I stuffed a few small vials containing various potions in my pockets as usual. When everything was packed, we added an additional sign, stating we’ll be back with a couple of hours. This mostly served to distract me from the delivery fee I paid the messenger guy. The consequences of being a little lazy. Also, Harmony told me there were no refunds.

As we boarded Beakwing, I took notice of a beautiful summer blue sky and then storm clouds that had to be at least half a day away.

“It looks like you’ll have to shelter in Milia’s forest, Beakwing,” I said as I caressed the griffin’s head. He only purred in return. “Wolverine, Cheetara, we’re counting on you to guard the shop.”

Cheetara stopped playing with Wolverine’s tail to let out a meow in reply. Wolverine, tail wagging, barked. It kind of pained me to leave them behind, but they needed to get used to my comings and goings. Obviously on a long trip, I’m taking my pets with me, but for a quick order and maybe a chat with whom could become two new friends, they’d stay.

“To the village, Wingy,” Milia said.

Beakwing flapped once, launching into the air, and off we went toward the storm, held safely onto our ride by magic.

Something about these clouds bugged me. They appeared to be at least half a day away, so a short trek to the village and back was nothing, but…why did they feel so out of place. Like a black that seemed more slapped onto the world, as if someone dumped a bucket of ink in the middle of the sky and halfheartedly attempted to blend it with the clouds.

I don’t know how much time passed when I felt it. Maybe ten minutes? Fifteen? This would be roughly two or more hours from Kyushu by wagon, which brought a chill to my bones. Just because I declined the redheaded noble girl apprenticeship, you know because she had no true interest in the craft, didn’t mean I wanted something bad to happen to her or her troupe.

“Nate,” Milia said, her voice urgent and almost panicky. Worry flooded into Harmony’s eyes as she looked to Milia and I for answers.

“I know,” I told the dryad. Normally, I’d consider just telling Beakwing to get us the fuck out of there. Hell, it still weighed on my mind. We could fly around the darkness. “By any chance, you don’t think…”

My voice trailed off as the raw killing intent struck us like a fucking comet. It took a bit of concentration to shake it off. Milia did just a moment later and with guidance from the dryad, Harmony managed to regain her senses.

“So, about landing near any of that with Harmony here,” I said.

“Why would you want to land near that anyway?” Harmony argued.

“I don’t,” I said truthfully, “but you know who just left our shop. Accidents happen on trips like these, so I’m not here to be a hero, fuck that, but this is much too close to our home for us to ignore.”

It didn’t take a rocket scientist to conclude that whatever phenomenon currently occurred may end up either in our front yard or Milia’s forest. If it threatened my peaceful life, then I had words to say about it. “Beakwing, let’s go lower,” I said. “Can you sense those three?”

Beakwing nodded and dipped from the newly darkened sky and within moments, the scene hit us. There was a lot to take in. The horses were but skeletons, their flesh gone. If that was all, I’d be less freaked out. But the skeletons still moved, grazing on black grass as if alive. My eyes caught three people and the fourth in the wagon. No…two corpses with a third on its way as something blacker than the fucking void raised a claw to kill Howie.

**

Howie panted, having exhausted all of his rudimentary magic tools to protect Mistress Mandi with his life. She was but a young girl, just of eighteen years. The old man saw true promise when she actually pondered on the harsh words given to her by the potion maker. Most nobles would not allow insults, but Mandi, she abruptly took a new path. This would be the first time someone was blunt to her and without fear of getting punished by any higherups, Hector, or even Sir Wingston himself.

All of that rapid progress would be going to waste, devoured by a creature of his darkest nightmares. Howie encountered a hallow once before, back when he served in the royal army. Most of his platoon were eaten like a quick midafternoon lunch and the only reason why he survived was because their top magicians finally got off their asses to deal with the threat. Hallows had other names such as fiends, shadow demons, hell spawn, true monsters, black spirits and the list magnified, depending on the location. But they couldn’t fully manifest in the mortal realm, as their spirits were too dense, too heavy. Wanda designed the world this way, Howie was sure. That however meant nothing thanks to Ares the Peace Spawner, the Midnight Dragon, and other problematic figures across the world. Because they tampered with forces not meant to be tampered with, the realm’s defenses sometimes spawned cracks in random places. A powerful creature like a hallow could stick a piece of itself or if babies existed, perhaps one of them into said crack, allowing them to roam around for as long as the realm allowed it.

