“Are you going to struggle to your last? Is that what this is?” Finn asked warily. He didn’t see how Leon could continue the fight without a weapon. That would be pointless, yet he knew Leon better than to assume nothing else was going on.
Brave shared his concerns. “Our magic did minimal damage to his outer armor. We’re up against the hardest possible match right now, Partner.”
Brave had been confident about the power of their attack; he’d hoped it would be enough to finish their opponent off entirely. However, by the looks of it, it hadn’t even dealt the significant damage he’d counted on; it had done practically nothing to Arroganz.
“Sorry, Partner,” said Brave. “It’s my fault. I underestimated them.”
Finn’s lips pulled into a taut line. “Don’t worry about it,” he said. “I never imagined they’d be easy to defeat.”
His longsword kept humming with electric magic. Though he knew he was pushing his luck, Finn lurched forward and swung at Arroganz again. “If a single blow won’t finish you, I’ll just have to keep chopping until nothing’s left!”
Brave’s wings fanned, helping him speed forward until he slammed against Arroganz. When his sword bit down into the armor plating, however, it met more resistance than Finn ever expected.
“I can’t cut through?!”
“Bastard,” Brave hissed. “You went and added a bunch of extra plating to improve your defenses!”
That very plating had saved Arroganz from taking substantial damage from Brave’s longsword. Now that they were face-to-face, Arroganz thrust both arms toward Brave.
Finn immediately leaped back. “Trying your shock wave attack? Unfortunately for you, I know it’s only effective at point-blank range!”
The “shock wave attack” in question was Arroganz’s ultimate technique. Finn had accurately pinpointed its weakness, though. As long as he didn’t get close enough, Arroganz couldn’t use it.
Or so he thought.
“Impact!”
A shock wave shot forth from Arroganz’s palm. Although Finn was sure they would be safe at a distance, the shock wave rippled out and reached him.
“Gah!” Finn cried.
It jostled them so violently that he felt like his insides were being shaken, and the force of the blast sent Brave flailing backward. Finn watched through narrowed eyes as Arroganz activated what looked like a cooling device on its chest. It spat out a mist that billowed around them.
“He’s strengthened his shock wave attack!” said Brave. “I don’t think he can use it without pausing in between, though.”
Electricity crackled over Arroganz’s plating, as if it’d reached its limits.
“You ought to have saved your little trick for later,” said Finn.
Leon should’ve finished Finn off while he had the chance. Since he hadn’t, Finn was sure victory would be his. The joy that brought him was hollow. To summon the motivation he needed to charge at Arroganz again, he had to conjure an image of Mia’s and his late sister’s faces in his head.
Meanwhile, Arroganz had already purged its extra plating, and the vapor from its cooling device clouded the air.
“What?” Finn blurted out before the realization hit him. “A smokescreen?!”
He didn’t panic, even though his vision was obstructed. The air was thick with demonic essence, and Brave thrived in such an environment. It gave Demonic Creatures such as him the advantage on the field. Finn was confident that Brave could see through the fog, no matter how thick it was.
“This is no normal smokescreen!” Brave cried to him. “They mixed something into it. My radar’s completely scrambled!”
For a second—only a split second—they lost track of Arroganz completely.