Having the sea below him was oddly comforting, Henry realized as he floated some fifty feet above the rolling waves. It’d been what? A year or so since he’d woken up below the waves? He remembered being so scared and anxious when he’d realized what had happened, back in his multi-colored turtle shell. Heck, he couldn’t even see colors back then. But after getting more comfortable with his new abilities and form, struggling against the deep-sea monsters and exploring what most likely was a tiny portion of his new home, he grew to be pretty comfortable in water. And when compared to the human standing over thin-air as if it was solid ground, he felt like fighting on his home turf.

  Of course, he wasn’t naive enough to think an A-rank that made a living defending his territory against sea monsters wouldn’t have plenty of tricks up his sleeves. Attal might even be more comfortable than he was at sea, but still, Henry felt at home.

  “So what are you, exactly? Blood magic gone wrong?” the man asked over the soft whipping of his cape as he adjusted his glasses. It was a little windy, but nothing bad.

  Henry raised a brow. While the man said it a little casually, Henry could sense the attention on him. “Is that part of the fine? Or is this why you suggested this whole thing? To figure out my origin?”

  Attal shrugged. “Not necessarily. I want to make the disruption worth my time, especially considering I still have a pain in the ass to deal with when I’m done,” he said, nearly grumbling that last part as he shot an annoyed glance toward the coast. “But when a sapient B+ kraken walks my street, I can’t not ask questions. Believe it or not, something like this doesn’t happen often.”

  “Intelligent krakens?”

  “No. Humans that manage to completely change their species. Some might even say it’s impossible. I’ve found some tidbits about true polymorph potions, but those have been lost even before the Cataclysm. Anyway. Let’s work and talk,” he said, and in Henry’s mana sight, one of the rings on Attal’s hand pulsed and a beat later, the surrounding mana began rushing in, like water in a funnel. “Come at me and try to land a good hit.”

  Henry narrowed his eyes, his gaze still set on the ring, and after considering it for a second, he altered his form, summoning two large, flesh and blood arms and complemented them with six arcane ones. “You’re still assuming I want to divulge my secrets for free. Why would you think that?”

  Henry accelerated forward with Telekinesis, his physical, 30-foot-long arm already winding down and contracting before it blurred forward like a cracking whip, only for Attal to take a casual step to the left and seamlessly dodge the attack. Henry frowned, wind whistling in his ears as he flew past the man who grimaced at the crack of sound. “Well, aren’t you here with Velistraine to ask for my help?” Attal asked as he rubbed his ear. “At least, that’s what I assumed, considering she’s still waiting for me to show up.”

  While Henry listened, he pulled his Octominds’ attention to really observe the man. Something about how easily the A-rank had dodged was bothering him, but he couldn’t tell exactly what it was. Of course it could be just skill and experience, but it was worth a check. As for Attal’s response.

  “So you’re letting her stew? As for me, well, it wasn’t a potion. I can tell you that much.”

  Henry approached once more in a straight line, propelling himself with Telekinesis, but at the last second, he blinked forward, arms swinging down to grab a hold of the man. He even staggered their timing, only for Attal to weave through his limbs and slip through the most improbable angle before he straightened up once more a few yards away. “Letting her stew would do her some good,” Attal grumbled, while Henry just stared at him as he reviewed the sequence of events through his Octominds.

  The man hadn’t just dodged his limbs. For every angle of attack his arms had taken, Attal had moved before even a muscle had contracted. As if…

  “Are you seeing into the future?”

  That was the only option Henry thought was possible. That or some insanely intrusive mind-reading, but even then, the timing and the speed at which the A-rank was reacting was way too fast. It’s not as if Henry’s mental process was that easy to track, with eight sub-mind bolstering him at all time. In response, Attal’s lips curved in the first smile he’d seen from the man, and the A-rank raised his hand. The one that had the ring.

  “Ring of Prescience. Obscene mana cost and pretty difficult to manufacture, but you can’t deny its effectiveness. Though I might need to mellow down its output lest it turns B-rank brains to mush,” he mused before lowering his hand and wrapping them behind his back. “You figured it out faster than I expected. Tell me this, at least. You were human, were you not?”

  Henry dispelled his Arcane Arms and summoned two more physical ones, putting him at four giant limbs. At the same time, he summoned four Octominds, and spread out the four others. A flick of the eyes told him Attal could see them, but that didn’t bother him. For now, he began creating clones out of those four, spreading them around.

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  If Attal could see his moves coming, then he had a few options. And he might as well use two of them all at once. But no condensed Skills. Not yet, he decided. The technique wasn’t ready to be pushed to the level where it could affect an A-rank. There was no reason to use something that volatile.

  Looking up at Attal, Henry gave him a nod. As the man had said, they were going to need his orb. And he might need some convincing to let go of it. Plus, now that he thought of it, there wouldn’t be any harm in having more friends and allies. The last message of the System had said that whatever was brewing, more allies would be needed. So why not make some friends?

