Kloel unleashed three spells at once. Crackling bolts of indigo mesh, converging roughly toward the same direction.

  There was no need for all to hit the exact same spot, as if just one managed to hit, the opponent would be left wide open to another attack, even if it was formed from scratch. Two of the shots were only meant to cut off the enemy's escape routes, ensuring that one necessary hit.

  Phantom made no futile attempt to dodge, allowing the compressed prana to travel unimpeded. Cracks spread across the building’s wall and floor and more dust was formed, joining the cloud that had already been lifted by the impact.

  From an outsider’s perspective, it probably looked like Kloel had ended the battle in one blow, but it was she who had to leap aside in a forceful escape.

  Nothing was seen, or even heard. And yet once she looked at the spot she previously stood at, there was Phantom with his hand down, having just completed a swing from his unique hook weapon.

  Completed, but not finished. After all, he smoothly followed into a spinning motion, allowing the built up momentum to carry the hook fast and far, directed by the connected wire that slid through his fingers.

  Kloel felt an instant chill from the sight and desperately resumed her retreat, not daring to even attempt a counterattack. She saw the wire swaying and bending freely on the other end of the room, the attached hook reaching for her with the persistence of a hornet.

  Under normal circumstances, any sort of ‘threaded’ weapon was at a heavy disadvantage in cramped quarters. Even with the room’s size and most of the ceiling torn away, the chances of it bouncing off of some surface added another yer of crippling complexity to an already unwieldy weapon.

  But of course, this was of no concern to Phantom. As whenever his hook was about to hit a wall or such, it would smoothly disappear, only to appear with the same momentum in front of another surface, ready to strike at his enemy.

  A weakness turned into a strength, as while their surrounding surfaces meant nothing to Phantom, Kloel’s movements were still limited by them. She stepped back frantically, just barely avoiding a direct hit by tracking Phantom’s eyes and hand as she approached the nearest exit: the torn ceiling.

  She quickly regretted going for such a telegraphed move. Naturally, Phantom had checked the ways out of the room with his swings, which she was made painfully aware of by a strong pull on her calf.

  She saw the escape route becoming smaller in her vision for a moment, and then everything became a blur as she hit the hard floor, face-up. The back of her head radiated hot pain and she felt consciousness almost escape her; it might have if not for the excruciating pull at her leg continuing even then.

  Something. Anything! If he gets me any closer, I’m dead!

  Almost using panic itself as a call to action, Kloel felt the stream within her ignite. Like a crackling thunderstorm, like a raging waterfall. The prana inside her seemed to sizzle and steam until it finally burst, not in one go but rather as what sounded like a rapid series of popping sounds.

  “Oh shit.”

  Phantom’s voice was much less nervous than she hoped, but at least the pulling sensation had stopped. Not just that, but she also could not feel the pressure of the hook inside her.

  Not good!

  Kloel forced herself back up, first her upper body while bringing her left hand to her calf. The bleeding was profuse enough to arm her, instantly warming up her fingers with the heavy red fluid. Eyes back on Phantom, she saw he had brought the hook back to his hand, looking over it with significant attention.

  “I didn’t expect that; you could’ve damaged it. Elf perks, eh?”

  She gred in response, bringing a hand wreathed in prana to her wound. The indigo-colored particles came together and solidified in a tight, ft structure, enough to work as an impromptu bandage.

  Phantom’s words were not frivolous. Indeed, sorcery from an elf was not quite the same as that from a human. Smoother, many times reflexive in its use. Some would say it was more ‘primal’, and not without reason; no matter how simir they were to humans in several other regards, or how much time they had lived alongside each other, elves were still magical creatures. Prana was as inherent and vital to them as their own blood, with all the implications such a trait would carry.

  And Kloel certainly did not care for such a man talking about it in such a way, no matter the unconventional nature of her earlier dispy.

  Frankly, it disgusted her.

  She swung an arm to the side, causing a rippling dark blob to instantly extend forward. This was not hyperbole, with the heavy prana appearing smoothly and quickly as if a veritable afterimage of her movement.

  Kloel was a trained knight cadet, of course, and she was a competent sorcerer regardless of her nature. But in proper terms, such an attack was not ‘spellcasting’, the system of phenomenon-construction and use that, strictly speaking, she cked the slightest need for.

