Ebony swung Scorchy against both the slashes aimed diagonally across his neck and chest. Performing Emberblade Dance to the best of his abilities. He didn’t worry about the sword getting damaged when it came to heat. Using coagulated mana he violently vibrated the blade to generate heat but it was quickly being taken apart by Teheil so he gave up the endeavour knowing heat was useless against his current opponent.

Even knowing he had the disadvantage when it came to speed he didn’t use Phantom’s Flicker and made use of the cracks in cushioning that Xin made instead. Deflecting Scorchie with his unbreakable bracelet innumerable times quickly allowed his opponent to change her aim but it made her more predictable.

It didn’t take long before she broke out of her entourage and blew him out of the Ferroquads’ camp tumbling across the barren lands. All the while he guided her to hit him towards the Curtain and direction where the Natives came from.

‘Mr Guru was such an amazing opponent.’ Ebony was slightly disappointed by how easily his current aggressor was tricked into hitting him out of the range of her helpers and towards their home.

She managed to stop his heart from beating with her overflowing vitality in the pulse right after pushing him out of the camp. Rolling on the ground across kilometres, he picked himself up and raised Scorchy again. As if he blocked the next blow just in the nick of time. Eliciting a laugh from his opponent now that her Art was cascading strikes and getting faster than his gain in momentum could.

Ebony didn’t bother fighting against the heart stop or use gravity mana to push his blood to move. He just manipulated the chassis of his blood to move.

“What? Did you think my heart needs to beat?” He countered with and landed a nick on the robe he placed on her past her stabbings. He never planned to cut her so it was out of his expectations that she misjudged the dodging distance. Heartstopping was usually a fatal move to most people, warrior or not but that shouldn’t have been enough to surprise his opponent.

‘Taunting works.’ Ebony ate the next sword thrust between the deep groves of his bracelet and was sent across the skies again, not before he twisted his arms to chip the tip of her spare sword. His wrist bone shattered and he manually stopped the healing. It would take quite a few hundred more blows before he guided her towards the cushioning border and he didn’t want her getting suspicious so he deemed it necessary to give her motivation to chase him down.

Fortunately, he overestimated how much she could control herself once her hair turned a brighter shade of red as she continued to pump greater amounts of vitality throughout herself. There were already Natives chasing after both of them trying to calm Ning Xin down with screams in a different language.

They were catching up but he estimated that both of them would leave those people in the dust after a few minutes of Xin going deeper into her augmentation and cascading art. Steelbreaker wasn’t letting all of them go so easily either and she was doing well.

“This is who you were so happy to see? This is who you know will protect you? He’s weaker than you are!”

‘She’s not talking to me, is she? Oh. Good, that means Xin is still there.’ Ebony’s plot to drive both of them past the curtain of level 7 or stronger cushioning faced an issue before they arrived at the near-black curtain of force.

His body was being broken down, her power accelerated far faster than he remembered and expected. Obviously, some skill evolutions were behind this acceleration of her strike's power and speed. Beyond that of his momentum gain and usage.

With little to no choice, he utilised Phantom’s Flicker across his movements so that he wasn’t limited to using the cracks in cushioning she was producing with her attacks and movement. ‘This person is ruining my chances of a successful proposal.’

Ebony got a lightning zap during the next couple dozen strikes that exceeded his ability to react even though he saw the telegraphed attacks coming. ‘Zapping me with static electricity in the air from our bodies instead of mana? I suppose that’s cool but useless.’

His back smashed into a thick film and it strongly slowed both of them down. The pressure on him rose exponentially. The raging swordswoman didn’t stop now that she could barely speak and slaying the moving creature before her was the only thing in her mind. But the cushioning force did not crack and was fully working on her.

Ebony had the advantage with Phantom’s Flicker working to reduce terrain effects on him but he was still bogged down by it.

Even his gravitational perception was going slightly haywire, searching for the Native’s base of operations met with failure so far and he wasn’t sure how wide the curtain of cushioning was. Neither was he aware of how strong the force could get. None of his senses outside of sight could tell how far a certain hue of cushioning went so he had no idea where to go past the curtain.

He was hoping their home was nearby but he received no such indicator after backing up with Flickers and baiting his predator. It was dark enough that his sight was impeded so he tried to go in one linear direction as much as possible and Mental Map told him he wasn’t going along the curtain so they should get out sooner or later.

The ‘curtain’ was roughly 9000 km thick and his body took a toll crossing that even with his movement advantage. He wondered if she was able to break the cushioning present or was holding back a certain amount of sanity. With magic out of the way, his opponent had fewer options in pushing him so he barely made it out the other side with the help of the cushioning.

Anywhere else but Teheil, this was a distance that wouldn’t even prove a logistical challenge even if the terrain was mountainous. Bubble Hills back on Elcra was wider but here on Teheil, it was a gruelling distance to cross with cushioning that should have put Grandmasters and Kings to the ground.

‘The limit of her augmentation is unbelievably high, her constitution core skill must have gotten near the same tier as her other core skills.’ Without any mana, Xin’s current augmentation was far from her greatest feat but he had a good gauge of her Vitality enhancements.

