Turns out, having your back smashed into metal bars didn't feel too great.
Soren barely had time to recover before he felt the presence of the Aitherian already on him.
Flicking his weapon upwards, he somehow managed to deflect their overhead strike. It wasn't easy by any means, and he was pretty sure he heard his weapon creak under the pressure.
The Aitherian didn't relent, however, swinging not even a moment later with their scimitar-like weapon.
The weapon was coming at a horizontal swipe, so Soren decided to jump.
That was a bad idea.
Now he was nearly defenseless, stuck in the air for a couple of seconds, more than long enough for the Aitherian to kill him several times over.
Blocking again wouldn't be too good of an option, as he wasn't sure how much more strain his halberd's blade could take before getting blasted to bits.
Doing the next best thing, Soren condensed several sheets of air in front of him. It cost him a decent chunk of mana, but not as much as if he tried to pull his entire body away.
Barely a moment after he set up the sheets, his opponent's scimitar pierced upward, aiming to stab him through the heart.
As the weapon smashed into the several layers of air, Soren made the air surrounding his body a lot denser, pulling his body back down far quicker than normal.
His feet on the ground once again, he let the air scatter from him before he swung his halberd forward, the Aitherian's scimitar stuck in the sheets from its own force.
He knew it wouldn't be this easy, and he was right, as he watched the Aitherian simply let go of their weapon, dashing backward to avoid his strike.
They were a lot faster than him, that was for sure.
"Listen, it's not too late to just let me g-" Once again, he was cut off, as the Aitherian had somehow ended up behind him the moment he blinked.
He wouldn't have known if it wasn't for his instincts informing him of danger from behind.
As quickly as he could, he condensed several sheets of air, covering as much of his back as he could.
He could barely get 3 layers stacked before he heard two of them be dispersed in an instant.
"Dammit!" With no other choice, he tugged on the molecules making up his body, shooting himself forward and away from the Aitherian, albeit at a pretty big cost of mana.
He didn't want to have to do that again, as there was no telling how long this fight was going to last, and running out at any point was a death sentence.
The second his feet touched the ground, he turned around, watching as the Aitherian picked up its weapon that had fallen to the ground when Soren released the sheets of air.
"Human, you are stronger than you appear. Do you have telekinesis?" The Aitherian seemed surprised by his strength.
"Uh, I guess it could appear that way. Sure, let's go with that." He said, not particularly wanting to reveal what he was capable of.
"You lie. Do you wish to die that much?" They clearly didn't believe that, but Soren wasn't too concerned about it. As long as they didn't know, that'd be plenty good enough.
"Not really. Maybe you could, I don't know, stop?" He said, expecting them to lash out again.
He was right in that assumption.
The Aitherian seemed to disappear before his very eyes. It wasn't simply speed, at least he didn't think so, as his instincts didn't warn him of any immediate danger.
It was like they just simply disappeared.
'Stealth skill...?', he couldn't help but think. It made sense, seeing as they were probably some type of law enforcement or some one for hire.
He wasn't sure what their actual ability was, as so far, it only seemed like they were using skills from equipment.
A moment later, he felt the skin on his entire body tingle, the feeling of danger nearby.
It wasn't just his whole body tingling, however. It was as if the Aitherian was moving so fast around him, his whole body felt the killing intent in waves.
"What? Am I supposed to be scared by this?" He definitely fucking was, but he didn't let it show on his face.
With his {Minor Clairvoyance}, he was able to faintly feel the distance between them. With that information, he used the feeling of danger on his body to predict where they'd move next.
With that, he hoisted his halberd up.
Using both pieces of information, he waited for the perfect moment, before setting up a thick layer of air at the spot they'd be next.
Before they could run into it, he chucked his halberd forward with all his strength, using {Atomic Manipulation} to reduce the air resistance.
"Agh!" The Aitherian called out as they slammed against the air barrier, their stealth skill being disrupted.
Before they could even recover, his halberd was already inches from their face, the cold metal reflecting their dark eyes.
With a swiftness that Soren wasn't expecting, their hand swung up, their nails seeming to have lengthened, as hard as steel, as they deflected his blade, knocking the weapon upward, spinning through the air.
With quickness, he pulled his halberd before they could try to break it. As it returned in his hand, he couldn't help but notice how the blade was chipped.
"What are you, Wolverine?" He couldn't help but let out a rye laugh. Now he was getting really nervous.
'What the hell am I supposed to do?!' He didn't let his emotions appear on his face, but he was sure they knew what he was thinking.
"You are strong," They said, the corner of their lips lifting into a smirk. "Your blood shall nurture my blade, and fuel my resolve."
Looks like he was fighting a repressed battle maniac.
Although, he was starting to think they might both be the same in that regard, as he had been repressing his own excitement so far, as this was a life or death battle.
"Jesus, just let me go! Am I really worth your time? Listen, maybe I could speak to this General Nexus guy and we could strike up some kind of deal or something." He was running out of options.
