'She's more powerful than I had anticipated,' Kyle thought. 'I heard from the Chief Overseer that the Red Witch is powerful and talented, but they didn't even know that she was fighting with a handicap.'

"How big is the handicap?" Kyle asked. "How much power do you lose with each additional Avatar?"

The Red Witch kept smiling politely. "In order to create an Avatar, you have to split yourself in two. At that point, you will also refer to your original body as an Avatar. In the beginning, both of your Avatars will have 50% of your original power, but they will grow stronger with time. Yet, it's important to note that you will never reach the power of your old body again, relatively speaking."

"The most you will recover is 90%. Both of your Avatars will have 90% of the power of your original body. If you condense a third Avatar, the maximum will be 80%. With a fourth, it will be 70%. I would assume that you realize now why condensing a fourth Avatar is considered a bad idea."

Kyle nodded. 'Yeah, I can see why. Two people with 50% power will be helpless in front of someone with 100% power. The enemy will be twice as fast, twice as durable, and twice as strong. They will launch an attack, destroying one of the 50% power bodies, and the remaining body might not even be able to hit or damage the enemy.'

'This is an overall difference, not a specific one. A Unique Crusher has twice as much Energy in their Center as me. However, their Soul, mind, and body are not much stronger than mine. If all of their Aspects of Power became stronger, it would be much harder to jump a level.'

'Two bodies with 90% power will almost definitely be stronger than one body with 100% power. Even with only a single body at 90% power, the gap can be overcome. You can survive with only one Avatar, but you can also become extremely powerful if you get your second Avatar to join the fight.'

'With three Avatars, you basically need to always travel with two Avatars if you want to have a good shot at surviving a battle. At that point, you might as well only have two Avatars since you're treating two of them as one. Unless you have incredible Battle-Strength, it's a bad idea to condense three Avatars.'

'Creating four Avatars would be idiotic unless your Battle-Strength is unreasonably high.'

Kyle looked at the Red Witch. 'Either she's insane, or her Battle-Strength is ridiculously high.'

As he kept looking at the Red Witch, Kyle felt a confusing mix of emotions. His relationship with the Red Witch was complicated.

She had given him an opportunity to become a Seeker, which had changed his life for the better.

But she had treated him in the worst imaginable way when he became an Overseer.

But she had treated Sebastian very well.

But she had pushed him to join the Cult of Final Fate in the worst way.

But she had saved his life.

Until just recently, Kyle could summarize his relationship with her as overwhelmingly negative, but now, she had helped Sebastian and saved his life.

Was he still pissed at her? Of course! The shit this bitch forced on him was horrible!

Yet, she had also helped him and his friend.

'Friends,' Kyle thought with a sigh as the images of Swamp Dragon, Star Genesis, and Manny shot through his mind. Fierce Breaker was apparently also a part of their group now, but Kyle hadn't been in a lot of contact with him. 'Can I even see them again? They're part of the Array of Stars, while I'm not.'

As Kyle remembered the Array of Stars, his heart filled with rage.

'I did what they told me to do! I went to the Secondary Sector to make a name for myself, but as soon as the first sign of trouble arrived, they stopped helping me! I would be fine with that if Dawnlight were my only enemy. I mean, we're both parts of the Secondary Sector.'

'But that's not the case! My issues didn't come from Dawnlight but from the Contrast Empire! The Contrast Empire intervened in the Secondary Sector and made me a criminal! Metaphorically speaking, Dawnlight and Explosive Karma were two kids in a brawl, while the Array of Stars and the Contrast Empire were our fathers. We fought, and when the other kid lost, their father intervened and tried to punch me.'

'Meanwhile, my father didn't do jack shit! The other kid's dad tried to hit me again and again, and my own father only watched!'

'An Organization is supposed to offer protection against things its Disciples can't reasonably fight against! The Array of Stars didn't even allow me to use my accumulated Contribution Points! Sure, I can't contact them, but that doesn't mean that my friends were unable to! Technically, they could have exchanged my Contribution Points under my name, but the Array of Stars didn't even allow that. After all, can't help a criminal, right?'

As Kyle thought about the Chief Overseer, he felt mixed emotions. ‘He wasn't a bad guy. I believe he tried his best to help me, but as an important member of the Array of Stars, he had to follow the rules. He tried to get the Array of Stars to help me, but he didn't succeed. After all, he could've also just watched from a distance, acting like he wasn't there. Instead, he appeared, answered my questions, and asked the Array of Stars to solve the issue.'

Kyle was reminded of Earth. This kind of dynamic happened there constantly.

A talented and hardworking employee would ask their supervisor for a promotion. They were doing twice as much work as the other employees with half of the errors. The supervisor could see the effort the employee put in and went to the manager, asking for the employee to be promoted. This would be a great benefit for the company.

And then, the manager would shut everything down. Too expensive. Not enough positions, too few soft skills.

The supervisor tried their best, but in the end, they couldn't help the employee.

Something similar had happened to Kyle and the Chief Overseer.

Kyle sighed. 'The Chief Overseer tried his best. I don't think it's his fault that everything went down like this.'

Kyle clenched his fists 'It's the Array of Stars! Their upper management is a bunch of old and timid men, blinded by wealth and status! They forgot the very thing that made them as powerful as they are!'

'Momentum! True Battles! Is the Contrast Empire beatable? Of course! Is it a certain victory? Definitely not! So? That sounds like a standard True Battle to me!'

'What do they think is going to happen? Will the Contrast Empire just stop antagonizing them if they wait for long enough?'

Kyle took a deep breath before thinking about his friends again.

'Will I ever see them again?'

After a bit, he turned to the Red Witch. "I can't work as a Parasite anymore, for obvious reasons," he said. "So..."

"What happens now?"

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