The tendrils came from everywhere at once.

  Left, right, above - each one a spear of solid shadow aimed at my chest. My blade moved on instinct, shadows meeting shadows in bursts of dark energy that hissed like water on hot steel.

  Block. Parry. Dodge.

  The world bled red at the edges, precognition firing in rapid succession. Half a second from now, a tendril pierces my left shoulder. A moment from now, three more converge on my position. A split-second after-

  I moved before the visions finished, boots sliding across shattered furniture as I ducked under a whip-crack strike that would've taken my head off.

  The woman - or what remained of her - stood in the center of the hallway. Black mass had consumed most of her body, flesh disappearing beneath writhing shadow that pulsed with its own heartbeat. Chains manifested around her, thick links of darkness that whipped through the air with enough force to splinter wood and dent metal.

  And she was growing.

  With every passing second, the mass expanded. Tendrils sprouted from her back, her sides, her shadow spreading across the floor like spilled ink. The air around her screamed - not sound, but pressure. Reality bending under the weight of something that didn't belong.

  My blade came up, cleaving through a tendril aimed at my throat. The severed piece hit the floor and dissolved into smoke. Three more replaced it instantly.

  I smiled despite the strain of the situation - restricting the urge to laugh the ridiculousness of the situation.

  This is crazy.

  This rate of progression has to be at least five times more quick than the previous ones.

  I was being pushed back. One step, then another, boots crunching over broken glass and torn fabric. My arms burned. Sweat soaked through my shirt beneath the cloak. Every breath came harder than the last.

  A flash - red vision showing me impaled in three places.

  I twisted left. The tendrils missed by inches.

  Another flash - chains wrapping around my throat.

  I ducked. The chains cracked overhead like thunder.

  But I couldn't dodge forever.

  A tendril caught me off-guard, slamming into my chest just as I brung my blade up. The impact drove the air from my lungs and hurled me backward. My spine hit the wall hard enough to crack plaster.

  Then the second impact came.

  A chain - thick as my arm and moving like a battering ram - smashed into my guard. I raised my blade on pure instinct, shadows flaring along its edge to absorb the blow.

  It wasn't enough.

  The force shattered through my defense, through the wall behind me, through everything. The world spun. Wind roared in my ears. Then I was falling, pieces of wall and ceiling raining around me like broken teeth.

  My stomach lurched.

  Below me stretched the ballroom - chandeliers, nobles in formal wear, polished floor gleaming three stories down.

  You've got to be fucking with me-?!

  I didn't want to waste the energy by using it. Each blink drained me. But broken bones would waste a lot more than energy.

  I blinked.

  Reality folded. The world compressed into a single point of darkness, then expanded again. My boots hit brass and crystal as I materialized on the nearest chandelier, the whole structure swaying violently under my sudden weight.

  Below, the ballroom erupted into chaos.

  Screaming. Panic. Nobles scrambling over each other as chairs toppled and glasses shattered. Some pointed up at me, their faces pale with terror. Others stared at the hole I'd made in the wall three stories above.

  I heard the whispers even through the chaos.

  "Inquisitor-!"

  "It can't be-"

  "What's happening-?"

  I ignored them, focusing on the darkness above.

  Tendrils gripped the edges of the shattered wall. Long, serpentine limbs of pure shadow that pulled and heaved, dragging something massive through the opening.

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  The black mass emerged slowly, grotesquely. It had grown easily twice the size it had been at the start. The woman's form was barely visible now, buried inside the writhing darkness. Chains circled the mass like orbiting moons, each link the size of my torso, all of them whipping through the air with terrible purpose.

  I couldn't contain it this time. I laughed. From stress or the rush of adrenalin, I couldn't tell.

  I'd fought them before. Tracked them. Cured the ones afflcited. But I'd never seen one transform this fast. Most took tens of minutes to fully corrupt. This one had gone from infected human to eldritch horror in under a minute.

  The shadow coating my blade seemed to grow agitated. It crawled around the blade, eager to explode.

  I stared at the emerging monster with wide eyes.

  It doesn't matter. The brass wants a show, so they're gonna get one.

  Below, the whispers turned to one screamed word, repeating among the endless crowd.

  "I-is that a-a...?"

  "NIGHTLURKER-!"

  I didn't have time to react as the tendrils launched toward me.

  I moved.

  One step left - the chandelier swayed. Two steps right - crystal chimed like bells. A tendril whistled past my ear, so close I felt the displacement of air through my mask.

  But the chandelier wasn't built for acrobatics.

  One of the tendrils ripped through the link of the chandelier with a sound like a gunshot.

  The whole structure lurched sideways.

  My vision flashed red.

  Below - a woman in a blue gown, frozen in terror as a thousand pounds of brass and crystal plummeted toward her head.

  Dammit.

  I blinked.

  First jump - down, grabbing her around the waist mid-fall.

  Second jump - sideways, clearing the impact zone as the chandelier exploded against marble with a deafening CRASH.

