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783 - The Master of Deception
🕑 Added 2024-11-11 10:42:42 +0000 UTCAs soon as the fight began, Aron noticed the Shadari fighter shifting from his original position and moving toward him, seemingly unafraid of any counterattack. Aron hesitated, curious about this bold move, but quickly understood why. Nova, sensing his confusion, displayed the live stream feed for him. On the broadcast, the Shadari fighter appeared to be standing still in his original spot, already aiming and firing. The conflicting visuals—one from his new vision and the other from the stream—created two entirely different interpretations of the same scene.
"Is that an ability?" Aron asked Nova, startled by the difference between the two views of the same area.
{He seems to be testing if you can see his real body, distinguish the illusion, or if you'll keep dodging while he secretly closes in on you,} Nova suggested, offering a few possible explanations.
"If he’s coming to us, then let's indulge him by feeding him false data," he replied with an imaginary smirk. "Assume the bullets from his phantom are real and highlight their trajectories so I can make it convincing." Clearly, Aron planned to take even this acting seriously.
Though his actions seemed to mimic the passivity of his previous fights that he had decided to stop doing, Aron’s approach was quite the opposite. His current understanding of the Shadari's abilities was incomplete, and the uncertainty around whether they could phase through objects like their missiles meant he needed to tread carefully. By acting as if he couldn’t fully perceive the fighter’s movements, he aimed to give his opponent enough confidence to refrain from using any potential phasing ability. Aron wanted to create the illusion of vulnerability, making the Shadari think he wasn’t aware of the true nature of the attack.
{Copy that,} Nova replied, immediately adjusting the display. Aron began dodging the "bullets" with a look of intense focus, his movements, and expressions crafted to show that he was taking the threat seriously, appearing to believe the bullets were real as he closed in on the Shadari fighter with calculated precision.
……………...
Meanwhile, the real Shadari fighter, completely invisible to the audience and watching Aron dodge his phantom’s false bullets with all apparent seriousness, couldn’t help but chuckle. His voice, dripping with disappointment, carried a hint of mockery.
“Is this the fabled emperor who crushed all the others before him? Falling for such a basic trick?” he muttered, his tone laced with disbelief. Now that he was convinced Aron couldn’t detect his true form, he accelerated toward him, his confidence growing with each step. Despite his quickened approach, a hint of frustration lingered—he had come expecting a worthy challenge, only to find this supposed giant reduced to dodging mere shadows.
“When you grow confident in your stealth skills without real competition to test them, you end up walking blindly into death,” the Shadari muttered, finally reaching Aron. Aron seemed trapped, apparently pinned by the increased firing range of the phantom bullets, and unable to move closer.
With a sly grin, the Shadari brought out a knife, revealing a hand that had been concealed beneath his veiled form the entire time. The knife itself flickered in and out of sight, as though it were made of a material specially designed to appear invisible when not under the veil. This flickering effect would make any observer assume that anything not directly part of a Shadari’s body had to be either under the veil to remain hidden or crafted from rare, specialized materials—like the knife—so it could slip in and out of view independently.
“Had this been a different time, I might have allowed you to surrender, considering your position," the Shadari fighter said, inching closer with his knife raised, "but the damage you've inflicted on the Conclave can only be repaid with your death.” With that, he moved in for the final blow, intending to cleave Aron’s body in two and end the fight.
The knife came ever closer to Aron’s neck, timed with precision—so perfectly that, in the Shadari fighter’s mind, even if Aron sensed it at the last second, he would have no chance to react. But just as he prepared to deliver the strike, he froze, his breath caught in shock as a hand—Aron’s—was firmly gripping his neck, leaving him gasping.
“Shit,” he muttered, immediately activating his phasing ability. It turned out to be a lifesaver; an explosion roared through the space where he’d just been, its destructive force passing harmlessly through his intangible form. He managed to suppress a curse as he waited for the blast to dissipate.
Then he heard Aron’s voice, clear and calm: "Ah, he escaped." The Shadari’s anger flared as his vision blurred with fury. “You son of the light!” he cursed, his voice trembling with rage. Summoning his power, he conjured a set of invisible spears while still phased. With a flick of his hands, he launched them at Aron, programming them to materialize just microseconds after leaving his grasp, aimed to not just phase through Aron but to kill him.
Seeing Aron dodge the spears with ease, leaving a series of holes in the space behind him, only fueled his anger further.
But he knew better than to let rage cloud his judgment; reacting impulsively would do more harm to himself than to Aron. Remaining phased, he slipped into the ground behind him, attempting to put as much distance as possible between them. Only once he felt safely distanced did he begin to gather his thoughts, grappling with the shocking reality that Aron could seemingly detect him at close distances even while he was fully cloaked in his stealth phase.
…………......
“Who said you can escape?” Aron said, watching as the Shadari fighter vanished into the ground.
With deliberate calmness, Aron began moving, ensuring that the Shadari fighter was always beneath him. He knew that the cloaking ability couldn't last forever. Phasing was energy-intensive, and unless the fighter had an extraordinary ability to regenerate his energy or was drawing on mana to fuel the ability, he would be forced to come out eventually. Aron’s strategy was simple: wait. Either the Shadari fighter would exhaust his energy and reveal himself, or he would emerge by choice—whichever came first, Aron would be ready.
