Robert didn't have enough essence to use Mind Blackout in the dominate setting. And he was sure he wouldn't overcome Cultist Marcus' resistance anyway. What he needed was a moment of distraction he could use. Mental energy flew out of him and slammed into the man's brain. He staggered.

That was it! Robert could feel it. With the eighty times time dilation he had over the guy, he surely could do something. Robert took a dagger, tied it with twine, and threw it at Cultist Marcus. The dagger was aimed at his ear and struck true. It embed itself several inches deep and then stopped. Robert could see the dagger's edge disintegrating. If the dagger penetrated that deeply, it should've reached the man's brain. It was a kill shot.

His greed flared. Of course, a cult of Void Archs would have a tempering technique. Cultist Marcus' could damage any weapon that did him harm. It didn't stop the wound or perhaps lessen it. Robert slowly pulled the twine and the dagger came off. Half of the blade was missing. Some blood started to pool around the wound and Robert was sure the man's hearing on that ear was gone. However, it dissuaded him from using one of his more expensive weapons.

He threw another dagger at the other ear, taking his time to aim. The same thing happened. Cultist Marcus was deaf now. Robert had two more daggers he could throw at his eyes. He struck one eye and then the man shook off his stun. Given that Robert was acting eighty times faster than Cultist Marcus, the stun lasted for just a few seconds.

Cultist Marcus' head turned to stare at him. Now, most of his anger was gone. Bleeding from one popped eye and two ruined ears, he was scared.

"The Void beckons, bitch," Robert growled at him, a dagger with twine attached in his hand.

The bubble collapsed. The colors vanished, placing Cultist Marcus out of Robert's reach.

"Goddammit!" Robert cursed. His prey had evaded him by fleeing back to reality. But now he was stuck with Lars, the real Marcus, and a host of teachers. Blind in one eye and deaf. That surely had to count for something, right?

He walked away from the man, keeping his eyes on him. Against a Void Arch, Robert would leave no openings if he could help it. Then he saw colors returning to the man's body. No bubble this time. He started to walk toward the exit at a normal walking pace.

What the hell was going on? How could he... Robert gasped in shock and horror. Did Cultist Marcus have a spell to enter the liminal void? But wait, he wasn't walking toward him, or even looking at Robert with his one good eye. No, he was going to the exit. He wasn't bleeding but Robert expected that. The liminal void suspended body functions except those related to the mind and soul.

Robert aimed at his neck with his last dagger. Cultist Marcus didn't react. Robert dashed and stopped in front of him.

"Stop right there, or I'll kill you!" He threatened.

Nothing. Cultist Marcus didn't notice him. He kept staring forward and walking mechanically.

Anger getting the best of his wits, Robert stabbed Cultist Marcus in the good eye. The dagger hissed and vanished as it was disintegrated by the man's Void body tempering. Or maybe it was his talent. To dissolve and ruin any weapon that struck his body. But the eye was gone. Cultist Marcus was officially blind and deaf.

"What the hell?" Cultist Marcus shouted, jumping away and breaking contact.

Robert ducked underneath the table. He then saw Cultist Marcus walk past his hiding spot. Things were getting weirder by the minute. Climbing out and getting back on his feet, he saw Cultist Marcus walking past the people by the door at a leisurely pace. With the dagger still stuck in his eye.

It made no sense at all. What was Robert missing?

He jogged to put himself in front of the man again. Fuck. What kind of crazy ability did he use? It granted Cultist Marcus access to the liminal void but not the autonomy to act. He just walked. It was like he was walking through the void. A void jaunt? Void steps?

The last conjecture clicked in his head. Void step was a staple of stories about Void Archhumans, where they could teleport around by walking through a parallel dimension. As he watched the bind, deaf man take a couple more steps like an automaton, and he started to laugh.

Robert took one of the ruined daggers and timed his strike. A slash, as fast as he could, on the man's neck artery. Minimize contact time and maximize power to counter the weird weapon-dissolving power. He struck.

Cultist Marcus flinched and raised a hand to cover his neck. A red gash formed but no blood came out. It was expected. As Robert broke contact and dropped the now useless dagger hilt to forever float in the air, he saw Cultist Marcus resume his walk. He then used his second half-dagger to cut the other side of the man's neck. Then the third to hamstring him.

Only while they kept contact did Cultist Marcus react. He otherwise kept walking, even with his Achilles tendon cut.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Robert made a mental note to get more disposable weapons. The only two he had on him were his sword and spear, both priced at half a million dollars. He wasn't sure how well they would resist the man's disintegrating properties or if these could be a killing blow.

Were they worth the kill? Probably. Would they deliver the kill? Probably not. Was Robert willing to sacrifice them? Yes. But first, he wanted to make a few tests.

Robert placed his camping equipment in front of the sleepwalking man, blocking the passage. Cultist Marcus turned around and started to walk back up the hallway. So, this void step spell could take him instantaneously from one place to another, like what people perceived during his jaunts in the liminal void. But he had to bodily walk there. The spell placed him in suspended animation and protected him from the draining properties of the liminal void but that was it.

