Bishmal’s eyes widened as he realized he could no longer feel Albert’s neck under his arm—or, to be more precise, it wasn’t that he couldn’t feel it at all. It was more like he was suddenly trying to choke out a rubber tube.
And immediately after that...
“Gah...!”
...Bishmal’s right arm was pulverized. The bones in his arm shattered, shredding the muscle and flesh around them—his arm was now little more than a bag of skin filled with blood.
Never losing his stone-faced expression, Albert tore off Bishmal’s weakened arm and escaped the choke hold.
It seemed as though something invisible was bursting within both of his hands.
“Heh! Used an Embryo skill, huh?!” Bishmal didn’t understand exactly what had happened just now, but by using Reveal, he could discern part of it: Albert’s HP had jumped from 1 all the way to full.
“RRRAAAGH!” Then I’ll just bring it down again! Bishmal thought as he positioned his now-maimed body for a fierce kick. Just as before, Albert assumed a defensive posture and held out his left arm to block the attack.
However, something was different now. Albert didn’t even flinch, as though the kick didn’t cause any damage whatsoever.
And, indeed, his HP total didn’t change at all.
Bishmal’s eyes widened again. He’d felt it the instant they collided—when his kick landed, the force of the impact was completely dispersed.
It was nothing like it had been before—Bishmal now felt almost like he was punching a slime.
By contrast, Albert’s counterattacks now seemed to strike at Bishmal’s very core.
The moment Albert’s right hand touched his leg, a bone-shattering shock burst through him.
“Ghhh...!” Bishmal quickly jumped back to make some distance between them. Though not nearly as bad as the damage to his right arm, the damage from that one touch had clearly been devastating to his right leg.
That single exchange was all Bishmal needed to know that he now had no chance of beating Albert in straight hand-to-hand combat. If he wanted to win, he would be forced to fight the way he always did—using his Embryo, Surt.
The audience was shouting for him to do the same.
Bishmal and Albert both fell silent, and there was a brief moment where neither of them moved. Albert seized the chance to take out a revolver-type grenade launcher and fire it toward Bishmal’s feet.
Upon hitting the stage, the grenade created a red explosion highly reminiscent of the Crimson Sphere ability.
As Bishmal evaded the blast, he instantly understood what Albert was trying to convey: “I used my weapon, so stop holding back. Use yours too.”
“Then I’ll do just that! Burstflame Rise—Surt!” The next moment, Bishmal was engulfed in fire, and became the flame itself.
Appearing as something like a hybrid of man and elemental, he rushed toward Albert using his specialty—his charge.
Albert was quick to respond and fired another grenade at him, but the explosion meant nothing to a body made of fire. Bishmal closed the distance without issue, and Albert immediately dropped the grenade launcher in favor of using his right hand to deliver the same attack that had shattered Bishmal’s arm.
But since Bishmal was now essentially an elemental, the touch-based shock waves coming off Albert’s hands did nothing to him.
What’s more, mere contact with Bishmal’s body made Albert’s arm melted instantaneously.
Unfazed, Albert tried to draw another weapon, but Bishmal unleashed a high kick before he could do so. The leg of pure flame melted Albert’s left arm entirely from the shoulder down, the damage even reaching all the way to where his heart ought to be.
The severed arm fell to the ground, showing a glimpse of the steel inside.
“OOOAAAARRRGHHHHHH!” Albert’s HP fell to critical levels once again, but Bishmal did not relent, throwing even stronger attacks aimed at Albert’s head. Even if Albert had a skill that healed and strengthened him, Bishmal thought—no, felt—that he could counter it by just attacking so fast and often that Albert would have no time to activate the skill in the first place.
Faster than any forethought, acting first and thinking later, charging nowhere but straight ahead—at this critical moment, Bishmal clearly manifested his true self and worth.
He thoroughly pulverized, melted, and burned Albert’s head, making it impossible for him to announce any skills.
Albert’s HP soon dropped to 1 again...
“β: Melak.”
...and it stopped there once again as an emotionless voice echoed through the empty space.
“Aaagh!” Hearing the name of a skill didn’t stop Bishmal’s onslaught.
However, after just a handful of attacks, he noticed a change.
Having fully rebuilt his head and arms a second time, Albert was no longer affected by Bishmal’s flames. Even as his clothes caught fire, his skin was not even singed.
