The Primal Hunter

On the night of the match, it was already way past sundown as the crescent moon hung far up in the air. The arena had artificial magic lighting, so it wasn’t like the arena was dark when Jake walked up the steps and stood behind the bars. The stands were also filled despite the less-than-optimal lighting conditions.

Also, due to the magic lighting, one thing that benefitted her greatly was abundant. The many pillars, the audience stands, and every piece of clutter spread around led to shadows everywhere. What’s more, multiple light sources resulted in several more shadows than normal, meaning something like the pillars were surrounded by shadows in all directions. Even Jake threw several shadows due to the lamps hanging around the entrance area.

It was, for all intents and purposes, a near-perfect battleground for Umbra. Looking at her at the other end of the arena, Jake saw a hooded dark elf who seemed to almost meld into the shadows simply by existing. Due to her cloak, Jake couldn’t see what kind of armor she wore, but he assumed it to be light leather armor due to her identity as an assassin.

She observed him back as the bars began to lower. With a sigh, she walked into the arena, Jake and her meeting in the middle like he had done with every other opponent. Seriously, it wasn’t a rule that you had to have a little introductory chat before fighting, but he had one with every single opponent anyway.

“So, here we finally are,” Umbra said, speaking first. “Not that surprising, now is it? I have kept an eye on you for a while, which I am sure you already knew.”

“I have noticed that I had a stalker a few times, yeah,” Jake nodded. “Seemed a bit overkill to watch what I ate for dinner if you were just researching me. Heck, if you wanted to know something, you could have just walked up and asked, and I would have probably answered truthfully.”

“Usually, I would scoff at such a statement, but based on my observations, that is entirely possible,” Umbra sighed. “Alas, I deemed it best to not approach. Oh, I also hope you do not think negatively of me for having us fight at a time advantageous to me.”

“Hey, it’s less bullshit than the number of earth mages who were clearly just strong in the arena because the floor is made of sand,” Jake shrugged with a smile.

Umbra sighed again. “Your casual demeanor doesn’t exactly help my confidence, but seeing as you are of the truthful sort, let me ask you something. Do you believe I stand any chance of winning this bout?”

“In all honesty? No, not unless you can pull some serious bullshit out of your ass,” Jake said, being as truthful as she wanted him to be.

“Would it surprise you to hear me concur with that conclusion?” Umbra said as she summoned a black dagger into her hand. “Nevertheless, I shall try my best. I will show you all that I have and truly determine the limits of your powers… and simply hope that is enough.”

With those words, her entire body swayed as the dark elf disappeared into a nearby shadow. Umbra’s presence was entirely erased, and even using his sphere, Jake couldn’t locate her. He also knew why. While it was honestly a bit bullshit a level 0 could do it, she had entered the shadow realm. An odd realm that Jake didn’t fully understand but that Umbra was known as the master of. One where space no longer operated as it usually did, allowing her to do something similar to what she did next.

Despite disappearing in front of him, a figure exploded out from a shadow right behind him less than half a second later, her dagger aimed straight at his guts. Jake reacted instantly, dodging to the side as he pulled out his bow in one hand and a katar in the other.

Umbra tried to strike him again, but he deflected several blows using his weapons before the dark elf disengaged, merging into another shadow. Jake instantly nocked an arrow as he waited for her to appear again, something she did only a second later. Before she had even fully emerged, Jake shot an arrow at her, forcing Umbra to block with her daggers. Jake made it explode at that very moment, making the dark elf slide backward, stumbling a bit from the blast. He hadn’t done any real damage, though, as the shadows that lingered on her had entirely blocked his destructive arcane energy.

Jake felt her gaze on him as she leaned to the side, merging into a pillar right beside her. Waiting with another arrow ready, Jake was taken a bit by surprise, as rather than an entire elf, only an arm throwing a dagger emerged from a shadow. He still shot his arrow, but the hand merged back into the darkness before it hit, resulting in him only blowing up some sand.

Several more daggers were thrown at him within the next few seconds, as in the middle of the barrage, his opponent fully emerged once more, this time charging right for him as she threw four small daggers she had tugged between her fingers.

Side-stepping the daggers, Jake prepared to face the dark elf as his danger sense warned him. Rather than engage, he jumped back right as the four small daggers she had thrown flew into a pillar, merged with its shadows, and flew out of another nearby pillar aimed for right where Jake would have been.

Umbra clicked her tongue in annoyance as she stepped back and spread out her hands. Jake stood there, having switched to his two katars, as he wondered what she was doing. Right then, Jake saw movement within two shadows to her side. Out of them emerged two figures entirely cloaked in dark mana. Umbra’s body also changed as the same shadowy aura fully embraced her body, making her appear identical to her shadow clones, and all three of them disappeared into a single shadow in unison.

