Out of all the Aspects, Zero was normally the least concerned about intervening in the human world.

He was an Aspect that meditated in the realm of endless void where his soul existed, far apart from any other existence.

While many other Aspects increased their strength and sentience by contracting humans and learning from them, Zero had no such care, as he expanded his power and sentience by furthering his understanding of the void around him, which to him was an infinite well of knowledge.

To Zero, humans were normally like ants: far beneath his notice and too short-lived and distracted to ever have any wisdom to offer him.

However, there were exceptions. On very, very rare occasions, Zero found a human that he could actually learn from, and when Zero decided something was worth his attention, he gave it his complete focus.

Despite his constant watching, Zero was minimalistic in his actual protection of Hoarfrost. At the very most, he had only let a tiny fraction of himself emerge from Hoarfrost’s soul to stop space around them and wither the threat with just the power of his gaze.

Zero knew Hoarfrost was not yet ready to take any more from him. Not mentally nor physically.

And yet, Hoarfrost had agreed to let Thirteen force Zero out of his soul.

At first, Zero had tried to stay minimalistic. Zero had been using only the smallest fraction of his will needed to move Hoarfrost around and use a fraction of Zero’s true powers, mostly that of cold, which Hoarfrost was used to. This much possession was already risking permanent damage to Hoarfrost’s body and mind. That was what Hoarfrost wanted to avoid most, after all.

But Zero wouldn’t be able to survive with just that for much longer. He would have to take further control of Hoarfrost in order to match his enemy.

Hoarfrost, I wonder if you’ll change your mind about continuing to battle after you realize what your reckless choices will cost your body.

My Void Animus is the most destructive type of animus to a human body. Your small tolerance to its cold is not enough to protect you.

Zero let his power gush through Hoarfrost’s body. The darkness of the void spread through Hoarfrost’s veins and into Hoarfrost’s brain. His veins turned black and the aura of void animus around him thickened until the air became warped and discolored around him. His eyes became darker indigo, until it was almost black, with a new deepness to it that matched the deepness of true chaos that shone from Kairon’s eyes.

It was the deepness that signified the active consciousness of an Aspect.

Then Zero spoke through Hoarfrost. His quiet voice sounded wrong, vibrating and echoing unnaturally as if his whispers were the opposite of sound.

“I thought you were just testing Hoarfrost, but to think you would dare to test me in battle as well, Thirteen.”

Zero spoke to Thirteen without looking back at him, with no emotion in his voice except to make a slight emphasis.

“Hoarfrost is the one who accepted the trial and asked me to bring you out,” Thirteen said, “He wanted this, and from my research, you only observe and don’t interfere with what your human wants. If you’re going to stick to that principle, you don’t have a choice.”

Zero paused, then looked at him with one indigo eye over his shoulder, “Staking your life on such a weak assumption. You must really be desperate this time.”

“I’m always desperate to get stronger,” Thirteen said, “And the League is my strength.”

Thirteen met the full pressure of Zero’s gaze calmly.

Interesting. Thirteen thinks he can use me. The power that stands alone against all existence. The Aspect of Nothing.

Let him try. It doesn’t matter to me either way.

Then Zero turned his head away from Thirteen and focused his eyes on Kairon. Unfortunately, he didn’t have attention to spare on Thirteen right now.

My animus would normally be very effective against Kairon to the point where I could instantly win, however, right now I am severely limited by Hoarfrost’s frail body. I probably could only release one or two normal techniques at maximum, whereas Kairon will be able to unleash many and perhaps even use Ultimate Techniques depending on if he gets the Aspect of Chaos’s direct help.

Because of the difference in the power of our vessels, Kairon probably sees me as I normally see Original Powers… as an annoying wasp rather than a threat.

Zero did not care about being looked down on by a human in the slightest. Pride did not exist to him. He only thought about how he could use Kairon’s arrogance to his advantage.

Zero let his void animus extend around him and tapped into the flow of space.

In Zero’s domain of endless nothing where he had meditated endlessly, he had come to master the elements of cold, empty space, and darkness to a level beyond what any other Aspect had ever achieved. His void animus, which was composed of nothingness, had all three of these elements mixed into it, as it was the opposite of heat, existence, and light.

That was why he could effortlessly manipulate these phenomena through just the motion of his void animus with efficiency and grace that even no other Aspect could come close to.

His specialized techniques, which bent the rules of reality, were far greater, though they used enough void power to obliterate Hoarfrost’s body, so they could not be used here.

Even though he had rarely ever fought, Zero was still an Aspect. Kairon was a human. No matter the power difference, Zero had a far more natural ability in manipulating animus elegantly and efficiently due to his endless meditation over his own powers.

Zero would have to outmaneuver Kairon while he was underestimating him.

Despite his opponent, Kairon spoke confidently, the power of Chaos still in his eyes.

“An Aspect, pushed to personally fight a human?” Kairon said. He closed his eyes, a wide smile on his face, “How blessed am I… not only do I get to see Thirteen get crushed, but I also get to humiliate a Named Aspect.”

Zero held up a hand and Kairon froze before he could speak another word as the space around the imposing man reacted to Zero’s will.

Zero didn’t understand why humans loved talking. Even though their frail bodies could crumple in any number of ways, they had so much worthless pride.

He made a fist and the air inverted around Kairon, warping itself around the man and crunching him inwards.

It should have imploded him into an unrecognizable mess of gore, however, a bright flash of crimson fire erupted around Kairon and the animus of the technique burned away, leaving Kairon unscathed. Crimson animus was the most effective for this type of defense, as even though it would use much more animus than the attacker, it would burn away the animus behind almost any technique with brute force.

Kairon smiled mockingly at Zero. It was as if he was rubbing in the Aspect’s face that he had much more animus to use than Zero did.

