Chapter 13 : Shadow Trick

Rachel walked up the stairs to the second floor.
It was eerily quiet.
Although it was daytime, the house was very dark.
The curtains covered every window tightly, and with the dark clouds outside, it felt as if day had not yet broken.

The moment her foot stepped into the second-floor living room, it was as if she had stepped into a shadow, and the surroundings rapidly turned dark.
It was as if all light had been sucked away, and the already dim living room was plunged into complete darkness.
Because she had suddenly gone from a visible environment to darkness, Rachel’s eyes couldn’t adjust immediately, and she was temporarily unable to see her surroundings.

‘Is it a spell that removes light?’ she wondered.

“Anyone home?” Rachel asked tentatively, her tone light.

She unhurriedly took out her phone, unlocked the screen, opened the flashlight app, and turned it on.

In the light, a black, featureless face appeared before her, only an arm’s length away.

“What the f*ck!” Rachel was startled.
She took a step back, putting distance between herself and the black face, while her left hand subconsciously threw a jab at the black face, but it hit nothing.

It was a slender, black figure, with no outline of clothes or muscles, and no human features, like a three-dimensional shadow.

‘What is this thing? Can’t I touch it?’
Rachel stared warily at the black figure.
She had just thrown a punch, and the distance was right.
There was no way she could have missed.
Her fist had clearly passed right through the figure’s face, as if she had put her hand into thin air, touching nothing.

The black shadow still stood in its original position, motionless.
Its body looked light and airy, like smoke.
Its body seemed to be semi-transparent; through the light, Rachel could vaguely see the background behind the black shadow.
It was like a virtual projection, a picture cast into this world from a machine.

At that moment, the black shadow spoke.
It had no mouth, but the sound naturally came from its face.
The voice was low and hoarse, like the cry of a drake.

“What’s, your name?”

“What?” Rachel thought she had misheard.

“What’s your name?”

“Name?”

‘This thing can talk, and its thoughts are so jumpy?’

“My surname is ‘Father’ and my given name is ‘Dear,’ you can call me Father,” Rachel sneered.
“I’m your dad!”

The black shadow moved.
It flowed like an ink-stained wind, drifting away from its original position and flying towards the wall.

“Trying to run?”

Rachel made a grasping motion with her right hand.
A black ice cone condensed in front of her palm.
Rachel waved her hand and threw it.
The ice cone shot out with a whooshing sound, heading straight for the black shadow’s forehead.

“Thud!”

However, the ice cone also passed straight through the black shadow and embedded itself in the wall.

“What’s going on?” Rachel frowned.
‘Can I really not touch this thing?’

Under Rachel’s gaze, the black shadow slowly pressed itself against the wall.
Its body gradually sank into the wall, and finally, it completely disappeared behind the wall.

Rachel was a little confused.
What was this strange black shadow, and what was its purpose?
Was it another monster controlled by Blake Morton’s magic?
It seemed this thing could talk.
Did it have its own consciousness and could communicate with people, or was the voice coming from it all the content that Blake Morton, hidden behind it, wanted to express?

But for now, this thing didn’t seem to pose a threat.
After all, it seemed unable to interact with the real world.
But where did it go?

Rachel held up her phone, letting the light shine as far as possible, trying to see where the black shadow might appear.
Since the black shadow could pass through obstacles to leave, it could naturally pass through objects to return.

“What’s your name?”

The voice came from behind Rachel.
Rachel turned her head and saw the black shadow standing behind her.

The black shadow raised its right hand, forming a claw, and reached for Rachel’s cheek.

Rachel’s reaction was a bit slow, and she didn’t dodge.
Her inner conflict had slowed her down.
On the one hand, she felt that since this black shadow didn’t have the ability to touch objects, it naturally wouldn’t pose a threat to her.
At the same time, she also wanted to know what effect the black shadow would have when it touched a living being.
On the other hand, the black shadow came from the unknown and was related to the wanted criminal Blake Morton.
Any carelessness could put her in danger.
In this situation, she should still try to avoid any possible harm this existence might cause.

Just as the black shadow’s right hand was about to touch Rachel, the virtual feeling about it suddenly disappeared, and its semi-transparent body became completely black.
Rachel could no longer see the scenery behind the black shadow through the light of her phone.
The black shadow seemed to have changed from the projection of the previous moment to a solid entity.

