As Aaron foretold, the third party showed up with an attack impossible to avoid.

"The fog. It was the fog."

With a bitter expression on his face, Saulo understood what Aaron meant. It wasn't a hidden member of his group or a person external to the events the one that was trying to intervene.

He had made a serious mistake in assuming that they were people when all this time was in sight what was going to attack him.

He didn't know...

… but Aaron, did.

The fact that the fog passed through that section of the path at that specific moment wasn't a coincidence of fate.

How did I not notice?

Without him being able to avoid it, the atmosphere was charged even more with darkness. The fog first covered the elderly man. With the last remnants of clarity that allowed him to see, he perceived that the elderly man remained as motionless as he had been before. Tied to the tree and without opening his eyes, his non-existent vitality augured that he wouldn't regain consciousness soon.

Afterwards, Aaron's two companions disappeared almost instantly. Without being surprised at all by being surrounded in the darkness, Don and Ryder remained indifferent to the abrupt change in the environment, as if the fog was another partner they shouldn't be afraid to approach. For them the fog was clearly not an enemy.

Where is Aaron?

That detail worried him.

While Saulo waited on guard attentive to any interruption in the silence of the path, this didn't reach his ears.

"…"

After a few seconds, all was silence and in his vision there was nothing but darkness.

Within the dominion of the fog, the sensation of being the only being alive and at the same time not, spread in small chills that climbed up his back.

…

Even Saulo's thoughts had stopped before the imminent danger.

He was trapped.

Soon, the cold in his body was accentuated and the steam coming from his agitated breathing was the only change he could distinguish in the surroundings.

The fog itself was an obstacle to him.

But behind the curtain of small water drops formed, Saulo perceived that danger was approaching by a threatening presence.

"Hehehehe."

A small laugh was heard.

"Scared?"

Aaron's voice was the one that spoke with a tonality that established the differences of positions in which the two found themselves. It was clear that the fog belonged to him.

"How long do you think I have spent on this path? If I don't analyze the surroundings first, it wouldn't be possible for me to steal."

Saulo didn't know. The time that Aaron spent with his companions stealing on the path was unknown to him.

With the sudden desire to attack from all sides, Saulo held back, reflecting on what he should do in the silence that once again tormented him.

…

However, no useful idea came to his head.

In addition to remaining in a defensive position, his mind was blank on how to reverse the situation and move to the offensive. If he approached the fog that surrounded him, he would be cut without contemplation. If he shook his weapon in a cone, he could occupy a larger attack area, at the risk of neglecting his back.

No. Both are actions destined to fail. I must think better!

As his heart pumped blood faster to prepare for what was to come, Saulo felt that the tension in his hands would explode at any moment. Moving on his own axis, he tried to make the rotation he was performing covered the unprotected spaces of his defense like his back.

However, this defensive action was only a vicious circle that would end when the man with the sword wanted to attack him.

Aaron had that power of decision to torment him.

"Do you know that that straw hat will stand too much in the capital, if you are not walking near the coast?

I mustn’t answer

Suddenly...

The sound of approaching footsteps broke his concentration and transformed it into disturbance.

"¡G..!"

The metal cut him.

Enduring the desire to complain about the pain that invaded him, Saulo prepared to counterattack the presence that had passed by his side.

However, when he raised his halberd, he discovered what had happened.

He had nothing to attack.

"So you hide again."

Saulo muttered to himself as his gaze wandered across an area where no presence could be seen.

A perfect emptiness.

Suddenly, an attack from where he least expected precipitated him to evade: A frontal attack. Faced with a frontal assault, Saulo threw himself to the side with the force obtained from a last-minute impulse. An unusual attack that, if he were in the position of his attacker, that is exactly what he would do to surprise whom he was facing.

Sometimes, a predictable attack such as a frontal attack was the best course of action to confuse those who expected a more elaborate attack. That is the tactic that Aaron chose to attack him. A simple but effective tactic.

But since Saulo used enough energy to throw himself to one side, the next cut that came immediately went through his defense and hurt him.

In the act, his face was distorted by the pain, and blood began to come out noticeably in the section of his left shoulder.

If he hit my dominant arm, it'll be my end!

After that, a new cut pressured him to protect himself with all his might.

Where is he!?

Small pools of blood began to form on the ground around Saulo.

Locked in a dead end of the punishment he was receiving, there was no end he could decide to stop the torment.

Saulo wasn't one of those formidable warriors who had trained their senses to stop an attack even when they were blind. And the best proof was all the blood he had lost.

"You did an acceptable job by not distracting your attention from the surroundings and the enemy that was me. But your special care on two war fronts caused you to neglect the presence of a phenomenon that, because of the location of the path, was expected to come... Now it's too late for you."

