The axe spun head over tail as it flew across the rapidly dwindling distance towards Seth, the air itself whistling as it was split apart by the glistening blade that would cleave Seth in two just as easily.

As it flew, and as he recklessly charged towards it, Seth cast out his threads towards the rapidly approaching axe. Not his steel threads, but the spectral one's that would allow him to truly take control of the weapon. He wanted to turn it into one of his puppets, turn the dwarf's own weapon against him and use it to cleave his raggedy head off of his hairy shoulders.

Yet as soon as the spectral threads touched the wooden shaft of the axe, Seth immediately had to recoil them back as he hissed in pain. It was an instinctual reaction to the flash of pain, like pulling your hand away after grabbing a hot frying pan.

It was exactly the same thing, even down to the burning sensation that erupted at the ends of his threads when they tried to make contact.

He had never tried to take over someone else's Requital's before, Only ever discarded weapons or his own Requitals. Assuming that this axe was indeed some kind of Requital that the dwarf had received, even if it wasn't it was still overflowing with a mixture of mana and soul energy that helped repel Seth's threads.

Theoretically, if he force his threads onto it and pushed out the dwarf's influence, there was a chance to take over the weapon given enough time. A chance that he unfortunately didn't have for one very specific reason, and that reason was AXE!

Quickly tilting his body to the side in a last minute dodge, the axe blade sung a heavenly tune as it passed by Seth's body. It just missed him by a hair, a fact he was painfully aware of as it actually shaved off some of his hair which was sticking out.

As it blurred past his head, he could even see his own pale reflection in the shining blade, before it sailed passed him and finally stuck itself into the ground a few metres behind. Although, Even seeing that handsome devil in its blade wasn't enough to make him feel better about that close shave. At least it was a teachable moment.

Equipped with his new knowledge, and a slightly new haircut, Seth continued forward towards the dwarf as his arms charged with mana. It wasn't going to be too difficult fighting with two hands again, since he did it with Corvus so much, but it was still nice to think about.

However, just as he was about to leap forward and let loose another fully charged punch, Seth noticed the dwarf's face, and the sly smirk he had hidden beneath his beard. But why would he... Oh god.

Whirling his head around, Seth forced his eyes to the very corner and strained them to look over his shoulder as quickly as possible, until he could see the axe with the mirror like blade once more. The axe which was swirling through the air, right towards them, beaconed by the outstretched hand of the Giant Dwarf.

Unlike before, where it was spinning vertically, now it was spinning diagonally. Ready to cleave through his shoulder, slice apart his organs and come out of his hip. No simple body tilt would save him from this.

Seth skidded to a halt, abandoning his punch and crouched down. At first he was going to roll out of the way, but as he crouched the flying axe began to shift its course, soaring closer to the ground so even with his crouch it would cleave him apart.

He sunk further into the crouch, rerouting the power into his legs as he prepared to flip over it at the last minute. In his mind, he was desperately hoping that he could time it right, so that it didn't have time to redirect itself to follow him.

Seth was not ready to lose his legs as well as his arm, they'd have to start calling him stumpy or something. That was unexpectable. Oh god, was this what it was like to fight him and his flying weapons? It was definitely not as fun on this side of the encounter.

Thankfully, it seemed something was watching over him, as the flying axe suddenly wobbled in its flight path before catching into the ground before it could reach him. A dazzling light show flashed behind Seth, as a stream of lightning erupted from Astra's two, pointed fingers and struck the dwarf in his ugly face.

Unsurprisingly, being struck by lightning was enough to disrupt his concentration, breaking his control over the axe as he recoiled in pain.

Yet even still, Astra didn't relent. The swarm of buzzing insects still swirled around her, like flies around shit. At this point it was like they had accepted Astra as their queen, constantly buzzing their little wings and generating boundless electricity that Astra used to fuel her endless stream of lightning.

The Dwarf raised his hand in front of his face, catching the stream of lightning in his palm and pushing it back, as his face quickly began to knit itself back together. All except from his beard, leaving him with a large bald patch in his regal mane.

As the dwarf's hand was being burnt to a stumpy crisp by the unlimited power of the Queen of Lightning, she suddenly cut off the dazzling torrent of lightning. However, the dwarf barely had a single second to regain his posture, as Seth leapt into the air using his stored power and lashed out.

He whipped his foot directly into the bald patch of the dwarf's beard, treating it like a target for his rage, as his foot connected with the bullseye. A thunderous boom echoed out as Seth quickly flipped in the air and gained some distance, falling into place beside Astra.

The dwarf stumbled back from the impact, as blood sprayed from his lips and a tooth clattered to the ground. He summoned the axe back into his hand, letting out a rumbling growl before charging forwards to engage the pair.

Astra and Seth glanced at each other, before moving without another word, immediately splitting off in different directions as they moved with one mind. That was the benefit of hunting together so often, even if Seth didn't partake in the meat very often or only did so as Corvus instead of himself. But such details didn't matter to either one of them, all that mattered was what was in front of them.

Astra mainly moved out of instinct, a familiar feeling of cooperation as Seth moved to take advantage of the opportunities that she was creating, before she had even created them. She would stun the giant with a quick lightning bolt, and before the flash had even subsided he was already there ready to batter his fists into the towering colossus.

The same happened in reverse, she never felt the need to defend herself against the axe, always feeling deep inside that Seth would be taking care of it. Giving her opportunities to blast her lightning.

When the lightning became ineffective, Astra immediately switched to metal shards she had lining her arm like scales. Under her command the shards, like blades of daggers, lifted from her arms and immediately shot forward, peppering the Dwarf like bullets and tearing through his flesh.

However, she was not as skilled as Seth in puppeteering multiple of the shards at once, moving them more like a swarm that moved as one instead of individual blades that attacked from all sides. All of it, conducted by a small node in her brain, a part that no human had, but certain animals like sharks did.

An electroreceptor. At least that's what it was similar to. But how could it be so simple as that?

Regardless of it's complexity, that was her mutation from transcending, and why she was able to control her electric touch better than she could before. It allowed her to sense faint electric currents, like those produced by people's nervous systems when they moved or the thrum of an electrical wire deep within the earth.

If she concentrated enough, she could even feel the shift in the weather or the pull of an electromagnet. So it stood to reason that using this sensor, she was able to turn herself into an electromagnet and control the electric storm within her own body.

However, even with this new ability, and their stellar teamwork, it wasn't as if they were utterly untouchable.

As Seth leapt into the air, he snatched one of Astra's scale blades out of the sky and plunged it into the dwarf's head. At least, that was what he was planning to do. But while they had been working on instinct, like a well oiled machine, the dwarf had been busy studying that machine, discovering it's weakness. It's patterns. Patterns they had learned fighting mindless beasts, instead of intelligent foes.

So when Seth leapt up, after Astra had opened another opportunity, the dwarf ignored the Mistress of Magnetism and whirled around. His thick, meaty fist slamming into Seth's chest with the power of a runaway train, sending the skinny young man flying through the air. His bare body crashing through building after building, walls crumbling from the impact as buildings collapsed on top of him.