The deep, humming quiet of the Ghost Zone was shattered by the high sound of Skulker's weapon powering up. The metal hunter had his cannon aimed right at Kael's hiding spot. He hadn't been fooled at all.
"A weak try at hiding," Skulker's voice boomed, metallic and cold. "Your energy shines too bright. Now come out. I like my prizes whole."
Kael's heart was cold. Every plan of him fighting skulker ended with capture. His Temporal Perception screamed warning inside his mind. He was badly outmatched.
Fighting was useless against such experienced ghost at his stage. He came up with a idea to divert Skulkers attention. His hand dropped to the Ecto-Capsule on his hip. The three simple ghosts inside buzzed with empty energy. Useless… or maybe not.
As Skulker stepped closer, Kael moved. He didn't aim at the hunter. He throwed the Capsule at the ground between them and broke it open on purpose.
"Not a prize," Kael said, and blasted it with a powerful blue fire ray.
The Capsule didn't open—it exploded.
A storm of wild, screaming energy—the three captured ghosts—burst outward. It was a blinding, messy cloud of green light and noise.
Skulker fell back, his sensors going wild. "You wreck my gear!"
The shock hit Kael like a punch. A sharp, cold-hot pain cut into his side. He gasped, hand pressing to his ribs. His suit was torn. Shimmering blue mist—his own energy—leaked out. The wound drained him, made his ghost form flicker weakly.
First price paid. His best tool was gone. The ghosts were free.
The explosion bought him seconds. He turned to fly, but the pain made him slow and unsteady. He headed for a large floating crystal, wanting to phase inside.
But the Ghost Zone fought back. Phasing here was like pushing through thick mud. It took huge effort, tired him out fast. He was only partway in when a crackling green net shot from Skulker's arm.
Kael tried to phase, but he was too slow and hurt. The edge of the net brushed his leg.
His mind ached with pain. His leg went stiff. His invisibility dropped. He fell out of the crystal, tumbling in the open, completely seen. The hunter laughed.
"There you are! A fascinating creature unlike I have seen before. Interesting to seen a rare low tier ghost like you here!" Skulker flew closer, sure of his win. "You will make a fine collection to my trophy cabinet."
Kael felt the urgency to do something. He needed time and distance between them. He looked around fast—and saw it. A group of weak, drifting E-Tier ghosts near a broken asteroid.
An Idea came to his mind.
He shot a Blue-Fire Ray—not at Skulker, but into the middle of the weak ghosts.
The blast exploded among them. It was chaotic. The mindless ghosts panicked, screaming and flying everywhere. They became a living storm—blocking Skulker's sight, messing his sensors, swarming his armor.
Skulker was annoyed. "Get off! You pests!" He swatted at them, firing his cannon wildly into the green void.
Kael used this time and left from there. The chase was on. He flew, not with a plan, but with a need to escape. He passed through floating ruins—giant broken rings, castles made of crystal, rivers that flowed upward. He didn't try to phase through them anymore; it cost too much energy he didn't have. Instead, he used them as cover, darting behind walls and under arches.
His C-Tier stamina was built for a tough fight, but not like this. Not while hurt and leaking power. He could usually fight hard for 40 minutes. But now, with a cracked core and a wound, his power was fading fast.
He felt every second. His flight got slower. His blue aura flickered like a dying lightbulb. He could hear Skulker behind him, closer now, having cleared the swarm. A energy blast vaporized a rock beside his head.
Kael dived behind a massive, floating gear from a broken clock tower. Another blast shook it. He was trapped.
Thinking fast, he used his last bit of strength to go intangible just as Skulker flew over the gear. For a second, the hunter was confused, looking around. Kael, hidden inside the metal, felt the Ghost Zone trying to crush him out. It took everything he had to stay phased.
Skulker flew off to search another area. Kael fell out of the gear, solid again, breathing in ragged gasps. He was so tired. So cold. Skulker would him again in a minutes or two.
He kept moving, a slow, painful flight from rock to rock. He was running on nothing when he felt it— a signal from his device.
The sixty-minute wait was over. His portal was opening. But skulker would be coming too. The portal stays open for one minute. He needed to divert skulker again for at least one minute.
This was it. He had no other option. Kael stopped. He turned, raised a hand, and pushed—not with skill, but with all his fear, pain, and will to live.
Ghost Fire Projection.
It wasn't a laser. It was a wall of pure force. A huge wave of blue and silver fire blasted from his palm. It hit Skulker's chest with a deafening CLANG.
It didn't hurt him. The armor was too strong. But it shoved the hunter back hard, creating a distance between them.
Skulker yelled. "What—?!"
Kael created a New power at that moment. Pain and fear forced it out.
But the cost was instant. Using so much power so fast was too much. A sharpc rack echoed not in the air, but deep inside Kael's core. A hairline fracture in the very source of his power. A deep, awful cold spread from his chest, worse than the wound in his side.
He used his last bit of will, flying toward the portal. He didn't look back. He dove through the green whirlpool, crashing onto the cold floor of his basement. The portal closed behind him with a soft sound. Skulker tried to catch up but was till unable to reach to the portal.
He was too weak to move. The floor was cold under his cheek. His side throbbed. His core ached with a deep, empty cold. He was safe. He had escaped.
But as he saw the empty spot where his Ecto-Capsule blew up, and felt the deep crack inside him, he knew.
He didn't win. He barely got away. And it cost him everything. His core was broken. His tool was gone. The pride from reaching C-Tier was gone, replaced by the cold truth of his own limits.
He had faced a real hunter and lost. The game was just starting, and he was already broken. But he was alive. And that meant he could still heal. He could still learn.
He closed his eyes, the dark room spinning. Tomorrow, he would find a way to fix what was broken. But tonight, he just needed to rest.