The monkey reached behind its back and the dreg knew what was about to happen.

  Moving along its scant, newly reinstated connection to that echo of dexterity, or something along those lines, it sidestepped with a quick parry, diverting the projectile. A kind of thick arrow, like a crossbow quarrel, clanged against a rock nearby, far from its intended target.

  Yet the dreg felt a sting, and found the back of its hand lacerated.

  If it had been any less cautious, that could have taken away its entire forearm, even if it had been launched in an unconventional way. So, the monkey was much stronger than before.

  Its smirk grew wider.

  The dreg darted forward, trying to close the gap, the obvious thing to do when its foe held the absolute advantage at range, but the monkey backed off and handily maintained the distance, all while hurling perfectly aimed quarrels.

  So it was also much quicker.

  And after the dreg was led on an embarrassingly long goose chase, collecting painful gashes all over its skin in the hope that its foe would eventually run out... it realized that the monkey was slowly backtracking over its steps, in a circuit. Which allowed it to recover its projectiles along the way.

  And so it was also much smarter...

  This little creature was beyond impressive! In this confrontation, it undeniably held the high ground. At this rate, it would triumph before the wear on its weapons became a problem.

  It hadn't rushed in caught by blind rage, but planned the fight well, leaning on its advantages. Truly a worthy opponent.

  The dreg would need to put in some effort, to rise up to the occasion.

  The dark one turned around all of a sudden and rushed away, towards the jagged edges of their small fighting grounds.

  The being was astounded at seeing its greatest rival flee... but soon understood what was happening.

  This floating chunk of rock was far from even: from a distance, it had looked a bit like a mountain ridge whose fall had been awkwardly halted by the swirling currents. But in the central area the dark one had been lingering in was the rift proper: a forbidding alteration in the air, a coruscating shimmer that sucked and ground at the very world itself. It must have scooped up the surrounding rock like a giant hand could with dust, specks of stuff still drifting in the air towards the distortion, more and more by the moment.

  An empty clearing had formed, paved with gravel finer and finer as one got close to the center. The perfect environment for hurling spikes, which only one of the fighters happened to have. And so the dark one was taking the fight elsewhere.

  Specifically, the area immediately outside the clearing, where the rift had dug tunnels and tight, canyon-like passages. The cramped spaces and heaps of hiding places would render the being's main weapon almost useless. Following would be more than a bad tactical decision: it would be simply foolish. Still, the being rushed to follow, because there was just no other way.

  It turned the first corner to find terrain even worse than expected: massive, bulky boulders and jagged passageways. A common sight pretty much everywhere around the world, but here was as dense as the owl's first nest. There were plenty of places to disappear in and lie in ambush, and that brief hesitation had meant time for the dark one to hide.

  The being started entering its own stealth... but quickly changed its mind. Instead, it jogged through the rocks in plain sight. Its steps echoing on the walls, painfully loud in the absolute silence permeating the epicenter, though failing to overcome the permanent buzz of the hummings.

  It couldn't afford the time to hide and skulk around, trying to get the drop on the dark one. Even if it got ambushed, that was the far better outcome, because if this fight stalled, that was to the other's advantage: since it still held the caged thing, its rival could just wait the world out, and then dash towards the rift right before the end, while the being absolutely needed to win before it even tried to approach-

  Something landed on its back and pulled at the bag hanging there. With quick reflexes and having expected something similar, the being rolled forward and bucked up, trying to throw off the assailant. But the only thing it managed to throw off were its possessions.

  The bag slammed onto the ground and slipped into a crack somewhere, likely lost for good, random spikes landing all around. The dark one, instead, kept clinging onto its side, and before the being could do anything to correct this, one of the spikes from the ground found its way into its neck.

  Luckily, thanks to muscles tensing up and mostly to its mane, the resulting cut was superficial. But before the being could even think of fighting back, the spike slipped out and was brought down again on its left shoulder.

  Hurt, and fearing a third repeat of their previous encounters, the being had to resort to its newest, secret technique far earlier than expected.

  Just as the dreg was starting to feel a little disappointed at having won so easily again, the monkey burst into motion, with unbelievable speed and strength.

  The creature caught its hand, easily overpowering it and turning it around to stab into the dreg's own right shoulder. Then it kept pressing down, digging deep and almost sawing the entire limb off before the dreg realized what it was dealing with and stopped trying to fight back directly. It disengaged with a doubled-legged kick, back-flipping away.

  It landed some distance off, and then jumped back some more - all while staring at the monkey, looking unbothered by its own injuries and quite proud of itself. The dreg couldn't fault it for that. That kind of surge was unmistakable, even without a sidhi to check directly. The little thing was a first elevation infuser.

  How in the world had it improved so fast? And where did it even get a core? Something strange must be happening, an unknown player helping it.

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  ... Or the monkey was just that much of a prodigy. A genius beyond anything in the dreg's, admittedly faulty, memories.

  It knew the limitations of their kind, of course: they could empower their physiques for a few moments, growing enormously in strength and speed and everything, but would have to slow down afterwards. And they only had a certain amount of overloads, before they'd be forced to replenish their prana.

  A daunting foe, without question. Much stronger than the current dreg, in fact. But this body had plenty of experience handling infusers. And though it was not even a shell of the person who had actually done all that, baiting out such powers was easy enough, if one knew what they were doing.

