This obviously also locked his Firelyx completely in place.
“HYAAAH!” Figaro closed the distance between them and switched to another weapon—Gloria α.
This was perhaps the strongest blade among all Figaro’s many MVP rewards.
However, he didn’t use it to attack Albert’s statue, instead splitting the two maws of the Firelyx.
The flames within it were unleashed, creating a massive explosion. Figaro jumped away, but Albert’s Petrification prevented him from doing anything to protect himself.
Even though he had fire resistance, the pressure of the explosion overwhelmed him and blasted his body into bits.
“Now...” With his fire resistance ring and his skilled evasion, Figaro reduced the explosion damage to a mere graze.
By the time the fire was gone, so was the Firelyx.
Albert himself had been reduced to fragments too small to recognize. He was certainly on the verge of death now.
I wonder... Figaro thought.
While Petrification was a debuff that completely immobilized those affected, Figaro rarely used this pistol. It certainly delivered a lethal debuff, but Figaro had multiple ways of killing his opponents that were easier than landing a shot. Plus, though it did lead directly to death, the debuff didn’t kill instantly, so it was a little slow in ending a battle.
Figaro had used it now for a few reasons. One was to force Albert to use up a resistance slot for an attack type that was unrelated to his main one.
Another reason was to confirm something. Petrification was an immobilizing status effect that also prevented the use of skills. Even if Last Stand worked, Figaro thought the debuff might prevent Albert from using his heal and buff skill at least.
He’d chosen Marbledrop to check if he was right.
The answer to that...
“...β: Merak.”
...came from the empty space in the form of a skill declaration.
The tiny fragments pulled themselves together, instantly rebuilding Albert’s body.
“...I see,” said Figaro. This wasn’t an unexpected result—after all, Albert had come back even when Bishmal had evaporated his head and when Catherine Kongou had used Charm on him.
With this, Figaro now knew that Albert would come back even if he was rendered completely immobile.
Maybe the skill activations had some trick to them, but Figaro didn’t think that suited Albert very well.
Thankfully, Figaro had no shortage of ways to defeat his enemies. He simply thought, I’ll just beat him six or seven more times.
Albert returned to life with shock waves bursting in his hands. This was the same power he’d used after his first comeback against Bishmal. Likely, it was an additional weapon meant to cause immense damage to the organs within the human body.
Direct attacks against the body weren’t very useful in this scenario—indeed, they weren’t useful in many scenarios where Albert used his equipment-focused combat style. This was because, while monsters often had special resistances, humans were generally frail enough for his MVP reward firepower to finish the job.
Thus, Albert had already decided what weapon he’d use now that Firelyx was gone.
Figaro also put away his two MVP rewards and took out another weapon.
This was only the end of the first round of their duel. If either of them was at a disadvantage here, though, it would be Albert. He’d already suffered fatal damage twice, and his Firelyx was destroyed.
The item he equipped next was a pair of bracers with a mechanism on the back meant to release some kind of gas.
As Figaro was thinking about Ray’s Gardranda, the bracers released an intense burst of white mist. It filled the entire stage, but it didn’t obscure the vision of the audience, as it was less dense than expected. The spectators could still observe the fight without a problem through the thin haze.
It was clear that it wasn’t intended as a smoke screen, and just when the audience was starting to wonder if it might have been poison...
...they suddenly noticed that Figaro was acting strangely. He turned his head this way and that, as if looking around for his opponent.
The problem with that was that Albert wasn’t even moving. What was Figaro looking for, then?
As Figaro was on high alert—or perhaps he was just confused—Albert took out his third item.
It was a very typical cannon, and he aimed it right at Figaro.
However, unlike before, Figaro didn’t evade his shot. He only stood in place and looked around.
It was almost as if he couldn’t see a thing.
Soon after, Albert pulled the trigger...
“Nghhh!”
...and that was when Figaro finally moved.
He dodged the projectile by a hair’s breadth, and it flew past him to strike the barrier. It pierced through the five arena wards and even shook those added by Integra.
Figaro kept running around without stopping for a second, while Albert targeted him wherever he went.
This time, though, Albert aimed his cannon a bit lower than he had for his first attack, as though he didn’t intend to hit the barrier at all.
The mist was so thin that the audience could see the battle clearly—and yet, they couldn’t help but feel confused about the way things were unfolding.
“That MVP reward is craaazy.”
But some of those watching knew exactly what was going on. One of them was a woman sitting in a box seat—the Superior, Fuso Tsukuyo.
“Generally speaking, MVP rewards with major flaws have equally major benefits to make up for it.” Eishiro Tsukikage, her servant and aide, also spoke as if he understood the situation. He claimed that this situation was the result of the bracer MVP reward that filled the arena with a seemingly pointless mist—and that that was actually its flaw.
“Yep. It’s like how my Superior reward can only target humans, has a smaller range, and only works on lower-level targets, but in exchange it got to keep its defense against ranged attacks. With enough drawbacks to balance it out, MVP rewards can use some parts of the UBM’s full power.”
“This one has two flaws,” said Eishiro. “First, you can easily see from the outside in. And second...”
“The big guy can’t see anything either. The mist blocks out the senses of anyone inside, including his own. It’s a flaw that ignores the wielder’s safety, just like the other item he used.”
While Figaro’s behavior was obviously strange, Albert’s own movements were a bit awkward too, so they both guessed at the reason behind it.
And they were completely right.
The bracers were a Legendary MVP reward, “Toxicating Mistbringer, Drac-Mist.”
This was an MVP reward that fully shut down the visual, auditory, and olfactory senses of anyone inside.
The item was useless against anyone outside the mist, and since Albert would almost certainly be in the middle of it, he was guaranteed to be affected.
It was an extremely flawed item, and anyone using it could easily be overwhelmed and killed by any opponents outside the effect’s range.
Needless to say, the mist had no such flaws when used by the Mistdragon King, Drac-Mist. However...
“The fact that he has the MVP reward means that he must’ve beaten the UBM,” said Tsukuyo. “He’s gotta have something that lets him fight in the mist.”
The more flawed the MVP reward, the stronger its effects. However, capable and cunning Masters were able to counteract the flaws—or find a way to use them to their advantage.
Tsukuyo herself had something like this. Kaguya’s Faint Light skill could reduce enemy levels and turn Gloria β into a fearsome weapon capable of killing any non-SJ. Based on this principle, Tsukuyo and Eishiro speculated that Albert could aim at Figaro as well as he did because he also possessed some method of overcoming the mist’s flaws.
Was it his Superior Embryo, then? Had he developed a resistance to this item’s effects, just as he had with Firelyx?
No—Albert hadn’t been brought to the verge of death. He hadn’t gained a resistance to the mist, and it didn’t deal damage, so he might not have even been able to in the first place.
The synergy here wasn’t with his Embryo, but with his job. He was using the skills he had as King of Termination—the kill-specialized Superior Job.
The words “kill-specialized” likely brought a number of things to mind. Did it refer to immense firepower meant to kill many foes? Did it grant some special powers that enabled his attacks to be more effective against a variety of enemies?
King of Termination actually did neither.
Termination in this context meant extermination.