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Damien blurred through the streets of a small town, heading toward a company building he was told was there. Just like in the other cities before this one, he concealed his energy in hopes of catching whoever had snatched Alissia off guard.
Not sure whether he was stepping into an ambush, he opted that going undetected was the wisest option. Even with his abilities, a full-on fight would result in tons of human collateral damage, Alissia included.
As Damien neared the area, he stopped a few blocks from a tall building he'd been searching for. He spotted a bubble-like veil at the top of the building. It matched the description of some cloaking device he was told was used when Naomi was attacked.
That explains why Trik couldn't track them.
To avoid the possibility of being trapped, he prepared to act quickly by using his Electric Embodiment, but to his astonishment, he noticed something quickly descending toward the ground.
Is that...
Somehow, he already knew the answer even as he squinted his eyes.
In a fraction of a second, Damien's body burst forward with speed, producing a thundering boom as extensions of electricity arced into his surroundings as he raced toward Alissia, who was about to collide with the ground.
Making it just in time to appear under her while she was still twenty feet in the air, he jumped toward her, coating her in his spirit energy as he intercepted her, then shot past the roof of the building before coming to a halt.
"You okay?" he asked as they floated above the building below.
Alissia's eyes were dilated as she looked around in shock before her brain caught up to what had happened.
"Boy, am I glad to see you," she responded, her muscles untensed in his embrace.
"Trik informed me about sensing Claeg's rapid approach when you were taken. Then he found a note written into the ground with a company name and a message telling Tymon to come here within an hour. We each separated to check each building in the country with this name. He's either sick in the head or not smart at all for not specifying."
"I think it's a little of both," Alissia commented satirically. "He seems to be obsessed with Tymon. My guess is he wants to eat him like he tried to with Naomi."
Before Damien could question her about it, Claeg suddenly appeared above them with a fist cocked back.
Damien reflexively focused spirit enhancement onto his arms as he raised one of them just in time to block the attack.
The force from Claeg's strike was so overwhelming it knocked Damien onto the roof of the building below, causing multiple fractures to spread outward on the roof from his landing.
Along with his arms, Damien's mind was rattled. He hadn't expected a guy Claeg's size to be that quick or for him to be able to hit him.
Claeg struck again, but this time, Damien was ready as he gracefully dodged even with Alissia in tow.
Claeg began to chuckle with amusement as he stalked toward them with an intense hunger in his eyes.
"You aren't who I preferred to show up, but you're still premium quality. Never had meat with a charge to it," he exhaled perniciously, making Damien's skin crawl.
Before Claeg could start his next assault, Damien rushed toward him and struck him with a few solid kicks of his own before landing behind him, but Claeg stood unaffected by them.
He turned and gave them a jagged grin.
"Call down some lighting like you did back when you saved us," Alissia suggested urgently.
Damien shook his head in objection.
"I can't without storm clouds. He's quicker than I thought he'd be; I have a plan, though. Do you trust me?"
Alissia gave Damien a hesitant look before replying.
"Y-Yeah, I trust you."
Smirking lightheartedly, Damien flung her skyward several dozen feet. As he did this, Claeg had already begun dashing toward him in a full sprint, his hunger-crazed gaze locked onto Damien.
Damien responded by making his eyes glow, ready to face him head-on. When they made contact, they entered a superspeed skirmish that ran across the entire building roof. Based on Claeg's previous strike and what Naomi had shared with him, Damien knew that overpowering the beast was out of the question.
Claeg threw attack after attack, each packed with staggering force and a surprising level of speed, but with his cat-like reflexes, Damien nimbly dodged them while levitating slightly as he analyzed his opponent.
He glanced skyward and saw that Alissia had already begun to descend, meaning a few seconds had already passed. In that time, he'd deduced that Claeg was not only stronger, but he was also faster than him – on land, that is. His speed far surpassed Claeg's so long as he flew. Not only that, but something felt...different about Claeg's presence like Damien was sensing him in multiple ways just like he could with the humans... It also seemed as if Claeg couldn't fly either. Since Claeg's overall energy output was meager by their standards and he didn't show the ability to use spirit enhancement, Damien guessed that Claeg didn't have proper energy control.
So why didn't his attacks affect him earlier? Damien tested a theory he thought of by transfiguring some of his spirit energy into arrays of cherry blossom-colored lightning that manifested between his hands, then blasted Claeg with it.
Unsurprisingly, this also had no effect on the abomination. His body was abnormally rugged, even without spirit enhancement. Meaning Damien had no chance of actually harming him unless he transformed. And even then....
"What kind of monsters did Avarice create..." he muttered as he settled on escaping. As Claeg lunged at him recklessly, Damien kept his hat in place with one hand and flipped over Claeg while using the other hand to push himself upward off Claeg's head. He floated up to catch Alissia as his perception of time returned to normal.
"You threw me?" Alissia said almost offensively as she looked at him wide-eyed.
"Sorry, I needed to move without restrictions. Here you go." He handed her the spatial bag he snatched from Claeg's waist during their skirmish.
"Watch out!" Alissia yelled as a chunk of stone material whizzed toward them as Damien shifted midair to a different location.
"GET DOWN HERE!" Claeg's voice boomed from below them.
"Why? Can't fly?" Damien called out as he smiled down at him amusingly. Claeg abruptly leaped up toward them, but Damien held out a hand, and Claeg suddenly halted and floated before them.
"Wha- What is this?!' he exclaimed as he struggled to move.
"Hm. As I thought..." Damien retorted before sending Claeg crashing back onto the building, pinning him down.
"How are you doing that," Alissia asked as Claeg lay there glowering at them in frustration.
Damien kept his eyes fixed on Claeg.
"Most animal's blood is filled with iron. I can control that iron and manipulate their bodies, though I don't normally do it since it strips them of their will. I realized earlier that I could sense the iron within him, which was surprising since we Primordials don't have any metallic substances in our blood. Perhaps it's due to him originally being human."
Damien began to feel Claeg's resistance as he struggled violently against Damien's hold; then, in one long breath, Claeg let out a deafening bellow, rattling Damien's ears, breaking his concentration. The building beneath Claeg began to tremor as more ruptures formed and spread until the roof caved in onto the next floor, then the next, until Claeg had disappeared beneath a small mountain of rubble. Thinking quickly as he slowly recovered from his addled state, Damien landed nearby and sped off with Alissia in his arms.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0AGFKbh5F6
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Fun fact: Damien's Ferritic Pull cintracy allows him to sense and manipulate metal substances. With his mastery of this power, he's even able to detect and control the fine amounts of iron in humans and animals.
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