"Jump, jump, jump, jump!" Genius shouted from behind Haru.
"Shut up, you’re distracting !"
"She’s almost got us!"
"It would be good if you ca down and helped!"
"Dude, I don’t have any mana! It would be good if we shared..."
"Get down!"
A beam of light passed by Haru; it was Seline’s spear flying.
He had to turn in mid-air, with a sudden movent causing Genius to fall from his back.
Genius landed on a small platform, slipped, and grabbed the edges with his hands.
"Ah, damn it!" he said, trying to get up.
A hand was extended to him.
"Ah, thanks..."
But as the hand pulled him, he noticed who it was.
It was Seline, spear in the other hand, hood covering her face.
"Fuck it!"
Haru appeared, already attacking, delivering six kicks to Seline in mid-air, spinning her body.
Each kick was imbued with Valtherion flas, red fire exploding with each contact.
She had to let go of Genius, defending herself with her spear, blocking the kicks.
She jumped away from Haru, creating distance.
"Valtherion flas..." she rembered from their last fight. "The last ti he unleashed his Aura... he burned ..."
She touched her forehead inside her hood, the burn still there, stinging.
"And it’s not just a re healing spell that passes... and it burns so much..."
And when Haru realized it, Genius was falling.
"Aahhh!"
"Damn it!" Haru jumped. "Hang on!"
Another beam of light passed quickly through him. "Hmm..."
Genius fell, there were platforms in sight, but he didn’t have enough mana to maneuver.
"I knew I should have trained my mana cultivation!"
The beam that had passed Haru was Seline’s spear that had reached Genius.
And suddenly Seline appeared in the sa spot as the spear, teleporting, grabbing Genius by the collar, and propelling herself to a nearby platform, throwing him to safety.
"GENIUS!" Haru shouted.
Seline jumped back to another platform.
Haru fell imdiately afterward, piercing the spot where she had been.
Vorath slamd hard into the platform, cracking it.
Genius climbed onto Haru’s back again.
"Jump... jump, jump!"
"Stay calm!" Haru said, turning to Seline on the other platform.
"What do you want?" Haru asked loudly.
Father Elias called out another na in the distance, another Gar being captured, a scream echoing.
"Don’t bargain with witches, Haru!" Genius protested.
"She saved you!" Haru replied. "If she wanted to kill us, she would have already killed you..." Staring intently at Seline.
"Thinking about it..." Genius processed, "...she wasn’t fighting with the sa intensity as in the courtyard..."
"That’s true... and that spear could have hit . But she saved ."
Father Elias spoke another na, chains grabbing soone in the distance.
"What do you want!?" Genius shouted at Seline.
She didn’t answer imdiately, but then, her voice ca out calm and firm:
"I heard it before. There’s no need to repeat it."
She paused.
"I wish my enemies strength and courage... so that I won’t be ashad to finish them off."
She looked directly at the two of them.
"I want to finish you off. But not this way."
"So you want to get out of here..." Haru said slowly, "...and finish what we started?"
Seline stared at them without answering, in tense silence.
"Yeah, shit, Haru..." Genius murmured. "She’s an Elf..."
"So what!?"
"So what that Elves have a code of honor related to fighting!"
Genius explained quickly as he jumped with Haru to another platform:
"If an Elf starts a fight with you, they need to finish it. Honorably. In fair combat."
He breathed heavily.
"If the fight is interrupted, especially by third parties, the Elf is bound. They have to resolve that before moving on."
He looked at Seline.
"Whoever she is in the other world... I’m sure she was an Elf..."
"So..." Haru processed, "...she can’t kill us here because it would be dishonorable?"
"Exactly. She wants a fair fight. One against one. Or two against one without interference. Not this... ss," Genius said, gesturing around: Resonance, Father Elias, chains, platforms disappearing.
"What if we refuse?" Haru asked.
Genius replied: "Then she’ll hunt us for the rest of our lives. Elven Code is absolute. There’s no escape."
Haru looked at Seline. Then at Genius. Then at the chaos around them.
"So... we make a deal?" Haru said, jumping to a platform closer to Seline.
Seline finally spoke:
"You help get out of this trap. I won’t attack you here."
She paused.
"When we’re out... we’ll finish what we started. No interference. No cheating whatsoever."
"What if we lose?" Genius asked.
"You die honorably..."
"What if we win?"
"You won’t win," Seline said, laughing from behind her hood.
Silence.
Father Elias spoke another na, his voice echoing, another captured Gar.
The platforms continued to slowly shrink.
Haru and Genius exchanged glances.
"What do you think?" Haru asked quietly.
"I think we have no choice..." Genius replied. "And... elves don’t lie..."
Haru turned to Seline.
