Chapter 17 - Poking a hornet's nest.....

Ma['chil laughed at his own comment but immediately schooled himself.

" Perish that thought Ma'chil, pride and arrogance are two of some of the leading killers of great geniuses."

Then he continued to scan the totally flat, two kilometer stretch before him, albeit more seriously than he initially did. His goal was to spot his target first before it spotted him. This was because,even though he had enough confidence in his ability to take down his target without them, gaining the element of surprise, the control of the flow of the upcoming battle and the benefits the heavy damage he would deal to the enemy before it could catch on would bring, he knew, would undoubtedly be a boon to him and would tip the scales of victory further in his favor.

Machil had not undertaken this mission out of arrogance - driven, blind confidence. Rather he did so on the strength of the conviction that his current ability set was enough to successfully carry out the task before him. After all, he had also groomed his Aspect image up to the same level as the creature he was about to face.

 Having two team mates explain the mechanics of fragments, especially how they helped a person to grow more powerful as the person in question increased in levels Ma'chil to confirm that his decision to pour all his effort into grooming his Inverse Aspect beast was the right one.

His Inverse Aspect Beast, Incarnate of << Redacted>> was a boon like no other. Just because he owned it, he got a lot of abilities that were derived from his Owner – Inverse aspect beast relationship with it as a consequence . The caliber of abilities it granted him was not something that the flimsy abilities that his team mates, Zen and Niel, possessed could compare to. And even though it came with a very, very steep price, one of the abilities it granted effectively made up for that cost. The only scenario his war wired mind could compare his current situation to was being given the control button of a massive Zirdon* arsenal as birthday present, alongside a clause that robbed him of his right and ability to wield rifles of any sort. Rifles had their advantages, but the sheer deterrence brought about by just owning one Zirdon arsenal was more than enough of an incentive for warmongering enemies to kill the thought of starting any sort of physical conflict with the Zirdon arsenal wielder.

The first ability it granted him,<>, The very same ability he was currently using that blackened his normally red coloured sclera, allowed him to see through just about anything about any creature or inanimate object. For living beings, it allowed him to see their specie name, their age, their STATs, – as Han, Niel's brother had called them- their level, tier, health, energy points and any other thing that could give him an edge in battlefield, and that was just on a limited scope. At full power, no information about either a living being ,or a n on living thing could stay hidden from his sight .

 The second ability it granted him,<>, Veiled him from all non physical threats to his person. In fact, only purely physical attacks could still threaten him as mystical ones derived from the abilities that were so prevalent in this place could do nothing to him.

The third ability it granted him, <>, allowed him to kill any creature one level lower than him and beyond with nothing but a simple touch.

The fourth ability it gave to him,<>, allowed him to eat through a living thing's sense of being, rendering them into hollow,mindless, husks. It also worked on tangible and intangible non living things.

The fifth ability it granted him,<>, allowed him to transfer all damage done to him by any one particular enemy back to them in the course of battle after the damage he received exceeded a certain threshold.

The sixth ability it granted him,<>, allowed him to feed his Inverse Aspect Beast, enhancing it's growth with the fear and souls of others.

The seventh ability it granted him,<>, allowed him to totally personify His Inverse Aspect Beast, wielding the fullness and terror of it's power, in every facet for at most three seconds.

His eighth ability, <> , allowed him to summon a vast phantom image of what seemed to be a living, lightless swamp land from his perspective. This image, which overlays itself with the environment when summoned, increased the potency and duration of all the powers he used while the Warden of The Drowned ability was active by ninety percent .

His ninth ability,<>, enabled him to summon eiree, pitch black appendages when his Eight ability, Warden of the Drowned, was active from the phantom image of the swamp that could drag victims into this phantom swamp

His tenth ability,<>, allowed him to completely gain any one attribute of any creature vanquished solely by his power, which he had a scathing desire for.

His eleventh ability, Scales of Equilibrium, blurred the power difference between him and any opponent into non – existence by simply lowering the Creature's power level to become equal to his own for a duration of three seconds when it was used at maximum power.

His last ability, << Redacted>> anointed, allowed him to summon a blurry phantom image of what he assumed to be his Inverse Aspect Beast.This summoned image had the effect of increasing the potency and duration of all the abilities he activated in the time period it was active by forty times.

All of these potent abilities came at the cost of not letting him to grow his personal power level as doing so would place him at a risk that varied from of reducing the potency of his Derived abilities, weakening his Inverse Aspect beast or outrightly driving it into non existence. And this cost, to him, was bareable.

Just then, he paused his scan of the two kilometer flat land in front of him, looking earnestly through the flock of powerful birds that called this place home, at what initially had seemed to be a massive egg in his eyes. This seemed to provoke a reaction as....

" GRRRAAAAHHHHH!"

... a deafening, bestial, war like cry resounded throughout the flat lands from the 'egg' he was looking. The flock of birds, who had initially taken up residence in this place were scared away by the frightening war cry. They did not make it far away as a pulse of red mist erupted from the source of the war cry, constricting their souls and their bodies causing them to freeze mid flight. He knew that because he had a special affinity for souls and fear.

….suddenly, Ma'chil found himself being stared at by not one but just about a million creatures, with liquid hostility almost dripping from their eyes.

All hell had broken loose.