It was roughly the same as if he had all his magical augmentation without his Domain if it wasn’t weakened by Teheil. Assuming her magic hadn’t improved much over the years, he shouldn’t be lagging behind in pure speed and power once they weren’t bogged by Teheil’s weird force. Since his Domain buff state alone should exceed all of her elemental buffs.

But her Art’s ability to build speed and power was far beyond what her augmentations could give through Vitality. And now, her body could seemingly withstand it. Her speciality Pierce skill has gotten so powerful he was forced to sacrifice a limb and use feints to dodge and save his life. Using his bracelet would have caused his arm to blow apart, he would have wanted that but he doubted it would’ve freed him from the sleeping spirit and it's currently the most valuable item he had on hand.

‘Not enough. What do I need to be formless in my techniques?’ Ebony liked the pressure in terms of physical suppression and even slight suppression in technique but it was still lacking to evolve Ethereal Form Arts and he didn’t know what he was missing. Already was he unpredictable and reactive to anything coming at him. Any kind of physical attack from any direction would be faced with similarly odd and flexible omnidirectional attacks from him.

‘Let’s recall.’ He flashed through his memories of spears, towels and fists flying at him. Surprised at how easily it came to him, ‘ah, those delayed strikes. My offence is lacking.’

Since he had a partner now, he got right onto the offensive as there was no better example of a strong offence. He got the hang of punching to illicit a response before his real punch followed through. Honestly pretty easy feint delayed strikes that he could pull off even better with Phantom’s Flicker. But he had trouble committing because it made it hard to defend and evade counters as expected.

Taking pain to the body was the fastest way he knew how to improve so there was no better time. He never forgot to look for traces of Natives and with his gravitational perception and range, it didn’t take long. Many hours had passed since they left the Ferroquad camp and his opponent was coming back to their senses because her energy consumption was ridiculous.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“How did you.. why did you lead us here?”

“How weren’t you able to kill me? If it was Xin, she would’ve burst all her energy in the curtain or before we entered even if it meant her attacks broke herself. You always hold back, how do you expect to land a decisive blow?” Ebony didn’t answer the second question since it should be obvious he was looking for the caster. The same sentence was also said for his own ears.

Ebony didn’t look around but he could see golden light in the horizon. There was a massive Golden Fields in the vicinity. Needless to say, he charged towards the golden light in search of civilization and the populace.

Pushing Xin in her exhausted state might cause problems such as fully losing control. It was already old news to him that Xin’s fighting state was so out of control, even the caster who took over her body couldn’t fully control it. It was why he was even hurt despite how hesitant he thought his opponent was.

‘Low range level 3 cushioning, I can’t outrun her.’ Despite her exhaustion, he knew better than to assume she was down for the count. The weak cushioning didn’t slow his opponent down at all and he couldn’t augment himself well.

He had enough energy and mana in the bank so he took hits to move closer to his destination. His opponent didn’t attempt to guide him away, even trying to probe him towards the golden light.

‘I suppose there are stronger members of Natives back at their home. My resources aren’t compromised so I’ll go along.’

“No need to rush, I’ll be right with you soon.”

And two days later, they slipped into the golden light. Ning Xin or her controller stopped trying to kill him a day ago, he or she gave up easily. Exhausted, they walked here together.

Ebony was convinced that his aura pacified her after long durations of exposure. Her hunger helped him because she didn’t have a bag of food on her and he did, though he only gave her a handful of biscuits and no meat. He was very good at making others understand the futility of trying to kill him if they couldn’t do it instantly.

“So, spirit possession. How did you trick her, food?” They kept a comfortable distance from each other.

“Trick, we did not. I would not be able to do this if she didn’t feel comfortable with it.” His opponent was out of breath but the body she controlled was able to regulate itself.

“Expected. Too bad you betrayed her trust.”

“You can’t do anything to me, why come?”

“You’re confident. I’m confident. Think carefully, this can end with me simply sealing you in your body for a few years and maybe injecting my Will into the ice seal to move you against your will and leaving the rest to Xin. The harder you push, the harder I’ll push back.” Ebony did not hide what was going to happen.

“Ice? What is ice?”

“...” Ebony did not expect that to be the pebble in their conversation. These Natives didn’t know what ice was!

“I cannot let you take her away from me. Not now. We need her, the Holy Maiden. And we will weed out anything in our path, including you. But, you are strong, if you can help us so that we no longer need a Holy Maiden, I will not keep her.”

“Woman, I'm not here to negotiate. You will release her. If she still wants to help with whatever this holy maiden nonsense is and I don’t see anything wrong, I will be inclined to help with whatever she’s doing. There is no other outcome.” He doubted that Xin would help someone who took over her body but he didn’t know enough. If what this person who he decided was a woman said was true, it meant Xin truly felt safe and comfortable with these Natives or she wouldn’t have been possessed.

But for this person to betray her trust, he could only assume it was because Xin lost the inclination to help them from the start or she wouldn’t have to take over her body.