When Albert retaliated with a knife hand strike, Bishmal’s body, despite being made of flame, began to come apart.
The man who had been evaporating at Bishmal’s mere touch just moments earlier was now obliterating him instead.
“...I see how it works now.” This was enough for Bishmal to understand the power of Albert’s Embryo. It restored all his HP, then granted him near perfect resistance to his opponent’s means of attack as well as an offensive ability that was highly effective against them. It combined three incredibly powerful effects into a single skill.
Since he didn’t use it right away, I guess it only works when he’s nearly dead, Bishmal thought. The price for the skill’s power must have been its harsh use condition—it could only be used at 1 HP.
However, there was yet another secret behind Albert’s strategy.
Both times, his HP stopped goin’ down right before it hit 0. Guess he must have some kinda “guts” effect active. There was a generic skill like that... What was its name again?
The skill Bishmal couldn’t remember was called “Last Stand.” It came from Rear Soldier, a low-rank job from the soldier grouping, and it enabled those struck by a fatal blow to survive with just 1 HP for five seconds. It did not negate any damage, and though similar effects were often extremely good in traditional RPGs, in Infinite Dendrogram HP was usually tied to the physical state of one’s body, so it was far less useful. The five extra seconds meant little when someone was on the verge of death and could barely move, and once the time was up, any injury-based status effects they had would instantly kill them.
The primary difference between this skill and Death Soldier’s Last Command was that it could be treated by healing magic rather than resurrection magic, but the five seconds it granted were rarely enough for healers to make it in time. Considering its much longer duration, Last Command typically ended up being the more useful skill.
Since it kept one’s HP above 0, Last Stand could technically be used in duels—but unless you had a Superior Job and wanted to use your final ult to turn a guaranteed loss into a tie, it was fairly meaningless. Duelists fought to win, so none of them would waste a job slot for the possibility of a tie.
But it’s different for this guy, Bishmal thought. If he can survive a few seconds longer—just long enough to use that skill he’s got—he comes back stronger and with full HP.
Bishmal guessed how Albert’s combo worked, thought about the power of this synergy...and shuddered.
I dunno what to say. That’s a Superior for ya, I guess. Bishmal now had a grasp of Albert’s combat style. If pushed to the verge of death, he endured any and all attacks coming his way. Then, he used his Embryo skill to fully heal himself, become resistant to the attack that brought him to 1 HP, and even gained offensive abilities that would help him defeat his attacker.
This skill likely wasn’t unlimited, though.
It didn’t look like Albert’s MP or SP was going down by much, so Bishmal assumed it had a limited amount of uses instead. If he used them all up, he would no longer be able to come back from the verge of death.
However, this meant that you needed enough different methods of attack to force Albert to expend every use. If you didn’t, he was simply undefeatable.
Bishmal himself didn’t have anything besides hand-to-hand combat and fire, so now that Albert was resistant to both, there was no way he could win.
In fact, most duelists were hyper focused on a single thing, so even among the rankers there were few who could match him. Even Kashimiya had no chance, as he didn’t have anything besides his sword-drawing arts.
“RAAAGGGHHHH!” Still, Bishmal didn’t stop attacking.
There was no battle he would ever back away from. Even if he was up against an impassable wall, he would keep charging forward.
Whether the wall would break or not was beside the point—he would advance until it did.
That was the kind of man he was.
Albert, on the other hand, was still stone-faced and silent.
What was going through his mind as he watched this opponent relentlessly throwing out attacks that no longer worked? He certainly didn’t underestimate him. Just as he had before he’d gained his resistances, Albert watched Bishmal’s strikes, defended against them with optimal moves, and threw some counterattacks in between.
As this repeated, Bishmal was eventually brought to his limit. His ult had expired, and he’d sustained too much damage.
“...Ha.” Looking solely at the result, one could say that Bishmal just went straight at Albert and practically handed him the win. But strange as it might seem, he had no regrets—for at least after the battle began, he kept on charging ahead, showing no fear of the Superior.
Bishmal fought like himself, and that was enough for him.
The match soon reached its end...
“Good game.”
...and, after saying his first words that weren’t skill declarations, Albert decapitated Bishmal.
Thus, the Raging Blaze was extinguished, and Albert advanced to the quarterfinals.