And Kairon hadn’t even gotten started yet.

“You humiliate yourself more and more,” Kairon said, “You’re the least dignified Named Aspect I’ve ever seen. Let me show you why you should have just let me talk.”

Aspects had the ability to maintain perfect precision even when dealing with immense power, something that the human mind wouldn’t normally be able to do. These most powerful techniques that an Aspect wielder could use, classified as Ultimate Techniques, were virtually impossible for humans to use alone without their Aspect’s personal help.

However, Kairon was not normal. He knew that even if his master, the Aspect of Chaos, considered him his greatest pupil and watched his fights personally, the Aspect would still rather lose the battle than fight through him personally.

But there was a reason Kairon had survived this long regardless. He had become strong enough to fight other Named Aspects on his own. He had developed something amazing. Something that would put him on the level of even an Aspect when it came to manipulating power.

Who would have thought that your powers would complement mine so well, Alister? This is why I am the one worthy of consuming your legacy…

Kairon's blood turned bright red as he activated a Crimson Animus technique using the immense animatic storm within him.

Blood Art: Activate Ultimate Technique Circuits.

Bloodred steam sloughed off of his body as new multicolored circuits seared into his flesh, far more bright and complicated than the ones he had shown off before. The main body of these new circuits began around his eyes in an incredibly complex pattern of red, purple, and silver symbols, then trailed off around his body in lines of various different colors, curling down his neck and around his arms.

The symbols constantly shifted in their color and shape, steam hissing lightly as his flesh was constantly rewritten by the fiery crimson animus technique as if it could barely contain the power surging within his blood.

When the technique finished, Kairon was a chilling sight to behold, with the stature and uniform of the world’s most regal hero and yet covered with rambling, steaming symbols and the hungry, crazy eyes of true chaos. It was as if he was a human atomic bomb of animus about to go off.

However, with his Ultimate Circuits, he was not just an atomic bomb of power of raw power. This ability, constructed over years of painstaking experimentation and research, allowed him to cast his complicated Ultimate Techniques by simply running his vast chaotic animus over the correct pattern of symbols rather than having to concentrate and cast the technique with his mind.

Right now, he was more like a coordinated arsenal of all of Earth’s deadliest weapons.

Zero narrowed his eyes and looked at him warily, his void field flickering around him as he tensed, waiting for an attack. In response, Kairon smiled.

He flexed his arm, feeling as if his entire body was on fire and also being electrocuted with a thousand volts at the same time. It was only the power of Blood Arts that kept his body together from the enormous strain of holding all of those Ultimate Circuits onto his flesh, healing his flesh as it was simultaneously destroyed.

How exhilarating.

Then he activated his first Ultimate Circuit. Some lines glowed around his eyes as he poured a vast stream of animus through them.

Mind Enhancement Circuit: Astral Consciousness.

His eyes glowed silver speckled with dull purple as he stared forward. His mind immediately calmed as his senses were separated from the stimulus of his body and his thoughts became clear, sharp, and impossibly quick.

He immediately saw the subtle currents of void animus mixed within the currents of space in a sphere around him. The animus was incredibly difficult to spot, as it was like an energy in the air that was even more empty than empty space, but with Kairon’s enhanced mind he was able to perceive it easily.

Zero’s first attack had been a trick. He made it obvious on purpose to throw me off from the real spatial attack he had been carefully building up this whole time.

Kairon let crimson animus flare around him once more.

Zero quickly set off his trap as he saw Kairon's reaction. A sphere of space around Kairon flickered and warped, erasing him from existence. Or, more accurately, putting him in a bubble of space exactly where he had been standing but completely separate from the space of the Throne Room.

For a half-second, he was gone, then he flickered back, his body glowing with a near-blinding crimson light.

Kairon let the fire die down until his body returned to a regular hue and mused almost to himself even as he began activating another set of circuits.

“If you had a few more seconds to make that spatial exclusion perfect, you might have successfully trapped me,” Kairon said, as a red light started glowing in the lines around his eyes, “Too bad. You won’t get the time to do that again.”

Zero’s eyes narrowed. That attack would have worked on any human. Humans neither had the capacity to sense this attack nor find the faults within the bubble when they were trapped in it. He was certain of it.

Kairon really had transcended into the mental realm of Aspects.

If Zero was fighting someone who both had the mental skill and power of an Aspect… Hoarfrost was actually in trouble. There was a very real chance that Zero wouldn’t be able to protect Hoarfrost in this fight as well as preserve his body at the same time.

For the first time since possessing Hoarfrost, Zero became aware of the human emotions coursing through him at the thought of losing the human he committed his attention to. Fear. Anger. Frustration…

Mostly directed towards Thirteen, who had set up this situation in the first place.

Zero mentally shut them off. He wasn’t used to possessing a human but knew that following emotions was not the answer.

Why am I struggling so much? Hoarfrost did not explicitly put his trust in me to save him.

Rather, he reluctantly gave possession to me with the hope that I would fulfill my duty of passing Thirteen’s trial without overly changing his body.

If I am to properly observe Hoarfrost’s decisions without interfering then…

I must trust Thirteen as much as Hoarfrost did.

Even if Hoarfrost ends up dying, it was his choice to make, not mine.

Zero focused on the void aura around him as Kairon released his next technique. Defense was his specialty anyway. He would last as long as possible without using too much power in the hopes that Kairon would either give out first or leave an opening he could use to win even with reduced powers.

Now, what will you do, Thirteen? Is letting Hoarfrost die part of the test?

Can you even stop Kairon yourself if it comes to it? He is exponentially stronger than he was the last time you two fought.

And why are you even putting so much on the line for Hoarfrost?

The Aspect of Strength I knew would have battled to take the power for himself without hesitation.