“We have stronger warriors than you.”

“Half a million people. Two hundred of them have an aura like Steelbreaker, so two hundred Emperors or maybe exceptionally strong Kings mixed in. Not enough against your invaders. Two exceptionally strong individuals, perhaps you are one of them since this person is lying down, unmoving. The other is training some children. Wait, probably not you. You wouldn’t need to overtake her body if you had that kind of aura. But that breathing, she’s injured or aged. Dying. I see, Xin and I aren’t quite there yet in terms of aura but almost.”

“How did you know!?”

“Do you plan to play nice if I tell you?”

“...”

“No one inside is making odd moves. So you can’t communicate with them remotely. Do you think you can get help faster than I can pinpoint you?”

“Once they see me with another human, my people will act immediately.” Strongly defiant

“What if they can’t see or hear us? I can make that happen.” Ebony slowed down to a walk when his guide did the same.

Teheil greatly assisted him by removing his target’s magic body resistance or he wouldn’t have been able to cast silencing and refractions right over her body and would have to make a bubble of invisibility instead.

“No you can’t...” Her volume lowered near the end and Ebony had a feeling she was talking to Xin.

“We’ve entered the Golden Fields. Where are your people?” It took as much mana as a hundred-metre radius domain at maximum compression to make him and Xin invisible and not produce sound. He had found that balance and Teheil didn’t or couldn’t absorb his mana held together with Will any faster.

During his time of imprisonment, Aegis and Dusk both worked on Domain’s mana efficiency like their lives depended on it. Because it did.

Even with the strengthened effects of his current Domain, his refinement had dropped the mana cost from 305,000 mana per minute for a 5-metre radius spell to 135,000. Ask any Domain mage on Elcra and they would be flabbergasted by the cost but ask Ebony of the past and he would be amazed at the efficiency. He still had his 3 elemental mana efficiency Fortifications that would be taken into account.

It was a horrendous fight against Teheil for a simple refraction and silencing to cost so much mana and mental effort to upkeep.

“It would’ve been fun if you were half as good or smart as Mr Guru. Now that I think about it, what a coincidence of events. Though Mr Guru didn’t have body control abilities.” Ebony walked Xin who tried to hide her increasing agitation down the green grassy fields. 'or does he? if he can overtake my mindspace, could he have controlled my body?' He mentally chuckled, Mr Guru was lively rent free in his mind even when he was already kicked out.

‘This place is rich. Wait, is that a variant of mythril growing out and popping out of the cave walls in real-time? And that’s a gushing molten iron geyser? ’ Ebony’s senses were busy trying to pinpoint any suspicious Native that could be what this person called a Spirit Possessor but he couldn’t help but sense the riches that were growing. There were so many materials that he didn’t recognise through simple gravitational perception.

Geysers of high-quality liquid metal. Hardy crystal stalactites visibly grew longer and thicker by the minute. Springs of oil. Forests, lakes, rivers and mountains the Golden Fields had everything a civilisation might need. And the Natives don’t have many crafters and many of these resources are left alone to grow or store. They only focused on food, water and some wood or stone for shelter.

‘That’s a gravity elemental rock or metal, I should get some on our way out.’ Ebony sourced for two locations that had the same material growing in abundance, they were mountains and not caves so it was lying in the open.

Xin burst out towards the Natives home the next second.

Ebony didn’t follow, almost the entire Golden Fields was in his mental range. She could still touch people and may have mental or spirit skills that allowed communication with people but he couldn’t stop that anyway so he focused on finding the caster’s real body.

It was tough despite his mental capacity and ability to perceive everyone present. How was he supposed to tell who was the castor? He zoomed in on a couple of suspects and eliminated those with weak overflowing auras. If only they spoke a language he knew, it wouldn’t be so much easier.

Thankfully, luck was on his side. There were few people with Ning Xin’s tracks, a human’s footprints and her mantle. And only one person was asleep with two maids. They went so far as to make it easy for him with a statue of Ning Xin, two of their strongest warriors and one unknown person.

Every native was top naked, the men and women did not have distinct features like fat on their chest or pronounced abdominal muscles. Their childlike physique was a common factor throughout their race. But a three-horned native with decorated jewellery attached to their horns?

There was only one.

Conveniently living near the most protected areas and having the most luxurious room. Ebony Flickered across flattened residential areas. Slightly surprised that people were moving to intercept him despite not knowing his exact location.

‘He or she is blind, of course…’ The forerunner who pinpointed his path without any sort of confusion had deep scars through both where their eyes would be. The other dozen or so who were running were more nervously looking left and right while being directed by some foreign shouts.

He blasted through the wooden doors to the screams of the helpers or perhaps family members of the only three-horned native and lifted the person off the bed by the neck.

“STOP!” A wooden window behind him shattered. It was debatable whether those were just differently shaped doors for these tinier people. A small number of them spoke gia with an accent.

With more walls breaking down, Ebony was surrounded in the next instant.

“Leave her body and I’ll leave you one to return to.” Tightening his grip, their reaction told him he got the right person.