I walk up and down the aisles, picturing the two silver blades aimed at my core and heart slowly piercing through my flesh.

The microseconds pass as the rush of new stat points adds to my base power. My speed and agility are what I have to rely on most for the plan I've devised next. I slowly make my way back to the white marble throne and replay the exact movements my body has to make in my mind a hundred times.

I want to make them feel more intuitive, like second nature, before turning around and sitting down on the white throne again.

Once I do, a single deep breath in and out is all it takes for my split consciousness to combine into one and force myself into action.

Power surges through my body, and I give up on trying to land the perfect shot on the Dragon's core.

The only thing I do right now is step off the air with as much force as I can with my right foot and twist my body with the newfound speed, strength, and agility coursing through me.

The movement I practiced in my mind hundreds of times while walking through the aisles is happening in real-time.

While the pleasure of receiving tens of thousands of base stat points feels immaculate, the sensation of silver blades tethered with Divine energy multiple times denser and more potent than my own tearing through my flesh definitely cancels this good feeling out.

This being may have denser Divine energy than me, but the amount of torque and speed generated by my spin launches me upward while the blades are still inside my body.

The critical moment passes, and my perception of the world around me speeds back up to let this exchange play out.

Both silver swords plunge through my torso and chest.

One slices right through my upper ribcage, missing the upper portion of my divine core by millimeters.

The other misses my heart and stabs right through the top of my upper pec and out through my left shoulder.

While this is one of the most painful attacks I've ever been hit with, I can't help but get a rush from the fact that my plan worked.

Some bones have been broken and muscles torn, but none of my vitals were hit directly, and I can still follow through with my right hand's downward slash against the dragon's open body.

It's not perfectly lined up after my stunt to save my own life, but I manage to release an attack that opens up a deep gash on the bronze dragon's side and tears its left wing in half.

As my blade digs into the monster's flesh, I can feel the silver blades twisting and attempting to move downward in my own.

The only thing I can do is take another step off the air with my left foot upward to outpace my invisible attacker and forcefully pull the blades out of my upper chest.

As I do this, soaring forward and pulling my own blades away from the dragon's mutilated wing, I feel its mixed emotions ripple through me as it makes contact with the outer layers of my purple barrier.

The sensation is so odd.

It isn't angry, or scared, or even battle-hungry.

The creature still seems sad for me, even now as I slice off part of its wing.

As it falls down into the dark crater made from our clashes in the desert before, I feel it wishing that I landed the shot.

The feeling seems very similar to that of the hunters from the Association when they realized they were being forced to do tasks they don't want to do.

However, I've been fighting this monster for almost half an hour. I've done every possible scan on it, and there's no sign of any buffs or slave artifacts. Even its divine energy is smooth and not tampered with.

It seems to be a free dragon, but the eerie feeling I get as it falls away into the dark crater below and I airstep upward, ripping the silver blades from my back with my speed, is that this elegant monster was wishing for me to put it out of its misery.

I don't dwell on the thought for too long, because the moment the blades rip out from my back, and blood gushes out, the shimmering silver weapons fade away from my perception.

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Just like the rest of this mysterious being's body, when not in contact with Celia's purple core, I can't sense this being at all.

I do know that my speed and agility outmatch theirs thanks to my subordinate's borrowed stats, but my Divine energy-enhanced shielding was no match for its strength.

Even now, the holes in my body are having a hard time healing from the dense residue left over.

In response, my heartbeat speeds up, and so do my footsteps through the sky in my greater form.

I try to lead whatever is chasing me far away from the city.

More MCP transfer notifications ring in my inner ear from my body double farming as the yellow light of the dragon's core disappears into the darkness below me.

More and more thoughts run through my mind as I push my speed to the limits.

When I was inside my mind palace, I used all of my time to figure out how to escape a single strike.

It worked, but now I have to figure out how to defeat an opponent that is far more powerful than myself without even being able to see them coming.

I continue to fly in a single direction. If I make any turns or change in altitude, this could give the enemy following me a chance to cut me off and close the distance.

However, only two plans come to mind. One I'll try first, but based on the fact that this invisible force went in for the kill shot just moments ago, I'm already thinking of ways to attempt the second option and risk changing my flight path.

