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Everyone looked at me in shock.
"It worked?!" I exclaimed. "Was it the spatial energy? It can bypass a pneumarian's fluid body..."
"Yeah, but it wasn't potent enough," Tymon remarked as he nodded toward the headless pneumarian who was levitating back toward us.
"I actually felt that," he said as his head fully reformed from water. "However, as the dark one said, it lacked the power to do any real damage. Spatial energy used offensively...I hadn't thought it possible. I'm learning quite a bit from our exchange," he said as his eyes raked over each of us before looking out at the horizon. "To think a planet far removed from everything else would house ten klevonians–whom I assume can each utilize the advanced technique of self-willed flight, an inferior capable of harnessing a pneumarian's power, and even be under the watchful eye of an old observer."
Ten? Does he know about Avarice and the others? I pondered. And who does he mean by observer?
Too many questions were forming in my head, but I had to let them go for the time being as the pneumarian charged at us.
Arne was the first to rush at him, boasting about being unbreakable, having come from each of his attacks unscathed.
"Arne, wait!" I yelled, seeing what was about to happen. I placed my strongest Stasis Field around Arne. The pneumarian raised an eyebrow quizzically. In one shot, he tore through my shield and hit Arne with a spirit-enhanced blow so hard he shattered their Hardshatter and decommissioned them.
"Was that it?" he said disappointedly as Arne fell unconscious to the ground below. "That armor of yours is subpar. Perhaps if it were as strong as cindium, you'd have withstood such a simple attack. It's unwise to mistake one's luck for outstanding ability."
Despite what Viraa said, Tymon telepathically warned everyone to retreat as he prepared to unleash his power. I placed a stasis field around each of us for protection as he unleashed Last Breath mixed with his energy at maximum potency, but before he could even form an attack, the pneumarian was before him, unfazed by Tymon's ominous energy.
"Your darkness is unique," the pneumarian commended. "But even without spirit enhancement, it seems ineffective against me..."
The two stared each other down intensely when suddenly an array of large-caliber bullets sprayed the area as several jets dove in. The bullets ripped through the pneumarian's body and hit Tymon, but he seemed more annoyed by them than anything else.
Enhancing my vision, I could see that the aircraft were American. They must've come when their sensors indicated large surges of power. Unsurprisingly, their jets couldn't withstand the storm of energy they'd entered and started to malfunction. Even if we knew it wouldn't be long before the pilots died.
"Get out of here!" Za'Fia yelled. "We can't focus on the enemy and worry about you!"
"Sorry, but you're in our way," Damien said lightly as he used his power over metal to keep the jets in the air before pushing them further away from the island.
When they were far enough away to fly on their own again, I set up a wide Stasis Field over a five-mile radius to prevent any further interruptions. By the time I turned my attention back to the others, Michael and Damien were facing the pneumarian in a swirl of lilac lightning and light.
The pneumarian was effortlessly evading them, proving that even their speed wasn't a match for his. That was until Michael activated Streak, and Damien used his Electric Embodiment technique to boost their speeds significantly.
For some reason, the pneumarian was visibly pleased by the unexpected development now that they were faster than him. Still, this was good. It was progress. Maybe there was hope.
"They're outmaneuvering him now," Naomi cheered passively, breathing heavily. The others were breathing heavier, too. It had just dawned on me that despite not exchanging nearly as much effort in their previous fights last year, fending off what little the pneumarian had thrown our way had already sapped them of most of their energy, and it wouldn't be long before I was drained, too.
I would not overjoy just yet, Viraa inserted. Though those two are faster now, they do not have enough power to hurt his fluid body. Even when combined, they do not have nearly as much power as he does; therefore, in a battle of attrition, they will lose.
As we watched, Viraa's words were proven true as the attacks they launched simply went through the pneumarian, who didn't even bother using spirit enhancement. Not only that, but the pneumarian's reaction time seemed to get quicker as Michael and Damien started to miss.
This is the power of a pneumarian, Viraa declared into each of our heads. This one, in particular, possesses three cintracies. Surge – a eutierric type that gives his spirit energy the qualities of water, and with his level of control, he can bend other sources of water around him to his will. Then there's one of the temp cintracies, Warp, which allows him to teleport to any location that he can see or has left traces of his spirit energy. Lastly, there is his Universal Sense – a temp cintracy that gives him the ability to, for lack of a better word, tie his senses to the galaxy, allowing him to feel all energy over great distances spanning entire solar systems. He could sense someone's location if they were on Pluto. At his best, he could sense someone lightyears away.
"That's insane," I remarked, bewildered. "Is that what he meant when he said he sensed me despite not showing up for thirteen months?"
Likely so. And by focusing and utilizing Universal Sense and Warp simultaneously, he's developed a technique that amplifies his ability to perceive attacks and then swiftly evade with near-autonomous instincts. I believe he called it Dancing Stream. He's used it to show you all the gap between him and you.
I watched in frustration as Michael and Damien could no longer land any hits on the pneumarian. Finally, I exhaled.
"That's enough, guys!" I called out, bringing our futile efforts to an end. Michael and Damien stopped, both breathing heavily.
"You've made your point," I said to the pneumarian. I telepathically asked Michael to heal Arne, who lay unconscious on the ground.
"Ah, so you've figured it out then?" The pneumarian called down as he descended. "Well then, now that that's over, allow me to introduce myself. I am Rabae. You are the leader of these klevonians, I presume."
"Yes," I replied before introducing us. He found it odd when I mentioned my last name. Apparently, cindarians don't have last names. In fact, most species don't, according to him.
"So, he's not trying to attack the planet?" Naomi asked as she helped Arne to their feet.
"Do not mistake me for some common pillager," Rabae retorted, offended. "I wish you and your world no harm."
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