RETIRED TRANSMIGRATION: The Shadow Loss Chronicles

SIGN

Being of significantly higher mass and weight than the tumbling canister which also meant that he had a significantly greater terminal velocity than the not as streamlined device, the hooded figure was able to reach it mere seconds after zooming past Avery.

Once back in his possession, the hooded figure flattened his orientation, opposing the wind which immediately slowed down his descent and took him off terminal velocity. He had accomplished the first phase of his goal and now it was time for the second phase which was surviving falling from the sky without a parachute.

The hooded figure who had so far portrayed a good level of calmness, saw how close earth had gotten, giving him a time span to save himself before he became a splatter of dismembered body parts on the forest floor or a squired piece of meat on a tree.

With the time of action established, the hooded figure started looking around his environment. He was trying to focus on and find a specific sign, when suddenly, he heard a growling sound from behind that pulled his attention.

The hooded figure quickly rotated his body in a one hundred and eighty degrees angle, turning his back to the earth and facing the clouds which allowed him to see Avery who at that point had completely been taken over by the Shadow Loss Fever.

With no sense of self left to ground his actions, Avery was now akin to a rabid beast, just like Cassandra was, and he stretched his hands, aiming for the canister in the hooded figure's hand.

The hooded figure followed Avery's trajectory, looking at the canister in his hand and then back at Avery. He smirked and chuckled, his mouth showing as for some reason the blurring phenomenon no longer existed.

"No max baritone griff" Avery heard the hooded figure say and this time his body didn't cringe. All he heard was a normal voice without the auditory sensation akin to a cat's claws being dragged across a chalkboard.

The hooded figure watched Avery inching at terminal velocity which he would have reached by now if he had made his body more streamlined. Unfortunately, being completely taken over by the Shadow Loss Fever had robbed all intelligence from his mind, leaving only instincts and a singular focus that nearly made up for the handicap.

The hooded figure who had seen what he wanted used the pushing wind to perform yet another one hundred and eighty degrees spin— facing earth like he was supposed to. The new orientation changed where the canister was and Avery was caused to change trajectory once more— an action that killed his momentum a bit.

Once facing earth, the hooded figure reoriented himself again, this time going into a diving posture. Immediately, his speed increased towards terminal velocity, but regardless Avery wasn't far behind.

This chase went on for only a few seconds. If left to the mindless Avery, it would have continued until they both hit the ground but the hooded figure was different. He had to find a way to survive this fall and so he had no choice but to change plans.

While diving head first for earth, the hooded figure continued the inspection of his environment then with a stroke of luck he finally found what he was looking for. The sign.

While chasing after the canister, he had veered so far from the upward gravitational stream that Avery was in that he lost track of it. Using the movement of dust particles in the air which is what he had been looking for all this time, the hooded figure was finally able to find it and he changed trajectory— aiming straight for it.

He dove rightward, targeting an upward-moving peddle he had seen among the dust, and just as he planned, the hooded figure found himself piercing through and entering into the upward gravitational stream which immediately started decreasing his downward fall.

At seven hundred meters from ground level, his body started preparing to reach maximum height. Unfortunately, a few centimeters before he reached said maximum height, Avery who had always been on his tail finally slammed into the hooded figure and grabbed him.

Normally, he would tried to avoid that outcome, but sadly, there was nothing he could do about slowing down because of the gravitational stream. He was at a vulnerable point and the mindless Avery seized the opportunity to strike.

Due to how momentum works which is that if a moving body collides with a stationary body or a body moving in the same direction but at a lesser velocity, the result is a transfer of energy which equalizes both body's velocities as they continue moving in the same direction.

This means that once Avery and the hooded figure collided, his momentum was greatly reduced and the hooded figure's momentum was increased, giving the both of them an average of their velocities which would have been no problem except for the fact that the diameter of the gravitational stream wasn't big enough to contain the distance their collided bodies covered.

Both Avery and the hooded figure moved beyond the edge of the upward gravitational stream or at least their torsos did which was the start of a massive problem.

Because their orientation was facing down toward earth and their torsos are the heaviest portions of their bodies, the moment those two parts went beyond the edge of the upward gravitational stream, both Avery and the hooded figure were pulled out of the gravitational stream and they went tumbling toward earth.

*Six hundred and fifty meters… Six hundred meters… five hundred and fifty meters… five hundred meters*

They kept rearing closer to their doom.

With a ravaging Avery on his body, the hooded figure wasn't able to control his fall like he'd always done. They kept tumbling out of control, covering more meters to their deaths and while the rabid Avery focused on taking the canister for himself, the hooded figure did his best to keep the device away from him.

*Four hundred and fifty meters… Four hundred meters… three hundred and fifty meters…*