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His iron was disappearing faster than it was appearing now. And it wasn't even getting blown apart, either. It was just disintegrating. Atomizing, perhaps. Gone in sudden bursts. Hector couldn't even see any materialization from Sermung, either.

Incredibly, the Titan still didn't seem to know where he was just yet, but Hector knew that wouldn't last much longer at this rate. He had to take a different approach, but it seemed like Sermung wasn't even letting him materialize anything near him, anymore.

That was the work of emperor's field density, almost certainly. Long-ranged materialized objects would vanish into nothingness--or simply not take form in the first place. A ranged attack, therefore, would have to be materialized from afar, then launched closer.

But even that was questionable, seeing those invisible bursts annihilating everything. What even was that? Soul power? Aura?

Memories from the Candle tickled the back of his mind. Aura, they said. It was a feat that only the powerful were capable of. A way of putting the world around them to order. Bending it to their will in one oppressive moment.

Huh.

Well, that was pretty fucking terrifying.

No helping it, Hector knew. Even if he still had some tricks up his sleeve, he was gonna have to go in there and get his butt whooped, sooner or later. Running away, hiding, being annoying--these tactics were just prep work.

Would there actually be a payoff, though?

That was a really good question. Hector wished he had an answer for it.

He gripped the Amir-22 in his hand as he dove in, rocketing him straight toward the Titan. This probably wasn't the kind of fight that Abbas had in mind when he'd given this shield to Hector, but the man had asked him to put it to the test and report back.

Sermung didn't even dodge. He just let Hector crash into him, and the impact didn't cause him to budge in the slightest. That gleaming armor just remained perfectly pristine as Sermung turned and looked at him. He didn't say anything, but the curiosity was obvious.

Okay. Not what he'd planned for. Hector could admit that. But it wasn't like he'd expected the human torpedo technique to do much, either. There was more to this dumb plan, still. But since Sermung was being so generous, Hector decided to just let the awkward silence linger a bit longer while he waited for the right moment.

For the last remaining cube in this entire aerial battlefield.

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Hector kept it up in a sustained rhythm, going faster and faster.

It was a countdown, of sorts. Meant to impart a sense of escalating urgency. He'd used a similar tactic on those Abolish invaders just before his fight with Banda Toro. The intention back then had been to get the invaders to flee without a fight altogether. That hadn't exactly worked out the way Hector wanted it to, but he wasn't expecting it to work here, either. Obviously, the Crystal Titan was not about to get scared and run away.

But thankfully, the guy was also not a bloodthirsty psychopath. So the consequences of failure weren't quite as bad here.

Or at least, the consequences upon himself weren't.

The consequences for Sermung, though? And for the rest of the world? If Hector couldn't find some way to get through the guy?

When he thought about it like that, the stakes of this fight felt considerably more terrible. It was enough to make a certain question bubble up in his mind, one that he felt compelled to ask Garovel about, despite the incredibly inconvenient timing as he continued navigating his own floating fortress.

'...Did you sense the aura of death around Sermung?' said Hector.

Garovel needed a moment. 'No. That doesn't work on undead.' And the reaper probably wanted to ask why Hector was bringing that up all of a sudden, but perhaps for the sake of not breaking his servant's concentration, he kept that question to himself.

That, and he probably didn't even need Hector to explain. Garovel would almost certainly be able to connect the dots.

What a strange thing this all was. That Hector could feel such anger and desperation toward someone that he'd also come to admire. Was this what they meant when they said to never meet your heroes? That didn't seem quite right.

Hector kept planning, though, even as those emotions and questions bubbled up through his mind. He let them dissipate like foam on the sea while the majority of his concentration remained on the fight.

And so he wasn't surprised when Sermung finally decided to move, even though the force was so immense that the floating fortress nearly disappeared in its entirety.

Like a popped balloon, almost all of it burst apart in an instant.

Hector was still concealed, though, in a far portion that remained. He immediately went to work regrowing the whole network of cubes again, but apparently, the Titan's patience had run out.