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It was difficult, yes. But it was a technique that he had mastered many, many years ago, back when Bool was still calling most of the shots and forcing him to learn this and that. He’d mapped it to an instinctual place in his mind, making it summonable on a moment’s notice, whenever needed.

But these days, it really, really annoyed him whenever he had to use it.

A reminder of his failings. A loss of control. Of self-determination and agency.

There were few things in this world that he hated more.

Kallmakk really knew how to get under his skin.

Thankfully, though, his plan was working. Despite how intensely the feldeath was coming after him, the other combatants were still receiving plenty of attention, too. In the mayhem, he could sense those dark beams wreaking havoc among the Vanguardian ranks.

Where had the big pooch gotten to, though? Morgunov had no doubt Koh would be all over him again at any moment.

Aha. Morgunov sensed him. Still a ways away, on the ground. He finally had a few fresh moments of breathing room. He had to avoid another beam, but that was easy enough in this gaseous form.

Time to prepare the Roberts, then. They needed to assemble and transform. He gave the telepathic command via the chips in his brain.

Nothing less than three Mk. Vs would do, he decided. That wouldn’t leave very many Mk. IIIs behind to harass the Vannies, but it was a necessary risk. And Kallmakk was keeping them plenty busy, now. He wouldn’t get a better opening than this.

In the meantime, he resorted to Invisibility, using one of his aberration bone items. Not a ring, like most of his boys had to use. No, his was a tooth. Or rather, a cap, installed over one of his molars.

A much better hiding place.

He knew it wouldn’t work on Koh, though. He’d already tried it, and the mutt had no trouble keeping track of him, probably via both smell and aura.

Kallmakk, though, was a different story. Morgunov was reasonably certain that feldeaths sensed the world around them primarily via ardor and soul power. If they could sense aura, it was definitely much weaker.

And with so much of his soul power already in play elsewhere, this Invisibility was actually perfect for keeping the feldeath off his back. He would’ve used it even earlier, but he’d wanted to make sure Kallmakk became enraged, first. Plus, Koh would have torn through the Invisibility’s coating, anyway, rendering it useless.