Reinhard didn't pursue it immediately as the Herald Mark around his neck shone.

Vector Path.

Blue and grey arrows appeared across his vision, showing where Fenrir would be. The trajectories of the beast's next three moves were displayed as clearly as drawn lines.

Fenrir swiftly reoriented itself before its eyes blazed with something beyond rage now, one that transcended emotion and became terrifying. Power gathered within it, building and compressing until the beast seemed to glow from inside.

It's anger… That's how it grows stronger, feeding on any negative emotion. Reinhard thought with a slight frown.

Using its own rage, hatred, and resentment as fuel to further amplify its already impossible power.

The beast launched forward!

It was way faster than before, stronger than before, and more dangerous than before. But Reinhard had already moved as he followed Fenrir's approach angle. He'd shifted Sleipnir three feet left, turning the charge from a direct hit into a near miss.

As Fenrir passed, Reinhard's blade arced downward in a silver blur.

Zenuken carved through midnight fur, parting it like water before meeting resistance at flesh, then bone.

Blood splashed out across the Imaginary Sea!

Fenrir's howl shook the Imaginary Sea. Pain and rage mixed into a sound that made streams tremble and lights flicker.

The wound healed. But slower this time, a second instead of instant. The damage had touched something fundamental, making regeneration more difficult.

I have to drain its magic or deal an extremely strong blow. Reinhard's thought was that the instant regeneration made small attacks pointless. Only through overwhelming force or forcibly making Fenrir exhaust itself.

Fenrir struck back without hesitation. The fabric of reality around the beast split open. These fissures spread open before rushing to Reinhard and Sleipnir across the sea like predators scenting blood.

Within these wounds in space, Fenrir's form disappeared and reappeared. The beast wasn't traversing distance, but it was bypassing it entirely. Appearing and disappearing, using the holes in space to traverse distance without crossing the space between.

It appeared to Reinhard's left, and glittering with spectral gold as its claws arced toward his throat. Instinct took over as Reinhard jerked the reins and drew Zenuken up, catching the blow and redirecting it.

The impact rang through his whole arm, numbing it, and Fenrir vanished before he could counter.

It reappeared behind them, jaws open wide as it aimed to devour Sleipnir's legs. Sleipnir's eyes shined as it smashed out with its back hooves that burst with blue fire. The hooves slammed into Fenrir's face with a concussive shockwave that rippled across the Imaginary Sea.

But the beast only flickered before it was gone, barely registering the force before returning elsewhere.

Claws materialized from nowhere on his right. A barbed tail whipped toward his left, its edge promising to slice through armor and flesh alike. The wolf-beast's massive body rushed down like a falling star, all fur and fang and golden-eyed fury.

Beneath Sleipnir's hooves, the sea itself betrayed them as spiraling portals opened, threatening to swallow horse and rider into whatever waited below. Each time, Fenrir's limbs phased through the fabric of space, violating logic, as if it were not bound by any rule.

Reinhard found himself parrying, ducking, twisting, sometimes moving only because Sleipnir anticipated for him.

Each appearance brought claws or teeth or tail.

The pattern unfolded with ever-increasing tempo of attack, vanished, reappeared from a new angle, unleashed a killing strike, then slipped away before flesh, bone, or soul could respond.

Reinhard struggled to keep up, his mind shuttling between events as though even memory flickered out of sequence.

The sea itself seemed to shake and ripple, with even the streams shrinking under their repeated clash.

Reinhard tried to analyze, to see ahead, but Fenrir was defying the paths he saw.

The blue and grey arrows of his Vector Path magic appeared, painting trajectories through the air, but the beast ignored them, showing up where no lines had predicted, always one step out of phase, always a second quicker than his expectations.

The arrows were obsolete even before they formed, and Reinhard slashed at ghosts, defended against afterimages, sometimes narrowly blocking a strike that had already passed.

Different approach.

Reinhard's hand moved through another pattern as he tapped into Herald Mark around his neck.

