Noctem

"Ha!.. hah..."

Nox gasped for breath whilst struggling to stand upright within the cliff side of the raging waterfall, he had several cuts on his robe as well as his body.

The current of the waterfall had increased tremendously due to the exponential increase of the rainstorm, the water swayed back and front, splashing and thrashing against the rocks within the water as well as the two figures clashing above.

Nox had abandoned his use of the nodachi and had opted for a tachi instead, whilst the fragment of Aries had gone for a longsword but even he wasn't without cuts and severe wounds.

The rainstorm raged on, its roaring chatters drowned out any sound made and its relentless onslaught of numerous droplets served to obscure their vision, slippery rocks threatened to restrict their movements and crashing waters occasionally tried to throw them off balance, still they didn't seem to mind that, they were only focused on trying to kill each other without fail while enjoying their duel.

The shadow lunged forward, swinging his longsword in a horizontal arc as he moved towards his opponent.

Nox remained motionless for a few seconds, his gaze was fixated upon the sharp steel of the longsword the shadow wielded.

If they were any spectators then some might have been thinking, 'He was petrified because he could smell death approaching or ' he's at his limits' something along those lines, but for Nox it was completely different, he was analyzing the trajectory of the attack and was figuring out how best to avoid it.

'Jumping upward to avoid his attack would be suicide, Aeriel attacks might have worked if he wasn't extremely skilled at combat and going any lower than this would leave me vulnerable, That's what he wants.. Hmm, how bothersome.' Nox thought.

'Well then, if that's the case then surely he won't be expecting this.'

Gripping the hilt of the tachi— which had a network of cracks across its blade, Nox swung the weapon with enough force to shatter it upon contact with the shadow's longsword.

The broken shards of the tachi were sent flying in random directions but most of them were directed towards the advancing shadow.

Seeing the unexpected attack, the shadow entity raised a hand to shield his face as it was too late to take a step backwards, within that short moment he took to stop the broken shards of the tachi, Nox swung into action, closing the distance by using the shards to obscure the shadow's vision before attacking.

The fragment of Aries felt a stinging pain across his chest then several more followed consecutively. Nox precisely aimed for the shadow's vitals, cutting him repeatedly in quick succession.

The shadow entity took a few steps back then proceeded to look at his bleeding torso, for a second there was no change in his expression, not even a slight hint of pain was registered on his face.

He stared at Nox and a sinister smile graced his pale face.

"I wasn't expecting you to abandon your tachi for daggers but I must say you've done marvelously well, countering my attack like that and you even managed to make me lower my guard, your growth and battle senses are top notch."

Nox gazed at the shadow with cold indifference from beneath the curtain of hair that obscured his face.

"A weapon that's outlived its purpose is of no use to me, beside..."

He lingered for a few seconds, twirling the dual daggers— which he had retrieved from his robes, within his hands then smiled subtly, which made him look more dangerous than he already was.

"The daggers suits much better than a sword, don't you agree?."

The shadow entity merely chuckled before releasing a palpable murderous intent which elicited a shudder from Nox.

"Tenebrous child, do you recall the first shadow art I taught you?." The shadow asked, to which Nox straightened his stance, then replied with a firm nod.

The fragment of Aries gave a satisfactory smile at Nox's gesture.

"Good! Now, Nox... The phantom steps I taught you back then isn't just an arte made to make your steps soundless or training your body into becoming flexible to accept the flow at which the terrain moves precisely as the first step suggested, neither is it about making oneself as formless as possible like the second step hints at, nor is it about shadow walking as the third step implies."

He took gentle strolls forward without meeting much resistance from the raging water as he spoke. The shadows within that vicinity moved as though they were alive, wrapping and coiling around him like a serpent before dissolving into shadowy motes that swirled around him like an aura.

"Look closely Nox Ráu Vlad, this is the true battle art of the shadow god, one he personally invented himself."

As soon as those words left his lips, he swung his longsword effortlessly and a trail of shadows rushed forward towards Nox in a destructive arc.

Nox spun sideways, narrowly avoiding the shadow's attack. There was no change in Nox's expression even as he barely got away from the attack, safe for the slight twitch of his brow which could barely be seen through the curtain of his damp silver hair.

'Damn it!'

Feeling the subtle shift in the air, Nox instinctively raised his dagger which was met with the longsword of the shadow entity, his hands trembling from the collision of their weapons and the attack forced him to take a few steps back.

His eyes and that of the shadow entity met and for a brief second the shadow was momentarily stunned, Nox's eyes which were framed by long lashes had lost its emerald pigments instead it was replaced by a glowing crimson with narrow predatory slits.

'His eyes changed? Did the feeling of getting cornered perhaps trigger his vampire genes or was it my bloodlust?.' the fragment of Aries couldn't help but wonder but what mattered to him wasn't the reason for the child's awakening; instead, it was the thrill of fighting a cursed race.

Vampires were strong, fast and incredibly powerful, their physiques were almost superior to most of the races in existence, some of them even possessed deadly blood arts and extreme regenerative abilities, some were even said to have strange powers beyond mortal comprehension.

'If he was that deadly without using his genes then how strong will he get now that it has been subconsciously awakened?'

While the shadow entity was entertaining these thoughts, Nox had already begun a new set of attacks without being aware of the fact that he was subconsciously using his vampiric genes.

The fragment of Aries created several tendrils of shadows to attack Nox but the speed the child wielded currently was nothing to scoff at, he dodged them all without much difficulty before parrying a strike from his opponent with both daggers.

Their weapons clashed creating countless ripples across the heavy current of the water below, for each strike the shadow made, Nox would parry with that same set of moves to counter.

Observing that his attacks were not doing much damage, the shadow entity leapt back then began creating a sphere of shadow and at the same time, Nox had shot forward, propelling his body towards the fragment of Aries with inhumane speed, he left blurry afterimages as he closed the distance between him and his opponent.

Gripping the daggers tightly, he readied himself mid air aiming for the torso area of the shadow, which he had once delivered some gruesome cuts there before.

A subtle glint reflected in Nox's cold eyes as he whispered.

"Zlockt's swordsmanship, Third form! swirling blades."