Kaan Swacc kept his eyes locked on the Nether spy in front of him as the sinister human regarded the two harmonies floating above his head with grim determination equal to what Kaan himself was feeling. Based on his expression and the way that the Ghosthound had acted thus far in their fight, it was clear that he had a basic understanding of Kaan’s image. That was… unfortunate.

Hmph, the Nether information network is more fearsome than I imagined… but so what? You’ve barely been able to hold out against one harmony… even if you alternate the source of your Skills, I will eventually catch you. And then you can only submit and reveal your methods to me.

Kaan’s gaze flicked sideways to the active Nether Suppression Cell around them. His mouth twitched as he suppressed a grin. We have so much time to get to know each other, don’t we? No need to rush.

As a counterpoint to that thought, that horrible image of destruction that the Ghosthound had unleashed on him sizzled uncomfortably. Kaan had been able to wall it off somewhat, but even he was disturbed by the potency of this image. Without his full attention, Kaan wouldn’t be able to rid himself of the lingering rot of the image.

Almost at the same time, both individuals blurred into motion. Kaan had to give the Nether spy this: his sense of timing and battle sense were impeccable. It was something of a tragedy that such a talented recruit had been corrupted by Nether. But who was to say that his talent had been this impressive to begin with? Perhaps this was all just the result of some sort of diabolical deal with a Nether King.

Kaan Swacc’s only choice, as a proud member of the Nexus, was to end this threat before it could develop into a legitimate threat.

The suddenness of the movement sent a spike of pain from the wound on his chest. Kaan’s eyes flashed as he thrust out his left palm. Despite the fact that the Xyrt Brigade so blithely tossed me to the side… my resolve isn’t shaken. When they see my results, my struggle will be vindicated…!

But even if this Ghosthound was able to utilize Aether, Kaan could see the way that the animalistic instincts of Nether eroded his intelligence. The Ghosthound met Kaan’s palm directly, despite the fact that he now had two harmonies empowering his body. The clash between his palm and the Ghosthound’s left arm sent a surprising jolt through Kaan’s body, but the Ghosthound lost and was forced several meters backward.

The winner was clear.

With a wave of resonance accelerating his movements further, Kaan surged forward. Twisting around, Kaan brought one of his legs whipping upward at the Ghosthound’s temple. The two harmonies floating above his head were shining, and the other four began to spin around, prepared to strike directly as soon as the Ghosthound moved to dodge.

As expected, the Ghosthound ducked down under the kick. But what Kaan hadn’t expected was for the spy to surge forward, his body somehow rippling to just barely avoid the harmonies as they spiked down and broken the solid ground rather than the spy’s body.

His physical speed is truly monstrous...

But Kaan had seen the aggressive tendencies one too many times; his hands were already moving to seize the Ghosthound as he approached. Of course, as though he had expected this, the Ghosthound stopped on a dime right outside Kaan’s reach and made a grasping gesture with both hands. Kaan felt the air behind him ripple and two ghastly claws made of bone ripped out of the ground.

They moved more quickly than even Kaan could anticipate once they manifested, surging forward and smashing into Kaan’s back. The impact made him grunt, but he just swayed; the power wasn’t enough to force him to take a step forward. This spy wasn’t even using his image to empower his Skills. From the narrowing of the Ghosthound’s eyes, it was clear that he hadn’t anticipated that the lone Skill would be so ineffective.

Fool. Do you think your Skills without an image can match me…? You might have broken through the physical limit of the System, but how much Aether have you stored in your body? When you run dry… I’ll be waiting. Kaan’s eyes gleamed.

Again, the Ghosthound responded to the unexpected with aggression. Rather than backing off after his ploy failed, the Ghosthound simply accelerated forward again, flesh and metal limbs raised to strike. Kaan’s hands moved, but he didn’t leap forward. After being tricked a few times by this foe, Kaan played it safe. The two harmonies above his head began to glow more brightly and the four that hadn’t yet been activated surged toward the Ghosthound’s exposed back.

As Kaan had expected, there was a moment when the Ghosthound blurred. Because he had nothing else, he relied on his speed. They spy traveled beyond the physical limits of the System, twisting, hopping up, and kicking off Kaan’s chest before he could be grabbed and pulled into a wrestling match. In addition, this sent another wave of pain from the stubborn wound on Kaan’s chest.

Seeing that motion, Kaan reevaluated. Although Kaan was confident in his strength, it was the speed of this spy that was the most intimidating. He didn’t just break the limit of the System; he went well beyond it.

The Ghosthound’s slightly steaming body practically vanished from right in front of Kaan and appeared ten meters away. Those harmonies that had been about to smash the Ghosthound’s spine were now ripping toward Kaan’s chest without anything between them.

Kaan smiled. Exactly as planned.

Generally, Kaan didn’t use his harmonies in this way in order to keep the attack a surprise. But considering the fact that Nether had informed the Ghosthound of Kaan’s other attack and defense patterns, he was willing to risk the reveal of this attack in order to accelerate the demise of this foe.

Kaan reached out and pressed his palm against the first of his harmonies to shoot toward him. The three harmonies behind it paused in the air, instantly dispersing their inertia and beginning to resonate with each other. The singular harmony that continued to shoot forward, the gold harmony, impacted his palm and ricocheted backward. It passed through the resonating trio and accelerated toward the Ghosthound at a speed that was impossible to follow with the eye.

