Kaan felt his Nether Suppression Cell shatter right as he reached the enormous body of the Transformative Image user. His plan had been to eliminate this element and then finally break the Ghosthound. Yet the sudden failure of his Skill caught him by surprise.

For a second, he didn’t know what happened. In all of his training, in all of the stories of his seniors in the Xyrt Brigade, there had never been a foe that could escape on its own from the Nether Suppression Cell. Sure, other parties could intervene, but it was an absolute guarantee against one target.

...perhaps I underestimated how badly I failed on this attempt. He was clearly still on this plane of existence…. Hmph, I can only blame my own incompetence, Kaan thought bitterly as he turned around. Truly, this fight had shown Kaan how pointlessly arrogant he had been in the past. A Nether spy had wounded him gravely, forcing him to reveal his Fate. When he returned to the Xyrt Brigade, he would train-

But Kaan’s thoughts came to a dead stop because a Randidly Ghosthound with eyes filled with emerald fire was already in front of Kaan with his arm raised and his body bent like a bow. In the next instant, he was lashing out to strike at Kaan, steam trailing out of his nostrils.

Snorting, Kaan brought his two hands together and smashed the two harmonies he held together. Their sweet note exploded outward and completely dispersed the spy’s momentum; at the very least, it was clear that the Nether Suppression Cell had dispersed his Nether. It now radiated chaotically off of him, no longer the dangerously thick energy it was previously.

Yet Kaan knew that stopping this desperate offensive would not be simple. As with his companion, the spy had seen his momentum dispersal one too many times. He activated his image of the dark egg and quickly accelerated forward once more. Kaan used a harmony to destroy that image, but the Ghosthound quickly switched to the strange monster with a spear for an arm. That image was shattered by Kaan’s harmony, but he easily switched again to become the life-giving tree.

The Ghosthound used that impressive golden aura to briefly force Kaan to pause. Kaan’s mouth warped into a frown. Fine, you truly want a direct confrontation? I’ll show you just how little you know of me.

The two harmonies Kaan had used to disperse the spy’s momentum floated up above Kaan and began to glow along with the two harmonies already present. Two released the profound aura of strength. One released a sense of indomitability. The final harmony provided flexibility and circulation. With this, his physical form was truly unstoppable.

When the Ghosthound slashed at him with a talon’d claw that was releasing a light grey energy, Kaan met it confidently. The light of his four harmonies was bright. Even if the Ghosthound had pushed past the limits of the System-

Kaan wasn’t able to put up the slightest resistance to that grey claw. He felt his arm literally crack and disintegrate from the impact. His forearm was annihilated almost immediately. Then the blow continued forward and struck his torso. Although his body was generally very powerful against straight bludgeoning attacks, the huge flaw introduced by the Ghosthound’s spear earlier in the fight meant that his right shoulder and much of his side was also crushed to powder in a single strike.

And then Kaan was only aware of himself being thrown sideways, crashing and skipping off of the ground in a series of small scale explosions of stone chips and dirt. However, they had been fighting on the slope; suddenly the ground fell away before Kaan’s horizontal momentum dispersed, which meant he was tumbling in the air. Growling in pain and fury, Kaan swiped his remaining arm and stabilized himself in a standing position, still shooting away from the Ghosthound.

Kaan’s eyes narrowed as he saw that strange grey energy dissipating from the Ghosthound’s image. What was left was a sorry figure, the Ghosthound’s metallic arm sundered by a huge crack. It made Kaan feel a little better to see that the spy’s arm was also shattered and hanging limp at his side from the force of his own blow. What the hell was that? That energy-

Then Kaan slammed into a nearby mountain cliff, fully two hundred meters away from his initial position. As the stone face collapsed on top of him, Kaan growled once more. Whipping his left arm back and forth, he clawed his way out and considered his current condition. Then Kaan mobilized every perception Skill that he possessed in order to determine the combat strength of Randidly Ghosthound.

For the first time in their fight, a flicker of fear emerged in Kaan’s heart. Is this Nether spy truly more powerful than I am…?

Although he maintained the emotional attack with his Fate, Kaan Swacc allowed all of his other pyramids to go dormant. Each was not a debilitating amount of mental energy spent, but the costs associated with them did add up. That was the reason that while Kaan possessed six harmonies and his Fate, he often only used two or three during fights. Mobilizing all seven meant that the amount of time he could fight for was shortened proportionately.

From this distance, Kaan’s eyesight made it seem as though he was standing next to the man. Because of that, he could see every tremor that was running through the Ghosthound’s body. Kaan could feel the weak and feeble circulations of Nether energy in the area around the spy’s body.

...so, the last desperate struggles of a dying man? But still, that attack… where did that power come from? I didn’t sense an image at all…

But one thing had become abundantly clear in this confrontation; Kaan Swacc had underestimated the Nether spy. The forces mobilized to strengthen Randidly Ghosthound had exceeded his imagination. Kaan even had the impulse to retreat. As long as he could provide his memories as proof, the Xyrt Brigade would gladly mobilize to investigate. And before the true powers in the Xyrt Brigade, this Ghosthound was nothing.

