LXIV: A Good Fight.

The clash between the two fighters began with a confrontation of their main weapons, Seone wielding his sword and Ismael his spear, both objects colliding and opposing each other, emitting a loud metallic sound. Their bodies remained motionless as they charged forward, but their strength was similar.

Shockwaves erupted from both of them, cracking the ground and kicking up dead leaves, dust, and gravel. The eyes of the two met, conveying the determination they had. Yes, this was the fight they both wanted, even if they died here, it would be a good fight. 

Soon, they separated a few meters and then charged at each other again, each time clashing their weapons hard, not using vitality or magical power to enhance their bodies, just competing with pure brute force. Gradually, they began to incorporate techniques that made the conflict more and more dynamic.

Ismael's spear skills seemed quite refined, his movements were extremely fluid, and the weapon in his weapon seemed to have a life of its own, with unparalleled cunning. His attacks were insidious but had an inherent beauty that even Seone, constantly being attacked, could not help but admire in his heart.

On the side of Seone, his movements, mainly focused on cutting, were more ruthless, more "murderous", and his sword style was not refined or flashy, he only wanted one thing: to kill. His attacks had a lot of power behind them and were usually chained together to increase the strength of the attack, and he always aimed at the extremities, trying to cut them to incapacitate his enemy. 

If someone who didn't know the context of the fight were to look at it from afar, they would think that it was a beautiful elf fighting a terrible villain, as the normal movements of the Killer Sword technique were extremely cruel and merciless, and it didn't help that Seone's smile was getting wider and wider before it turned into a loud laugh that echoed throughout the battlefield.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! FINALLY A GOOD BATTLE!" Seone shouted as he used his sword to block the enemy spearhead, then made a sharp move with his sword to deflect the attack.

As if it were a prearranged signal, both fighters began to use the energies they had mastered. Ismael's magical power, emerald in color, began to cover his body like a soft blanket, extending to his weapon. His spear seemed to emit a humming sound, and Ismael's expression suddenly became serious. 

The presence emanating from the elf changed to a rather majestic and heavy one, even the atmosphere seemed to be depressed by the mere standing. In fact, instead of floating, the small stones on the ground seemed to be crushed against the earth, and the more fragile ones quickly turned into cinders. 

Seone's performance was more restrained, the crimson vitality tightly covering his skin and taking on the appearance of reptilian scales, his sword slowly covered by his energy, which condensed and seemed to be a faint transparent layer over his weapon, unlike the previous times when his sword would turn completely red. 

Perhaps non-experts would think that Seone did not put in much energy, but Ismael was an expert and was very close to our protagonist, so he knew why this happened. The energy that Seone put into his weapon was so organized and dense that it seemed to simply accumulate at the edge, but the entire weapon was covered with vitality, a strange phenomenon that occurred due to the exaggerated energy comprehension. 

This made Ishmael look at Seone's body closely, noticing that the scales, though red, were just as transparent, making his serious face frown sternly. How dense must Seone's energy be? In terms of quantity, the elf felt that Seone had less energy than he did, and that made him feel safe, because although vitality and mana were not the same, they could be related in some things, and quantity could be one of them. 

But when he saw the quality and density of the vital energy that Seone possessed, he knew that the guy in front of him was a monster in controlling his energy, not only that, he must have a very good mind as well as a good physical condition. 

Keeping one's energy compressed like that would be a monumental mental burden for anyone, even if there were techniques to do it, one had to pay attention to the procedure, because any failure would cause one's body to explode at best, at worst... one could simply become a mindless shell.

"You... HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! You're crazy too, aren't you?" asked Ishmael after laughing, because the situation in front of him made him laugh and an inexplicable confidence grew in him.

"So much compressed energy must be a waste of mental energy for you, any carelessness and things could go wrong for you, and you dare to fight me like this? You must be crazy," the elf said somewhat annoyed, his angry expression and the murderous intent he radiated betraying his mood.

He didn't like Seone's 'stupidity', yes, compressing power made you strong, but it wasn't worth doing that in an obvious fight to the death, so to him it was not only a sign of insanity on Seone's part, but also of contempt for his person. Seone seemed to understand the reason for his words and drew a relaxed smile.

