My Talent's Name Is Generator Chapter 785 Too Late

[Armed Eternals PoV]

By the time I launched the attack, a sense of something off hit me hard.

Before, my sword had sliced right through such domains without issue. I'd shattered entire realms where barriers like this filtration field stood as unbreakable. The sweeping curve of deathmist I unleashed wasn't wild; it was precise, built in layers, honed over ages of battle. It ought to have eroded that barrier gradually, wearing it down until it crumbled from the strain.

But it halted abruptly.

I watched the whole scene play out, yet failed to grasp what happened.

Every sign pointed to him being just a human, but he blocked our assault like it was a minor nuisance. Essence wrapped around him, flowing through his every vein, each inhale, every motion, while he also handled deathmist in amounts and clarity that defied all logic. Inside him, those powers didn't fight. They didn't push back against one another. They simply shared space.

Just that fact alone disturbed me deeply.

I'd spotted the quick jump in his bodily power when he triggered some inner device he depended on. His might rose fast and smooth, like a restraint had snapped off instead of any added surge. At least that aspect made sense to break down. Sudden power boosts were something I knew well.

Yet the deathmist...

That element stayed beyond my reach.

Regardless of how far I pushed my control, no matter my efforts to meddle on a fundamental plane, the deathmist under his command ignored me completely. It refused to react. It acted like part of an isolated network.

And that truth shook me more than the failed strike ever could.

Since if I couldn't affect it, the domain stood no chance either.

And without the domain holding him down, we'd lost command of this fight.

My gaze sharpened.

I shifted right away, twisting my wrist to unleash another blow, wider this time, bolstered by a vibrating wave designed to shatter stacked barriers. The human countered by piling up shields, rough in form, wasteful in build, yet horrifying in power. Layer after layer rose to meet the threat, not set up ahead, but created on the spot.

He was adapting fast.

That thought sparked a chill of worry in me.

Then my ally advanced, lunging with a fist. The domain shuddered as dark deathmist lightning gathered on his knuckles, growing so thick that the air itself wailed. That punch had broken plenty in the past.

The human faced it head-on.

With his own fist.

Deathmist burst from his barrier, shaping into a huge fist that smashed straight into my comrade's strike. The blast wave ripped through the outpost, yanking up chunks of the floor. The impact jolted through me, making the outpost's core fight to steady itself.

Yet the barrier endured.

I gaped in shock.

This went beyond strange. This spelled real trouble.

His stores of deathmist showed no real drop. Now I sensed it clearly, weaving through the domain like an extra vein.

The shift hit before the human even moved.

Tension gripped the space near him, as if existence itself tensed up, and that alone ignited my survival senses. I steadied my footing, dropping low, tilting my sword to pull in every strand of deathmist. Next to me, my partner stood tall, all laxness vanishing from his form. We synced up without a word.

Deathmist rushed in response, thickening and weighing down, squeezing until the domain warped beneath the force. I recognized the buildup of a finishing move, the sort built to close fights, not drag them out.

I lifted my blade, allowing the deathmist to coil along it, twisting ever closer until the air twisted by the edge.

"Oblivion Sever."

A massive ray burst out, thick and fiercely packed, ripping a path through the void as it locked in. A rush of certainty filled me. This would end him.

Right then, my partner pressed ahead and lifted his hand. Deathmist mixed with black lightning, crafting a giant palm hovering over him.

"Null Judgment."

Both assaults launched in unison.

I'd braced for pushback and resistance.

But not for the explosion of power.

The human's aura flared wildly, like chains inside him had burst free. The domain carried the feel of it to me, a brief pressure swell that made our deathmist falter for an instant.

Two giant hands materialized before his barrier, stacked and strengthened, deathmist bending to his command with fierce loyalty.

The ray hit first.

Then the palm slammed down.

The crash was devastating.

The blast swept over the barren world.

When the glow died down, the barrier remained intact.

Unshattered.

I stared, my shock plain to see. That combo should have crushed him flat. Should have pierced his guards, thrown off his grip, driven him back. But his deathmist didn't merely hold against ours. It flat-out rejected my sway entirely.

That's when the human mentioned time. Thirty seconds.

I got it then, his true game.

Unraveling it.

My hold on my sword clenched harder.

"We cannot allow this to continue," I said sharply.

He glanced at me. "You're overreacting."

"No," I replied. "You are underestimating."

Now I felt his intent pushing out, probing steadily. Challenging the domain's laws. Charting them. One crack found, and this whole setup would mean nothing.

"Pull back," I ordered.

"What?" he snapped. "Why would we—"

"Because if he finishes decoding it, this base becomes his classroom," I said. "And we become examples."

That shut him up.

I spun and dashed away, covering kilometers in one leap. The rest trailed after. The outpost stirred around us, its core functions stirring as I granted access.

This wasn't about holding anymore.

This called for total wipeout.

I lifted my arm and carved the symbols by hand. Not the basic auto-runes the outpost ran on, but the ancient kind. Those carved into battle-machines built to slay Saints.

The huge vessel behind us rumbled.

Panels moved. Locks snapped open. Old mechanisms howled as they stirred from sleep. Over the outpost, the trio of deathmist orbs shook, their spin breaking as pull reversed around them.

Layered symbols appeared in the sky near the vessel, each snapping into place with harsh decisiveness.

The orbs reacted.

Deathmist tore from them in huge floods, flows merging at one spot above the armament grid. Reality cracked as the ray took shape, a streak of destruction packed tight enough to drill through a world's heart and beyond.

I let it fly.

The ray howled through emptiness, racing at the human's barrier with total intent. I needed him erased now.

I observed intently.

In the final instant, a difference emerged.

Past the barrier, a shadow rose.

A slab.

Timeless. Immense. Just its aura twisted sight, its form alone setting my gut on fire. The human extended his arm.

And the ray disappeared.

Consumed.

A whirlpool spun up, steady and ruthless, gulping the strike as if it never was. The deathmist meant to level lands poured in like a stream to an ocean without end.

That device... that power...

No more trial run.

Total error.

We'd switched roles. No longer predators.

We'd arrived too late.