[Thank you, Algernonthewise, for your generous and kind gifts. Again, if you dm me on Discord, I’ll give you a nitro code.]

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The commander was seething with anger and rage.

How could he allow himself to get pummeled by a child?

He wanted to rip Silas’ head right off his body, but he controlled himself.

His benefactors wouldn’t like that, would they…

He needed to control himself, but how could he? He was in a losing battle.

He couldn’t retaliate at all.

He was trapped.

He felt like every punch made him slightly weaker.

He couldn’t use the third stage of toki because it was too dangerous. There was no telling what would happen to his targets when he flared his toki… They were too close to the shelter. Doing anything reckless may make his plan go awry.

He couldn’t use the second stage of toki since he didn’t actually have any weapons on him. The most he could do was weaponize the air formed whenever he pushed toward Silas, essentially creating pulses of air coated in mana for as long as they didn’t break apart.

However…

*Swoosh*

*Swoosh*

*SWOOSH*

No matter what he did, he couldn’t even touch Silas for some reason. It was as if the boy knew his move before he could even attack him.

The boy would dodge and swerve when he got ready for an attack. He wouldn’t even react to feints, as if he could read everything going through the commander’s mind.

Even when the commander tried improvising, it somehow worked worse for him.

An earth wall would appear behind him, and a water bullet would suddenly shoot at him out of nowhere, forcing him to block since he had no idea how much damage the bullet would do.

Sometimes it would do nothing, being instantly destroyed the moment it came close to his toki, and other times it went straight through the toki, slamming right into his natural toki and shooting a jolt of pain through his body.

Every time he tried moving the battle away from the shelter, Silas wouldn’t follow. One time he even turned around and helped his father beat down Death, who was now on the back foot.

A mage helping a knight was a deadly combination, especially in Death’s situation, where he can simply let all solid objects pass through his body like nothing, whether that was a toki-covered sword or a stone bullet.

Lochras would use ethereal blades made out of condensed toki to attack Death, but he was far too agile. He moved like the shadows, his footsteps hidden from even the commander, while his killing intent and presence were so suppressed that one would be worried that they’d lose track of him even if he was right in front of them.

Having Silas help Lochras would spell doom for the blonde-haired youth, so the commander found himself forced to stay near the shelter, exactly where Silas wanted him.

“Damn intelligent brat.” the commander silently snorted, his mind racing to keep up with the rapid escalation of the battle.

He had been riling him up until now, but how was he supposed to know that he would be placed in a situation like this?

*Whistle*

A projectile streaked toward the commander with the swiftness of lightning. Instinctively, he dodged, narrowly avoiding the golden light beam slicing a cut across his face. Blood trickled down the wound as the beam continued its destructive path, culminating in a devastating explosion obliterating buildings in the distance.

Three more beams of light hurtled towards him, their deadly intent clear. The commander understood that the shelter would face a catastrophic fate if he failed to evade them. It seemed that was the very purpose behind these attacks.

They knew he would dodge, so they were forcing him to do so, essentially forcing him in place and not allowing him to move.

The commander stretched his hand forward and used as much control as possible to expand his toki in front of him. He quickly created an aura of toki that slowed down the beams when they entered the aura.

The figure in the distance saw this and tried to attack him again, but the commander quickly disappeared.

His aura flared as he disappeared before he removed the distance between him and his attacker in a mere instant.

Appearing a few meters in front of her, he saw that it was a woman in a nun’s outfit who had attacked him.

“Are you not with the church?” He asked with a little bit of anger.

She looked harmless at first, but his instincts told him the woman was dangerous.

“I was wondering where you went.” A voice trickled down his ears as a spine-chilling killing intent fell upon him.

Glancing back, he saw Silas with a terrifying expression on his face. No… The expression wasn’t terrifying.

It was the killing intent that was.

Silas was completely emotionless, suspended mid-air due to the feeling that time had slowed down.

He had his arm winded back, ready to release the strongest punch he’s ever thrown.

Though, what was even more terrifying were his eyes.

The commander knew them well.

They were the eyes of a killer.

The commander didn’t know why, but that was the moment he realized something.

If they wanted to survive. If the Darkless organization wanted to survive, Silas would have to die.

After all, what’s worse than an enraged mage coming after them in the future, swearing to get vengeance for his family and friends?

Silas was meant to reach new heights. His talent was too strong, and the commander now knew it.

The commander’s body moved independently, dodging the attack with little effort.

Or at least that’s what he thought.

Suddenly, the toki around his chest felt thinner.

He then saw Silas’ momentum shift while his body spun mind air.

He carried the entirety of his momentum with that spin. Every joint from his ankle to his shoulder twisted.

And then, the he watched as the punch flew through the air, penetrated what was left of his toki, and slammed right into his chest.

The commander felt the air leave his lungs. The pain of several ribs shattering instantly and puncturing his lungs made his punk out of a mouthful of blood.

His body was hurtled through the town in less than a second. Silas could have sworn he heard his body break a sound barrier or two as he shot through the town’s walls like a bullet through paper.

Silas knew that the punch wouldn’t have actually done anything if he hadn’t siphoned the mana around the commander’s chest. He’s quite literally seen his Lochras tank much worse and not move an inch.

At the same time, he also knew using a spell would take far longer than the amount of time he had. Plus, absorbing toki and creating a spell at the same time was difficult. The only way Silas would have a chance at hitting the commander with a spell capable of actually hurting him would be by forcing him into using all the toki he is capable of controlling in one go.

Toki worked on stamina, so he would be too tired to fight back, and since he had used all his toki, he would have definitely had none left to protect himself.

“You sure know how to punch kid.” Diveen suddenly spoke from behind. She had her usual smile plastered over her face. It was calming, but at the same time made him feel slightly unsafe.

Even though Diveen was adamant about the fact that she was weaker than Lochras, her natural toki had always told Silas another story.

Nevertheless, he had less than a minute left on his breakthrough, so he would make the most of it.

***

-On another side of the town-

“Hmm. How unfortunate. I wanted to play a little more, but I guess my work here is done.” The Architect spoke as he looked into the eyes of a black-haired woman with a rapier through her chest.