Massaging his temples in annoyance, Enmerkar's slightly bloodshot eyes cautiously scanned his surroundings, not letting even a single hair on a civilian's head escape his gaze. It had been quite a few hours since his uncle had decided to turn his idea into reality, yet after all this while, they had yet to succeed.
Eating losses left and right, their forces both covered a lot of area, but also saw too many assaults which heavily impacted their overall morale. It was already tough enough to march towards almost certain death, but when the soldiers realized that there was no guarantee that their sacrifices would actually lead to a victory, their enthusiasm began to dwindle. It hadn't yet become a real problem, but the signs were hard to miss.
'This attrition warfare is too difficult to deal with. If it continues like this, then although we started out with a major advantage, we might actually lose! Screw that guy! If only he didn't run so fast!'
Most of his excitement and anticipation had long since faded, replaced with a gloominess and barely-suppressed wrath which were eating him up from the inside. He was aware that it was their foe's goal to make them fall into this mental state, further reducing their fighting power and rational thinking capabilities... but he couldn't do anything against it. He was naught but a young adult with great prospects, not an old hand!
Following the route map on his communication artefact, he and Ganzer went westwards, soon coming across a vast forest. There was a low population density here and plenty of hiding places could be found. Realizing that this fit perfectly with their enemy's previously chosen ambush locations, the two of them raised their guards.
And not a second too late, as immediately after they had done so, a terrifying chill began to envelop them. At an unknown point, extremely fine flakes of snow had begun to creep up their ankles and settled down on their clothing.
'Shit!'
Narrowing his eyes, Enmerkar enveloped himself in Energy-fuelled flames, desperately trying to melt the ice that was threatening to encase him. To his horror, his extremely high temperature fire was unable to impact the snowflakes whatsoever! This left him with only the option of cutting off a part of his clothes and discarding both them and one of his shoes, before distancing himself as far as possible.
Yet during this instant, his foe hadn't been idle. Right behind the spot to which he had escaped, Theodore was waiting with a smile adorning his lips, a mass of Energy already accumulated in his hand. Without a word, he blasted it outwards and transformed it into a glacier that was about to swallow up not only the blaze-wreathed youngster, but also the one hiding in the darkness.
'What do I do?!'
Panicking as he witnessed this attack that he knew he was powerless to resist, Enmerkar felt a hint of regret. Maybe, if he hadn't been so eager to battle this foe, then he would have acted more prudently. But now, it was too la–
Before he could let the despair overwhelm him, he felt a huge force push him away, catapulting him through the air for thousands of kilometres. Looking back, what greeted him was a curtain of shadows desperately swallowing up the tide of ice, with the trusty back of his old friend barely able to be glimpsed from underneath a cloak of darkness.
"Ganzer, run!"
Shouting these words at the top of his lungs, he paled, knowing full well that eventually, their enemy would triumph. His friend was far stronger when he had the element of surprise on his side, and very much preferred to avoid frontal confrontations. Yet, this time, he had made an exception to save his sorry skin.
Feeling his communication artefact vibrate, Enmerkar quickly checked the newest message, only to realize that Ganzer was telling him to get lost, and to stop distracting him. It felt like a punch in the gut, yet he still rejoiced at his friend not yet having lost his confidence.
'... you better make it back alive!'
Shooting one more glance into the battle's direction, he allowed himself to be carried away without further resistance, rapidly escaping from the battlefield. In mere moments, his uncle should arrive, then it would all be over!
Right in front of Theodore, Ganzer was sweating bullets. He had discovered that his Talent allowed him to banish the ice that his opponent was using into the shadows, which had enabled him to remain completely unhindered. Even the massive attack sent Enmerkar's way could still be counteracted, albeit with difficulty. But why was there not a hint of panic or surprise on his foe's face? And why hadn't he made any further moves?
'... I can't let these doubts hold me back. Brace yourself, I'll give you my worst this time!'
Once he had fully resolved the onslaught, he blended into the shadows, effectively disappearing from the spot. In this state, nobody was able to detect him, unless he deliberately exposed his existence. Therefore, he felt at ease whilst gearing up for his most powerful strike yet!
Just as he was about to rush directly at Theodore, Ganzer felt his opponent's gaze land atop him, clear amusement causing the corners of the man's lips to rise.
'How is that possible?! Even Lord Imperator can't–'
Right in front of his very eyes, he saw Theodore ceremoniously snap his fingers, then an unprecedented sense of danger filled him. All of the ice which he had banished before was now rushing towards him, guided by an invisible hand. Every single direction was cut off, with no path of escape left within the darkness. The shadows, which had until that point always been his safe refuge, were now his deadly prison.
With only one choice left, Ganzer returned from the dark, just to be met with what he had feared would happen–even here, the ice was already waiting for him.
