He wanted to brush off the frost whitening his eyelashes, but his left hand was under the water, holding Bercouli down, while his right had the Blue Rose Sword in a reverse grip near the bottom. Only blinking rapidly could knock the crystals off, giving him a view of his foe through the thick mist.
Bercouli the Integrity Knight Commander was stuck in the ice up to his neck. Because he’d been trying to push himself up, both his left hand and his sword-holding right were near the bottom of the bath. Like Eugeo, he was immobilized.
The commander grumbled, tiny icicles crumbling from his brows and beard. “Never thought I’d see a swordsman who throws his sword away in the face of the enemy…Is this a tactic of your own devising?”
“…No,” Eugeo struggled to say through numb lips. “My partner taught it to me. He said that anything on the battlefield can be used as a weapon or a trap.” Bercouli closed his eyes and appeared to think about this, then broke into a grin. More bits of ice sprinkled off his lips.
“Hmph. I see. Making use of the lay of the land…Well, I’ll admit that you got one over on me, but I’m afraid I can’t just concede defeat to you.” He sucked in a breath and held it.
Eugeo was nervous, wondering what he intended to do. If the man started chanting a sacred art, he’d have to prepare a counteracting art instantly.
Bercouli’s pale-blue eyes opened. His lips parted to reveal bared animal fangs that emitted a splitting cry.
“Nrrrng!!”
Several thick veins rose on his forehead. Cords of muscle bunched on the parts of his neck visible above the ice, turning his skin bright red.
“Wha…?” Eugeo gasped. Bercouli was trying to break through the thick ice using nothing but sheer muscle power.
It was impossible. Even with full movement and plenty of space, you’d have a terrible time attempting to break a block of ice this thick with your bare hands. And he was trying to do it while completely immobilized from the neck down.
His clenched white teeth creaked with a sound like metal scraping. Those blue eyes burned like they were going to emit their own light. Even the subzero air surrounding him could not stop an even colder sensation from running down Eugeo’s spine.
Then there was a small but undeniable crack.
A fracture line ran through the ice between them. It cracked and split into two. And then another. Once again, Eugeo realized this man was an extraordinary, superhuman specimen. The Integrity Knights were chosen from among the handful of the very best warriors in all the empires, and this man stood above them all. He was the most powerful fighter in the world. A living legend who had spent a century or two in battle.
Not a single instant of carelessness could happen against such an opponent. Of course, Eugeo hadn’t expected that freezing both himself and the enemy would be the end of the battle. His true intention was yet to come: a forced battle of attrition as their life values sank.
Deep under the surface of the ice, Eugeo gripped the hilt of his sword, which was still in its Memory Release state, and focused his thoughts. If the memories he saw were true, then the Blue Rose Sword had a slightly different genesis than Kirito’s black sword, Bercouli’s Time-Splitting Sword, and Fanatio’s Heaven-Splitting Sword. Unlike theirs, his had two distinct entities for its source: the eternal ice and the rose locked inside it.
The ice’s power was to freeze all things. And the rose’s power…was to cause life to flower.
“Bloom, blue roses!!” he screamed, and countless buds dotted the surface of the ice. They rotated as they grew, extending clear blue petals as thin as razors. Each rose bloomed with the chime of a bell, until there were hundreds and hundreds of flowers. It was a sight astonishingly beautiful and unfathomably harsh—all the flowers were growing and blooming through the consumption of Eugeo’s and Bercouli’s lives.
He felt his limbs growing numb, his vision dimming. Not only could he not feel the chill; he couldn’t even sense the hardness of the ice pressing against his skin. Sheer numbing lack of sensation covered his entire body.
Bercouli’s reddened skin was turning paler, too; trying to break through the ice was sapping all his strength. For the first time in the fight, his proud features no longer looked totally confident.
“Kid…were you planning on taking us both down…from the start?”
“Don’t get…the wrong idea,” Eugeo rasped, struggling to lift his heavy lids. “The only area where I might have an advantage…is the amount…of life. Fanatio suffered the same wound as my partner and collapsed at the same moment…which would mean that Integrity Knights still have the same amount of life as regular people…isn’t that right?”
While he spoke, brilliant points of light began floating up from the hundreds of icy roses. The thundering sound of the main faucets providing the bath with water was gone now, a sign that the ice had reached even them.
Both Bercouli and Eugeo were covered with so much ice, only their faces were exposed. If he could see their Stacia Windows, they would indicate that their life was dropping at an alarming rate. Eugeo desperately fought back against his sudden desire to sleep, keeping his mouth working.
“Based on your looks…I assume you became a knight after you turned forty…and that means your maximum life value is lowered. But my life is close to its peak…Even after taking that blow, my number should still be higher. That was my bet.”
No sooner were the words out of Eugeo’s mouth than Bercouli’s eyes shot open. His face contorted, breaking the icicles hanging from his forehead and nose. “What the hell…did you just say?”
It would have been difficult just to stay conscious, but there was a burning fire raging in the commander’s eyes. “When I became a knight…? You’re acting like you know what our previous lives were like.”