Then, three shadows walked out of the pillars surrounding him, brandishing black daggers.

Heh, that’s a pretty good one, he thought as all three shadow clones charged at him from all directions. Jake remained standing entirely still as six daggers total plunged into his body, harmlessly phasing through it. It was only a fraction of a second after he was struck by the daggers that he swayed to the side as a black bullet swished by, hitting the wall in the distance and causing a small explosion of dark mana.

Jake looked at the origin of the bullet and saw Umbra had emerged holding what looked like a sniper rifle on the opposite side of the arena. Making a show out of summoning two clones to actually summon three and try to snipe him from a distance was a pretty good strategy that would probably work against most people. Sadly for her, Jake was not like most people.

Looking at Umbra appearing a bit miffed in the distance, he couldn’t help but yell out to her. “That was a nice attempt!”

She didn’t seem to appreciate his comment as she fired another bullet that Jake easily dodged. He could admit that had any of those bullets hit him, it would probably have been game over, or at least he would have been significantly injured. Enough so that she could easily finish him off.

Likely realizing she wouldn’t get anything done with her gun, Umbra put it away as she merged back into the shadows. Instantly, she appeared nearly right beside Jake, swinging her dagger as Jake raised a katar to block. She continued her barrage of attacks, Jake slowly backing away as he dodged and parried.

Umbra was faster than Jake by quite a bit, signifying she had more Agility, but Jake had a slight edge in Strength. However, her speed didn’t translate into any successful hits, as Jake could easily keep up with her despite his lower speed due to the overpoweredness of his Bloodline.

It also didn’t help that Umbra’s fighting style was very skewed toward feints and exploiting her unique magic. Having her arm swinging a dagger suddenly turn into two mid-swing would probably take most by surprise and make it hard to dodge, but to Jake, this was just Umbra wasting resources as he could easily tell the true arm and the shadow arm apart.

She kept trying new things over and over again, switching up her strategy slightly on the fly, but Jake stayed one step ahead at every turn. Jake could feel her frustrations mounting, but Umbra didn’t let it affect her combat prowess in the slightest.

Also, while it was true his opponent failed to land any hits, Jake wasn’t doing that much better himself. But… he did know he was winning in the resource department. As a fast assassin, Umbra was not built for long jeopardy but to end the fight as fast as possible through, well, assassination. Swift, deadly hits that would quickly either injure your opponent and significantly weaken them or outright kill them.

Umbra knew this, too, and knew she couldn’t let things go on as they were. She still continued fighting head-on for a bit longer while still trying to take him by surprise with her thrown daggers and shadow trickery. But, as she slowed down to try and preserve her stamina and mana, Jake took advantage and landed a deep scratch on her shoulder, making her retreat promptly.

“I see that there is no victory if I continue like this… so let us not delay needlessly,” Umbra said. She made it sound like she was surrendering, but Jake felt the energy begin to gather as the dark elf’s form began to sway. The shadows all around the arena seemed to deepen, and he felt the magic begin to take hold as a domain descended.

“Abyssal Shadow.”

In an instant, the world turned black. There was no light, no warmth, nothing for one’s Perception to grasp onto. It was a world of pure shadows, where all senses died. Sight, hearing, touch, taste, balance, smell, direction… it was as if nothing existed but the thoughts in your own mind and a feeling of dread from what may be lurking within the darkness.

Jake moved his arm but didn’t even feel it. He only knew it had even moved due to the feedback from his sphere. His movement was also slower, reminiscent of someone underwater.

Within this darkness, a single figure appeared only a few steps behind him. Her movements were slow as Umbra was clearly also affected by the Abyssal Shadow domain. Getting closer, she brandished her dagger, ready to plunge it into the back of Jake’s head as he turned around at the very last moment and punched.

Umbra had clearly expected this as she stepped back to avoid getting hit. What she had not expected was Jake expecting she would have expected his punch, so when his fist revealed itself to be holding five arrows of arcane energy, she was taken by surprise.

Jake let go of the arrows as they all exploded. For a brief moment, the domain of shadows was dissolved where the explosion had been. Jake dove forward through the destructive arcane energy that was rapidly being suppressed as he, for but a moment, laid his eyes on Umbra’s form.

Fear Gaze activated as he stabbed forward. Right before she was hit, Umbra unfroze and managed to sway to the side, resulting in her only getting hit in the shoulder. A second explosion of destructive arcane mana sent her floating back through the water-like Abyssal Shadow, yet before she even landed, the domain began to dissolve.

Color returned to the world as Jake’s senses rapidly returned. For a moment, the faint light in the arena was almost blinding, but he quickly adjusted and looked at Umbra kneeling five or so meters away while down on one knee.