Fortunately for him, this was also the moment when Shara finally got close enough to influence their battle. An overwhelming force bore down upon everything in the area and attempted to shield Ganzer from Theodore's attack, yet it had still been a tiny bit too late to completely do so.
One of the youngster's arms had already been encased in ice, which then instantly shattered, depriving him of this limb and causing him to grit his teeth. Yet, his plight didn't even enter his enemy's eyes.
Silently staring in the direction from which Shara was rushing over, Theodore 'stumbled', then pulled out a familiar Teleportation Array Disk. The cooldown to use it should still not be over, and with the Prime Grand General locking down this region, it should have been impossible to successfully make use of it.
But to the horror of not only Ganzer and Shara, but every other observer as well, Theodore was enveloped in a white light and brought somewhere else. Once more, they had missed him.
"... so he's got us. Again."
His voice extremely calm and cold, Shara's fury had already boiled over. Seeing the two greatest prodigies of their people be on the verge of death had been the last straw. However, instead of letting his anger control him, it made him more heartless and calculated–qualities which would serve him well on the battlefield.
"Ganzer, you and Enmerkar will take a Voidfaring Vessel and evacuate. I've already informed him and let our people over at the Central Fortress make the necessary preparations."
In response to this order, all that the one-armed assassin could do was to nod, before dashing off and closing the distance between himself and his path to salvation. Once there, his friend greeted him, strong guilt, a bit of unwillingness and hints of relief evident in his features.
"... I'm still too weak. I'm sorry."
When they were all alone in their escape vessel's cabin and had already left Enki XVII, Enmerkar glanced over at Ganzer, especially at his empty shoulder, and whispered these words.
"It's not only you, but me too. We were in way over our heads. Let's train harder from now on. Oh, and also... don't worry too much about my arm, it's not a big deal."
Speaking a little bit more than usual, Ganzer shook his head. Fortunately, their Imperium had developed the necessary technology required to allow them to regrow limbs. It would still take him some effort and time for the resulting new arm to recover all of its strength and physical quality, but it wasn't too big of a setback.
"... yeah, you're right."
Smiling weakly, Enmerkar looked away, lost deep in thought. Allowing him some time and space, Ganzer closed his eyes and rested. Amidst the silence, their Voidfaring Vessel continued onwards to Enki XII, the nearest refuge.
Meanwhile, back at the world that they had just left, Theodore's smile widened.
'Good, they're gone. Then it's time to close the net.'
The two brats were barely decent enough to allow some of his Subordinates to have a fruitful workout and undergo a little training, therefore that was exactly what he planned to use them for. With everyone having already been informed to leave any and all killing blows to him, there was no danger of missing out on their other greatest value either.
Stealthily teleporting to an especially large cluster of Energy Veins deep underground, he arrived next to the Compound Array Disk that had been used to activate the Lesser Void Sealing Array, then manipulated it slightly to form another smaller one around Enki XVII. This cut it off completely from the outside, making his prey's communication artefacts and other measures useless. There wouldn't be any further escapees either.
'It's about time I clean up the military.'
For quite a while now, no more new Voidfaring Vessels had made it here, so everyone who he had planned to trap in this world at this moment was already present. There was no reason to delay any longer.
Simultaneously, extremely far away in the Lesser True Void, Ziusudra was rushing ahead at his fastest speed. By now, he was approaching the effective border of the Enki Imperium's territory.
'Wait, what is that?!'
Suddenly, at the very edge of his range of perception, he sensed something strange. Except for the few worlds that he had passed by, this was the first change that had occurred during his monotonous voyage.
As he proceeded further, his expression turned increasingly grim, until he finally arrived exactly at the spot where he had felt something unusual before. There, he was met with an extremely solid wall of intricately connected Energy blocking his path, as well as his senses. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't make out anything past it, or even ascertain its exact thickness.
'... don't tell me...'
Silently, he recorded a bit of data, then dashed off alongside this barrier in multiple directions, gathering more of it in passing. When he finally came to a halt and did his calculations, he was then greeted with the worst possible result.
'Based on the curvature, it's actually encapsulating the entire Imperium!'
Unfortunately for Ziusudra, he did not know what a Lesser Void Sealing Array was, so he hadn't immediately recognized it–or his own powerlessness in the face of it. Glaring at it with defiance burning in his eyes, he gathered all of the power that he could muster and sent out an attack towards it, only to see it swallowed up as if nothing had happened, barely a ripple appearing as a result.
"What the!?"
Aghast at and deeply shocked by its durability, he staggered backwards, staring wide-eyed at the indestructible wall in front of him. Only after a while did he finally return to his senses.
'It can't be a coincidence that an extraordinary Heaven's Chosen arrived at the same time as this barrier was set up. This is a premeditated attack!'