"What the hell?!" Reign shouted in alarm as he quickly kicked Nearsch away before inspecting his body. The fog had entered it, and it was currently making its way to his mana core, while a portion had gone to his brain.
"It's trying to destroy you from the inside, the fog can weaken you, be careful, use mana to block it!" Aethion shouted as Reign listened to him. He quickly gave Aethion control over the mana he was using to block the fog at both places so that he could continue fighting Nearsch as he had before.
"Tch, we can only block it, it's hard to expel it, so you will probably only get the chance after killing this bastard," Aethion said as he controlled the mana to surround the fog and now let it move at all.
Nearsch smirked at Reign. With the fog going in his body, he would need to divide his focus between blocking the fog and fighting him, which means that he won't be able to continue fighting the same as before.
Just as he thought that his body moved as Reign appeared in front of him and slashed down.
[ Severing, Sword One ]
The slash cut through the floor and wall behind Nearsch with ease, which shouldn't be possible. The spaceship had been constructed by the Ubolts to be able to go against even Transcendents, and only they should be able to damage it, at least, from the outside.
The inside of the ship wasn't as strong as the outside, but Reign's attack had damaged the hull of the ship, cutting through it easily. That was because the back of the ship had been shrouded by the fog for months now, and it had lost a lot of durability and toughness. The front portion of the ship was still tough and it would be nearly impossible for Reign and the others to damage it, even leaving a scratch would be difficult for them.
Nearsch clicked his tongue in frustration as the suit moved and attacked Reign. He was certain that this was the last ditch effort from Reign, that after a short period of time, he wouldn't be able to fight as he did before.
The fog was powerful and it would corrode him from the inside if he didn't take care of it. Of course, Nearsch had no way of knowing that Reign had Aethion that was controlling the mana inside of his body to fight off the fog, neither did he know that Reign had Jared, an ancient AI that was far above what the Ubolts could create.
The two exchanged blows and continued fighting. Nearsch's suit was starting to get damaged, but so was Reign. Thankfully, his light manipulation allowed him to quickly heal himself and continue fighting with full force, while the suit had no such capabilities.
'This damned bug, how is he still fighting like this?!" Nearsch was enraged, and once again, he opened his helmet and attacked Reign, but instead of firing off the rays in quick succession as he had done before, he channeled a lot of mana before firing a much more powerful one that Reign had to dodge as it would have dealt some damage to him.
Reign charged at Nearsch immediately. With his head once again uncovered, he could use the opportunity to perhaps kill Nearsch, but as he got close to him, his hands got caught by the suit. Multiple lasers and other weapons were unleashed at Reign from close range as Nearsch laughed before opening his mouth and sending even more fog at Reign.
Reign clenched his teeth in pain before opening his mouth as well. Nearsch's eyes widened as a barrier was quickly created between his face and Reign's as a ray of white and black energy came out of Reign's mouth. Lighting flickered around the ray as it pushed back the barrier inch by inch while the helmet quickly covered Nearsch's head.
The barrier suddenly broke, and the ray hit Nearsch's head, pushing him back and forcing him to bend back. Reign was pulled forward as the hands that were gripping his wrists were still holding on to him strongly, but he used it to his advantage. He lightly jumped before kicking Nearsch down, forcing him to fall on the ground before repeatedly stomping him.
His arms were suddenly free as the suit decided that it wouldn't be helpful to continue holding them. The shield quickly appeared and blocked Reign's hits while the sword was swung from below. Reign's right leg was almost severed as the blade cut deeply, and it was only because Reign had jumped back that he had managed to save it.
Light engulfed his leg and healed it instantly, but Reign was feeling the pressure. He had used up quite a lot of mana and his transformation wouldn't last much longer while the suit, although a bit battered from the fight, was still fine.
Its mana reserves were still good and it could continue fighting him like this for longer than he could, which was bad. More fog had entered his body, and Aethion had been forced to take more mana under his control to keep the fog at bay. Reign didn't have much time left, if he couldn't deal a significant blow to Nearsch before his transformation ended, he and the others would be in a world of trouble.
His teammates weren't having it easy either. Thanks to their high combat capabilities, they had managed to fight back against the monsters, but the overwhelming number of monsters made it impossible for them to help Reign, and even if they were to defeat all of the monsters soon, the amount of mana they would have used up would make it impossible for them to help him.
He was alone in this battle, if he lost, then they all lost, and if he won, then they all win.
"Just get close to him and attack him with soul attacks, you dunce." A voice suddenly told Reign who widened his eyes.
"What the hell is wrong with you, even though the bastard has the fog helping him out, do you really think that a mere Tier IV will be able to withstand your mental attacks?"
'The AI will still continue fighting, so I can't just do that without suffering damage.'
"That's why I called you a dunce, who said that you won't be able to fight against that suit?"
"Just get close to him, I'll do it for you, be grateful."
Reign stopped moving for a moment, and the AI immediately attacked him because of that.
"What kind of moron starts daydreaming during a fight?!" Nearsch shouted in a mocking tone as he was certain it was because of the fog. Reign was fighting against the fog that was inside his body, which had forced him to focus on it completely.
As for Reign, he was currently dodging left and right and thinking. He didn't know whether he should do what the voice had told him or not. To attack Nearsch's psyche was something he had thought of doing at the very beginning, but it was Jared that was against it.
The AI would continue fighting, so if Reign was to focus just on attacking Nearsch's soul, he wouldn't be able to defend against the suit which would deal devastating damage to him. Even if he was able to destroy Nearsch's soul, it was debatable whether he would be able to do it before the suit destroyed him.
Thanks to the fog, Nearsch's soul wasn't like the soul of a regular Tier IV being, it was stronger, it was empowered by the fog that lingered inside his consciousness and made it difficult for one to deal with it.
Seeing as how he didn't have much time left for his transformation and how he wasn't sure if he could defeat Nearsch in time, he decided to take the gamble. He charged at Nearsch, this time, going all out and using everything he had to charge at him.
He managed to arrive in front of the shocked Nearsch instantly before grabbing his wrists and hitting him in the chest with both of his knees. The power of the attack immediately sent Nearsch flying, and Reign was still on him, as were his knees.
The two crashed against the wall that had been able to stop them, albeit barely. Reign then let go of Nearsch before grabbing his helmet with his hands.
"That should be enough." The voice said as a terrifying power was suddenly unleashed from Reign. Nearsch's soul trembled as a great force appeared, and it was attacking the fog and Nearsch's soul.
Nearsch didn't know what was going on, but the fog, it was as if it had a mind of its own. Being attacked like this, being challenged, made it angry, and thus, it charged at the attack, bringing forward almost everything from Nearsch's consciousness and most of it with it.
The fog directly went over to Reign and entered his consciousness. Only a small bit of Nearsch's consciousness was left in his body, just enough for the suit to continue fighting Reign.
As for Nearsch, he closed his eyes as he was sucked into an unfamiliar place. The fog gathered around him, and in front of him, the dark-robed copy of Reign was standing and smiling at him.
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