Even now, the Nether spy surprised Kaan. Just as the golden harmony reached the trio of other harmonies, the Ghosthound’s emerald eyes flashed. His body rippled, somehow twisting to avoid in a manner that was even more disturbing than his impressive speed.

Still, it wasn’t enough. The blow that should have caved the Ghosthound’s chest in was escaped. Instead of crippling him or killing him outright, the golden harmony punched through his grey armor and ripped a hole the size of a fist in the Ghosthound’s side. Blood sprayed outward, tumbling slowly through the air like a liberated stash of emeralds.

Kaan’s eyes narrowed and he stepped forward. The two harmonies above his head were shining brightly, pushing his physical abilities right up against the limit set by the System. His step cracked the incredibly tough ground of the Nether Suppression Cell. The Ghosthound’s body was leaning backward, pain and shock flitting across his face. And then Kaan was there above him, palm raised.

His palm descended. But a powerful image blasted outward from the wounded Ghosthound. Kaan frowned in irritation as he felt the Nether spy contest his image’s dominance over the surrounding area. He tried to suppress its influence with force, but the image was tenacious. It climbed around Kaan’s vast power, forcing its way through cracks in Kaan’s harmonies. Then it spun together and grew, forming a towering image in the area around the Ghosthound.

Perhaps even then, Kaan could have normally managed to suppress it. But at the moment, the smallest sliver of his image needed to deal with the remnant image from the earlier attack. So Kaan could only look on in irritation as the Ghosthound’s image manifested.

Its bark was covered in golden script, depicting the secrets of the universe. Its emerald leaves oozed life. The wound in the Ghosthound’s side rapidly began to knit together under the influence of the life-giving aura.

Snorting, Kaan again struck downward with his palm. The Ghosthound crossed his arms to take the blow, helpless to dodge. With the physical power of two harmonies, Kaan’s smashed the Ghosthound’s defenses to pieces and bounced his opponent off the ground like a rubber ball. The wound that had been healing in the Ghosthound’s side ripped open once more. Blood sprayed out once more, even before the first spray had hit the ground.

Still, at the moment of impact, Kaan experienced both surprise and horror. The surprise was from the sudden increase of the integrity of the Ghosthound’s body. That image vastly increased his defenses, otherwise the strike would have turned him into meat paste.

The horror was because Kaan’s neck tingled right as he struck the Ghosthound. From the boughs of the vital tree shimmering in the air above the Ghosthound, something horrible looked out from the shadows and locked onto Kaan. It had thousands of arms and mouths. It was a tight ball of flesh and ruin. And Kaan felt all those mouths smile at him.

Kaan staggered backward, gritting his teeth, as a formless dagger of death energy stabbed into that horrible handprint the Ghosthound had already left on his chest. More than any lasting damage, the trouble was the pain that briefly blinded Kaan.

In that moment, the Ghosthound pressed his hand on the ground and regained his bearings. The two sprays of blood finally hit the ground, leaving abstract emerald markings on the floor of the Nether Suppression Cell. A purple-black energy rose out of the Ghosthound’s skin as he made to stand up again. But at the last second, the Ghosthound grimaced and twisted.

However, it was too late. The golden harmony that Kaan had shot out previously came back. It clipped the Ghosthound’s thigh and ripped out another large chunk of flesh. The damage was a lot less than the first strike, but it would hopefully reduce the Ghosthound’s mobility for a short amount of time. Without that speed… the Ghosthound was doomed.

Kaan surged forward, pushing his way through the pain of that strange mental attack. Two trees… one filled with life, one corrupted and filled with death. And sitting in that tree of life was the seed of death, so it stands to reason that there is a seed of life on the death tree… I’ll need to watch out for that in the future. So, these are the images of Randidly Ghosthound.

After seeing the images, Kaan had to admit in his heart that Randidly Ghosthound was truly a talented individual. Those images, while their foundation was still slightly shaky and blurry, were dominant. In the Xyrt Brigade, such images were considered Atmospheric Images; their existence affected the surrounding area and created powerful effects. Comparing such a powerful Atmospheric-type image to Kaan’s Tool-type image… on a battlefield, Randidly Ghosthound would really be much more influential than he would be.

Still, there was an obvious advantage of Tool-type images. Even now, the two bright harmonies above Kaan’s head began to gradually shift their resonance to restrict the two tree images of Randidly Ghosthound. Because the effect of Tool-type images was more focused, they could exert incredible power in a small area.

The Nether spy straightened right as Kaan arrived in front of him. This time, he didn’t bother with a palm attack; he directly pounced forward to grapple with him. It was time to finish-

Crack!

The surrounding air shimmered and then faltered. While Kaan struggled to figure out what was going on, a golden radiance erupted out of the Ghosthound. It was a weak imitation of the powerful divinity that Kaan had seen before when meeting some of the elders of the Swacc Family, but still, that sudden luminescence impacted Kaan’s psyche. For the briefest moment, Kaan felt like he was facing an individual far beyond him in power. So he hesitated.

At that moment, the Ghosthound slipped backward and escaped, despite the wound to his leg.

In the following moment, the Nether Suppression Cell around them shattered into pieces. Suddenly they were back on the highlands, standing on a slope of a low hill. The Ghosthound’s Soulbound companion was there in a dimming ring of Aether Engravings, glaring at Kaan.

Even more disturbing was the dense wave of Nether that rolled off of the Ghosthound’s body. The Nether spy looked at Kaan and laughed, as bold as brass. “Now it’s my turn.”