Chapter 168

I wasn't certain of anything, but it was clear this couldn't be a coincidence. The third strongest Cambion doesn't just show up by accident.

They knew something I didn't, and I prayed it wasn't what I thought it was.

That Isha was alive.

Mind Cloak immediately flickered on, enhancing all of my mind-based abilities by 50% and increasing my resistance to all mind-based abilities by another 50.

It wouldn't be enough to keep Lumos entirely out of my mind, but it should make it much more difficult to break in. What I really needed was some kind of mental dampener. I gnashed my teeth. Of all of the things I've pilfered from SHIELD over the months, why was it that the one thing I forgot was a fucking mind-dampener?

My heart raced.

If Lumos got into my head, it would be game over. Months of plans and maneuvering gone in an instant. Hell, I wasn't even sure I'd survive.

"Boss man," Rin's voice came over the radio. "Boss man, you there?"

"Rin? What's going—"

I sensed something moving at the edge of my perception at impossible speeds, completely derailing my train of thought. It was comparable to Pietro at his fastest and would've run me through if I hadn't turned intangible.

A streak of light crashed in front of me, raising a wall of stone and snow. Slowly, a figure rose from the crash. He was five foot tall, draped in winter wear, and held a golden spear with a white gem in his right hand.

"Shit," I cursed.

"Dante Sparda," said Lumos in a surprisingly soft voice. "We need to talk."

"Talk?" I asked as I summoned my Twilight Sentinel Armor. It appeared around me, giving my voice a sinister, metallic tilt. "And here I thought you were trying to kill me."

"You defeated the monster once," he said. "I was curious as to how you managed that."

"I evaded your attack, didn't I?" I asked. "If you haven't also heard, I'm quite the smith."

Lumos eyed my armor up and down. "Your armor is impressive, but not quite enough." His eyes glowed, and he flourished his spear. "Perhaps a test is in order. I'm curious to see what makes the Son of Sparda such a formidable threat."

Shit.

Gust blew out, scattering the snow around me, and Osiris appeared on my back. I shot forward, enhanced by Arcane Amplification. The distance between us vanished, and I brought Severance down, activating Burst, Precision II, and another Arcane Amplification.

My blade shone blinding Red and Black as Nether Fire exploded out. The ground underneath us shattered, and the air groaned, but Lumos remained in the same spot, entirely unphased, my blade hovering inches from his head.

"I suppose I was expecting too much," Lumos said. "You are still a child."

I rapidly pulled back, but Lumos acted before I could orient myself, sending an invisible wave of Telekinetic energy at me. The attack would've punted me a quarter of a mile away if it hit, so I went intangible again and pushed forward, circling Lumos in tight arcs. I sent out multiple enhanced Wind blades at him, all of which splattered helplessly against his shield.

Lumos opened his hand, releasing his spear, and to my absolute horror, it whipped upwards and shot at me like a sniper round. The stone in the spear lit up, and my instincts warned me I'd take serious damage if it hit. It wouldn't have punched through the armor by any means, but I suspected that the sheer force would've liquified my insides.

I parried the hit with an activation of my Demonic Aegis Seal, and the spear miraculously reversed direction. There was a look of surprise when the weapon slapped hard against Lumos's Telekinetic Shield.

"That was unexpected, but unsurprising," he said, opening his palm. The spear spun around once more, tip turning to me. "Maybe there's more to you. Show me."

The white gemstone on the spear glowed again, and I suddenly felt my limbs freeze up. Instantly, I recognized his telekinetic grip, and I flared Burst along with Arcane Amplification to fight it off. But it was too late. A beam of light slammed into me a split second later. I barely got Demonic Aegis and Parry up in time.

The energy exploded in every direction, but it eventually converged on Lumos's shield. He tried to pivot away from the light stream, but it followed him as I twisted and turned. With more mental focus, thanks to my Mind Cloak, I used the lull in the battle to try to shake off the telekinetic grip he had on me, but it was like a steel trap.

I let out a growl of frustration.

"Boss!" I heard Rin scream in my ear. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fighting Lumos. Keep everyone away," I yelled. "And that goes for Pietro as well. This is going to get a whole lot more dangerous."

"That was kind of you," Lumos said dispassionately. "You're more than my siblings give you credit for."

"Fuck you," I roared, and Lumos shut his open hand, increasing the pressure on his hold.

"This will not stop until you show me what you're truly capable of. What did you do to drive the monster away. Show me your power."

