'Enough!' Hunter roared, their ected minds trembling.

  Leo froze, his steps faltering. Most of the bloodlust c through his three pilrs withdrew, the insatiable hunger and want for blood following right after. It didn't feel much different from that oime when Lily dropped a bucket of ice-cold water on his head.

  What? Leo grimaced, his right hand ing to rest on the hole in his shoulder. With Focused Bloodlust mostly gohe flickering fme of pain reigurning into a fiery inferno. What did you do, Hunter? We o end it fast!

  'Refocus,' the beast hissed, and a sudden surge of Essence rushed into the open wound, lessening the pain. ''t win. Not like this. Look.'

  Not even moving his hand away, now drenched in red, Leo followed Hunter's and, his gaze returning to the Voidlings in the distance. Durning Focused Bloodlust, he didn't notice it, but the two new additions to the battlefield were uifiable. The skill just wouldn't work on them...

  structs. Leo frowned. It fug created two living and breathing moo fight. I thought it just split like the guardian... Shit. Think it create more?

  Hunter growled, bringing forth a short memory of Shadow Cw's entry from Bestiary. It was barely a fsh, a few lines of text, yet it was more than enough for Leo to uand.

  Fuck... I thought that only meant a bit more Esseo py with, not unlimited power! How broken is this shit?

  Yet, as this realization finally hit him, Leo had no idea how to deal with it. He had tried almost everything, and the Voidling matched him each time. Hell, even Phantom Erasure, fuelled by Focused Bloodlust, only made the beast more furious.

  Well, it's c the side I hit, so it wasn't all for nothing, Leo noted, watg the Shadow Cw hide behind its structs. However, I'm not much better off. It bloody hurts...

  He could, of course, try again. Submerge in Focused Bloodlust, push Reinforet to its current limit, and even add Limit Break to the mix. A bination like this should make quick work of any other Voidling, but would it really be enough here?

  Could Leo's full power defeat a beast capable of anding the shadows of the entire isnd without breaking a sweat? Not to mentioens of Shadow Tails hiding irees all around them?

  And here I thought it would be a good match-up. Leo chuckled bitterly through the pain. Maybe if I didn't have a bloody hole in my shoulder, I could tinue, but is it really worth the risk now? I try again ter. Heal up with Devour and e back with a better pn now that I kn...

  'No,' Hunter growled, cutting him off. 'End it. Now.'

  Leo narrowed his eyes. What? You just said we 't win. What's with the ge of heart? And be quick. I doubt it will just let us stand here for much longer.

  'Trust me?' Hunter asked out of nowhere, the demonic voiusually quiet.

  You're a part of me. We live together. We fight together. If I 't trust you, then I even trust myself? Leo answered holy, even if the question baffled him. Didn't he already prove that he wouldn't reject Hunter?

  'Good. Follow me.'

  Without another word between them, a sudde dropped into Leo's mind. It spread and spread, enpassing everything there was.

  Feelings and desires not of his own assaulted his thoughts, finally painting a picture of what was happening.

  The want to live and grow rushed through his head, followed by the desire to fight and bee the stro. All those feelings and more that he couldn't uand now drifted in Leo's head, barely distinguishable from his own.

  Bloodlust came , overflowing all three pilrs like a tsunami. Yet, it didn't overwhelm Leo's mind, thus bringing forth the primal state of Focused Bloodlust. No, this time, it only fuelled the new and old feelings with renewed fire.

  'Feel it?' Hunter's voice echoed through Leo's head without any barriers. For a moment, he even thought it wasn't the beast speaking but him.

  I do, Leo whispered back. What's going on? We were ected before, but never like this.

  'Final step,' Hunter expined. 'Your turn.'

  My turn... Leo trailed off as the beast's feelings once more drifted through his head, pletely unguarded and free for him to read. Oh... That's what you mean.

  In the past, when Leo and Hunter ected to fight together, they ruly became ohey only shared instincts, some thoughts, and the desire to fight fuelled by bloodlust eled through the beast.

  This time, however, Hunter did much more than that. He smashed their minds together, breaking all the barriers between them. Or at least all the walls the beast had created. Leo's own still remained, waiting to be crushed.

  Final step. Fitting... For two to bee one.

  Taking a deep breath and just barely paying any attention to the Shadow the other side of the battlefield, Leo dived into his mind. He gathered everything that was his, even some stuff he didn't reize but definitely beloo him, and pushed at the st walls between him and Hunter.

  The first charge didn't do much; the subscious fear of fully opening himself to the creation of the Void absorbed the power behind the push. The one followed a simir pattern; however, a few simple words echoed in his mind before Leo could try again.

  'Trust me... Let it go.'

