Careful Not To Break Reality

'You are not a normal human, Sir Deva.' RG said, scanning the gigantic human being in front of her. The mirage of explosions she just used exhausted most of the mini-explosives she carried around in her hidden compartments, and yet Sir Deva doesn't appeared to be damaged to the least. There are scratches and some patches of clothing are blown away, but physically he appeared untouched. Before RG has sat off, Zel did warn her that conventional attacks likely won't work on Sir Deva, so RG was already expecting this.

That's why she went with the barrage of explosives, and yet it still barely did any damage to him.

'Neither are you, thief.' Sir Deva said, his arms crossed in front of his c.h.e.s.t. He scanned around the destroyed control room before focusing on the cyborg in front of him, 'I suppose both of us did something rather incredible before ending up in the positions we are in here.'

'What do you want with me?' RG asked.

'You have made a grave mistake in going for that particular scientific equipment.' Sir Deva said, his voice low and calm, 'not a single soul on this space station understands the value of that item, except for me. And I am here to capture you and teach you a lesson.'

'No negotiations?' RG asked tentatively, her face still obscured in the hood so Sir Deva can't quite read her expressions, 'I am disappointed.'

'Nope.' Sir Deva said, then both RG and himself reached out with their hands. For RG, her right mechanical prosthetic hand morphed away to reveal a gun barrel hidden where the lower arm would have been, as she stood in a staggered stance, a ball of energy is charged up from it before firing. However, Sir Deva is even faster!

RG felt a sudden attractive force that yanked her towards Sir Deva as he quickly projects a sphere of mass right in front her for merely an instant. RG was thrown forward like a baseball and flew right into Sir Deva's grasp. Her arms are flailing all around and the ball of energy was fired off way off to the side before it burns a hole in the metal floors. A much more densely concentrated attack, and yet Sir Deva didn't even look at it.

So this is the power of the artifacts that Sir Deva has! Having now experienced the attractive force first hand, RG is actually quite surprised by the magnitude of the forces. If he is powerful to create a field of gravity so strong that even sh.i.p.s with power engines cannot escape, then he is definitely holding back here.

Is he holding back because of considerations for the structural integrity of everything around him, or is he holding back because he physically cannot do anything else due to the huge strain projecting the gravity well has placed on his body?

RG would bet its the latter.

Knowing that she will not have a chance to escape once Sir Deva actually got his giant hands on her, RG shot back a grappling hook from her left fingers that pinned to the ceiling behind her before pulling the ropes tight and stopping her forward momentum. Sir Deva didn't project the mass once more. Surprisingly, he is actually quite hesitant in using his artifact and that only further reinforces RG's hypothesis.

Sir Deva is quite surprised by the quick reactions RG has, he made up his mind to finish the fight as quickly as he can before she has anytime to settle down and reorganize herself. He charged forward with a few giant steps as RG dropped a few rounded capsules from her legs.

Are those more explosives? Sir Deva knew that it wouldn't work on him so he carried on his forward momentum. Then, those capsules popped wide open and jets of smoke quickly filled the room. More distraction tactic coming from the annoying thief!

'My visions are enhanced, and you are just wasting my time!' Sir Deva declared to the room as he charged forward and looked up at where RG was an instant ago. However, he saw nothing except for a quick shooting projectile towards his way! It was tiny and traveled at a incredible speed. There is no time to dodge, and Sir Deva simply threw up his arms to block it.

The projectile made contact and gave him a gentle sting on the arms. It penetrated his body armor without any issues, but it does nothing to his skin. Sir Deva chuckled coldly and dropped his arms down as he kept on running. Now, he can see RG standing by the window side. He continued forward before realizing something is pulling on him quite hard on the arms.

It was that projectile. Sir Deva quickly realized before the ropes of that grapling hook tightened all the way up to the extreme in an instant and pulled his body along way faster than he was running! He was yanked towards RG at a similar speed as how she was yanked towards him at the start of the fight!

Was she trying to bring him into close quarter combat? Sir Deva shook his head at this futile attempt. The moment he is within range, she would be captured, or killed in an instant. Her fragile machine augmented body are nothing compared to his enhanced strength. He inches closer and closer to her as Sir Deva reached out with his hand.

Then, RG was yanked sideways at the speed way faster than how she could move and slid right out of Sir Deva's finger tips. Now, Sir Deva can see more clearly a grappling hook attached to the side of her body pulling against the walls of the contorl room. Sir Deva is still in the air for the initial jerk, and now he is flying right through the window and out onto the air with the ground fifty meters underneath him!

'NO!' He yelled out and turned around in the air, reaching his hand out towards RG and activated his artifact, trying to pull her down with himself. He could only project a small sphere of mass for an instant, and RG's torso folded forward at this attempt. However, her feet did not move.

