Chapter 108 Facing Fears

<Inside the mind space before Elysia killed the skeleton knight>

Shaman held kotetsu in her hands and looked down at the cracks that formed when the blessing tried to break her free.

A bright light shined through the cracks which gave the idea to Shaman, that this was her way out.

Shaman used kotetsu to stab into the crack but before it could reach the light something had grabbed a hold of the blade.

A skeleton hand had grabbed a hold of Shaman's blade using it to pull itself out of the floor. As if coming out of a pool of darkness the skeleton knight slowly emerged.

Shaman unsummoned kotetsu and fell back upon the sight of the skeleton knight. Shaman crawled backwards as fast as she could. She thought she would be free of her fears in this alternate space, yet now they all came flooding back.

Cold sweat ran down Shaman's face and her mind began to spiral as the trauma was all coming back to her. Attempting to calm herself down, Shaman quickly slapped herself and began taking deep breaths.

'It's not real, this is just an illusion created by whatever entity created this space.'

'Get angry, This was the very thing that almost killed your beloved.' Shaman was talking to herself trying to fight against the fear that has been paralyzing her.

Shaman used her emotions to fuel her anger, as she glared at the skeleton knight, her eyes filled with hatred.

Shaman got up from the floor and prepared herself to fight the fake skeleton knight that was in front of her. She summoned kotetsu and held it in front of her, focused on killing the knight.

Shaman entered a meditative state, but instead of focusing on her mana core, all she could see was the skeleton knight. She could see every small movement it made as it emerged from the floor.

Shaman's hidden tails had also appeared and Shaman noticed a small boost in her power.

'That's interesting, I guess since we hid them straight away, we could never tell if hiding them affected us.' Shaman felt freer than ever. It was as if up till now something was chaining her down, but now that all 4 tails were out, that feeling she never knew she had was gone, making it easier to focus on the knight.

Once the skeleton knight was fully out of the ground, it grabbed it's great sword and charged at Shaman.

Shaman stood still quietly, waiting for the skeleton knight to approach her. Unlike last time when her eyes couldn't keep up with the knight, it was now as if its movements had slowed down.

'Heh. it's not nearly as fast as Stein, this will be easy.' Shaman's confidence grew and she believed that she did not need to use any elements to beat the knight.

Shaman let the knight get behind her but before it could move its greatsword, Shaman quickly turned and slashed upwards across its chest. The knight was pushed back but Shaman did not stop, following up on the attack Shaman stepped forward slashing downwards towards the knight's chest. This time the knight was able to block the attack successfully with its great sword.

Shaman quickly used her [spatial rift] and appeared behind the skeleton knight in an instant. The knight was unable to react and was cut in half by Shaman's blade like it was a piece of butter. But to Shaman's annoyance the knight turned into mist and reappeared in front of her.

"Tch, so you won't die so easily." Shaman was getting frustrated, realizing she might be stuck in an endless battle.

The knight stood in silence, as if it was waiting for orders until suddenly it transformed its body into a shadow version of Elysia. This infuriated Shaman even more as it was using her lover against her.

Shaman was not willing to wait and took the initiative to attack the knight first.

The knight's greatsword transformed into a spear and started to copy Elysia's fighting style. This time it was able to keep up with Shaman, easily parrying her sword towards the ground and locking its movements.

Shaman, who had a creative idea, quickly created a spatial rift below her sword and let go of kotetsu. Shaman then reached up in the air, opening another rift and pulled out kotetsu, slashing downwards.

The knight was cut in half again but the results were the same,, as the knight's body quickly re-formed completely unscathed.

Shaman had figured out a method of using her spatial rift ability to do small teleportations while training with Stein. Although Shaman did not possess the space element she was able to control it to a certain degree and so she was able to distort it making objects inside the rift move positions.

'Looks like normal attacks are never going to work, I should try using one of my elemental skills.' Shaman immediately thought of using the [Blade of Flamescion]. Until now, this skill was too dangerous for her to use. But now that she was at the peak of tier 4 and was in a mind space, it would be a great opportunity to test it.