If only he would’ve taken the rumor of the hallow seriously. People often stated how these rare creatures appeared perhaps once every decade. But a decade did not mean never. This far east with little civilization served as a perfect spawning ground, even with such few prey.

These thoughts among many flashed into the terrified man’s mind as he stared down death. It appeared as a monster-shaped shadow of inky blackness that absorbed the light around it. And when it opened its maw to devour, like it did the horses to prevent their escape, Howie would surely be reintroduced to the sight of numerous teeth sharp enough to bite even stone with ease.

He wasn’t much of a religious man, but at that moment, his mind naturally begged the heavens for help. Not for him, but for the girl he took care of since she was a baby.

As the claw came down, blocking out light like a devouring void, he closed his eyes, hoping his death would be quick. Hallows sometimes played with their food.

But the feeling of being gutted like wild game never came. No pain. Nothing. Winn and Lou were drained of their magic, drifting very close to the point of death, but the hallow clearly wanted to devour the mortals first. Tastier meals, while providing the other two nightmares showing the entire event.

Howie opened his eyes to see nothing there, but he certainly could still feel the creature’s killing intent. A beacon of death, perhaps rage, destruction, and endless hunger. Something that naturally opposed nature itself.

His eyes widened at…the sight of their saviors.

**

With the shadow thing clearly distracted with making its meal as terrified as possible, according to Milia, I got the drop on it, kicking the fucker as far away as possible. Beakwing also helped, blasting it with its magic. It wouldn’t do jack shit to it, probably, but that wasn’t the point. Winn and Lou were barely alive. Milia would know as the land itself would answer her. Their magic was drained to the point of almost nothing. The only reason why they were drained was because the hallow played with its food. Magicians weren’t nowhere as near as tasty as mortals. And while Howie did carry a few magical weapons on him as Mandi’s personal bodyguard, judging by the scene, the daggers, the swords, and even what appeared to be blue orbs that likely exploded were scattered all over the place. The hallow probably did so with its power.

[Enemy analysis.]

[Hallow fragment. S-ranked fiend. Extremely dangerous.]

[Boss fight begin.]

Well, extremely dangerous was something new, that’s for sure, but hey, to my credit I managed to kick it to the curve.

“Who…are you really?” Howie said after managing to compose himself and far quicker than I expected.

“No time for that, help get them on the griffin before that thing comes bac…fuck,” I saw the blackness rise from its position and move toward us. “Hurry up!”

Mandi burst out of the wagon in tears, likely able to move because the hallow’s killing intent was one hundred percent on me. And goddamn I didn’t want to be here. It took everything to keep from letting out a giant toot of nervousness. If I felt this way, the others, especially normal people, probably died inside.

Mandi tried to check on her cousins, but Milia and Howie thankfully took control of the situation, gathering them. Milia with vines, Howie physically, revealing that he was definitely bodyguard material, perhaps beyond. The redhead didn’t waste any further time, getting her petite ass onto the griffin.

“Get them to safety,” I ordered Beakwing. “I’ll play the hero this once, but just you know I’m not and this will cost you.”

“We’ll pay anything,” Mandi whined. “Just please come with us.”

“No,” I said.

“Please you don’t have to—”

“He’s not what he seems,” Howie interrupted Mandi. “And if he can’t keep the creature from striking us down, we’re as good as dead anyway.”

Beakwing took off. I popped a night vision potion to help with the annoying darkness, then followed that up with an energy potion. My guts were already protesting a bit and I’d definitely not recommend drinking these things one after another without giving them a chance to activate first. Unfortunately, the luxury of waiting was over for me as the hallow’s darkness overtook my view.