The time has ran out, and Sir Deva flew right out through the window. He thought the grappling hook came from RG, but it turns out the origin of the wire came all the way from a machine that's slowly rotating down at the ground level. With a simple assembly of gears and levers, the slow turning machine was turned into a death trap, and now it's still accelerating Sir Deva towards the ground alongside the artificial gravity of the station.

Now floating in the air with seconds to make a decision, Sir Deva needed to make the call.

He has tried to use the mass projector to ulter his movements though the effects are much much smaller than what he could create for others. It's extremely similar to how Rydel's artifact works when he warps something into the space inside his glove. The artifacts seems to possess a sort of scaling relationship with things in reality, so Rydel will not feel the same weight that he would have if he had picked the item he is warping. Sir Deva will not feel the same amount of pull as his enemy will feel.

If he needed to project enough mass from within the station to slow him down, he would first need to release the hold on the Spotlight that's been working slowly in the background and draining his energy and concentration at a steady but noticeable rate. But the entire basis of the take over for the space station resides on the premise that he can single-handedly create a no win scenario for all those on board, if any of them knew of the release, then everything would have been for naught.

But if he doesn't release the hold, the damage he might take during the instantaneous impact with the ground would severely injure him, if not straight up kill him. The drop would be tens of meters or so, and the rope is pulling him down at an even faster rate than the artificial gravity! He snapped off the tip of the grappling hook, the very first of his mistakes in this fight and reached upwards.

It's time to make the decision.

With gritted teeth, he held on to the gravity well generated with his every ounce of attention while projecting as big of a mass sphere as he can at one time right above him. There is merely a fraction of a second for him to act, and he fired it all off! Like being yanked when a parachute is being released initially, Sir Deva's speed of drop was reduced greatly for an instant before gravity started pulling him down again. He was slowed down a bit, but not nearly enough.

However, there isn't any more time.

Sir Deva landed on his feet and rolled forward to reduce the impact by lengthening the time of ground contact. A stinging sensation pulsed out from his feet through his ankles and up the shank before the pain suppressants contained in the nanotechnology stopped the spread of it. He didn't look down to see the deformed boots or the flesh, and he knew he took some serious damage.

His ears are ringing cause of the impact, and his visions also became blurry before the nanotechnology started the reparation process. He tried to move, but it's like his legs are filled with lead, and every movement is extremely sluggish. He has lost his greatest asset in close quarter combat, but at least he made it through.

Sir Deva pushed himself up, though the injuries in his lower limbs made it rather hard to maintain a perfect balance.

'You never failed to surprise me, Sir Deva.' Zel appeared from behind the machinery that was pulling Sir Deva all the way down, 'that was ridiculous.'

'....Zel the captured.' Sir Deva spits out Zel's name, 'were you a part of this? Did you not appreciate the freedom your friends sacrificed one of their own to get?'

'I do what I always do, Sir Deva.' Zel said, then he started walking closer towards Sir Deva until he has just gotten within range of the Pocket, 'I take advantage of situations.'

Then, as Sir Deva's still immobile from the fall, he activated his artifacts and started warping the space around him, including Sir Deva into the Pocket domain. Sir Deva looked down to see his arms first starting to go transparent, followed by the rests of the body and started panicking before jumping ahead towards Zel, which he easily dodged.

Instead of moving forward, his feet and ankles actually sagged backwards into the boots. As the waves of transparency began to spread, the environments surrounding him also became more and more opaque. And crucially, he is starting to the connection to the gravity well he projected!

Shit! Sir Deva cursed and reached out to project a mass sphere near Zel and tried to throw him off, but instead of pulling him towards his palms, a sharp pain actually shot through his c.h.e.s.t. He bent down and succ.u.mbed to pain for a split seconds, and that was all Zel needed to take him into the Pocket domain. In the last moment, Zel looked up to see RG, still attached high up in the ceiling and nodded.

The second phase of the plan is a success. Now, the gravely injured Sir Deva is pulled into the pocket domain and cannot affect the outside world anymore. As he finished the process, a gentle sore extended outwards from his stomach, but it was nothing too bad compared to before. It seemed like he is finally getting adapted to this state of artifact usage.

'Two artifact users who overused their powers stuck together.' Zel said, looking down at Sir Deva who has sweats covering his whole face, 'it would be rather embarrassing to for everyone else to see us in this state.'

Sir Deva simply breathes heavily and scanned the environments around him. Everything seemed normal, just a shade darker. Is this what Zel's power looks like when activated? He then turned his gaze towards Zel, anger boiling from within. He did not like the fact that Lady Lily hires Zel to perform the job, a lowly thief who was lucky enough to receive the power of the artifacts. And when he heard about the night that they spent together in the edge of the settled reason, Sir Deva's dislike for Zel turned to jealousy and then hatred. He always buried his emotions deep down rather well, but those pent up feelings do surge out from time to time. In some ways, the cold and calm Sir Deva feels more strongly than those with a different outer layer.

