shield to block them both before cleaving in twain a third tentacle that had emerged from the wall next to him, though James had taken not to let the appendage go above the circle. He didn't know the rules behind the magical trap, and he'd rather not find out by experience. Glapissant for its part howled its chilling chimeric scream once more before leaping at James right as most of his body turned to shadows, he kept on slithering and spreading in all directions to avoid the creature's bending claws and its mad bites while still maintaining nodes around Karadok for more tentacles to emerge to keep harassing the knight. The man wielding metal powered by a green magical glow fought very differently than Pierce Evil, the confident golden knight's way of fighting was a dance of blades, equal parts performance, and killing technique, and was all about speed, Karadok on the other hand involved mowing as little as possible to maximize the effects of each movement, every step bringing along a shift in weight and an occasion to swing his blade and take down more foes.

When James unleashed his first volley of shadow bolts, he wasn't surprised to see the man easily handle the attack, though the way he did so surprised him: rather than block it with his shield or let it bounce off his armor, he used the guard of his sword to block the bolts, each movement to catch one more attack being one more opportunity for his blade to turn and slash at shadowy flesh with ease. Still, the fact he bothered to block the shadow bolts reassured James that he didn't have the same kind of immunity that Glapissant did, which meant his main plan could still work.

All he had to do now was beat Runar's right-hand man while avoiding the abomination he couldn't hurt and the massive magical trap in the middle of the room.

Techlord stared down his opponent, waiting for Medraw's next move. The assassin had proven herself too slippery for him to catch, but he knew something was going on with the daggers she threw, and he was confident this mystery would be the key to taking her down before reinforcements would come. Not that he was worried about Runar's goons, but rather he was quite sure the Shadow Commando would just end up becoming a bunch of hostages. His inventions may have helped them go beyond their previous abilities, but they weren't quite at the level of dealing with a professional like the woman in leather armor standing on the wall before him.

Speaking of, Medraw jumped from her perch with her shortsword raised and ready to slash, and as his thrusters turned on to evade and counter the attack another dagger fell from her sleeve to her hand. His right hand sparkling with electricity caught the larger of the two blades and he managed to angle his body in time for the smaller one to harmlessly slide off one of the metal plates of his suit, but despite it, a sharp sting still suddenly flared from his side and then looked down after kicking the woman away he was surprised to see a small gash from which dripped blood, away from where either of the assassin's weapons should have hit, and when he looked back to her both of her blades were clean as she got into a stance, ready to fight him off if he tried to engage.

If neither her dagger nor sword cut him, what did? The fact only her sword had glowing runes, then the disappearing daggers, now this... Sam suddenly thought back to his childhood in the Junkland, the massive junkyard that spanned multiple streets to the south of the Black Border. He had grown up in the mountains of abandoned rusting metal and questionable chemical puddles, and through the years he had encountered countless monsters, creatures free to fester away from the Black Bank's occasional purges, and right now, one of these creatures was on the forefront of his mind as he pieced together the oddities around Medraw.

And a smug grin spread across his lips as he knew he had her, hidden behind the black glass of his visor. He pressed a button on the side of his helmet before he began to speak.

"You know, I'm not actually from here. I was born in the Junkland."

He could see the way she narrowed her eyes between the sheets of leather that formed her helmet, and since she didn't seem inclined to answer, he continued.

"Nasty place, that. I loved the materials, it let me experiment with tons of stuff, but gathering them was always a nightmare. One time I found that great laser casing, and I was overjoyed. I mean-"

She leaped at him with her blades raised once more and this time rather than try to block he let his thrusters push him to the side.

"-Can you imagine? Me, a kid, getting his hands on Super stuff like that? I was already imagining making a growth ray to turn the small mushroom near my home into giant fungal sources of food and biofuel. But when I approached the thing-"

Another attack, and this time when he went to the side she followed and her blades twirled in her hands to aim at completely different spots, he used the blade going out from his forearm to catch and deflect the shortsword while trying to catch the arm wielding the dagger, when she saw this she backed off before he could make contact.