Grand Scan.

Vector Path

A pulse of formless energy exploded from Reinhard's position, washing outward through the Imaginary Sea. It displayed every presence with life within its massive range, showing not its current position but potential positions, every space Fenrir could appear.

It was combined with Vector Path, and Reinhard felt information flooding his mind. Dozens of locations lit up simultaneously, all the places Fenrir might teleport to in the next few seconds.

Reinhard made his choice.

His hand swept out. Black-blue energy gathered along Zenuken's edge, then exploded outward in multiple directions simultaneously.

The blade multiplied, creating copies that existed in the same space while being in different spaces. Scath Weapon Demon Master's multiplication, elevated to a terrifying scale.

A thousand copies of Zenuken filled the Imaginary Sea. Each one is positioned at a location where Fenrir might appear. Each one was ready to strike the moment the beast materialized.

Fenrir flickered into the space just left of Reinhard but immediately collided with three Zenukens at once. The three slashes shredded through hide and muscle, blood spraying.

The beast didn't slow, but instead twisted its body, using the pain as fuel, and tried to phase out again.

Reinhard's eyes shine as his mind is filled with glowing coordinates, each one a potential exit point for the beast. The instant Fenrir's form began to shimmer with phase-shift, Sleipnir's muscles bunched beneath him.

Eight hooves struck the sea simultaneously, leaving craters of blue flame where they connected. The distance between them vanished. Reinhard raised Zenuken before the sword descended, meeting the exact spot where Fenrir's midnight fur solidified into tangible form.

Reality screamed.

The blade struck Fenrir's skull, smashing into him and forcing it downward through the Imaginary Sea.

The eight-legged horse surged beneath Reinhard, each hoof striking sparks from nothingness as they closed the gap.

Fenrir's eyes shined before its jaws opened, but this time nothing emerged. Then emptiness expanded, swallowing the light, the color, even the memory of the sea.

Reinhard instinctively knew in his soul that if he got too close, he would be erased, not just from reality but from every possibility that ever was.

Then it bit down on nothing.

The Imaginary Sea itself fractured. Colors drained away in a sphere around Fenrir, becoming grey, becoming nothing. Reinhard then instinctively realized Fenrir was consuming concepts themselves, making them null and void.

The grey nothingness rushed out like smoke, forcing Reinhard to yank Sleipnir's reins hard left, the eight-legged horse's muscles bunching beneath him.

But it was too slow as the void's edge licked against Sleipnir's two legs, and suddenly nothing remained, not even stumps or wounds, just an absence of anything.

Sleipnir faltered, but then it furrowed its brows, making Reinhard frown as he tapped into Wind Drift. The wind caught them like a sail, transforming their awkward stumble into a graceful, controlled spiral away from the hungering void.

"You can't heal?" Reinhard muttered.

"It's because Fenrir ate the concept of its leg." Mimir's voice rang out in his mind, making him narrow his eyes.

Fenrir's jaws remained open, the grey sphere continuing to grow. But the beast seemed to be vulnerable in position, unable to move or defend while it consumed concepts.

Reinhard's left hand rose before his palm shined golden and then white as the air around began to distort. He felt Purging Lance surging beneath his skin, threatening to burst from every pore.

The light intensified until he squinted against his own creation, and then he hurled it forward. The Imaginary Sea split open colors without names peeled back like flesh from a wound.

The beam swallowed everything in its path as it pierced through space and appeared under Fenrir.

The beam of light smashed into Fenrir and forced it to close its mouth. The beast was sent flying, crashing through three luminous streams that shattered like stained glass.

Where the grey void had been, color rushed back in violent torrents, and a concept returned.

Sleipnir's missing legs regenerated, as its eight hooves touched the Sea again, balance restored.

Reinhard rushed after the beast and closed on Fenrir's tumbling form, preparing to strike while it was still recovering.

But Fenrir recovered faster than expected.

