Was Albert moving? Was he firing? Did his method of attack change? Figaro answered all these questions using only these vibrations.
Indeed—though he’d lost three of his senses, he was able to measure the opponent’s location using only the sense of touch.
“HYAH!” And using this absurd tactic, the duel champion caught up to his opponent and equipped two new MVP rewards.
In his left hand was an Ancient Legendary MVP reward, the “Glacial Burstlance, Jökulhlaup.”
Aiming this weapon—perhaps best described as a “gun lance”—at Albert, Figaro pulled the trigger.
The man was instantly overwhelmed by immense frost.
He couldn’t fend off the cold with his shock waves. The coat MVP reward, the cannon he was holding, the Drac-Mist on his wrists, and his own body were all Frozen in a split second.
Stepping on the freezing stage with his own two feet, Figaro thrust at the icy sculpture with the lance.
With Albert’s toughness greatly reduced by the ice, Figaro’s empowered attack instantly shattered him, reducing him to pale dust.
“δ: Megrez.”
As the MVP reward’s mist cleared, Albert used his fourth heal and buff skill.
However, Figaro was right in front of him, brandishing his next weapon.
Having equipped it alongside the lance, he was holding the Ancient Legendary “Scattering Spellblade, Paledin.” This was a shapeless energy blade that inflicted dark damage and a curse-based damage-over-time debuff, and Figaro used it to slash at Albert.
He was aiming to take advantage of Albert’s cooldown.
The Rear Soldier’s Last Stand skill couldn’t be used for five seconds after its effect expired. If brought to 1 HP within this interval, Albert wouldn’t be able to survive.
That was what Figaro was attempting to do.
Normally, killing Albert in just five seconds after he was fully healed was difficult. HP was easy to increase as far as stats went, and with him being an HP and STR-focused SJ, Albert’s HP easily surpassed 200,000 even with the growth penalty imposed by his job. Because of this, many had tried to kill him by destroying vital body parts or suffocating him, but no one had managed to do it before he could use Last Stand again.
This didn’t apply to Figaro, however.
Focusing his gear empowerment abilities on his weapon and AGI items, Figaro intended to use these five seconds to reduce Albert’s HP to nothing.
Once again, Albert was shocked. Far behind his opponent in terms of AGI, he wasn’t able to switch his equipment in time.
One second. Albert lost control of both his arms and a third of his HP.
Two seconds. Albert’s head was disabled, and he lost two thirds of his HP.
Three seconds. Albert’s torso was slashed horizontally, bringing his HP to 1.
Four seconds. Albert was split in half from the top of his head to the groin. This was an attack meant to take away that last tiny sliver of HP.
Five seconds. Albert still had 1 HP left.
Figaro’s expression warped in confusion.
Albert hadn’t activated Last Stand. After enduring all of those lethal attacks, there was no way he could have any HP left without using his job skill.
And yet, Albert still had 1 HP.
This could only mean that his combo didn’t rely on Last Stand.
“ε: Alioth.”
And so, he used the fifth heal and buff skill.
He’d come back yet again, as if nothing had happened.
“This is...”
It made no sense. Most members of the audience thought that Figaro simply failed to defeat him in time, but it was abundantly clear that he’d delivered more than enough damage to do that.
And yet, Albert had still survived with 1 HP and revived himself.
There has to be something more, Figaro thought. Albert’s healing wasn’t from the synergy between his Embryo and his job. Figaro was certain of that, and he guessed that it must be from yet another MVP reward—or something else entirely.
Having come back, Albert was as silent as ever, but he had leaped into action.
A new MVP reward had appeared right next to him. It was the item he’d tried to take out while being torn by Figaro’s spellblade—a suit of armor as crimson as fresh blood, larger than even a man as imposing as Albert.
It had a different feel about it than any MVP reward he’d brought out so far. While it looked mechanical, it also gave off the impression of something that labored under a dire curse.
In fact, it was the Ancient Legendary “Crimson Armor, Exademon”—perhaps the strongest MVP reward in Albert’s arsenal.
“Crimson-Stained Steel: Exademon.”
For the first time, Albert spoke the name of a skill other than his Embryo skills.
“O o o r r r g h h...” Responding to the call, the armor made a growl reminiscent of a carnivorous beast, then opened up like a maw and engulfed Albert whole.
A moment later, red liquid that looked like oily blood flowed out from within.
Some shrieks could be heard in the audience. They couldn’t understand what was happening here. Some even assumed that this was some kind of attack by Figaro.
However, Figaro himself knew that wasn’t the case. His eyes then widened, and he jumped back at the same time as Albert made his move.
“ζ: Mizar.” Even though he hadn’t been attacked, he activated his heal and buff skill for the sixth time.
As he did so, though, he moved. Clad in the strange armor, Albert raised his fist high and brought it down like a hammer.
The next moment, the stage vanished.
A thunderous sound akin to a meteor impact echoed even outside the arena. The stone of the stage was shattered, blasting debris into the air with such force that it broke through several layers of the barrier.
Some screams resounded from the audience, but Integra’s barriers were able to keep them safe from the rocks.
That obviously wasn’t true for Figaro, though. Shards of stone too numerous to evade had sliced open countless small wounds on his body.
Following this first impact, the stage became a crater, and within it stood Albert, clad in crimson armor, and Figaro, covered in his own scarlet blood.
This damage would’ve been far worse if he hadn’t retreated as quickly as he did.
“...I see.” Figaro now understood how Albert’s armor worked.
Neither Albert nor the armor had performed any special attack.
He’d only swung down his fist as hard as he could.
The effect, however, had been as powerful as a Superior Job’s ultimate skill. The full body armor MVP reward, “Crimson Armor, Exademon,” had only one skill on it—“Crimson-Stained Steel: Exademon.” It dealt fixed damage that reduced the wearer’s HP to 1, then converted the damage dealt into attack power and defense.
Many of Albert’s MVP rewards were unwieldy, but this one was a whole new level of difficult to handle. Having just 1 HP meant that even a scratch could kill you.
But in Albert’s case, it was nothing but an advantage. It guaranteed a near-death state, and granted him resistance to fixed damage on top of immense attack power and defense.
In fact, when combined with KoT’s own stats, Albert’s current attack power actually exceeded that of King of Destruction in his Godcloth. Even Figaro would die in one direct hit.
And this attack power was matched by his defense.
Faced with this, anyone reasonable would simply give up.
“...Heh heh.” However, Figaro didn’t look remotely resigned or despairing.
This was an extreme situation where even a single hit would kill him, and yet he was laughing.
All-out battles like this were exactly what Figaro wanted. There was no cowardice or compromise here.
After all, there was still something he could do. While he had countless MVP rewards, there weren’t many that would work against his opponent’s current defense, but there was still one option.
“This is a bit earlier than planned,” Figaro said as he took out a broadsword.
It didn’t look all that impressive, but its overwhelming presence felt like it could burn anyone to cinder.
Gloria α—the strongest weapon in Figaro’s arsenal, and the one he’d used to defeat other Superiors like Xunyu and Tsukuyo.
It was the second time he’d equipped it in this duel. But this time, he wouldn’t use it on a weapon, but on the armor the opponent was wearing. It would surely cut through not just the MVP reward, but Albert himself.
Instead of worrying about giving Albert a resistance to his strongest item, Figaro chose to focus on cutting him apart.
The Over Gladiator, brandishing a sword, and King of Termination, clad in armor.
The two faced each other as their battle entered its final stage.