It didn’t seem to care much about its prior prey escaping.

“I take it you don’t enjoy a mere mortal kicking you around?” I said to the giant wad of darkness. It had the vague shape of…well, I didn’t know. The darkness kept changing as if it barely held itself together.

Suddenly, I heard a voice, one that could smile in the depts of even the foulest fucker’s nightmares. Something old, empty and yet full of strength.

“Arrogant mortal…You who are not originally from this plane and is not a former enemy. Your insult shall be paid in blood.”

Glowing red eyes appeared at the center of the wad of darkness. Not that I had much time to think about it. So much…force and aura hit me like ten thousand trains. I felt myself flying backward and tasted copper. Not wanting to find out the extend of the damage, I popped a health potion in my mouth.

I hit the forest ground hard. The midmorning light I had was beginning to darken as the hallow followed me. This time when it came, I was actually ready for it. Palm aimed, I hit it with a red energy ball the size of a house. My dragon magic burst. Turned out I could charge it, increase its size, though at the cost of a lot of mana. I could tell because I grew just a bit tired, despite the energy potion. This attack drained the hell out of something from the center of me… My core.

My effort seemed rewarded when the ball of red death opened a hole in the center of the darkness, allowing a little sunlight to trickle through. But even I knew not to get happy. It was going to reform soon, so I did what anyone would do. Fucking run. And run I did, with the power of my energy potion.

To make it harder for the hallow to find me, or so I hoped, I pulled out the potion of masking, chugged that son of a bitch down, then took a turn. Normally one would be lost mid forest like this, but I still sensed Milia and the others from afar. They followed my instructions to get to safety.

I took several more turns, huffing it and had to admit, this body would’ve been amazing back in high school. The moment of joy sapped away when I heard the scary voice again.

“Do you think you can hide from me, magician,” it said, almost as if it beamed that directly into my mind. “I may not be able to detect your presence, but do not underestimate my ability to hunt.”

I leapt over a large pond that seemed to have spawned out of nowhere, then took a turn left, speeding up.

“Alright Nate, you got this far, but this is still a boss fight,” I whispered to myself. “I’m expected to somehow kill this thing. But how?”

Magic didn’t seem very useful, given its ability to just reform. The only option I had seemed to be escape. Boss fight or not, this thing could just wear me down until I was too tired to resist.

Now I kind of regretted not focusing on a speed boosting potion, but the energy would do for now. Hell, it put in work and there, I realized the meaning of Howie’s words. I was selling these significantly below their value. Instead of losing energy, I felt like I slowly ballooned with it, but like every inflation, there would soon be a popping effect. However, the quality of the energy potion was so high that I had at least an hour to get as far away from the dark spirit as possible before the need to fall on my face occurred.

You know, looking back is the normal mistake people made in movies, but when I did, the faint darkness was going the wrong way. I actually left it in the dust. I felt a little stupid believing I needed a speed potion. My abilities didn’t appear to operate like a normal magician’s, that much was obvious. However, there were limitations. Potions filled the void. I only knew one spell for fuck’s sake. With the potions, I didn’t need to bend my ass over backward for a magic school to teach me.

I popped open the potion of eagle sight. After just a tiny moment of nausea, seriously poisoning myself here, I could see hundreds of meters away in perfect detail. I had full control of it too. By narrowing my eyes and directing a tiny bit of mana into them, I could zoom into things freely. By removing the mana, my vision returned to normal.

A chill ran through my spine, for my vision could not pierce the darkness. But it did have a body. I determined that in a split second as it prepared to gut Howie with a claw. Also the fact that I did damage it with my attack.

In that case, the only thing that was left for me was to formulate a plan to completely annihilate it somehow. Or at least annoy it enough to make it retreat. I knew very little about these things, but I felt its killing intent. No wonder why people were terrified of them.

