There were a few things that Figaro had found strange in this duel against Albert.
The first was his second heal and buff.
Despite having been Petrified and shattered, Albert was able to declare the β: Merak skill and revive.
That had made Figaro wonder how he’d been able to speak the skill’s name despite being turned to stone.
Next were Albert’s fourth and fifth comebacks. Figaro had most certainly delivered fatal damage to Albert while Rear Soldier’s Last Stand was still on cooldown.
Despite that, Albert still survived with 1 HP and bounced back from it.
Figaro had been pondering how he was able to accomplish that when the job skill that supposedly made it possible was inactive.
And finally, it had been the ultimate that split Albert into seven.
Figaro had defeated Tom Cat, and he knew about King of Crime. Because of this, he was aware that duplicates created by such skills usually split off from their source.
However, that hadn’t been the case for Albert.
Figaro had been entirely focused on the Albert that had possessed all the resistances to his attacks—but before he knew it, Figaro had been surrounded.
This untelegraphed split was the third thing Figaro found strange.
Only one thing could adequately explain these three phenomena.
Albert’s main body had to be elsewhere.
Everything would make sense if he had a separate body with only 1 HP.
If his main body was elsewhere, he could declare skills despite Petrification.
If his main body was elsewhere, he would have 1 HP left even when he couldn’t use his job skill.
If his main body was elsewhere, Figaro’s focus on the opponent in front of him would have caused him to miss the split.
But if there really was such a main body, then where would it be?
It was Albert’s own actions that had provided a hint.
While he used Firelyx to spread flames in every direction, covering the entire stage, it didn’t seem like anything had been caught in them. That could only mean one thing—the main body had to be somewhere the flames hadn’t reached. The only option was up in the air.
Figaro had used the Liferend Shield Formation to confirm this.
And now, having pinpointed its location, he used the blade shields as platforms to reach it.
✦ ✦ ✦
Albert—in other words, his main body—looked down at Figaro in silence.
The Over Gladiator’s intuition had been right.
g: Alcor. It was a barely visible star close to the Big Dipper—Septentrion. Its name had roots in the Arabic “al-khawāri,” meaning “faint one,” and some cultures claimed that anyone who could no longer see the star was fated to die.
It was the skill that pointed to Albert’s nature as a mechanical being, as well as the brain—the core—that existed outside his human-shaped body, Septentrion.
Being a machine enabled him to split his brain and his body. About the size of a golf ball, this metallic object floating about was where Albert’s mind resided.
He had used all five accessory slots to both cloak himself visually and obfuscate his skills, and he’d used damage reduction to keep him safe from weak attacks like the blade shield strike.
Indeed—this was the truth behind Albert’s near death and healing buff combination.
The job was a decoy. While Albert did have Rear Soldier, it was merely a bluff to lead his enemies to a false conclusion.
In reality, Albert would have survived death even without Last Stand. The secret behind his survivability wasn’t that skill, but the way his own body worked.
This was the trick Albert used to become the powerful Superior that he was.
But now, the trick was exposed.
And Figaro, the one who’d seen through it, was now charging toward him, Gloria α in hand.
The Over Gladiator shouldn’t have been able to see his main body at all, but there was no hesitation in his dash.
The moment one of the shield blades touched the core, multiple other blades swarmed to surround and cage it. Albert had nowhere to run.
The five bodies looking up at them all fired everything they had at Figaro.
This was an extremely close game. Would Figaro reach and split the core in time? Or would Albert’s attacks finally bring him down?
Only one Superior could win this, and every single second counted.
But Albert soon realized that he was going to emerge victorious. Figaro was injured, so the speed of his ascent couldn’t outrun the attacks from Albert’s bodies down below.
Though the champion had made the first move, the gap was closing fast. Albert’s attacks would hit Figaro before he reached the core.
And Figaro didn’t have any means of attack besides Gloria α. He no longer had the MP or SP to use any other MVP reward skills.
Albert’s victory was set in stone.
He calculated this future in the blink of an eye—but then he noticed something odd.
During this brief moment, something had changed about Figaro again—the weapon in his hand was different.
It wasn’t Gloria α, or some MVP reward, but a long chain wrapped around his right hand.
A Crimson Dead Keeper—one of his most favored weapons, known for its immense reach. It could most certainly land a hit on the core before Albert’s attacks touched him.
Albert knew that it wouldn’t matter much if it did, though. Unlike the seven duplicates, the main body had all of its previous resistances. An attack from the Crimson Dead Keeper couldn’t even take away its 1 HP.
With Figaro’s final move rendered meaningless, Albert’s victory would be completely certain.
And yet, it wasn’t.
The moment the chain reached, Albert noticed...
Gloria α was tied to its tip.
Shock overcame King of Termination. An unorthodox use of weaponry—combining two items that were never meant to be combined.
The gladiator grouping granted multiple weapon slots for each hand.
This was Figaro’s strongest weapon, combined with his most-used weapon.
Perhaps because of that, despite the bizarre arrangement, there was no flaw in the trajectory of the slash.
It was a brilliant move that rendered irrelevant the distance, the time, and the inherent weakness of his chains.
Albert was in awe. When had Figaro gotten the idea to do this?
When he realized that Albert’s attacks would reach him first?
Or maybe when he dashed into the sky?
Or perhaps the moment he used Liferend Shield Formation?
Regardless, Albert hadn’t seen this coming and could do nothing against it.
Though swung on the end of a chain, Gloria α carried more than enough power for this task.
Albert’s core had no resistance to slashing attacks, and this blow would no doubt take away its 1 HP.
Figaro had used his own prowess to flip the scales of victory in his favor.
How? Because he was him, of course.
“Good game. You are the winner.” With a mechanical voice praising his opponent in English, Albert’s core was split in two, and all five of his remaining duplicates on the stage vanished.
✦ ✦ ✦
Tournament: Final Day.
Reward: Mythical “Night Sky General, O’oimimaru.”
Core traits: Unknown (Space alteration?)
Winner: Over Gladiator, Figaro.