The nanotechnology enhancements throughout his body have been doing lots of work repairing his body and bringing him back to being able to fight and take Zel down, though it will take some time for that to happen.

Now, despite how Sir Deva does not wish to acknowledge it, he needed to stall for time. But time is the one thing he does not have, as more time goes on, someone will realize the hold on the station is released, and the thief will escape!

Well, not this thief in front of him as far as he knows anyway.

'Why are you back in the wild regions?' Sir Deva asked, as Zel took a step back and sat down opposite him.

'I like that you want to get to know me, Sir Deva.' Zel said with an amused smile, 'shall we do what those in the settled regions call...21 questions?'

'You return to the wild regions must have a purpose, and you being here...means you must have been part of the theft. You have not escaped my grasp yet, despite your efforts.' Sir Deva tried to pull off an intimidating voice, and yet his voices only sounded hollow and Zel saw through it right away.

'Come on now.' Zel said with a shrug, pulling his best Rydel impression, 'It's not like I am one to steal high level technology just because someone hired me to do it. I just happened to be here, and you just happened to be in my way, Sir Deva.'

'So what are you going to do now?' Sir Deva asked, looking sharply at Zel. Now, sensations have finally returned to his feet and ankles as the repair has finally started to kick in and he became one step closer to combat ready. When he is somewhat recovered, he will quickly take down Zel and the smug look on his face and force him to release him from the Pocket Domain.

Zel didn't reply, instead, he looked closely at Sir Deva's movements. They both remained silent, but tension grew as Zel knew that Sir Deva is ready to fight now, and Sir Deva is planning his attack. The air grew heavy, and all they could hear are the breaths.

Suddenly, they both got onto their feets simultaneously. Sir Deva charged forward with a loud roar as he quickly closes the distance between him and Zel and threw out a punch that aimed right at his rib cage. Zel turned his body and barely dodges it. He uses the momentum of his turn and returns a swing, smacking his prosthetic arm against Sir Deva's arm.

Sir Deva flipped his wrist around and caught Zel by the wrist and pulled hard. There was no resistance from the wrist as Zel released the grappling mechanism in his wrists and all Sir Deva did was to pull on some wires. Zel then triggered the spikes in his wrist that acts as the grappling hooks at the end and those sharp pieces almost pierced through Sir Deva's hand. He immediately released the grasp and Zel returned the hand back to his wrist.

'Cheap tricks.' Sir Deva commented with a grunt before stepping back out to the safety distance. He saw Zel scanning the environments around him and knew this very moment of distraction is the exact opportunity he is looking for! He charged forward once again towards Zel, and he didn't even put up a single defense.

'You are done.' Sir Deva said underneath his breath as he reaches out towards Zel, then their eyes met.

'You are right.' Zel said with a light smile as Sir Deva passes right through him and fell back onto the ground. The silence of the Pocket Domain replaced back the ambience of the Spotlight, 'I am done.'

Sir Deva is finally free! But when he looked around, the empty ground level near the Station Control entrance is no longer quiet and calm. There are crowds of angry people now standing all around him, and they all locked their eyes onto Sir Deva.

What the hell is going on? Sir Deva pushed himself onto his feet as the crowd of people closes in.

'What the hell did you thin you were doing? Threatening us?'

'Do you want to die? You piece of shit!'

The crowd started throwing insults and pieces of litter towards Sir Deva as the first few angry muscle ran towards Sir Deva looking for a fist fight. Sir Deva took them down in two strikes, and more people followed up with even more attacks. A few more are even armed with short blades and daggers. He also took them down and disarmed them, but it took more time and a couple seized the opening and kicked Sir Deva in the back.

He turned around and knocked all of the teeths out of the kicker, but a few more piled onto him...

This is the few rare occasions when all of the different gangs that comes to the Spotlight are united under one banner against a single enemy. And now that seemingly invincible giant is crumbling underneath their feet.

For Sir Deva, the fight continued for another hour, but for Zel, it's time to make their exit.

When Zel returned to the space port, RG is already there waiting for him. They then took the shuttle and returned to their sh.i.p.s. As expected, the gravity well put up by Sir Deva is long gone, and all they need to do is to enact the last step of the plan.

Before they split apart for the attack on the Station Control, Zel explained how Sir Deva tracked down RG's ship using the billions of data trackers Absolute Being has scattered throughout known space lanes alongside the normal traffic trackers. So for them to truly escape, Zel will need to use his Pocket Domain and enclose the entire ship.

The artifact said he will most likely pass out from exhaustion from the activation, but Zel trusted that RG will take care of him when he is out, to which RG agrees.

'So it begins. The days of slumber.' Zel said with a grim chuckle as he activated his pocket domain once more and braces for the incoming pain. Then as the ship vanishes off the face of the universe, Zel also fell into the chair behind him, completely knocked out from exhaustion.