Inside the battered room, Klein, whose top hat had fallen to the side and whose clothes were damaged, faced off against the massive, bat-winged demon Gilshiais from about four meters away. The scene was eerily quiet, like a puppet show.
In fact, Klein still had some spare strength to do other things.
Back then, when "Marionettist" Rosago forcibly controlled both him and Sharon, he could simultaneously resist the projection possession of the "Wraith," manipulate flames, summon infernal streams, and kill the shadows summoned by Sharon. If his focus hadn't been misdirected, taking the Sequence 5 "Wraith" lady as his main target, Rosago could have long ago spared the attention to kill Klein, never giving him the chance to use the "Filthy Slur" charm. Now, although Klein was certainly inferior to his opponent, there was only one enemy!
Of course, there wasn't much he could do. Without giving up control of Gilshiais, he could move, but not too quickly. He could use his own Beyonder powers that placed a smaller burden on his spirituality, but he couldn't spare the focus to activate the mystical items he carried, or draw and fire his gun with large movements.
And until the target was controlled to a sufficient degree, many attacks could push or stimulate the opponent, causing them to increase their resistance to the manipulation of the "Spirit Body Threads," or even show signs of breaking free.
Thus, Klein had to wait.
Just then, his heartbeat suddenly quickened by two beats, and an uncontrollable sense of fear and tension surged within his mind.
He couldn't help but suspect that Gilshiais's companion, whose intentions had been "twisted," was about to return!
Not good! An emotional fluctuation! Klein was startled for a moment, then used his meditation techniques to forcibly calm the turmoil within him.
Haha... he has... an emotional fluctuation... an opportunity... A joy rose in Gilshiais's heart, a slow thought crossing his mind.
Then, relying on his own Beyonder ability, he tried to amplify Gehrman Sparrow's fear and tension, planting a seed of emotion.
If successful, he only needed a complete "detonation" to render the other party half-crippled, unable to affect him anymore!
No... how... ineffective... his... emotional fluctuation... is gone... Gilshiais's scarlet eyes constricted slowly, gradually filling with surprise, shock, and anger.
Klein, who had expected the "Apostle of Desire" to take the opportunity to counterattack, completely calmed his mind, only to find that nothing had happened. The curved ram horns on Gilshiais's head had clearly burned away, yet he hadn't tried to exploit the emotional fluctuation!
With a shift in thought, Klein roughly understood what had happened:
It wasn't that Gilshiais didn't want to manipulate his fear and tension, but that he had failed!
From sensing the emotional fluctuation, he had to first spend several seconds processing the situation, then another two or three seconds making a decision, and finally spend even more time organizing his thoughts and mobilizing the corresponding Beyonder power. All in all, it would take at least ten seconds to complete the response.
From detecting the problem to calming his emotions, Klein had only taken about three or four seconds in total.
Thus, Gilshiais's Beyonder ability faced an enemy in a normal state, so it naturally failed to take effect.
Simply put, the latency was too high! In a situation like this, fine operations are out of the question... Klein grumbled to himself, then suppressed his schadenfreude and continued to deepen the control.
After about another ten seconds, Gilshiais seemed to understand where the problem lay. He stopped considering methods targeting desires and emotions. Relying on his powerful demonic body and spirit, he resisted the manipulation from the "Spirit Body Threads" while slowly and laboriously flapping his bat-like wings, causing the faint blue flames coiled around them to gradually coalesce and form fireballs.
Klein could almost foresee a saturation bombardment of fireballs about to descend. Without hesitation, he diverted a bit of his spirituality and snapped his fingers with his right thumb and middle finger.
Snap!
Those faint blue flames surged up and completely disintegrated before they could truly materialize, as if setting off a grand display of fireworks behind Gilshiais.
"Magician," "Flame Manipulation"!
Gilshiais tried to struggle further, but his movements grew slower and slower, more and more like a rusty puppet. Klein easily sidestepped the demonic language he had released with all his might.
Three seconds. Two seconds. One second... Klein suddenly stopped, his gaze locking onto Gilshiais's head, which was missing its curved ram horns.
At this point, it would take at least another two and a half minutes to fully control this "Apostle of Desire" and turn him into a puppet, but Klein had no intention of doing so. He had never had such an intention from the start!
This would take too much time, and Gilshiais's accomplice would surely return before then!
Klein's goal from start to finish was only one: to control him to a certain extent, so that an attack within that limit wouldn't help Gilshiais escape his predicament!
Scarlet eyes, a ferocious face, and fangs dripping with saliva reflected in Klein's eyes. He opened his mouth and uttered a single word:
"Bang!"
An air bullet! A Sequence 5 air bullet!
It was already comparable to a bullet fired from a steam rifle!
Bang!