Fueled with rage and determination, Magni rushed down the tricky Banette through the twisting domain of shadows, slicing through everything with his Stinging Scissors technique. Babylas leapt and skipped around Magni's attacks, parrying them with sharp blows from the Divine One and knocking the rampaging Scolipede off balance.

He dodged another swing of Magni's horns and skidded under his legs, whacking them with quick blows of his chain staff. Magni roared, collapsing onto his stomach, and fired off Stinging Shower behind himself.

Babylas flipped to his feet and rushed the Scolipede down, swinging Divine One to obliterate the shower of poisonous missiles raining over him. He leapt through the storm, traded the chain staff for his war hammer, and brought it down over Magni.

The hammer struck true, crushing the floor beneath Magni as he howled in pain. Another tick of Speed Boost activated, and he swung with his Stinging Scissors. The guillotine-like horns snapped over Babylas, but caught one of his Shedinja instead.

A second hammer swing struck Magni from below, flipping him into the air. Babylas leapt out from the megapede's shadow before he crashed back onto the floor. He deftly spun the hammer around his shoulders before sinking it back into the shadows.

Babylas dusted his shoulder off and grinned. "Had enough, big guy?"

Magni rolled onto his feet and roared as he struggled through the pain standing up. He stomped his feet down and roared at the ghost puppet, fluttering his cloak.

Babylas snickered. "You are difficult to keep down."

Magni snarled. "Evelot. Evelot is family. I…protect family!"

"You would die for her even though she and her friends bought you at a slave auction?"

"They save me. I…no slave. Friends. They my friends! My family!"

"…Heh. I like you, Magni. You've got moxie." Babylas held his hand out as the ribbon sword, Majestic Wind, rose from his shadow. "Shame I have to cut you down." He whipped the sword down, then lunged forward.

Magni reared his head back. "Stinging Smash!" He summoned the poison-spiked boulder and smashed it down, hurtling spiked rocks at the ghost puppet.

Babylas twirled the ribbon sword and cut through the rocks, leaving not a single pebble or needle to bounce off his face. "You're gonna have to try harder than that!" He dashed around Magni, slicing across his skin in quick succession.

Magni roared as flashes of pink steel lacerated the surface of his body. He tightened his muscles to keep them from going too deep and took off running. He couldn't make use of his speed in the limited space as he was unable to make sharp turns, but he could still build up enough momentum to be a threat.

"Stinging Spear!" He enlarged his horns into toxic spears and blitzed into Babylas.

He landed a direct hit on the bounty hunter, but predictably snagged a Shedinja instead. However, unwilling to be tricked a second time, Magni roared and instantly activated Stinging Smash between his horns. He ran full speed and rammed him head into the wall, sending cracks throughout the foundation.

Babylas leapt out the shadows and glared as the Scolipede pulled his head out of the wall. Pieces of brown shell fell off his horns, smoking with a ghostly aura.

"Tch." Magni returned the Banette's glare. "Ten Shedinja. Now nine. Tough shells, but not unbreaking. Rock Tomb break shells."

Babylas smirked. "So, you lot are now fixating on my Shedinja so I have less opportunities to swap places."

Magni growled. "You make switch…when can't dodge. Fast, but not invincible."

"Well astute, my friend." Babylas snapped his fingers, calling upon his nine remaining Shedinja from the shadows. "Guess we'll have to be more careful whenever you decide to hurl rocks at us." He snapped his fingers again, and the Shedinja vanished back into the shadows.

"We not weak. We strong after death. We here to win, or die trying." Magni snorted. "We save friend, and we kill you."

Babylas snickered. "You're all loads of fun. Perhaps I misjudged your potential."

"You don't know the half of it, asshole!"

Babylas glanced over his shoulder as Amos came flying out of the shadows. With his pincer blade extended, he swung for Babylas' neck. The Banette conjured his unbreakable shield and tanked the hit.

