Rivers of the Night

'No, I don't have to kill them all. I just have to kill the ones with decent enough Third Eye abilities to be able to see through the inconsistencies in what I'm doing. In that case, that just leaves… three of them?'

The Bordeaux Clan was dealt with. The only one of the Zen Clan was on the way here. That left two others, a Seventh Resonance Silver Mancer and an Eighth.

They were quite far from one another, pincering Theron from the left and right at a distance of at least half a kilometer or so. Then there was Mason himself who was rushing up from behind.

It felt impossible that Theron would be able to deal with both of them ahead of time before Mason caught up to him. But he also couldn't allow them to witness his battle with Mason either, otherwise they would certainly run away first unless they were the worst of fools.

'The only solution is to make them come to me.'

That seemed like the obvious solution. But how?

'I guess we'll see just how far I can take this.'

At that moment, Theron did something completely unexpected. He closed his eyes, sitting cross-legged. From everyone's Third Eye, he seemed to have entirely vanished.

Veinsong.

Theron hadn't moved at all, but even in the back, Mason felt like he lost track of him.

…

'Hm?'

Mason's body, wrapped in a thick black fog, suddenly came to a stop. Where had his target gone?

In one moment, he was rushing toward a stampeding horse, but in the next moment, it wasn't just Theron that disappeared, but the horse as well.

What was going on?

…

"He's gone. We've lost track of him again."

The voice sounded frustrated. After they realized they had been chasing around a clone, they redoubled their efforts, focusing on Theron with everything they had.

But they found that it was extremely difficult in the rain. Theron seemed to be radiating an aura of oneness that made him impossible to track fully. They realized that if Theron had been immersed in water instead, rather than dealing with the uneven pounding of the rain, they would have lost him long ago.

Now they really had.

"Shit!"

There was a sudden flash and the figure hurried to dodge, rolling out of the way.

"He's here! Kill him!"

…

A similar scenario was playing out an entire kilometer away from this location, but this one was more peculiar. It felt like Theron's clone was actually… probing something?

This figure didn't speak at all, and actually seemed surprised that Theron had found him.

But between his Immortal Jellyfish Echo and his thrice upgraded Third Eye, there was no one that could hide from Theron in the rain. He highly doubted that even a Gold Mancer could do it…

Which was precisely why he was so bold in acting right now.

The others had obvious insignias on their bodies and Theron knew exactly where they had come from. But this one… Theron didn't know, and that left him curious.

Because of that, while he was controlling his [Water Clone] to lure him in closer to the location of where his real body was hidden, Theron was trying to find out more information.

'Flux Mancer… Eighth Silver Resonance… Doesn't seem to be using any obvious Clan methods, but that's likely on purpose… focused on strength…'

Theron's clone weaved through the trees, "attacking," but continuously missing. There was a sharpness to his aura that fused into the water itself, masking it in deadly intent. But he knew well that should any of those strikes actually land, the Eighth Resonance Silver Mancer would immediately realize that there was no threat at all.

…

Theron continued to sit cross-legged on his horse's back as it continued to dash on ahead. The irony of it all was that he could have easily used this method to escape. But he didn't.

Maybe that was why he was so sinister after all.

His eyes suddenly snapped open, his body flickering and vanishing.

…

'There!' Mason's eyes sharpened and he dashed ahead again. But by this point, the distance between himself and Theron had already more than doubled.

That much was fine by him. He would close it quickly enough.

…

Chi.

A blade pierced through a heart, an explosion exiting out from its back under the effects of [Pressure Burst].

Theron hardly paused, gliding back and out of the way of a desperate swipe of a spear.

With a light tap to the ground, [Pressure Burst] activated again, sending him up more than ten meters in a single clearing.

'I see… so that's it.'

Theron's mind was still partially focused on his other [Water Clone] fighting it out against the Eighth Resonance Silver Mancer.

'You're from the academy, hm? Sent by who? Dean Pennel? I doubt it. The other Dean, then, probably.'

The Eighth Resonance Silver Mancer had only made a slight slip-up, honestly benign in most contexts.

The Imperial Academy didn't actually have many secret methods of their own, they just taught general knowledge. But what they did have were unique cultivation methods reserved for their true elites.

These cultivation methods weren't for Mana, though. They were for Third Eye, or more accurately, the soul.

Ultimately, the academy was an academy. Even the military stream wasn't raising soldiers, they were raising Generals. And Generals had to have strong mental capacities not only to make sharp decisions, but to actually get a sense of what was happening on a large battlefield.

Soul cultivation methods were incredibly rare, which was why just joining the academy wasn't enough, you had to have already crossed the 66 Credit Honors threshold as well.

Theron could feel the Eighth Resonance Silver Mancer's Third Eye get an unexplained boost all of a sudden mid-battle.

The man was suspicious after fighting Theron's clone for so long and had no choice but to use this method, thinking that he would be fine since most wouldn't recognize what he had done anyway.

But that much was enough for Theron.

'You can die now.'

Theron's real body swayed, causing the tree he rested against to bow so far its canopy almost touched the ground.

BANG!

He shot out like a bow from a string.