"I don't have any pressure to do this", yes, he didn't have any at all, it had nothing to do with his newly developed meditation and training techniques, which by the way were much better than the primitive versions from before, no, it had to do with something intrinsic in him.

You see, the world Seone comes from is full of anomalies, flaws in reality, and strange, crazy, and subversive things. He was a normal human... as far as that goes, because if a certain foundation had known about Seone's situation, they would have cataloged and contained him long ago, but he was lucky, very lucky.

"Wow, looks like I'll have a little extra exposure this time," a strange voice said, but no one but Seone heard it, but surprisingly it was a voice similar to his own it was his same voice.

A humanoid shadow inhabited her mental passage, its body was blurry, like smoke, but it had distinguishable features and was somewhat three-dimensional. The shadow looked through Seone's eyes, observed the battlefield, and wanted to participate but couldn't, and that bothered him a little, at least he could have some fun controlling Seone's energy. 

What was that, what was Seone, dual personality? No. Possessed? The soul of an unborn twin brother? Nah, too much drama. You could say it was something much simpler, something that was the real Seone, it was reminiscent of Seone's past life. It wasn't a soul, it was a special mental construct created by Seone under certain circumstances, but in this world, it seemed to become more special.

It was the same Seone, it had the same ideas, the same thinking, the same knowledge, it could not know more than Seone, but it could see things from a different point of view. When Seone released the boundaries of his mind, the boundaries of this shadow were also released and it was fully integrated with Seone, but it could still appear, it could still act.

It gave our protagonist a passive ability: One mind, two purposes, although this time it would be: Two minds, two purposes. His friends already knew about this, and even Marie was somewhat interested and asked them many questions of a private nature, and found that there was no real difference between the two and that they could both feel and experience each other, they could just do different things, like now.

Seone openly explained this issue to his opponent Ishmael, because he wanted a 100% carefree battle, he did not want his enemy to become careless and stupid out of anger or contempt due to a misunderstanding. At other times, this action would be very stupid, but the crazy fighters would understand it, similar to when Goku gave Cell a Senzu bean.

In any case, could the Elf possibly attack something so ethereal as a being that was not even a dual personality or another soul, but something stranger? When Ismael realized that Seone was cheating at life by activating such an annoying perk and giving him access to better-quality energy, he exploded.

Ishmael's magical power seemed to connect to another plane of existence, and then it was tinted a fluorescent green with a dense destructive aura. If Seone was going all out from the beginning, why did he have to gradually increase his power? That was something that fighting fanatics did, but seeing that Seone had jumped to his strongest state, he didn't want to waste any more time.

"What do you say, humans? Oh yeah, round two," Ishmael said, only to disappear in a blur. 

There was no loud bang when he moved, not even dust was raised, firstly due to his energy control and excellent technique, secondly, his destructive magical power could even annihilate the incipient sound waves or air that prevented him from moving. 

Seone placed his sword in front of him, holding it with both hands and adjusting his body as a strong attack collided with his weapon. There was no sound, no strong wind from the impact, it was just a clash of weapons like before, but this time it was something more extraordinary.

Ishmael did not stop fighting and continued to deliver many, many blows at an incredible speed. There was no noise or wind in his movements, but still, Seone's senses were constantly picking up his movements and he managed to defend himself each time.

"During a particularly fierce attack by Ismael, Seone seized the opportunity and performed this defensive technique, making the attack seem like a simple breeze with his sword. 

Although the dense vital energy was gradually destroyed by Ismael's destructive magical power, it was quickly replenished during the transition to Seone's next move. As the elf's attack lost all of its energy behind it, he stumbled and his follow-up attack was interrupted, making it much easier for Seone to develop his combo.

"Defensive Sword: Counterattack," the sword covered in dense energy struck the elf's ribs in a powerful sweeping attack, sending him flying. 

As Ishmael placed a hand on the bleeding area, he tried to dodge the move with the back of his spear, but a clang, followed by a sharp pain that paralyzed him, stopped him. There was a small ball in his chest that was spinning intensely, sending a strange energy into his body that made him feel numb, although it wouldn't last long, it was enough for Seone. 

