A telekinetic sphere wrapped around me instantly, with several sets of runic markings already carved in. Fueling the enchantments drained a quarter of my enlarged energy pools, but it was worth it to create the strongest Ancient Defense Array I'd managed to date.
I added several telepathic, telekinetic, and spatial-restriction runes to compensate for the lack of senses and prevent me from getting jumped.
It worked—and just in time, too. No sooner had the runes come to life than the first attack came. A barrage of darkness-infused slashes battered my shield from all angles.
The slashes chipped away at it at an unbelievable rate, forcing me to respond in kind with violence. I returned fire with hundreds of concentrated fireballs to soak up the eldritch attacks while setting the surface of my barrier on fire, scratching a quick runic formation onto one of the empty patches to free myself from the passive load of maintaining the flame field.
My upgraded fire devoured the eldritch energy mixed with soul matter more easily, providing the shield with a somewhat tainted energy source while I tended to the growing field of fire beyond the limits of my barrier.
I flexed my new Grandmaster-tier demonic manipulation skill, forming 2,000 balls of Anathema fire drawn from my personal reserves and the surrounding field, and swarmed the areas where I suspected Lauren's clones were attacking from.
The clones stayed ahead of me easily, unleashing Ceros and teleporting shots that sent my fireballs thousands of miles away.
It was frustrating fighting without sight or my senses. I could only rely on prediction through observation and analysis, trying to track her using mentally constructed spatial maps.
Like me, she learned rapidly on the fly, didn't repeat mistakes, and could multitask just as well as I could. But unlike me, she had the advantage of anonymity—and the power to build up several fuck-you-level Ceros without my knowing.
But Lauren didn't catch me completely off guard. I hadn't been satisfied with just one layer of offense and defense.
I created a second bubble, inscribing it with yet another Ancient Defense Array, a Phantom Riposte rune, and several gravity, density, telekinetic, and spatial runes to give me a sort of early warning system.
Finally—painfully—I marked my skin. My biceps and thighs were covered in various amplification runes, doubling the effective strength of all my skills, runes, and enchantments. Then came yet another Ancient Defense Array, a dozen channeling runes, and two Time Compression runes. Just because I didn't have Time Warp anymore didn't mean I had to fight without one of my best affinities.
Finally, I added a few spatial, telepathic, and gravity runes on my neck, jaw, and forehead to replace my stolen senses and give me a more accurate feel for what was happening around me. The enchantments radiated a sort of multi-layered, low-level field that let me track movements, energy fluctuations, and the general locations of minds.
My defense, as layered as it was, was almost not enough when she struck.
Ten Cero beams punched through the first layer of defense like it was made of paper.
It took me completely off guard. I'd even gotten an early warning through the network of fireballs skirmishing along the outer edges of my bubble.
The interior shield lit up just in time, parrying the blasts with Phantom Riposte and returning fire—an effort that almost overtaxed my evolved Nephilim mind. By gauging the speed of the approaching Ceros and the spatial warning from the second shield, I had barely managed the reversal.
That was when her real attack hit.
The Cero moved at near-light speed, crossing the threshold of the first barrier a split second before it crashed into the second and shattered it.
That split second bought me time to trigger my Time Compression runes and try something I hadn't done in ages:
Teleport out of the way of the blast without my full senses.
I shifted twenty feet to the right, and the Cero obliterated where I had been, punching a hole through my second barrier. The energy radiating off the blast was enough to rattle my enchantments—but not much else.
I swear I could hear Lauren screaming, even though that was supposed to be impossible while her Shikai was active.
Thousands of Ceros and blaster fire poured through the hole she'd blown open, but I drank in all of her attacks with a Staggered-End-boosted flash of Anathema fire. It washed everything away like a massive flood, consolidating into an ocean of fire and energy, which I immediately put to use.
I sealed the holes in the barrier and reinforced my defense by carving more Ancient Defense Array runes. Then I condensed all the remaining flames while doubling the number of fireballs orbiting my barrier. I fired out random Dimensional Slashes and pushed my channeling runes so hard my skin split, all to keep Lauren busy while I focused on creating a technique befitting my new Grandmaster skill.
Chained Sun.
The purple firestorm collapsed in on itself, forming a sphere the size of an elephant. I added density and gravity by tapping into my affinities, then amplified the heat and light it radiated by creating a rune-covered shell around it.
The sphere was fitted with channeling, light, and heat runes, along with several Staggered-End runes to crank up the output.
The darkness persisted at first—until I leveraged my affinity and forced it to burn the metaphysical.
That was all Shinigami technically were: powerful soul entities that attacked and defended with abilities, blades, and techniques formed from the soul.
The fact that I could sense anything at all was proof that her technique wasn't unbeatable, despite the ominous name.
Unending Black.
Bit by bit, the darkness peeled back. Light surged past me and illuminated space. The stars returned. The darkness tried to creep back—
And her Shikai shattered
Soul Cohesion at 63%
Preliminary Absorption Completed.
You've gained 80 STR, 80 DEX, 120 END, 90 VIT, 350 DE, and 350 AE.