‘This is bad.’

Rachel didn’t know what effect this change would have, but she now felt that she was facing a threat.
Rachel secretly regretted it; she had been too arrogant.
Her hesitation and conceit had dragged her into danger.

Sharp claws slashed across Rachel’s face.
Rachel’s figure retreated violently, putting distance between herself and her opponent the moment she was injured.

The black shadow moved like an old, dilapidated machine, its body stopping and starting, its limbs twisting stiffly.
Rachel felt as if she could hear a “creaking” sound and the sharp sound of rusty metal scraping against each other.

“What’s, your name?”

Rachel touched her face.
The opponent’s claws had left three thin, long bloody marks on her left cheek.
Now she dared not be arrogant anymore.
At least, until she figured out what she was facing, she couldn’t let her guard down.

“What’s, your name?”

The black shadow was still repeating this sentence in its low, hoarse, drake-like voice.
It seemed it couldn’t say anything else.

“Enough, is that the only thing you can say?”

Rachel lowered her hand.
The wounds on her face healed at a speed visible to the naked eye.
She spread her hands, and black ice cones condensed on her palms again.
Rachel swung her hands forcefully, throwing both ice cones at the same time, one at the opponent’s head and one at its groin.

The black shadow immediately returned to its semi-transparent, virtual state from when they first met.
The ice cones passed through its transparent body and embedded themselves in the wall again.
The black shadow passed through the wall and disappeared from Rachel’s sight once more.

“Hit and run, huh? Don’t be a coward!” Rachel cursed.

Now Rachel could basically be sure that the opponent had two forms.
In its semi-transparent, virtual state, it could pass through objects and obstacles at will, not touching any object, not taking damage, and not causing damage.
In its black, solid state, it could interact with objects and attack with them, but it probably couldn’t avoid damage or pass through walls.
Otherwise, it wouldn’t have needed to become virtual again to dodge her attack and pass through the wall just now.

Rachel suddenly felt a very familiar feeling.
It was as if she had seen this kind of thing somewhere before.
She had a strange, faint impression of this ability in her mind.

In the room, Blake hid his body in the darkness, making sure he wouldn’t be discovered by Rachel on the second floor.

“It seems she hasn’t figured out my ability yet,” he secretly observed the battle between the beautiful girl and his shadow.
“Logically, if she had read a few more books, she should have realized it by now.”

“No matter what, I have to leave now.”

“Where did it go?”

Rachel strained to observe her surroundings.
She walked to the balcony door, pulled open the curtains that were blocking the light from outside on the door and the surrounding windows, and kicked the glass door that sealed the balcony open, letting as much sunlight as possible into the room.

It was finally a little brighter.
It was a pity that the sky was still very dark, and the sunlight was not very strong, but it was still a great help.
At least Rachel didn’t need to rely on her phone’s light to find her way.

Rachel came to the spot where the black shadow had disappeared and pressed her ear against the wall, trying to see if she could hear any sound from the next room.

She couldn’t hear anything.
Wasn’t this guy in that room?

Then, she saw a semi-transparent short blade pass through the wall and appear in front of her.

After the short blade, another six or seven similarly semi-transparent blades passed through the wall and appeared in front of her.
The blades were of different styles and lengths: a fruit knife, a kitchen knife, a folding knife, a scalpel, and a bayonet?

“Holy sh*t!”

Rachel was terrified.
She immediately leaned back, her whole body falling to the ground, and did a quick, smooth back roll to put distance between herself and the wall.

Then, she heard a whooshing sound.
The semi-transparent blades all solidified and flew forward.
Although they had different appearances, they flew towards a unified target in a neat formation in mid-air.

Rachel raised her hand.
Black ice was released from her palm.
With the oppressive feeling of an iceberg, it condensed into a pitch-black ice wall in front of Rachel.
The blades were all deflected by the ice wall.

‘That was terrifying.’
A drop of cold sweat slid down her forehead.

Blake, hidden deep in the villa, also observed this scene through his mirror.
He looked at the black ice wall Rachel had created and said in a confident tone:

“I know your psionic ability now, beautiful lady. It’s ‘Xeno-ice.’ No wonder you dared to come here looking for me with only two people. You do have the capital.”