They were still exposed to true void denizens, like Robert. Perhaps not. It was a coincidence that the man used it while Robert was in the liminal void. Should he do that while Robert was stuck in reality, the power would work as intended. It was not something Robert could exploit.

Meaning this was a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Robert took his sword. "Goodbye, friend. I hope I earn enough from this to repair you."

He then moved forward, stopping in Cultist Marcus' path. He took a stance and aimed. He had one strike. The durability runes on the sword better do their job and allow him to cleave cleanly the man's head.

He struck with all his might and a battle shout. Cultist Marcus' soft and exposed neck was cleaved halfway. The thin and frail blade snapped. Robert let go of it, fearing that prolonged contact would give Cultist Marcus time to retaliate. Taking a moment to reorient himself, he saw the hit and a quarter of the blade floating in the air, with the remainder of the weapon on the other side, perfectly aligned. It was as if the middle of the weapon had become invisible, leaving it whole. he took the hilt and connected it to the tip. The metal flowed and mended itself, leaving the sword with half of its blade length.

He grunted and huffed. "Once more unto the breach, friends!" He shouted to raise his spirits. The sword was ruined, better get as much mileage out of it as possible. Robert readied himself and struck again. This time, he released the blade once he felt the edge strike bone.

Cultist Marcus gurgled and then kept moving. Robert stared, completely befuddled. How was this man still alive? The only thing connecting his head to the rest of his body was the spine and whatever muscle was left at the back of his neck. He could see a gap between head and body, a second mouth made of tubes and flesh. He could see inside the man's windpipe. The arteries. It was like a living anatomy display.

It weirded Robert out to no small amount. Was this how resilient a four-star Arch was? He had no hope of killing one. It might be an impossible feat for a one-star.

*

*

"Mr. Vane, you are discharged," the physician said. "Do you still feel any need to sneeze?"

"No," the fake Peter Vane replied. "My allergies seem to be healed."

"Then, all you have to do is board the transport back to Earth. Good luck."

"Sure, thanks," the man replied and climbed on the levitating transport. Once he was out of sight, he pinched his nose. "What the hell?"

*

*

Robert decided to sacrifice his boar spear. He aimed, charged, and then dipped the blade up to the cross prongs straight at Cultist Marcus' heart. He pulled the weapon away and then sharpened the haft. He staked the cockroach Void Arch like a vampire over and over until there was no more wood left. Aside from gurgling, he got no reaction from the dead man walking.

Then all he could do was to follow the moving corpse. Cultist Marcus walked out of the administration building and into the garbage processing section. There, he stopped and all color drained from his body. Robert poked the guy but he was as stiff as anything else in the real world that he ever tried to touch from the liminal void. Without anything better to do and another two hours before he could return to reality, he went back and collected everything he left behind inside the building. Even the damaged weapons he decided to leave behind.

Robert waited until the colors returned to the world.

Cultist Marcus collapsed on the ground, blood squirting in big sprays from his severed neck arteries. Robert watched the gory spectacle, glad his biomass absorption tempering technique left nothing in his stomach to vomit. The body twitched on the ground and then went still. A massive influx of Void wisps flowed like a river of midnight darkness right into his star, which bulged. A fraction of the aura collected by Cultist Marcus fused with Robert.

Struggling as he felt overloaded with power and bloated like he'd eaten enough food to save a dragon, Robert touched the corpse and took it to the liminal void with him. The deluge of wisps kept flowing into him, but now they were half Time and half Void. The power was overwhelming and he felt the pressure on his star, demanding his ascension.

Yet, the voice of Titania rang in his mind's eye. He had to delay his ascension as long as possible. But the energy was too much. He felt the darkness of the true void creep into the liminal void, meaning he was sinking away from reality. Falling into nothingness. Scared, Robert trembled and shivered.

"Oh, boy! It seems I managed to arrive at the nick of time, te-he!" A cheerful squeaky voice spoke next to him. "Hang on there, buddy! I know you can do it!"

A cartoon hand wearing a white glove grabbed Robert's hand. Mickey's other hand held his back.

"The Void!" Robert croaked.

"Won't take you today, no sir! Your best friend is here!" Mickey said with a big grin. "I used to say all you need is a bit of magic but oh, boy! Isn't this more than just a bit! Get into the Netherecho, now! Follow my lead."

Robert used what focus was left to him to dive into his Netherecho. Blinded by the sight of his star almost going supernova, he felt a pull toward the dragon's maw and crossed it. In the Netherecho, he saw another four stars, shining dimly and about to collapse. One by one, the stars of Cultist Marcus floated out of his body and broke, crumbling onto themselves and becoming faint brown spheres. Then a black shell came out of his soul. Robert could see a figure in a fetal position inside, two large black disks at the top of its head.

Mickey shredded the runic bands of this shell, releasing the creature inside. It resembled Mickey and Robert took a while to connect the dots. A pink dotted skirt, high heels, and a red felt hat with a single white flower.

She opened her eyes. "Mickey?"

"MINNIE!" Mickey shouted as he hugged her.