He highly doubted he'd be able to beat them, and he didn't want to spend much more man-
As he tried to finish his thought, he sensed their blade closing in on his midsection. His halberd was already in motion, his instincts saving him.
But that wasn't all.
They didn't simply let him retreat or recover, they began attacking relentlessly, going for strikes that'd undoubtedly kill him in an instant.
He couldn't keep up, but his instincts somehow could. Instead of trying to pilot himself, he allowed his instincts free reign over his body.
Everything started to become a bit of a blur, as the Aitherian was striking far faster than he was capable of registering.
How was {Minor Clairvoyance} so strong? It shouldn't have been possible for such a low ranked ability to keep up with someone that he was certain was at least a rank or two above him in strength alone…
His instincts seemed to somehow strengthen his body with {Atomic Manipulation}, allowing to keep up in strength with the Aitherian. The mana cost wasn't too much to bear, somehow.
He was starting to feel a bit dizzy as he watched from the passenger seat.
The Aitherian's smirk turned into a full ear to ear grin, their cackles filling the silence between each deflected and countered strike.
"HAHA, you, human, are far stronger than I thought! The question is, how long will you last?! How much mana do you have, because I've barely made a dent in my reserves!" They spoke maniacally, flowing between strikes and slashes with expert grace.
'No way I'm beating this maniac! I need to escape!' He thought. His mana was getting low, and he wasn't certain how long his instincts could maintain its current pace with his body.
Fainting a forward thrust, the Aitherian side stepped, smashing the flat of their blade against the side of his head with incredible force.
He was sent flying to the side, flying quite a distance, before he crashed head first into the bars of a cage.
His head caved in from the force, his eye nearly completely leaving his skull. Soren was long knocked out, but his instincts didn't seem affected by his absence of consciousness.
Before the damage could affect his body any further, the shattered bits of his skull flung back into place, every drop of blood spilled flowing back into its original place.
Barely a moment later, Soren looked as if nothing had happened.
His body standing on its own, his instincts now given full control of his body. His eyes white, his pupils turned to the back of his skull.
His jaw hung slack as he picked up his weapon, before aiming it at the ground.
"We shall return. Prepare yourself." The words sounded uncanny, as if overly forced through his throat.
"By the 13, you should definitely be dead from that." The Aitherian was shocked, but before they could even register Soren's words, he slashed at the ground beneath him.
Strengthening his arms, 'Soren' ripped through the ground. In tandem with tearing through the molecules making up the ground with {Atomic Manipulation}, Soren was shredding through the floor quite quickly.
A moment later, he was already through the floor, his mana dropping rapidly. It was a good thing he hadn't used {Frame Beyond The Frame} during the fight, as that would've drained him of considerable mana.
His instincts didn't seem too bothered, however, as it sped up its digging.
The Aitherian was left to its own devices, as it could barely take a step forward before Soren was completely out of sight.
Sending the weapon back to the void, 'Soren' opted to just phase through the floors. It'd cost a lot more mana, but it'd be undoubtedly quicker.
With skill that would've definitely perplexed Soren if he were awake, his body was made intangible.
His instincts allowed his body to plummet, passing through several layers of the ship's hull.
It wasn't long before his body emerged through the last layer. His mana was basically empty. It was getting risky.
His body didn't stop falling, it got even faster, until it eventually reached terminal velocity.
As his body reached the forcefield that had been giving trouble to governments across the world, his instincts turned his body intangible at just the right moment, simply passing through it as if it weren't there.
His mana had dropped to barely a couple drops in his reserve. They'd be used sparingly, as his instincts felt the place most familiar to Soren. His bedroom.
Over the course of several hours, Soren simply fell to Earth. His main self nearly woke up several times, but his instincts kept him asleep.
It didn't want him freaking out, so it decided to take care of it.
Thankfully, the ship hovered not too high in the atmosphere, or Soren would've been hopelessly falling for a LOT longer than just some hours.
Still, it would take a while, and the hardest part was ensuring he'd land in the Seattle district, but the ship had been luckily not too far from it.
As his body got closer, his instincts had miscalculated a bit. His home was quite a bit out of the way, and his mana wasn't nearly enough to pull his body that far out of its course.
So, taking the next best thing, his body fell towards the Police department.
Tilting his body back, Soren lifted his head, allowing his terminal velocity, and therefore his speed, to reduce by a great margin. He was still falling fast, but it was definitely not as fast as it was previously.
Coming in hot, Soren's instincts increased the volume of air pushing against his body, increasing the air resistance by a considerable amount.
His speed gradually went down from well over 100 MPH, to 80, 60, and eventually all the way down to 15 MPH.
It used all the mana he had, but it was worth it, as his body crashed into the top of the Police department, easily breaking through the roof.
Crashing through a couple more layers of insulation, Soren crashed through the ceiling, several bones broken, but still alive as his body slammed into the tiled floor.
As the officers were beyond startled at his appearance, his instincts finally let sleep succumb to his body, as it caught images of several officers looking over him before allowing itself to slip into unconsciousness.
This would be a story for the ages.