Hollow Twilight - A LitRPG Novel

Chapter 33

Another shadow flew past Reid. This one twisted at the end, sweeping past his leg and clipping the side of it, dragging more of it away into a blur behind his body. The pain seeped out a second after, spreading up into his thigh and hip. It faded as adrenaline kicked in but he wasn't sure how many more of these hits he could sustain. He wasn't bleeding as far as he could tell, and Lykia's admission this was all mental helped that make sense.

But this would definitely kill him. Pariahs didn't do things just to play mind games. Either this would destroy his mind or transfer damage to his body. It had to do something if a Pariah was wielding it.

"Why don't you try to fight again?" Lykia asked. Another shadow was coiled around its arm and it slowly waved from side to side in a taunt.

"I'm not stupid," Reid replied. His own shadow came out to parry another attack, barely reacting in time to deflect it. He was astonished at the speed Lykia's attacks had. They far surpassed anything Reid had seen from his own skills. He suspected it had something to do with this mental realm where Lykia felt at home and could bend rules as needed. What were the rules in a realm inside your head?

"What are you doing here?" It was Gilphorus's voice, dark and sinister. Reid felt his skin crawl in response. But it wasn't coming from the back of his mind, like usual. It felt like he was really saying it, really there.

Reid dared to take his eyes off Lykia for a moment, turning to the side where he thought he heard the voice. There was a figure standing next to him, wreathed in shadows or, as Reid looked closer, composed of them. They were the same height as Reid, same build, it was like staring into his own reflection.

Oh shit.

"This is my domain," Gilphorus continued, pointing an accusatory finger at Lykia. "Your pathetic filth stains it." Lykia didn't respond. Their smile had vanished, just a thin flat line on their featureless face. If anything they seemed...fearful?

Gilphorus shot forward, moving so fast Reid's eyes couldn't keep up. One moment he had been next to Reid, the next he was in front of Lykia, only the fading blur behind him evidence he hadn't teleported. He grabbed Lykia's face, gripping tightly and lifting the Pariah's feet off the ground. Without hesitation, he slammed the monster down into the road, smashing into the asphalt and burying the body.

"Nothing should ever come here." Gilphorus spat onto the body, his hand still holding Lykia's face, pushing them down into the ground. "Nothing should ever set foot in my world."

Gilphorus pushed down harder on Lykia until the creature's skull caved in, compressing its face into the earth and flattening its head entirely. The rest of its body went limp.

"What the hell?" Reid shouted, his brain finally catching up with everything. Just like that it was over. Gilphorus stood up from the corpse, shaking off dark drops of blood from his hand like excess water. A minor inconvenience.

Gilphorus turned his attention to Reid. In his face, Reid could see the outlines of familiar details: his own nose, his mouth. All of it was completely black so the eyes were unrecognizable but the idea was there.

"Don't let that kind of animal in here again," Gilphorus said, shaking his head in disappointment. "They sully me."

"What? What? They...what? What is going...why do you look like...me? Is this what you are?"

Gilphorus glanced down at himself then back to Reid. He laughed his horrible, familiar laugh, leaving behind his furious anger. "To see my form in this world would drive you to insanity. I took on a shape I thought would preserve your mind."

Reid chewed on the information. A lot had just happened in very little time and he was already in another dimension so he was at least more open to wild things. "I thought you wanted me to go insane? Isn't that why you're always taunting me?"