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    [Thank you, Algernonthewise, for your generous and kind gifts. Again, if you dm me on Discord, I''ll give you a nitro code.]


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    Themander was seething with anger and rage.


    How could he allow himself to get pummeled by a child?


    He wanted to rip Ss'' head right off his body, but he controlled himself.


    His benefactors wouldn''t like that, would they...


    He needed to control himself, but how could he? He was in a losing battle.


    He couldn''t retaliate at all.


    He was trapped.


    He felt like every punch made him slightly weaker.


    He couldn''t use the third stage of toki because it was too dangerous. There was no telling what would happen to his targets when he red his toki... They were too close to the shelter. Doing anything reckless may make his n go awry.


    He couldn''t use the second stage of toki since he didn''t actually have any weapons on him. The most he could do was weaponize the air formed whenever he pushed toward Ss, essentially creating pulses of air coated in mana for as long as they didn''t break apart.


    However...


    *Swoosh*


    *Swoosh*


    *SWOOSH*


    No matter what he did, he couldn''t even touch Ss for some reason. It was as if the boy knew his move before he could even attack him.


    The boy would dodge and swerve when he got ready for an attack. He wouldn''t even react to feints, as if he could read everything going through themander''s mind.


    Even when themander tried improvising, it somehow worked worse for him.


    An earth wall would appear behind him, and a water bullet would suddenly shoot at him out of nowhere, forcing him to block since he had no idea how much damage the bullet would do.


    Sometimes it would do nothing, being instantly destroyed the moment it came close to his toki, and other times it went straight through the toki, mming right into his natural toki and shooting a jolt of pain through his body.


    Every time he tried moving the battle away from the shelter, Ss wouldn''t follow. One time he even turned around and helped his father beat down Death, who was now on the back foot.


    A mage helping a knight was a deadlybination, especially in Death''s situation, where he can simply let all solid objects pass through his body like nothing, whether that was a toki-covered sword or a stone bullet.


    Lochras would use ethereal des made out of condensed toki to attack Death, but he was far too agile. He moved like the shadows, his footsteps hidden from even themander, while his killing intent and presence were so suppressed that one would be worried that they''d lose track of him even if he was right in front of them.


    Having Ss help Lochras would spell doom for the blonde-haired youth, so themander found himself forced to stay near the shelter, exactly where Ss wanted him.


    "Damn intelligent brat." themander silently snorted, his mind racing to keep up with the rapid esction of the battle.


    He had been riling him up until now, but how was he supposed to know that he would be ced in a situation like this?


    Time seemed to stretch endlessly, even though only a minute had passed since the sh began. Adrenaline surged through their veins, intensifying with every move and decision made.


    *Whistle*


    A projectile streaked toward themander with the swiftness of lightning. Instinctively, he dodged, narrowly avoiding the golden light beam slicing a cut across his face. Blood trickled down the wound as the beam continued its destructive path, culminating in a devastating explosion obliterating buildings in the distance.


    Three more beams of light hurtled towards him, their deadly intent clear. Themander understood that the shelter would face a catastrophic fate if he failed to evade them. It seemed that was the very purpose behind these attacks.


    They knew he would dodge, so they were forcing him to do so, essentially forcing him in ce and not allowing him to move.


    Themander stretched his hand forward and used as much control as possible to expand his toki in front of him. He quickly created an aura of toki that slowed down the beams when they entered the aura.


    The figure in the distance saw this and tried to attack him again, but themander quickly disappeared.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    His aura red as he disappeared before he removed the distance between him and his attacker in a mere instant.


    Appearing a few meters in front of her, he saw that it was a woman in a nun''s outfit who had attacked him.


    "Are you not with the church?" He asked with a little bit of anger.


    She looked harmless at first, but his instincts told him the woman was dangerous.


    "I was wondering where you went." A voice trickled down his ears as a spine-chilling killing intent fell upon him.


    ncing back, he saw Ss with a terrifying expression on his face. No... The expression wasn''t terrifying.


    It was the killing intent that was.


    Ss waspletely emotionless, suspended mid-air due to the feeling that time had slowed down.


    He had his arm winded back, ready to release the strongest punch he''s ever thrown.


    Though, what was even more terrifying were his eyes.


    Themander knew them well.


    They were the eyes of a killer.


    Themander didn''t know why, but that was the moment he realized something.


    If they wanted to survive. If the Darkless organization wanted to survive, Ss would have to die.


    After all, what''s worse than an enraged mageing after them in the future, swearing to get vengeance for his family and friends?


    Ss was meant to reach new heights. His talent was too strong, and themander now knew it.


    Themander''s body moved independently, dodging the attack with little effort.


    Or at least that''s what he thought.


    Suddenly, the toki around his chest felt thinner.


    He then saw Ss'' momentum shift while his body spun mind air.


    He carried the entirety of his momentum with that spin. Every joint from his ankle to his shoulder twisted.


    And then, the he watched as the punch flew through the air, prated what was left of his toki, and mmed right into his chest.


    Themander felt the air leave his lungs. The pain of several ribs shattering instantly and puncturing his lungs made his punk out of a mouthful of blood.


    His body was hurtled through the town in less than a second. Ss could have sworn he heard his body break a sound barrier or two as he shot through the town''s walls like a bullet through paper.


    Ss knew that the punch wouldn''t have actually done anything if he hadn''t siphoned the mana around themander''s chest. He''s quite literally seen his Lochras tank much worse and not move an inch.


    At the same time, he also knew using a spell would take far longer than the amount of time he had. Plus, absorbing toki and creating a spell at the same time was difficult. The only way Ss would have a chance at hitting themander with a spell capable of actually hurting him would be by forcing him into using all the toki he is capable of controlling in one go.


    Toki worked on stamina, so he would be too tired to fight back, and since he had used all his toki, he would have definitely had none left to protect himself.


    "You sure know how to punch kid." Diveen suddenly spoke from behind. She had her usual smile stered over her face. It was calming, but at the same time made him feel slightly unsafe.


    Even though Diveen was adamant about the fact that she was weaker than Lochras, her natural toki had always told Ss another story.


    Nevertheless, he had less than a minute left on his breakthrough, so he would make the most of it.


    ***


    -On another side of the town-


    "Hmm. How unfortunate. I wanted to y a little more, but I guess my work here is done." The Architect spoke as he looked into the eyes of a ck-haired woman with a rapier through her chest.