  A soft phantom hand touched his sciousness, begging him to let go. Leo swallowed and he grip on what was his sing. The barrage of emotions, thoughts, and much more rushed out, diving straight for the barricaded exit.

  "Let it go," Leo muttered, crushing the walls that blocked the path. "We are one."

  At once, everything that represented Leo and Hunter met for the first time. Thoughts ected, while emotions and desires, those hidden and obvious, bonded. All the secrets betweewo sides of the same disappeared in a blink, washing away all the questions they ever had for each other.

  I see... He mused with crity that shouldn't be possible. The's do it.

  With bloodlust still active, Lenited Reinfort and added a full-powered Limit Break to the mix. And so, with a step, he was gone, almost flying through the destroyed clearing.

  Oher side, the Shadow Cw reacted instantly, its tails once more pierg the ground.

  Spikes burst from the earth, oer another. However, Leo's paever wavered as he flipped above the obstacles or dodged to the sides. Somehow, long before each eruption, his senses screamed, warning him of the danger.

  Before long, a mere few feet separated Leo from the Voidling. The Apex's tails came to defense, but it was all for naught as with Reinfort's final burst, he pounced and snatched the limbs from mid-air.

  "Check, Mate," Leo hissed, and the power of his soul responded, surging out. "Take Over."

  Essence spilled out in waves, crashing against the Apex's skin. The beast howled, but unlike any other monster, it didn't give up. The e to the , the same that caused all of Leo's problems today, answered and dove for the power that tried to take over its host.

  "I don't think so," Leo growled and, with all his strength, attacked the link.

  Even bloodlust, only managed by Hunter, preseself freely, begging to be used in ways he hadn't before.

  Crimson cshed against shadows while the primal sciousness of the fought against the mind of a Prime. And what an uneven fight that was.

  Maybe if Leo and Hunter hadn't take step to synize, the could have won. But this time, they simply overpowered the link within the Voidling, their mind, bloodlust, and Essence crushing it into pieces.

  "It's done."

  The Apex Shadoled for the st time before falling silent, its eyes turning into the vibrant color of Leo's own. They shifted to face him, the gaze searg, curious.

  "Dismiss your minions," Leo anded, and the Voidling bowed, the two structs fading into mist. "Good. Now protect me."

  As the beast moved to circle him, Leo colpsed to the ground, a gasp leaving his lips. "Shit!" he grimaced as all his skills, along with Limit Break, deactivated at once. Even bloodlust retreated despite now being fully under his and.

  "My head!"

  An ache unlike any other, shot through his skull, threatening to burst it like a melon. Not even Leo's newfound crity could do anything to filter it out. And to make matters worse, Hunter's trick to stop the pain from his shoulder also disappeared.

  "B... b-bring me a Voidling, dead or alive. F-fast!" Leo screamed, hoping the and reached the link to his new subordinate.

  As time passed and Leo y trembling on the ground, the ao his prayers became obvious when three tiny corpses nded in front of his eyes. Without any thought, he pounced, sinking his cws into the soft flesh.

  Thank the Void. Leo sighed as the ache and pain faded to a somewhat manageable level. His Essence reserves were still mostly empty, but at least now he could rise from the ground.

  "We did it," Leo chuckled, his eyes drifting to the massive, six-legged Voidling standing guard a few feet away. "Holy shit, Hunter, we fug did it."

  However, instead of the usual victorious roar eg through his mind, nothing answered Leo's call. The once-fn thoughts, emotions, and desires were still there, now fully bonded with his mind, yet their previous owner was o be found.

  "Hunter?" Leo called out, both outside and inside. "e on, buddy, now is not the time to sleep! Wake up!"

  Only there was no oo wake.

  No. Leo shook his head, the ache fotten. No, no, no.

  Like a maniac, he dived bato his mind like he did a few minutes ago. Leo searched through every er, every drifting thought, hoping to find any sign of the beast that had bee his panion i few days.

  e on, Hunter! Where are you!?

  Once more, nobody answered.

  "Hunter," Leo muttered, falling to his khe final step. Trust me. Let it go... Was it a farewell? The st goodbye before I ed you and became who I was meant to be? A fully fledged Akirian?

  He shook his head, a lone bloody tear falling to the ground. I'm sorry… And thank you… for everything...

  Mier minute passed as Leo just khere, staring into the vast Void ahead. His mind became by of thoughts, even as the System's notifications begged to be aowledged.

  Just another minute. Leo sighed, only for something to suddenly nudge his injured shoulder. "Shit! Wha..."

  Bright violet eyes, tainted by a speck of crimso Leo's own. They gazed down at him, the former curiosity now repced by warmth and uanding.

  'Leo...'

  Chaos65