“You...used your own body...as an Armament...!?”
The Human Tribe Skill Armament allowed a weapon to take the burden of the body, granting its users the abilities stored in the gemstones embedded in them. But perhaps the opposite was possible as well. By taking the brunt of the load directly, using his body as an Armament, he had amplified the effect of the Tribe Skills he was born with.
An ability without a name. If he had to call it something, perhaps Tribal Armament. A power granted only to mix-bloods.
“But if it cost you an arm...you should have used it to take me out.”
That previous punch was a telling blow; it had inflicted terribly severe damage. But it wasn’t nearly enough to bring Elias down. His will wasn’t fragile enough to crumble from one hit.
“You were close...whelp.”
Yuri was already at his limit. Not only had he sacrificed his left arm, he had been perpetually using his passive healing magic to close his wounds while the blade was in his heart. He didn’t have the strength left to fight. It would be over the moment his healing didn’t make it in time. If his head left his body, he would undoubtedly die.
“You won’t get another shot!”
With those words, Elias kicked at the ground with a dash of ungodly speed the eye could never hope to follow. Yuri wouldn’t be able to avoid it. The horrid remains of his left arm wouldn’t be able to block.
Knowing that, Elias took a confident swipe from the left—his sword came to a complete stop with a shrill, metallic pang.
“—If once doesn’t work, I’ll hit you as many times as it takes.”
Elias’s thoughts ceased upon witnessing something as absurd as his slash being blocked by the sturdy, pure-white exposed bone jutting out from Yuri’s elbow.
“Release Armament.” With a quiet murmur, Yuri gathered strength in his nonexistent left hand. His arm slid the length of the blade as he lurched down like a spring storing power.
“Hardened Hoof!!”
Yuri swung his left arm with an ear-rending scream. The sharp, exposed bone stabbed into Elias’s flank. A piercing blow that tore through flesh, the momentum of it sent Elias’s body flying in the air with a trail of red.
Inconceivable. This was the only word to cross Elias’s mind.
Yuri’s body was already at its limit. But even in his current state, he had used his left hand again.
“Hahah... Looks like I really can’t use my arm after the second shot.” Yuri laughed dryly as he gazed at his now-absent shoulder.
This was madness. Using an injured arm to fire an all-or-nothing attack would bring unimaginable pain. This much was self-evident, and yet Yuri didn’t hesitate. He completely disregarded the damage received, making aberrant choices simply because it seemed effective at the time.
“You’re...you’re mental...!!”
“What are you talking about? Crazy or not, the one who wins is right. That’s the law here.”
Missing an arm, swaying like a vengeful ghost, Yuri kept on going. Without pause, he faced his foe to seize his victory.
“Our battle...isn’t over yet.” His smile never fading, he readily threw himself back into the fight. “Just try and kill me, Elias Crossford.”
Elias’s body froze over the moment he heard those words. He remembered this sensation. Long ago, when he fought Reilly for the first time, Elias experienced true fear for the first time in his life. Faced with her iron will that would never fold to anything he could muster.
“......Hah.”
And, the moment he realized this, he couldn’t help but chuckle. Blood streamed down the edge of his mouth as he faced the lunatic before his eyes.
“Then how about you try and kill me, Yuri Eniastar!” Elias shouted, snapping himself out of his daze. He readied his curved sword and closed the distance. His ungodly slash flew to sever Yuri’s neck.
Yuri didn’t fall.
“Ga...aaaaaaaaaaah!!” With a beastly roar, he forcefully parried the blade with the black sword strangled in his right hand.
Elias immediately reacted. He let his sword, sealed by the black blade, leave his hand, allowing him to slip through Yuri’s guard and deliver a powerful kick to his torso.
An impact elevated to its very limit through Release. It had unmistakably captured its mark, shattering the steel bones protecting the boy’s body.
Yuri didn’t fall.
“It’s...not over yet!”
After a bit of self-encouragement, Yuri clenched his right hand around the black sword that one might call the proof of a mix-blood. The sword passed down by his master. The sword that had never left his hand in this fight.
Planting a powerful foot into the ground, Yuri looked straight ahead. All his master taught him, and all he believed in. As if to smash it all into his foe, Yuri thrust the sword, honest and straightforward to an idiotic degree.
“Hardened Hoof!” A thrust with everything on the line. A strike to pierce through the wall that stood before him.
The impact from the attack caused a dust cloud to scatter far and wide. The air shook, fearfully cowering behind the dust to guard its sight from whatever bleak reality lay beyond it.
The crowd watched with a unanimous gulp. Not a single soul would taint it with words as they anxiously waited with tightly clenched fists. What was the result—and what would come after that?
A long time passed. The dust cloud was in no hurry to clear, but eventually, two shadows could be made out standing at the center. The figures were still, one slumped down, the other standing tall. Finally, the dust settled.
On one side was Yuri, both his legs pulverized, now his right arm gone as well. And on the other side stood Elias, a large hole opened clean through his chest.
“...Hah... To think you’re still alive in that state... You’re a real monster, you know that?” Elias felt his pulse weaken as he looked down at Yuri, now no more than a torso.
After essentially being torn to pieces, Yuri Eniastar was still moving. He glared at Elias, shifting his head in an attempt to rock himself closer. It was as if his body wouldn’t stop advancing until the fight was over.
“You resemble your master in the strangest ways...but the way you fight is the complete opposite.” Elias closed his eyes to clear away the shadow of an old friend he saw over the boy.
For a brief instant, the power of his Hardened Hoof let him surpass Elias physically. By using that power on his legs, he had exceeded Elias’s speed, and by using his sword this time instead of his fist, he had eliminated the option of blocking with a blade or scabbard.
It was a desperate blow with everything on the line. Had he missed, Yuri wouldn’t be left with the means to fight. It was quite literally an all-or-nothing gamble. And that was precisely...what allowed Yuri to break the wall. He continued pressing forward without ever folding.
“It’s your win, Yuri Eniastar.”
And by the time he spoke the last syllable, Elias’s pulse had stopped entirely.
A prismatic brush colored the sepia world. Now that a victor was decided, their two injured bodies reverted back to how they were before the battle began.
Elias remained on his knees, unmoving, in the center of the ring. And...while he was breathing heavily, Yuri’s two feet were back on the ground.
“...It reached...”
Yuri stared at the sky above, reaching his hand out at the all-encompassing blue. Only the sensation of victory remained in his hazy consciousness.
“I...I won...”
This was the spectacle that awaited a duelist who fought with his all to the very end. The scenery that awaited the duelist he had envisioned himself out to be. Eyes narrowed at the blinding sight, Yuri burst into a cheerful smile.
“That means...I wasn’t wrong!”
At his last word, Yuri collapsed onto the ground.