And behind Fenrir, spheres began appearing, massive orbs of concentrated magic, and each one eclipsing both combatants in size. They appeared in a ring around the beast, dozens of them, then hundreds, and then a thousand.

All thousand orbs fired simultaneously.

The beams that erupted were beyond description.

Each one is massive enough to dwarf Reinhard and Fenrir. Each one carries enough power to obliterate multiple streams in the Imaginary Sea.

A thousand of them, all converging on Reinhard's position from every angle. Every angle, every potential path was blocked by the thousand beams rushing towards him.

Reinhard's gaze as his fingers gripped Zenuken's hilt. The eight-legged mount understood without command, beginning a controlled revolution beneath its rider.

As they whirled faster, Zenuken's edge left trails of midnight-azure light hanging in the air. These remnants didn't fade but connected, forming a perfect circle that expanded outward with each turn, devouring distance, becoming a spinning disc of negation.

The spinning azure wheel met the thousand converging beams and severed their purpose.

Though they maintained their form and momentum, they could no longer fulfill their function. The concept of "impact", "hitting", had been erased from possibility.

The massive beams flowed around the spinning barrier like water around stone, missing by margins that defied physical law. As the last beam passed harmlessly into the distance, Reinhard stopped.

Sleipnir's eight hooves landed in the stream while Zenuken, still trailing midnight light, extended toward Fenrir in silent challenge.

The beast was already moving. It closed the distance in a blur, abandoning ranged attacks for direct assault.

They clashed in the center of the battlefield.

There was a sound, not quite thunder, but instead a ringing through the infinite, as weapon and bone collided again and again in the void between streams. Reinhard and Fenrir crashed together in the center of the Imaginary Sea.

Fenrir struck first with its fangs, closed around Zenuken's blade, and bit down hard enough to send a tremor up Reinhard's arm.

Sparks erupted from the impact, bright enough to flash-burn afterimages into his retina. Sleipnir moved back, but the wolf rotated midair, its tail already swept out and collided with Sleipnir's side.

Reinhard felt the horse's ribcage shattered under the blow before it reasserted itself, bones popping back into place.

Reinhard swiftly chopped Zenuken on Fenrir's back and slashed through its back. Fenrir roared out, but the wound already healed as the beast twisted its body. Its massive body faded away before its jaws were on him, closing around his left arm.

Fenrir's teeth sank into Reinhard's biceps, leading to blood to trail down the beast's teeth.

For a moment, Reinhard saw his own blood before his regeneration set in. Torn muscle mended, flesh drawn together, and armor sealed over the wound.

They continued their clashes as they crashed through another stream, one that was green and gold. The stream resisted their passage, trying to carry them apart, but the force of their engagement overpowered its will.

Fenrir's claws found him again, this time raking down the front of his breastplate. Reinhard responded with nine consecutive stabs, each one striking a different part of the wolf's body.

Jaws, shoulder, ribcage, tail, ankle, and eye. Nine wounds in an instant, but almost none of them lasted more than a second.

Sleipnir kicked Fenrir in the jaw, shattering several teeth into golden splinters. The beast answered by tearing out a chunk from Sleipnir's hindquarter, replacement flesh growing in before the teeth were even released.

Reinhard brought Zenuken down in a two-handed chop, severing Fenrir's left forearm at the elbow. The limb dissolved in a blue fire, only to regrow in an instant, claws even sharper.

Both combatants struck again immediately.

They moved across the Imaginary Sea, their battle creating a path of destruction through the impossible space.

Finally, they separated.

The distance opened between them was larger than before, both combatants pulling back simultaneously.

They stared at each other across the gap, and both were wounded. Cuts covered Reinhard's armor while Fenrir's fur was stained with golden blood from dozens of strikes.

Both were healing. The wounds are closing, armor repairing, and fur regrowing. Instant regeneration is working to restore what had been damaged.

But both were breathing hard.

Reinhard's chest rose and fell rapidly beneath the armor. Fenrir's sides heaved with each labored breath, six eyes burning but dimmer than before.

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