Limits

On my way to the workshop, I heard a loud explosion coming from outside. "What the?", I ask out loud. Others also looked at the shaking wall of rock. I quickly made my way outside, and saw an army approaching from the distance. "What the hell are those things?", another question escaped my mouth. Large structures of some sort, were dragged by Grondors towards the Obsidian Mountains. What's more, those things were shooting large boulders at the Volcanoes.

Another boulder almost hit the volcano, in which Orlad was located. The Fire Mares and sludges ran away in fear, while more Lizards appeared outside. Besides the large contraptions of some sort, a small army of Human like beings marched forwards. I left Olrad, and sped towards the army. When I was close enough, I realized what those Human like beings were. "Furians", I said to myself.

I then noticed some Lizards joining me, and running next to me. These were strong soldiers, probably the leftovers of the Royal Army. One of them shouted "Human! Help us, we are being attacked!". 'No shit' I thought, and replied "What do you think I'm doing? We need to destroy those contraptions, otherwise we are goners here". He nodded, and said "If we kill enough Grondors, they will not be able to operate them. Furians are the problem though. They will act as defence for Grondors".

I said, "Take care of the Furians, I will deal with Grondors!". He nodded his head, while I increased my speed, and left them behind. 'Furians will try to stop me, but no being below the level of a master, can stop me currently' I thought, and arrived at the first defensive formation. I didn't try to fight them, I simply ran past them, evading anything that came my way. These Furian soldiers were not that strong. Most of them were at their Outer Limits, and very few at their Inner Limits. When I arrived at the second defensive formation, I heard a familiar voice. "Isn't it our little friend, with unusual powers?".

I stopped and looked around. "Come out Eterian". A mirage of some sort appeared further away, which then changed to a guy. I met that guy before. It was on the Arena, and he was also interested in my arm before. He said "Good that you are here, we can make use of you". He must've used an illusion, as I suddenly had the desire to kill all the Lizards. I didn't listen to my desire, and released my Aura instead. This didn't break it though, I decided to try with my second Aura.

Both Auras enveloped the area around me, and any Furian that was close enough suddenly stopped. The desire to kill Lizards disappeared, while the voice of Eterian returned "Oh! You were able to break through that? I underestimated you". I didn't wait any longer, and pressed my legs onto the ground, then disappeared. If I was confident in one thing, it would be speed. I utilised the knowledge from the Art of Stealth, and simply vanished.

'The Eterian is at the back. If I kill him, there will be much less problems' I thought, as I passed the Furians and arrived at those weird shooting contraptions. But before I could locate the Eterian, I crashed into something "BOOOM!". I was stopped dead in my tracks, while pain engulfed me. What I crashed into, was that huge contraption. 'Ugh… Another illusion. No wonder Yater said fighting against Eterians is not simple', I thought as I picked myself up.

The voice of that Eterian didn't return, but the Contraption suffered some damages from me crashing into it. The Grondors who operated it, also flew away from the impact. I reached into my bag, and took out one of my medicines. After drinking it, I used my energy to heal myself even quicker. I wasn't sure whether I was in another illusion or not, but that Eterian was an illusion specialist. Not only that, he was stronger than me. 'He broke through his Half Step. Otherwise, this wouldn't be so hard' I thought.

I couldn't locate him, so I decided to take out the Grondors operating the contraptions. I was about to attack a Grondor, but then suddenly stopped. 'Something's wrong…' I thought, and again released my Auras. The Grondors kneeled on the ground, but something was way too off. 'This is another illusion, these are probably not Grondors' I thought, and retrieved my Aura. The Grondors around me stood up, but didn't attack me. Soon they all started to morph into Lizards.

I said "Sorry guys, I'm awake now. Watch out though, there is a strong Eterian behind the scenes. He is trying to mess up our minds, or at least mine". One of the Lizards said "We know, you almost killed us just now". I was no longer next to the large Contraptions, I was back in the middle of they Lizard army. 'I'm sure I ran all the way there, this was another illusion. That guy is dangerous' I thought. I turned towards one of the Lizard Soldiers, and said "I can't get through his illusions quickly. I might be able to do something, if I get closer to him". He nodded, and asked "What do you need?". I thought about it, and said "He can play with my sight, hearing and so on, he can't play around with my instincts though. If you don't attack me, I will not attack you either. Even if I'm coming at you, stay still and do nothing. I will go with you for now. When we clash with Furians, I will try to hunt down the Eterian". He nodded, and passed it to his soldiers.

