Rei watched as the structures around him faded into nothingness. His gaze landed on Zay.
"What the hell was that?"
Zay turned and released his grip on Evershade, sliding the weapon back into his Arbiter: Vault.
"That was someone using the Seal known as Phantom. It's a powerful Seal focused mostly on speed, gimmicks, and just... being a pain. Because of that, their physical strength is abnormally weak. That's the only reason you didn't get completely... well, fucked, to say it simply when he punched you."
Rei nodded slowly, realizing his jaw didn't hurt at all anymore. The small pain he had felt earlier had completely vanished.
"What was up with that though? I hit him, but it was like I was punching a ghost."
"It's their passive. A really annoying one. It lets them reject damage, in a sense. That's the best way I can describe it. They're not invincible... at least, not yet. But here's how it works: when a Phantom takes hits, the damage doesn't apply right away. It stacks. And once it passes a certain threshold—boom—all of it hits them at once. Every punch, echo, spell, or attack they took gets dumped onto them instantly. Imagine someone surviving a mountain being thrown at them, or a volcanic eruption, or even a meteor strike. If none of it passes that threshold, they won't feel a damn thing. But then a single pebble hits them later, and they just implode from all the delayed damage."
Rei quickly wrote the explanation down in his journal, then looked up at Zay. "So isn't that kind of like cheating death?"
"In a way, I guess. A lethal blow might not kill them immediately. But there's no way to reset that threshold. Take that punch you gave him, for example. If he doesn't reach the limit for another three years, that damage is still waiting for him."
"Ouch. That sounds like a pain in the ass for them." Rei moved his jaw, testing it, before letting the flames surrounding him fade away.
Zay nodded and placed his hands behind his head, resting on the back of his shoulders.
"Eh, he's just not at a high enough Sequence yet. Once they hit Sequence 10 or higher, they're basically unkillable. There are ways to kill them, but finding everything you'd need is ridiculously rare. That goes for a small list of Seals as well. Contracts on the other hand are weaker most of the time until Sequence 11."
Rei raised an eyebrow, humming softly. "What does Sequence 10 even do for them?"
"I'll need to explain what happens after we finish this Sequence. Sequence 4 changes a lot. Afterwards, I might explain more about the higher Sequences. For now, let's head back and get Naomi. We've confirmed another group is here. We need to find those damn artifacts and leave. The last thing we want is to get caught up fighting a group of Arbiters with Phantom."
Rei nodded, and the two turned toward the small structure nestled in the clearing. Zay didn't even glance back at the fading fight. He knew it had only been a warning. But there was nothing he could do about it right now. The agility difference was too wide, and while Zay was fast, catching a Phantom was another matter entirely. Their entire Seal was designed around trickery, speed, and endurance, drawn out to survive the long game and to frustrate their enemies into making fatal mistakes.
To be as utterly irritating and as dangerous as possible.
Zay looked at the small building where they were staying and closed his eyes.
'If he truly wanted us dead, I doubt there would've been much we could've done. Even with my [Predator's Hunting Grounds]. It would've made it easier to keep up with him, but winning? I doubt I could beat a Phantom that's a Sequence 3 they have too much experience. Doesn't help that they have a passive to regenerate aura at a quicker rate as well.'
Zay scratched the back of his neck, opened his eyes, and locked onto the building. He knew they needed to find the artifacts and leave the moment they could. A prolonged fight with a Phantom in the jungle would be a nightmare on its own.
He didn't know if there were more of them either, which only made things worse. If anyone else had been watching, he hadn't sensed a thing.
...
10:00 P.M. rolled around quickly as the three of them sat inside the small building on their beds. Zay had gotten up to check the surroundings every thirty minutes to double-check that the guy he and Rei had fought didn't show back up, and Zay never caught sight of anyone. Nor did he feel the aura of anyone or anything near him, which he thought was odd. There had been several creatures inside the jungle that he had sensed aura from before, but all of it was gone. Not a single trace of aura lingered anywhere within his radius.
Zay opened the door to the building after seeing that the time was 10:00 P.M. and looked over at Naomi and Rei, who had been playing rock, paper, scissors for the past hour. "We're leaving."
Naomi's ears twitched slightly and she stood up, dropping her hands to her sides. She walked out of the door and waited for Rei with Zay.
Rei stood up after putting away his journal and his quill. He walked over to the left side of the door and reached behind it, pulling out his sheathed katana and placing it onto his waist. He walked out and stood beside Naomi as Zay closed the door.
None of the three spoke to each other as they walked since there wasn't much to say. Zay had already gone over some of the things he and Rei had discussed earlier with Naomi. Mainly the Phantom, and also the note that the owl he had seen gave him.
It was quiet as they walked through the jungle at night, their footsteps breaking over branches and leaves as they walked over turtles. A small snake surged outward, trying to bite at Zay, but he reacted before the snake even appeared due to [Predator's Hunting Grounds] and ripped the snake's head off using his bare hands.
Zay overlooked the jungle around them as they walked forward, glancing back every few minutes to ensure both Rei and Naomi were still following. He released a sigh.
'What that old man said... is it really true? Must it happen?' Zay pondered upon the old man's words from that strange mansion he had been in. He blinked and could see the old man's face perfectly, his words echoing inside his skull as if it were a migraine. Visions of the mansion appeared as he thought about it, and he opened his eyes.
Zay's mind began to wander as he recalled his memories of the old man sitting in a comfortable leather chair inside a room that resembled a small office on the mansion's second floor. Outside the window behind the old man resided a garden with flowers of all kinds—moon flowers, sunflowers, roses, rockeater flowers, and several others that had not been recorded in years.
...
"I will speak to you in a tone I feel you're much more comfortable with," the old man said with a smile, taking a sip of coffee before placing it down on his desk. His eyes glanced up at Zay, and he motioned with his hand for him to take a seat.
Zay moved to the seat on the other side of the desk, looked at the old man, and stared at him.
"What the hell is so important?" he blurted out, then he added, "You summoned me here, spoke in an olden tongue with words, told me about several things. I'm confused. Why are you telling me any of this? Who even are you?"
The old man closed his eyes slowly, leaning back as his chair creaked slightly. A sunflower on his desk bloomed as his hand touched the stem of the flower, and he moved his arms onto the armrests of the chair.
"Zay Yuso. Listen to me. There's not much time left that I have to be able to communicate with you like this. I was able to do it this time by expanding my own aura to an incredibly long distance to be able to pull this off. There's a lot... you do not—" he stopped himself from speaking any further before adding, "My apologies. I must get on with it now. To escape, there are switches. The mirror must be activated by triggering three switches found throughout the continent. There's much more happening in the world than you can see from where you are. I recommend to hurry... because"
As the old man was speaking, the world faded and his eyes opened. He looked around and saw Rei, and after a moment, Rei extended his hand and Zay took it, lifting himself up. He looked around and saw the small building from within his mind.
'Because what? What the hell is happening? What the hell does he mean by anything he said? Three sacrifices? A damn mirror must be activated using three switches? How the hell am I supposed to find shit like that? What else did he mean before he paused? "There's a lot you do not–" What the hell does that sentence mean?'