The soldiers from the Star of Dawn panicked a little bit as the passageway turned dark. Even though they were trained soldiers and had been in numerous life and death situations the sudden darkness still had some effect on them. Even with all their training and equipment, they could not completely erase their primal fear of darkness.

“Switch to night vision.”

The commander ordered his men and though still a little unnerved the soldiers responded to the order. Once they had activated their night vision the soldiers got into a tighter formation their guns pointed at the two ends of the passageway. 

The passageway then became eerily quiet, as the soldiers steadily held their positions. Even after switching to night vision, they were not able to spot the enemy.

The sound of explosions from outside could faintly be heard and the ground was shaking as they waited. Yet even after waiting for a couple of minutes, there was no movement from the enemy.  Seeing as the enemy was not coming out and they could not find him with their current equipment the commander made a decision and gave the signal to retreat. 

The group of soldiers from the Star of Dawn started to slowly back away while dragging the unconscious Ye Rong and Liu Yue. It was at that very moment as they were retreating something finally happened, a flash of light blinded them, as they were using their night vision goggles the effect was even more so than normal.  A few of the men were panicking and started to shoot randomly.

“You fools stop shooting!”

The commander shouted as his vision cleared. Yet despite shouting out his orders no one listened to him. When the panicking men didn’t listen to his order he shot one of his men on the knee. Seeing what happened to one of their comrades the panicking men finally stopped shooting and looked at their commander. 

“That will be the last warning shot I’ll give, those that do not follow my commands and continue to endanger his comrades will be killed by me. Now calm down the lot of you, the enemy should just be a single martial artist. Do not panic, just believe in your training and your comrades so-” 

While the commander was giving his rousing speech, he felt something hit him from behind. The group of soldiers saw a shadowy figure appear behind their commander and then pass by them. Before they could do anything another one of them fell unconscious. 

“Unleash the remaining disruptors!”

The second in command finally gave an order. The soldiers released the gas that disrupts one’s inner energy. The second in command was expecting the shadowy figure to slow down, but instead, the shadowy figure disappeared from everyone’s sight. 

They then heard a brief scream and saw that one of their companions had disappeared. The Second in Command was shocked by the sudden disappearance of the shadow and could no longer keep his cool. 

“OPEN FIRE!”

Hearing his command the soldiers started shooting at the last place they saw the shadow. The strength of their bullets was meant to destroy a martial artist’s body so it was able to easily penetrate through steel much less the walls of the passageway. It was a good thing that the passageway was much sturdier than expected since even after creating so many holes on the walls a cave-in didn’t happen. 

After they had unleashed such a torrent of bullets in almost every direction they felt that they had finally killed the unknown martial artist. They turned around to look at their second in command only to see that he was no longer there. 

The group no longer had a leader present as almost all of them were of the same rank. The group of soldiers didn’t speak to each other but they all came to the same conclusion they needed to leave quickly. 

Seeing that they had an unknown enemy who moves so fast they could not spot it, they decided to kill the Twin Stars since they would only slow them down. The moment they decided what to do they looked at the people who were carrying the weapons and bodies of the Twin Stars and saw that they too were no longer there. 

The heavy weapons, the unconscious bodies, and even the ones that were carrying them, everything disappeared. Not to mention they disappeared without making a single sound. Not only was the darkness already making them feel unnerved but the way their companions disappeared without making a sound was the final straw. 

Everything that was happening to them was too unusual, they had used the disruptors that should make any martial artist even a rank one Grandmaster have difficulty using their inner energy. They also shot at all possible spots that the mysterious shadow could have hidden. Yet they still were unable to kill this mysterious enemy. 

They wanted to run away, they wanted to run as fast as possible, yet some of them could not move their legs. Those that were able to move suddenly had their night vision goggles broken by an unknown object hitting them. 

Unable to see anything they still continued to run towards the direction of the exit, while bumping into each other falling to the ground. They were no longer an organized unit but a bunch of cowering fools. It was every man for himself as they pushed aside their comrades and continued to run towards the exit. 

…

Random Soldier POV:

This was supposed to be a normal mission to capture the geniuses of Zothril. Everything was going as planned, the number of casualties was within the expected margin and we were able to capture the Twin Stars, yet that’s when everything started to go awry. A shadowy figure suddenly destroyed the lights in the underground passageway. It then took out the commander and the second in command without making a single sound. 

We had used everything we had but it was as if we were fighting a ghost. We were being taken down one by one without being able to retaliate in this total darkness. I didn’t know what came over me nor do I know when I started to move but before I knew it I was already running as fast as I could towards the exit. 

My night vision goggles were broken and I could barely see anything in this darkness but my feet continued to run. I shoved my comrades to the side as I run and run towards the exit. I could hear a whooshing sound coming from behind me, but I dare not turn around as I sprinted as fast as I could, it was then I finally saw the light of the exit. 

I was so close and I could finally escape whatever was chasing me. Yet as I got close to the light, I finally saw the bodies of my comrades littered on the ground. I was shocked by the sight and stopped running, that was a fatal mistake. I couldn’t hear nor feel it approach but I knew the shadow was already behind me.. I desperately wanted to run but before I could even lift my feet, I felt something heavy hit the back of my head.