Chapter 1396 (2/2)

Even now, the Nether spy surprised Kaan. Just as the golden harmony reached the trio of other harmonies, the Ghosthound’s emerald eyes flashed. His body rippled, somehow twisting to avoid in a manner that was even more disturbing than his impressive speed.

Still, it wasn’t enough. The blow that should have caved the Ghosthound’s chest in was escaped. Instead of crippling him or killing him outright, the golden harmony punched through his grey armor and ripped a hole the size of a fist in the Ghosthound’s side. Blood sprayed outward, tumbling slowly through the air like a liberated stash of emeralds.

Kaan’s eyes narrowed and he stepped forward. The two harmonies above his head were shining brightly, pushing his physical abilities right up against the limit set by the System. His step cracked the incredibly tough ground of the Nether Suppression Cell. The Ghosthound’s body was leaning backward, pain and shock flitting across his face. And then Kaan was there above him, palm raised.

His palm descended. But a powerful image blasted outward from the wounded Ghosthound. Kaan frowned in irritation as he felt the Nether spy contest his image’s dominance over the surrounding area. He tried to suppress its influence with force, but the image was tenacious. It climbed around Kaan’s vast power, forcing its way through cracks in Kaan’s harmonies. Then it spun together and grew, forming a towering image in the area around the Ghosthound.

Perhaps even then, Kaan could have normally managed to suppress it. But at the moment, the smallest sliver of his image needed to deal with the remnant image from the earlier attack. So Kaan could only look on in irritation as the Ghosthound’s image manifested.

Its bark was covered in golden script, depicting the secrets of the universe. Its emerald leaves oozed life. The wound in the Ghosthound’s side rapidly began to knit together under the influence of the life-giving aura.

Snorting, Kaan again struck downward with his palm. The Ghosthound crossed his arms to take the blow, helpless to dodge. With the physical power of two harmonies, Kaan’s smashed the Ghosthound’s defenses to pieces and bounced his opponent off the ground like a rubber ball. The wound that had been healing in the Ghosthound’s side ripped open once more. Blood sprayed out once more, even before the first spray had hit the ground.

Still, at the moment of impact, Kaan experienced both surprise and horror. The surprise was from the sudden increase of the integrity of the Ghosthound’s body. That image vastly increased his defenses, otherwise the strike would have turned him into meat paste.

The horror was because Kaan’s neck tingled right as he struck the Ghosthound. From the boughs of the vital tree shimmering in the air above the Ghosthound, something horrible looked out from the shadows and locked onto Kaan. It had thousands of arms and mouths. It was a tight ball of flesh and ruin. And Kaan felt all those mouths smile at him.

Kaan staggered backward, gritting his teeth, as a formless dagger of death energy stabbed into that horrible handprint the Ghosthound had already left on his chest. More than any lasting damage, the trouble was the pain that briefly blinded Kaan.

In that moment, the Ghosthound pressed his hand on the ground and regained his bearings. The two sprays of blood finally hit the ground, leaving abstract emerald markings on the floor of the Nether Suppression Cell. A purple-black energy rose out of the Ghosthound’s skin as he made to stand up again. But at the last second, the Ghosthound grimaced and twisted.

However, it was too late. The golden harmony that Kaan had shot out previously came back. It clipped the Ghosthound’s thigh and ripped out another large chunk of flesh. The damage was a lot less than the first strike, but it would hopefully reduce the Ghosthound’s mobility for a short amount of time. Without that speed… the Ghosthound was doomed.

Kaan surged forward, pushing his way through the pain of that strange mental attack. Two trees… one filled with life, one corrupted and filled with death. And sitting in that tree of life was the seed of death, so it stands to reason that there is a seed of life on the death tree… I’ll need to watch out for that in the future. So, these are the images of Randidly Ghosthound.

After seeing the images, Kaan had to admit in his heart that Randidly Ghosthound was truly a talented individual. Those images, while their foundation was still slightly shaky and blurry, were dominant. In the Xyrt Brigade, such images were considered Atmospheric Images; their existence affected the surrounding area and created powerful effects. Comparing such a powerful Atmospheric-type image to Kaan’s Tool-type image… on a battlefield, Randidly Ghosthound would really be much more influential than he would be.

Still, there was an obvious advantage of Tool-type images. Even now, the two bright harmonies above Kaan’s head began to gradually shift their resonance to restrict the two tree images of Randidly Ghosthound. Because the effect of Tool-type images was more focused, they could exert incredible power in a small area.

The Nether spy straightened right as Kaan arrived in front of him. This time, he didn’t bother with a palm attack; he directly pounced forward to grapple with him. It was time to finish-

Crack!

The surrounding air shimmered and then faltered. While Kaan struggled to figure out what was going on, a golden radiance erupted out of the Ghosthound. It was a weak imitation of the powerful divinity that Kaan had seen before when meeting some of the elders of the Swacc Family, but still, that sudden luminescence impacted Kaan’s psyche. For the briefest moment, Kaan felt like he was facing an individual far beyond him in power. So he hesitated.

At that moment, the Ghosthound slipped backward and escaped, despite the wound to his leg.

In the following moment, the Nether Suppression Cell around them shattered into pieces. Suddenly they were back on the highlands, standing on a slope of a low hill. The Ghosthound’s Soulbound companion was there in a dimming ring of Aether Engravings, glaring at Kaan.

Even more disturbing was the dense wave of Nether that rolled off of the Ghosthound’s body. The Nether spy looked at Kaan and laughed, as bold as brass. “Now it’s my turn.”