Saulo, who had kept silent until now to clearly hear his surroundings, listened quietly to the voice that highlighted his error. It was a voice that was heard everywhere protected by the fog.

"Hey, over here."

Again, a voice was heard right behind him, but when he turned there was nothing to face.

The fog, unstoppable in the surroundings, didn't allow him from locating Aaron.

And those two young men are also out of sight.

Almost imperceptible sounds were the only things that surrounded him.

Saulo quickly looked around trying to adapt to the situation, but the lack of illumination prevented him from finding a way to salvation. Predicting the direction in which he would be attacked was close to being impossible under these conditions.

He couldn't continue like this.

I cannot see any of them. How is it that he can see me then?

Aaron's presence was being protected by the fog, but even so, in the slight moments he managed to see him, it was useless and risky to attack him. Under those conditions, launching an attack was as dangerous as facing a lion in the darkness of the night. However, Aaron kept attacking him with total freedom even when they were both in the same conditions. How was that possible?

The fog should cause him not to see me either. But how does he do it?... I'm moving as quietly as possible so as not to be detected, but he always seems to be able to locate me. I don't feel that it is due to any relic or equipment. So what is it that allows him to locate me while I can't do t... !

When the thought of why that was happening crossed his mind, a sword appeared in his range of vision.

The sudden appearance of his enemy brought with it a brief, but sudden pain that forced him to cover his eyes.

How did he make that flash!?

Somehow, Aaron had attacked his eyes without needing to direct his sword directly at him.

That shouldn't be possible. A smoke user didn't have any long-range ability to cause damage to the eyes and neither did have the capacity to summon a weapon that would allow them to launch projectiles.

My eyes cannot see him in such a fog, so why can his eyes... his eyes! They are the eyes of someone who is accustomed to the darkness of the fog!

The reason that his opponent attacked him so easily being both covered by the same fog had no other explanation than that.

Running with a force that would easily tear any head off, Aaron moved at a speed incredibly difficult to follow. Lead color lines, as if they were fine threads, came out of his clothes in a shining row that quickly cleared the fog it was passing through.

[Sword Impulse]

A mobility ability that a smoke user like Aaron used to move quickly to a location, obtaining for a few seconds an increase in attack.

That was what blinded Saulo for a moment, and not because of an ability effect.

Thus, what blinded him only seconds ago was the intense color of the [Sword Impulse] ability shining through the dense fog. This intensity in the color of the abilities was typical of those who had trained arduously with their summoned weapon.

With adrenaline on the rise, Saulo responded to such a display of speed in the short time he had to react.

Of silent knowledge were the differences between the two users.

Aaron's movements were agile, despite the density of the fog.

Saulo's movements attempted to be fast, carrying with him the pain of his wounds.

This ability, however, would try to equalize the levels of agility that separated them both.

"[Shadow Approximation!]"

Gray lines, as if they were thick strands, came from the backs of Saulo's body. In an opaque row, the lines cleared the fog they were rapidly crossing.

Thus, a mobility skill granted by the power of the smoke collided with a mobility skill granted by the power of the shadow.

"Gaaaaaah!"

Saulo instantly shouted in pain impossible to contain.

Immediately, the fog that surrounded them dispersed with the brutal impact of colliding weapons and abilities, which increased the clarity and range of vision of the surroundings.

But the attention of neither of them went to the cleared terrain.

With his face distorted by pain, Saulo watched with stupefaction in the silence of his thoughts how a drop of blood converged with one of water. One, two, three ... Sliding and erasing the presence of moisture in Aaron's clothes, soon, the red covered his white t-shirt.

Clenching his teeth because of the force with which they clashed weapons, Saulo felt that holding the handle of his halberd was a difficult task because of the intense pain that afflicted him. Simply, his wound wouldn't stop bleeding no matter how much he saw it.

"Fight like a warrior would. Trusting in your power and abilities. Why do you fight denying your capacities?!"

"This is how I fight,"replied Saulo with a breathless voice. Blood was falling from his body at a rate comparable to the agitation of his body.

"I see. But you could easily get out of this situation if you were more skilled with your abilities and powerful with your halberd. In conclusion ... the gray does not deserve to flow in you. "

Hearing that he didn't deserve what for a person was part of himself since he was born, made him feel displeased.

"You have no right to decide that. I know I'm not the best fighter. But at least for a few hours I'll make sure you can't rob anyone else!"

"You!... !"

However, the voice that wanted to be heard was drowned when noticing that he didn't have time to listen to his doubts.

A few small drops of blood, like the scratch of a fall; but enough for the blood to show through the skin, indicated to him the next thing that would happen.

