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~~“Hello, Demonnnn.”~~

The words were unlike anything he had ever heard or felt. Low and distorted, they stretched through his mind, dragging it along with with them, interfering with every new thought that struggled to arise.

A root cause attack.

Even just realizing the danger was difficult. He’d never experienced this before, but he’d read of it, long ago.

One of the most powerful psychic techniques ever invented--and by most powerful psychics to have ever existed, no less. The ancient Kingsparrows.

It paralyzed their prey by preventing any and all thoughts from being formulated in the mind. Reserved for particularly resilient minds that the psychic could not simply snap with brute force. And once it was activated, there was no escaping it, except by the will of the psychic who used it.

Morgunov, therefore, found himself abruptly trapped in a prison of his own mind.

And yet, when he’d read the claims in that ancient text about just how strong a root cause attack was supposed to be, he’d found himself quite doubtful, especially regarding that last part.

So now, he was about to put it to the test.


Chapter Two Hundred Ninety-Six: ‘The Dance of the Mad Gods...’
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The first thing to do was invoke a feedback loop. It didn’t require any real thought. More of a feeling than an idea. And quite simple, besides. Well-practiced.

So if he was to be trapped, then at the very least, he would not be alone here.

It only seemed fair, right?

Aha.

Yes.

Fascinating. The space of his mind had reduced immensely. No feeling of his body. No senses whatsoever. Not even aura or time.

A simple black void. But not even a vast one, like the true Void. This had walls. Impassable barriers all around him.

A tiny room.

Good thing he wasn’t claustrophobic.

“But what about you?” said Morgunov without a mouth. His voice simply carried forth, originating from nowhere and everywhere at once. “You’re not afraid of tight spaces, are you?”

His passenger was there, though he had no form, no body, just like Morgunov himself.

“There’s no point playing coy, now,” Morgunov went on. “Speak to me. It seems you’ve granted the both of us an abundance of time. And to be honest, I’ve been waiting for an opportunity like this for years. Germal.”

A long silence drew out, but it didn’t bother Morgunov in the slightest.

Actually, it made him giggle. Was he causing frustration for this creature that had long frustrated him? How positively delightful.

“You cannot sustain this, Demon.”

“Mm, I dunno. I kinda feel like I can.”

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There was another problem to consider, however.

The black sun. The darkening atmosphere.

That was no mere cosmetic side effect of Kallmakk’s presence. It was a sign that the feldeath was doing two things: boosting the potency of all its attacks, and also preparing one of it most powerful abilities. After having been obliterated by said ability twice in the past, Morgunov had taken to calling it “Domain Wipe.”

It was either that or “Darkness Nuke.” He wasn’t sure which was more apt, but he liked the sound of first one better.

Regardless, it was a thing that could not be ignored. If it was allowed to go off, it would probably kill everyone here simultaneously, and since he was the only one present who knew precisely how deadly it was, he couldn’t count on the others to stop it. If he did, and they failed, he and Bool would end up just as dead as the rest of them.

Truthfully, though, he was still a bit tempted to let it go. How funny would it have been if, after so much fighting with each other, Kallmakk just killed them all with one attack? In terms of ways to go out, that was quite a chucklesome one.

If he didn’t still have so much that he wanted to do, he might’ve done it.

With Invisibility, he circled around to the feldeath backside. It probably made no difference, since he fairly sure that Kallmakk had omnidirectional senses, but it wouldn’t hurt, either.

With his one remaining glove, he gathered his strength into his hand and barreled into the giant abomination with a flying punch, not holding back in the slight, because he knew the sucker could take it.

Kallmakk burst apart in an inky spray of black. The sun flickered and brightened, as did the rest of the sky, though it was noticeably slower to do so, as if a veil were being slowly peeled away.

That was better. The sun was still unnaturally dark, but that was fine. As long as it wasn’t black.

Now for the Roberts. They should’ve been--

He spun around in midair just in time to catch Koh with another hooking punch. The dog went flying again and left a satisfying crater in the ground when he landed.

Hmph. Sneaky little jerk. Almost caught him offguard again. If he hadn’t been anticipating--

From behind, he felt two hands grab his head.

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It was difficult, yes. But it was a technique that he had mastered many, many years ago, back when Bool was still calling most of the shots and forcing him to learn this and that. He’d mapped it to an instinctual place in his mind, making it summonable on a moment’s notice, whenever needed.

But these days, it really, really annoyed him whenever he had to use it.

A reminder of his failings. A loss of control. Of self-determination and agency.

There were few things in this world that he hated more.

Kallmakk really knew how to get under his skin.

Thankfully, though, his plan was working. Despite how intensely the feldeath was coming after him, the other combatants were still receiving plenty of attention, too. In the mayhem, he could sense those dark beams wreaking havoc among the Vanguardian ranks.

Where had the big pooch gotten to, though? Morgunov had no doubt Koh would be all over him again at any moment.

Aha. Morgunov sensed him. Still a ways away, on the ground. He finally had a few fresh moments of breathing room. He had to avoid another beam, but that was easy enough in this gaseous form.

Time to prepare the Roberts, then. They needed to assemble and transform. He gave the telepathic command via the chips in his brain.

Nothing less than three Mk. Vs would do, he decided. That wouldn’t leave very many Mk. IIIs behind to harass the Vannies, but it was a necessary risk. And Kallmakk was keeping them plenty busy, now. He wouldn’t get a better opening than this.

In the meantime, he resorted to Invisibility, using one of his aberration bone items. Not a ring, like most of his boys had to use. No, his was a tooth. Or rather, a cap, installed over one of his molars.

A much better hiding place.

He knew it wouldn’t work on Koh, though. He’d already tried it, and the mutt had no trouble keeping track of him, probably via both smell and aura.

Kallmakk, though, was a different story. Morgunov was reasonably certain that feldeaths sensed the world around them primarily via ardor and soul power. If they could sense aura, it was definitely much weaker.

And with so much of his soul power already in play elsewhere, this Invisibility was actually perfect for keeping the feldeath off his back. He would’ve used it even earlier, but he’d wanted to make sure Kallmakk became enraged, first. Plus, Koh would have torn through the Invisibility’s coating, anyway, rendering it useless.