Edward descended from the air to land near the defeated Cyclops, he sent a few aura blades to kill the centipedes that were still in the area. The fight had been easy but it didn’t mean that the monster was weak. With its strength and resilience, it was akin to a siege engine. If it had been present in Gobéliard’s battle it would have been able to endure even a few rune bombs thrown at him, and then blast the walls by itself and open a breach in the defenses. By itself, the monster wasn’t that dangerous due to its lackluster mobility but a few of them added to an army could make a big difference.

This monster has a lot of essence due to its impressive vitality. I should shift it to the top of my hunting list, it is easy to kill and has bountiful essence. And yet I don’t feel any closer to a hypothetic next level. Between Gobéliard’s battle and the Andherians’ invasion in Pescara, I have never killed so many powerful monsters but it doesn’t seem to be enough to trigger a breakthrough. I may be a tad greedy since I broke through to the patriarch stage not so long ago, but my enemies keep getting stronger.

I’m eager to reach the next stage but at the same time, I can’t help feeling nervous. In my last breakthrough, I temporarily lost control of my powers, killing anything near me. This time I’m not alone, Ignis and Adotinus are there as well.

Edward dismissed his thoughts about the future and finished absorbing a large amount of essence from the Cyclops before teleporting away. Already flying eyes had arrived on the scene and some of them had managed to spot him, however, they lost sight of him with his teleportation.

Edward raised his head to look at the rune system still glowing with energy above the destroyed capital. The parts that I’m seeing in this area seem to be in a good state. All the damage caused by the explosion has been removed. This is not good. I don’t think Nephelin has managed to repair everything yet, but at this rate, I won’t have the time to hunt all the Manticores before his rune system is operational. I have to intervene.

This will draw his attention but I have to do it I can’t let him complete his plan. I will need to maximize the damage I deal to his runes before fleeing away. I don’t want to have to repeat the operation. Edward was pondering how to achieve the best effect. Sending one big attack won’t be very effective, it will cut through everything in its path, but the runes are far apart from each other. In the end, it will only manage to cut a few of them. An explosion will annihilate everything within its radius of effect, but for it to be effective it needs to be a big one, and that will require a lot of energy leaving me vulnerable. Sending multiple weak attacks seem like the way to go, but from the moment I sent one attack he will be alerted. I need to send a maximum of attacks within a short time frame.

Edward stopped deep in thought.

There are several ways to do it. I can summon different clones and order them to fire all at once, I may be able to fire two salvos before having to run away. So with the number of clones, I can safely control that would mean something like twelve attacks in total. Another way would be to manifest aura blades while keeping control of them and to send them all at once when I have enough. This isn’t bad but I would take some time to prepare during which I will be highly visible. I think I can do better.

Edward mused for some more time before being satisfied. All at once he deactivated his shadow spell and summoned three blobs of aura in front of him, attracting the nearby monsters’ attention. Edward ignored them and manifested another layer of his aura to surround the blobs, it was a mesh of aura blades with thinner sections at regular intervals. Due to the complexity of the design, he was able to manifest a mesh only one at a time. Centipedes had already reached him and Edward jumped into the air, aura steps forming under his feet with the blobs of aura following him. One after the other a fine mesh of blades appeared on the outside layer of the aura blobs. With one motion all of the blobs flew inside the rune system in the sky. Three Manticores had already spotted Edward and were rushing at him.

Under Edward’s command, the aura blobs exploded, the force produced was enough to snap the thinner sections of the aura blade mesh. The blades were sent flying everywhere cutting anything in their path as if particularly effective fragmentation grenades had exploded in the sky. Edward didn’t stay to see the result, he teleported away before the Manticores or the aura blades could reach him.

He reappeared a few streets away and he activated his shadow cloak spell as soon as he could before dashing inside a shadow. He stayed immobile for two seconds, the spell turning him invisible before he teleported in a shadow further away. The energy is no longer running within the rune system, it seems I got Nephelin’s attention. Edward waited in his temporary hideout, he could have teleported further away but he didn’t think that would make a difference. At his level, wherever he was within the capital, Nephelin would be able to swiftly reach him if his location got compromised.