"Seems you're figuring your way around my Hollow Castle technique." Babylas smirked. "I could've sworn I left you to freeze to death."

Amos scowled. "Don't underestimate the Broken Glass Alchemical Company!" He flipped himself over the shield with a burst of sand and sliced at Babylas' head.

Babylas spun, deflecting the strike, and jumped back laughing. "You all have moxie, I'll give you that! Running to death a second time is only for the strong willed!"

Amos landed and launched ahead on another cloud of sand. "The only one dying today…is YOU!"

Babylas stepped back, dodging out of Amos' swing, and fired back with Breaker (the knuckledusters) to the face. Amos growled, flying across the hall and nearly plunging into a shadow. He clamped his pincer over the edge and caught himself in the nick of time.

Magni roared and charged at Babylas. "Leave Amos alone!"

Babylas snapped his fingers, causing the shadows to stretch across the floor. They passed under Magni, causing the megapede to fall into the darkness. His roar echoed through the darkness, falling to who-knows-where inside the hideout. "Do you not see how easy this is for me? My left eye grants me enhanced perception capabilities, and I only revealed it last time to demonstrate the gap in our skill level. Even now while I have it covered, you still can't hope to reach me."

Amos pulled himself back onto the surface and loaded his pincer. "Give any dumbass ten million years to recreate the masterpieces of the world, and they're bound to make something passable!" After loading his pincer, he roared and unleashed a full-on Sandstorm across the space.

Babylas lifted his arm, shielding his face from the sand. He smirked. "What's this?"

"A death brawl!" Flapping his wings, Amos launched forward at great speed and swung his pincer.

Babylas backhanded the strike and deflected Amos around himself. He twirled around Amos as the Gligar viciously swung at the air with his pincer blade trying to cut down the Banette. Babylas seized his arm, spun him around, and slammed his elbow square in the scorpion's face before throwing him over his shoulder.

"Those aren't matches you can lose, you know," Babylas said. "Want to guess how many I've been in?"

Amos spun through the sandstorm before stretching out his wings and vanishing within the thick fog of sand. Babylas pulled out his serrated dagger, Fangs, and juggled it in one hand as he searched out the hidden Gligar.

"So, where's Phoebe in all of this? Are you two planning something for me?" Babylas smirked. "If the plan is to get your butts kicked, I'm impressed. Your plan is coming together masterfully if that's the case—" He lifted the dagger and parried a blade strike on his right. "And with a touch of dramatics, too."

Amos flipped back through the sand and took aim. "Entangling Bullet!" He fired three bullets wreathed in light-green light.

"Stinger." Babylas pulled the stinger-tipped whip from his shadow and cracked the bullets off course. They struck the ground, releasing an explosion of web around him. He dove into his shadow as the webs descended over him.

Amos quickly reloaded his pincer and bounced off his tail, sailing through the sandstorm. "Absolute Zero Bullet!" He aimed down and fired into the floor. He shielded himself under his poncho as an explosion of ice engulfed the space, casting the walls and ceiling in a thick layer of ice.

Laughter bounced off the frozen walls. Amos' eyes flickered about until he saw Babylas' shadow racing across the surface. "You think ice is going to hold me? Shadows are everywhere, Lancaster, and I do mean…everywhere!"

Amos felt movement inside his poncho and quickly threw it off as a fist came flying out with Breaker attached. "Got you!" Amos snatched the arm and attempted to pull Babylas out of the void, but ended up pulling out just his arm, the end frayed in threads of glowing purple.

"Do you now?" Darkness engulfed Breaker and replaced it the Dragon's Iron Breath, Babylas' modified flintlock. "Well, the feeling is mutual."

Amos quickly threw the arm away before it pulled the trigger. He jumped down as a horrific roar of an explosion ignited out from the gun, obliterating the ice across one half of the room. The shock of the blast sent him skidding across the ice and crashing into the wall.

