Faust approached slowly, taking the time to breath and slow himself down for the new problem he was getting into. After upgrading Todd’s tracking skill, the boy could trace Nirvana as long as they could find her footprint.

They had rushed here using Faust’s Instance replication of the skill whenever it was on cooldown. He had passed this place. He had no idea that one of the normal village houses could have hidden cellars.

The smell of chemicals tickled his nose. His boots barely made any noise against the stone floor as he got closer to Nirvana.

"This night has gotten a bit out of hand," he joked, "but there’s nothing a few drinks can’t fix. Or maybe that’s the alcoholic in me talking."

Nirvana’s pale face was like a sheet of ice. Her crimson eyes burned with quiet intensity as she rose, gripping the hand burnt by one of the chemicals leaking from those barrels. She met him face to face.

Faust towered over her casually. He was autumn. Red leaves scattered carelessly and blue skies above. Smiling like Nirvana was harmless. But he was worried internally.

Her poker face has gotten a lot better, but even then what are her options?

She didn’t have any offensive abilities that could harm him. His strength, speed, endurance and senses were all higher than hers. He had multiple skills for defense of different types of damage.

Even so, he was prepared to react.

"Why did you take Amelia?" He asked casually.

Nirvana looked into his eyes for a moment, searching for something. All the warmth and smiles from the Town hall were gone. She looked hollow and... dead.

"You would know if I existed in your world."

Faust raised his eyebrows, face twisted by confusion. He was a bit behind on psychotic symbolism. But before he could ask what she meant, Nirvana struck.

Armor formed around her with a flash of light. Full black, bone plate with spikes on the shoulders and knees. She snapped her hand back and struck like a bowstring.

But Faust caught her fist, twice as quick as she was. He opened his mouth to quip, but then gasped. A cold energy rushed into him, weakness filled his muscles.

"You shouldn’t touch necromancers," Nirvana muttered before punching him in the chest.

His weakened body folded and slammed through the door of the cellar like a cannonball. Now that he wasn’t touching her his strength returned rapidly and the pain faded. He was up in a second, but she was already gone.

How?

He hadn’t even heard her run. The only thing he heard in the sprawling village around them was the hum of human activity.

But something caught his attention.

FLAP FLAP

Wings. Something small and bat-like was fleeing from this place.

"Of course she can turn into a bat," Faust cursed.

Shadow Step.

He was on the roof of the building a second later, staring into the night sky, caressed by a chill breeze. Stars dot the sky. A moon that seems a little too big hung off to the north. It would have been impossible to spot a bat.

But his heightened Spirit increased his senses. He noticed the tiny dark creature blocking out stars as it followed Amelia and Todd.

She is very persistent.

He leapt from building to building. Wind rushed past him as his figure blurred. He caught up in seconds, but she was far too high up, and he had no flight skill.

What he did have was two Slime Tethers. He got the second from a trade Kite gave it to him as part of payment for the weapons he traded with her in the Town hall at the beginning of the event.

He got the Tether to +2 just for the extra control over retraction and extension.

Flicking out the tethers to two taller buildings he pulled and will them not to stretch to create tension. It was like a slingshot. The moment he stopped pulling he was torn off his feet and launched into the air hundreds of metres in seconds.

I forgot how light I am compared to my strength! He screamed internally.

Either way, he was flying towards Nirvana very quickly. The problem was that he was flying past her. He whipped the Slime Tether out again towards her but she dodged it. Her huge bat-like eyes widened in surprise.

Never seen a man fly?

That moment of surprise allowed his second tether to latch onto her just as he started falling.

The ground looked awfully far away.

I might have not fully thought this through.

They tumbled in a free fall, screaming their bloody heads off. Faust pulled Nirvana into him and she slapped him silly with her bat wings. She felt really fragile in this form. Faust spun head over heels again and saw the ground rising towards him like a dark ocean.

Up and down were hard to even guess. So he went into a fetal position and wrapped Nirvana in his hands.

Growth!

His body surged and struggled within his clothes. Seams tore. His bones grew dense and steel-like. He was twice his usual size in a second.

Bolster!

He waited until he was close to the earth to use his second skill just in case. The 100% defense increase of Bolster lasted two seconds after all.

With that he closed his eyes and waited for—

BOOM!

The cloud of dust rose around him. He was tumbling, rolling and gouging out the earth like a steel ball. He skipped off the earth once more before slamming through a house and coming to a halt.

Faust hissed through clenched teeth, but he was alright. His joints hurt and he was probably horribly bruised, but he was very alive.

He released a dust covered bat in his arms. She looked up at him with huge crimson eyes. Nirvana looked a bit evil in this form but he actually thought it was kind of cute.

A dark haze surrounded her as she transformed back. She laid her head of blue hair on his chest. Her black bone armor was cold but it wasn’t invading his body. She gripped his arms.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Faust shrugged, ignoring his stinging knees. "I’m pretty sturdy. Are you okay?"

Nirvana didn’t answer. "Why did you protect me? I’m trying to kill the girl you like."

"You’re going to kill Princess Leia?"

Nirvana raised her head and glared into his eyes. Faust stopped smiling.

"I don’t like Amelia," Faust said frankly. "I don’t like anyone. Okay maybe there is a small part of me that misses Liora, but that’s just attachments built over the years."

Nirvana glare grew colder at the mention of Liora’s name. She sat up, straddling him as she stared down into his eyes.

"Why do you even like that... girl," Nirvana said in very nice terms.