Infinite Body Prince

With the disorientation and paralyzing fear from the ring of the sickle, Baruch misstepped, forced to guard his face with his left arm.

When the sickle struck Baruch's robes, Baruch's hand stretched, wrapping around the sickle.

If he was simply a rank one of the flesh path, then he wouldn't have been able to endure, however, due to his special nature, he could simultaneously use the force path essence.

With the rank three artifact having been limited for Haldon to wield it, Hadrian was confident.

However, he still felt a bone chilling cold wrapping around the black shroud of fog, stiffening his arm such that the stretching slowed.

He pulled with tremendous force, yanking Haldon forward, his other arm swinging down on Haldon's hand intending to disarm him.

The sickle vanished, reappearing in Haldon's left hand, and he brought it down on Baruch's Face.

It sliced Baruch's cheek, opening a grey cut.

Augmented, it spread slowly , but in time it would become a problem.

Immediately, Hadrian substituted the attack to most of his burrowing Hadrians who decayed away.

Haldon's pupils shrank realizing they had a way to deal with the death slice.

Alia came from behind him, her body covered in rock and a sword formed of rock on her right hand.

He seemed to ignore her, calmly pointing the sickle towards Baruch, unleashing the black fog.

It shot forward, released from its compressed state, covering Baruch and the area he stood in in seconds.

Baruch's body went stiff, feeling cold and eyes watery from the pungent smell.

Haldon turned, blocking Alia's swing with the sickle making the rock crumble and fall.

From Alia's exoskeleton rock flowed to reform the sword, however, the same repeated.

Baruch lifted his leg with clear strain and broke through the stiffness.

I can't do it at the same time.

Thinking this, he cut the call to Haldon's essence.

He'd used it to get Haldon's attention, to bring him down here, but unlike the creature's he'd been fighting in Krager's wild, it was doing little in terms of controlling the battle through directed agitation.

Agitated, Haldon's clear thinking was affected, but with two rank two paths, the better method would be to fight Haldon till his essence was consumed.

No longer feeling the effects of disorientation, Baruch smiled.

Haldon, too, felt the shift.

…

Bagdona's augmented left fist came down on Gurov at a tremendous speed.

The air whirled, condensing around Gurov's right shoulder where the attack was aimed.

It absorbed the force and dispersed it in a loud boom.

Next, the air pushed Bagdona further from Gurov, but it was only by half a metre due to Bagdona's grounding.

Bagdona swung the sword in his right hand in an upwards curvature towards Gurov.

It was the sword he'd obtained after the chaos on the dais that ceremony day.

It might have been rank two, but adding rank three augmentation made it formidable in such a fight.

Gurov's feet merged with the earth and he slid to the right away from Bagdona, the sword slicing through air.

With his back to Bagdona, Gurov brought his hands together, compressing a small ball of fire between his palms.

It started off as disjointed wisps of red flames until it took the shape of a tiny sun.

Bagdona was rushing at him.

Gurov gritted his teeth, his tiny sun seemingly incomplete when he turned and released it between them.

Seeing this, Bagdona's muscles tightened and he leaped backwards.

The tiny sun followed him for a short distance, exploding in loud, bright brilliance.

Bagdona was thrown back, not having a reason to ground himself near the explosion.

His skin had burn blisters and a light ringing buzzed in his ears.

Before the flames of the tiny sun dispersed, Gurov shot through them, his right hand covered in an elongated, sharp, red glowing rock.

Bagdona blocked the attacks with the sword. It was reduced to an imitation of a sword.

Bagdona released his dominating aura which, at rank three, wasn't simply quasi present.

Gurov felt a mountain drop on him, it didn't scare him though, Bagdona had already used the attack before, but before he could adapt, a feeling of weightlessness took over his body.

The instantaneous shift made his reaction to Bagdona's incoming fist slow.

The elements didn't coalesce fast enough, and Bagdona landed a clean fist right through into Gurov's gut, breaking Gurov's spine on its way out the back.

Immediately, Bagdona pulled out his fist and leapt back, dodging the downwards rock slice from Gurov.

Five metres apart, Gurov gurgled and went to his knee, blood dripping out the corner of his mouth.

For a moment, the cacophony of battle and bloodshed all around them drifted as their eyes locked. Bagdona didn't seem all too triumphant.

Focusing on the spot where Egoz was facing the three rank threes, Bagdona's pupils shrunk.

They'd overpowered him, but had also suffered great losses.

Turning back to Gurov, he suddenly felt a shift in the air.

…

Feeling the effects of the call off of him, and his two adversaries seeming to find their balance, Haldon smiled.

"I think we should go back up and watch." He said.

Baruch shot at him with a quick step.

Haldon, light on his feet, dodged, pouncing on the walls like a cat and twisting his body such that he ended up behind Baruch.

He sliced the rock wall Alia had risen with his sickle, making the rock decay and crumble into ashy dust.

On the other side, a boy with a short height and pretty facial features was waiting for him.

For some reason, like with the girl, he'd failed to detect him.

Crushing into him, the boy's arms and legs stretched unnaturally, wrapping around his arm with the sickle and body in a tight embrace.

It had been difficult to hold Haldon in place with his quick reactions, so Hadrian created this opportunity.

Haldon stimulated the sickle, making the black shroud of the sickle rise and cover both of them.

Previously, he'd avoided it for the fact that it would affect him.

Hadrian made his control over the main vessel mechanical, making Alia the main, who resumed the call of Haldon's essence.

A tight grip held Haldon's ankle, dragging him and the Hadrian wrapped around him out of the fog.

Baruch brought his heavy boot down on Haldon's hand that had been holding on to the sickle, crushing his hand's bones, releasing Haldon's grip over it.

"Don't worry. You won't die here." Baruch said in a grating voice, his throat affected by the black fog.

The sickle vanished, reappearing in Haldon's other arm, spewing the black fog.

He's not looking for an escape opportunity.

Hadrian realized Haldon's dark intent as he crushed the other arm.

Haldon, agitated by the call, resorted to "carrying" the sickle, his body attempting to but failing to thrash.

For the space path, they could not contend with brute force.

Haldon's eyes were swollen and red from the fog, mucus coming out his nose as he struggled breathing.

Hadrian and Baruch were in similar states as they had also experienced the fog directly.

Alia had kept her distance.

A few minutes later, Hadrian's arms and legs eased their augmented wrapping around Haldon and, slowly, they both stood up.

Looking at the Haldon vessel, Hadrian's eyes narrowed as he breathed heavily.

Suddenly, he felt a shift in the air.

…

Feeling it in the bunker as well, Lys smiled.

"Times up." She said.