Amos' poncho rose from the floor, and Babylas tossed it aside. He grabbed his airborne arm and jammed it back into socket, stitching itself anew. "Just for the record, I could've done that from your normal shadow, but I like to mix things up from time to time."

Amos stood up and growled. "I wasn't expecting to grab you. I just needed to buy some time."

"Eh?"

"Magni, now!" He leapt out of the way as the megapede suddenly crashed through the frozen wall, leaping out from the shadow occupying it.

"Stinging Spear!" Magni galloped at great speed, crushing the ice under his feet, and plowed into Babylas with his poisonous horns.

The shadows ripped away from the Banette, revealing it to be another Shedinja. However, before it could vanish with its Phantom Force, a bullet fired into its eye socket, and the light trail that followed transformed into a vine.

"Snare Bullet! Get over here!" Amos pulled and flung the possessed carapace into himself. He caught its face between his pincer and slammed it into the ground. "Blaze Bullet!"

A bang followed by an eruption of flame from his pincer commenced, the Shedinja silently screeching as its shell withered to ash. Amos snapped his pincer over the remaining shell, crushing it to pieces.

Babylas stepped out of a shadow and huffed. "Now that was just rude."

Amos flicked the ash off his pincer and pointed at Babylas. "You're going to slip up eventually, and I'll capitalize on every fumble you make from here on out."

Babylas smirked. How fun. When he cast that Sandstorm earlier, he was also funneling it through my Hollow Castle technique to give Magni his location. They're not going down as easily as last time. He placed his hand over his eyepatch. Strangely, the two Shedinja I have on scouting duty haven't located Phoebe yet. She can't get to Evelot without my permission. Is she hiding somewhere in the void? No, I would've sensed if she was inside. So, where is she?

"Tear him down, Magni!" Amos yelled, lunging across the room.

"RAAAAHHHHH!" Magni stomped down and fired off his Stinging Shower.

Babylas pulled out the Divine One and rushed down Amos as the poison arrow shower rained down behind him. He whirled and swung the chain staff at Amos, who ducked and slid around the attacks while firing back with his pincer blade. The poison arrows struck down around them. Amos used his Sand Sensory to predict their movements and dodge out the way while Babylas kept on the offensive, battering through the arrows while swinging at Amos.

Amos jumped back, wincing as the edge of the Divine One clipped his side. Even a small bump from the weapon staggered him. He swung his arm and shrouded himself in more sand.

Babylas leapt back and traded out the chain staff for his psychic bow, Psimon. He whipped out three Galvano arrows and pulled back on the drawstring. "Dodge this." He fired three shots as supersonic speed.

Amos contorted himself as the arrows whizzed past him. Magni barely leapt out the way as the arrows impacted the wall with a loud crack of psychically charged lightning ripping through the air.

Babylas dashed around the sandstorm, firing off arrows blindly. Regardless if he missed, the explosion that followed would rattle even the hardiest Ground-Type. Amos did his best to keep his distance, throwing himself around on updrafts as lightning flooded the space.

The Banette traded the bow for the ghost hook, Reaper, and used his Malarmor to blitz through the sand. He weaved and dashed like a smear of black paint being splashed across a blank canvas, instantly crossing the distance between him and Amos. He swung the hook and phased it through Amos' neck before slamming him into the ground.

"AGH!" Amos gasped.

"Stinging Scissors!" The sand broke apart as two giant, poisonous blades extended between Babylas and tried to snap down on him.

The Banette's Dark-Type armor allowed him to dodge at the last second, and he sliced down Magni's back with the fire katana, Agni. Magni roared in pain, but powered through his injuries and whipped his head around to fire Stinging Shriek. The poison needle-laced scream ripped through the floor and nearly engulfed Babylas, but he swapped places with another Shedinja to let it nullify the impact.