By now the fire burning the capital had mostly died out and only embers and ruins remained. This left few places to hide and Edward was glad Ignis had taught him the shadow cloak spell. I have no way to contact Adotinus and Ignis. I hope my stunt didn’t put them in trouble. Edward waited for some more time but the rune system in the sky stayed lifeless. Does this mean Nephelin is still searching for me? How long will it last?

Suddenly Edward sensed a powerful aura swipe the whole district including the area he was hiding. Shit! I masked my aura but that doesn’t mean I’m undetectable. It only means I won’t be marked as something alive. I didn’t move so maybe he will think I’m just a dead body. Edward paused. I didn’t see any corpses until now, the monsters probably ate them all. Shit!

Edward was about to move when purple energy balls rained from the sky. No time. “Rèng khwāmrĕw”. Edward activated his acceleration spell, he formed a shield of aura above him to deflect one ball of energy while he moved to the side to avoid another one.

“FOUND YOU!” Nephelin’s voice rang in the air. He teleported next to Edward one fist already in the middle of a swing.

Edward teleported in the air and formed an aura step under him, jumping backward, a ray of energy coming from below missed him barely.

I can’t fight him right now. I have to retreat. Edward teleported five hundred meters away, ready to leave the capital if he had to do so in order to leave Nephelin behind.

“COME BACK YOU TWAT!”, Nephelin jumped up, leaving a crater behind him. This didn’t change much to the state of the capital. After being burned and then bombarded by his attacks, the district looked more like a field of ruins than a city.

Nephelin teleported to draw closer to Edward but the latter teleported as well, only increasing the distance between them. Nephelin could swear all he wanted but he wasn’t able to catch up to Edward. With each bout of teleportation, the distance between them only increased. Nephelin could only helplessly watch Edward escape. He was stronger than Edward but he hadn’t been able to kill him before he ran away.

However, even if the chase didn’t last that long, at the speed they were moving they traveled a great distance and Edward found himself once again shun outside of the capital. What should I do now? I pissed him out this time. He is probably still waiting for me to come back. It is unwise to hunt for monsters in those conditions.

And I need to find back Adotinus and Ignis, I need to be able to warn them when I’m poking Nephelin. Searching the city to find them will take some time. They are not in the same situation as me. I can escape thanks to my teleportation, but if they are found they won’t be able to flee. Getting discovered will only get them kill. And we can’t fight Nephelin and his cohort of monsters at the same time. Nephelin is already hard enough to deal with. So even if I find them, I will need to leave by myself to hunt Nephelin’s army of monsters and especially his Manticores. I then risk losing contact with them again.

We need a way to communicate. I have my telepathy but to use it from far away I would need to broadcast my aura all over Pescara, it would be the equivalent of me lighting a beacon saying I’m here come find me.

Edward reviewed his different options. My clones are the best options. They are expendable and can search the city more effectively if I make enough of them. Once I find Adotinus and Ignis I can leave a clone at their place. This will maintain contact between us. My clones don’t have an illimited duration, but it is linked directly to their energy expenditure. If my clone runs low, they will be able to recharge it.

Actually, I could even use them to spread aura frag grenades all over the capital to shred that rune system to nothing. He licked his lips. This is quite appealing, with the new design I came up with those attacks are energy efficient. They are less impressive than explosions but deal more damage for less aura expenditure. However, if I do that I fear Nephelin will be enraged and will have no reason to hold back anymore. I don’t want him to focus on Adotinus and Ignis if I’m forced to flee. If he really puts his mind to it, he will find them eventually, and they will die fighting him. Which means I will have to wait until we are ready to take him out.

Edward weighed the pros and cons and decided that sending clones to search the capital was the best option. He laughed dryly remembering the headache from making and controlling thirteen clones at once. At least it was good practice.

He sat cross-legged and took a long breath. Thirteen clones at once was my limit and I was barely able to control them properly. Let’s begin with five clones only. Also, I need to be aware of my surroundings. I may be outside the capital but it would be risible if I got killed by a random monster while not paying attention. Although I’m not certain that a weak monster would be able to kill me by now even if I stay unmoving. It would need to pierce through my armor and my body is pretty resilient as well after all of my breakthroughs.

Edward manifested five clones, one after the other, his field of vision splitting with each additional clone. They stood immobile for a second before moving at once all heading out toward Pescara from different directions.