The Primal Hunter

Out of all the beings in the Colosseum that Jake was aware of, Umbra was the most powerful, at least on the outside. She was a true pinnacle being who stood side-by-side with the Primordials. Yet, despite knowing this, Jake never really felt any trepidations when he was about to face her.

Artemis also seemed very unconcerned with the fight itself but was more interested in how Umbra would address the fight. She couldn’t say anything directly, though, as she was still under the influence of Nevermore’s rules to not share information. She couldn’t even give any tips on the fights themselves, outside of very vague statements that didn’t really help.

On the night of the match, it was already way past sundown as the crescent moon hung far up in the air. The arena had artificial magic lighting, so it wasn’t like the arena was dark when Jake walked up the steps and stood behind the bars. The stands were also filled despite the less-than-optimal lighting conditions.

Also, due to the magic lighting, one thing that benefitted her greatly was abundant. The many pillars, the audience stands, and every piece of clutter spread around led to shadows everywhere. What’s more, multiple light sources resulted in several more shadows than normal, meaning something like the pillars were surrounded by shadows in all directions. Even Jake threw several shadows due to the lamps hanging around the entrance area.

It was, for all intents and purposes, a near-perfect battleground for Umbra. Looking at her at the other end of the arena, Jake saw a hooded dark elf who seemed to almost meld into the shadows simply by existing. Due to her cloak, Jake couldn’t see what kind of armor she wore, but he assumed it to be light leather armor due to her identity as an assassin.

She observed him back as the bars began to lower. With a sigh, she walked into the arena, Jake and her meeting in the middle like he had done with every other opponent. Seriously, it wasn’t a rule that you had to have a little introductory chat before fighting, but he had one with every single opponent anyway.

“So, here we finally are,” Umbra said, speaking first. “Not that surprising, now is it? I have kept an eye on you for a while, which I am sure you already knew.”

“I have noticed that I had a stalker a few times, yeah,” Jake nodded. “Seemed a bit overkill to watch what I ate for dinner if you were just researching me. Heck, if you wanted to know something, you could have just walked up and asked, and I would have probably answered truthfully.”

“Usually, I would scoff at such a statement, but based on my observations, that is entirely possible,” Umbra sighed. “Alas, I deemed it best to not approach. Oh, I also hope you do not think negatively of me for having us fight at a time advantageous to me.”

“Hey, it’s less bullshit than the number of earth mages who were clearly just strong in the arena because the floor is made of sand,” Jake shrugged with a smile.

Umbra sighed again. “Your casual demeanor doesn’t exactly help my confidence, but seeing as you are of the truthful sort, let me ask you something. Do you believe I stand any chance of winning this bout?”

“In all honesty? No, not unless you can pull some serious bullshit out of your ass,” Jake said, being as truthful as she wanted him to be.

“Would it surprise you to hear me concur with that conclusion?” Umbra said as she summoned a black dagger into her hand. “Nevertheless, I shall try my best. I will show you all that I have and truly determine the limits of your powers… and simply hope that is enough.”

With those words, her entire body swayed as the dark elf disappeared into a nearby shadow. Umbra’s presence was entirely erased, and even using his sphere, Jake couldn’t locate her. He also knew why. While it was honestly a bit bullshit a level 0 could do it, she had entered the shadow realm. An odd realm that Jake didn’t fully understand but that Umbra was known as the master of. One where space no longer operated as it usually did, allowing her to do something similar to what she did next.

Despite disappearing in front of him, a figure exploded out from a shadow right behind him less than half a second later, her dagger aimed straight at his guts. Jake reacted instantly, dodging to the side as he pulled out his bow in one hand and a katar in the other.

