Chapter 22: Capturing The Shadow
Kazama stopped the random destruction.
If this thing liked hiding in darkness for ambushes, he'd give it a reason it couldn't refuse to attack.
He lowered the sealing staff and switched off his flashlight.
Darkness instantly devoured everything.
In this pitch-black hallway, Kazama stumbled around as if surrendering, fumbling his way into apartment 1004—the one whose door he'd blown off earlier.
"Kazuma! Are you insane? No light is dangerous!"
Kerberos clung to his shoulder, claws digging into his collar.
"That thing's watching us from the shadows! Standing still makes you a sitting duck! Run!"
"Shut up." Kazama's low command silenced the beast as he quickly adjusted position in the darkness.
He hadn't actually hidden. Seconds later, he walked back out, standing in the hallway's center, hands in pockets, back to the elevator's faint glow—a perfect living target.
"Come out."
Kazama called into the void, voice deliberately provocative.
"Throwing televisions was fun, wasn't it? Why go quiet now?"
Deathly silence surrounded him.
Only his echo reverberated through the empty corridor.
But Kazama could feel that viscous, icy malice spreading through the carpet beneath his feet.
Suddenly something shifted in the darkness.
An extremely subtle sound, like fabric scraping. Then cold wind blew from the hallway's depths.
"Whoooosh—"
Countless black objects dropped from the ceiling—all the floor's miscellaneous items. Vases, paintings, even several heavy fire extinguishers rained down like a storm, crashing toward the figure standing in the hallway's center.
"CRASH—!!"
Tremendous impact.
Kazama didn't even dodge. The debris pile completely buried him.
Dust filled the air.
That previously arrogant figure now lay crushed beneath rubble, only one hand visible, motionless.
Several seconds passed. A low, cold laugh echoed through darkness, apparently convinced the prey had lost all ability to resist.
Shadows on the floor began writhing.
They gathered together, slowly rising, ultimately forming a humanoid shape wrapped entirely in tattered black robes. Its face was invisible—only that eerie silhouette swaying in dim light.
"That's The Shadow!"
Kerberos had somehow flown to a ceiling corner, staring at the terrifying figure with trembling voice.
"It's the most bizarre of all Clow Cards. Anywhere there's shadow is its territory. That idiot Kazuma... actually got hit..."
The Shadow card drifted slowly toward the rubble pile. It extended a claw formed of pure darkness, reaching for the head buried below, preparing to feast on this meal rich with despair and fear magic.
Sever the shadow, harvest the soul.
"Watch out, it's attacking!"
Kerberos hiding in the corner couldn't help crying out.
However, the figure buried beneath debris merely raised a contemptuous middle finger toward the descending death god.
"Got you."
Crack.
Like shattering glass.
The crushed body didn't bleed. Instead, it disintegrated into countless fragments amid green light.
In the instant he'd ducked into the apartment, Kazama had used the visual blind spot to summon The Mirror card as a decoy.
"What—"
The Shadow card released something like a shocked shriek.
Almost simultaneously.
"Windy! Blast it out!"
The real Kazama charged from the neighboring seemingly-empty apartment.
Swinging his sealing staff, the ruby at its tip blazed with brilliant light.
A violent airstream hammered down like a sledgehammer into The Shadow card's back.
"GAAHHH—!!"
The Shadow card screamed. Its black mist body shattered into pieces.
But it wasn't dead. As a high-tier magical being created by Clow Reed, its vitality was frighteningly tenacious.
The instant it took heavy damage, it transformed into black liquid, slithering like an eel into the carpet's shadows, instantly sliding dozens of meters away.
Its form contracted, attempting to merge back into floor shadows for underground escape.
"Don't run!"
Kazama snatched up the flashlight, beam chasing that black shadow with frantic sweeps.
The Shadow card feared strong light most—that beam should be like boiling oil poured on snow.
"It's useless!" Kerberos flew over shouting. "Ordinary light sources can't hurt it! It needs intense light! In this dark place, it's invincible!"
Indeed, though The Shadow got singed, it hadn't lost combat capability. Instead, injury provoked its viciousness.
It abandoned escape. Floor shadows suddenly swelled, transforming into countless black tentacles like crazed pythons, lunging toward the human holding the flashlight.
"I know this thing isn't bright enough!"
Kazama rolled through the hallway dodging while yelling at the backseat-driving Kerberos in his pocket.
"But this entire floor doesn't have a single lightbulb! Where am I supposed to find intense light?!"
"Left side! That's a shadow blind spot!"
Kerberos guided his dodging while shouting, "Think of something! If the flashlight dies, we're finished!"
Kazama kicked away a tentacle trying to snare his ankle, using the momentum to leap toward the doorway.
Seeing the elevator, an idea struck.
He glanced at The Shadow still thrashing in the distance, then at the closed elevator doors.
Finally decided to gamble.
Kazama slid beneath a black blade sweeping overhead, flinging The Windy card toward the elevator.
"Wind, press the down button!"
The azure wind spirit howled forth, precisely striking the elevator's down button.
The descending arrow lit red.
One second.
Two seconds.
The elevator doors began sliding open.
Simultaneously.
Kazama made himself bait. He stopped dodging, standing in the hallway's center, raising his middle finger toward that reforming black shadow.
The Shadow card released a furious roar, transforming into a massive black python, mouth gaping wide, lunging with devouring momentum.