"Deal. But you have to actively help us. Not just not attack."
Seline considered, and then: "Accepted."
She jumped onto the platform near them, still keeping her distance, but now parallel instead of chasing.
"What’s the plan?" she asked directly.
"I have one with a 98% chance of failure..." Genius added.
"Even better than 100%." Haru replied...
"But first..." Genius said, looking at Haru intently, "...you have to tell if that scene was intentional."
"What scene...?" Haru asked.
Then he understood.
"No..." he said, staring down intently.
Seline perceived the sincerity and looked at the platform. Genius looked too.
Haru’s reflection was multiple.
It wasn’t one face. There were several, passing by, overlapping, constantly changing.
Different faces. Different ages. Different identities.
Seline admired the scene, her eyes widening slightly.
"I kind of have many souls inside ..." Haru explained softly.
"I forgot the nas of people like that..." Seline thought aloud. "And if I find the na, I can get an idea of who the character behind the mask is..."
Genius smiled with clear understanding.
"Exactly! Perfect! Each platform then only reads one soul. And like Tokyo..."
"Tokyo!?" Seline exclaid.
"Tokyo." Haru raised his hand, introducing himself.
"Croissant." Genius said.
Pause.
"Vladimir Putin!?"
"VLADIMIR PUTIN!?" They both exclaid together.
"Anyway, continuing..."
"And since Tokyo is many..." Genius continued, "...then he weighs too much. That explains why Father Elias hesitated to say your na. Because you’re not one."
He paused dramatically.
"The burning question is, how many tis would he have to call out?"
"A hundred tis..." Haru said.
"A hundred spirits inside him!? This guy must be much stronger than he looks, or he has a lot of mana," Seline exclaid ntally.
Genius smiled more, a plan forming in his head.
"The chances of failure are still 98%... so this is the plan."
After Genius explained the plan, he stood there on the sa platform as Seline.
"Now all we have to do is wait."
Haru jumped from platform to platform.
"I have to concentrate..."
"First phase. I realized three things:"
"1. The Codex needs a fixed identity. Everything there works because the system can define people."
"2. The more Gars in a place... the more chaotic the reading becos."
"3. The platforms are ’addresses’. That is: the Codex tracks individuals by spiritual position."
Haru, jumping, began to release his Aura, his corrupted energy expanding.
"The first ti I fought Tokyo... I rember his Aura screaming voices. Better yet: identities."
Whispers began to echo where he passed:
*"HERE..."*
*"DEVOUR..."*
*"BURN..."*
*"PAIN..."*
He stopped on a platform where a Gar was, alone and frightened.
"Stay here," Haru said. [Mind Whisper]
The idea of staying there deeply affected the Gar, penetrating his mind without him realizing it, and he decided to stay. But the Gar wasn’t the target, nor was the Priest.
But rather... a spirit inside Haru.
Haru left sothing there, and the others couldn’t see it, only feel it.
"It worked..." he thought. "Reading Vandris’s diary helped."
Father Elias saw this and was indignant; after all, he wanted Haru, so he ordered a set of angelic rings to seize him.
A set of chains ca out, but Haru dodged, constantly stepping on platforms with Gars.
"Stay here..." he kept saying.
Mind Whisper activating repeatedly.
34 platforms... 67... 98...
"Haru is turning the Gars and the platforms into logic bombs..." Genius murmured, observing.
"Observe... the Priest stopped saying nas."
The Codex displayed several nas at once, pages turning on their own, symbols scrambling.
"Na of the Anomalous One..." The Priest said a random na.
The currents went, catching the wrong Gar.
The Gar shouted: "THAT’S NOT MY NA!"
Another Gar: "WAIT, THAT’S MY NA!"
Chaos ensued.
And then Haru understood the true power.
"The more people jump, cross paths, step on contaminated platforms... the more Veritas goes crazy."
One of the Gars with his team on a platform noticed Haru jumping.
"It’s that Gar!.... Tok...Tokyo!!!" He pointed.
But which one? They all looked the sa, all wearing black clothes and almost identical masks.
"The son of a bitch... he’s bugging the platforms! They’re bugged!"
Chains ca for that team.
Instinctively, one of them gave another mber a push, letting the chains take them away.
```
[SAFE ZONE: ALERT]
◊ Squad: The Avengers
◊ Status: HOSTILE
◊ Bounty active for elimination
```
Because of that act, the entire Squad was reported, their HUDs marked in red.
"Ah, fuck it! We were out of platforms too!"
Then the chaos began:
Pushing others. Forcing people to stay. Using others as shields. Throwing people onto the contaminated platforms.
Survival destroyed cooperation.
On the other hand, Elias smiled.
"Rats and Veritas... are rats running from the truth."
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