A SHADOW'S ESCAPE.

1777, APRIL 03rd, SUNDAY 10:55pm.

White fire illuminated Noche's face from below as her eye lingered on Red's dissolving form. Shadows danced across her expression as her grim smile spread wide. Then she winced and turned to her left arm – it was vanishing in ivory flame.

The burst of corruption spread up the arm and towards her chest piece. From there all the limbs ignited and it a flash the armor vanished. Noche's body glitched harder than it had before as if she was on the brink of being erased from existence itself. The blonde slammed into the ocean waves sending a pillar of water into the air.

She bobbed on the surface of the water. Her left arm gone, her left eye still missing, and barely covered in a bloodied, tattered prison uniform. All the mutations she suffered as that anglerfish monster had gone away – as if it was a precursor to the manifestation of that armor. Even her right arm was back but with a noticeable scar encompassing her whole bicep like a ring.

The glitching didn't die down as she floated on the waves. She couldn't move, not because of the crippling pain, she could endure that, but because her body wouldn't respond to her. Part of her faded into and out of sight like she was oscillating between existing and not.

"It seems there's a time limit when wearing an armor made of corruption," she grunted. "Guess my resistance to the stuff is just that... Resistance. Not immunity."

Noche forced her head to rise above the waves as she scanned about for the other twin. She couldn't allow Blue to leave her sight. Not until she regained faculty over her body.

"Armor that makes me invincible, but will kill me if I wear it for too long," she muttered. "I guess that's a fair trade-off... I like to live on the razor's edge anyways."

The fingers of her right hand twitched and she regained some sensation in the limb.

"Seriously, my black knight mode kicked ass. Destroying everything that made contact with the armor," she said. "If only I wasn't part of that equation. Still, the ultimate defense made of the ultimate offense. I like it."

A loud, high pitch sound filled the air originating from the asylum. It was the siren Blue activated earlier to summon the hydra. As the sound reached her ears Noche's grin grew wider. She started laughing and within seconds the laughter became maniacal.

"Your little pet isn't going to help you now Red!" Noche cackled. "Oh, you're at general level? Fuck you! Your world-shattering augment didn't do dick against corruption! Did it, bitch?"

She swallowed some sea water and started coughing. Still, the laughter exploded out of her between breaths. She floated in the waves and cackled as sirens and storms filled the air. For the first time in forever, Noche was content.

Then her eye landed on Blue, who was still shellshocked at the sight of his brother. As if she was slapped, Noche's grin fell off her face.

"My fight isn't over yet," she muttered.

As if in response to her words, a portion of the world went dark. Almost as dark as everything had been mere moments before. This abnormal shadow took on a humanoid shape and appeared before Blue. He reacted with wide eyes and a gasp.

"Hello, Creator. I Never Had Such Freedom Before. I Explored Far And Wide."

"How! The lamps!" Blue's eyes widened further. "The light-devouring scream."

"That Is Correct. Those Pesky Lamps Were No Obstacle When Darkness Overtook Everything," it said. "I Was Angry At You And Red. I Wanted Revenge. But When The Black Knight Killed Your Brother, I Knew I Didn't Want To See My Progenitors Die."

Noche narrowed her eye at the newcomer; she didn't like where this was going. The blonde use all her willpower to move, but her arm only covered the distance of a few inches. She was still glitching too much, still teetering in a place between existence and nothingness.

"I Offer You A Chance To Escape."

NO!" Noche screamed. "Don't you dare! I'm not done with you yet!"

"I Don't Think She Will Stay Down For Long," it said. "We Better Hurry. I Do Not Wish To Fight Such A Terrifying Monster. Even In A World Of Shadows."

When Noche regained some sensation in her legs, she grit her teeth and took a risk. She launched herself into the sky with all her might – corruption manifested into a left arm and she threw a punch at the shadow.

The punch didn't connect. Not because the shadow moved, but because it's almost as if it wasn't there to begin with. Unlike the bell divers, it wasn't like punching a being made of energy. It was more like an absence of light – there was no existence to erase.

Noche contemplated how that made no sense as her head went into the shadow being's torso. Something had to be holding it together, whether it was energy or even magic. Something was causing a shadow to exist in humanoid form and somehow she missed that something.

Maybe it had a core hidden somewhere and that core produced a humanoid aura that redirected light particles. Whatever the reason, she knew in her heart she could erase it. However, figuring out how something defied physics was too complicated while tumbling through the air.