Closer.
Even closer.
The instant those jaws would bite him—
Kazama threw himself backward, entire body sliding across the floor toward the elevator entrance.
A precisely calculated distance.
The elevator doors stood fully open.
Brilliant white light from the car poured out like a sacred waterfall, washing over this corridor filled with sin.
But as Kazama slid toward the entrance, ready to lure the pursuing monster inside, his pupils contracted to pinpoints.
Because at that light's center stood a girl with an eyepatch, wearing school uniform, holding an umbrella while striking that embarrassing "Wicked Eye" battle pose.
Takanashi Rikka.
"So this is the final battleground!"
She'd just shouted that line when she saw an enlarged, grotesque black demon face charging straight at her.
Kazama hadn't anticipated this girl would come upstairs—especially at this exact moment.
But no time to ponder logic.
The Shadow card couldn't stop its momentum. Light hit it for an instant, body stiffening, but inertia carried it headfirst into the elevator.
If it struck Rikka, this fragile human girl would be shredded instantly.
Kazama had planned to dodge sideways, letting The Shadow charge in. But now someone was inside.
Mid-slide, he forcibly twisted his waist, launching himself like a cannonball into the elevator, shoulder slamming into Rikka, sending her and her umbrella flying out of the car, crashing onto the exterior carpet.
"Ow!"
Rikka cried out, rolling several times before stopping.
Using that collision's recoil, Kazama rolled sideways, pressing against the car's wall.
"SCREEEE—!!"
The Shadow card charged inside.
But that was its endpoint.
In this enclosed space with mirrors on four walls and high-wattage incandescent bulbs covering the ceiling—
No blind spots whatsoever.
Shadows had nowhere to hide.
Like an insect sealed in amber, its black mist evaporated frantically under intense light's scorching heat, releasing sizzling sounds. It struggled desperately but couldn't move a single finger.
Now!
Kazama stood up.
He raised the red-black sealing staff, pressing it against that black shadow's forehead.
"Return to your true form!"
"Clow Card!"
BOOM!
A magic circle expanded beneath his feet.
Golden light instantly filled the entire elevator.
That black shadow completely disintegrated with an unwilling wail, transforming into countless streams of light absorbed into the staff's tip, ultimately condensing into a card illustrated with a mysterious cloaked figure.
The Shadow.
Capture successful.
"Whew..."
Kazama exhaled deeply, picking up the fallen card.
That instant had genuinely been life-or-death.
Half a second slower, and Rikka would have been torn apart on the spot.
The elevator doors were slowly closing.
"Wait... wait!"
Rikka's anxious voice came from outside.
A hand tried reaching in to block the door, but the sensor detected it and the doors bounced open again.
Rikka rubbed her bruised shoulder, limping as she climbed up. She stared at Kazama standing in the elevator with his back to her, completely bewildered.
"All... Ally? What just... happened?"
Everything had occurred too quickly.
From her perspective, the elevator opened, Kazama charged in like a maniac and shoved her, then swung at empty air, followed by red light flashing through the elevator.
As for that black shadow—between speed and backlighting, she'd seen nothing clearly.
Kazama turned around.
The card was already pocketed, his staff reverted to the small key hanging at his waist.
His expression was cold as if fresh from a freezer.
"Are you an idiot? I told you to wait downstairs."
"Who said you could come up? Do you have a death wish?"
"I..."
Rikka shrank back from that intimidating aura.
"You were gone so long... I got worried... and my Wicked Eye kept twitching... I thought you needed backup."
She lowered her head, fingers twisting her skirt hem.
"Backup my ass." Kazama cut her off. "Did you come up to collect my corpse, or so I could collect yours?"
He didn't want to explain how dangerous that had been. For this brainless type, explanations only made them more excited.
"So... um..." Rikka carefully glanced at the empty elevator. "What about... my sister? Did you find her?"
Kazama fell silent for a second, looking at the now-empty hallway.
"Didn't find her."
"This place is vacant. Nobody lives here. Your sister isn't here either."
"Eh? But..." Rikka raised her head, eyes full of disappointment. "The surveillance clearly showed..."
"Surveillance lies. Or she left already and the cameras missed it."
Kazama didn't want further explanation.
He exited the elevator, grabbed Rikka's arm, and dragged her inside.
"This place is dangerous. You saw that yourself—who knows what kind of messed-up things are here. Let's go. We'll report to police."
He pressed the button for floor 1.
The elevator doors slowly closed.
Completely cutting off that still-devastated tenth floor—full of rubble and battle traces—from view.
"So... where do we go now?" Rikka asked cautiously.
"Police."
Kazama leaned against the elevator wall, closing his eyes to hide the exhaustion beneath.
"This kind of thing—let the cops deal with the headache."
Meanwhile.
In a ceiling corner of the hallway.
Kerberos, who'd been flying the entire time, slowly emerged.
It watched the descending red numbers, releasing a long sigh.
"Seriously... in the end I have to fly down myself..."
It helplessly flapped tiny wings, like an abandoned stray cat, flying toward the emergency stairwell entrance.
"Whatever. Who told me to get stuck with this master? Better hurry down to regroup, or I'll get yelled at again."
"Whatever. Who told me to get stuck with this master? Better hurry down to regroup, or I'll get yelled at again."
END OF CHAPTER 22