Mina did not show fear or anxiety at the roars, rather she showed anticipation at the prospect of a fight. What surprised her however was the Archons severed wing growing back from the severed stump. Flesh bubbled from the wound as it regrew at a visible rate, by the time the other Archons made their entrance, and the once injured Archon rose again. Now there were over a dozen of them present, each of them hulking monstrosities that dwarfed her easily. Some of them were armed with weapons similar to the first, while others were bereft of conventional weapons but still no less dangerous.

The Archons attacked her in unison, some moved towards her at blinding speed while others sent blasts of dark magic at her. She was easily able to move away just before their physical strikes were about to connect. The magical strikes, on the other hand, were much more difficult to deal with. They were unattributed, well in a sense anyways; they were Dark attributed, but not darkness, just the Corrupting Dark that is a part of all demons. They homed in towards Mina, and would always redirect whenever they were about to hit something other than her.

Their homing mechanism was not foolproof however, due to the peculiar changes wrought to her physiology, whenever blasts travelled past the shadows of an Archon, they detonated in a powerful blast of magic. Despite this, both the shrapnel and the sheer number of the blasts were able to take a steady toll on Mina. The damage was not only on her end however, as she moved about dodging and flitting through the shadows, she was able to inflict damage of her own. Two of the Archons were prone on the floor, they were not dead however, the force keeping them alive was what aided the regeneration of the first Archon that was injured.

It was rare to see this many Archons this soon in the cave, before even reaching the Abyss. Usually you would only find one or two Archons, but they would be in command of numerous smaller demonic beings. Here however, Mina just encountered a group of over a dozen Archons, which is an amount that would not be encountered throughout the entirety of the cave. This so far brief encounter with the Archons was costly for Mina. The constant use of her abilities was taking its toll on her, truthfully, someone of her power would be able to clear the cave, and even go through the first floor of the Abyss with no troubles.

Unfortunately she encountered a group of Archons, the real trouble concerning them, was that they healed from nearly any injury as long as there were other creatures fighting them. They also had an aura that both healed and protected demonic beings and affected humans, even corrupting them if they were weak willed. Though troublesome, they were easy enough to defeat if there was only one of them, or even two, with a mass of small fries, with just a group of them however, it grew much more troublesome. A massive battle axe wielded by one of them sheared the air as it cut towards Mina.

Mina had grown noticeably slower in her transitions and her anticipation for the battles had vanished a solemn seriousness taking its place. Just as the blade was about to cleave her in two a mass of darkness and shadows burst from her minute form, it obscured her and physically pushed the Archons away. As the dust and darkness cleared, a very changed Mina was revealed. Though her height and shape were relatively unchanged, no real features of hers could be made out. Her appearance was as if liquid darkness had been poured over her, it hugged her form. It was one of the many abilities granted to her by the Blessing.

Skill name Description Advent of the Shadows: User becomes not just cloaked in shadows, but becomes the shadows themselves. They become nearly immune to physical or magical attacks for a time, and physical and skill related abilities are enhanced by a factor of 3. This skill is not without its costs.

The Archons all arose from where they had been flung towards. They all rushed towards her, using the same strategy that they had before. This time however, Mina did not dodge, or even make an attempt to, she just let all the blows and magical blasts impact against her. No that is not right, they went through her, the magical detonations did anyways, the physical blows she blocked with ease. The Archons showed surprise, a rarity for Monsters not many showed expressions beyond rage or anger. A snort of derision emerged from Mina before she vanished entirely.

She moved about swiftly between each of the massive creatures. Her blades flashed here and there as she inflicted one wound after another on the Archons. Some of them bellowed, while others fell down due to accumulated injuries, but in the background noises could be heard from below, from the Whispering Abyss itself. All the Archons still standing fought against her unceasingly. At the start, they only wanted to consume her, an aggressive hunger drove them forward, now other feelings were emerging within them. As the fight went on, one Archon fell after another, even the ones that rose, were of know help, Mina was unstoppable and no matter what they tried she brought death to them.

As the last Archon fell down, the darkness slowly bled away from her. Though relatively uninjured, her Shadow Armor was shredded and in tatters. She was breathing extremely heavily, and she fell from the standing position she had been in to fall onto a single knee. As time passed the cave around her shook and groaned, the sounds growing louder by the second. She was not able to move, let alone escape, one of the costs of that ability she used. The sounds fell silent for a moment, and she breathed a sigh of relief, suddenly a large piece of rock came crashing towards her.

She slowly looked up, her body trembling as the rock came crashing towards her. Just before it was about to crush her, the rock shattered. The pieces crashed to the ground around her, she looked back up only to see a massive sword above her. A few feet away stood a devastatingly beautiful woman, with long crimson hair, and a body that would enchant most men. She opened her charming lips and her lyrical voice flew out. “Tell me, Who are you, and why do you reek of my Love’s Power?” All around them both the groaning and shaking of the cave picked up again.