Chapter 458 Shades Of Vengeance

"SHAD— ARGH!" Shadowy energy erupted out of the watch tower that head blew their horn. In an instant, the shadowy energy exploded the roof, crashing straight down and taking the entire tower with it.

"By the gods! There's Shades amongst them?!?" Chima cursed under his breath as he threw an arm out in front of Lily. "All thirds and below, retreat! Get inside and use protection spells to protect the villagers!"

"Wh-what?!?" Three soldiers looked at Chima.

"You three are too unexperienced to deal with Shades! Get inside now! Fourths and above! Some of you divert to protect the Villagers! That's an order!" Chima shouted.

"Yes, Healer!" The soldiers shouted. The groups began to split, pulling back as Chima looked at Lily.

"That means you, little one. Let's get to your Mother and protect her. The Shades are too dangerous for you." Chima motioned.

"But—"

"No, buts, little one. Now's not the time to play."

Screams erupted in front of them as shadow energy slammed down. Lily and Chima turned to look and watched as a huge gray-skinned hobgoblin rose from smoke. Bright and Winn appeared fifteen feet away from the Shade hobgoblin, smiling.

"It's been awhile since I've seen one this big." Bright smiled. "Should we entertain it?"

"You know we're at a disadvantage! We can't deal with single target enemies with each other!" Winn barked at his twin brother.

"So it's one on one then?" Bright asked, looking at Winn as the large Hobgoblin raised its two-handed axe and swung downwards. A large ripple of shadow energy flew out of it forcing the twins to jump in opposite directions.

"You fools!" Chima shouted, raising his hand. A large shield appeared as the shadowy energy slammed against it. Chima gritted his teeth as he shoved the energy back at the Shade. "Bright! Winn! Watch yourselves! You're gonna get your allies killed!"

"Sorry, old man!" Winn shouted, landing. "I'll handle it! Bright, assist Lily and Chima to Mom!"

"Ugh, why're you always ordering me around?" Bright twirled his blades.

"Cause I'm older." Winn retorted.

"By three minutes!" Bright blocked the shadowy energy and redirected it upwards. He quickly slashed at some goblins and made a run for Lily and Chima. "Don't let me see your possessed body anywhere! You'll die!"

"Yea, yea." Winn lifted his claws up. "I'm not that stupid." The Shade Hobgoblin rushed for Bright as Winn dashed to intercept it. The hobgoblin raised its two-handed axe and swung straight for Winn. Shadows wrapped around the axe head as it slammed straight down for Winn.

"Let's go!" Bright shouted. Chima pulled Lily away as she looked at the smoke.

"But—" Lily began to shout when the familiar noise of metal spinning in the air caught her attention.

'It's Winn's claw… When did he…?' Lily began to ask herself when Winn flashed at the spot, reconnecting his weapon to his wrist.

"ARGH!" Winn groaned landing on the ground. The Shade Hobgoblin pulled the axe out, shadows arcing in every direction as it swiped the smoke away. It shrieked in anger when it noticed it's enemy wasn't dead. "It's gonna take more than that to get me, Shade!" Winn's energy shimmered. Winn rushed forward, sound exploding behind him as his claws lit up.

"Screaming Frenzy!" Winn's claws shrieked as the Shade Hobgoblin sent his axe down onto Winn. The sound rippled out of his first claw strike aimed at the axe, exploding in front of him as he moved forward and slashed the second attack across the Shade Hobgoblin's leg. The leg exploded in an instant, forcing the hobgoblin to topple over as blood gushed out of its open wound.

"Inside, little one!" Chima pushed Lily to the front as Bright opened the door to the home.

"Mom, stay inside!" Bright instructed.

"Hurry!" Mother Wang grabbed onto Lily.

"Will he be okay?" Lily asked taking one last look at Winn.

"He'll be fine!" Bright replied, grabbing the door. "Protect, Mom, got it?"

"What about Philip and the injured?" Lily asked. "What if they get to them?"

"I'll make my way over there and protect the injured." Chima replied. "Remember what I taught you, little one. Protect you and your mother while the others are fighting. You can do that right? Goblins and hobgoblins should be nothing for you."

"I-I…" Lily stuttered.

"No time. You can do it, alright?" Bright gave her a knowing look as he shut the door.

