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Damien stood alert as Claeg looked around, still chewing on part of the Sub Deity's face. He noticed Claeg's expression falter as he eyed some spattered blood. Was he struggling to stay focused? Naomi had told Damien about how Claeg was impulsive regarding blood.

Claeg shook his head to clear it, then bit into the dead human's face again, tearing off his nose and top lip in the process before tossing it to the side.

"The fiery one's not here. Shame, I was told I could kill her," Claeg rolled his shoulders as he continued to walk forward. "Can't kill either of you...Dammit, holding back isn't my style. Still, I've been on a bad streak lately, so I'll be taking at least one of you back with me."

He looked at Damien with disappointment. "Consider yourself lucky. He wants you alive."

Tymon stepped forward.

"And me? Do you think I'll stand by and let you take him?"

Claeg gave Tymon an irritated and reluctant expression.

"Sadly, I was told not to fight you alone, and I'm trying to follow orders, so it'd help me a lot if you did just stand there," he replied matter-of-factly.

Damien let out a small laugh. "Aw, he's honest."

Claeg flashed a toothy smile at them. "But, of course, I don't expect you to listen."

Then he charged straight for Damien.

Damien and Tymon charged at Claeg and clashed against him; the shockwave from all three of their strength generated a strong wind that pushed outward from them, causing leaves to flip violently through the air and the aircraft to shake.

Damien and Tymon were trying to keep a low profile, so they refrained from using their spirit energy, but this put them at an even greater disadvantage against Claeg's monstrous strength. Pleased by his superior strength, Claeg grinned as he began to move forward regardless of their resistance; their feet dug into the artificial ground as he pushed them back.

During the struggle, Damien spotted Claeg's holo-bracelet blinking red before he and Tymon jumped back. Then Damien received an incoming call through his c-chip.

"Trik, now's not a good time," Damien answered.

"The one known as Kaila seems to be heading toward you and Mr. Kage."

"What? Why? How'd she get past Za'Fia? And how'd she know to come here?" Damien inquired as it suddenly dawned on him that Claeg's blinking holo-bracelet must be signaling to the others. "Never mind on that last question. Is Za'Fia okay?"

"I know she's alive, and her signal is strong, so she should still be fine," Trik answered.

"Okay, thanks for the heads up," Damien hung up and looked at Tymon. "We need to leave."

Tymon glanced at Claeg's blinking bracelet as realization set in. "Right."

Damien heard Claeg suck his teeth in distaste. Before they could make their escape, he called out to Tymon.

"You know, Avarice and Verin have plans for your human, don't you? She almost died while you were cowering for days when I took her from those you thought could keep her safe," he goaded.

Damien and Tymon ignored his antics.

"I gotta say, for a human, she has a nice body. Tight hips, toned legs, perfect-sized breasts. It felt good to hold her close. Her soft lips as she prayed you'd care enough to show up. She was...irresistible. But as they always do, she resisted. Poor thing ended up falling off the side of a building." he looked at Damien. "Thanks for saving her, by the way. I would've been in trouble had she died."

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Damien and Tymon remained silent as they glared at Claeg, who smiled as his eyes shimmered silvery grey.

"The next time I take her, she won't get away," he licked his lips, sending a sickening shiver through Damien.

The atmosphere around them darkened as thick clouds rolled in, and thunder boomed as it crackled across the sky. Furious, Damien and Tymon released a large volume of their spirit energy. They knew they didn't have long before Kaila arrived, so they moved fast.

Wait...

Before Damien could stop him, Tymon reinforced his fists with his spirit energy and blitzed Claeg with a flurry of punches that Claeg guarded against. The punches had enough force to push Claeg back several feet, but by flexing his muscles, Claeg's body proved quite durable.

Damien watched as Tymon stopped throwing punches at Claeg, and then the properties of the dark spirit energy around his fists changed into something much more dangerous. This caught Damien and Claeg's attention, both taking a step back. Claeg's body tensed. That was the same sinister aura he'd sensed from Tymon's power from before.

Claeg attempted to leap back to gain more distance, but the moment he moved, Tymon rushed before him with his arm cocked back. There was a cold determination in his eyes. Still midair, Claeg immediately responded by coating his arms in dense, red spirit energy as Tymon's punch connected. The decay effect of Tymon's energy seemed to be kept at bay for the short moment of impact, but the force behind the punch sent Claeg crashing through several buildings on the base.

It dawned on Damien that Tymon had sent Claeg flying just then without entering his hybrid form. Even taking into consideration that Claeg had already leaped back and was midair, how'd he send Claeg flying so far and so hard? When Damien checked Tymon's stats at HQ, it stated his max strength exertion was 12.5 tons. Damien's was 26.5 tons, and he knew he couldn't amass the same force Tymon had just displayed into his punches. Has Tymon gotten stronger?

Observing Tymon's energy, he realized there were no fluctuations, meaning he was purposely keeping his energy at a specific level. Could he be more powerful, too?

"Damien," Tymon called out.

Damien blinked. Refocusing on the fight, he raised his arms and summoned multiple bolts of lightning that caused a chain of explosions on the base.

Damien knew that wasn't enough to keep Claeg down, but they used the commotion as a distraction to escape into the air.

"We're going to Base T next. No time to waste since they likely already know that's the last base we haven't hit," Tymon said as they rocketed through the air.

Tymon's expression paused for a second.

"He was lying. He goaded us to see how we'd react while he waited for his sister to arrive."

"Yeah, I noticed that just as you charged at him. He couldn't have had those kinds of interests and still be able to fight me," Damien replied.

"Damn," Tymon said in regret. "Can't believe I let him get to me."

He shook his head.

"I'm sure they'll be right behind us. We'll hit the base hard and fast without wasting time," he stated, moving on.

Damien looked at the map.

"Mojave Desert, huh," he said as they sped forward.

Not much later, they could see the base's outline on the afternoon horizon. Within seconds, they approached the base as Tymon summoned a boundary filled with darkness around it and used his Shift cintracy to shadow travel throughout the base. Coupled with his speed, he seemingly instantly appeared at several Holders simultaneously as he killed them. He then continued that method with more of them. Meanwhile, Damien used an ability called Arc Burst, where he generated a vast amount of electrical energy and violently released it outward, destroying most of the structures along with many Holders in the process. This triggered a massive explosion that was likely to catch the attention of anyone flying overhead.

"Let's go," Tymon ordered as they sped off.

Following the explosion, Damien and Tymon chose to suppress their energies and ran a distance before stopping.

Damien skid to a smooth halt.

"I can't remember the last time I had a date this eventful," Damien commented humorously. "Where to next? Are we meeting up with Za'Fia?"

Tymon looked off in the distance and closed his eyes.

"Not yet," he said, his smirk barely perceptible. "I need to remove a few other pieces."

Tymon touched a nearby shadow behind a rock, causing it to ripple to life.

"Come on," he said as he touched Damien's shoulder, and they stepped into the shadow. They emerged near what looked to be Avarice's lab in the Chihuahuan Desert.

Damien looked at Tymon with a mixture of concern, questioning, uncertainty, and a little bit of judgment.

"Relax, I'm not dumb enough to charge into a fight I can't win. Avarice and Verin aren't here; we know where Kaila and Claeg are, and thanks to a bit of luck and spirit energy, Junichiro's in no condition to be fighting," Tymon assured him. "Now, they've left their two weakest fighters all alone."

Damien looked at Tymon, his respect for him increasing. "You separated them."

"I did," Tymon affirmed. "And now, for a psychological approach."