Kuzon knew he was making a few assumptions in his analysis.

In the first place, he hadn’t confirmed that Legris needed to use his existing darkness to form the cocoon, or that Legris couldn’t just make more.

To compensate for this, howver, he had to come up with a plan with the possibility of that in mind—a plan that accounted for Legris’ potential counterattack!

The first and most important part of it was his golden mannequin.

The mannequin was used as a decoy for Legris, and eventually use to bind him. Of course, Legris was able to easily disarm the strings easily, but not before Kuzon activated his plan.

‘Marionette Butterfly’

Unlike the regular Marionette Worms, this one blended properly with its surroundings and host, making it indistinguishable from air or skin.

Since it took on the properties of its host, Kuzon was able to make it indistinguisbable from Legris’ own self.

And so, as he destroyed the rest of the strings, the Marionette Butterfly was able to remain in close proximity to Legris.

There was a chance that Legris would notice it given enough time, so Kuzon decided to use an extremely powerful attack to distract Legris and force him to use up all his darkness to protect himself in his dark cocoon.

The plan worked!

Legris did exactly what he wanted, shrouding himself in the dark cocoon, while completely vulnerable to the Marionette Butterfly.

The question remained, though. 𝒪𝒱𝐞𝗅xt.𝑐𝑶𝓶

How exactly was a butterfly able to defeat someone like Legris? Well… the answer lay in what the insect construct could do.

Laying as many eggs as possible in the form of pollens.

The Marionette Butterfly infected Legris through his ear, infecting it with thousands of Marionette Worms who swiftly developed as they invaded his body.

They took control of his nerves, and eventually all of his bodily functions.

In the end, Legris was completely taken over by Kuzon, who did not rely on brite strength or overwhelming power… but simple tact.

Once Legris was no longer in control, it made sense that his dark cocoon would break down, causing him to take damage.

The conclusion of their fight thus arrived.

‘I used up a lot of energy in that last attack. Plus, the Marionette Butterfly took a lot of energy to create in order to design it as I desired and also due to the numerous Worms it would produce…’

His plan was not without its downsides. He even had to collect all the energy he had spread all around him to achieve his desired result.

He probably had less than ten percent of his total Aether pool left, and he was also mentally exhausted. However, Kuzon was still able to smile as he drew closer to Legris.

He was able to prove his opponent wrong.

‘I know I’m not Jared. I’m his rival.’ That thought alone mae him smile brightly and confidently in the presence of a man who knew nothing about him.

“It’s over now. I’m going to capture you and end this invasion of yours.”

‘Golden Constraints’ Kuzon silently cast a Spell, causing several braces of gold to wrap themselves around Legris.

As a result, he was completely shrouded in golden locks and chains, unable to escape.

‘With the Marionette Worms in control of Legris, I now have full authority over his body. Still, I refuse to be careless.’

Adding extra layers of defenses felt redundant at this point, but Kuzon did so anyway.

‘I should meet up with the others. I wonder the ones that are closeby…’

He never thought he would be able to end the fight so soon, but that in itself brought Kuzon satisfaction unlike any other.

He actually defeated a Legris superiror to the one Jared had fought, and he even managed to bypass the problem of the black energy.

‘I even captured him alive!’

“Haha! I can’t wait to see the look on Jared’s face when I sh—”

~WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHH

!!!~

Like a bolt of lightning—no, much faster than that—Kuzon vanished from his position.

His bulging eyes glowed as cackles of golden energy rippled across his body. His left hand tightly gripped his right hand, which was now missing for some reason, and his face had a deep scowl on it.

It all happened so fast that even Kuzon was still wrapping his head around it, trying his hardest to dull the pain he was feeling in his incomplete right arm.

Pain…?!

He was feeling pain despite still being in his Absolute Emperor’s Transfiguration?!

That meant only one thing!

“Keuk!” His bulging eyes widened even further as he focused all his attention on the man who now stood where he currently occupied.

It was… another Legris!

‘Shit! There’s two of them now? How?!’

Kuzon instantly understood how he had messed up. Thanks to him retracting all the energy from around him, he had no Authority or Sensory Prowess to help him detect Legris until it was too late.

‘He was able to take away one of my arms. If I took a second later, I would be dead!’

Beads of sweat fell from Kuzon’s face as he endured the pain and dulled the rising fear within him.

The Legris he had under his constraint was right beside the new one, and seeing the both of them next to each other just doubled the feeling of dread that he experienced.

Perhaps it was this dread… this uncontrollable fixation he had… that prevented him from noticing yet another looming figure behind him.

“G-guh!!!”

… Not until it was almost too late!

~FWIIIISHH!~

Kuzon vanished once more, but not without losing one of his legs. The searing pain, and the seeping rot of darkness caused him to nearly scream out, but he controlled himself and maintained his distance, swiftly erecting a dense barrier around himself with his remnant energy… though he was unaware of just how much good that would do him.

‘N-no…’

After all, his opponents weren’t merely two Legrises… but three!

*

*

*

A

/N

Thank you all for reading!

Discord Link: https:

/

/

/yMPNRURZJh