Greyashe chapter 369 is entitled "Perception."

Previous chapter 368: Cross counter.

Next chapter 370: What we must do.

Summary page

-Short summary-

Van and Butcher's fight continues as the unique condition of not actually touching the opponent beginning to rear it's ugly head. Can Van win?

-Long summary-

There is nary time to think as the two charge at and barely avoid one another. Butcher hits the ground moving and turns back to strike at Van before he has time to switch direction. The farseer senses this and leaps over Butcher before he is rended apart by the aether barely avoiding it, but being disoriented by the heat as Butcher zooms by. One touch from either opponent is all it takes to end the fight, be it through Van's ability to manipulate the thoughts of his opponent, or Butcher's aether which would, well....butcher him. It's ironic that a fight which should be over with fairly quickly like this one is actually taking quite some time to conclude due to this stipulation. Moreover Van is unsure just how much stamina the sentient has. While he made sure to rest at every opportunity he had before coming to this fight, he is still only human, and therefore only has a limited amount of stamina to work with. If releasing the full fury of the recall also augments Butcher's stamina, Van is doomed. How can he possibly outlast a being that has had millennia to prepare for this?

Butcher is upon him again in mere seconds and the farseer is only barely able to lean and leap out of his way before getting a face full of aether. Rolling and pivoting himself into an upright position, Van dashes to the opposite end of the throne room, as another mobile aether slash travels at him speedily destroying the floor in it's wake. Van's reaction time window is shortening and he knows it. He can't take the aether straight on, and eventually it will catch him off guard long enough to either vaporize him or allow Butcher the necessary time to do it himself. Never has becoming tired of moving been such a liability in a fight! The aether flies into the wall where Van once was and explodes sending debris everywhere. This is it. Van needs to go on the offensive, as unlikely as it is that he will be successful attacking the sentient head on. If he can push Butcher back even just a little, that will create the opening for him to follow up with an attack of his own. If not that then at least give him the opportunity to collect himself and think of a slightly less suicidal plan. Though, what can he do with no ranged attacks of his own?  The farseer then realizes he has options everywhere just waiting for him. With a small smile, he clenches his teeth and whispers to himself "It's go time".

As if Butcher heard him he dashes forth coating himself in the black abyss that is his aether, and charges at the farseer swallowing up debris and the floor in his wake leaving a burning line of destruction. Heaving himself out the way, Van rolls and ducks into the line of debris so that Butcher has no choice but to turn back. The sentient stops and turns around with an expression of pure spiteful malice, and readies another swing of aether to send at Van instead. The aether flies at the farseer still hidden in the track of destruction at high speed, but at the last minute Van shoves himself backward and the floor explodes into pieces now leaving a platform in the middle of the room and the other half where the splintered remains of the throne remains; where Van currently stands at attention.

Butcher's lip curls upward in mock delight of the situation. So the little pissant intends to control what direction he's going by limiting his options?  It is true that with all of his awesome power that he cannot fly, but why bother going to his opponent when he can just attack from a distance? He knows well that the boy has no ranged attacks, or they wouldn't still be doing this. It is the other reason why he had eliminated the angel after all. Clapping his hands he spreads them apart with the darkness of the aether between them, and fires a rapid volly of aether attacks around the room as Van leaps, ducks, and dodges them. The searing heat of the attacks wearing him out each time one whizzes past. Two separate shots burn his right hand and left ear, but he keeps moving. If he can tell where the attacks are coming from, then the fight becomes exponentially easier. It might be the dense magic surrounding the sentient or that his own magic ability is somehow betraying his natural farseeing but he is only able to get a fuzzy picture of what Butcher intends to do next, rather than the clear, high definition vision he normally receives. While it's true Van only has one platform to reach his enemy, the same goes for Butcher. Sending aether attacks as he has might be effective in slowing him down, but they can't kill the same way Butcher can face to face. So come Butcher. Come and let them end this fight once and for all

Butcher surprises Van with a slasher smile and asks what happened about all that "killer intent" he had earlier? Wasn't this what he was bragging about? The "only opportunity" he has to defeat him? Yet he's taken such a cowardly way out...trapping his foe using parlor tricks! Why it's almost as if he actually came in here with the intention of stopping Butcher without losing his own life! If one isn't willing to risk what they have come to take from another, then what hope do they have of stealing it away? Did he come here to live or to win?!

Van stops.

An aether burns a hole right through his hand.

The farseer's eyes well up as the pain ransacks his body.

Yet that is not what causes him the most agony. It is clear that Butcher is only trying to get to him with his jeers, yet there is some truth in what the sentient is saying. What had happened to him between coming in here with Claire and the fight up until this point? He really thought he would be able to put aside his feelings and morn for his friend after everything was right, but feelings will not be denied their due course. He is furious, upset, unhappy, and joyous all at the same time. This discord of feelings is preventing him from doing what needs to be done....it is an anchor to the "life" he so desperately wants to hold onto. He glances at his palm which now has a gaping hole in it, and almost has to stop to vomit, the blood gushing out raising the bile in his stomach. What if....this is what Butcher wanted? The thought is like his visions of the sentient; fuzzy and lacking in focus at first, but becomes clearer the more he dwells on it. It makes sense, since the one advantage he has over the sentient is not being afraid to die to accomplish his goal of defeating him and breaking the "recall" once and for all. Take that away, and there is nothing; nothing  that he has in advantage over Butcher. Yet with that one advantage comes myriads of possibilities.... something even the sentient knows and fears. What if then, killing Claire was both indulging his sadistic fancies and a calculated move to throw him off his balance?

What does that matter at this point?

The farseer closes his eyes and contemplates this parallel train of thought. So he had perceived what Butcher had been planning.....does it mean much of anything in the end? Not really. It doesn't change that there is only one outcome for this struggle.

Van can feel moisture on his cheeks, and dabs a finger on his face realizing that he is crying tears of black blood. He remembers this happening before when Claire had fought the new God way back when he and his friends had infiltrated GMAGY. His eyes were seeing something that shouldn't be happening....was his thought back then. Now he realizes that this is their way of rebelling against something they do not want to happen from the bottom of his heart, but has to for the greater good. Back then it had been Claire fighting against Kukth and risking her life, and now it is...

Thrusting his uninjured hand into his jacket, Van places his injured hand on his face as tears of black blood drip through the hole mixing with the red. With his sclera burning a hue of red and orange, He declares that he has "perceived" Butcher's plot, and will hesitate no more.