The battlefield had fallen into a tense stillness, an eerie calm before the inevitable storm.
Amidst this silence, a strange, dark mist began to seep through the air like a silent curse, thick, heavy, unnatural. This was no ordinary fog.
It was Energy Suppression Mist, Baines's first significant creation from combining Ashen Nightshade and Void Thistle, two very volatile plant specimens. The effect was devastatingly precise—it temporarily canceled out all forms of aura and mana in the vicinity.
It was the perfect trap, however, it had a glaring flaw.
And the flaw? It didn't exempt him. It was unknown whether it would affect him despite using his Ashen-origin arts, but for now, it did.
And now, caught in the very heart of it, he was rendered just as vulnerable as his enemies.
But that was fine.
Because Baines didn't rely only on energy. Basic combat—raw, precise, efficient, and evolved—was his foundation. Even stripped of aura, he was lethal.