Umbra tried to strike him again, but he deflected several blows using his weapons before the dark elf disengaged, merging into another shadow. Jake instantly nocked an arrow as he waited for her to appear again, something she did only a second later. Before she had even fully emerged, Jake shot an arrow at her, forcing Umbra to block with her daggers. Jake made it explode at that very moment, making the dark elf slide backward, stumbling a bit from the blast. He hadn’t done any real damage, though, as the shadows that lingered on her had entirely blocked his destructive arcane energy.

Jake felt her gaze on him as she leaned to the side, merging into a pillar right beside her. Waiting with another arrow ready, Jake was taken a bit by surprise, as rather than an entire elf, only an arm throwing a dagger emerged from a shadow. He still shot his arrow, but the hand merged back into the darkness before it hit, resulting in him only blowing up some sand.

of the barrage, his opponent fully emerged once more, this time charging right for him as she threw four small

back right as the four small daggers she had thrown flew into a pillar, merged with its shadows, and flew out of another nearby pillar aimed for

two katars, as he wondered what she was doing. Right then, Jake saw movement within two shadows to her side. Out of them emerged two figures entirely cloaked in dark mana. Umbra’s body also changed as the same shadowy aura fully embraced her body, making her appear identical to her shadow clones, and all three of them disappeared

of the pillars surrounding him, brandishing black

phasing through it. It was only a fraction of a second after he was struck by the daggers that he swayed to the side as a black bullet swished by,

arena. Making a show out of summoning two clones to actually summon three and try to snipe him from a distance was a pretty good strategy that would

the distance, he couldn’t

didn’t seem to appreciate his comment as she fired another bullet that Jake easily dodged. He could admit that had any of those bullets hit him, it would probably have

away as she merged back into the shadows. Instantly, she appeared nearly right beside Jake, swinging her dagger as

However, her speed didn’t translate into any successful hits, as Jake could easily keep up with her despite his lower speed due to the

Having her arm swinging a dagger suddenly turn into two mid-swing would probably take most by surprise and make it hard to dodge, but to Jake, this was just Umbra wasting resources as he could easily tell the

her strategy slightly on the fly, but Jake stayed one step ahead at

better himself. But… he did know he was winning in the resource department. As a fast assassin, Umbra was not built for long jeopardy but to end the fight as fast as possible through, well, assassination. Swift, deadly hits that would quickly

couldn’t let things go on as they were. She still continued fighting head-on for a bit longer while still trying to take him by surprise with her thrown daggers and shadow trickery. But, as she slowed down to try and preserve her stamina and mana, Jake took advantage and landed

Jake felt the energy begin to gather

“Abyssal Shadow.”

was no light, no warmth, nothing for one’s Perception to grasp onto. It was a world of pure shadows, where all senses died. Sight, hearing,

but didn’t even feel it. He only knew it had even moved due to the feedback from his sphere.

movements were slow as Umbra was clearly also affected by the Abyssal Shadow domain. Getting closer, she brandished her dagger, ready to plunge it into the back of Jake’s head as he turned around at the very last

clearly expected this as she stepped back to avoid getting hit. What she had not expected was Jake expecting she would have expected his punch, so when his fist revealed itself to be holding five arrows of arcane energy, she was

moment, the domain of shadows was dissolved where the explosion had been. Jake dove forward through the destructive arcane energy that was rapidly being suppressed as he, for but a moment, laid his eyes

getting hit in the shoulder. A second explosion of destructive arcane mana sent her floating back through the water-like Abyssal Shadow, yet before she even landed, the

rapidly returned. For a moment, the faint light in the arena was almost blinding, but he quickly adjusted and

as he prepared to potentially engage, Umbra sighed loudly.

it felt more like Umbra was testing the limits of

blame her… for an assassin; Jake was the worst matchup

for the fight anyway,”

nodded. “Alas, it was not one I was meant to win. I wish you luck facing the final Champion,

eyebrow and wanted to ask more as the dark elf merged into a nearby shadow and reemerged back at her exit to the arena, clearly not interested in talking any longer. Jake just looked

telling me to not face the Grand Champion just makes