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“The only reason I won was because I took him by surprise,” Abbas said. “His power could have countered mine quite easily, if he had known what he was facing.”

Indeed, if that fight had not ended so quickly, Ivan would have surely won, Abbas knew. The Salesman would have soon figured out that Abbas was using antimatter against him. And sadly, antiparticles did not truly nullify the Salesman’s control over weak interaction--they only required Ivan to use his power differently.

Naturally, this would become a problem if the Salesman was ever freed. And it was probably just a matter of time until someone came to Sair in order to do exactly that, Abbas figured.


Chapter One Hundred Thirty: ‘Thy persistent shadow...’
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This wasn’t how he’d planned it. Ibai hadn’t intended to leave Hector and Uncle Mel and everyone else behind. He’d meant to grab the Elroy kids and quickly get them out of danger. They were obviously the most vulnerable. It only made sense to help them first and then go back for the others.

But the Monster was bloody fast. Each time Ibai teleported, Gohvis was less than a second behind.

But it was more than that, too. After the first few jumps, Ibai noticed Gohvis’ soul in the void, not because it looked particularly different from any of the others, but because it was the only one that was clearly moving. Toward them, no less.

It was almost like the Monster knew where they were going, like he could sense their location even while they were teleporting. In different circumstances, Ibai would’ve liked to stop and ask him.

But after what must have been the thirtieth jump or so, there was a change. Emiliana Elroy shoved her little brother and sister out of Ibai’s shadow.