They stood in uncertainty, their expressions mirroring confusion—this was not where they expected their mission to take them.
“Um… sis?”
“Yeah?”
“It is here, right?”
“It says so on the watch.”
“Then…” Red pointed toward the ominous, gaping mouth before them. “How in the world are we supposed to retrieve everyone’s uniforms here?”
“Red… I have no idea.”
Blue began moving toward the entrance without hesitation.
“Hey, wait!” Red chased after his sister, matching her pace.
The corridor within was unnaturally smooth and unnervingly dark—no speleothems, no natural formations, just an eerie emptiness. But the further they walked, the more the path began to change. Crystalline ore emerged from the ground, glowing faintly. Their light cut through the darkness like divine rays piercing a shroud.
“It’s so pretty.” Blue’s eyes glimmered with wonder as she stepped into the radiant path. She danced among the beams like a spirit born of light, her exaggerated shadow trailing behind her in a gentle mimicry.
Red followed, smiling faintly. Her energy had always been something he admired. It was always as though the environment bent to her rhythm, and she—graceful as ever—danced alongside it. Protecting that part of her, so rare and admirable, was the conviction that carried his authority.
But suddenly, she stopped and stood still for a long while.
“You’re thinking about what he said, right?” Red asked, reading her silence. “About us?”
Blue remained still, eyes trained forward. “I refuse to believe we made a mistake.”
“Of course not,” Red said firmly. “And maybe… maybe he doesn’t think so either.”
She turned her head slightly. “What makes you say that? From what I saw, he sees our dependency as a flaw he’s determined to fix.”
“It looked that way,” Red admitted. “But if that were really the case, then why put us together on this mission?”
Blue’s brows furrowed, her mind wrestling with Cosmo’s motives.
“At first, I thought it didn’t matter—retrieving uniforms? Easy enough. But considering this location… It's definitely a trial. Which most likely means, he wants us to work together.”
“It seems so. The instructors back at the academy always separated us, thinking it’d be better for individual development, but he didn't.”
“I’m glad he accepted us as we are.” Blue’s voice then cooled, suspicious. “But something about him still rubs me the wrong way.”
“I get it,” Red replied. “But if he’s going to use us for his own benefit, I see no reason why we can’t do the same.”
If they were truly pawns for Cosmo’s mysterious intent, they might as well take advantage of such a stepping stone towards their own goals.
“Blue laughed lightly, amused by his rebellious pragmatism. She’d never grown tired of that strange outlook he carried—facing every storm with clarity and calm. He wouldn't be seen being swayed by factors such as impossibility or difficulty.
She’d staked her authority on supporting that strength.
“Hm?” Her lighthearted expression vanished. Something in the atmosphere shifted.
Red noticed it too, quickly stepping behind her to guard her back.
They stood, back to back, inside a massive cavern they’d wandered into.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
The warning was subtle—most wouldn’t notice—but as trained Eminents, they could detect the smallest inconsistencies in terrain. It was a skill honed to identify one thing: shadow beasts.
This time, it wasn’t just subtle… It was ominous.
The walls—those smooth, luminous walls—had blotches that didn’t make sense. Patches of black so dense, they absorbed the crystal light instead of reflecting it. And then, the darkness began to move.
It poured from the walls like corrupted ink—pitch-black goo that spilled and slithered. It didn’t just drip—it crawled.
Shapes formed.
Dozens of them.
Crawling down the cavern, they hissed—a metallic screech, like blades scraping stone.
Dark, draconic creatures the size of horses took form from the liquid night.
“Sh-Shadow beasts?!” Blue gasped.
“But we’re still in Veil territory… there shouldn’t be any.” Red’s voice was tight. Then his watch beeped, projecting a woman’s voice:
Blue and Red glanced at the watch as the voice continued.
“So this thing has a smart database? Cool.” Red remarked, eyebrows raised.
“Forget that—it just said extraterrestrial, not shadow continent.” Blue’s voice sharpened. “And I’m not sensing any negative matter from them either, which means they aren’t shadow beasts. Yet, there’s really no way these things are from Earth.”
Red’s expression darkened. The data made no sense. The origins of creatures were usually classified as either from the shadow continent or from natural Earth origin. “No way…” he whispered.
They both turned to the oncoming swarm.
“They’re… normal creatures.” Red muttered. “Not just that—they might be…”
“Aliens?” Blue finished grimly.
The black dragons charged—giving no more time for speculation.
“Chain Trap!” Red shouted, slamming his palm into the ground.
Golden chains burst up in a web of blinding speed, entangling the closest dragons and pinning them to the cavern floor.
“Hey, sis!” he called.
But she hesitated.
“Ah…” She snapped from her daze. “I’m not sure I can do this.”
“What?”
“They’re… living creatures. This might be too far—”
Suddenly, a dragon from the rear lunged. Its right foreleg morphed into a scythe, and it tore through the air toward Red.
“Impale!” A spike of crimson steel exploded from the ground, impaling the beast mid-air.
Blue lowered her finger. “Blue Acciari. Authority of Blood Blade. Don’t you dare touch my brother, you stains!”
Her tone was nothing like before—almost traceless was her initial hesitance.
Red chuckled. “Sorry sis… this might be something we have to do.”
“I know.” She nodded reluctantly.
If she could choose, she would’ve preferred an authority like Red’s Heart Chain. Her Blood Blade didn’t offer restraint. It was built for hunting, for piercing, for lethal precision. It was the perfect shadow beast-slaying art.
But if it meant protecting Red, the choice was quite simple.
“Steel Daisy!” Blue clenched her fist, then flared her fingers.
Blades erupted in a perfect radial burst from her position, skewering every chained dragon in reach.
The battle truly began then.
The dragons morphed like aggressive slimes—scales rippling into bladed surfaces, limbs shifting into jagged weapons. But Red and Blue responded with practiced synergy—trapping, skewering, evading, again and again.
Claws grazed them. Teeth tore into the air. They bled—but only slightly.
Then Blue leapt out of the swarm to gain some space, launching a rupture of blades to clear space.
She rolled and recovered, eyes darting—only to see Red dive out behind her, swinging free from the melee.
They returned back-to-back again.
“There’s no end to them!” Red growled.
“They don’t stay down… and they’re not bleeding either,” Blue observed. What’s worse—the dragons had begun adapting, morphing their bodies around her blades, and slipping through Red’s bindings.
From above, a mass of dragons swarmed downward.
Blue responded with an umbrella of rotating blades, shielding them both and sending the attackers crashing away.
“Awesome job, Blue!”
Blue prepared another strike. She channeled energy into a single, massive blade—set to sprout behind her. But just as it was about to be launched—
She froze.
“W-what?”
“Uh? You okay?” Red asked, concerned.
The blade behind her sprouted immediately towards Red—but slowed, dulled, and faded just before reaching him. The ones she had sprouted before also followed suit.
“Blue, what are you doing?!”
“He never calls me that…” she whispered.
“What?”
She gritted her teeth. No matter how many times she asked, or how much she begged—her brother had never called her by name for some strange reason. She’d long accepted it.
“Red would never call me Blue!” she screamed.
Blades erupted below the target—and though they were weak, she tried to compensate with sheer numbers. Though this person dodged them smoothly.
“Who are you?!” she demanded. “Where is my brother?!”