Gil frowned, smoothing out his expression to avoid letting anything slip through, but internally, he was fretting.
Since when?
He hadn't even noticed.
Were it not for the shade's sudden panic attack, who knows when he would have discovered his true state?
Did it notice?
Suddenly fully alert and suspicious of the shade, he began to read its mood, searching for any indication of foul play.
Thankfully, he didn't find anything suspicious. It was still shivering, looking everywhere in fear, as if expecting the entity of the red sea to manifest at any given moment.
Gil finally breathed a bit easier before his expression grew solemn once more.
Berating himself for being careless, he surreptitiously took stock of his condition without leaving the panicking shade out of his line of sight.
After a quick internal scan, he had to hold himself back from cursing aloud.
So focused had he been on dealing with the shadows that he hadn't noticed this strange, ethereal state of his was fading.
But that wasn't all.
His Aegis, too, seemed to be dimming ever so slightly...
Gil felt his heart lurch.
No, I can't let this continue.
He had to end this.
He didn't know what would happen once his shield or his own form dimmed further, but he certainly didn't want to experience it with an unstable factor like that shade right next to him.
He remembered all too well the backlash he had suffered from using his Sight that night, or the overwhelming exhaustion that followed the creation of his bond with Greg.
In those two instances, he had been left utterly weakened, and he was in no hurry to repeat the experience.
Before he could act, however, he suddenly felt a sharp shift in the shadow's emotional state.
First came a flash of surprise, followed quickly by suspicion, then a sudden burst of delight.
Finally, its mood settled back into a calm state, even gaining a cold, calculating edge.
Observing these rapid changes, Gil felt his stomach drop.
His wariness toward the shade climbed to its absolute peak as he immediately formed a guess.
It knows.
And what followed only validated his guess and justified his suspicion.
Indeed, despite the emotional rollercoaster it had just gone through, the shade did not cease its "panicked" actions.
It continued to struggle, looking deeply afraid, and it even shouted hysterically at Gil from time to time.
"You—you don't understand what that thing is!"
it shrieked, twisting and squirming nervously against the chains while looking all around, seemingly seeing danger in every corner of the void.
"It's not like me, or you, or anyone! If it comes... if it comes... oh no, no, no!"
It continued to thrash and rave on and on about the entity.
Even when Gil posed direct questions about it, the creature only struggled more fiercely, babbling incoherently.
Gil ceased all questions.
He looked at the shade expressionless, but an increasingly biting cold ran down his spine as he watched the performance.
The more he observed and felt, the more suspicious he became.
The shade looked like it was vainly thrashing and raving like a lunatic, yet its underlying mental state was sharp and focused like a blade.
While it thrashed seemingly without regard for itself, it actually wasn't sustaining any real damage.
Instead, it was Gil who was losing something...
Every time the creature thrashed a bit roughly, the golden chains dimmed a fraction before returning to normal.
So, that's how it is, huh?
Seeing this, Gil was enlightened about many things all at once, and a wave of mixed feelings welled up inside him.
On one hand, he had to admire the cunning and wit of his enemy.
On the other, a profound sense of relief washed over him, because the situation could have gone much, much worse.
If he hadn't been able to feel the shadow's emotions,
or if he hadn't been on guard against it from the very start... forget him, any other person would have been utterly tricked by that deceitful shade.
Feeling out his remaining energy, Gil estimated that he was down to about sixty percent of his total brightness.
The wise thing to do would be to destroy the shade right then and there, quashing any chances of something going wrong.
But... Gil's expression shifted momentarily, and ultimately, he held back.
Had El been there, he would have recognized that specific look on Gil's face.
In El's words, it was Gil's "bad idea face." Though, of course, Gil had always vehemently denied having such a look, or ever having bad ideas to begin with.
Since you want to play... then let's play!
Adopting a slightly disdainful look, Gil said to the shade,
"Well, well, well. Looking at you so scared... it actually makes me want to try and attract that thing here."
At once, the shadow froze dead in its tracks.
All subterfuge was temporarily thrown aside as genuine terror crept into its being and voice. "No! No, don't! Please, don't!"
Got you. Looks like its fear of that thing is real, at least.
Slightly relieved, Gil continued to maintain his cold, arrogant front, looking down at the shade.
"You may fear it, but I do not. Even if it comes, I will slay it too. You know what I am capable of, don't you?"
He ended with a chilling smile, looking perfectly ready to provoke the entity into appearing, while thinking quietly.
Come on... take the bait.
And take it did.
Damn it!
The shadow was well and truly panicked now.
If that overconfident kid actually summons it, I am done for!
The shadow was at its wit's end.
Just when things were looking up, this happened. Racking its metaphorical brain, it suddenly spoke in a frantic rush, not giving Gil the time to act or speak further.
"Wait, wait, wait! Let's talk this through, please! You had questions, right? I will answer them to the best of my ability. Just please... please don't call it, okay?"
Hum? So easy? Is it another trap?
Gil was understandably wary, and this time, he didn't bother hiding it.
He expressed his suspicion directly. "Why the sudden change of heart, Mister Shadow? You didn't seem so inclined to talk earlier."
Faced with the obvious inquiry laced with mockery, the shadow didn't care about its pride and responded quickly, "You don't understand the terror of that thing, or you wouldn't be so darin—"
It cut itself off, refusing to say anything further on the topic, and quietly resumed its discreet drain on the chains, seemingly more determined than ever to free itself.
Of course, Gil saw right through it.
Not wanting to waste this hard-won opportunity, he went straight to the point while constantly estimating his reserve levels.
About fifty to fifty-five percent.
Not wanting to give the shade too much leeway, Gil asked his questions anew.
What followed was a tense back-and-forth between the two. Gil asked, and the shade answered.
Of course, the prisoner wasn't totally honest, nor was it as forthcoming as it had promised.
Sometimes it would artificially extend its response time by adding useless rants, jabs, or ominous laments about what was coming for Gil.
Sometimes it outright lied despite knowing the answers, or withheld vital information, smoothly diverting the topic to something else entirely.
Gil let it do as it pleased, keeping strict track of what felt true versus what felt false, all while constantly monitoring his fading reserves.
55...
50...
47...
45...
40...
30...
As his reserves declined, the shade grew bolder and bolder.
Capitalizing on its growing confidence, Gil casually slipped in one final question.
"Do you know why those cloaked ones are doing all of this?"
Perhaps because it thought victory was finally within its grasp, the shade responded honestly this time.
"I have often heard them talk about a place... They call it 'the other side.' It's over there that the true depth of their strength is concentrated, even now—!?"
Oh? So what I saw in the arena wasn't even the full strength of their organization?
But looking at the suddenly startled shadow, Gil knew he wouldn't gain anything more from it.
Sighing lightly, he struck decisively.
With a single thought, the now much dimmer chains coiled and contracted, ready to crush the prisoner.
At the exact moment of its doom, the shade finally realized that Gil had been playing a game with it the entire time—and unfortunately, it had lost.
"You really fooled me."
It said quietly accepting it loss.
The chains crushed it to pieces, reducing its form to an explosion of dark red motes.
It left behind only a bitter, mocking laugh and its final words echoing in Gil's mind.
"He... Hehehe. Well played! It's my loss... I will be looking forward to your performance from below... Don't come too quickly, kid."
The last dark-red mote faded away.
Silence returned.
...Yet Gil couldn't shake the feeling that, somehow, he had just been the one who lost something.