Gwyn rather gracefully moved to the side as a swarm of red dots flew past his head. After discovering that Grimes was moving clear marble “bullets” in the air, it became easy to dodge blows. As each shot flew past Gwyn, he would liquify them and drive them to the ground to solidify in part with the floor—using Mem’s tail to push them down.

Through the course of the process, Gwyn was learning new things about his ability. He had some control of movement over the things he liquified, though it was not in an exact manner.

Gwyn would force the liquified bullets to the floor with a solid tip remaining as a point with his ability. The point would puncture the floor, and he would move the liquid out beyond the hole before solidifying the whole thing. The end shape resembled an upside-down tree. Grimes could still attempt to move the bullets, but they were stuck in the floor due to the shape Gwyn made.

Of course, Gwyn only had a vague sense of what he was trying to do, and Mem took care of all precise actions and movements.

Within no time, Grimes had expended all his crystal marbles. He leaned back on his metal throne and laughed while he smacked his knees.

Gwyn tensed up as he faced the leader. The intense use of his ability left his breath shallow.

As the Nonpareil tried to catch his breath, Grimes stood up and reached to the back of his metal throne, where many blades were sticking out in a gaudy manner.

“You got farther than most; I will give you that. Unfortunately, you have failed to grasp the extent of my ability.” At once, all the blades flew off Grime’s throne and began to circle him. He grabbed one out of the air and playfully swung it around as if to mock Gwyn.

“You can control everything in this room?” Gwyn asked after he gulped. Grimes laughed.

“I suppose I will humor you; then you can see how hopeless it is. This is a Surri Needaimus made to declare and control my territory, I can move anything as I please and feel everything move, and my territory is the entire town. Anywhere you run, I can hunt you down. Anywhere you hide, I can find you. This town is mine, boy.”

Gwyn thought to the miners who cheerfully prepared for battle, his allies who were captured, and the little Aqueenian girl that, for better or worse, reminded him of his sister. He shook his head.

“I can’t accept that,” he said, though he wasn’t sure how he ought to respond.

Grimes laughed before dramatically extending his hand toward Gwyn. The blades shot all at once. Gwyn barely had time to jump out of the way, let alone think if he could disable the swords in the same manner as he did the bullets. They quickly arced in the air and returned to strike the Nonpareil.

He managed to avoid another attack but could only partially liquify a blade as it zoomed past him. Gwyn gritted his teeth as the swords sailed around the room. They arced in the air once again as they turned to refire at Gwyn. He pressed his back against one of the room's long walls.

“Can we melt those?” Gwyn asked.

We can liquify anything, not living. You just need to keep it in your range of ability long enough to complete the process. Mem replied.

“So, the bullets were small enough to work with my range? How do I make the range larger?”

You raise your compatibility. It won’t do much good here, though.

Grimes laughed as he circled the swords in the air in front of Gwyn. He strode across the room so that he could look at Gwyn in the face, with only the blades in between them. The leader smiled a friendly but wicked smile. He pushed some of his black hair to the side and began to stroke his short, black beard.

“Even a novice would know not to shout things out in a battle to their Needaimus,” Grimes said through chuckles, “but that information won’t serve you any in the future since you’ll be dead.”

Behind us, a scan shows a densely packed room, and his swords will be limited on movement! Mem told Gwyn.

Gwyn didn’t give it a second thought before he liquified the wall behind him and fell into the next room. As he fell back, the swords sailed over his head. Gwyn quickly jumped up and ran into the room.

What greeted the nonpareil was a library. There was no mistaking the densely packed shelves with anything else as Gwyn slipped into it. The library was full of books, more than Gwyn had ever seen on earth, and the ceiling-high shelves were placed around the room in a sort of maze. Though the labyrinth was not intentionally built and merely due to neglect with storage as books were long obsoleted by tablet technology on Resh.

Gwyn quickly found himself deep in the book maze, where he sat down and began to catch his breath.

“What do we do?” he whispered to Mem.

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We run partner; we have no chance to win this!

“Even if we ran, I suspect he wouldn’t let us get away,” Gwyn whispered back. He began to slide down to the end of the shelves and peered out down into the maze. Grimes was nowhere to be seen, but he could hear the distant bumps of the metal blades on the bookshelves.

Gwyn slid back away from the corner as he tried to think of what to do next.

“There is not much use in hiding, boy. I know where you are in the maze; it is just a matter of time until my blades find you!” Grimes shouted from beyond the library. The leader could pinpoint Gwyn in the room, but his ability did not grant him perfect enough sight to traverse the maze quickly. Grimes sighed and sat on the ground at the hole Gwyn had made in the wall. He saw no reason to chase after his foe.

It was only a matter of time before the invader was defeated by the leader’s superior power, after all. Grimes chuckled as the thought ran through his mind.