Yet Kaan immediately rebuked himself for that thought. How could I retreat now? Look at this man. I now torture his companion and his rage is obvious. He practically burns with it. Yet he doesn’t have the strength remaining after that last strike to even move. His left arm is now in shambles. Against this pitiful foe… am I really thinking about retreating…?

Kaan then turned his attention to his own body. Although my right arm and torso are mostly shattered, my physical prowess is less important than utilizing the harmonies. Besides, this body can easily be repaired with a little bit of energy…

That vulnerability made Kaan uncertain once more. After all, to fight against the Ghosthound, he would need to protect his head. That was the source of the notes that could become powerful due to the harmonies. Without his head, he would truly die. So he could only marshall his Willpower and expend a bit of mental energy to recover his body. The substance of his physique trembled and then began to propagate.

At a speed visible to the naked eye, Kaan’s metallic flesh began to grow back into place. The Ghosthound, standing opposite Kaan on the other mountain, twisted his hands with hatred. His eyes were bloodshot as he stared at Kaan.

Again, the sight did a lot to amuse Kaan. Can you feel me continually torturing your associate? Heh, good. This suffering is a lesson. Before a member of the Xyrt Brigade, you are helpless… I’ve seen your images… I’ve seen your trump cards… do you think breaking past the physical limit of the System is impressive? Any individual of sufficient caliber can manage it… yet they would generally not, due to the high costs of such an action. Do you truly believe your Nether masters can protect you…?

This time when Kaan mobilized his harmonies, he only kept one tuned to his body. Three others zipped forward, soon settling and circling over the Ghosthound. And once again, one harmony flew to each of his hands. Even with just one harmony strengthening him, he was able to step and leap across the gap between them. His Fate continued to suppress the spy’s companion emotionally, but she was just a distraction. As long as Kaan dealt with this foe in front of him, everything else would fall into line.

After being tossed aside by the Xyrt Brigade, a victory here would completely vindicate him. Due to the obvious strength of the Ghosthound, his rewards would no doubt be incredible. Once they extracted the details of the Nether King behind him…

Heh, I must be getting old. To think this sort of foe was enough to make me feel even the smallest shiver of fear… But no longer. I will defeat you Randidly Ghosthound, on the honor of my name, Kaan Swacc.

Kaan landed on the slope, only ten meters down from the Ghosthound, and his resolve had firmed. And strangely, the Ghosthound showed a sly smile for a sliver of a second.

Fool. Laugh while you can. Kaan exploded into motion. The three pyramids above Randidly Ghosthound began to shine, ready to suppress his image. No matter which image this fool attempted to use, Kaan would crush him.

*****

Waiting was hard.

Behind him, Neveah was in agony. Although Randidly didn’t think the emotional attacks would have permanent damage, some part of him was being twisted by the fact that she was in pain and Randidly was doing nothing to address it. The helplessness he felt was a bitter poison in the pit of his stomach.

Yet Randidly had no choice. After ripping out of the suppression, Randidly had been surprised to find that he had a little bit of his psuedo-Penance remaining. So he had rushed at Kaan and smashed the man as hard as he could. But even Randidly was surprised by how effective the attack was.

Which left Randidly with a metallic arm that he had poured so much time and effort into, and carried with it Neveah’s hopes, that was now on the verge of collapsing. Luckily, it seemed like the self-repair function hadn’t been impacted too badly and the damage was swiftly being erased. At least the surface damage would be smoothed over in a few more minutes. So Randidly also needed the time to restore his full fighting prowess.

In addition, Kaan’s emotions had been abundantly clear in the moment that Randidly had struck him, due to the activation of so many of his pyramids. For the first time in their conflict, Kaan felt fear. And Randidly, even in his peak condition, had no confidence in being able to chase Kaan down if he tried to retreat. So more than his left arm being repaired, Randidly didn’t dare to attack Kaan while he was at his weakest, in case the Xyrt Brigade member chose to flee into the Nexus Ways.

Even as every second required him to contain seething waves of fury, Randidly stood still and gritted his teeth. And it paid off; Kaan came back. More than that, although Kaan healed the damage done to his body, Randidly could tell from the gleam of the healed skin that it was a degraded product. The line of the old and new flesh was stark. His resiliency had in all likelihood taken a huge hit.

But now Kaan seemed prepared to tune himself completely to Randidly. One pyramid, each to counter one of his images. And each time Kaan countered him, Randidly felt that each of the counter-images was being tuned just a little bit more. The countering became a little bit more effective.

With his Nether Nebula still drained and sluggish, Randidly had no choice but to rely on his images. Kaan was vulnerable but with more time, his tuning would become more effective. So Randidly intended to bet it all in the next few exchanges.

Seeing Kaan approach, Randidly couldn’t help but smile. Time to see if these physical manifestations of my images are worth a damn.