Amos signaled out Babylas' location in the Sandstorm and fired sand bullets in his direction. Babylas deflected them with Agni and rushed down the Gligar. Amos jumped back, dodging a slash at his neck, and tried to stab Babylas with his mechanical stinger. Babylas simply grabbed his tail, whirled him around, and slammed him face first into the ground.

"RAAAHHHHH!" Magni was about to charge with his Stinging Spear, but Amos silently waved his pincer, telling the Scolipede to wait.

Babylas twisted Amos' mechanical pincer and pinned it against the Gligar's chest. He pressed Agni under his chin, the heat tingling his rough skin. Babylas chuckled softly. "I have to admit, you lot are putting up more of a fight than I expected. I almost tempted to concede defeat and let you walk off with Evelot, but that's not really an option."

Amos panted softly, growling at the ghost puppet. "You…just can't help looking down on everyone, can you?"

"It's a habit. So, what was your big plan to stop me really? It can't be this straightforward."

Amos' eyes flickered at the shadows briefly, then he huffed. "It…kind of is."

Babylas snickered. "What? Were you aiming to get your butts kicked until you found the opportunity to shoot me?"

The Gligar's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Actually…yeah. That is our plan."

"Eh?"

"BURKHARD! DO IT NOW!"

Hearing the Gligar's shout echoing from the void of the Hollow Castle technique, Phoebe loaded her rifle and jumped into the shadows. All direction was lost on her as she presumably fell upside-down, but kept her composure as she extended the rifle and peered down the ironsides. Hundreds of different angles across the hideout flew past her, throwing her around as gravity changed on the fly with each fall.

Firing a perfect shot under these conditions was nigh impossible for any sniper. It required insane timing, understanding of the atmosphere, unique conditions, spatial awareness, and an absolute ton of luck. A sniper's main goal was to guarantee they never miss their shot. It's why some of the greatest snipers would spend hours unmoving in a single spot before pulling the trigger or releasing their bowstring. It was all about patience.

Phoebe was an amateur compared to some of the greats, but she had one unique advantage: she was really good at making her own luck.

How do you hit a target that was nigh impossible to shoot?

You shoot at something else instead.

Our secret bullet infused with Magnet Bomb thanks to my Forced Drawing, and another use of Forced Drawing to activate Lock-On. Her right eye widened as a glowing target reticle appeared around her pupil. The seventeen-minute cooldown period is up, and everything has been banking on this shot. Don't screw this chance up, Lamecaster!

She kept falling and falling until she saw the flurry of sand.

"FIRE!" She squeezed the trigger and fired into the exit portal.

The bullet raced out of the shadows and hurtled toward Babylas. Naturally, Babylas sensed it breaching his shadow and tilted out of the way.

"Heh, was that really your plan—"

BANG!

Babylas' eye widened as his left shoulder suddenly ruptured from behind, ectoplasmic blood spraying out from under his cloak. He staggered forward, trembling in confusion as blood dripped down his arm.

What the? I was sure I dodged it.

"Don't underestimate idiots like us."

Babylas glared at Amos, who raised his mechanical pincer at him. To the puppet's surprise, there was a targeting reticle marked on the underside of it, which slowly began to fade.

"So control over the situation, you never stopped to consider we'd be reckless enough to kill ourselves just to win." Amos scowled. "That's why we're willing to do anything to get Evelot back! You hear me?!"

Babylas huffed. Now I get it. Phoebe stayed behind because she was setting up a shot from somewhere else. They combined numerous tracking moves, then Amos used his pincer like a lightning rod to draw the bullet's trajectory toward himself with me in the middle. I got too complacent dodging their attacks.

Amos rolled back and leapt to his feet. "We may not be as skilled as you, but we can at least shut down your tricks!"

Babylas glared. "Huh?"

Amos' eyes flashed purple. "Mimic! Phantom Force!"

"What are you—huh?" Babylas felt something surging from his gunshot wound. He lifted his arm and saw strange, archaic symbols of psychic light wrapping around his skin like chains. They crossed over his face, limbs, and body before locking together, completing the chain.

