The instant Elias raised a bitter cry, Athena jumped in from the side. “You can’t...you can’t, Eli!!” Shedding beads of tears, she pleaded with her brother. “Yuri...really is working hard! Getting all beaten up, all torn apart, he still keeps pressing forward!!”
Despite Athena’s desperate attempts to stop him, Elias turned his cold eyes. “If that could change the outcome, she never would have left the city.”
His directionless anger clouded his eyes from the sight of a crying girl.
“Do you honestly think—that’s enough to change it!!?”
Right after the brunt of his rage shifted to Athena, after he lowered his fist, he heard the dull sound of metal striking flesh and bone.
“I finally get it.”
Blood fell, drip by drip, from his sliced forehead. Yuri had forced his way through and grabbed Elias’s arm.
“I...think I hate you.”
He put more and more strength into his grasp until he heard a grating sound.
“To be more precise, you really irritate me. Your eyes are always on where I come from, and who my master is. It’s as if you can’t see me at all. On top of that, I consider you a complete stranger, yet you just go off and arbitrarily decide my future as if you know everything there is to know about me.”
Yuri glared at Elias as he introduced himself.
“My name...is Yuri Eniastar. I’m not just any mix-blood duelist, and I’m not Reilly Malbork. If you can’t even understand that—”
Yuri recalled the form of a duelist he had admired a decade ago. His master had taught him not only technique and tactics, she imparted to him something far more important: the Iron-blood spirit to never give up.
“—Then I’ll defeat you, and make you understand.”
His hostility and fighting spirit laid bare, he made his war proclamation.
Elias furrowed his brow, ever so slightly. “...Then we’ll have things your way.”
Shaking off Yuri’s hand, he looked at the Proof glimmering on his own left arm. A definitive proof of his strength—the purple glow of Adamant.
“Three days from now...we will duel to kick off the Babel Roulette. This is the duel city...if your will is unshaken, it only makes sense to settle the matter through a duel.”
It would be a format different from a standard duel. Far different from the ones carried out on a daily basis. A battle where convictions, pride, principle, even existence itself could be placed on the line.
“I challenge you to a contractual duel.”
Thrusting out his Proof, Elias firmly glared at Yuri.
“The consequence for losing will be ‘That Yuri Eniastar shall henceforth never set foot in the duel city.’ I won’t let you walk a duelist’s path ever again.”
In the midst of both sides glaring at one another, Athena burst out with a shaking voice.
“You can’t...absolutely not, Yuri!” She grabbed Yuri’s shoulder and frantically attempted to dissuade him. “If you lose the contracted duel...you really will never be able to fight here again! You won’t be able to do what you love most in the world!”
Fram calmly stared at a motionless Elias. “Elias...you’re taking this way too far for a joke.”
“There’s no way I would present a contractual duel as a joke. It’s up to the boy whether he accepts or not, and I will allow him to offer any consequence he wants. I am undertaking considerable risk myself. We are on even footing.”
A contractual duel was a match where the consequences of the outcome were decided beforehand. They would go into effect no matter what, and once accepted could never be overturned. The details of the contract would be carved into the Proof, and the defeated party couldn’t take any action against them.
If Yuri lost—he really wouldn’t be able to set foot in Babel again. It would spell the end of him as a duelist.
“If you really wish to continue on as a mix-blood duelist—show me your resolve,” said Elias as he stared straight at Yuri.
“Ah...you finally looked at me!” Yuri smiled and held his left hand high.
A dull-blue Iron Proof. The Proof he needed to continue to walk and live as a duelist. That was the very reason why he couldn’t run away. If he held beliefs he could never abandon, he had to fight and settle the matter with a duel.
“Yuri Eniastar accepts the contractual duel.” He turned his Proof to Elias with a firm resolve.
Upon seeing that, Elias peacefully closed his eyes. “Very well. Then state your terms—”
“No, I don’t need any terms on my side; or rather, I really don’t care.”
“...What?”
“If I had to say—please don’t run from our fight.”
Elias was lost for words, so Yuri thrust up his fist.
“I’ll fight with all my might, and I’ll defeat you!”
Yuri had no doubt in his own victory. Not for a second did he think he would ever be defeated. Therefore, he didn’t have to worry about leaving the duel city. The only thought he had toward Elias was that he would definitely defeat him.
One look at his face, and Elias turned his back.
“...Then I’ll use all my might to kill you,” he concluded, before slowly disappearing into the forest beyond the beach.
For a while, no one said a word. Only the rustle of the leaves broke the silence. And...eventually, after a deep sigh, Athena wiped her eyes.
“Yuri, you really are an idiot...” But there was no bitterness to be found on her face. “And that’s why Big Sis wants to do everything to support you!”
With the remnants of tears still on her cheeks, Athena made a clear, cheerful smile.
“Good grief...if it’s three days, we’ll have to work even harder than before.” Fram sighed.
“Then I’ll work harder than anyone!”
“Of course you will. More importantly...Elias is a high-ranking Adamant. Duelists on that tier are on a different level, and he’s strong enough to garner attention even within his own rank.”
Fram spoke the plain truth, simply because she knew it to be a fact. Ten years ago, Elias had come out victorious against a great many opponents in the Babel Roulette. He had continued to fight after that, only growing stronger in the process.
“Can you still say you’re going to win?”
“Yes, I’ll definitely win,” Yuri answered, brimming with confidence. “What’s more...I just thought of one way I might be able to surpass Mr. Elias.”
“...Is there really a way?”
“It’s a way the two of you will be completely against. But—” He gripped a fist as he lifted the corners of his mouth. “—As long as there’s a possibility, I don’t mind what means I use.”
There was no falsehood to his words. To that point, Yuri had adopted all manner of methods for victory. To catch up to his master Reilly, he had efficiently picked up technique in a short period of time, and built his body from the ground up to surpass not only his master, but the other races as well.
“The most efficient learning tool...is pain. Stimulating events that come with pain and suffering are naturally burned into the brain. That’s why they’re several times more valuable than normal experience.”
Yuri himself knew better than anyone that there was no proper way to go about it. Not only had he heard it time and again from his master, he had experienced his own weakness first-hand. That was why...Yuri cast aside any proper thoughts. By throwing away all conventional methods, he had found the one talent that only he possessed.
“If it’s to win—I’ll do anything.”
For in the talent of madness, no one could surpass Yuri Eniastar.