Blake put something into a small black suitcase.
“Maybe I should just stay here and kill this woman before leaving. That would be more stable. Otherwise, she’s too much of a threat.”

But he gave up the idea after a few seconds of thought.
The difficulty was too great, and the cost was too high.

Rachel dispelled the ice wall and carefully recalled everything that had happened in her exchange with the black shadow.

“Black shadow, passing through walls, solidifying…”

She suddenly remembered why it felt so familiar.
The abilities displayed by the black shadow were very similar, even identical, to a psionic ability she had read about in her research.

The black shadow emerged from the wall and appeared in front of Rachel again.

“What’s your name?” it said.

“Name your sister mother” Rachel said, looking at the black shadow as if it were already dead.
“Do you believe I can kill you?”

“What’s, your name?” The black shadow moved, flying quickly towards Rachel.
The living room was small, so it didn’t take much effort for the black shadow to fly to Rachel’s side and solidify again to attack.

“It’s useless,” Rachel’s voice was as melodious as a lark’s, but it also carried a strong chill, like an iceberg, cold and hard.

“I already know your ability, Blake Morton!” Rachel sidestepped the black shadow’s attack, looked up at the ceiling, and shouted loudly, “You’ve awakened a psionic ability, haven’t you?”

The black shadow’s figure paused slightly, then lunged again.

“What’s your name!”

The black shadow came to Rachel’s side, its black claws already close to her throat.
It seemed that in the next moment, Rachel’s life would be extinguished, and blood would splatter on the spot.

“F*cking shut up!”

Rachel threw a hammer fist, hitting the black shadow’s solidified head before it could act, and slammed the black shadow to the ground.
The black shadow couldn’t react in time and met the mahogany floor with its face in a close encounter.

“Want to know my name? Fine, no problem.”

She ignored the black shadow and shouted down the hallway:

“My name is Rachel Ronald. As you can see, my psionic ability is ‘Xeno-ice.'”

“Blake Morton, I know you’re nearby, and I know you can hear me,” Rachel said, shaking her right hand, which had just knocked down the black shadow.
“I didn’t expect the intelligence I had to be so outdated. Your strength has improved a lot recently. If I’m not mistaken, your psionic ability should be ‘Shadow Trick,’ right?”

Shadow Trick, one of the documented psionic abilities.
Its ability was to summon one’s own shadow separately, detaching it from its own body, to fight as a black stand-in.
The shadow could choose between two forms: virtual and solid.
In its virtual state, it could pass through all objects and could also virtualize a certain number of objects that met the restrictions.
At the same time, the virtualized shadow had to be outside of any object and have enough space before it could solidify.

This psionic ability had a range limit of 20 meters, which meant that at this moment, Blake Morton had to be nearby.

“You really live up to the title of ‘genius,’ Morton. You were already a master of magic from the Astral Academy, and now you’ve awakened a psionic ability. I was caught off guard by this move you were hiding. But, you probably haven’t awakened it for long, right? You’re still very inexperienced with this ‘stand-in.'”

It was quiet all around.
No one answered Rachel.
In this environment, Rachel speaking felt like she was talking to herself.

“Come out, Morton. Don’t cower like a turtle,” she said, her hands in her pockets.
“Otherwise, I’ll have to ‘invite’ you out.”

Rachel lifted her right foot slightly and stomped it on the ground.
With the heavy thud of her heel hitting the floor, black ice spread out from the sole of her black leather shoe, radiating outwards.
The black ice spread like a spiderweb, covering the living room floor, then crawling up the walls and ceiling, and then seeping through the cracks in the doors into every room, sliding up to the attic and down to the first floor.

The black ice gathered more and more, quickly covering the entire living room like light.
A vast chill greedily devoured the temperature in this space, and the surroundings rapidly cooled down, jumping from scorching heat to bitter cold.

“If you don’t come out, you’ll freeze to death.”

Rachel and Blake had adopted similar but completely different tactics.
Both were depriving the surroundings of an environmental factor to create favorable conditions for themselves.
One was wantonly stripping the nearby heat, trying to force out the opponent with low temperatures; the other was frantically drawing away the surrounding light, wanting to use a visual advantage to hide and defeat the opponent.