Phoebe jumped out of the shadows before they closed off behind her. The entirety of Babylas' Hollow Castle technique was receding, returning the darkness to what it once was.

Phoebe's own eye flashed purple, copying Phantom Force as well. "Your Inherited Will is tied to Phantom Force, right? No matter how overpowered it is, it abides by the same principles as all moves!"

Babylas stared at the symbols etched into his skin before smirking. A bullet infused with Imprison. That's unfortunate.

Phoebe pulled out her wind sword. "Lamecaster, go get Evelot! Magni and I will deal with this joker!"

Amos saluted, picked his poncho off the ground, and jumped back. "Now, Phantom Force!" A shadow portal opened up behind him, and he vanished within it.

Phoebe gripped her sword in both hands and scowled. "Let's see how tough you really are without your favorite move."

Magni stomped his feet down and roared. "Now we kill you!"

"…" Babylas sighed and raised Agni at them. "You lot really know how to make things interesting." He grabbed his eyepatch and pulled it down around his neck. The spiraling, starry, purple eye flashed in their direction. "But do you really think I need Endless Darkness to beat you?"

Phoebe clenched her teeth. "Only one way to find out."

"Heh. Been a long time since I've had to fight normally. Hope I'm not too rusty."

Faucher Hideout – Bottom Level

A shadow portal opened up, and Amos jumped out into where Phoebe told me to teleport to. As she promised, Amos had entered Evelot's bedroom, the only place in the hideout she would be.

"Evelot! It's me, Amos! We're here to—" Right as Amos turned around, he froze at the sight of Evelot standing in the center of the room. "…Evelot?"

The young Mimikyu stood still, staring off in space as a dark haze surrounded her. As Amos inched towards her, he heard a strange sound coming from the haze, like the demonic whispers and growls of the tiniest Fairy Pokémon.

"What the—Evelot?" Amos reached out to touch her—

ZAP!

"Agh!" Amos recoiled and covered his pincer, its hard shell scorched by the brief contact with the haze. A ghostly mist hissed off the skin. "What is this…? Is this…Is this what Babylas was warning me about?"

He ran in front of Evelot and knelt. Looking closely, he saw that her right eye was gleaming in a red glow, and it showed signs of a spiraling, starry-like pattern similar to Babylas' eye. However, there was something…darker about the way it moved. Not like the night sky in motion, but like a cauldron of ghastly mist.

"Evelot…what's that monster doing to you?"

Meanwhile, outside in Knife's Edge…

"Pure Water Blast!"

Forced to battle the egotistical Boltund, Arethusa slithered around the ruined town and fired off the water-infused ball of energy. Caractacus barely spared it a glance as the attack exploded against his Negative Space, splashing around the barrier.

It had been roughly half an hour since the BGAC raced to the Faucher's ruined hideout, and that half hour was spent deterring the Milotic from chasing after them. It was a rather mind-numbing series of actions, mostly throwing himself in front of her escape attempts until she gave in and focused all her efforts into crushing him. However, predictably, she couldn't get through his technique.

Caractacus admittedly flinched several times during the first round of attacks, still traumatized by his encounter with Babylas and expecting the Milotic to breach his defenses somehow. However, it became clear she was no more effective than the rest who failed to kill him. He didn't even bother having Alpha sticking by his side, ordering the floating cube to keep watch from a distance in the unlikely event he needed backup.

"Water Serpent's Den!" She wrapped herself in water and lunged into the air. She wound her tail up and careened down onto Caractacus, smashing into his barrier with a high-power Aqua Tail.

Caractacus could've yawned at how ineffective the attack was. The water dispersed on contact, droplets hanging suspended within the field, while Arethusa leapt back.

"Oooh, too scared to come out of your bubble, puppy?" Arethusa taunted.