"Sixth Sword: Sierra," the vitality in the weapon stirred and took on a solid appearance similar to teeth, spinning rapidly inside the weapon and emitting a characteristic sound. 

Without a trace, Seone approached the elf incredibly fast and swung his weapon in a downward diagonal attack, but maybe it was the natural resilience of the elves, maybe it was their high magical power, or maybe it was the destructive nature this one possessed now, no matter why, but the elf was able to use his spear to protect himself from the ferocious teeth that wanted to tear off a good piece of flesh.

The clatter of metal against something moving at incredible speed echoed, sparks flew and the force behind the movement pushed Ishmael back, but this one had no trace of discomfort or haste, instead, he was smiling happily.

"After so much, someone can hurt me? thank you," Ishmael thanked before swinging his weapon, and in an instant that Seone couldn't even feel with all his senses, the elf's spear plunged into the boy's abdomen.

The protective scales of vitality were destroyed by the magical power, and the force of the attack not only pushed Seone back but left a trail of green magical power full of destruction in the wound, slowly making it grow larger. 

Without waiting for an answer from Ishmael, Seone swung his sword at the elf, his senses never failed to block it, and even if it moved quickly towards him, he forced himself to sense his enemy as well, even if he could only perceive something very poorly, it was enough.

"Fourth sword: Wave," Seone said as she quickly waved her sword several times, sending several energy cuts toward the unsuspecting enemy in the air.

Ismael decided to use his spear to destroy all those attacks, being careful not to get hit, Seone's dense energy was no game, even if those cuts seemed easy, the elf was very careful with his enemy. When he finished, he saw that Seone held his weapon with both hands and swung it hard, making a vertical downward attack.

"First Sword: Pressure," an arc of crimson energy flew towards Ishmael, who this time had to block out of obligation, feeling trapped by Seone's e-senses. 

Yes, Seone used his momentum to block his opponent's escape, knowing that this attack was much more powerful than the others. Ishmael drove the back of his spear into the ground and an energy shield covered him. When the attack hit the shield, the elf was pushed back, leaving a rift in the earth, and though his shield resisted, it filled with cracks.

Another thunderclap sounded, the energy shield shattered in a flash of golden light, and though he suddenly appeared ten meters to his right, sweat ran down his forehead. He only had simple knightly moves, albeit from the royal family, but he never expected Seone, a human, to have so many insidious tricks. 

He looked at the staggering young man, the wound he had given him was still there and it had to be painful, but this guy did not seem to feel it he seemed to be running towards him right now, so he had to crash into him lest he pull another attack out of his sleeve. 

They both collided, the wounds they both had oozing blood from the impact running through their bodies, but that didn't stop them at all. The clash of metal and wind increased, and neither of them focused on controlling their power, they just wanted to kill each other.

"Second Sword: Encircle" The energy in Seone's sword became ultra-thin, making it easy to cut Ishmael's left arm, a chance the boy got when he let the elf's spear stab his body repeatedly. 

Seone lost his right eye, had many holes in his body, and was even missing three fingers, but he still felt it was worth it. Without stopping, he kicked mercilessly at Ishmael's torso, creating distance. 

"Fifth Sword: Thorns" Seone raised his sword in the air and transferred his life force to the sky, causing it to take the form of many red energy blades that fell towards the elf with speed and thunderous momentum. 

Some of them managed to stay in his body, others were directly destroyed by his magic power or his spear, but even with such wounds, his technique was still skillful and refined. Perhaps because Seone was momentarily overloaded, or perhaps because of his wounds, his movement and reaction came to a halt, allowing Ismael to attack.

"Lotus Flower," the elf's spearhead seemed to draw a greenish flower as it repeatedly cleared Seone's body, and just as one of these attacks was about to pierce the young fighter's remaining eye, it seemed that the pain had caused him to react, and a red light shone brightly.

Seone's left eye emitted a bloody red light, and Seone's movements became much lighter, faster, and full of energy. He moved his head to dodge Ishmael's attack, then his blood-filled body began to move backward or sideways to dodge the attacks.