"Bright! Teacher!" Lily moved and tried to open the door as Mother Wang pulled her daughter away.

"Come, Lily. Let's get to safety first. Who knows when they'll come." Mother Wang spoke calmly. Mother Wang seen her share of nasty monsters invading their Village. Those who could fight would fight and protect while those who couldn't, would hide. She was used to the chaos. She led her daughter over to the kitchen and pulled the rug off, revealing a trap door. Mother Wang opened the trap door and looked at her daughter. "In we go."

"Will they be fine?" Lily asked, worried.

"They'll be fine. They've dealt with this plenty of times before." Mother Wang reassured her daughter. "You're our children, there's no way your brothers or your father would not take this seriously. Inside, dear." Lily climbed down thee ladder, watching her mother slowly grow farther and farther away. When Lily was far enough, Mother Wang made her way down.

It had been two or three years since Lily had been down here. Her Father was usually around when hordes came, so he easily fought off and protected everyone. Lily moved her ukulele off to the side as it glowed a pink light. It lit up the rough dug out. The underground room had a wooden door at the end that was locked. It shimmered with Fan'r's pink and green energy.

'It's still magically locked after all these years.' Lily thought. Mother Wang slowly descended onto the ground and looked at her daughter before looking around. The place hadn't changed much. All of the furnishings and items were slowly put down here over time. Mother Wang knew this was a shelter in case things did go south and they had to hide.

"Thankfully your Dad and I swap out all of the preserved food down here. Never know when it's going to go south." Mother Wang sighed. She moved over to the small couch on the side and sat on it. Dust billowed upwards into a cloud, sending Mother Wang into a frenzy of sneezes.

"It's still dusty as ever in here." Lily sighed. She sat next to her mother. She couldn't hear anything down here. Lily must've worn her worry on her face because Mother Wang looked at her, squeezing her shoulder and pulling her in for a side hug.

"It'll be alright, dear. Your brothers and Dad are strong." Mother Wang reassured her. "The horde will bee over soon and we can go back up."

"What if they get infected by the Curse? I have to be ready to help Keng! I should be up there, ready to go!" Lily told her Mom.

"I know, sweetie. I know." Mother Wang brushed her daughter's hair. She tried her best to hold her tears in. Her children were all growing up into fine young adults in a blink of an eye and now her only daughter and baby was fighting to follow her destiny laid out in front of her. "Stay here with me until then."

"How will I know when he comes? Shouldn't I be up there helping them?"

"You will just know. I know your father will tell us when its time. Until then, let's be on guard, 'kay?" Mother Wang smiled. Lily let out a sigh and nodded. Her Mother was right, she just needed to wait for her father to let her know when it was time. Even though she wanted to be up there fighting with the others, someone needed to make sure her mother was okay. Someone needed to protect those who couldn't fight.

—

Gorrum watched as the familiar sign of evolution for a Fox Spirit started to occur before him. Keng's tails had instinctively wrapped himself like any Fox Spirit would during evolution, but this was different. The water had created a layer inside of the outer Fox tails layer.

'What could this mean then? Is it really purifying him of the impurities inside? Will it reveal his Light?' Gorrum asked himself. There was a knock at the door. Gorrum turned around to look at Elder Jyu'so stepped inside with a stack of books floating behind him.

"I found everything we need to know. Vengeance Curse traits, Curse Symptoms, ways to combat infected people, and history on what happens if a Curse gets out of its Cursed body." Jyu'so announced. The books sat themselves in the corner as Jyu'so held the Curses book in his hand. His eyes went over to the floating Keng and looked over at Gorrum. "Is that apart of the ritual?"

"I think so." Gorrum nodded. "I'm not sure why it would do such a thing. It's like he's… Evolving." Gorrum and Jyu'so looked at Keng.

"Strange. Cleansing Rituals aren't supposed to act this way. Why did it act like this for him, then?" Elder Jyu'so asked.

"Who knows?" Gorrum shrugged. "We've got nothing but time now, sir. What do we do?"

"Go through one of those books over there." Elder Jyu'so pointed. "I'm reading up on Vengeance Curse traits and it's Spiritual form is quite… An experience, let's say… Let's prepare ourselves for the battle ahead… The battle, I feel, has started…"