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The chaos of the battle was what he needed.

Lander knew that approaching Lynd, who had numerous Paths, would be next to impossible. And while they noticed that Lynd couldn't use different Path's together, there was still the issue of how long it would take for Lynd to switch from using One Path to another. The Intelligence team of the Unlocked noted the changes in Lynd's physiological anatomy back in the Lingkaran. Lynd's cells would change from one form to another to make an attack.

Lander saw the opportunity and rushed for the kill. Dara and Danny's attack made Dyne utilize Meryl's Path, and his body tried to combine both desolation and Meryl's light. But just as Lennox stated, there was an unstable reaction when Lynd used an attack. Lander gambled and used this moment to attack.

His fights against the Covenant had taught him a lot. He soon bested the Covenant as he managed to develop his Zone.

Unlike the other attacks that slid off, Lander's attack penetrated through the force field. 

Lander harnessed the energy of his body and fed it to the device in his suit. The techs in his suit allowed him to create a needle that was equal to Typical's very own needle. The force of Lander's speed was also fast, that his body was also being electrocuted.

The needle stabbed out and met a powerful resistance as the sound and ice were struck. Lander's suit was using magnetic technology to slide off but focus on a single point. Of course, the impact and pressure that Lander felt were terrifying that even his muscles were beginning to tear.

Lander roared and forced his body to keep on stabbing. Finally, he broke through the layer of resistance and charged towards Lynd.

But suddenly, the other half of Lynd disappeared! Only the left side of Lynd's upper torso could be visible.

Lynd shouldn't be able to use sound as it was focused on the force field. He shouldn't be able to use another big explosion as he did because of his reckless and cruel attack that disintegrated Dara.

If Lynd could copy Lennox, he wouldn't be missing an arm. If he could and didn't use it, then recklessly reshaping his body underwater would kill Lynd.

Typical's needles shouldn't appear as Lynd's current physiology is chaotic. Only Typical's Path could attack Lander. Yet, Lander gambled that Lynd's current chaotic and morphing body should have trouble creating it.

This was Lander's deduction. At the cost of Dara's life, he had the chance to approach Lynd and attack him. But now, Lynd managed to turn invisible in his attempt to evade the surprise attack. It was as if Lynd's entire body would be in a state of cool down. Lander aimed for this moment to attack Lynd. 

Since evasion or blocking was the only option, Lander had to be very careful. Lander focused his entire being on this one moment. The ability that made him known as the Tazmanian Devil was not out of his random movements. Lander is a soldier of focus. His perception of time even began to move slower than his maximum. The sight of Dara's death caused the terror to maximize, and he knew that he would likely die in this attack.

Two swords had expanded out of his arms as he kept on shooting with his gun.

Lynd was evading the bullets, but Lander was forcing Lynd to assume a position that would be difficult for him to escape. After locking down Lynd's escape path with the bullets, Lander readied his slash.

He knew that Lynd's option would be to block these two sword strikes. His sword contained various techs that could even wound Meng. And he was certain that this sword would slice through Lynd.

Lander retracted his two arms with the swords extending out, ready for his stab. All that was left was to stab at the right time. Lynd would kick his two attacks to block the attack as his arm is still in the process of recovering from the unstable collusion between two Paths.

Seconds turned to microseconds at the extreme focus of Lander. As he approached Lynd, he suddenly punched out both his arms to stab Lynd. A powerful electrical jolt coupled with two boosters on his elbows caused him to stab with great force.

He couldn't see how Lynd would evade, so he had to rely on Zone.

Midway through the attack, Lander caused the jolting power to move on the opposite direction. A burst of explosion occurred on the ports of his hand where the bullets would exit. This explosion caused his stab to halt. Lander's muscles were being torn, and his bones got fractured from the immense pressure.

But he could see the remaining torso of Lynd tumbled backward as if performing a backflip.

In his Unlocking, he could see a force rise up before him as the waters moved.

Confirming Lynd's kick, Lander canceled the opposing force that halted his stab and drove the two swords onto the chest of Lynd. 

But suddenly…

BANG!

Lander's two hands were blasted off as he could see Lynd's two feet emerging again.

The force he saw, which he assumed to be Lynd's kicks, was actually a wave of sound that Lynd managed to release. The real kick followed afterward and struck Lander's arms.

Lander was spinning out of control from the force, but on his last moments, he still gathered the remaining energy his body could muster to create a powerful needle attack. His body charged, and a port opened up on his chest, and Lander took aim.

The attacks of the other Unlocked was nearing Lynd. 

Lynd raised his two hands which had now recovered, and used a powerful fiery blast. It was Meryl's skill once more.

BOOM!

The explosion brightened the sea once more, and Lander was sent flying back. His all-out attack had failed.

But as the explosion occurred, another Exoskeleton aided by two Tanks met the explosion head-on.

The Tanks employed whatever abilities they had to withstand the fire just long enough to protect him. Soon, their suits began to fail, and they were sent flying back. But the Exoskeleton that the Tanks were protecting managed to push forward as it passed through the full strength of the shock wave. All that was left was the heat that the explosion brought. It had small amounts of Desolation and would have killed any Unlocked who dared to face it.

