Fred watched x intently as dark mist, like sharp dust, appeared around them.


    The streams slowly enveloped their battlefield, making it impossible for Fred to see anything.


    xpletely disappeared into his fog, and because of the noise from the dust, his footsteps and movements were silent, they were too quiet, and the noise just interrupted them.


    ''Shit... This isn''t good at all.'' Fred internally muttered, then whispered, "Mika, can you help me?"


    ''I''m sorry. There''s nothing I can do. What''s more, I don''t have any information on him, I don''t know what else his Nexus can do, but from the looks of it, he can''t use his First Order anymore because of his wound.'' The girl with a worried voice said, slightly frustrated, that she felt guilty because of her helplessness.


    ''I''m useless again...'' Mika mumbled, seemingly struggling to hold back tears.


    Fred smirked, his Operator was theplete opposite of him - an insecure, sentimental, and always-worried girl. However, this only allowed Fred to shine even brighter, in his own eyes.


    "Don''t worry about it. Just tell me anything you see or can tell me. I''ll deal with a sneaky bastard like that with no difficulty." Fred smirked, losing his calm expression for a while.


    Whoooooooooooooosh.


    "Oh, really?"


    A confident voice rang out as x''s knee smashed into Fred''s face, effortlessly breaking his nose. Streams of blood rushed outward, sweeping in front of x''s cold eyes, he was intent on killing Fred, no other oue suited him.


    Fred''s eyes focused as he swung his de sharply, intending to sh x, but at thest moment, x disappeared.


    ''What? He can teleport? I thought it was an effect of his Second Order!'' Fred was puzzled. In fact, he had deliberately set himself up for a hit, but his n hadn''t worked.


    ''It''s probably just this fog.'' Mika uttered, seeming like she could read Fred''s thoughts, ''I doubt it''s proper teleportation. It''s more likely he can just move quickly in this area. I suggest you get out of here and find a better position to fight.''


    Fred nodded, he obviously heard Mika, but he didn''t do as she said. He had his own n.


    Bam.


    In a heartbeat, x appeared in front of him, and before Fred could do anything, x''s fist plunged into his stomach.


    Then, again and again. x was constantly attacking from different directions, preventing Fred from reacting in time to counterattack. However, Fred managed to leave a few cuts on x, not too deep, but the blood was flowing.


    ''Hmm... It''s not as easy as I thought, but, he''s too confident that he''s invincible in this area. It''s too early to use my trump card, so... I just need to catch him being overconfident.'' Fred pondered before taking another hit and falling gracefully to the ground.


    It was impossible to guess that he had no trouble keeping his bnce and staying on his feet.


    Then, Fred pulled out his bow in a panic and started shooting in all directions. It seemed like he was just trying to hit x, hoping for luck, but it was not meant to be.


    "Hahaha, what are you doing? Do you think I won''t be able to dodge such pathetic shots? You don''t even realize how far your arrows are from me!" x eximed joyfully.


    Fred smirked for a moment as his eyes sparkled.


    "Yeah, I know. The next one will be even farther." Fred uttered before shooting upwards.


    Due to the thick dark fog, it was almost unnoticeable that this arrow was bigger than the others, especially its tip.


    Whoooooooooooooosh.


    Immediately after the shot, x appeared beside Fred and kicked the bow out of his hands, depriving Fred of his main weapon.


    "Whatever, it''s time to call it a day. You are clearly no match for Adam Vinter."


    x''s gaze turned as cold as ancient ciers as he clenched tightly his fist, which easily could blow Fred''s head.


    "Well, maybe you''re right. I''m not really that strong in closebat, but do you think you''ve already won? You''re clearly below me in the rank of strength." Fred smirked as his gaze shifted to the side.


    x wanted to attack, but Fred''s gaze alerted him.


    "Bastard, where the hell are you looking?" x muttered before turning around.


    His eyes went wide with a wave of shivers throughout his body as he saw even through the dense fog dozens of bright white shes that grewrger andrger as they approached the ground.


    x quickly disappeared, trying to dodge the hail of arrows, but it was hardly possible.


    "Good. Things will be easier now." Fred smirked, rising to his feet and stretching his shoulders while the hail of arrows destroyed everything around him.


    Apparently, Fred knew exactly where the arrows were falling, so while x tried desperately to get away, Fred just stood there rxed.


    He even picked up his bow that was a few meters away from him, while the snow-white projectiles cleared the dark fog.


    Soon, there was nothing left of the fog, revealing x, who was hit by one of the arrows that stuck in his right shoulder.


    Gritting his teeth, x ripped the arrow from his shoulder, ignoring the pain.


    "Tsk. What''s next? Are you gonna try to shoot me? We both realize you can''t beat me. Sooner orter, you''ll fall from my blows." x frowned.


    Fred arrogantly lifted his chin with a mad glint in his eyes.


    "Hah, don''t you know that in fairy tales, light always triumphs over darkness? I guess I don''t have to exin which of us is darkness and which of us is light, do I?"


    x chuckled as his bracelets trembled.


    "Well, in fairy tales, light always triumphs over darkness precisely because they are fairy tales. In reality, it''s not like that at all!" x eximed as two streams of mist came out of his bracelets.


    Each stream turned into an exact copy of him, they were literally his smoke clones. Then, he and his clones began to run quickly around Fred, gradually speeding up.


    With each step, x grew faster and faster, soon bing a dark circle surrounding Fred.


    Shooting or attacking in such a case was simply pointless, Fred had no chance of hitting his enemy.


    "You know, you''re right. If fairy tales operated by the rules of real life, darkness would almost always win. That''s obvious to anyone who has reached a mature age. But, not everyone realizes the reason for it." Fred said calmly as if he were talking to his buddy rather than a deadly foe.


    Fred waved his hand and continued with an intelligent look:


    "Because the heroes, the good side, are always helped in fairy tales! They''ll lose in the real, cruel world because they''re stupid idiots!" Fred eximed as if this was an important topic to him.


    Then, before x was to strike from three sides, Fred''s eyes shed brightly, and his mist de shuddered.


    In a heartbeat, the de turned into a huge cross that was almost as big as Fred himself.


    "Unlike the stupid heroes, I''m freaking smart!" Fred eximed, bringing his cross down to the ground as if he were setting a seal.


    At the same moment, a bright white mist covered everything within a three-meter radius, bing a teau for dozens of bright shes that soon burst out in a multitude of light beams, tearing everything in their path.