  The dreg would enjoy putting this one in its place even more now.

  Geniuses. How it despised them.

  The being stared down at the dark one, trying to project confidence.

  Its newest ability had been even more effective than expected, and it was indeed feeling quite proud of that. But it hadn't won.

  It would need to be careful, because it couldn't dash whenever it wanted, and the principle within had drained quite a bit. Though the other limitations would come up well before that became a problem.

  At least, it had conquered an impressive advantage with the first surprise use, so that when the dark one picked another spike off the ground it was with only one hand, the other lying limp against its body. The being was so stupefied at having actually hurt its greatest rival to this extent, that it had to scramble to grab one too.

  Yes, it had already done a lot of damage. Now, the next times it dashed, it would need to make them count.

  The dark one seemed uncharacteristically hesitant, clearly thrown off by the being's secret technique.

  They stared at each other. Motionless for more than a few moments, the specks drifting through the air the only thing between them. The being felt hurried and uneasy, and not simply because of the cobbled-together nature of its newfound power, or because of the caged thing or the countless other stuff that still hadn't shifted properly into place.

  The world was on its last legs, the very stone around them flickering at the edges. There was no more time.

  So the being decided to go on the offensive, for once, and dove forward.

  At first, it was a messy affair, and awkward, as it had no experience fighting a creature as nimble as the dark one, which always kept its distance and never fully committed. Yet after a few exchanges, it became clear...

  The being was just stronger.

  Though the dark one slipped away each time at the very last moment, avoiding further decisive blows like the one on its arm, the being always scored some form of damage, especially when it made good use of its dashes. Wounds were piling up and, at this rate, it would win by attrition.

  In fact, yet another dash, and it managed to get even further in, rewarded by a deep gash in its rival's thigh, before it calmly pulled back to-

  The dark one followed after the blow.

  The monkey's growing confidence crumbled immediately as it fell in an undignified heap, clearly completely surprised in its total inexperience against a sapient foe.

  The dreg got more than a few stabs in by the time the little creature recovered, but the thing was tough as iron and eventually stood back up looking no worse for the wear.

  Still, the dreg was far from done. It clung onto its foe's back with both legs as it straightened, and stabbed under the shoulder with its working hand, trying to return the favor.

  The monkey screamed its defiance, and though it couldn't overload again, it still grabbed like a vise onto the dreg's hand with its owns, holding it down, pressing the quarrel against its flesh so that it couldn't be moved. The dreg found itself with one hand useless and the other caught by an unrelenting grip.

  This creature... it was clearly under immense stress and starting to flag. To think it would have such grit and presence of mind!

  But the dreg wouldn't ever be outdone.

  It bit down.

  The being screamed loudly as teeth far sharper than they looked dug much harder than they should, all while the dark one used that distraction to free the spike and dig deeper into its shoulder.

  Caught by panic, the being dashed again and threw its rival off, uncaring of the terrible hurt the spike did on the way out, since that arm was now out of the fight either way.

  It really didn't like to have its oldest technique used against it!

  The dark one landed in a smooth roll and turned back to admire its handiwork.

  The two of them were locked in the same stare-down as before, but things couldn't be more different now. Though the being still couldn't possibly catch any emotions from the void in its perception that was the dark one, it knew there was smugness there.

  It was justified.

  The being's reserves were running low, and it was damaged in a similar way to its rival, but worse. Its neck was stiff and strange tremors ran throughout its whole back.

  Dashing so soon after the last time had left it numb and shaky. There was no way to know what another would do to its body, if it were even capable of one.

  This was not going to work. The situation was flipped from the beginning.

  The being had been deluding itself: the dark one was just better in close combat. A drawn out fight was to its advantage.

  This needed to end quickly.

  The being would bait out its rival and put everything, every secret technique and ideas it had, into one move. One last assault, powered by its control over the essence and by a dash, if there was still one left in its body.

  The dark one would never expect it.

  The dreg fully expected the monkey to try something.

  A few other awkward exchanges that further exemplified its lack of experience, and the strange creature was starting to crack, injuries piling up too much for even its impressive endurance.

  It had fought incredibly well.

  It would have had a bright future.

  Alas, it had met the dreg. Now, it would only be the first in a long sequence of casualties and collateral damage. A footnote in the histories of calamities to come.

  It was obviously holding back, waiting for the chance to overload one last time in an all-out strike, like any cornered animal. The dreg was ready.

  In the meantime, it kept teasing the creature, slowly, noncommittally painting it with wounds. So that if it didn't hurry up, it would die out before even realizing it was happening.

  When said ultimate attack finally arrived... it was disappointing, to say the least. Just an awkward, weak dash forward. Easily avoided. The little monkey must have really been getting tired. The dreg still didn't lower its guard and waited a few moments, before ultimately approaching to deliver-

  The monkey took the stab deep in its chest... but started to overload again.

  It was impossible that it could do so twice in a row. It was absurd that it had chosen to take the hit. It was astounding how perfect the bait had been.

  It was going to fail.

  The dreg had been prepared, and knew the signs instinctively. The monkey was too tired and awkward, and the dreg was too determined to fail now. It would be close, but one little twist of its spine, and the lethal blow would become a glancing strike, leaving the monkey totally open for a counter.

  This prodigy was going to waste its last attempt, their final attack turned into an opportunity for its enemy.

  If not for that saner, better part of the dreg, that also took that chance.