In the heat of battle with his life on the line, Paul took a drastic decision.
'F*ck it, I need to think!'
It was a crazy decision, an illogical one even but at this moment, Paul decided to abandon battle for a moment of reprieve so he could think.
So, a peculiar combat situation appeared where an invisible enemy stayed on the attack, stacking attack after attack while the recipient of his attacks stayed as still as a statue, taking it all in even as his body glowed with a bright white radiance.
At this moment, Paul seemed to have the crazy ability of infinite regeneration as his body was engulfed by the bright white radiance.
His God essence was burning at a crazy speed.
Just like the worst enemies that Paul had faced in his little time as an awakened warrior, this invisible enemy was an elite, a killer.
This invisible enemy was ruthlessly efficient, going only for the killer moves.
Bam!
A claw tore Paul's ribs open, tearing right through his leather armor like it was not there even as he suddenly felt difficulty breathing.
The claws seemed to have gotten his lungs.
Despite the suddenly increased difficulty in breathing, Paul did not move as instead, he closed his eyes, wiping all distractions from his mind.
At this moment, all that mattered to him was firing his healing God power on overdrive to counter the damage being done to his body.
It was hard, impossible even, yet he persevered.
Bam!
Paul's face was torn.
It was only a matter of time before this invisible enemy's claws went for more sure-kill targets like his throat, but this was already enough time for Paul.
Paul was used to his body being beaten and mangled, but even with him being used to pain, subjected to the beating of this invisible enemy was still something that he did not sign up for.
Besides, the invisible enemy's lethal moves were so threatening to his life that his foresight triggered at certain points, warning him of the future.
It was harder to stay stoic when you already knew your future fate. At times, ignorance is bliss and Paul truly appreciated this quote at this moment.
He couldn't help it though; he was a Heimdall with the God power of foresight. Yet, despite the temptation from his foresight, Paul stayed firm, standing still with his eyes tightly closed with a stern look on his face.
At least a second already passed since he decided to stay still and think and this time was enough for him.
At this moment, with his eyes closed to hone concentration, already in the clarity of combat, the evidence he needed finally started flowing in his head.
'A shapeshifter…,' this was the first piece of evidence.
Paul never had the opportunity to be taught combat lessons by his father before he was murdered, but what he did enjoy through his teenage years was spending enough time with his fiery mother, learning the way of the Age of Gods.
As a faithful Dionysus, Claire Arrakis was devout and extremely knowledgeable, and she did the needful to pass this knowledge on to her children.
Despite the fact that unlike his sister, Paul never really paid attention to the teachings of his mom, at this moment when he needed it most, in a deep state of clarity, all the knowledge started flowing back to him.
'There are only 2 Divine Gods in the world with the domain of shapeshifting, Odin the All Father and the Goddess Hera'.
Immediately after he arrived at this conclusion, Paul did a simple math of addition and subtraction in his head, finally falling on just one Divine God.
'According to mom, the awakened warriors factioned to the Goddess Hera are devious, evil, sneaky, and manipulative but this guy…, he's fearsome'.
'He's deadly, lethal, calculative, like a machine, he's an Odin!'
After this conclusion, the other evidence that he needed immediately started piecing themselves together in his head one after the other.
At this moment, his brain worked on overdrive, urged by the phobia of death.
Paul was not scared of death, but he was scared of the prospects of dying and living his twin sister alone in this unforgivable world of demonic beasts and demonic humans.
The gears in his brain moved swiftly. 'The well-known domains of the Divine Odin are teleportation, longevity, telekinesis, creation- smiths, genius level intellect, shapeshifting, raven kinship, and rarely dream walking'.
As soon as he listed the well-known domains down, his brain immediately narrowed down on one. 'Telekinesis!'
'That dagger that slashed my abdomen, even my ankle…'
Right at that moment, he received another attack.
Bam!
With a soundless grimace, Paul shrugged the pain off as all it did was make his brain even more alert, making it think and calculate at a faster speed.
These days, Paul was scarier when he was in pain.
The gears in his brain continued moving. 'An intermediate awakened Odin with the God powers of telekinesis and shapeshifting, and such a nefarious shapeshifting form'.
And finally, the pieces started connecting in his head. 'A deadly combo'.
'A humanoid black cat with no scales, meaning that his defense is just so-so but his speed is dizzying…'
'The ability to turn invisible and undetectable…'
By now, Paul already confirmed that in his shapeshifting form, not only did this man turn invisible but somehow, he was able to erase his imprint from the world like he was never there in the first place.
If you were not focused or strong-willed enough, in the middle of battle, a weak-willed awakened warrior could literally forget that he was fighting against an opponent.
And against this deadly shapeshifter, forgetting that he existed was a straight ticket to death.
'And the ability of telekinesis…, that dagger, how many of them does he have?'
'Besides, his daggers can also turn invisible'.
By now, Paul already had a concrete knowledge of his enemy in less than a second after staying still, pushing his healing God power to the limit and closing his eyes, now was to find a counter to defeat this enemy.
'I'm not fast enough to match his speed, and he's even more precise than I am, which means fighting with my Stiletto is pretty much useless'.
'I'm not proficient with other weapons, which only leaves…'
Clink!
In one smooth motion, Paul sheathed his last surviving Stiletto in his sheath before raising his 2 hands up, fists tightly clenched in a boxing stance.
After Paul's deep analysis, his solution was hand-to-hand combat!
His eyes remained tightly closed. 'It's now or never!'
The shapeshifter moved again.