Next Time - 8

From thin air, brick made out of stone appeared around Oarion, forming into walls as they pushed away the two humans, enclosing no one other than himself inside of the tower, once the supreme construct was done building itself, the tower stood at a height that could hardly be guessed as it pierced through the clouds themselves.

Tappu was conflicted on what to do, on one hand, the fact that he had conjured up a supreme construct was a clear sign that it could get dangerous real quick but on the other hand, he was already severely weakened and the supreme construct could be nothing more than a fluke, something useless now that he was so beaten up.

Himari was punching the walls of the tower, trying to get inside and continue handing her fists to him but the walls of the tower were especially resistant and the fact that her own fists weren't receiving any damage were a sure sign that itwas only meant to be resilient and be a support to Oarion instead of a way to deal damage itself.

Inside of the tower, even as the effect that prevented him from regenerating wore off, his body struggled to put itself back together, only managing thanks to the enhancing effects granted by the tower.

The situation didn't look particularly good for him, he had sustained heavy damage without dealing any himself, he wanted to get rid of at least the blonde girl, she had a troublesome ability and there was potential for it to grow, killing her here would be best but with that Tappu here, it would be difficult.

The only thing he could think of to maybe have a chance to do it was to use the other thing he had just gained, however, in his state, it was bound to not be as efficient as it should.

The towers bricks moved out of the way, floating to the sides as a now fully healed Oarion stepped out, immediately activating the other supreme ability he had suddenly unlocked.

"Supreme Self: Hunter King" he said, causing a high amount of anomalous energy to gather around him, most of it coming from the tower itself, shiny, golden bracelets appeared on his wrist as his suit disappeared, replaced by a red cloth that covered his lower side, hung on his left arm, leaving most of his upper body exposed.

A large, golden crown formed on his head as his hair slightly grew in length and a beard grew on his chin, a bow materialised in his right hand.

Through the temporary fusion of the aspect of the hunt and the human the venerer had fused with, Oarion took on the appearance of humanity's greatest hunter, granting great power as well as unmatched bowmanship.

A simple pull and release of the string shot a large number of homing arrows toward both of the humans, the arrows soared through the air, taking impossible angles to attack from various sides, despite the fast and silent arrows, Tappu still pushed forward punching the arrows out of th air as she moved toward the venerer, who in turn, was moving backward as he shot his arrows endlessly.

He didn't need to grab any arrows to shoot as they simply manifested themselves whenever he pulled on the bowstring.

Many arrows landed on his targets, piercing through their bodies with ease but the damage wasn't lethal and the rate at which he was consuming anomalous energy was enormous, he wouldn't be able to sustain it much longer, he would have to back down eventually.

Everything was dispelled in an instant, the tower and the transformation, both supreme technique disappeared all together, the only saving grace for Oarion was that he had managed to hit Tappu's legs, keeping her far away from him as he returned to the state he should have been in were it not for the tower.

He only had the bare minimum, only the muscles that allowed him to move around were present, only a single eye, no skin, his skeleton was completely exposed, his jaw hung loosely as the muscles here weren't of importance, he looked like a corpse and Himari wasn't immobilised like Tappu was.

She ran straight for the venerer who struggled to even stand up, preparing to strike him with everything she had.

Oarion looked at the blonde girl approaching him at a fast pace, he had a hard time telling the distance at which she stood due to his lack of a second eye, he wasn't going to let her hit him like that, using up the few scraps of energy he had left, he used one last technique, one not to kill but to ran away.

"Hunter's Recall: Rubbergum" no sound actually escaped from him, making the fact that he had used a technique unknown to anyone, the girl's fist struck straight through the venerer's skull but instead of shattering it or pushing it back, her fist sunk in it, harmlessly bouncing right off, the strength of her own punch pushing her back, as the impact of her fist started to go back to normal, the venerer was then launched in the appropriate manner but all he did was bounce around without receiving any damage.

Landing near a manhole, the venerer sunk through the small gap, disappearing from here.

Inside of the nasty sewer, were the venerer had first appeared, its slowly regenerating skeleton floated in the filthy water, letting itself be carried by the current, ending up hitting against a wall after a long time of drifting around.

By now, he ressembed someone whose skin had been perfectly removed, showing off the bare muscles, coupled with the suit to not be immediately noticed by anyone that could see him, only his skinless face was visible.

'...' the venerer didn't think of anything as he walked through the empty streets.

'Next time, I won't play the human way' he thought, sometimes, making use of what you had at your disposal wasn't the right thing to do, sometimes, you needed to do it the old way.

Next time, they would see a venerer in its truest of shapes.