The scenes unfolded against the dark reflection of the shadow.  Images moved across the watery surface with not even a flinch of muscle.  Impassive eyes absorbed each transition without returning anything of their own to the ordeal.  Not even the voice of the other invoked response.  Motionless the figure remained a shadow apart.  Light bent around the frame which shimmered coldly.  The seductive voice of the man flowed over the flesh but there would be no return.  Lifeless that figure now stood before them both as if only a statue.  Stunned to silence perhaps or deep in thought, the black figurine held fast to its stance.<br/><br/>Yet there was movement elsewhere.  Movement that would not fall to the untrained eye or even to those tasked with such observation.  Amidst the alien lands of the shadow she stalked now.  Bits of her shadow moved over her unveiled flesh.  Like a snake the creature moved over her flesh, crawled against her body with relish for the taste of her.  No bite would land though as the shadow knew that without her its own existence would fall.  Around her hunger grew as she held only a portion of the protection afforded to her by the shadow.  The rest remained an illusion for their eyes, a false front for them to follow.  Quickly her steps were made in silence through the other world.  Eyes turned to the slender portal that would prove her only point of attack.<br/><br/>Such separation was the mark of a true master in this craft.  Only the most daring or foolish of her people could break apart their shadow, would dare enter the alien realm of the shadow so naked in their own form.  Yurei knew there was little else to be done.  He was already pushing toward their minds, seeking out their most personal secrets with his power.  Such things were typically tasked to her clan and so she knew their power well.  Feet pressed to the ethereal space of the world as she pushed forward and through the portal of the shadow and reality.  In her hand was the slender blade that had remained along her back, hidden beneath.  Extended now, the blade pierced the veil first to be followed by the extension of her arm.  He would find not an inhuman face at the hilt of this weapon, but a very real one.  Almond eyes stared at him with an expression of resigned dignity, of duty unquestioned while her delicately crafted face remained untouched by anger.  Yurei did not hate the man, merely pitied him for the death she was tasked to grant him.<br/><br/>Elegance came through in every fiber of the strike.  Her form perfect to allow the power of her strike to flow forward.  From feet to the tip of her blade, the attack came through toward his flesh.  Dancers worked years to craft such a vision that she now wielded in her strike.  From her arm snaked forward the dark creature she carried with her soul.  Scales glistened in the light in an oily figure that raced forward.  The tip of the short sword now coated with the black ichor of the creature whose maw now opened.  Fangs sought out the powerful flesh of this godly creature.  A poison promised from which few, if any, could survive with their essence in tact.<br/><br/>Chunyang saw beside her that the illusion of her sister’s form scattered.  Like a blossom of hungry locusts, the droplets of shadow broke into a swarm.  The beautiful vision of her sister’s strike lost amidst a cloud of watery darkness as her shadow fought to reform around her body.<br/>