The arrival of Saik was welcome news, and Nahome, vulnerable as he was, gratefully accepted the offered help.
"Saik, thank you for your concern."
"We're on the same side, agent. That's what matters," Saik replied.
The wind at the top of the building intensified, growing more aggressive as Zarek continued to laugh.
"Nahome, you're in bad shape, huh? You need a last-class holder to help you out. Ha! Ha!"
"So, you're the infamous Zarek? The holder feared by all other holders," Saik said provocatively, stretching his arms and letting his internal energy flow freely around his body.
"I love making my reputation a sort of warning. It usually keeps me from wasting time fighting small fry," Zarek responded with a contained, malicious smile.
"Blades!" Saik exclaimed.
Saik didn't waste any time. He molded his internal energy into sharp blades that shot towards Zarek. The energy blades sliced through the air with frightening precision. However, Zarek merely raised his hand and spoke a simple command.
"Dispel."
The blades disintegrated before reaching him.
Zarek's "Dispel" ability from the General Attacks technique allowed him to dissipate attacks of any form and size, essentially nullifying them. These attacks were "collected" and stored in a "Reality Rift" that Zarek could open. Later, he could reuse these dissipated attacks, launching them again at will.
"You'll need to do better than that," Zarek said.
Saik frowned and rethought his approach.
"Clearly, I need to be more defensive than offensive," he muttered, focusing intensely.
Using his technique, he created a malleable energy shield around himself, becoming a mobile fortress. In a swift movement, he charged towards Zarek, transforming the front of his shield into a spear tip.
"Is that the joke you had for me?" Zarek mocked, smiling derisively.
Zarek didn't move until the last second, when he simply vanished and reappeared beside Saik, whispering in his ear.
"You're slow."
"Huh?" Saik looked to his side, his surprise evident, his eyes reflecting concern.
"Explosive Wave!" Zarek murmured.
BOOM!
A wave of explosive energy emanated from Zarek, throwing Saik backward. He crashed into an adjacent building, shattering the wall on impact. Saik quickly got up from the rubble, molding his internal energy to heal his injuries.
"I didn't even see him move."
"You have quite the resilience, I'll admit," Zarek said, slowly approaching. "But I can't say you'll last much longer."
Saik responded by creating multiple arrows formed from his internal energy, which he launched rapidly at Zarek. The arrows moved under his control at all times, attempting to surround Zarek from all sides.
Zarek, however, dispelled the arrows one by one with his ability.
The control of the fight was entirely in Zarek's hands, who neither surprised nor worried about Saik's attempts.
"How do you beat a guy like this? Dispel attacks is a skill far above anything I can try," Saik questioned himself.
And for Zarek, things were just beginning.
"Air Slashes!" Zarek called out, his face showing a sadistic grin.
A series of quick, precise air slashes were directed straight at Saik. However, he barely dodged, managing to avoid the potentially fatal cuts.
"Damn. That still got me," Saik muttered. Despite his agility, some slashes had hit him, tearing his bicep and right rib.
Nahome and the drone were in the other building, as Saik and Nahome had already been inside a neighboring building. However, the agent took out his cellphone and urgently contacted the Tower headquarters in Brasília.
"Brasília, Tower. Nahome, agent of the main unit of the Tower, urgently requesting reinforcements for the eastern region of Dynami. Repeat, this is urgent, I need reinforcements."
Back in the fight, Saik started sweating, realizing Zarek's technical and strategic superiority.
"I can't win — he thought. — I need to find an opening."
Zarek, on the other hand, seemed to be having fun.
"You're persistent, kid. But it's not good to persist in such a situation, don't you think?"
Saik closed his eyes for a moment, concentrating his mind, and thought.
"What if I use my internal energy in a tangible form, like I did to get to the building?"
The question he asked himself was actually an answer.
Suddenly, he opened his eyes and, with gestures of his hands, summoned a 16-meter-tall giant made of pure internal energy in a vivid form, which appeared behind him.
This giant was created from internal energy in such a way that it became visible and substantial, controlled by Saik, capable of physically interacting with the environment, allowing him to perform devastating attacks, defend against threats, and manipulate the battlefield with an imposing and almost indestructible presence.
