Eleven remaining shadow-puppets.
33 howling bullets of pure darkness lancing through the corridor of fire and monsooning rain.
Each of them hit squarely against the sphere of decay that was glowing around Anna, who had charged amidst these creatures...
"+++++++++++"
And each was eaten away by the decay, reduced into nothing but shrapnels of shadows that lashed uselessly against the bright red jacket in the darkness.
The beasts raged as they took steps back, trying to stay away from the bubble of death that was approaching them. Even they, in their mindless hunger for slaughter, had realized that they could not enter the sphere themselves lest they were torn apart, nor could they shoot their way through to their intended target because the bullets of darkness were simply disintegrated before they even reached their goal. It was an impasse, at least for the beast, where they could not rely on either their physical attacks nor their magical strikes. They could simply jump backwards, try to keep out of the way, each taking good three meters backwards in a hurry.
Things were different now than on that night earlier this week.
They couldn't accelerate into their bestial, four-legged run which made them as fast as cars.
In other words, they were trapped.
Anna would simply rush into them, bring the full brunt of her spell upon, and watch the beasts disintegrate when they---
--- It came from out of nowhere.
A pure spear of shadows that skewered Anna, lancing through her stomach and piercing out from the other side.
She could only, for a moment, look down at her jacket which had been stained even deeper shade of red as her blood seeped out.
It wasn't just a physical wound. It was something much more sinister than that.
That black pillar that had grown from somewhere behind and gone through her in a matter of second or half... it was something that the beasts were clearly not capable of doing. Craning her neck, Anna was able to look behind herself... and immediately witness the true culprit. It had come from her own shadow, one made stronger and harsher by the flames that raged around the corridor. A spear had struck her back in such a manner, so out of nowhere, because she wasn't able to see that blind spot when facing the beasts before her.
Her own shadow had betrayed her.
... And, to make matters worse, locked her in place.
As if making her an easy target for the beasts.
But, if the beasts themselves were not responsible for this attack...
... Who was?