My flanking colony had finally wrapped around, reaching Enzo's Angels. They all moved forward to strike.
Adrenaline State.
—It'd activated in Enzo and his Angels. Like the explosive ignition of a rocket, they twitched into hastened motion to avoid my proxies' attacks. As they dodged, their counterattacks were already aimed.
"I watched you perform at the Invidan War, Klyson. I know your methods."
He expected the flank?
But as they struck, I made sure to transfer my own capabilities to the proxies this time.
Flow State.
My proxies dodged with unnatural reactive instinct. As the rush of attacks from the Angels came in pursuit, my proxies evaded absolutely everything, retreating untouched.
"There it is!" Enzo laughed excitedly. "That was absolutely graceful! You are awakened after all!"
I spared no time to exchange his words. My own counterattack was immediate. As the world around my proxies slowed down to a nearing halt, they bolted towards Enzo's Angels in what looked like a single step. Suddenly, our units were face-to-face.
"Blitz."
Enzo's Angels suddenly moved unpredictably to attack, but my proxies matched their speed to parry and block. Blows were being exchanged, with neither side falling to the other. It was a back-and-forth battle of hand-to-hand combat, while both Enzo and I were locked-in to our Fractless states.
Adrenaline State.
The speed of Enzo's Angels were beginning to ramp-up.
Flow State.
To the perspective of my proxies, the Angels moved slower.
"You're starting to get tedious!" Enzo yelled. It sounded like he was enjoying himself.
As the Angels got faster, my proxies matched their pace. But I realized one thing.
Enzo's Adrenaline State is built more for offense, whereas Flow State is better configured for defense.
I could hold my own against Enzo, but this would get me nowhere. The speed of his Angels' attacks left no opening for my proxies to strike. They could only remain defensive. Even though I outnumbered him, his Angels were still too strong.
Second Colony, diverge. Group A to First Colony.
I decided to play more cards by splitting the Second Colony in half, sending 30 proxies to accompany the remaining 24 of the First Colony on the field. This would put me at an over-towering number advantage of 54 proxies to 13 Angels.
If my current 24 proxies can evenly defend against the Angels' attacks, then these newly deployed 30 proxies should instigate the offense I've been looking for.
"Deploying more now, are we?" Enzo chuckled. "A bit of an unfair number advantage, don't you think?"
I hated to admit it, but Enzo was just that much stronger. I needed the extra numbers.
"You only needed 20 Angels for the 200 man frontline in New Zina back then. Are you trying to give me the same treatment?" I asked.
"At this rate, probably. Your units are no different than those ants back in New Zina."
I flared with anger, but recalled an important statement Enzo had made in the past.
"What expectation have you set for me, Enzo?"
"Expectation? Are you trying to determine your winning condition?"
Back when Enzo had eradicated 200 men from New Zina's frontline with only 20 of his Angels, I asked him how it was possible for him to pull-off such a feat. I wondered how he could even consider the possibility of winning with such an initial disadvantage.
"Overestimation."
He told me he always assumed the worst in his enemies. He would set the highest standards for their capabilities. Then, when everything went down, they would never, ever meet his expectations.
The only way to beat him was to exceed his expectations.
"Considering that you are an awakened Fractless just like me, an apprentice from me, and a brother to me, I expect highly of you, Klyson. If you can't even take down my Angel Unit Infantry, then you are a waste of that Fractless potential."
The bar had been set.
"I have 144 proxies to take down your 100 Angels." I smirked. "Consider it soon granted."
"120."
In an instant, my connection to the remaining 24 proxies of the First Colony were cut. They were all killed within seconds. While they had retained the defensive act at a constant pace, Enzo's Angels had accelerated their attacking patterns with too much unpredictability.
"120 to 100 now, Klyson." Enzo's words grew into a loud laughter. "60 units later and you still haven't made a single mark on my infantry yet!"
My breath had shallowed.
The First Colony is down. I only have the Second and Third colonies remaining.
It was time for me to accept that my higher numbers never granted me anything to begin with. Since the very start, I'd always been at a disadvantage against Enzo.
"Try and keep up, ant!"
My newly deployed group of 30 proxies was soon to come into contact with Enzo's dominant 13 Angels. I couldn't waste any more time or resources.
I won't let this happen to me again.
I had to lock-in.
Flow State, magnify.
A new sensation had been awakened.