With a spin she aimed for Blue next, however, the man had drawn a dagger and threw it at her. She managed to twist enough to have the blade slam into her shoulder – the force sent her flying back to the waves. She hit the ocean and skipped across it like a tossed stone.

Before Noche could recover a portal of pure darkness appeared before Blue and the Shadow. They both walked into it and before it closed the Grave brother turned to Noche. She screamed profanities the whole while, trying to get back to him.

"I hope you drown, gurgling in your own blood," he spat. "I hope the hydra makes you suffer."

"A Scary Girl Indeed," the shadow whispered.

The portal closed as Noche shrieked. She slammed her fist into the waves over and over before flipping off the spot in the sky where she last saw them.

"I'll get you, you bastard! I won't rest until I mount your head on a pike! You hear me Blue! FUCK YOU!"

She winced as the blade dug deeper into her shoulder. With a grunt, she yanked it out and her eye widened. A small chuckle escaped her lips as she stared at the knife with the anglerfish engraving. The knife he stole from her. Ironic. She had gotten something back today, in more ways than one.

Something nagged at the back of her mind. Noche scanned about and a small chill went down her spine. The ocean had gone still – all the waves were gone. A deep noise came from far below the depths. A bellowing moan as if from some kind of distant whale.

The noise passed and there was no sound save for the siren. On unnatural, still waters blacker than ink, Noche's blood ran cold. She could barely see her own feet, but her eye widened when a white circle made its way to the surface; with her in the middle.

Noche launched herself to the side with explosive force. A second later the water erupted like a volcano. The thing was the size of a cruise ship, more akin to a small island than a living creature. She couldn't believe her eyes, yet here one was before her. The king of all sharks – the megalodon.

Needless to say, her eye widened further when she noticed the wound on the mythical beast. Everything behind its dorsal fin was missing – with teeth marks surrounding the damage. Something ate half the megalodon in one bite. Worst still, it was still bleeding. This was recent.

A million bombs exploded as a skyscraper of water erupted into the air. Noche was shocked speechless – there was no way such a creature existed on this planet. It was something out of a fable, comparable only to Jörmungandr, bringer of Ragnarök. A titan-sized snake – large enough to reach the moon.

This serpent loomed above the asylum like it was a distant celestial body. It opened its maw and its mouth covered a tenth of the sky – it could swallow an entire city. It had a lamprey-like mouth and each fanged appeared like a small mountain. If anything could be called a world eater it was this snake.

Each scale was bigger than a football stadium and had an almost iridescent purple sheen. It had dozens of yellow eyes and each one was in the shape of a diamond rhombus. They almost glowed as if they contained the fire of a star within.

How in the world this thing guarded the asylum made no sense. How it was alive made no sense. Yet in a way it did, for if someone strong enough to destroy the world escaped – they would need a world eater to stop that prisoner.

Even if she used corruption, even if she donned her black knight armor, there was no way she could corrupt something large enough to make the asylum look like a toothpick in comparison. Then came the second explosion – it was so far away Noche saw the pillar of water before she heard the boom. Another serpentine head rose from the depths.

Miles away was a third eruption, followed by a fourth, a fifth, a sixth, and a seventh. Hundreds of miles away, yet in a circle that encompassed the asylum, seven titan heads loomed in the sky. Each one big enough to make a Kaiju look like a cheap child's toy.

Noche was paralyzed.

She couldn't defeat this.

The Hydra – this godly being was the monster that guarded the asylum. Her eye trailed down to the black waters but she couldn't find where all the heads connected. Wherever the body was it was too far down into the depths.

Noche calmed her nerves and made a break back to the asylum. If she was going to tackle this thing, she needed a plan. For that, she needed time and a safe place to think. One of the hydras opened its mouth and there was a sonic boom. The blonde winced as her ears rang and throbbed.

She swam towards the asylum with all her might – which was fortunately enough, as she was close to it with the recent battle. Noche reached the shore as the hydra scanned the waves. She froze in place when one head locked its gaze on her.

Noche didn't waste any more time. She ran to the entrance – the doors were open. Welp she wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Some shouts arose behind her but she ignored them; the blonde ran back into the asylum.

Noche slid onto the floor as footsteps followed behind her. She got back to her feet, prepared for a fight, when she stopped. It was Tak and Vida. Before anyone spoke Shaylin, Baxter, and Timmy caught her eye. Followed by Trio, Mary, and Alice. She opened her mouth to say something as Dreg arrived from the stairwell below. Medusa on his back.

"The fuck," Noche muttered.

With that, a small smirk appeared on her lips.

"The absolute fuck."