Gwyn took a deep breath before sprinting through the maze of library bookshelves. He cursed under his breath at whoever made the needless labyrinth, but he focused mainly on moving. Grimes had boasted that he could feel where everyone was in the territory of his ability, so Gwyn suspected he should not stay in one place for too long.

Around the bookshelf maze, the blades began to bump into shelves as Grimes started to hunt him more ferociously.

Before Gwyn knew it, one of the blades came around a corner and began to fly at him. Gwyn tensed up at first, then realized it was only one blade. He watched the sword come in close, and he jumped to the side, crashing into some of the shelves in the process as the blade sailed past him.

The blade drove itself into the wooden bookshelf as it could not change course before colliding. It pierced through the shelf, and an idea quickly entered Gwyn’s mind. He got close to the blade and liquefied it into a cylinder shape, and then he bent the shape into an imperfect ring before returning it to solid.

The newly formed ring shook as it tried to free itself from the bookshelf, but the new shape prevented it from movement. The metal ring stopped moving in an instant as Grimes realized it was stuck on something.

“I don’t know what you think you are doing, boy, but you can’t win so easily, you know!” Grimes shouted from beyond the maze.

Gwyn ignored the comments and took a deep breath as he started to move through the bookshelves once again.

“There has to be some rules to his power, right? Like how I have a range and can’t liquify living things?” Gwyn finally whispered to Mem.

Yes… but you aren’t planning to continue fighting, are you? We need to run now, partner! You do realize how outmatched we are, right? Mem echoed in Gwyn’s mind with a worried tone.

“I just need to stall him long enough for the others to come. If I can keep disabling his projectiles, Rheba or Odell should be able to knock him out in one blow,” Gwyn continued to whisper as he ran.

You put a lot of stock in their abilities… Those two were the ones that were captured, you know.

Another blade came around a corner and began moving to strike Gwyn. This time, he made sure to stand in front of a shelf so that the sword would pierce it. He formed it into a metal ring and ran on his way. He continued trapping the blades as he ran around the library and talked to Mem.

“It doesn’t matter who takes him down; we just need to stall for now!” Gwyn said a little louder than he intended. He covered his mouth with his good hand, but his voice was still not loud enough for the leader to hear while surrounded by all the bookshelves.

Mem grumbled in Gwyn’s mind for a moment before speaking.

Fine, he must have a limit of what he can control; otherwise, he would have just restrained you. There also must be some limit to how his territory works. A Needaimus does not have a range that can cover a whole village without conditions. Mem explained.

Gwyn quickly disabled another sword that had come around the corner before responding.

“That works, so once I disable all his swords, we might be able to come up with a winning plan?” he whispered.

I can’t promise that.

Back at the newly formed library entrance, Grimes sat and sighed. He had split the blades up so that he could surround Gwyn and pierce him from all sides. What happened instead was each blade was taken out one by one.

The leader shook his head as he stood up. He had one blade, which he held behind, float into his hand, and he tightened the grip around it. Grimes pushed a hand over the black, bony dots on his forehead through his long, lush hair. He shook his head and brushed off his toga-like clothing.

His opponent was boring, and he could feel the tides on the floor below beginning to shift against his favor. His playtime was up, and Grimes knew he needed to finish things.

“I suppose sometimes you just have to get your hands dirty,” he said to himself with a smile, then he marched through the hole Gwyn had made and into the library.

Gwyn burst from the maze of shelves and found himself at the entrance to the library. Some tables were set out, and two large doors marked the entry and exit.

Gwyn took a breath and turned back to the library. He could no longer hear the bumping of the metal swords on the shelves, but he had no idea if he got them all.

Gwyn liquified one of the tables and formed it into a bat. He gripped it tightly in his good hand while silently wishing his left hand was able to hold something as well. Gwyn slowly backed to the library’s door as he faced the exit to the shelves. If he could get some distance between them, he would.

The Nonpareil did not get far before Grimes emerged from the shelves. He only had one blade in his hand, and he threw his arms out emphatically.

“So many blades made of rare metal, and you turned them into earings for the bookshelves!” Grimes said with a laugh. “I hope you have had your fun because my patience has worn thin.”

With his words, the books on the bookshelves began to shake.

“You don’t think?” Gwyn asked.

Just run!” Mem shouted within his mind.

All the books began to fly off the shelf like a swarm of locusts, and they aimed at Gwyn.

The swarm quickly surrounded and began to batter Gwyn from all sides as he swung his new makeshift bat for defense. Grimes laughed.

Gwyn slowly moved until his back pressed against the door. He liquified it and escaped into the hall. Across the door from the library was another door, which Gwyn ran through and slammed shut. The books began to batter on the door behind him as he pressed his back up to it.

The Nonpareil looked around the new room. It was a green space that stretched across half of the third floor. Artificial grass carpeted the floor below, and glass domes opened to the night sky above. Several fake trees were set out next to flowing ponds and clean benches.

Behind him, the books still began to beat on the door, and Grimes slowly moved close with confidence in his stride.