“He’s no threat, but take care all the same, partner.” The robotic voice, which was coming from somewhere inside the stranger’s clothes, spoke out in concern as Gaius unsheathed the Terminus.

The boy eyed the stranger’s attire closely. It was probably an intelligent artefact. Nexus had told him that they existed, and weren’t really all that rare, but this was the first time he’d seen one other than Nexus…and he had the feeling that most intelligent artefacts weren’t as expressive as the one on his assailant’s body.

The two locked eyes for a moment, and in the next, the assailant had vanished from view. Gaius could feel the air turn viscous around him. The anomaly was concentrating on the spot right behind him, and the boy immediately understood that his attacker had used an ability similar to his Blink. His body twisted lithely, and a blade shattered as his right arm swung out. There was a gasp, and the person who’d just emerged from behind him leaped backwards, just enough to avoid his follow-up attacks.

“Impossible!” The nameless stranger raised the broken sword. Half of its energy-coated blade had been severed by Gaius’ Terminus, leaving a cleanly severed stump of metal. Whatever energy that had been shrouding it had been destroyed by the weapon that Nexus had forged, and the shard of the stranger’s weapon that had been cleaved off dimmed as it fell harmlessly onto the ground.

“That thing looked scary, but I guess looks aren’t everything,” Gaius mocked. Qi exploded out from his legs, and the surroundings turned into a blur as he closed in on his assailant. Metal shrieked once again as his target tried to block with the broken blade, which gave way completely on contact. The Terminus continued on its upwards trajectory, and the boy felt it slice through something.

Somehow, the blood he’d expected to spurt didn’t appear. The stranger had managed to evade his attack by vanishing a metre backwards, but that person didn’t get away entirely unscathed. A fine line ran through the helmet, which doubled as an ominous mask, splitting apart into two clean halves to reveal a teenage girl’s face.

Glowing patterns, in a style that reminded Gaius of sigils, were running through her face. He hadn’t felt any cultivation from her, but it was very possible that these things were responsible for concealing a great deal of her presence.

“Sprite, he’s…”

“Previous evaluation discarded. Recalibrating sensors.” The robotic voice — Sprite, if Gaius caught its name correctly — spoke again. Gaius watched on in silence. These two…or that girl, if he disregarded the assistant, was just here for the Apex Engine, but killing them now would not let him figure out how they knew he was going to be here. “Pseudo-Knight cultivation.”

“Knight?”

“The Five Lands’ equivalent of a Scholar. Our target is fluctuating between Savant and Scholar, but combat strength is disproportionately high. I’m not sure what’s going on.” The emotionless voice paused. “Be careful.”

Gaius really wanted to ask that intelligent artefact about the point of saying its last two words after he shattered the girl’s weapon, but the unfamiliar terms were more interesting. It was evident that they were not people from Mi-Zu, or even any of the Cardinal Continents from their words, which piqued his curiosity more.

“It’s someone illogical once again,” the girl muttered. Energy extruded out from her right hand, forming into a solid blade. After checking it for a second, she levelled its edge towards Gaius, and said, “Last chance. Hand over the Apex. Or I’ll take it from your corpse.”

“You sure are arrogant,” said Gaius. Qi welled through his left leg as he bent it, and with explosive force, he hurtled towards his assailant once again. The girl had less than half a second to react, and the brilliant blade of qi snapped up into a guard. Once again, her weapon shattered as Gaius’ attack slammed into her guard.

His hands flashed, and the Terminus carved out a complex web of light. The black, armour-like attire the girl was wearing screeched as the Terminus’ blade struck out. Her body was contorting and moving in a speed that could nearly rival Gaius’ own blade work, but the surprise factor from having her weapon destroyed once again had clearly placed her at an immense disadvantage.

Gaius lowered his blade slightly as she vanished from sight, reappearing a metre behind her original position once again. Black chunks of metal, however, had been left behind.

The intelligent artefact spoke once again. “Suit structural integrity at eighty-one percent. Threat level cannot be determined conventionally. Observed threat level: overwhelming. You should retreat, partner.”

“But—!”

“We have no records for the actual strength of the Apex’s carrier,” replied the intelligent artefact. “And it was already suspicious that its signature had suddenly appeared here on the Five Lands’ Mi-Zu, when it should already be at Feng-Lang.”

“But if it goes now, the Apex will never reappear again! We need all the strength we can gather, if we are to succeed!”

“I know,” said the intelligent artefact. “But all this won’t do you much good if you’re dead.”

The boy listened to these words quietly. He could vaguely see some links, but as to what was going on and the entire picture, Gaius was as clueless as the next person. From what he could tell, however, somehow, these two knew that he was holding on to the Apex, but they weren’t expecting it to show up here, of all places. They had divulged more interesting information in their exchange, but Gaius wanted to ask a question before the girl’s artefact convinced her to flee.

“How did you know I was holding on to the Apex?” Gaius asked.

The two’s chatter halted, and as he brandished the Terminus carelessly, Gaius could see a hint of fear creep up in the girl’s eyes. He glanced at her empty hands, and from what he could see of it, she clearly understood what his message was.

Gaius wasn’t going to let her generate another weapon this time.

“Partner…”

“I know, Sprite.” She thumbed something on her waist, and small balls dropped out from them, rolling in all directions. Gaius took to the skies immediately, only to frown as grey smoke poured out, obscuring his vision. The boy glanced at the smoke, and then sheathed the Terminus. Her assailant, whoever that was, had a spatial ability or Art. That smoke would have enabled their escape smoothly.

The boy clicked his tongue, and landed on the ground once again. He walked towards the remnants of the battle and picked them up. That armour his attacker was wearing had managed to resist his Terminus solidly enough to protect its wearer, a fact that Gaius found intriguing. After making sure that there were no more pieces of her armour lying around, the boy resumed his journey back to Seireiden.