Chapter 81: Clown’s Tango

The perspective of Kross:

"Suspended animation, eh?"

I was on top of a roof—a tall building with multiple stores.

Started holding my palm to it—my MANA surrounded the body.

I smiled as a quick "tsk" came out of my mouth.

He’s still alive—his MANA is there, but the consciousness seems to have been displaced elsewhere.

Enabled Collapse on the body rather than letting my MANA interact with it physically, I only conjured it onto his source of MANA—essentially terminating its soul and leaving the physical body intact.

"Uuh— UEEAAAAH!!"

He immediately threw up...

Fell over... breathing heavily.

"So, you’re alive?"

Meanwhile Fisk:

I hope Dante will be fine going to the Association like that—everyone is wary of the abnormalities analysis result, so if anyone does it on him, it’s— well, probably over for him.

"But..."

If he gets caught from something so mundane, then was he really worth all that trouble to begin with?—wouldn’t it just be natural selection if his value doesn’t extend past a trap as boring as that?

I smirked.

I did overinvest in him already, though—he has to live up to my expectations, otherwise I’ll be beyond disappointed.

Went to the roof of a building.

"Huh?"

My expression immediately changed—the face of utmost seriousness, that forcefully injected drops of sweat across my head.

"What...?!"

Did one of my bodies just get killed?—I pondered as I turned towards a different direction, staring across essentially infinite darkness in the atmosphere.

No... it wasn’t killed.

My control was relinquished—how did that happen?—did someone unbind the lock I placed on its MANA?

I closed one eye—my palm went onto it as well.

What I attempted was to re-bind onto the body—even if it got released, I still had myself latched onto its essence.

Just a peep—and immediately both of my eyes went wide into wakedness, as panic set in and I kneeled down.

"Kross..."

The last sight from that body... was that man grinning.

I gave him my location with that.

Fuck.

"No ti—"

Fisk’s MANA control was truly superb—and his ability didn’t shy away from that title as well.

His ability to inhibit and control bodies remotely had two versions:

Full-control through consciousness displacement and remote control that simply puppeted bodies through scrutinous MANA overextension over the original host.

However, both versions of his ability had a fatal flaw that would never escape the eyes of someone equally proficient in MANA:

MANA had to connect—always.

Therefore, even if Fisk could perpetually swap hosts to avoid death, he could always be traced towards his new body—and that was a disaster when facing a truly powerful opponent.

Kross:

"So, it really was you—thank you for the confirmation, Fisk the Magician."

My eyes peeled towards the sky.

The otherwise gloomy darkness began weeping.

Clouds started to shrink and sounds of thunder gradually embraced the sky in its utter disastrous love.

Softly, I landed on the building Fisk stood on.

He was yet to face me—he was glaring in a different direction.

"Any last words?" I whispered with love.

His face turned towards me—with a grin.

"Don’t underestimate me!!"

He yelled—excitedly.

As he did, strings from all corners surrounded the atmosphere—I could tell their sharpness was deadly, yet that was nothing for me.

With all their force, they lunged towards me—and they got cut off with a single palm.

His palm began facing me as he sprung backwards away from me—strings further lunged at me at disastrous speed that scintillated the air in bright white sparks.

The air further began bursting.

As I launched towards him faster than he was going backwards.

"Uuaeeehhh!!—"

He threw up—and his body dropped from the sky onto the ground, without any further control of the host he was inhibiting.

Faint dusts of MANA began basking in the sky—trying to create a shield, eh?

You’d expect residue MANA to immediately go towards the new host, but he forced it in all directions to create time for a swap.

Fisk just as this took place:

I have to hurry!!

Closed both of my eyes—both palms went onto my face, tenderly gracing my vision from further vision.

The two remote locations I was focusing on were of utter importance with just a single motive: protect my investment—that was now my only focus.

Considering I had lost the battle of wits, the sole priority switched from concealment to a loss that could be passed with the dignity of a jester—rather than a clown.

My consciousness emerged in the Information Center—and a swift data wipe promptly took place, deleting all files concerning the System Killer.

That was not enough—forensics would arrive and yet again pose a problem, therefore I had to invade the Bureau of Investigations as well.

Hence, simultaneously I wielded a body on top of that building—its infrastructure was known to me, so all I had to do was dismantle the evidence room from above.

As I did that... Kross didn’t hold back—and this time he didn’t simply relinquish my control of the body, but rather squished my head from inside out with his Collapse custom ability.

"Uhhhh— aAAAHHH...!!"

Immediately, in sweat I woke up in a different location—I didn’t exactly favorite pain, but I had to handle it in this situation regardless of my preferences.

"This man, though..." I softly let out as concern on my face increased...

He’s getting even faster at locating my bodies!!

I had already handled my business in the Information Center, yet abruptly I felt the body there get unleashed as well—just a quick swap there was enough for him to locate and terminate it.

As I took a step forward with my current body, he landed on the building I was on...

Softly...

"How many fuckin’ bodies ya got, you creep?!"

I glanced at him and replied:

"Enough to mirror one of your missions, handsome."

Instantly... "tsk!!"

And yet again, he made the decision to kill both the body and my bind onto its MANA—a simultaneous crush of MANA and body, a deeply debilitating and distressing attack that caused significant floods of pain.

"Next...!!"

Sigh—he’s already almost here!!

Sprung towards a specific location—slashing it in its entirety with a single attack that left nothing out of the scene.

It was one of a few locations the System Killer had killed...

Had to be done—just in case.

Then yet again, upon a rapid burst in the sky, the body I was inhibiting collapsed from inside out into a depressing blob of misery.

I was starting to run low on nearby bodies!!

This isn’t good!!

Fucking Kross, man!!