Chapter 1643 (1/2)

“You… another Foxman…?” Shal said with hollow eyes as he looked at Raymund. His body swayed slightly as his feet remained planted in the same spot. Then his face twisted into a hateful stare toward Raymund. “Do you think something like this matters before an Armament?!?”

Shal’s body began to tremble and that gemstone on his chin began to glow with an intense yellow-green light. The images he had borrowed from the Armament began to rise around him once more. The ground beneath his feet sizzled and spat as it was steadily eroded by his aura. Meanwhile, Raymund could only shake his head sorrowfully at the display. To think the master of the Ghosthound has resorted to such desperate compromises… as the follower of your apprentice, Shal, I have a duty to correct such grievous misconceptions.

No sooner had the Rotten Beast’s hulking mass formed around Shal’s body than Raymund grasped once more and the image was stolen away. There wasn’t even the slightest hint of resistance; at this point, Raymund understood the feel of the image and could confiscate it without any apparent effort. Another tremor rocked Shal’s body and the light from his gemstone dimmed.

It seemed these Armaments weren’t without limit, then.

“You…” Shal looked at Raymund with bulging eyes. His fingers were twitching, as though in his imagination he had his hands around the Foxman’s throat. Shal took a step forward and made a cutting gesture that was perhaps related to one of his images. Of course, nothing happened. All of his borrowed images had been safely removed from his control.

Right now, Shal was just a man with a very silly helmet on his head.

Raymund considered using the images against Shal but decided against it. All of the images he had absorbed were messy and infectious; even by using them, Raymund wasn’t sure if his own image would be able to escape some minor contamination. So instead, he just raised his claws and stepped forward. “You possess no particular bond with these images, Shal. Your grasp on them is feeble. They are child’s play to confiscate from you. And with how weak your Willpower has become-”

“This, big brother,” Suddenly, a familiar voice spoke playfully into Raymund’s ear. His skin began to crawl as he twisted around, only to find that Techetadore had somehow materialized behind him while he was speaking to Shal. His brother was wearing an eerie smile, staring at Shal with glazed eyes. His six tails flicked back and forth behind him with an effortless grace. “Is exactly why I tried to kill you earlier. The Swacc Family has invested so much time and effort into its Armaments. Do you really think its fair that people like us can take all that away in just a moment…?”

Ignoring the pale and weak Shal, Raymund rounded on his brother and raised his claws. Without the mental pressure of finally being reunited, he looked at his brother through the eyes of his ability to sense and interfere with an image. As he did so, a realization dawned on him. Raymund snarled. “You… you are not my brother! You are an image, suppressing him and making yourself at home in his body!”

Instantly, Techetadore’s playful expression slid off his face. What was left in its place was a look of distant boredom. The six-tailed fox shrugged. “Either way, the result is the same. This time, I’ll be sure you bleed out in front of me.”

Techetadore’s hand blurred and he ripped through the air. Unwilling to be so easily defeated this time, Raymund ignored his earlier thoughts and unleashed all three of the stolen images at once. A powerful aura of rot and corruption filled the air, thickening and deepening the space between the two brothers. It was as if Raymund had birthed a humid marsh between them, screening himself from danger.

Of course, that marsh was easily bridged with raw power. The images that Raymund had stolen from Shal were strong, but Techetadore’s chop ripped through them all. An absolute divide seemed to form around his hand, easily severing the stolen images and ripping a deep gash in Raymund’s body.

Luckily, Raymund had seen Techetadore’s brutal style before, so he had already been lurching backward before he saw it coming and was able to avoid the worst of the strike. But still, blood gushed down his chest as he stumbled away.

As Techetadore strolled calmly after the reeling Shal, Helen suddenly interposed herself between them, covered in a grey haze and thrusting her spear toward Techetadore’s heart. The speed and timing of her strike was exquisite. No sooner had she arrived than her weapon was piercing toward Techetadore.

However, whatever being currently resided in Raymund’s brother was a monster.

Techetadore flicked his hand sideways, smashing into the six wicker lines that Helen brought against him. With an audible snap, the wicker lines of Helen’s Domain shatter and she was left reeling. During his own retreat, Raymund noticed what must is blood leaking from the corners of Helen’s mouth and a strong impulse to turn around struck him. But he had an order, and he also admitted to himself that his attempts to help her will not be all that effective.

Techetadore followed up his crushing of her Domain with a kick directly to Helen's chest. She slammed into the ground and tumbled sideways until her limp form rolled to a stop in the middle of a clash between Claudette and a member of the Engraving Guild. Claudette reacted quickly, shouting for Narthalla and covering Helen with her chilling image.

Which gave Raymund a small amount of relief about his Overseer, as he practically dragged himself forward, with one hand on his chest to stem the enthusiastic flow of blood as best as he could. I just need to get…!

“Time’s up, bro.” The monster inside of Techetadore said, raising his hand. As Raymund looked at the body of his brother, he wondered whether his brother was watching through those bored eyes. He wondered if Techetadore would feel pain to watch him die.

He abruptly realized that his brother most likely believed he had already watched him die if he was still conscious within his own body. And with that thought, all the guilt and deep desire to protect his little brother began to ignite. He refused to die tragically before the eyes of the one person he cared about, more than everything else.

Perhaps in another location, Raymund would be powerless to slow this absolute image down. But here, on this battlefield?

Even as Techetadore raised his hand once more, Raymund grasped outward and seized upon the image of someone from Military High Command, across the battlefield. He inwardly winced as that figure faltered and then was struck by a Nether Herald, but he kept his focus on the foe in front of him. An enormous spectral tail flickered behind Raymund’s back.