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　　I have to admit, I'm really surprised……I didn't think that guy would be so skilled, I didn't think there was anyone in this world right now who could give me the slip. 

  　　Sure, he may have been powerful, but it's his skills that allowed him to escape in the end, he used his abilities really well. Had he tried to blind me with that bright light earlier on, while still a ways from the outer wall, I'd have been able to catch up pretty easily, and the same move wouldn't have worked twice on me, not when I know it's coming. 

  　　He realized that and saved it till the last possible moment before activating it, and that played a significant role in his successful escape. He used Poseidon's Trident really well too, unleashing that flood to escape my sight and increase the gap between up just enough to stay ahead. 

  　　There was also his excellent use of Elemental Magic, particularly Earth Magic while heading through those narrow alleys, in slowing me down and keeping me from catching up with him, partially obscuring my vision and keeping me from teleporting close enough to catch him. 

  　　And then, once we were back out in the open and I was able to close in and catch up to him, that's when he brought out the Light Magic. 

  　　Talk about frustrating, I didn't think he'd be as resourceful as all that. He managed to get away, and I doubt we'll get another opportunity like this one, at least not anytime soon. 

  　　I did manage to undo some of his progress by consuming a fraction of his life force, but it's only a matter of time before he regains the dip in power level, he's already proven that he knows how to fly under the radar. 

  　　Tch, wish I'd managed to get a look at his appearance though……he'd remained invisible the whole time, all I could see was a red hue around his location with a vague silhouette of a person, probably with his True Anima unleashed after I showed up, based on the shape of the silhouette. 

  　　Anyway, he sure did leave behind a ton of collateral damage. I couldn't afford to slow down and save any of the people that got caught in the crossfire, so quite a number were killed during his escape. 

  　　Guess I should head back and tell Rai and Jhin that I failed……tch, this is humiliating, these peaceful times have made me rusty, but even so, I never should've let that guy get away. Next time, I'll make sure to kill him, he'll pay for this…… 

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　　Point-of-View: Damien Romer 

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　　This really sucks, damn it……things have been absolutely awful ever since I escaped Abyss by the skin of my teeth. My base power level had dropped all the way down to 98,300, a loss of over 20,000.

  　　About a week had passed since that day, it was currently the 3rd of August, 1700, and I was currently hiding out in a cave in the mountain range between Abyss and Liberty, waiting to recover and regenerate. 

  　　My left eye had almost fully finished regenerating, with a blurry vision in it, but it was still throbbing with pain, giving me what felt like a constant, unending headache. 

  　　Several times, I considered healing it normally instead of waiting for it to regenerate, but I'll regret that in the long run, so I refrained. I need my vision back to normal, healing it before its regenerated will mean that I'll be stuck with a blurry, half-blind left eye. 

  　　My fingers are about one segment from being fully regenerated, and my left leg has grown back about halfway. I've barely even been able to find anything to eat in the last few days. I've been teleporting around, looking for animals or plants that I could eat, but they've been few and far in-between. 

  　　Water hasn't been a problem, thanks to my Water Magic, but I'm starving……I've had to eat stuff like bats, rats and snakes for the most part, I haven't been able to find many fruits or nuts or anything even halfway pleasant to eat. 

  　　After all, hunting isn't exactly easy in my current state, this is absolutely hell. I'm in constant pain and hunger, and this place is super uncomfortable, I haven't gotten any good sleep since coming here, this is the worst. 

  　　The bathroom situation is pretty awful too……yeah, I don't want to talk about it. 

  　　And even after I'm done regenerating, I doubt things are gonna get too much easier. No doubt that Abyss and the other nations will waste no time in sharing the barrier that detected me, I bet they've already been activated around all the trade center towns and villages too. 

  　　It's highly unlikely that I'll run into any people outside of those places, travel is exclusively done using teleportation spells these days, no one travels on foot or by carriage anymore. 

  　　My best bet might be to hide out in an area rich in resources and then target Adventurers who show up to gather said resources. But the problem with that is that I'll have to move to a different area immediately afterwards.

  　　It's entirely possible that they'll also be able to create a method to detect me while invisible and intangible, just like how they detected my Nullification. 

  　　So, then……how exactly do I progress from here on out? Not only do I need to recover the power that Shiro stole from me, but I also need to get even stronger beyond that. 

  　　Damn it, what a nuisance this whole thing has turned out to be……going to Abyss was a big mistake on my part, I should've continued to play it safe for a while longer, before taking on such a big fish. 

  　　Sure, my progress might have been slow, but at least it was steady, it would only have been a matter of time before I'd have gotten strong enough to take on Shiro. 

  　　Do I just lay low for a few months and reassess the situation after that? Is that really my best, and perhaps only, option right now? Just thinking about it is exhausting, I'm probably going to be really, really bored for the foreseeable future…… 

  　　———————————————————————————
　　Point-of-View: Rai Rumel 

  　　———————————————————————————
　　We failed……the Spectre got away. I doubt we'll ever get such a solid opportunity again, there's been no sign of him in the last few days at all, which probably means he's laying low. 

  　　All Quests and stuff have been suspended, since he could be waiting to target Adventurers who go out on resource gathering Quests and the like. But that's not sustainable in the long run, it'll only be a matter of time before we run out of resources and are forced to go out to gather more. 

  　　Luell had completed the detection barrier, which was now invisible instead of having a colored hue to it, and we'd sent copies of the spell to the other nations, trade center towns and small farming villages.

  　　Which means that, now, it'll be impossible for the Spectre to infiltrate those places like he has been doing all this time.

  　　If he uses his Nullification to avoid being detected by the barrier that detects new Reincarnators, then this new detection barrier will detect his presence. And if he doesn't use Nullification and tries to sneak in by just using invisibility, the other barrier will detect him. 

  　　The only problem is that he probably knows that too now. Which means that he'll most likely be steering well clear of any residential areas, at least for a while. 

  　　Well, then again, he might decide to rush one of those places, kill someone, eat their heart and then escape immediately……if he does that, we'll be hard-pressed to capture him. 

  　　And we effectively confirmed during the recent fight that Shiro's the only one who can overwhelm him. He's definitely stronger than me or Jhin, and while Siterra, the Earth Sage, is more powerful, he might stand a chance against her thanks to the vast amount of tricks he's got up his sleeve. 

  　　Shiro managed to weaken him by using his claws, but he was still fast enough to escape Shiro even after that. 

  　　And his escape resulted in a fair amount of collateral damage……a couple hundred civilians were killed as a result, and there was a lot of structural damage too. 

  　　He could conceivably destroy one of the trade center towns or villages in a matter of minutes, and be long gone by the time anyone shows up to stop him……still, I doubt he'll opt to be so bold right away, but it's a definite possibility. 

  　　This is starting to give me a headache……I never imagined another serious threat like this would pop up after we dealt with the likes of Sant AC Laus and Samsara. 

  　　Even after Kuro and the others got sealed away, I didn't think we'd ever see a significantly powerful enemy show up like this, at least not so soon. What could we have done differently to prevent this? Or was there nothing we could do right from the start……? 

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  　　Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to vote, and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate any and all feedback and criticism!

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