  For magical creatures like elves, the prerequisite of theory and technique did not exist if they wished to simply use prana. The substance was but a mere part of their bodies, one of many like a limb or an organ. If all she wanted was to attack or put pressure on a wound, such waves of magic were as easy to manifest and command as her arm was to swing.

  It was like pitting proper words against a yell. If other conditions were equal, there was no way for a sorcerer to match the speed of her assault.

  And yet…

  “…!”

  … she clearly saw Phantom vanish from sight before the wave of destruction could reach him.

  How!?

  To say she was confused was an understatement on its own css. Her mind was chaos, instinctively trying to come up with any expnation before an unbearable discomfort overcame her.

  She jumped once more. Not to escape through the ceiling that was again somewhat far, but due to it being the first way she thought of to avoid any of her vitals from being hit. The move proved to be good, as she saw Phantom below her with his brandished hook right after.

  Not good enough, however, as she once more saw him following his missed attack into something else with those uniquely practiced motions. Phantom was tall, with long legs that did not need much of a jump to reach her in midair, where dodging was all the more difficult.

  Kloel gritted her teeth, generating a prana burst behind her at roughly the same time she felt pain explode at her fnk.

  “Fuck! How’s that so quick!?”

  Before, she might have found some relief in Phantom’s tone finally taking on some panic. But she was too busy flying through the air at the moment.

  The ceiling, the concrete floor, the gaps torn by Sig; they all darted past her sight in a split second before she hit the opposite wall, then fell half on her side with a concerning noise.

  The position was still better than with her previous fall, so with her best efforts she managed to stand back up much quicker than before. The pain, however, was completely different this time. Kloel reflexively turned to see, and she quickly wished she had hesitated more before doing so.

  Her right fnk… She could only assume the front of Phantom’s boot had been buried there. The depth of the wound may have been just past one centimeter, its width superior to her hand’s, with some residual fps of skin hanging past the newly made gap in her jacket and blouse.

  If the situation was just a tad less stressful, she might have thrown up. Not only from the wound itself, but from the reminder of what this criminal could do on even a slight touch.

  A power that could not be defended against, or even seen. And one that worked as fast as her magic.

  Runes? A curse, perhaps? Or was it because of some of the stolen equipment? So many possible sources, and all warranting different countermeasures. The task of figuring out which one was at py felt daunting in itself, but Kloel thought she might fall to hopelessness if she did not at least distract herself with the illusion of discovery.

  The smoke began to clear as she tightened another prana ‘bandage’, and felt an instinctive, if still pitiful relief at the sight of a somewhat disheveled Phantom. There were a few rips on his jeans at one leg, the lower part’s fabric charred across. It was not much, but her desperate maneuver did have an effect.

  But while her first reaction had been pleasant, common sense quickly caught up and caused her heart to sink right after.

  There was no real surprise to be felt. She knew Phantom had to ‘solidify’ whenever he wished to inflict damage, ‘dispcing’ whatever he had phased through. That was certainly a period of vulnerability, but it also meant her only chance to fight back was after he thought to have nded an attack. And more often than not, he would have hit the mark if that was the case at all.

  Exchanging attack for attack, it was obvious she, who had no way to resist his attacks, would go down first.

  “You know what? There’s a much better way to go about this.”

  Phantom spoke up with an oddly serious voice. Without thinking, she found herself looking up with a gaze he probably took for curiosity.

  “I don’t believe in things like destiny, but I do think many opportunities are limited. You’ve avoided over three kill shots now, and somehow tagged me. If we keep going, you’ll be dead in a couple of minutes, but probably get me good by then. An eye? This leg? Either way, it’s not an outcome either of us want.”

  “… What are you even getting at?”

  The Unmasked smiled with somber eyes, good looks akin to a sports’ star wasted in a greedy, gross expression.

  “Shadow Spot.”

  Kloel could have shot another full force bst at him right then, had she not been reminded of how futile it was several times now. The fact her new expression was found amusing enough for Phantom to chuckle only made her anger more unbearable.

  “Beef with them? I guess it makes sense, no way they wouldn’t have tried to nab one of theirs with this much grit. Still, for that same reason, I’m sure if you bow your head and have the right script, they’ll still take you. Would be great for me, us, and you get to keep that head over your shoulders.”