"Now we're talking!" Saik smiled hopefully.
"A vivid energy giant? This kid is really impressive," Zarek said, his eyes malevolent but surprised at the moment.
In the other building, the drone informed Nahome of something.
"Nahome, my evolution system has detected an increase in internal energy concentration and power in the holder named Saik."
"An increase… what does that mean?" Nahome asked.
"Saik is no longer a last-class holder. His technique has evolved; he is now a fourth-class holder."
On Saik's body, part of the demon's writing appeared as a tattoo on his neck. Although it was just the beginning of the writing, it was large and clearly visible. Zarek noticed and, with his constant smile, commented.
"Look at your writing, it appeared, kid."
Saik didn't immediately understand, as he hadn't noticed yet. However, after Zarek's comment, he turned to look in a broken mirror leaning against the building wall.
"What is this?" he asked, admiring the writing.
"When a holder evolves their technique, they automatically move up a class. You are now a fourth-class holder," Zarek explained.
As Saik continued to look at himself, completely captivated, Zarek proceeded.
"And with each class you rise, more of your writing will appear on your body like a permanent tattoo. When you reach the first class, the writing will be complete on you."
All this surprise and impact distracted Saik. Taking advantage of this, Zarek quickly attacked, kicking Saik out of the building and shattering the windows. Saik went into free fall, but the energy giant caught him with its large left hand.
Impatient with waiting, Zarek opened the reality rift again, which threw a spear made of pure energy to the ground right in front of him. He picked up the spear and walked to where Saik had fallen after the free fall from the building.
Without delay, Zarek observed Saik in the left hand of the energy giant and hurled the spear with extreme speed and power towards the giant's forehead.
Seeing the attack, Saik gestured, making the giant's right hand grab and halt the spear's advance.
"That was close," Saik whispered.
"Hee! Hee! Hee! Dispel!" Zarek laughed strangely, seeing the situation.
Suddenly, the giant's right hand was completely dissipated, unbalancing the rest of the body and causing the giant to topple to the right.
"What?" Saik was surprised.
As a result, Saik was thrown against an abandoned van on the avenue where the building was located.
"Here comes the second one!" Zarek shouted, smiling incessantly and holding another spear, ready to throw it.
The giant was still toppled, and Saik, almost unconscious, couldn't control it. The second spear was thrown by Zarek and hit the giant's head squarely.
"Dispel!" Zarek exclaimed as he joyfully fell from the building in free fall towards the avenue.
Dissipating it instantly.
"Ah... Why does my head hurt if I hit my back harder?" Saik complained of pain, lying with his back against the van, still feeling the impact's force.
"You owe me one, huh? It was because of me that you evolved your technique," Zarek teased, approaching Saik with a smile and his hands in the pockets of his coat.
"Goodbye, kid. I have to go now because I know that Nahome, that old man from other springs, has already called for reinforcements. It's almost a script I've memorized," Zarek said, crouched in front of Saik with his constant satisfied smile.
He stood up and walked away calmly, as if nothing had happened.
In the other building, while Nahome was in the elevator waiting to go down to run to Saik, the drone reported a new discovery.
"Mr. Nahome, I have decoded what may be Zarek and the Foundation's objective behind this chaos in the city."
"Go on, tell me!" the agent said, running from the building's reception to the exit.
"Recapitulating what Zarek said to you when we came to warn of the three-hour deadline in an unreliable tone due to his difficult-to-understand personality…
'Our objective is a bit far from here, maybe in a spacious and important place.'
Zarek, Chapter 11
"And analyzing the latest concentrations of holder energy detected by me in recent hours, I can affirm that there is a high possibility that the objective is located in the northern region of the city."
"But what's so special about the north?"
The drone revealed what might be the card in the game that hadn't been noticed yet.
"The State Library. There may be something there that interests them to the point of having deliberately caused this chaos to instigate the city's complete evacuation and facilitate their move to the location"
"All this time, their objective was never here in the east as we imagined, but in the north…"