I looked back towards the top left base where Kenth and Waffel were residing.
"Kenth, come! It's time for the grand finale.".
" Waffel, please charge another shot and give it your all." She nodded, and Kenth started running towards us.
I tapped Nagi next and leaned close to whisper instructions.
She smiled and started by orbiting the fight rather than charging headlong.
"Clank!"
Meanwhile, on the frontlines, a kunai dug into the ground and immediately called right back out.
A double of Maku latched onto Tasora's leg, arms locking tight.
At the same time, another clone grabbed her left arm.
"Now!" someone shouted.
The elf girl didn't hesitate. She drew and loosed in one smooth motion.
Arrows screamed through the air.
Tasora glanced down, unimpressed.
She lifted her trapped leg and snapped it upward.
The clone holding it took the volley full on.
Arrows punched through the body double in a neat cluster, and it burst apart into light before it even hit the ground.
Tasora grabbed the other clone by the wrist and spun, using its body like a shield. The remaining arrows embedded themselves in the clone's back before it dispersed in her hand.
Her fingers brushed the bracelet on her wrist.
A light practice sword slid into her palm.
She pointed it at us lazily.
"Alright. You've graduated from hand-to-hand to dummy swords. Now co—"
Ice spears dropped from above.
Tasora's eyes flicked upward.
She immediately channeled thrum into the wooden blade. The grain blackened, glowing lines racing along it as it ignited into fire.
She swung once.
A wave of heat blasted upward, melting every spear mid-fall into hissing steam that rained harmlessly around her.
Tasora raised both hands and curled her fingers in a slow, taunting gesture.
"Come on, don't be shy, I actually don't bite."
The group we'd beaten earlier took that personally.
The paladin charged first, shield up and club raised. The elf repositioned immediately, arrows already flying. Maku's doubles rushed in from three directions.
Tasora met them head-on.
She slammed her sword into the ground.
Fire exploded outward in a circular shockwave.
The paladin was thrown back, his shield glowing red-hot as he skidded across the ice. The elf was forced to roll aside, arrows scattering wide. Two body doubles vanished instantly, but Tasora noticed the figure that kept dancing in the air.
Nagi threw and recalled her kunai so many times that soon the ground looked like a violet spider's nest, and the prey in the center was Tasora.
"Trying to keep me away, pretty boy?" Tasora called, eyes locking onto her through the chaos.
She stabbed the sword down again.
Another blast.
This one launched her attackers clear off their feet.
Then she jumped straight toward Nagi.
"No need for those," Tasora said midair, grinning. "I'll come to you anyway."
Nagi didn't flinch.
Someone was already waiting for her down.
A chain snapped around Tasora's ankle and yanked hard, dragging her out of the air and slamming her back into the ground hard enough to kick up a cloud of dust.
The battlefield went quiet for half a second.
Blue pupils shone through the dust.
A silhouette stepped forward, metallic noises rattling softly.
"Sorry, I kept you waiting, master," I said.
Tasora grinned while still lying down.
"Took you long enough."
She stood up inside the settling cloud, brushing dirt from her shoulder.
"And I told you countless times not to call me that," she said flatly.
I swung my chains in a wide arc, dispersing the remaining dust.
She cracked her neck.
"Let's see.... One win, one tie, and five hundred something losses, right?" she asked.
"Five hundred thirty-one," I corrected. "If you lose here, can I add that to my wins?"
She smiled.
"Sure, why not?" Tasora said. "Of course, that would never happen."
She dropped her burnt practice sword and pulled out a fresh one.
"Step"
"Step"
I enhanced both arms, the glow crawling up my forearms as the reinforcement stretched cleanly to my shoulders.
It was the improvement I achieved through countless beatdowns I received from this girl.
"Step"
"Step"
"Step"
Maku recalled every remaining body double in a single breath. The copies collapsed into him like smoke being inhaled.
His hair highlights flared. His eyes burned violet.
Thrum rolled outward, thick and oppressive, as the air had suddenly gained weight.
"You know what I hate more than a losing game?" Maku said, eerily calm.
He flicked his katana.
The air screamed as a compressed wind shockwave tore forward, shaving ice clean off the ground.
"Actually losing."
He stepped in sync with us.
"Step"
"Step"
"Step"
All of us were trying to approach the bottom-middle home base that Maku previously tried to capture.
The tension rang like glass under pressure.
"crack....."
A massive ice boulder crumbled.
That was the signal.
Everyone bolted.
I detonated the explosion at my back, launching myself forward like a badly aimed missile.
Tasora slashed at me midair.
I twisted, raised my heel, and detonated again. The blast didn't hurt her, but it bound her movement for half a second.
That was enough.
A violent slash screamed toward her neck.
She ducked.
I didn't let up. Another explosion propelled me down, fist cocked toward her abdomen.
She kicked my fist mid-duck.
I blocked.
Then chained her leg to my arm.
The chains locked.
She was forced upright on one foot, split awkwardly, and her balance was badly compromised.
Instinct made me unintentionally glance downward at her skirt.
I sighed.
"Disappointed?" Tasora said flatly. "I'm wearing spats. Shame this isn't considered a combat exercise. Otherwise, we wouldn't be stuck in school uniforms."
She hopped and tried to kick my neck.
I blocked again, refusing to release her leg.
Another slash came in from Maku, aimed straight for her hips
Tasora twisted and tried to drag me into the cut like a human shield.
I let go instantly and blasted backward, recasting my enhancements midair.
Maku's blade struck.
Tasora had to adjust and face it with her sword, but it split cleanly in half.
She abandoned it without hesitation and backed off.
A bullet slammed into her chest and sent her tumbling.
