Such force… There was a greater weight behind the blade than I would have thought possible given Shin’s slender build.
“Ah-ha-ha, try and keep up!” Shin said, suddenly becoming more aggressive. He hounded me with a relentless barrage of thrusts and slashes from every direction.
“Ngh…”
I dodged, parried, and blocked them as I tried to come up with a plan.
So this is how Shin Rex fights…? Every strike contained deadly force. The absurd amount of spirit power he put into each attack made that possible. But how can he possibly be this strong?!
I’d fought many types of opponents. Some were blessed with natural talent, some had inhuman reflexes, and some had fought with polished swordcraft. They were all elite swordfighters who boasted vast amounts of spirit power. Yet that was just a drop in the ocean compared to Shin’s. I couldn’t remember facing anyone who had such extraordinary reserves of energy.
“Enjoy the flight!” he said, casually kicking me. I lowered my elbow to block it, but I couldn’t stop the impact and was thrown backward through the air.
Haah… What a pain. Shin’s strategy was incredibly simple: overpower me with his spirit power. That simplicity was exactly what made it so difficult to counter.
Damn. I don’t think I can beat him this way. Unless I committed my full strength, he would wear me down with that ridiculous spirit power of his and eventually finish me off with a critical blow. I don’t want to use that power…but I don’t have a choice.
Shin Rex was a Holy Blade and significantly stronger than I’d expected. I couldn’t afford to be picky.
“Hoo…” I let out a long, thin breath and stood up straight, giving up my middle stance.
Shin cocked his head with a look of surprise. “Huh? Are you giving up already?”
“No. I just decided it’s time I get serious, too.”
“Pfft… Ah-ha-ha-ha! You make me laugh, Allen! You’re just now deciding to get serious? You mean to tell me you’ve been holding back against a Holy Blade? Ha-ha, you could have a real future in comedy!”
“Trust me, I have my reasons.”
I hadn’t been going easy on Shin or taking him lightly. I just didn’t like entering that state.
“Haah… Well, go ahead and show me your true strength, then!” Shin said. He smiled fearlessly, closed the distance between us in less than a second, and swung his sword down at me, which was imbued with tremendous spirit power.
“Allen…!”
As the white blade closed in on me and Lia screamed my name, I reached out with my consciousness deep into the depths of my soul, to the world where my Spirit Core resided.
…Remember.
I thought back to when Diehl’s poison had put me at death’s door.
Back to the power I’d grasped hold of when I was about to die.
To the method of drawing strength from the darkness Zeon had taught me.
…Find it. Reach out to your source…!
I searched deep within my soul—and there it was. That same murky, wicked power as last time.
I took hold of it.
“…Huh?” Shin said flatly.
He would have never imagined I’d stop his full-strength strike by catching his blade in my bare hands.
“You wanna keep going, you little twerp?” I said, yanking his blade toward me and concentrating darkness into my right fist. “Ha-ha, enjoy the damn flight!”
“Oof!”
I sank a pitch-black punch deep into Shin’s gut and sent him flying like a ball. He crashed into the wall of the coliseum.
“Gah…”
Half of Shin’s body was lodged in the wall, and he coughed and spat out blood. I raced toward him and fired a giant mass of darkness in his direction.
“What was that about you being stronger than me?” I taunted.
Shin responded by firing a massive amount of his own spirit power, which collided with mine to create a deafening roar.
“Geez, that was close…,” Shin muttered after just barely escaping. He turned toward me with an expression of shock. “Who are you…?”
“The hell you mean?” I asked.
“Your hair turned white, and there’s a weird black pattern on your face. Your attitude’s completely changed as well… Do you have a split personality?” Shin asked.
“Uhh… You could say I’m a little ‘mixed up.’”
My thoughts had merged with Zeon’s, making me somewhat belligerent. I was still in control, however, so there was no risk of my Spirit Core taking over and going berserk.
“Hmm… I see. It seems like you’re special, too,” Shin said, sounding satisfied for some reason. “You should be proud, Allen Rodol. You’re truly strong. Just not quite at my level.”
I could feel something… It seemed like Shin was also getting serious.
“Inscribe—Imperial Decree!”
His proclamation was followed by a shrill sound, but nothing else changed. The sword in his hands looked exactly the same, and its spirit power hadn’t increased at all.
The only difference I noticed was in Shin’s eyes, which shone with even greater confidence than before.
“This is the end for you, Allen Rodol!”
“Hah. I don’t know what kinda ability you have, but I’ve just gotta pummel you until I find out!”
I filled my legs with spirit power and ran at him. The best thing to do against an opponent whose ability you didn’t know was to attack them relentlessly. You pressed and pressed and pressed until they were forced to use their ability for defense.
“You’re just as simple-minded as Medi. That’s why neither of you can beat me,” Shin said. He thrust the tip of his sword into a stone on the stage and flung it at me.
“The hell’s that supposed to do?!” I shouted. He couldn’t expect a pebble to slow me down. I waved my left arm to knock it away.
“Stones pierce through all things,” Shin said.
“What the…?!”
The tiny pebble had torn through my arm, which was enveloped in dark spirit power. Shin’s ability must have enabled that.
I immediately took a step back and cured my ravaged left arm.
“…You bastard. What did you do?” I asked.
“Come on, don’t kill the mood. It would be boring if I just up and told you. The fun part of Soul Attire battles is not knowing each other’s abilities… Yah!” Shin yelled, dashing toward me with explosive speed and unleashing a torrential assault of attacks.
“Tch…”
I dodged all his slashes, going out of my way to twist into unnatural positions to avoid attacks I could’ve easily blocked or parried. I was hesitant to touch Imperial Decree without knowing what it was capable of.
“Ah-ha-ha, I didn’t take you for such a chicken!” Shin said, smiling threateningly. He swung his sword, leaving a gash in the stone stage and sending fragments of rock flying at me.
Crap, those stones are bad news…
I leaped back to what I thought was a safe distance.
“The stone stage becomes a swamp,” Shin declared.
“Huh?!”