I clamped my mouth shut, refusing him the satisfaction of seeing me squirm.

Dropping the barrier, I let Lumos's light punch into my midsection, but not before detonating a charged Wave of Desolation. The forceful explosion freed me of his hold, allowing me to dash to the left and get out of the direct path of the wave. I fired off a rotating tunnel of Gust at him, which earned no reaction.

Mid-flight, an amplified Nether fire burst mixed with the wind, turning the tunnel fiery.

For the second time in that fight, I saw Lumos's brows hike up, and he had to raise a second hand to reinforce his barrier as the attack reached him. I kept pumping energy into the attack, fanning the flames long after the damage boost from Amplification expired, and even threw in more Netherfire directly with Burst.

It took some finagling to get the right ratio to keep the purple fire burning, but when I did, it was glorious. The heat surged, and I felt the greaves of the gauntlets of my armor heat up tremendously.

The spear, which had stopped attacking me at some point, suddenly spun, lashing out. My Aegis Shield appeared just before it made contact, parrying the attack. A fraction of a moment later, a Telekinetic force slammed into me from above, pinning me and my shield to the ground. The impact had been so painful that it elicited an actual grunt from me.

I could've activated Devil Trigger, but that'd mean giving up one of my trump cards before the real fight. Besides, I still had other cards to play. My Twilight Sentinel armor wasn't only built for defense.

I was saving Devil Trigger for the inevitable backstab. Lumos needed me for Ulyetrix, and he was probably going to kill me after we dealt with the monster together. If I let him dig through my mind, I bet that inevitable backstab would happen even sooner. That's why it was so essential I kept my Mind Cloak active.

Another Wave of Desolation went off, freeing me from his grasp, and I pushed to my feet, glaring at Lumos.

The snow in a cone around him had evaporated, and the ground outside his protective bubble was blackened and flickering with purple fire.

"That was a start," he said, touching his chin, "and quite novel. The things my brother would give to dissect you Nephilim. Vergil had a similar edge in combat—Teleportation and Space manipulation. Not even our best Mages could hold him. I'd assumed yours is your many affinities or your smithing, but you're far more complicated are you."

"You sure love the sound of your own voice," I said.

"And you're fighting with one hand tied behind your back. Your Mind Cloak does not give you the advantage you think it does."

I dropped to one knee as a pain suddenly struck. My head bloomed with a sharp, dizzying pain, and I felt my mental walls shudder.

"It's assuming for you to assume I couldn't break you whenever I chose."

I pushed back the invasion with a grunt and a flex of my mental energy and Telepathy, but it was like wrestling against a wave. I let out a frustrated scream as I activated Arcane Amplification, marshaling even more energy into Telepathy.

The effort got me a fresh notification.

Telepathy has reached Adept Tier.

Listen and transmit thoughts directly into people's minds. 4DE per second. Cost increases based on distance and task. Communication can easily be rebuffed by Telepaths powerful enough.

Your defense and mental capabilities are now 70% more effective. Link up to 10 people to your mind at the cost of 25DE per person after 4 people. The burden of information transfer and acquisition has been reduced by half.

The difference was immediate. Where I struggled to form any defense, I now had it spades, and my Mind Cloak and Promethean body's passive boost only enhanced that.

The genuine look of surprise in Lumos's expression was priceless. What was formerly a paralyzing aneurysm reduced to throbbing migraine.

It also meant that I could afford to switch my Mind Cloak for another element and finally unleash my armor.

Severance materialized in my hand, and I gathered a chunk of demonic fire energy, activated Fire Cloak, and all the Arcane Amplification and Precision runes in my armor and my blade.

The influx of power nearly ripped me down the middle, but I brought my blade down for a Cataclysmic slice.

Lumos's mental power shot into the stratosphere at the very last second, and I felt a Telekinetic tug, pulling my hands in one direction. My mental walls got instantly overwhelmed, but it was too late.

It was like a bomb went off. The ground shattered, and the pressure flung me back, but not far enough to escape the fallout. It was like a giant had taken an axe to the ground. It tore an impossibly deep and wide rent into the landscape that was hundreds of feet long. Nether fire coiled into the air like some infernal pillar, and it quickly spread. It was a few magnitudes lower than the ray, and the subsequent explosion I saw Lumos let off earlier.

The attack cost me 510 DE and 130 AE and shattered every last bone in my body.