"-There was something weird going. Whenever I tried to approach the thing it was slightly to the side, or a little higher than I thought. I got annoyed and threw a random piece of scrap at it, and when it hit, there was an odd splat and a screech and then poof-"

Once more metal met metal.

"The casing was suddenly squirming, and on top of it there was a weird rainbow cockroach wiggling its legs."

She attacked him once more, and this time he caught both of her arms with his gauntlets. As he expected another wound suddenly appeared on his body, but instead of kicking her away he pulled her toward him, and though the teen genius was smaller than the assassin his armor gave him more than enough strength to do so. He shifted the position of his arms to trap hers against her sides as he bearhugged her, more cuts appeared out of nowhere on his lower body as he held her close before he headbutted her, the black glass of his visor smashing loudly against her forehead, the shock releasing a small spurt of a dark liquid that splashed against his helmet. He did it again, and again, and again, and again and again all the while Medraw's body shivered and flashed in and out of existence, replaced by a black mass on and off, until cuts ceased appearing on his sides and he let her go, the assassin clad in leather armor falling to the ground where it finally revealed its true form. Gone was the woman, replaced by an insectile humanoid creature with a similar frame wearing brown leather over its dark red chitin, a smaller pair of arms ending in sharp claws revealing itself beneath the pair holding her sword and her dagger, and top of her head, above the vacant compound eyes and the cracked forehead leaking dark hemolymph, was a pair of lengthy antennae, each of the two appendages' segments looking closer to a razor than a sensory organ.

Techlord looked down at her armor, the red glow of its runes fading away now that she was unconscious.

"I'm no expert in magic, but I can guess those are illusory runes. Someone had a body complex."

He couldn't tell if she was dead or not, but out of precaution, he knelt down to remove some parts of her armor, just in case she woke up so that her disguise wouldn't work.

Well, he wasn't sure which of the things she did were thanks to her runes and thanks to her innate abilities, but in any case, disarming her would make her easier to deal with if she turned out to be alive and tried to attack them or escape later.

As he was removing strips of leather from the featureless chitin, the stomping on feet going up the stairwell caught his attention. He turned around and saw the Shadow Commando climbing up and, though he couldn't see their faces, he could feel the smugness radiating off of them as they caught up to him, though he did notice two of them were unconscious and being bridal carried by others, and another pair was carrying a large black bag with them. One of the awake ones stepped forward and did a small salute.

"Shadow Commando reporting, Techlord! The second floor has been secured with no casualties on our side, though two of us were knocked out while apprehending a Runarian Knight."

He looked at them silently for a few seconds.

"Come again?"

The lead fighter made a sign to the two carrying the bag and they stepped forward to drop it in front of Techlord before one of them opened it to reveal a man in an eye-catching runic chainmail armor tied up with black ropes and cables.

It took a few seconds for the inventor to process the sight before he decided that knowing how they did it could wait until later, whereas shouting at his technical subordinates was an emergency.

"YOU IDIOTS! Why didn't you take off his armor?!"

The lead member of the Commando facepalmed.

"Right, I knew we forgot something."

The teen genius groaned before gesturing at them.

"Come on, we'll do it together. You can help me finish the other one too. It was an impressive fight, you know? Her illusory runes hid her insectile nature to instead make her appear like a human woman, but of course, I saw through the trick."

"How did knowing she wasn't human help you? Did you use bug spray?"

He was about to retort to the stupid remark when he realized that figuring out her secret hadn't mattered one bit in her defeat and that his headbutting would have been just effective on anyone without a proper protective helmet.

"Uh..."

"That must have been hard, with all the guys on the third floor."

Right, he was still in the stairwell, and there was still a floor full of armed thugs to take care of. Thugs who may have been alerted by his scream.

"Oh."

"Also, where's the bug woman?"

He turned around to see the strips of leather covered in runes he had removed still laying randomly on the ground where he had thrown them, but the downed Runarian Knight had taken down that was supposed to be in the middle of the mess had disappeared.

"Oooh."