With the energy boiling in his body, Seone tightened his grip on his weapon with what strength he had left and performed a technique that made him slide backward quickly, finally separating himself from the elf. His previous demonstration of dexterity surprised Ishmael, who noticed the strange gleam in his eyes and knew it was some kind of power-up technique. 

But it didn't matter anymore, Seone's body was riddled with destructive magic power, and it wouldn't be long before he died, but this wouldn't be an action novel if our protagonist went down so easily, would it? 

"Killer instinct... unleashed," Seone's expression, which barely showed a few waves of pain due to his wounds, calmed down. Even though he was tired, even though his body was aching, even though he could barely stand up, his presence now showed pure serenity. 

The energy in him became agitated, but Seone and his shadow knew it, this was what they wanted, a catharsis, a release, no detailed control, no holding back, leaving nothing behind. The black snake with golden rings and red eyes appeared behind Seone, hissing and announcing its imposing presence to the world. 

Even the sunlight seemed to dim as if the presence of this creature was the enemy of the star. The elf didn't understand, he thought that Seone was already serious with him, but Seone was sticking to the credo "I increase my power gradually as I fight" of classic action novels or fighting anime.

It would be boring to go all out at the beginning, wouldn't it? And Seone, in his wounded state, showed his much stronger stance.

Then he started laughing, laughing loudly, while tears came out of his eyes, but they were tears of sadness, even if he had a smile in his eyes, those eyes were of deep sadness. Ishmael did not attack, partly out of curiosity and partly because he wanted to recharge some energy. 

"Why are you crying if you're smiling?" the elf finally asked.

"I needed this... I NEEDED THIS! I lost everything, but now I have valuable things in my life, I have power I never thought I would have, and now I can enjoy a fight like this... where I can give it my all, where I can feel my improvement more and more. 

Your movements were invisible and I could hardly follow them, but gradually I could keep track of them. Your energy is truly painful and I never thought my pain threshold could be improved. I can feel that everything is finally completely aligned. 

I... I've wanted to cry for a long time and this fight made me so happy that I cried. I needed to vent, I needed to vent. Before I would have screamed, but now I just cried.

And after this crying... THERE IS ONLY HAPPINESS LEFT! I am happy for everything, even if I feel that I am about to die, death is no longer because I had to resign myself, because I had to surrender to something superior, no, death

Ismael, I have surpassed you, and with the improvement that my eye and instinct give me... you can't do anything, even if I die in the end, I will know that I died overcoming a powerful enemy. I may not be able to swallow the sun, but a shooting star like you will do, won't it? Get ready," were the last words Ishmael heard before he saw something that made his eyes open much wider. 

"Secret Sword Technique: Chasing Sun!" Seone vigorously swung his sword to the left and then to the right as if he were a snake launching an attack, emitting a constantly spinning and writhing crimson vital energy beam from his weapon.

The giant snake behind Seone made a similar move, lunging at the elf along with Seone's attack, and as it traveled to its target, the snake coiled around the vitality beam, but this time it did not disappear, merging completely with the attack.

Ishmael knew it was impossible to dodge, impossible to defend himself, he could only watch as the merciless snake devoured his body and then proudly raised its head, looking down and glaring at the humans and elves with contempt.

It was a colossal snake, and the huge energy fluctuations could be felt far away, a deliberate act by Seone who decided not to hold back and decided to imitate his good friend, Axel, so he sent a message to everyone who felt the fluctuations of his attack.

"Seone Belmont has grown stronger, first the elves, then the sun."

Seone's smile was captured as his body felt light, the snake disappeared soon after and there was absolute silence. His sword slipped from his hand, disintegrating as it fell, his body swaying, but he insisted on staying on his feet. His left eye was still glowing, giving shivers to those who saw it. 

Yes, he was about to die dramatically, because he had completely forgotten that Samantha could heal him, because he didn't have much contact with the broad, she scared him. But he was still conscious, even if he felt that he would soon pass out, but his will was quite strong and that allowed him to see Marie running towards him with a worried face.

Ah... my being has never felt so cool as it does today, or is it the cold from the lack of blood?" Seone joked mentally as his body no longer resisted and he fell but was held up by rough but warm hands that made him feel much calmer.

"You won, Seone."

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AN: Long chapter, but I was inspired~ I hope you enjoy it!