Aaron's feet had been invaded by a gray aura.

At the slightest movement of his feet, several curved lines in regression came from each of his footsteps.

These lines that seemed to reduce the speed of his movements belonged to what were known as control effects; or in definition, any effect that reduced an individual's ability to fight.

And this particular control effect that affected Aaron was known as slowing.

[Shadow Approximation] not only allow me to move quickly at a short distance. When cutting an enemy with this ability, a control effect known as slowing is also applied. With this he'll move much slower!

So for a few seconds, the man against whom Saulo was facing would have his movement speed reduced.

Faced with this, Aaron instantly noticed that he would have trouble moving at a speed adequate for dodging. During those brief seconds, the advantage belonged to Saulo.

Nevertheless.

"[Sword Impulse]"

No! Because of my lack of battle experience, I forgot that mobility skills like [Sword Impulse] or [Shadow Approach] aren't affected by slowdowns!

Saulo wanted to immediately follow Aaron's quick retreat with his mobility ability known as [Shadow Approximation], but at the same time he was facing another limitation. The problem was that his ability wasn't ready yet.

A same ability couldn't be used continuously because there was a time for it to be available again. This was known as reuse time (cooldown). An attribute that varied from individual to individual depending on how useful the ability was and how powerful the person was.

But with abilities like [Sword Impulse] there were details to consider: If [Sword Impulse] hit a target, the ability could be reused immediately.

Under that scenario, Aaron could use his mobility ability at that time without any problem, but instead he decided to retreat, mingling again with the fog in a strategic retreat thanks to [Sword Impulse]. Soon, when the slowing effect of [Shadow Approximation] ended, he would attack again with much greater freedom.

I mustn't let him fight the way he wants!

Saulo didn't have the speed or vision to follow Aaron and it would take some more seconds before [Shadow Approximation] could be used again.... With the fog surrounding him, it was obvious that he was trapped where there was no room to retreat or seek forgiveness.

But in itself, waiting in the fog for the enemy to attack him was a torture that felt endless.

He didn't want to repeat that same sense of despair.

The feeling of been losing his first real battle.

With this. Perhaps with this...

Saulo took a deep breath.

If his skills didn't work, then he had to fight in a different way.

Searching inside the inner pockets of his jacket, he hastily took the hand grenade and threw it with all his might.

His last hope was placed in that little object... Failing was not an option.

…

The explosion didn’t take long to occur, but there was no sound of pain or sensation that had hit.

The power of a hand grenade wasn't enough to hurt the enemy more than slightly and with the increasing fog in between, it was difficult for Saulo to throw directly.

But when used under these density conditions, another was the use of a hand grenade.

Besides ensuring that Aaron's figure was visible under the light of an explosive flash, Saulo attacked with a hand grenade because, as was natural to any human being, a sudden change in the amount of light controlled by the pupils would definitely hurt the eyes.

"Tch?!"

The eyes of who was so accustomed to the darkness of the fog were suddenly dazzled by the flash that Saulo created with his hand grenade.

However, Saulo didn’t attack.

This was his golden opportunity to make a decisive strike, but Saulo didn't move.

Instead, a wave of terror ran through his body.

Aaron was in sight, rubbing his eyes with the arm holding the shield and not paying the slightest attention to him. His concentration wasn't on his sword either.

Clearly, he was in no position to attack with any of his weapons.

However, in those moments, the terror that until now concealed the fog was exposed.

"… Have you realized?"

Aaron, when discovered, didn't use or rush to use another ability. This was because his words were his best defense.

"Within the animal species, the best predators wouldn't call themselves like that if they only trusted one sense... Do you understand? I mean your footsteps. They are heard everywhere."

Aaron spoke as he exposed his thoughts, which Saulo also warned, only that at the last moment.

"You know? This was supposed to be a little different from the theft we usually make until circumstances changed when you decided to attack. Up to that point it was a manageable situation. But the fog that covers us doesn't assure me that more curious people like you remain out of here..."

His gaze directed to Saulo, like a blade.

"... or that distracted travelers walk paths that they should not."

He said it turning his head clearly in reference to the old man.

"But we can both agree on what is best to do next to settle this disagreement."

The calmness impregnated in his voice suggested something neither of them could abandon to do against the other.

"Whether you like it or not, you'll resort to this for being crucial to support your position."

His gaze returned to Saulo, narrowing his eyes in a look of condemnation.

"And ... I too will do the same."

After pausing for a moment in silence, the words that Aaron wanted to utter were said with complete familiarity.

"Let's use our most powerful skills. Our 'ultimate abilities.'"

Saulo didn't say anything because it was clear what he had to do too.

To save the elderly man and himself, he would resort to his strongest ability.