  Kloel could have sworn the entire world went monochrome at that moment. The pain at her fnk, precarious bance from her injured leg, as well as her growing sense of dread felt like secondary concerns all of a sudden.

  “… You want me to be a mole? In the Shadow Spot?”

  “What can I say? Competition’s tough, and those fucks are annoying in their unique way. They can’t manage territory too well with so few of them in Seyfelt, but every single one is strong as shit. Head on, just three or four of them could take out most of our guys, and even with the new gear things are dangerous. But with an insider? We could hit them hard and good, and for them even losing a few guys would be terrib—”

  “You better shut the fuck up now.”

  Phantom stopped immediately, as if all air had escaped him. His expression changed at the same time, showing genuine, quite stupid-looking surprise, confusion… and disappointment.

  There was no regret, not even realization at his mistake. It made Kloel feel as if her skin was boiling, requiring her utmost willpower to speak in a more or less normal tone as she continued.

  “Want to know what’s up?” She brought a hand to her neck, so fast and brusque the magic circle on it seemed to shatter into pieces as it revealed the symbol she always hid. “I’ve already ran with the Shadow Spot. I fucking hate them, but you’re just…”

  She stepped forward, hands forming fists so tight they hurt as much as any of her other wounds. Indigo prana swelled and condensed around her, slithering, and then thrashing about like an enraged viper.

  You’re so fucking stupid, Tanya. No clue about your own limits, always having me clean up after you. I love even that about my best friend, made me think I could just bear it all. Still, this guy you left me to deal with…

  “… such a rotten sack of shit.”

  … makes me pissed at you!

  “…!?”

  Phantom readied his hook right after, so fast he almost seemed to surprise himself.

  “Whatever. Want to make another shitty choice? Be my guest; I don’t know why I even try to be reasonable…”

  When he spoke up, his voice alone somehow enraged Kloel even further.

  “You’re such a clueless, insufferable bastard.” She replied as if by instinct. “You really think we’re that stupid? That you can just read and manipute us like dolls, you fucking manchild? Let’s see who really made the shitty choice here!”

  The viper shed forth, as if compelled by her very voice. Naturally, Phantom allowed it to pass harmlessly through him, letting it tear right through the wall behind.

  Kloel leapt aside without hesitation, but she still felt a long gash opening on her upper arm. She extended both arms, and two dark tendrils attacked next, only for Phantom to show back up with no more damage on him. The next cut reached her colrbone area, spreading an uncomfortable dampness through her blouse.

  She was getting nowhere, with wounds and blood loss both piling up. Not risking further damage to either his weapon or own body, Phantom seemed content to simply ssh her at a distance. A kill by a thousand cuts cking any danger; slower, but so easy.

  Easy… Yes. After all, even if Kloel managed to prevent a lethal blow, he was still reaching her with what appeared to be every swing.

  So why had he missed on two crucial occasions? Attacking from close range, when he could afford the least to miss, he still did. Even though she could not even see him then…

  … See?

  Wait, is that it!?

  A certain possibility streaked through Kloel’s mind fast, to the point she almost felt it getting away.

  Hip. Shin. Forehead. Lower back. Nape.

  All those areas and more had been struck since they resumed their csh, so many she could not afford to bandage any more. Blood dripped into her clothes while the freezing air somehow seemed to burn each cut. Even so, the emotion that now overtook her was pure anticipation.

  Indigo particles of prana raged around her, responding to her renewed drive. She clicked her fingers, commanding the two streams of destruction to attack again. Phantom, of course, phased through the attack without any issue. But only one of them had aimed for him.

  The other aimed back, right past Kloel. Bursting through the wall behind her.

  She knew what happened st time. Forget a pull on her calf, if she attempted it again, Phantom would now put his utmost focus to reaching a vital.

  And yet… It worked. Ignoring the spreading gravel that hit her all over, Kloel jumped through the gap she had opened, unimpeded.

  You can’t see me, you twisted fuck!

  It made so much sense. His invisibility was but a side-effect of being intangible, with no eyes for any light to reach. It was the reason he failed to hit her those two times, the reason he could not afford to just keep crucial parts of his body, such as his head, permanently intangible…

  … Or was it? If he could not even see in that state, could he breathe? Was his physical body in some ‘stasis’ that made it unnecessary?