However before she could activate the skill the mindspace began to shake violently and the pre existing cracks started to grow bigger. The shadow Elysia started to fade away into the darkness showing no signs of reappearing.

Soon the room was full of cracks of light until it finally shattered and Shaman was engulfed in light, slowly disappearing herself.

***

Shaman hit her fist on the ground out of frustration as she was so close to beating the very thing haunting her in her mind but Elysia had beaten the knight before she could. Although seeing the knight being burned to death had brought her great satisfaction, she still felt like the kill was stolen from her.

After complaining to herself, she finally noticed that Elysia looked different.

'She almost looks like a full fox' Shaman saw how most of Elysia's body was now covered in black fur and all her tails were out. Another striking feature Shaman saw was the red tips on the tails as she only remembers Elysia having pure black tails.

'Wait, could Elysia be a lot more special than I thought and that's why she hasn't told me about her past?' Shaman became a little suspicious as she felt like there was more to this transformation and may have to do with Elysia's secretive past.

'I have been very patient with her but I need answers.' Shaman was willing to wait but she wanted to know as soon as possible as Elysia's identity could have unknown implications.

Shaman tried to get up but when she went to move her left arm, a surge of pain flowed through her.

"ARHH!!" Shaman let out a groan of pain and quickly looked over to her left arm. Shaman saw that her left arm had been completely burnt. Although not serious it was still really painful for Shaman to move.

'What the hell did Elysia do?' Shaman was now wondering how the hell it got to this as she knew she was being controlled but didn't think Elysia would use such aggressive tactics to fight her off.

Shaman moved her right arm which was slightly in pain but nothing too bad and used [heal] on her left arm. Slowly the burn marks started to disappear and the pain was slowly going away.

'I am so glad I got this skill, it has become so handy for healing wounds.' Shaman felt grateful for her choice of getting a healing skill as it had cut so much time for recovering injuries.

Once Shaman fully healed her arm she was finally able to get up from the ground.

Shaman then started to slowly walk over to Elysia who had been standing still staring at what little remained of the knight. Shaman had kicked a stone while walking which grabbed the attention of Elysia.

Elysia turned and glared at Shaman with her new red eyes she had acquired during the transformation. Shaman felt threatened by the stare and stepped back quickly as she was unsure if Elysia was still herself.

"Uhh, Elysia, it's me Shaman, are you okay?" Shaman quickly spoke up and as soon as she did Elysia's face changed from a cold glare to a joyful one.

Slowly Elysia's body reverted back to her human form and all the fox features except the tails and ears vanished. However the red tips and eyes remained which got Shaman even more curious to who Elysia is.

"SHAMAN!" Elysia ran to Shaman giving her a hug and almost starting to cry.

"I'm so glad you're okay." Elysia squeezed Shaman tightly, making Shaman feel like her back was going to get snapped.

"I-it's g-good to see you are okay t-too, b-but could you lighten up on the hug." Shaman struggled to speak, hoping Elysia would listen to her request.

"Oh sorry, I guess I got a little carried away there." Elysia let out an awkward laugh and lightened her hold on Shaman.

"Anyway what is with the red eyes?" Shaman couldn't help but ask about it but when she did Elysia froze.

"W-wait, they are red?" Elysia let go of Shaman and put one of her hands over her eye.

"Yep." Shaman's suspicions were confirmed. There was something more going on with Elysia than she initially thought.

"Oh no, why is it happening now?" Elysia began to panic and looked distressed.

"Can you explain what's going on?" Shaman was now worried as it seemed like this wasn't something they'll be able to ignore for long.

Shaman was initially worried that Elysia's secret identity might put them in danger, but Elysia seemed more concerned with her condition rather than her secret being exposed, leading Shaman to believe her identity might not be that big of a concern.

"Not right now, Shaman but I think it's time I stopped hiding the truth and tell you where I'm from once we leave the dungeon." Elysia started to take deep breaths, calming down.

Suddenly they noticed Clara in the distance with Wolfy walking beside her.

"HEY BITCHES, WE ARE BACK!" Clara waved as she walked over.