I grit my teeth and let out a wave of telepathy in all directions.

"Who are you? Why have you come here? What do you want from me? Maybe we can come to an agreement rather than trying to kill each other!"

As the pulse goes out, usually I can establish a link with someone if they're within range, but for some reason, the only link I form is with the dragon falling to the remains of the desert floor.

The force in the sky is invisible, not a trace is picked up even by my All-Seeing Eye enhanced by my True Core.

Even so, I try again. Multiple times actually. Sending out requests for this being's name, where they're from, and what they want.

While it's pointless in one regard, not getting any feedback from my enemy, I've also managed to heal up my wounds in this time and have prepared to test my second option.

I take a deep breath and make dense shielding around my vitals instead of charging my blades.

A counterattack against this opponent feels pointless; their swords would cut through mine like butter. It's best I focus on dodging getting hit in the vitals because it is inevitable that the silver blades will hit me again.

My mind's eye locks onto the dragon falling deeper and deeper into the darkness, and I make a sharp turn in the air to head toward it.

My heart beats even faster, and my breaths get heavier as my adrenaline pumps and fuels my footsteps forward.

I'm finally starting to understand what other monsters feel when I endlessly slaughter them in the dungeons with my stealth skills and limiter activated.

It is unnerving to face an invisible and superior opponent.

Nevertheless, I follow through on the only logical plan I have in mind.

If I can't kill the attacker, I'll kill their dragon. Odds are, there is some kind of soul bond in place. I don't know why else a dragon would be working with a human.

As my direction changes, I question if whatever I'm fighting is even human in the first place.

It wields two swords, so this is my first assumption.

However, it could be a demon, or another rogue dragon in human form, or an entirely new species of monster.

As my altitude drops and I do a full turn in the air, these racing questions soon cease as I feel the burning pressure of two silver blades cutting deep into my left side.

One aimed straight for my core again, and the other deep into my gut.

I wince at the burning pain, but I've been here before.

While the gut shot won't be pretty, it's not a fatal hit. I can let it pierce me without shifting my trajectory at all and heal it once I get away..

A direct hit to the core, on the other hand, will be impossible to recover from.

The only problem is, I don't have the near infinite amount of time as I did last time to perfect my movements to escape. I have the speed and agility to do so, I just have one try and can't mess this up.

In a state of extreme stress, I activate all of my mental attack skills: Intimidation, Confusion, and even Flash and Screech for more area distortion.

Every element in my arsenal activates, sending waves of fire, ice, water, earth, air, lightning, darkness, and light materializing in the air where the general body of the attacker should be.

I use flash step along with all of my buffs to move even faster forward, while activating Stealth to make my own appearance disappear from view.

My intuition tells me that if I can't see this monster, then there's a good chance even with my Divine Energy-enhanced stealth skill activated, it can still sense me; so I activate one of the newest skills I obtained while fighting the dragon less than an hour ago, Echo.

In my place, it recreates a perfect image of me that hasn't moved downward with enhanced speed.

The difference in placement may only be a few centimeters at most, but to avoid a fatal blow, that's all I need.

This violent eruption of skills is more of a flashbang to distract my enemy rather than do any damage, so I don't hold back—I have to make it count.

The immense burst of energy is all enhanced by Divine Energy, and it explodes like a bomb powerful enough to make the same crater I formed with the dragon over again in a single release.

The silver blades stay their course as I shift downward and narrowly escape death one more time.

The same hot sensation of a denser True Core than my own carving through my body with real killing intent makes a barrage on my psyche as I airstep forward with everything I have to tear the blades out from my flesh using my speed advantage once again.

I plunge downward into the darkness, aimed straight for the falling dragon, and am trailed by the silver blade user. Their presence fades from my senses completely the moment the weapons are torn from my body.

After a few full-powered air-steps down into the darkness, I can begin to replay the movements in my mind that I just pulled off. I was hoping I'd get to see some kind of outline or silhouette of the monster when my elemental attacks hit it from all sides, but it is still completely invisible...

I've tried everything, my mental and physical fatigue is building up, and that stunt I just pulled won't work for a second time. There's only one last hope for me now; it's the injured dragon falling through the darkness below me.