  I released her the moment we hit solid ground. She collapsed, dress pooling around her, eyes wide and uncomprehending as she stared up at me.

  Then her gaze shifted to something behind me.

  Her mouth opened in a silent scream.

  I spun, blade already rising-

  The black mass surged forward like a tidal wave.

  My sword came up, flat side forward. Shadows erupted along the blade's length, coiling outward until they formed a barrier - a wall of dark mist between me and oblivion.

  The impact rattled my teeth.

  The force drove me back three steps, boots skidding across marble. My arms shook. The gemstone beneath my hand vibrated under the pressure. But the barrier held.

  Barely.

  I grinned behind the mask, feeling the divine energy sing through my veins like liquid fire. Dopamine flooded my brain as the exhaustion faded.

  Nobles come first. Remember that, Damian. Now's not the time for petty hatred.

  What I needed now was a plan - and fast.

  Have I even fought one so infected before?

  The pressure vanished.

  The mass withdrew, tendrils retracting back into its core. For one heartbeat, the ballroom was silent except for sobbing and the crackle of my blade's shadows.

  Then I moved.

  The creature expected defense.

  It got offense.

  I blinked.

  Reality folded. I materialized behind the mass, blade already descending in a perfect arc. Shadows screamed as steel bit into corrupted flesh.

  The cut was clean. Deep.

  My smile underneath the mask widened.

  Bingo.

  And beneath the black, I saw white.

  Skin. Pale, unblemished skin visible through the wound before darkness rushed to seal it.

  She's almost a meter inside.

  I pulled back, calculating.

  The transformation started maybe a minute, a minute and ten seconds ago. She's been consumed about a meter deep. That means-

  A tendril caught me mid-thought, the image of it piercing my side flashing my eyes.

  I couldn't react in time.

  But I didn't need to.

  Shadow surged from the floor, creating a protective barrier between me and the tendril made of similar shadow.

  It slammed into my shadow, the protrusion of my shadow from the impact still hitting my ribs like a battering ram, lifting me off my feet and hurling me across the ballroom. I hit the ground hard, rolled three times, and came up gasping.

  Pain flared bright in my chest. Bruised ribs, maybe cracked. Not broken - I could still breathe.

  Focus. Do the math later.

  I forced myself upright, blade ready.

  One meter per minute. If the growth is linear, I've got... maybe two to three more minutes before she's completely consumed. After that...

  I didn't let the thought finish.

  Gunfire erupted from the side.

  Imperial guards had formed a firing line near the ballroom entrance. Their rifles barked in unison, muzzle flashes lighting up the smoke-filled air.

  Behind them, a man dressed in uniform befitting a commissar yelled with reverent authority, aiming his own revolver at the beast.

  "FIRE DAMN YOU! PROTECT THE INQUISITOR!"

  The bullets punched into the black mass. Most disappeared without effect. But a few struck true, drilling deep enough to make the creature flinch.

  It turned toward them.

  Thank you-!

  I blinked again.

  This time I appeared directly in front of the mass, blade already swinging. I aimed for center-mass, for where I'd seen that flash of white skin.

  The sword bit deep.

  Darkness parted. And there she was - face pressed against the inside of the mass like someone drowning beneath ice. Her features were serene, almost peaceful. Only her eyes betrayed the horror.

  They were completely black. Pupils, iris, whites - all of it consumed by shadow. But they saw me. Tracked my movement with terrible, alien intelligence.

  And they blazed with energy that made my skin crawl.

  I'd cut close. Too close. My blade had kissed her cheek, leaving a thin red line across pale skin.

  Almost there. Just need one more-

  Chains erupted around me.

  They wrapped my arms, my legs, my torso - pulling tight with crushing force. My sword arm went rigid, blade still embedded in the black mass.

  I couldn't move. Couldn't blink away without leaving my weapon behind.

  The mass surged forward, darkness flowing over me like water, covering my whole body.

  The girls eyes never left mine, and her skin was as pale as before, bar the new scar adorned on her cheek.

  "Apologies for the small mark. I'm sure if you ask the church, they'll treat your injury. Also..."

  I smiled lightly, staring into the dead eyes of the girl.

  "...I was hoping you'd do this. Its best those guys outside don't see this next part."

  I received no reaction. The black jade like eyes only swirled, an endless abyss hidden beneath it.

  I reached up, fingers finding the edge of my mask. The locking mechanisms disengaged with soft clicks.

  I ripped it off.

  My face, my eyes - crimson irises spiraling with impossible symbols - met her gaze directly.

  Red and black. Fate and void.

  The world started to blur.

  Sound faded - screams and gunfire and shattering glass all dimming to a distant murmur. The area around me dissolved at the edges, reality losing focus like a painting left in the rain.

  The black mass crawled up my chest, my neck, reaching for my face.

  Everything went dark.

  And in that darkness, I heard her cry.

  Not spoken. Not even whispered.

  Pressed directly into my mind.

  "Help... me...!"

  Then nothing.