She rolled, pulled out another wooden sword, infused it with fire thrum, and spun, blocking the rest of the volley in a blaze of sparks.
The moment my enhancements finished recasting, I exploded forward again.
This time, I had Cwal's knife in my left hand.
"Solaris!" I yelled. "Lock her down!"
I punched with my right.
Tasora caught it barehanded.
I detonated the contact point.
The blast threw us both apart.
Ice surged upward, locking half of her body in place. Frost crawled over her side.
She was still smiling and was still eyeing me.
That alone was unsettling.
"This isn't over," I muttered.
"Nagi!"
High above, riding her web like it was second nature, Nagi grinned.
"I was starting to think you wouldn't need me."
She hurled her kunai.
Tasora didn't move.
The blade passed her.
She glanced back at it, stiff from the ice, then turned forward—
—and found the sky gone.
Every string Nagi had laid now loomed overhead.
A tidal wall of violet.
Nagi whispered, almost reverently.
"Apollo's Abashing Wave."
The strings crashed down.
They swallowed Tasora whole, shredding ice, biting into her from every angle, dragging her backward, and slamming her into the wall. Cuts opened across her arms and legs as the web pinned her in place.
"Step"
"Step"
"Step"
My foot steps reverberated as I approached.
"How about you give up now?" I said.
"Waffel back there is fully charged and ready to shoot you down."
Tasora laughed.
"All that, and you think I'll surrender ?" she said, steam starting to roll off her body.
The strings began to unravel.
She stomped her free foot.
"BOOOOOM!"
A shockwave of wind erupted outward, severing every single strand.
She touched her bracelet and muttered calmly.
"Unwind. Har'pe."
A pitch-black curved blade formed in her hand, swallowing light itself.
She raised it and pointed straight at me.
"Just like you said," Tasora smiled. "It's time for the finale."
"Don't blame me if you get hurt," I replied.
Nagi, Maku, Kenth, and I ran together.
Tasora's silver eyes flared. Her white hair highlights ignited like frozen fire.
...
...
...
Instantly, all forms of sound died.
Gone.
The world is locked.
Only my footsteps remained, echoing far too loudly for an empty battlefield.
I slowed.
Looked back.
Everyone was frozen mid-stride. Nagi is halfway through a leap. Maku with his katana raised. Kenth mid-step, gun aimed at Tasora.
I swallowed.
My vision snapped upward.
〈 Time Remaining: 2:41 〉
It didn't tick.
I turned back.
Tasora stood exactly where she had been, head tilted, blade still aimed at my chest in the distance.
"So," I said, forcing a grin.
"Just the two of us? How romantic, master."
"Well," she replied calmly, "I can't promise the others won't get hurt."
"You're gonna protect others but not me? Hah... I guess nothing changes."
She smiled wider.
"Ready to make that five hundred thirty-two losses official?"
"You mean two wins," I shot back.
Then she vanished.
I exploded backward on instinct.
The blade carved through empty air where my neck had been.
I detonated again. Then again. Then again.
Explosions chained under my feet, shoulders, and elbows. I used them like stepping stones, bouncing erratically, never landing twice in the same place.
Tasora followed effortlessly.
Every slash forced me to block or evade. Every block rattled my bones.
"You definitely improved," she said mid-swing. "But still too young."
Her blade slammed down.
"We're the same age, dammit!"
I retorted as I crossed my arms and barely caught it with the knife Cwal had given me.
The impact drove me into the ground.
"Damn it!" I hissed, pain screaming up my arms.
I threw the knife.
She flicked it aside without even looking.
The blade spun, flew, then froze in midair.
Everything not touched by both of us would stop like that.
I raised my palm.
My eyes burned blue. My hair highlights flared.
"Down," I willed as I activated my conceptual ability.
The knife lurched back into motion, reversing course and diving straight for her head.
Tasora hopped aside, casual as stepping over a solid puddle melted from her sword earlier.
"Not yet," I growled.
I forced the knife to curve. It chased her like a stubborn insect.
She swatted it aside with her sword. I pulled it back. Again. Again.
But every time I did so, she casually swatted it like a fly.
Blood began leaking from my eyes.
From my ears.
My knees hit the ground.
I stayed upright anyway.
My Will stat was still horrendous as ever.
I didn't stop.
Finally, Tasora pinned the blade against the ground with her foot and exhaled.
"That's enough," she said. "You're literally cooking yourself."
She paused.
"…Did you really think I didn't notice Cwal gave you this?"
She straightened.
"I was just wa— jshg— th— huh?"
Her body twitched.
Her words slurred.
"Whash ish happnng to me—"
The blade slipped from her hand and dissolved back into her bracelet.
She staggered.
I smiled weakly.
"The only damage you tried to shrug off," I said, voice shaking.
Her eyes widened.
"You... mmmph... 'stuck... th' poison... inna Nagi's... strings...?"
"Not poison, but paralytic slime. Also, since your body is technically not stopped within time,"
"Cough cough"
I continued, coughing blood, "the paralysis kept seeping in."
She dropped to one knee.
"…Usually works instantly," I added. "Guess you're built different."
Time snapped back into motion.
Sound crashed in all at once.
"MATT!" Nagi screamed. "Are you okay?!"
Maku, who noticed something was up, stopped and dragged both nagi and Kenth out of the way.
"Waffel!" I croaked. "Now!"
A massive beam of yellow energy tore across the battlefield.
But something stepped in front of it.
A silhouette of a boy.
A thin figure and badly bruised.
I smiled as my vision dimmed.
"I came here to save you, damn it, don't you go killing yourself," I muttered.
Then everything went dark.