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It was fortunate that he’d found the Salesman all the way out here in these empty sand dunes. It meant he didn’t have to worry about the citizens of Moaban. Because there would be no holding back in this fight.

First, he required his soul-empowered smokescreen. If the Salesman landed a solid hit, Abbas didn’t know if even this suit would be able to withstand it. So that was what he’d been doing while Ivan was occupied with the drones. He’d only gained enough time to create a relatively small cloud to conceal himself within, but it would have to serve until--

In a blink, the cloud was gone, dissipated into nothingness. Abbas didn’t get the opportunity to question it, either, as his sensors warned him of the Salesman’s approach from below.

Abbas made two fists, and the suit answered. The jets bolted him straight up, tearing higher into the sky at maximized acceleration.

Then came the system alerts. Every component of the suit was experiencing rapid power loss and structural degradation.

It was that man’s power, Abbas knew. The Salesman’s control over atomic interactions meant that he could quite literally suck the energy out of anything.

Well. Almost anything.

Antimatter was another story.

Abbas didn’t typically use his ability in combat. In fact, he didn’t typically participate in combat. The Sunsmith had earned his name from the technological support he provided his more battle-oriented comrades. But in the end, his support wasn’t enough to save any of them. In the end, Abbas outlived them all. Without ever holding such ambitions, he’d become the eldest Sandlord--and indeed, the eldest servant in all of Sair. Even Octavia Redwater was younger by a good thirty years or so.

And as such, he’d been working to change that part of himself. Because he had to. For the sake of his homeland, he had to.