  Kloel’s pondering stopped at she nded on the street. ‘Crash-nded’, more like. The deep wound on her calf did her no favors, and neither did the now very noticeable anemia. She lost her footing as soon as she found it, toppling over her left side and brought down to all fours.

  Damn it! Not now!

  She turned aside, looking back at the building as she tried to get back up. She did not see Phantom in her immediate sight, and that was enough to follow with a move that some might call drastic.

  Thick tendrils of indigo prana rampaged, five in number this time. Traveling as they grew to their full dimensions, they buried themselves into the building like worms in fruit. Without the need for a verbal or physical command, Kloel’s will was enough to make them tear through the walls, steel beams, granite base. Any pce where its structural foundations could y.

  It only took a few seconds for the three-story concrete formation to begin an unfittingly rapid colpse.

  The thunderous noise, followed by a veritable storm of dust and spreading pieces of gravel, reached Kloel before she even got back on her feet. And within it, she finally caught a glimpse of a uniquely… ‘animated’ silhouette. The glimpse became a clearer sight quickly, approaching with heavy, slower steps until it stood about six meters away from Kloel.

  Phantom was wounded, and not in a way she had to convince herself was significant. He was bleeding from right above his forehead, copiously enough that his attempts to wipe the red from his eye were almost pitiful. The leg she had not gotten to burn was also not in the best shape, with the knee area of his jeans shaved off along with quite a bit of skin. His left elbow was not too different, with something about the way its respective arm bent hinting at something gone wrong with the joint.

  Compared to Kloel’s state, there was still quite a ways to go. But it was more than enough to get an unrestrained cackle from her, her hypothesis proven true once again.

  “Goddamn psychopath…” The Unmasked snarled, true rage obvious in his voice for the very first time.

  “Pfft! Is that supposed to be a compliment among you lot?” Kloel’s response was nothing but venomous mockery.

  He did not speak again, his only response being another swing from the wired hook. The line extended well beyond the distance between them, drawing a smooth arc in the air with seemingly more speed and power than before.

  But this time, despite her injuries, Kloel managed to avoid it without so much as a nick. She could move freely now; right, left, backward and anything in-between. Now in an open space, Phantom’s long-range swings were not nearly as dangerous.

  An overhead swipe. A feint from the right, followed by a curve from the left, aiming behind her. The hook phased through the pavement they stood on, aiming up. Phantom was relentless, and even managed to reach Kloel a few more times, but whether from stress or his own wounds, there was something slightly duller about his moves.

  Kloel did not hold back her own offense. Crackling blobs of dark indigo rose around her and shot forth, exploding all around Phantom who had begun to dodge conventionally as well.

  He was intent on not letting Kloel out of his sight, definitely aware of what she now knew. But with his less precise assault and a better pying field, she was learning even more than just that.

  One such time was now, when she heard the clinking sound of metal on pavement. For the first time, Phantom’s hook had hit and bounced off the floor, rather than phasing through it.

  At the same moment he was forced to phase through Kloel’s destructive prana.

  Is it just stamina issues? Or maybe he has to choose a ‘target’ to become intangible? A limited range ‘barrier’, perhaps?

  Kloel was panting, exhausted from her frantic run across the street and all the different things she had to keep in mind. Her throat was painfully dry, her calf tortured her and her vision throbbed with an intermittent blur. While changing the location of their battle had been a boon, there was no doubt she would still lose a contest of endurance.

  Even so, she was now more excited than ever. She grinned, doing her best to hold back another ugh as she visualized the next step with increasing crity.

  Excitement alone was not enough to overcome physical limitations, however, and Kloel’s next corner turn was a perfect example of that. Seeking additional cover, she only managed to run eight or so extra meters by the sidewalk to her left before she lost her footing, feeling a stinging rip on her knee right after.

  She gritted her teeth from the unexpected pain but took immediate action, twisting her body the best she could to at least fall on her side and look back at where she came from, toward the pursuing Phantom.

  He had only reached the storm drain right at the corner when she resumed her attack, unching a particurly dense blob of prana at him without hesitation.

  He somehow dodged it with a frantic leap to the side, but the lump of indigo mass spread in every direction like an ink-filled balloon. The spike-like tendrils came so close to him, but his phasing saved him from the surprise, two-stage attack well within time.

  Kloel narrowed her eyes, gring at the Unmasked who safely materialized once more.

