Ever since the night Silas decided to make himself known and taught Noah how to perceive essence, Noah had developed a nightly ritual at camp before going to sleep. He would close his eyes and meticulously scour his body for parasites, then 'reap' them, snuffing them out by devouring their minuscule amounts of essence.

Of course, this had also given Noah a view of his own essence core, located in his thorax, and that of Silas, situated close by.

Initially, Silas' core was small enough to be mistaken for that of one of the parasites. At first, Noah was not certain, but eventually, it became undeniable—especially after large battles, during which Noah would absorb a great deal of essence—Silas' core was growing and becoming more powerful, mirroring and even overshadowing the growth of Noah's own core.

The 'agreement' the two men had made was that Silas would eventually find another person of questionable character, someone on the threshold of becoming Touched but not quite there, to take over, just as he had intended to do with Noah.

Noah was obviously suspicious right from the start, but after confirming that Silas was siphoning massive amounts of essence, Noah could no longer afford to play Silas' game, especially now that his hitchhiker's core was nearly as potent as his own.

"Kid, are you sure this is the path you wanna take?"

"No, Silas, I'm not." Noah sighed and rubbed his scruffy cheek. "What I want is to be back home with my grandma, go to my boring job, and enjoy a cold beer at the end of the day, but you took that away from me. And now what? You expect me to keep your 'meatsuit' warm for you until you're strong enough to finish what you started and take over?"

Noah scoffed and continued, not waiting for Silas' response - "I'm not going down without a fight. And, if I lose? You still get nothing..."

Steve, the loyal guardian, received a mental command - 'If I lose and Silas takes over my body, immediately lob my head off.'

Of course, Noah had no way to be sure that his minions could sense such an internal change through their bond, but it was worth trying. While Steve awaited the result of Noah's confrontation with Silas, the other minions would guard him from external threats, allowing Noah to focus entirely on the battle within.

The fall sky was gray and cloudy, with occasional beams of sunlight piercing through. Looking north, toward where The Arc was supposed to be, Noah pondered about the tens of millions of people going about their daily lives, right now, safe behind the city walls, unaware of just how fortunate they were.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

'I wonder what grandma is doing right now? Did she manage to pay the rent? Is she OK?' Noah sighed. 'Well, no point in delaying.'

After a final wistful glance at the sky, Noah nodded and closed his eyes, knowing he was about to engage in a battle he most likely would lose. But after enduring so much and being so close to The Arc, there's no way he was giving up without a fight.

Clearing his mind, Noah focused on his chest. There was nothing else but a black void, where his and Silas' essence cores appeared as glowing green orbs, radiating power. For now, Noah still held a slight advantage in size, but one more bloodbath where monster essence would be absorbed, and Silas would overtake him. Hence, it was now or never.

"So, what's your plan, kid? Show me what you got."

'Here goes nothing...'

Concentrating on Silas' core, Noah channeled all his fury and frustration as he attempted to claim the essence stored in the glowing orb, in the same manner he reaped the parasites that infested him at times. However, there was too much resistance; Silas was simply far too powerful for that.

"Dumbass, all your bravado and that was your entire plan?"

"No... that was just... shut up!"

Silas laughed, but it was cold and somehow menacing.

Of course, Noah remembered Silas' explanation, but who knew if he was telling the truth or not? Noah had a theory that perhaps he could snuff out the parasites not because of the power difference, but because they invaded his domain, his body. If that was the case, perhaps he held such power over Silas as well. It was worth a shot, anyhow.

Now came the moment of truth. Noah focused on his own core this time, attempting to mold the essence to his will. The concept was not entirely dissimilar to how Silas had taught him to pour his essence into bones and shape them into the form that suited him—like the bone gauntlets Noah was using.

Clearing his mind of all else, Noah focused and delved into the pale green orb that was his core, tapping into the massive amounts of essence stored within it.

'Come on, come on...'

The essence within the core began to swirl, and a radiant tendril slowly emerged from the shimmering orb.

'It's working!'

With immense effort and painstaking concentration, Noah molded another tendril from his essence core, as the two newly formed appendages began to snake their way through the void towards Silas' essence core.

"Oh?" Silas sounded somewhat curious this time. "When did you learn to do that?"

After Noah confirmed that Silas was being dishonest and that his core was siphoning essence and growing, Noah had to devise a means to resist and fight back when the time came. Drawing on his growing experience with his Touched ability, Noah eventually conceived the tendril idea. Of course, he couldn't practice, as it would have exposed his plan to Silas.

However, while guiding Noah, Silas had taught him the importance of mental visualization as a form of practice, and that is exactly what he did in his spare time during his hellish adventures beyond the walls. Noah constantly visualized molding his essence core to his will. Of course, up until now, he had no way of knowing if it would actually work, nor did he intend to explain anything to his foe. Instead, Noah directed his two essence tendrils, lunging them at Silas' core.

'It's working! I may just have a chance to win this thing.'