He scoffed. "Scared? It's not my fault you're too feebleminded to bypass my perfect defense. But if you require me to humor your worthless display of combat, I shall provide a more appropriate challenge to entertain this dull exercise. Electro Ball!" He summoned a ball of lightning in front of his maw, crackling fiercely, and fired.

Arethusa lunged behind a building and ducked her head as part of the wall exploded apart. She surged out from the other side and charged in from behind. Her technique shaped giant fangs in front of her, and she bit down on the barrier. However, once again, the attack failed to pierce even an inch of the barrier.

Caractacus glanced up at the massive shape of water hovering above him and huffed. "Are you trying to kill me, or are you lulling me to sleep hoping I'd be easier prey? Oh, how foolish. If it weren't for the fact I'm stalling you for my acquaintances, I could get a full eight hours of rest. Listening to you scream as you try to break Negative Space would be soothing to the soul."

Arethusa growled. "Shut UP! Water Serpent's Den—" She raised her tail high, twisting the water construct into a cyclone of razor-sharp ice. "Frost Fang Pit!" She slammed the attack down, causing the ground to freeze into a jagged field of ice.

Caractacus yawned as her attack once again failed to touch him. "Oh my, it's gotten colder all of a sudden. Good thing I'm wearing a jacket." He cast an annoyed look back at her. "Just let me know when you're done warming up."

Arethusa clenched her teeth and sprung back from the smug Boltund. There's no way that barrier is unbreakable. If I keep hitting it over and over, it's bound to break eventually. Right?

"Pure Water Blast: Spring Shower!" Inflating her cheeks, she exhaled a barrage of misty, water-coated bubbles.

Caractacus groaned as the bubbles stopped against his barrier while the rest exploded behind him. The attacks dispersed, and more electricity funneled through his fur. "Ugh, now I'm just getting annoyed. Alright, guess I'll do the bare minimum and actually fight you." He stood up and ran toward her.

Arethusa hissed. Dammit! She sprung into the air to gain some distance.

Caractacus stopped and fired Electro Ball after her. She detached part of her construct's tail to intercept the attack and dove into the town. Caractacus gave chase, following the slithering trail of water left behind.

"Since you clearly suck at fighting, why don't you just tell me what Cain's up to? What's up with Project Talos? Is he seriously trying to create artificial life? Humor the budding curiosity of a fellow scientist. It's about the only useful thing you'll accomplish today—"

A building suddenly exploded, scattering debris like gunfire at him. He stopped and observed the debris as it flew by with several large stones getting trapped against his Negative Space. From the depths of the destruction, Arethusa appeared and snapped her tail against the barrier, crushing the debris against it.

Caractacus glared unamusingly at her. "I'm starting to think Cain keeps you around when he needs someone to successfully capture a baby or an unhatched egg. Seems about your skill level."

Arethusa snarled and bounced back. "You think you're funny? Well—" She increased the size of her technique and used the water tail to coil up a building. "Here's a smashing joke for ya!" She ripped the building out from the ground and hurled it into the air.

Caractacus sat on his haunches and pulled out a canteen of water as the building came crashing down on top of him. Arethusa landed, cackling at her success, but then froze as the dust cleared. Caractacus' barrier kept the debris from burying him alive.

"What?!" she screamed.

Caractacus finished his drink, pocketed the canteen, and walked out of the wreckage, the debris sliding off his barrier harmlessly. "Perhaps I'm overestimating you. Since you're too stupid to figure this out, let me spell it out for you: the harder you hit me, the less likely you're going to break the barrier. And the more you hit me, the stronger the barrier gets. Is that too complicated for your peanut-sized brain, or do I need to spend the next half hour drawing child-level diagrams until your brain finally sparks the eureka moment?"

Arethusa huffed and growled through clenched teeth. "You…irritating, little—"

"I'm starting to think all the victims you drowned let you drown them because you were just that pathetic at killing people that there was no reason to go on living anymore."

"Will you SHUT UP!" Arethusa fired her Pure Water Blast at him, but it harmlessly exploded against the barrier.

