She did indeed have a weird favoritism for the Ghosthound from the first moment she heard of him WickÆs eyes sharpened Perhaps there is more to this connection than I thought They share some base qualities of fickleness and obsession could this actually be a test aimed at me
no matter So long as I plunder his psyche and unearth the secrets contained there I will find the answer Suddenly all of WickÆs doubts vanished blasted apart by the purity of purpose he possessed The time for games had clearly passed
What remained was power and poise For the next step he needed to shift the balance of dominance
Wick straightened and stretched his arms out to either side of him His powerful image framework had been a labor of necessity to survive in the hellish situation that Devick had crafted but that didnÆt mean it was weak If anything Wick only had more confidence in the powerful bindings because of how practical they were
Forged of necessity his copper framework had never failed him
A blast of image power expanded rapidly away from WickÆs body He felt the entire massive courtroom like a tingling on the back of his palm giving him a perfect understanding of the space Motes of copper momentarily gleamed around his person After that blast hit the face of the Ghosthound the smirk finally vanished from his face and he regarded Wick seriously
Straight to business then Wick pressed his mouth into a line and prepared to take down this foolish youngster
If anything he felt a sense of relief as he witnessed the storm beast drawing a dangerous pattern in the air Even now Wick remained somewhat irked by the peculiar lack of weaknesses shown by the Ghosthound Or rather it would be more accurate to say that the peculiar power of the GhosthoundÆs physical body meant that most of the lessons Wick would like to inflict upon him wouldnÆt stick In many ways corporeal punishment felt meaningless
So direct attacks on his psyche it will be Wick thought eyeing the veritable pillar of grey spectral flames that writhed and danced above the GhosthoundÆs body The tight bindings of his image began to surge with power and he took a step forward And this pattern is the perfect weapon to inflict them
The Ghosthound pointed The smallest bit of Nether snapped into existed in front of Wick Snorting Wick extended a hand and mobilized his image to suppress it A coppery aura spread out
A horrible destructive spearhead of Nether and spectral flame flared briefly stabbing upward and ripping through the left side of WickÆs palm The coppery aura had been suppressed and railroaded before it even had a chance to manifest His eyes widened some of the howling emotions in his own heart creeping into his brain A whisper of the madness snuck up and settled into his mind enflaming the grey matter With red eyes he growled at the Ghosthound and prepared a decisive counter attack
His impulses screamed to pounce forward and clash with the Ghosthound directly but Wick again ignored those thoughts The more time that passed the more their emotions would draw them toward one another Since he could not force the sudden communion based on the ridiculous mass of the boy Wick needed to do this the old fashioned way
Instead his eyes scanned the surroundings The kid snapped against and another two spearheads appeared in the air and ripped at WickÆs sides These he didnÆt dare underestimate flaring his image with more foresight and binding the spearheads just as soon as they formed Crackling black lightning emerged from these mental wrestling matches and Wick was furious to observe that by the time his image could overpower the attack the strike had already faded leaving him holding nothing
But now I see your trick WickÆs mouth curled up like a dry old leaf He gestured sharply and unleashed stabilizing poles of power and implacable will They manifested as two copper spikes about two meters tall that slammed into the surroundings disturbing the curling flows of Nether and wind
The GhosthoundÆs eyes narrowed and unleashed more flares but with the flow restricted their power was a hollow farce of its former might Wick laughed as he smothered these flares as soon as they were born the noise of his amusement carried away by the wind Immediately the Ghosthound began making adjustments to the way his energy flowed so the copper spikes werenÆt so restrictive In addition Wick could feel that somehow the kid was drawing power from the clashes and making the winds more violent
However if you think you are capable of competing with me in patterns of dominance WickÆs eyes flashed He flared his image once again even while defending himself against the barrage of Nether flares bombarding his body and the stone beneath his feet Two more spikes of molten copper slammed into the surroundings forming a perfect square with Randidly in the middle Tethers of energy began to knit themselves together between the connections trapping the Ghosthound in a cage
Is this really all you can manage Wick thundered purposefully raising his voice to be heard over the buffeting winds If you believe that this is enough to avenge your shitty subordinate you are more foolish than even I gave you credit for
Suddenly waves of Nether surged out of the Ghosthound weakening the influence WickÆs spikes had on the surrounding area Just as Wick scowled the winds around the kid spiraled inward creating a new pattern A maelstrom began to churn rapidly growing in strength The beast had folded itself inward and now licked outward with a thousand tongues tasting the possibilities
Baring his teeth Wick waved his arms and brought down more copper spikes Pressuring this cage isnÆt enough You are already bound Ghosthound At this point can you feel it Do you feel the bindings tighten as you struggle You have lost
Chapter 1881
Devick reclined on her couch watching the conflict between bland old Commandant Wick and the fascinating Randidly Ghosthound with interest Around her the office was dark the image the only source of light in the room The drapes were drawn across the window and the torches had been extinguished
It was in DevickÆs opinion the proper ambiance for a thrilling confrontation She pulled a grape out of the bowl in front of her and popped it into her mouth
She enjoyed the burst of sweet tartness as she crushed the fruit
Bringing her hands to her cheeks to check if she was blushing Devick muttered to herself Truly how can a woman handle it when two such capable gentlemen duel for the honor of being her son Ahh and here I isolated myself for so long because I feared the Nexus had moved far beyond me Yet I suppose my charms are not so shallow that they are diminished by such a common force as time
A large crystal ball sat in a pool of red liquid held in place from some of the shiniest chains that Devick could manifest She felt quite proud by the lack of rust on their gleaming black surfaces In the swirling depths of the orb she watched as the Ghosthound used his strange Nether powers to rip at the square bindings around him while Wick used his uninteresting if competent image to isolate and break up the flow of energy his opponent mobilized A part of Devick realized that when it came to recognizing and manipulating energy flows these two might actually be the most talented duo in the Nexus
Both responded to subtle changes in their opponentÆs strategy on the fly Wick likely had the superior Skill but the Ghosthound displayed his typically rapid improvements to move toward an even match However
Just fucking start punching each other already You’re not chess players Devick released an aggrieved sigh She picked up a grape and smushed it between her fingers You are warriors My son is the greatest warrior that the Nexus has ever seen And also YOU
Devick whirled to jab a finger at the a figure hunched over the edge of the porcelain saucer containing the crystal ball Blood oozed out of several gashes in his arms and torso to drip into the bottom of the saucer Otherwise he was completely trussed up by rusty chains and bound in a kneeling position When her ire failed to elicit a response from the figure Devick blinked several times Ah you are dying Almost dead even No no its much too soon for that Wake back up please