Just as he prepared to potentially engage, Umbra sighed loudly. “I surrender.”

Jake could say he was surprised, but he honestly wasn’t. From start to end, it felt more like Umbra was testing the limits of his abilities rather than actually fighting him to win.

Not that he could really blame her… for an assassin; Jake was the worst matchup imaginable.

“Thanks for the fight anyway,” Jake smiled.

Umbra just nodded. “Alas, it was not one I was meant to win. I wish you luck facing the final Champion, but let me just give one piece of advice… reconsider facing the Grand Champion.”

Jake raised an eyebrow and wanted to ask more as the dark elf merged into a nearby shadow and reemerged back at her exit to the arena, clearly not interested in talking any longer. Jake just looked after her as the announcer began doing his announcing, with Jake just shrugging to himself.

You telling me to not face the Grand Champion just makes me want to do it even more…

Vilastromoz put all thoughts of Artemis and that entire mess to the back of his mind as he nodded at the outcome of the battle between Umbra and Jake. It had gone as expected, and nobody was surprised by the outcome, so much so that none had even wanted to bet on him losing, no matter how good the odds were. If Jake couldn’t defeat Umbra easily, then what normal challenger would ever stand a chance?

Umbra had also clearly known this, and her image had used the opportunity to test Jake’s limits rather than simply fight to win.

If Vilastromoz had to describe Umbra with just one word, it would be careful. Two words? Calculatingly careful. She was the very first god, outside of Karroch – the Tutorial designer - who truly took note of Jake. Vilastromoz knew this was because he got an item related to her early on, and she used that connection to scout him out, but her actions had still been decisive. She wanted to recruit him from the get-go, but he had stumbled upon the Challenge Dungeon, leading him to Vilastromoz before she ever got the chance. There was no doubt in his mind that had Jake never found that dungeon, he would have been blessed by Umbra now… potentially even her Chosen, if not at the very least, a candidate to be her Chosen.

Yet even when she had failed to get Jake, she had made moves to forge a positive relationship.

She had gone as far as to make Jake’s brother into a Judge, one of the highest-leveled titles mortals could get within the Court of Shadows. While his brother did have some talent of his own, and his presence-resistance was through the roof due to his familial connection to Jake, he was clearly not worthy of all he had been given by his own merits. Especially not the Legacy of Tenlucis.

Vilastromoz also knew that many had found her actions odd.

The Court of Shadows was not a faction that had trouble recruiting members. They were in a similar position to a faction like the Order of the Malefic Viper or Valhal in that it was viewed as a privilege to join. Sure, they did give benefits to members, but all factions did that, and what they gave was only what could be expected.

Umbra’s personal Blessing and attention were not something any mortal could expect. The mere fact she had given it to Jake’s brother proved how much she valued Jake… at least, that is how most people saw it. In truth, Vilastromoz knew Umbra better than that. He knew of Jake’s powers, and he knew that Umbra was also aware.

See, the reason Umbra was so keen on having a good relationship with Jake wasn’t just because she valued him. It was because of the danger he posed.

She was afraid of him… of what he could become. Even if it was a trillion to one chance he would ascend to godhood and become able to match her, that was a risk Umbra couldn’t take. A Jake close to her power level would be devastating, as he effectively hard-countered her.

It was similar to if someone with a Bloodline that made them entirely immune to poisons appeared. Vilastromoz would observe them with a lot of interest… but he wouldn’t want to kill them. This was for the same reason Umbra had never even considered killing Jake.

Because his status as a potential danger also meant he was a possible opportunity. Gods at the pinnacle had very few things that could push them to their limits, especially in the area they were best in. No one currently alive in the multiverse could detect Umbra if she decided to observe them and they hadn’t made prior preparations, such as formations.

Yet Jake could… he could pressure her where she was strongest. Force her to improve. Force her to find a way to even hide from a Bloodline, something there was only one way to do:

To make a Transcendent skill… or improve the one you already had.

But at the same time, she couldn’t risk him becoming an enemy, for should he reach the stage where he could help her improve, he would also be at a stage where he could potentially slay her. It was an odd balance one had to strike, weighing risk and opportunity. It was truly a paradox. She had to want someone to become powerful enough to kill her in order to find out how not to get killed by him.

A risk she was clearly willing to take, especially after her performance in the match against Jake.

“Let me guess-” Vilastromoz said to the Wyrmgod, but he didn’t get further as his fellow Primordial answered.

“Umbra had already requested the recording of her match with your Chosen before he ever entered Nevermore. Pre-paid, too.”

The Viper just nodded, having fully expected that to be the case. He just hoped Umbra would continue her strategy of mostly casual observing while only trying to make moves through Jake’s brother… because his poor Chosen certainly didn’t need more direct attention from gods than he already had.