  “Yeah. I was born human. As for how, I’m gonna keep that in my pocket for now,” he simply said. Then he disappeared.

  Making friends was nice and all, but he wasn’t just giving out his secrets for free.

  As predicted, Invisibility in and by itself wasn’t enough to escape the A-rank’s sight. He could see him tracking him. It wasn’t enough to get a reaction. But channeling some of Dancing Shadows’ elusive concepts into Invisibility? That did the trick.

  Henry had the pleasure to see the man frown for the first time as he slowly floated closer, and a beat later, the first clone shed its Invisibility and blurred toward Attal with an activation of Lightning Dash, while five other clones—still hidden—shot Toxic Rays from five different angles.

  If the ring could predict what he’d do, then Henry needed to overwhelm its wearer.

  As expected, Attal managed to dodge the body-charge of his kraken-shaped clone and dodge all 5 green, glowing rays but even as he dodged the last, five more shot out from different angles. Two Octominds rushed at him, shedding their invisibility. Then four clones. Then ten rays at once. He kept rotating his clone and Octomind’s visibility on and off to overload Attal’s senses. All the while, the A-rank kept scanning the surroundings, looking for Henry’s main body while the latter slowly crept closer, making sure his Aspect-empowered Invisibility was still fully active. There was a chance that Attal could still see him and was bluffing, but Henry didn’t think so. Already he could see the man’s movement growing a little less fluid. A little too sudden as he worked to dodge the onslaught of the continuous assault and Henry made sure to vary the timing of his attacks. He even slowed it on occasion, just to throw the man off the rhythm. Then merely seconds later, he was close enough to make his move.

  All eight of his Octominds and all twenty clones he assigned to the fight appeared and attacked simultaneously. Four Octominds surrounded Attal with Telekinesis, which he dodged by zipping upward only to find himself face-to-face with a barrage of Toxic Rays. Attal lunged to the right, an excited grin on his face which turned into a curse when two Octominds dashed at him from below and 10 clones blinked atop of him from above, while the rest came at him from where he’d just ran.

  Then he must have sensed something, because he suddenly turned toward Henry, or at least, he tried. But too much had been happening, and one thing was sure to slip through, and it did.

  Henry slapped him down with Evershifting Strike, speeding up his hand fast enough for the sound to crack before he even hit his target. One second, he sensed the feedback against his arm and the next, Attal was sent reeling, a panel of blue light flickering half an inch off of his skin, and Henry felt his stomach sink a little.

  He hadn’t put everything behind that strike, but it was still enough to down a strong B-rank. He didn’t think it’d do so little. Attal looked up from his ring, nodding appreciatively, then grinned, dispelling whatever was left of his barrier.

  “Not going to lie, I didn’t expect that. And I guess I tested the efficiency of the new ring, so I can put that to rest for now. You can consider your fine paid. We’re square. But how about another bet,” Attal said, and Henry didn’t like the gleaming gaze of the A-rank. “If I win, you tell me how you came to be. If you win… you get a strong argument in your favor for whatever it is you all came here for. This isn’t a promise that I’ll say yes. But I’ll seriously consider it. If I end up refusing what you guys came here for, then I swear I’ll gift you something good. Anything you need as long as it doesn’t go over the value of 3 A-rank cores.”

  Henry’s eyes widened. While he’d been thinking that a “strong argument” was pretty much worthless, the end of the offer made him reconsider. That had been an oath. Henry sensed it echo in the world around him. So even if the man became difficult about the orb, Henry wouldn’t be leaving empty handed and while he considered bringing up the orb, he hesitated. Maybe it’d be better to have Velistraine around for that. As for his secret, well… he wasn’t particularly attached to it. But this would be a good gamble for it. The orb or something worth 3 A-rank cores would be worth it. So the kraken nodded. “Alright. What’s the bet?”

  Attal cracked his neck and summoned his crossbow, and Henry actually grew excited. “Well,” began the A-rank as he scratched his chin. “We can’t have the same win conditions. So let’s say if you lose consciousness or give up, I win. And if you land a good, solid hit, or hold on for three minutes or more, you win.”

  Henry raised a brow. Couldn’t he just disappear under the water and kill time for three minutes? And what constitutes a solid hit?

  “Those are pretty loose win conditions. You sure you want to go with those?”

  Attal waved it away. “Let’s be real. We’re just here to have fun at this point. If you manage to exploit my wording, have at it. But it won’t be that easy. So? You in or out?”

  Henry didn’t have much of a rebuttal to that. So with a shrug, he raised his kraken arms and lowered himself closer to the water as a smile tugged on his lips. “I accept. And I do hope you’re a man of your word,” he simply said.

  “Oh. You’ll see, I can tell you that,” Attal hummed, a similar smile on his lips. He aimed his crossbow, and the world exploded in purple lights.

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