The Eterian was sitting atop the large Contraption, smiling at our whole army. The boulders never ceased to rain down on the volcanoes. More Lizards joined in, but a lot of them were already at the frontlines. When my message was conveyed, a Lizard shouted "Move out!". The Lizard army marched forwards in two specific formations. The first formation had heavy soldiers. With plated armour on their bodies, shields and various weapons. The light soldiers were behind, this included those who used ranged weapons, or daggers. When an opportunity arose, they would strike the enemy army, taking them out one by one.

The army started marching forwards, while I disappear in between the crowd. I hid myself inside the first formation, as this was the leading formation. There were loads of heavily armed Lizards around, therefore I had some confidence in being able to hide myself. The army marched forwards at a decent pace, and quickly made its way towards the Furians defending those Contraptions.

The first formation arrived at the defensive line of the Furians, and crashed into them "BOOM!", "BOOM!", "BOOM!" "CLANG!", "BOOM!", "CLING!". The sound of soldiers smashing into each other reverberated through the area. Lizards were much better coordinated, and possessed better equipment. The amount of Lizards was also larger, therefore Furian's defensive formation was easily broken. The second Furian defensive formation arrived, and I made my move. Using both friends and foes as my shields, I ran forwards. Towards the large Contraptions, and the Eterians hiding behind them. I utilised whatever I had, and quickly made my way to the Contraptions, but I could feel something was wrong. 'He put me under illusion again' I thought.

I knew I was under an illusion, because my instincts flared up when a Lizard tried to attack me. I played along, and shouted "Oi! Watch the hell out!". In order to win with Eterians, one had to resort to trickery. The Eterian was mostly focused on me. Besides, Yater told me that affecting one person, and a whole group of people, were two different things.

If one unleashed the strongest illusion at their disposal, but only aimed it at one individual, the target would have difficulties resisting it. If the same was done to a group of people, the power would get divided and the illusion would be much weaker. 'He is focusing on me, probably because of my arm. He saw my abilities as well. I would make a perfect puppet for them' I thought. I killed some actual Furians, who attacked me. I still noticed that the Eterian guy was sending more Lizards disguised as Furians my way, than actual Furians.

A short struggle later, I made it to the huge Contraptions again. I wasn't sure whether it was real or not. Therefore I decided to use the last resort. Ten daggers appeared around me, and quickly stabbed specific pressure points on my body "Ugh" I grunted, and hid the daggers. Indeed, the view in front of me changed. I was still surrounded by Furians, but I wasn't as close to the Contraptions as I thought. I used my energy to recover, and ran at the Eterian who was still smiling.

He quickly realised something was off, and jumped off the large contraption. He must've tried another illusion, because I felt something was off again. I had my daggers ready, and immediately used a more lethal set of pressure points. "Swoosh!". Ten daggers stabbed into me, and the pain was real. These were my pressure points, not just skin or muscles. I woke up from the illusion, and pressed my leg down. "Booom!". I disappeared while accelerating to my top speed, and appeared next to the Eterian.

His expression was full of shock, as both of my Auras enveloped him. I extended my right hand, and used my ice powers to the fullest. But before he could freeze to death, he suddenly disappeared from my grasp. 'This was the real him, he must've somehow slip away' I thought. With a slight spin, I threw daggers in all directions. I heard a muffled groan, and the Eterian appeared to my left. He was quite a distance away from me, but I could still chase him. I was about to make a step, when a wall of Furians blocked my way. 'You think you can block me?'. Ten dagger appeared around me again, and I disappeared from my spot.

"Swoosh". A gust of wind blew out of nowhere, while ten Furian heads fell to the ground. 'Stringed Hidden Weapons: Wind Form'. I didn't learn to predict the wind only, I learned how to use it as well. North had winds, and currents. When I released my skill, more Furians fell to the ground lifeless. But alas, the Eterian managed to get away. Grondors already abandoned the large Contraptions, and ran towards the east. Furians were also escaping. I was too tired and wounded to give chase. We won the battle, and even retrieved those large contraptions. I walked up to them, and heard creaking sounds.

'Hmm?' I thought, and took a closer look. A while later, I realized why they were creaking. "These things are at their limits already. One or two more shots, and they would break apart anyway", I said out loud. They didn't want a prolonged battle, but wear out their opponents. 'Crafty bastards, especially that Eterian. I will get you one day or another' I thought. The Royal Army didn't chase, they had to stay and protect the Obsidian Mountains. I joined them, while tending to my own wounds.