But how… I scanned my surroundings. Trees, trees, and more fucking trees. Oh, and a boulder, rocks, deer running away, and birds.

“So how will I do this,” I said softly. Tossing a giant boulder of course, because why the hell not. Sometimes it’s easy to forget about the superstrength. I went out of my way to keep it under control after all.

To test my aim, I picked up a baseball-sized rock and tossed it. I wasn’t expecting it to blast at what felt like hundreds of miles per sec.

The rock smashed into the mass of black, certainly confusing it. I knew this was going to key it onto my direction, but I hefted the boulder with ease and off it went, with the same devastating speed.

I watched with the eagle sight and grinned as it collided with my target. Well, I did more than just piss it off, but before I could run or even pick up another rock, a clear backhand bashed me into a tree…through a tree…through several of them until I came to a stop minutes later.

“You’re a durable human, I will give you that much,” a dark voice taunted nearby. “But you only delay the inevitable.”

I hopped back to my feet, grinning at the bastard. “If it helps, I’m only but a humble potion maker. I’m totally here for business purposes.”

A moment of silence, then there was laughter. A lot of laughter. Too much laughter. It almost made me embarrassed of my sentence, no matter how true it was. I wasn’t greedy or anything, I just wanted to grow the business, help the town, and established my own discreet contacts without anyone ever finding out about my powers. It’s not like I asked for them or to be participating in what felt like a fucking anime fight. But in the hallow’s defense, I picked the fight. I could’ve easily just driven miles to the side of it.

“Now that was a good laugh, one I haven’t had in centuries,” the hallow said. It’s glowing red eyes suddenly turned blue, and a grin appeared in the mass of darkness. “Let’s make a deal.”

“Yeah, no, I don’t make deals with devils,” I said.

“Would this be a deal? After all, this fragment is holding back,” the hallow continued. I kept my expression neutral, though I could tell it wasn’t lying. Why would it need to? “Playing with my meals is an old habit. Now…you’ve caught my attention. Make a pack with me and use my power to create potions that are otherwise impossible. Increase the belief in me. This should provide some entertainment. Mostly for me, after all my powers will attract unwanted attention. But you will be much stronger than you could—”

“Okay, I’m going to have to cut you off,” I said. “It’s an interesting deal you’re trying to make, one in which I’ll inevitably perish. But you’re curious to see how long I last. It’s the ultimate way to play with your food.”

The blue eyes within the darkness widened, then they began a slow change back to red.

“Before we continue this annoying fight, answer me this? Is Wanda real?” I asked, while focusing on something else other than the creepy eyes in the darkness. “What’s up with her butt? People here swear on it. Man to man, don’t hold out on me.”

“Wanda…” the hallow said in disgust. “You decline my power for that one’s. You’ll be bitten back far harder than even an oath to me.” It’s… “mouth” twisted into a nasty snarl. “Enough of this. I will devour you for this insult.”

I aimed both palms at the darkness. “Thanks for waiting by the way. Charging to maximum capacity takes time.”

All the hallow could do was widen its eyes as it realized that the entire time, I played it like a fiddle. “You may be stronger than me, especially as a whole, but who isn’t vulnerable to getting bullshitted every now and then.”

His fragment would not be able to remain against the full might of my dragon burst.

My building-sized energy ball evaporated all of the creature, leaving not so much as a trace behind.

I looked upward to see Milia and the griffin arriving. I sure as shit did not regret luring the creature away from them.

Fuck that was close.

First the skeleton king, now a hallow. However, I wouldn’t have been able to sleep at night if I let the trio die like that. Eaten like potato chips by a creature that didn’t belong in this world.

At least this wasn’t all for naught.

I grinned, waving at them. Not only would I collect this debt, but I’d make sure they swear to secrecy through a magical oath. Did you know they had those?

Okay, I don’t know how to use one—this isn’t a world of convenient silence methods, but I’d still make them keep quiet.

The implication would be the “or else.” A new business link with nobles that weren’t so bad. I’ll take it!

End of Phase 3…