Page 3794

Dozer had said he was “about to move,” but the truth was, in fact, the opposite. He intended to prevent his movement entirely. So he just braced himself and took it. The window of response was short, but within it, he pumped the inertia of his body up to even greater heights. As much as he could with what little time was available.

The force against his body was tremendous. A tidal wave crashing against a cliffside, trying to break it apart. Tear off a chunk. Pull it into the ocean.

And it didn’t stop, either. After the initial impact, it turned into a storm unto itself, focused entirely on him. Swirling, lashing, swarming.

Dozer barely budged. Even suspended in midair, with nothing to brace himself against but his own power, the attack pushed him hardly a foot backwards before turning into a swarm.

Satisfactory. The bet was his.

Sanko and Lamont did not realize that they had just disappointed Morgunov, however. Nor would they have cared one iota. They resorted to an imprisoning technique, instead.

A wise move. If they could not make him budge, then perhaps they could lock him down.

The temperature plummeted. The water and sediment encased him totally.

A frozen prison, meant to suppress not just his ability to move but even his ability to think.

The numbing of the mind was an especially potent trick against servants. It was the main reason why Iceheart was such a problematic enemy. Wave after wave of servants could be sent against that man, but unless they had a sufficiently powerful method of countering his nigh-unrivaled ability to manipulate atmospheric temperature, those servants might as well have been normal human beings, for all the damage they would be able to do to him.

What a valuable subordinate he would have made. If only Dozer had found him before Sermung.

Rather than breaking himself out right away, Dozer decided to stay in this prison for a few moments. A bit of peace and quiet was a welcome change of pace in the middle of all this mayhem, he felt.

And he still had the Void State. Which he dove back into.

‘It’s my win, fool.’

Morgunov groaned. ‘You can still talk from in there? Shouldn’t Sanko’s cage be blocking your thoughts from me? What, is she not even empowering it with her soul?’

‘She is. I can sense it.’

‘Then how?!’

‘Because this is the Void State, I suppose.’

‘Because this is bullshit, more like!’

‘Stop looking for excuses to delay your concession. You’ve lost. Admit it.’

‘Agh! Fine!’