Shadow stood absolutely still, even after the two had already left.
Luckily for Light, there had in fact been a tall streetlight with a slim pole that Edict failed to notice earlier.
They simply assumed the shadow belonged to it and left.
Light watched as Edict placed her palm on the gigantic brick wall's surface, which separated instantly, granting them entry.
Light felt like rushing in before it closed back, but dismissed the thought.
It would give him away instantly… he was, after all, dealing with monstrous heroes here. Likely Exalt-rank experts. Vanguards were already catastrophes for the current him.
After the brick wall sealed itself again, Light finally started moving… or so he thought, until he noticed something wrong when he was halfway there.
His Ether stayed silent even though the shadow was moving. His instincts finally kicked in.
He was about to dismiss the shadow when he heard Edict's voice from under the slim streetlight.
"Use of space manipulation is no longer permitted here."
Just as quickly, she added,
"Independent shadows break logic, and will therefore be expelled from the ground's cover."
Light felt the shadow twitch violently before it was expelled from the floor. Light was instantly pulled back to his original position as he felt his twin shadow manifest.
Just as quickly, Light switched to Umbrael's Shadow form before the shadow materialized physically. What emerged first was a monstrous head with four short horns and a furious fading halo behind it. The eyes were glowing furiously purple.
It snorted, releasing a cloud of steam that made the surroundings turn cold. When it emerged up to the jagged shoulders, Wasp was forced to fully cancel the earlier illusion. Seeing the monstrous entity sprout out of the floor, they instantly retreated, leaping back several steps.
'Shit, their earlier entry into the next sector was only an illusion!' Light panicked. He couldn't even imagine his shadow being captured. Who knows what would happen to it then?
Umbrael's shadow was already halfway out of the floor when Light reacted.
Without hesitation, he forced a cancellation, and surprisingly, the shadow started merging back into the ground without fully manifesting, ignoring Edict's last order.
"No, it's escaping!" Wasp exclaimed as she initiated another desperate illusion.
Light was immediately pulled into it, where he was headless and limbless, lying beneath the two women in a pool of blood… but Umbrael's Shadow ignored it all. It only had one goal… cancel the summoning.
—
Light, who was hidden beneath the bed, gasped suddenly as his breath caught. He rolled out into the open as he felt everywhere was too hot.
He panted heavily, his eyes wide in terror as sweat covered his face. He looked to his side and noticed his shadow was intact… mirroring his every movement like it had never been sentient a second ago.
His mind was in a mess. Just a glimpse at Shadow's true form earlier had destabilized him… and this time, he was literally seeing the world through Shadow's true form.
Nothing seemed to make sense to him as he just lay there. The room was no longer dim, as the morning light had grown brighter, slipping through the windows in bright rays.
A knock on the door made him regain some awareness.
He was too unstable to speak, so he simply lay there and closed his eyes.
The door was finally pushed open, and Bodoo stormed in.
He sighed when he saw Light "unconscious" on the floor…
His goal had been to give him an explanation of the earlier incident, but seeing him still out, he put Light back on the bed and simply left.
—
The next afternoon, Light was back in his room and on his bed.
He retrieved the book handed to him earlier by Wasp. It had a dried blood stain at its sharp upper edge.
The sturdiness of the cover had surprised him the moment he touched it, and he decided to keep it for utility, which he used to end Theo.
He suspected that only Kingsley saw his stunt, but for some reason kept silent about it… that silence had been unsettling him until he heard Edict and Wasp's conversation earlier.
Another memory of Lyra flashed past suddenly. He drew back his arm, hurling the book away with all his strength.
The door opened the moment the book was about to hit it, and beyond it was Bodoo.
He reacted almost instantly, stretching his free arm and catching the book easily.
He then raised a brow as he felt something scratch his palm.
"Wow, this is one deadly weapon. I never knew it was this sharp," he said as he wiped his mildly bleeding palm on his clothes before entering.
"I always wondered how you could pierce the evolved skin of an awakener with only your fingers while being level one… guess this solves that part of your mystery."
Light didn't entertain him. He was simply too vexed to say anything.
He had been trying as hard as possible to erase the image of Lyra and forget her betrayal, but his stupid heart kept bleeding, replaying Edict's words.
He looked up at Bodoo with reddened eyes and spoke in a heavy voice.
"Why?"
Bodoo was about to climb up his bunker when he paused at the question.
"Are you okay? You seem unwell… a quest failure penalty, perhaps?"
Light asked again, this time tightening his jaw so the words slipped through clenched teeth.
"Why, Bodoo?"
"Easy there, tough guy. I don't know what's up with you all of a sudden, but you're giving me the creeps.
You should be thanking me instead of asking me why… you must have noticed it by now.
The news that Akumo went to the Sanction Block because of a newbie has already spread… you just need to make them know you're that newbie by dominating all the level one newbies in the lower zones. I even compromised my own safety in the process. Now I'll need to live in fear of assassination when he returns."
Light ignored Bodoo's explanation entirely as he faced down, burying his head into the bed… for a moment, he forgot the boy Lightless and allowed Light's vulnerability to take over, sobbing quietly.