This was the moment he had been waiting for. Should Lander fail, he would attack when Lynd would do something like this. In the chaos of the fire and explosion, even Realm wouldn't be able to detect his charge.

The heat was burning up his suit, but he used fire to counter it. By fighting Fire with Fire, he managed to draw closer and sent his punch which contained all the energy that his body could bring out.

"Red Peregrine!" Gardo shouted as the flames of his fist pushed forward.

Lynd heard it and immediately gathered whatever strength he had to channel that force.

"Fus…" Lynd took a deep breath as the fist of Gardo neared him.

"RO DAH!"

BOOM!

Another explosion occurred even before the first wave of flames had disappeared in the water.

Grado was not blown off as he had used his suit to explode out. He had to hit Lynd.

The fist tore through the weak sound shield that Lynd made but right before his fist could hit Lynd, Lynd caught it with his one arm.

Lynd's green hand was burning and showed signs of instability. But it held on to Gardo's fist.

"You're so full of energy!" Lynd laughed as he activated the Path he got from Octarion Caesar.

Gardo felt an intense amount of energy being sucked out of his hand, and without hesitation, Gardo caused his right hand to explode.

BOOM!

But right before Gardo could escape, he sensed two incoming attacks and tried to evade, but one sound blade managed to slice off his arm.

Lynd was moving towards Gardo's sliced arm and what was alarming was the stomp of his other arm had grown bigger!

But as Lynd charged, he sensed another force and immediately used his cells to create a large needle that stabbed behind him.

  The needle struck many bullets with its cone-like body, but the sharp point of the needle stabbed and struck an Exoskeleton.

"General!" Many of the Unlocked that had recovered their sights shouted as Cliff's Exoskeleton was pierced and sent to the dark abyss.

Lynd laughed as he rushed towards the floating arm of Gardo.

But then…

STAB!

Cliff arrived and jumped down, delivering a strong stab at Lynd's chest. He wasn't wearing an Exoskeleton.

There was silence.

"It's over, Lynd. We win this match!" Cliff shouted angrily.

Lynd was weakly clutching the sword that was stabbing down on his chest as blood trickled out of his mouth.

"How… Did you escape my senses?!" Lynd growled.

"When you used that Sound Shout. I know you had Realm, so when I was approaching, I activated a Balls of Thunder that is designed to create a sound shield and hid inside it. Realm requires a lot of effort to sense inside the sound bubble." Cliff explained.

He had met Sammy Theoden and was thought that Realm could be fooled by creating a Sound bubble.

"So that's it…"

"Give up and stop this insanity. We won."

"Not… Quite…"

BOOM!

Another explosion occurred on the direction of where Cliff was standing. Lynd's cooldown ended, and he attacked Cliff.

"GENERAL!" A lot of pained cries were heard. They could see Cliff's figure flying out.

"Ha Ha Ha Ha!" Lynd laughed as he grabbed the arm of Gardo to absorb it.

The energy he absorbed was so potent that it allowed him to regenerate the missing arm.

"It looks like… it's my win! And because you lost, you will all taste… death!" Lynd laughed as he charged forward.

The Unlocked was angry and began to charge towards Lynd.

"Stop!" Cliff's voice echoed out.

The Unlock was startled at this, and even Lynd stopped.

They looked upwards to where Cliff was sent off and found that he was unharmed.

Next to Cliff was a familiar figure. He stood up with a black suit, and he had a very disappointed look towards Lynd.

"SEEKER!" Lynd howled angrily at the appearance of Seeker Carlean.

"So what do you think?" Seeker turned towards an empty part of the sea and asked a question.

"I think our armies could use a little work. But all in all, I'd say it's a success." A lazy voice sounded. A figure suddenly appeared out of nowhere. It was lying down on what appeared to be a compressed pile of water that had shaped itself like a bed. Next to him was the badly burned body of Dara. Despite her appearance, she appeared to be alive. Another figure manifested itself. It was a beautiful girl.

"The Thief in the Night!" Roselyn exclaimed.

"I think that battle clearly simulated what it would be to fight a Presider." Another voice sounded out from another part of the dark sea. Five figures were standing right inside a ball of air.

"Grant Hermes." The armless Gardo muttered. The Tanks that had been blown back had swept back in to save him.

"Mr. President. Please rest. The battle seems to be over. Focus on recovering." One of the Tank's said.

"I know… I know, Archie." Gardo sighed.

"Of course, our armies had the advantage of knowing some of Lynd's attacks. But I guess our spies can gather this information. So I'd say that our armies can kill a Presider." Grant Hermes continued.

"Congratulations, General Cliff Fangwood! Secret Mission, Cultivator Slayer, completed! You have proven yourself worthy of wearing a Funneling Commader's Exoskeleton." Seeker smiled.

"I don't need it! I want to go back home and go on a date with her!" Cliff roared angrily.

"This mission was insane! It was a miracle that I won!" Cliff shouted and then sobbed.

"You... won?!" Lynd glared at Cliff.

"Wasn't it obvious, Lynd? I've never thought you'd be such a sore loser!" Seeker sighed.

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Author: Please support Ascension of the Nephilim by adding it to your collection and vote your powerstones there instead of here. It's my entry to the 2021 Spirity Awards.. More details in authors thoughts.