BIOLOGICAL SUPERCOMPUTER SYSTEM

Erik's plants surged but only ended up clashing against Bill's invisible hands. His defense was absolute.

Bill's defense relied on quantity over quality. He could instantly create hundreds of invisible hands that formed a solid barrier, blocking and destroying anything Erik threw at him. While each hand wasn't particularly strong on its own, their massive numbers made them impossible to break through.

The young man quickly learned that a power that would disintegrate everything was a very nasty defensive ability. The invisible hands instantly destroyed anything they touched, turning attacks and objects into nothing. Like a meat grinder disguised as a shield, this barrier didn't just block—it obliterated everything that came near.

Erik's elemental powers could destroy the invisible hands, but it made no difference. Each time fire incinerated them, ice broke them apart, or lightning struck them down, Bill conjured more hands to fill the gaps. The endless cycle of destruction and replacement meant Erik couldn't gain any ground.

Below them, the battlefield had transformed. The Law Gate's organized defense had descended into chaos as the Chimaeric Demons appeared. Yet the defenders weren't helpless—they fought back fiercely.

The blackguards were still the blackguards, and while they were not as physically strong as the Chimaeric Demons, they still had superb brain crystal powers and plenty of neural links.

Yet, it was clear they were having trouble.

"Your army is going to be destroyed," Erik said, launching another attack.

Ice spears got surrounded by lightning, the crackling energy coiling around the frozen projectiles like a nest of venomous serpents.

Bill was forced to spend a significant amount of mana to maintain his defensive barrier of invisible hands. Erik noticed his opponent's increased energy consumption and took advantage of this weakness to deliver a psychological blow.

"Your Vindicators are dead. How does it feel to lose everything?"

Bill struck with increased ferocity, but he still was unable to land a hit on Erik. He was too fast, too shrewd, and, most importantly, he acted as if he knew what Bill was going to do.

Bill wasn't stupid. He knew that was most likely because of one of Erik's powers. The younger man simply had too many advantages.

Erik had to constantly use his Instability brain crystal power in this battle, despite not usually needing it.

Against Bill's attacks, this ability was essential—it let him see what his opponent would do next and dodge the invisible strikes coming his way.

Bill's invisible hands struck from all angles. His power to create thousands of these deadly weapons made him a threat, even for Erik.

The young man used Instability brain crystal power because it was basically the only way he had to counter the invisible hands—without it, he couldn't prevent the invisible attacks from killing him.

One touch from these hands meant instant death, as they turned everything to dust on contact. Erik could not allow a single hit to land on him, and the only way to avoid something invisible was to know from where Bill was going to attack. Of course, his Hydra's heads were going to defend in case he couldn't avoid the attacks.

At the same time, Erik read the man's mind. Bill was becoming increasingly desperate as he watched his troops being slaughtered below, his authority crumbling with each dead soldier.

He found himself completely boxed in—he couldn't beat Erik in combat, and there was no way out.

The Law Gate was clearly lost, yet he was determined to inflict as much damage as possible on Erik's forces before retreating.

The second division commander's earlier confidence had vanished, along with his subordinates, but he wanted to make Erik pay at least.

Yet Bill wasn't the only one having a hard time. Even if Erik was keeping up with the man, the fact that Bill was matching him only thanks to his Brain Crystal power was unsettling. Erik was more powerful than Bill and had multiple brain crystal powers, yet, despite not being on the losing side, he was struggling to win exactly like it happened when he fought against Monica.

Erik needed to corner Bill, to provoke him into acting hastily.

"The mighty blackguards," Erik said, his voice dripping with contempt as he watched the man. "Your elite soldiers, your unstoppable force—all brought down by the very brain crystal power that made you strong in the first place. The same power I took from Monica when I killed her. Rather ironic, wouldn't you say that your greatest strength has become your undoing?"

Hundreds of invisible hands erupted at once, cutting through Erik's first defensive line with brutal efficiency.

<Shit…>

That caught Erik by surprise.

Bill had been so aggressive Erik couldn't avoid the incoming attacks, but Erik's fourth Hydra's head had already created a fire dome around him, and to reach that, the hands would have to get past a field of elemental barriers.

Layer by layer, Erik's defenses took shape. Ice walls formed the outer barrier, followed by a web of crackling lightning between frozen pillars. Behind those, layers of packed earth and stone rose in concentric domes. A blazing fire barrier created the last defense, while enhanced vines snaked through the entire structure, their sharp thorns at the ready.

The invisible hands smashed into the ice walls, breaking them apart and sending ice fragments everywhere. Fifty hands vanished on impact, while a hundred more pushed forward. Lightning flashed and struck the approaching hands, destroying many in bright explosions. But thirty hands still made it through the electric defense, moving closer to Erik's remaining protective barriers.
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The earth domes collapsed in sequence as the invisible hands smashed through. The stone barriers broke apart with sharp cracks, sending rock fragments flying. Only a few hands out of hundreds made it to the last defense. The searing fire dome, burning as hot as molten metal, destroyed these stragglers instantly, reducing them to faint traces of energy that faded into nothing.

But Bill simply made new ones.

<Fuck…>

Albeit talking big, Erik was spending a lot of mana to defend against the immensely powerful brain crystal power of his opponent.

Erik glanced down at the carnage below. His clones moved with deadly efficiency, but they were still dying, and once that happened, also the undead stopped moving. However, it was also true there were many of Erik's troops, so despite the clones dying, there was still more death on the Blackguards' side.

<I need to destabilize him more…>

"Are you seeing this?" Erik asked, gesturing at the brutal combat below where his forces were killing the blackguards. "This is what will happen to all of you. Your troops are being cut down one by one, and there's nothing you can do to stop it."

Erik said that, but he wasn't seeing a way to defeat Bill. <These motherfuckers are too tough…> Indeed, it was the truth.

The division commanders were powerful. They didn't have Erik's physical strength or speed, nor did they have all his powers, yet the few they had were enough to counter him, or at least to prevent him from dealing a killing blow.

Until now, Monica had been the scariest of them all, yet Bill wasn't less strong. It was just that his powers were different from hers.

It was then that a shimmering barrier materialized around Bill, trapping him in a perfect cube of energy.

Even Erik hadn't expected this development. A question remained, though: Was the barrier meant to protect Bill or trap him?

Then Erik had his reply. Bill's invisible hands struck the walls, but for the first time, they found something they couldn't destroy.

Both men froze for a moment. Erik's hands tightened around his weapon, his mind racing to understand who could have created such a powerful barrier.

Bill's eyes widened with dawning horror as he realized he had been trapped. Barriers could not be destroyed unless the barrier master was killed, and there were six of them at the law gate that Erik's troops could have taken as undead.

Erik was still confused, though. He hadn't created this trap, and his plants stopped mid-attack as he tried to understand what was happening.

Bill spun in place, his invisible hands probing every angle of his prison. The barrier held firm, its surface rippling but never breaking, because while his power allowed him to disintegrate everything, mana wasn't among those things, and a barrier made of that, even if he could destroy it, was just going to mend itself. His eyes darted around, searching for the source of this power.

A sickly green-yellow mist began rising through the air, curling toward Bill's position like a predator stalking its prey.

He turned to Erik, only to see his face was equally confused. Then Erik turned and saw the fog, and a grin spread across his face.

"No..." Bill said, his invisible hands now striking the barrier with desperation-fueled strikes.

The barrier held firm, leaving him helpless as the fog crept closer. Bill knew there was no way for him to counter a gas.