I was injured more from my last attack than the phantom. The deep gash on my bicep and the tear in my shoulder still throbbed, but I could feel my Essence repairing my flesh almost instantly.
Even the scorched marks on the phantom’s black armor seemed to smooth out as the deathmist within its domain churned and reformed it.
I stepped back, taking a moment to assess. My lungs drew in a slow, heavy breath, and I could feel the pulse of the battlefield in every ounce of my being.
Yet, the thing that impressed me wasn’t the deathmist, nor its monstrous size, it was how calm it looked. The phantom floated effortlessly, completely uninjured, as if nothing had happened.
’What kind of ridiculous thing did the Eternals create?’ I muttered to myself, gripping my staff tighter.
"I have devoured three talents so far," it said casually. No pride, no arrogance, just a statement. I watched the deathmist swirl violently around it, laws clashing inside the black cloud. Corruption, devouring, shadow, sword, sound... they all combined into a perfect, terrifying synergy.
"Abyssal Eye." It spoke with a chuckle.
The deathmist above it coalesced, moving as though it had a mind of its own. I squinted, and a singular shape emerged in the sky.
A massive eye formed, red within, black on the outside, three concentric circles spinning inside its iris. It hovered high, an unnatural presence that seemed to see through me.
I kept two of my psynapse fractures locked onto the phantom and soon I realised that was the best decision.
I tracked the phantom’s energy skyrocket and its domain churn, the phantom flickered into existence right in front of me, its black sword slicing downward with terrifying speed. I raised my staff in time, the blade scraping along it, sending a shockwave up my arms.
I pushed the phantom back with a surge of violet Essence, forcing it to skid across the air as I readied my next strike. My staff arced forward, Essence blazing along its length, and I stepped in to follow through.
But before my foot even landed, a spike of deathmist erupted violently from the spot I had aimed to stabilize myself on.
The ground beneath me shuddered, and I had to twist mid-step, redistributing my weight to keep from being thrown off balance. I gritted my teeth, and the phantom didn’t flinch, it simply flowed with the disruption.
I swung my staff, intending to strike its side, but as I adjusted, I realized the black sword was already moving in defense.
Its blade intercepted my Essence-infused strike, not with a clumsy block but with precise, preemptive timing. My attack fizzled along its edge, and I could feel the faint ripple in the air where it had redirected my momentum.
Before I could reset, the phantom launched another strike, two beams of deathmist fired straight from its face from the glowing horizontal lines, aimed directly at me.
I twisted to defend, channeling Essence into a protective surge along my arm, but the moment I raised my guard, it shifted again. The sword came straight for my chest which was now without any guard.
And then it clicked for me. It wasn’t merely reading my moves, it was predicting my responses and placing its attacks exactly where my defense would be weakest.
I twisted my torso in time, Essence snapping through my channels to brace my core. Even as I regained footing, another spike of deathmist erupted beneath my other foot, and the phantom’s sword streaked toward my shoulder, angled to bypass my guard entirely.
I had no time to think, only to react in instinctive synchronization with my Essence, every movement forced into a battle against anticipation rather than just speed.
We moved with terrifying speed through the entire battlefield which was nothing but a ruined desolate land now. Every clash and defense sent shockwaves out that kept flattening the land and creating new craters.
The eye... that had to be it.
I exhaled sharply, tightening my grip on my staff. And decided to counterattack against the weird eye which looked like it was one of the talents that the Phantom devoured.
I called upon the law of Time.
Runes ignited across my domain, violet and pulsating, and suddenly the world slowed or at least, my perception did. Movements stretched, the sword’s arcs elongated, the phantom’s flickers almost traceable. I could see the path it intended to take before it made it.
I pivoted mid-air, swinging my staff upward with precise timing. The sword clashed against my Essence-coated weapon, sparks scattering, but I had predicted the strike before it landed. Another strike came from above; I twisted my body, letting it slide past me, and countered with a sharp punch aimed at the phantom’s chest.
Even in slow motion, the battle was a blur, but I could finally read it, respond to it. Every flicker, every vanishing move, every slash—the law of Time gave me a window. I adjusted, blocked and countered.
The air around us vibrated with raw energy, deathmist whipping, and violet Essence flaring like a boat in a storm of black.
The eye could read my perception, my reaction speed, it was all being measured, predicted, manipulated. And at the same time, its domain wasn’t passive.
Deathmist erupted around me again. A dragon formed, coiling its massive body like a living nightmare, spitting a thick beam of black corruption.
I swung my staff, unleashing a fire beam of my own but the dragon twisted around, avoiding the worst of my attack.
Another wolf-like beast sprang from the mist, jaws snapping; a giant humanoid construct stomped forward, each step sending tremors through the ground. They weren’t aiming for me haphazardly, they were synchronized, moving as one with the phantom and the eye was coordinating.
Every time I tried to strike the phantom directly, another construct forced me to block or redirect my attack. I could barely get a moment to breathe. My movements became a blur of staff swings, Essence shields, and bursts of violet energy, but with each passing second, I realized I was being pushed back.
I had to act.
"Lotus of Annihilation!" I roared.