(Previously: Shadow destroys a building, burying Chais in the rubble.)
Shadow looked down at the rubble one last time, somewhat regretting the outcome. But it wasn't his fault, he convinced himself.
He wasted no more time retrieving Vecto's orb. He stood hunched over the chrome-gray orb, noticing the small crater formed around it. He lifted it and turned to claim Chais' trench coat. But there was a guy wearing it. It was Chais.
"You didn't think you'd get rid of me that easily, did you?" Chais said adjusting the coat he just put on.
"But I just buried you ..."
"Yeah, well, I had some teleporter thing-a-ma-jig in my pocket," Chais explained, scratching his head. "Borrowed it from a Dinishman."
Shadow smirked. "So you're full of tricks, huh? Me, too. You gonna leave now?"
"Why? And miss all the fun?"
Shadow grinned. He didn't bother to reply. His arms went missing instead.
Chais witnessed Shadow's arms disappear. It was bizarre. They just vanished. No blood, no screen trick. The limbs were there one second and gone the next—taking Vecto's orb with it.
"Man, that's creepy!"
"You see, I can do a lot of tricks by manipulating light waves," Shadow explained.
Chais took notice of Shadow's sheath and could see his blade magically sliding from it, slowly disappearing as it was removed.
Shadow approached him.
"Now, we can do this the hard way or the brutal way," Shadow warned.
"Not much of a choice," Chais said, extending his blade. In a fraction of a second, he felt wind ripple by, followed by a sting trailing down his bare chest. He looked down to see blood trickle from a cut on his skin, then looked back at Shadow.
"OK, that's it!" Chais yelled. He quickly snatched an orb from within his coat and crushed it with his hand.
Shadow appeared still, but he was actually slashing with his katana. The strikes wouldn't hit Chais, though. They were clashing with an invisible field. It was a magnetic field that Chais created by crushing that orb. It repelled the blade's metal.
It gave Chais enough time for him to study Shadow. There—his shoulder blade—it twitched. Chais dropped his shield and lunged his sword at Shadow but clashed with an invisible object in front of Shadow's face.
Shadow's arms reappeared, as well as Vecto's orb. Chais' sword was against the orb.
"You're lucky he still has some shield left," Shadow commented. "Not long before it suffocates." He then completely disappeared.
(Will Chais actually succeed in getting Vecto's orb? Find out more in the next installment of Vecto: Voyage!)