Chimera

The moment Theef had felt the pressure lessen, he slowly brought himself up.

Although it seemed like his movement was somewhat slow, the fluidity was something to behold.

Until the moment his face was in full view, Theef had yet to open his mouth.

When his mouth did open however, words were not what came out.

Pshhh!

A spritz of green mist enveloped the unsuspecting ruler.

His reaction time allowed him to quickly don his golden armor, but he soon found himself in danger.

Tsshh!

Each and every last particle of Theef's super acidic saliva burned a hole through the armor.

While that might be dismissible for an individual particle, the mouthful sprayed was no laughing matter.

In seconds, the once luxurious full set of golden armor became rubbish.

With his defense breached, the frightened ruler saw a tendril shoot for an opening.

'It won't be fast enough. I've still won.'

Or so Barter's Ruler thought as he prepared to block the tendril precisely as it landed.

Clank!

Just as he planned, the first tendril was blocked easily.

'Oh no!'

Barter's Ruler immediately realized the predicament he was in.

Without hesitation, he threw all unnecessary thoughts out of mind.

His grip on his golden rapier tightened intensely as he heightened his senses to the max.

Clank!

And then suddenly, seemingly without aim the ruler struck an invisible tendril.

'Damn it!'

Theef reeled back his tendrils and prepared himself for what was to come.

But as he was moving the tendrils, Theef caught the gist of an innate ability.

It happened the moment he collided with the golden weapon made of rule power.

'So that's what these things were for. Hehehe.'

Theef couldn't contain himself after this new discovery.

"Pwahaha!"

His abrupt outburst failed to cause the ruler to let his guard down.

If anything, he was even more tense than before with the tendril lashings.

The reason being that when he glanced at Null's figure, he noticed his smile vanish.

'This must be the final round of attack. Looks like Null was overestimating his friend a bit much."

"Last chance man. Just give up before something bad happens. I don't want to damage the ship, unless you wanna get sucked out into space."

"You won't have to worry about such a thing," Theef interjected, "I think it's about time I return the favor."

The wary ruler took his stance at the alarming sentence.

Theef's eyes had lost their craze a while back, but that did nothing to change the scary look of his gaze.

'He's reading me.'

Barter's Ruler shifted his foot the slightest of degrees and felt sick at what he saw.

One of the tendrils were locked into his feet and the other on his rapier wielding hand.

The worst part about the whole ordeal was that Theef's face bore not a smirk.

The ruler felt that if he moved, death awaited.

Theef gave off a feeling opposite of Null's bravado that made him unnerved.

Regardless of his feelings however, Theef was ready to rock.

In his opinion, the only reason he hadn't won was the environment.

His strength relied heavily on destructiveness, not ideal for his precious ride.

Because of his elevated status as an immortal, Barter's Ruler had various methods at his disposal.

Additionally, the yellow energy given to him had pushed his powers further above past feats.

Theef was still an ordinary being at the bottom of the food chain.

His desires had always given him the motivation to reach for better.

With his latest upgrades, he could finally put the pedal to the metal and show what he was made of.

Like an ant with the craving for elephant meat, Theef intended to elevate his prowess in one go.

And so, he made the first move.

Swish! Swish!

The two tendrils slashed at the shaky ruler on the aforementioned targets.

Barter's Ruler had no choice but to defend, but not before Theef let loose everything he had.

Everything.

The crown made of blue frost, golden yellow horns, faint vampiric bloodline, blue markings, et cetera.

Altogether, Theef looked like an amalgamation of every child's nightmare.

Once he was finished, the blue markings moved towards the horns as they lit up gold and blue.

Psheew!

Both horns fired off like guided missiles and accurately punctured the untargeted limbs of his foe.

After doing their damage, the horns spectacularly landed back in place.

Really unsettling, but super cool.

Once that happened, the ruler decided to strike back without focusing on defending.

'Gotcha.'

A blast of cold air disrupted the ruler's flow and caused him to slip on his injured foot.

At that moment, the ruler was distracted by all of Theef's other abilities.

He was completely unaware of the invisible tendril sneaking towards him.

'No more fooling around. I need to restrain him again!'

But it was already too late.

Shlick!

The tendril had attached itself to the alarmed ruler and began absorbing.

Absorbing what exactly?

Well, what else but Barter's Ruler's very own rule.

Just the implications behind this horrid ability was enough to convince him of his defeat.

However, Theef was just getting started.

His eyes began spinning like crazy again, but this time they sparkled with golden light.

'No fucking way!'

'What kind of sick joke is this!'

Both the ruler and Null were helpless in the face of the ability.

For Theef, it was the best day of his life.

"AHAHA! You thought you could defeat me with greed. What a silly fool this new guy is, eh Null. You sure know how to pick em!"

He said, disregarding the fear-stricken ruler in front of him clutching his chest like his very heart had been stolen.

"Hey new guy," Theef smiled sinisterly as he began levitating.

Just like before, his suit became laced with golden threads, only this time much more so.

Every mutation of his was dyed golden by the power of the universal rule.

It made him look like a golden statue from afar.

'DID HE JUST REACH IMMORTAL LEVEL LIKE THAT!!!' Barter's Ruler was losing it.

Meanwhile, the golden light in Theef's eyes condensed into piercing radiant globes.

"EAT THIS SHIT!"

The pressure released from the golden light outshone the previous gravity.

'SHI-,'

BOOM!

The mighty ruler buckled underneath the weight of his own mass.

Even breathing became an arduous task under the might of the pressure.

'That's not supposed to happen. Why is my own rule being used against me!'

"Different." Null mumbled in awe.

"Today you can be said to have lost to your own greed. What say you new guy?"

Theef beckoned for a response, but palmed his face in realization.

"Right. Pancake."

So, at the release of the pressure the 'friendly' spar was at its end.

Defeated and in shock, Barter's Ruler could only let out a pained groan.

"Give it back."

He cried out weakly at first, but after a moment of recovery, it turned out Barter's Ruler himself was still able to fly.

"GIVE ME BACK MY POWER!"

He sped towards the victor in a fit of rage, determined to kill this time even at the cost of his own life.

You could take from his people, and he would do right by giving back to them.

You could take from his markets, and he would do right by punishing and imprisoning you.

But to take the power he so desperately cultivated from nothing was crossing the line a bit too far for his liking.

Barter's Ruler could be beaten, but his greed would always be there to lift him back off his feet and bring him to greater heights.

Without his greed, he grew crueler. Without his greed he grew restless. 

But without his greed, Barter's Ruler was opened back up to the entirety of the cosmos; as he attacked, he questioned himself.

'Why?'

He stopped midair before Theef with no intention of proceeding.

"Why could he use it better than I could," he dryly spoke.

As the heavily conflicted ruler asked to no one in particular, he was without his powers.

It was as if he was asking the universe itself like a sulking child looking for answers from their wiser parent.