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This was not a test he was prepared for. He'd known that when he decided to fly up here. But there was even more to the insanity of the situation than just that.

Because he already had a rather strong idea of how outclassed he was here. Thanks to Melchor Blackburn and the late Xuan Sebolt. And also Zeff, later on.

Hector had already witnessed a powerful smoke-based warrior in action once before. He'd had quite the front row seat, in fact. Xuan's fight with Melchor at the Blackburn fortress known as Marshrock had certainly been something to behold. And when Melchor gained the upper hand, Hector had been the one to carry and protect Xuan from him in order to give Xuan much needed time to recover.

That was the first time Hector had seen precisely how terrifying the gap in strength between servants could be. Melchor and Xuan were each one the deciding factor between victory and defeat for their side. Everything in that battle had revolved around them, around their clash.

And of course, in that fight Hector had further witnessed Xuan being nearly defeated by Melchor. So he knew now that smoke warriors could be defeated. They weren't simply invulnerable, thankfully.

How Melchor had done it, though, was the difficult part.

To Hector's eyes, the crippling blow from Melchor had appeared as essentially just a giant explosion. It pierced the smoke at its heart and then burst apart, dispersing it everywhere.

Not unlike the exploding javelins that Hector had been testing here. Just a lot more powerful.

However, Hector knew now that Melchor's technique on that occasion had involved more than making a really big boom.

Because he'd asked Melchor about it once, when the man happened to show up during one of his training sessions with Zeff.

"Ah, yeah, that was a pretty advanced little trick," Melchor had told him. "Smoke can be very troublesome to deal with. You can't just punch it. And if your opponent has enough control over the form, soul power won't do anything, either. Because they can manipulate their body around your attacks at will. So what you do is concentrate your soul power into a single attack and strike at the enemy's most vulnerable point with something that can disrupt their form. Such as an explosion. Because they can't warp their body around that kind of attack. It's omnidirectional."

But after he'd left, Zeff had more to add.

"First, you have to be able to sense soul power," the Lord Elroy had said. "Without that, you won't be able to tell where your opponent's most vulnerable point even is."

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These attacks from Banda were certainly dangerous, but Hector couldn't help thinking there was something off about them, too. They were so straightforward. Not creative or sneaky at all. Banda wasn't throwing any feints at him or trying to distract him. The Raptor was just barreling headlong toward him like a rabid animal. Ferocious, perhaps, but mindless.

And yet, that didn't seem quite right, either. This feeling in his gut was telling Hector something else.

Banda wasn't mindless. That's what was so strange here.

Despite all appearances to the contrary, Banda was still in control of himself. Still thinking. Still rational.

Still testing him.

Banda wanted a clash. A direct conversation. For now, at least. He wasn't trying to kill him at any cost yet. He wanted to get to know Hector better, first.

This had to be the weirdest fucking thing that Hector had ever felt. He didn't even know if he should trust it. Reading his opponent's intent? Was this because of his own aura or Banda's? Perhaps all auras were like this.

Whatever the case, he had to come to a decision. He'd flown up here to have a "conversation" with Banda, but did this game of chase qualify as that? Were he and Banda learning about each other?

Somewhat. Definitely somewhat. Could Banda read his intent in the same way? Hector had a feeling that he could.

Which meant that the Raptor could perhaps sense his uncertainty. His hesitation. His struggle for solutions.

But not his fear.

No, not that. Because there was nothing to read. Hector was not afraid of this asshole. He was angry at him.

And learning more about Banda like this, about that calm mind beneath the storm of furious red...

It actually pissed Hector off more. Being able to sense that there was a real, thinking human being in there, that it wasn't just some crazed, psychotic animal devoid of all emotion and humanity fighting him right now--that made Hector begin to genuinely hate Banda.

Because Banda was choosing to do this. The Raptor of Kortan wasn't ruled by instinct and indulgence. Those things were there, of course--Hector could sense them, too. But the sentient control was stronger. Banda knew exactly was he was doing.

And to be honest, as much at it bothered him, things were probably better off this way. The apparent curiosity in Banda's aura was definitely making him hold back, which in turn was giving Hector time.

But Hector still had to answer. Banda was posing questions to him now.

Can you do anything to me? What are you really made of? How dangerous are you, Darksteel?

Hector could all but hear these things.

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He cycled through all of his previous tactics and techniques, searching for anything that seemed useful. Nothing was really sticking in his mind, though. Bullets went right through the smoke. Coating didn't work on gases. Boxes were pointless. Walls would be torn through like tissue paper.

But they could still obstruct Banda's vision.

Maybe that would buy him some extra time to think, at least.

He went to work materializing giant slabs of iron between him and Banda. He made sure to soul-empower them as well, to aid with the blocking of reaper sight as well. It wouldn't be perfect for the latter unless he completely sealed himself in, which he obviously didn't want to do, but if it could just disorient Banda a little, then that would be enough. Hector just wanted to press the sensory advantage that the Scarf of Amordiin provided.

The chase grew even crazier. Hector had to be constantly aware of Banda's position relative to him and his own falling iron walls. He couldn't spare the time to worry about dematerializing them before they crashed down to the ground. They weren't directly over the decoy castle, so it should've been fine.

It didn't take Hector long to realize that these walls weren't doing much. Even his low expectations for them were not being met. The Raptor wasn't getting disoriented at all, even when Hector started trying to curve the walls to provide more cover for himself. Banda billowed and weaved around each one, only bothering to punch through on occasion.

And then Hector realized why.

Banda always saw the shortest path to Hector. Whether it meant breaking the wall or going around it, Banda knew.

He could sense Hector some other way, couldn't he? Through his aura, probably. Obscuring his vision didn't matter, did it?

Agh.

Hector's mind raced for another solution as Banda kept the chase up. Aura felt like his only hope now, but that might've just been because it was still so mysterious to him. That hope was created by uncertainty, not by any sort of clear plan or idea.

Shit. It was about all he had, though.

There was definitely more to this aura stuff. He knew that much, at least. It was the "product of his entire self." That was what Rasalased had said.

Which meant--wait a minute. That meant that emergence actually would help, didn't it? Because emergence affected his materialization, and his materialization affected his aura. So technically...

A man-sized claw came for him, and Hector only just slipped out of the way. The wind it left in its wake was enough to rattle his armor.