"You're not used to having no control over the situation, are you? Must feel nice. Your victim at your mercy. You entangle them, and then you drag them into the water. They struggle and squirm while you squeeze them tighter. Their life in your metaphorical hands. You could let them go, you could prolong their suffering, or you could break their necks. It's all entirely up to you, and you hate it when someone can fight back. You must love the sound of their screaming underwater. After all, they can't talk if they can't breathe."

Arethusa panted heavily, moving away from the Boltund as she tried to rein her bearings in. She never had to deal with anything like this. Someone who could completely deny her lust to drown and induce suffering. She hated that confidence in his eyes. That apathy at her attempts to subdue him. She wanted that precious darkness to fill his eyes. The light to be snuffed out. For his face to twist with an inevitable despair as his life drifts into the depths of the ocean. That look soothed her soul better than any lullaby. How she longed to see such suffering.

Arrogance was a sin, and she was the divine arbiter of suffering that brought the arrogant back down where they belonged.

Caractacus raised his paw and beckoned her forward. "Come on. Let's just end this already."

She clenched her teeth. So quick to end things? No, no. Suffering is a patient man's game. It can't be rushed. It's a slow burn that must be savored for the time we have together. So long as that barrier stands between us, how could I possible hope to…

Her eyes widened.

"Since you're too stupid to figure this out, let me spell it out for you: the harder you hit me, the less likely you're going to break the barrier. And the more you hit me, the stronger the barrier gets."

She blinked twice, then a wide, shark-like grin stretched over her face. How foolish I was. I was so desperate to get to the fun part when the solution was so simple. You're so arrogant in your defenses that you felt the need to explain how it works to me. But if that's indeed how it works, then I wonder what would happen if I…

Caractacus glared, spotting the mischievous twinkle in the Milotic's eye. "What's with you?"

She snickered. "You're about to find out." She sprung high into the air and coiled herself into a spiral high above him. "Let me introduce you to true despair! Water Serpent's Den: Domain of Drowning!"

Water erupted out from her body and fell like a descending curtain. It splashed over the ground and curved into itself, crashing from all sides against Caractacus' barrier. He watched as water started to rise around him, his brow raising in confusion. Arethusa spun faster and faster, pouring down heaps of water over him that continued to be pushed back against his barrier.

What is this?

He felt his paws leaving the ground, and he floated up in the water with his barrier keeping him dry. He stabilized himself and drifted along the water while scanning his surroundings. The water had converged on itself, forming and retaining the shape of a massive bubble that continued to expand. Many of the ruined buildings were swept up in the water, and some Freaks who got swept up flailed desperately for the bubble's surface.

Caractacus finally spotted Arethusa, who swam circles around his barrier. She coiled around it, careful not to touch it, and grinned at the trapped Boltund.

"My pretty little puppy has nowhere to go now~," she taunted.

Caractacus scoffed. "Really? This is your plan? To suffocate me? I can easily modify my barrier to let pockets of air in while keeping the water out. You'll pass out from exhaustion before I run out of air."

She snickered. "Oh, you sweet, dumb puppy. Don't let the pressure of winning overwhelm you." She swam off and gently swam through her domain.

Caractacus looked around and saw translucent, Milotic-like serpents flowing through the water. They coiled around the trapped Freaks and started to strangle them in the water. He couldn't hear their screaming, but he could see the air being forcefully squeezed out from their bodies. With how translucent the serpents were, it almost looked like they were being strangled by an unseen force.

He glanced at his barrier and noticed it was becoming a bit more opaque than normal. It only got like that when he was intentionally putting pressure against it. A small current of electricity funneled back into him as it held back the water.

He maintained his collected attitude, refusing to show weakness in front of the psychotic Milotic, but a twinge of concern rang within. Arethusa must've figured out a rare, but very real flaw in the barrier's defenses, one only he knew about.

This…might be a problem.