Shades (II)

Shades (II) requires 40 Energy to fight and is a random encounter appearing in Against the King.
Difficulty	Stats	Gold	XP	Energy	HP	Deck
Normal 	0 0 0	40 	40	40 	1 	26
==Deck List==
The enemy's deck has:
(See Enemy Deck for more information)
===Alphabetical Table===
Card 	Normal
Acid Shot 	1
Amnesia Toxin 	1
Avenging Ranger 	1
Back to the Grave! 	1
Block out the Sun 	1
Catalyst Bolt 	1
Crippling Shot 	1
Dead Shot 	1
Desperate Volley 	1
Flammable Ammo 	1
Handheld Ballista 	1
Improvised Ammo 	1
Keep Your Distance 	1
Lethal Libation 	1
Line up the Shot 	1
Lurking Pack 	1
Running Shot 	1
Salve of Shadows 	1
Serendipity 	1
Silas the Undying 	2
Smoke in the Wind 	1
Spectral Arrows 	1
The Double-Tap 	1
Trick Shot 	1
Up Close and Personal	1
==Transcript==
===Introduction===
As always, Anya held the line.
Commander Fanto had been assigned to bodyguard duty for a visiting noble (totally not waste of the man's time, not at all), which meant leading the Legion of the Shields had fallen to Anya.
So far, the battle had proceeded as usual. Men fought. Men screamed. Men died.
And, as always, Anya held the line.
But something felt... off. There was something wrong in the air. Anya wasn't sure what it was, but she'd been on edge since the sun began to go down.
Anya, like Fanto, preferred to lead by example, so she'd taken a position among her fellow soldiers, moving in and out of the shield wall to wherever she was needed. She knocked a sword aside and cut down its owner with her own blade, retreating back to let two other Shield Bearers fill in the gap she left behind. Her eyes scanned the shield wall, looking for any potential weak points.
Further down the line, a berserker's axe slammed down, smashing a shield apart. The sentry was knocked down into the mud, but he was able to pull his pistol bow out of its holster on his hip. The shot took the berserker in the arm, causing the barbarian to bellow in pain.
That scream gave Anya enough time to spring in and run the berserker through with her own sword. Pushing the body off her blade, she turned towards the Shield Bearer on the ground and gave him A Look.
"Do you remember the first time we met, Corporal?" Her words were etched with acid.
The soldier grinned. "You mean that time when you ordered me to survive the battle so I could go home, have a daughter, and name her after you?"
Anya slipped her shield over a shoulder, offering her hand to the man. He took it and she pulled him up to stand.
"I don't have a goddaughter from you yet, and I'm getting a little tired of saving your skinny backside. One might consider that to be insubordination on your part." Her tone was serious, but the rebuke was delivered with a smile.
The officer saluted and picked up the half of his shield that still had the straps attached, turning to face the next round of enemies.
For a moment, there was calm. The waves of soldiers had hit the rock of the shield wall, but the shield wall still remained unbroken. The enemies were retreating so they could regroup and make another rush, but there would be a few moments for the Shield Bearers to catch their breaths.
Anya stalked away, moving up the hill so she could get a better view of the battlefield. Her uneasiness was getting more intense, and she really wanted to hit something until the feeling went away. Hitting things always made her feel better.
When she crested the hill, Anya's nerves were so on edge that she felt like she was about to jump out of her skin. She held her shield tightly and gripped the hilt of her sword in its sheath.
She turned in a slow circle, eyes flicking everywhere. Out of the corner of her eye, something moved. Anya spun, sword and shield held at ready in a flash.
Directly in front of her was a living shadow that radiated malevolence, its eyes burning a hateful red. The creature glided towards her with its claws outstretched and she barely dodged out of the way as it swept past her.
Anya whipped her sword up in an overhead arc, cutting down the middle of the creature's neck. With most opponents this would be a killing blow, but Anya’s blade harmlessly passed through the shade and cut into the muddy ground.
The specter turned its head, looking over its shoulder at her. Those red eyes narrowed and it seemed to shake for a second; if Anya didn't know any better, she would swear the damn thing was laughing at her.
She let go of the hilt and backed away from the shade. Her unearthly opponent spun silently and glided towards her, passing through the sword with no visible effect. Its claws twitched eagerly, but it was clearly in no rush to end this fight.
It wanted to play with her, like a cat would with a mouse.
That meant it was time for Anya's backup plan. She reached up behind her head and slipped her hand beneath the red hair spilling halfway down her back. Her fingers grasped a hilt and she pulled the Sword of Many Angles free from the hidden sheath she'd commissioned the Mistress of the Forge to work into her armor.
The sword was more the size of a long knife in its current state, but Anya concentrated and it grew to the length of a proper broadsword in a heartbeat.
The Sword of Many Angles sparkled in the blood red light of the sunset. Its facets reflected twinkling lights across the hilltop, and the shadow creature suddenly seemed a little less solid. A little less real.
The shade stopped short for a second, almost looking unsure of Anya and her new weapon.
Anya, in turn, grinned, first at the sword and then across the ground at the shadow.
Andrea always gave the best anniversary presents.
===Conclusion===
Anya looked down at one of the facets on the Sword of Many Angles. Trapped within, the shadow creature raged back and forth, slamming into the walls of its infinite prison.
The battle had proven incredibly short once Anya had unsheathed the crystalline blade; the shade had no defense against the weapon's magic.
Likewise, the sense of strangeness Anya had felt was less prominent now, but she could still feel it tugging at her senses, raising more questions.
That creature was obviously the product of dark magic and had been directed to seek her out. But why?
Why would anyone try to kill Anya? If they had been seeking to cripple the Legion of Shields, she wasn't integral to the leadership. The only way her death would matter is if they had already managed to kill...
Anya whipped her face back towards the battlefield and looked for Fanto on the open ground.
There! On the far side of the field, a giant of a man was facing off against two shadowy figures.
Anya sprinted down the hill towards a cavalry officer; in one fluid motion, she used the man as leverage to hoist herself up onto the horse's back while simultaneously pulling him from his saddle.
Ignoring the officer's cries of alarm and outrage, Anya kicked the stallion into a gallop. She charged over the ground, using the flat of her sword to drive the horse even faster. Desperation, anger, and fear all fueled the blade's light, which blazed brightly in the settling darkness.
Fanto was close enough that she could see his face now, but he was on his knees. One of the shades thrust a clawed hand through his side and the Commander of the Shield collapsed a few seconds later.
Anya heard a scream of rage and realized it was her own. The shades' heads snapped up and looked at her, surprised that anyone would be mad enough to approach -- let alone attack -- them. 
Anya's steed reared up when it caught the scent of those strange creatures, but she held on and waited for the beast to drop back to all fours before she rolled off its back and sprinted the rest of the way towards Fanto's murderers.
There would be time to mourn, to rage, and to avenge later. For now, she needed to focus on dealing with the monsters who had just robbed the world of the best man she'd ever known.
Unsurprisingly, it didn't take long.
Category:Against the King
Category:Demons
Category:Random Encounters