  “Dirty. If I still wasn’t taking you seriously, that could’ve gotten me.”

  “Save me the ptitudes, asshole.”

  She probably did not have to say it, as he readied his next attack while speaking. The wired hook unfurled rapidly from his hand, fittingly approaching the downed Kloel from above. She needed to stand back up to move well, and was being deprived of even that possibility.

  So predictable!

  Without hesitation, Kloel extended both arms forward and sent forth another wave of prana; a burst to forcefully move her further back while doubling as another attack.

  She groaned from her rough slide across the pavement, even if Phantom’s hook missed right before her, phasing through the floor instead. On his end, Phantom easily dodged back toward the sidewalk. He may have predicted something of the sort, but it was a far cry to expect such a frantic, rushed attempt to hit him.

  It was all over now. Phantom’s hook was well on its way back up now, phasing through the street with all the velocity needed to get Kloel’s heart, neck, head or anything else that would finally do her in. She could hardly move, and even if she mounted another desperate retreat, this time he would expect it and get her anyway, even if with the wire itself by extending more than usual.

  At st, he has me entirely cornered…

  … Kloel could not hold her smirk back. Pondering what he was probably thinking at the moment was beyond hirious.

  Checkmate, you clueless fuck.

  Before any of such delusions of his could become a reality, dark prana gushed violently from the storm drain, right beside Phantom. The tendrils sent inside it during the earlier burst had converged, waited, then shot out as a heavy torrent the moment she willed it.

  Too fast, with no way to expect it, Phantom not only failed to dodge, but even cked the time to turn the phasing effect from the underground hook over to his body.

  The blob of indigo moved faster than a bullet, and was rge enough to engulf his whole body as it kept going through the entire width of the street. It crashed into the side of the nearby warehouse, then right through it, tearing a jagged hole over two meters in diameter.

  The crashing noise of shattering concrete continued to echo even after that, hinting at the next wall possibly receiving a simir amount of damage as the prana clump refused to stop.

  “… Shit…”

  Kloel waited a few seconds, just to be sure. She saw no signs of Phantom or his threaded weapon, but there was still some unease that continued to cling to her. It was not long, however, before even that started to vanish, slowly but surely.

  And with the disappearing concern, an overpowering sense of relief came in turn. Annoying, even dangerous, as it fueled her urge to just stay there, ying down… Even drift off…

  It was difficult, but she was still just lucid enough to resist such temptation and force herself back up. It made her feel somewhat pathetic, struggling to rise even when using all four of her limbs. Still, she achieved it, despite finally feeling the true extent of her wounds after coming down from her activity ‘high’.

  She walked with slow, awkward steps akin to a baby deer’s, steadily approaching the hole in the warehouse’s wall. She looked inside, still wary.

  Much like on the street outside, some of the building’s hard floor had been peeled off, cracked in the wake of her final attack. Boxes had been destroyed, storage stands torn down, and while it was definitely smaller, the opposite wall also had a rough hole pierced through it.

  And in the middle of it all was a person. Laying half on his side, half face up, bloodied and broken with his designer clothes torn, charred and otherwise ragged in too many pces to count.

  Kloel thought she noticed a few shallow breaths, indicating he was holding on, but Phantom was certainly done fighting for the day.

  There was some disappointment to be felt. She wanted to ugh, had waited for this moment just to be able to finally let loose and cackle to her heart’s content, but the ache everywhere on her body was too much. The sheer exhaustion was also unbearable, and it all only seemed to grow by the second.

  Still, she did not mind for that long. After all, something more important came over her mind soon after. Something she should do now, without dey.

  Grumbling from the pain, Kloel brought a hand to her hip; her back pocket, to be precise. One where her cellphone id in wait, miraculously spared from the battle’s effects…

  … It was not. Her lips went tight in a vague pout as she saw four connected cracks running across the screen, despite the protector and case. Cracks that actually had a bearing in the device’s use, swipes and taps now rather inconsistent.

  But it was no big issue. What she wanted to do was still possible.

  Camera, into video recording function, aimed at her defeated opponent, with her hand next to the sight. She raised her thumb in an almost universal gesture, and spoke.

  “Yo, I did my part. How’s this for a good luck charm~? Now it’s your turn!”

  Just a few seconds of recording, and some more to send it.

  The target contact: Tatyana Nesterova.