Encore 81 — Vestiges of Death and Fortitude (III)

{A few minutes ago...}

Myraliana and Tvar were in a heated fight. Myraliana swiftly swung her sword to parry any incoming blows from him.

GRRKK...

The floor rumbled; Myraliana stumbled.

(A tremor?! Now of all times?!)

Tvar didn't miss the opportunity. He swooped in with his fist. As hard as Myraliana was trying to regain her balance, instead, she let herself fall.

By a hair's breadth, she dodged his punch and flipped backwards to put some distance between them.

"That was close..."

Myraliana gasped while keeping her eyes on Tvar. She was playing defensive for a short while. That had to change if she wanted to win.

"Tch, I'm trying to keep it gentle."

Tvar scowled. His body began steaming.

"Oh well—Armour of Fortitude."

The steam disappeared almost instantly. Tvar's body was covered with hard, black slates. They formed the shape of armour. Tvar was now heavily geared.

Myraliana exhaled to calm herself down. She inspected Tvar and her current circumstances.

(He's fully geared right now. His speed doesn't increase with the armour but his power does. My left arm is broken. I only have two more Blade Forms that I haven't used.)

She clutched Ascalon tighter in her hand. Tvar leaned forward on his leg. He burst ahead. As he primed his fist, the plates on his arm shifted while glowing orange.

Myraliana skipped to the side, dodging it.

"...!"

The punch caused a shockwave, pushing Myraliana into the wall. Ascalon's blade roared crimson fiercely. She approached Tvar herself.

Tvar's eyes narrowed in confusion.

(What is she doing when I'm the one with the better armour? I won't even block this.)

As Myraliana sliced across herself, the armour on Tvar's forearm cracked, crumbling apart. The man looked at it confused.

"Hm...?"

He sounded. The armour on his arm was damaged.

(What? I'm sure that she couldn't hurt me before...)

Tvar thought, looking at Myraliana. The woman had already backed away and was hopping on the spot.

"Okay, I have it."

Myraliana said, like it was self-encouragement. The man digressed, believing that Myraliana cracked his armour by luck. It was nothing more than a miracle.

Within a second, Myraliana closed the gap. Tvar swung at her.

Her blade shone a pale blue. As she parried Tvar's arm, it froze on contact. Seeing that Tvar had deterred, Myraliana sliced the frozen arm with Refine. The armour on the arm crumbled.

Tvar stared at his bare arm. He opened and closed his palm before looking at the blonde-haired woman.

"What did you do?"

"Didn't you say that you didn't like to play with your food? Hurry up and take a bite."

Myraliana taunted him.

She spun her sword around as if she were dancing. Ascalon shone pale blue, creating a cold trail behind it.

"Ascalon; Zero."

Ascalon; Zero. This Blade Form isn't something that the prototype had originally. It was Myraliana who made it herself.

The Ascalon prototype has five original Blade Forms: Refine, Execution, Phantom, Pierce and Expulsion. Using her ability as a magic swordsman to her advantage, Myraliana managed to make her own Blade Forms.

One such artificial Blade Form was Ascalon; Zero. Using mana, Myraliana could make her blade produce ice upon contact.

Combining her artificial Blade Form with an original one...

She thrust the sword forward.

"Pierce!"

Thorns of ice rushed toward Tvar. Instead of trying to endure them or destroy them, he skipped away. The ice had broken his armour before, he didn't want to risk it again.

From his blind spot, Myraliana attempted to close in on him—she received a kick to the face. Stumbling, she slashed at him. Tvar dodged it, blasting her stomach with his bare fist.

"Hmnr...!"

It was powerful enough for her entire body to vibrate. The room shook. She kept her mouth shut and raised her sword.

"You don't know when to quit...!"

Tvar grunted, throwing his armoured fist. Myraliana swung down, stopping his blow. Ascalon's blade was red.

(She blocked it instead of parrying it? What?)

Suddenly, a smile lurked on Myraliana's face.

"You... You don't understand your ability, do you?"

The man grimaced while attempting to push harder. He couldn't push Myraliana back any further. The woman chuckled.

"You've never lost with your ability, have you?"

"...!"

Tvar was beginning to become irritated.

It was true. Tvar, for as long as he possessed his Singularity—Armour of Fortitude—he has never lost a single bout. In fact, it would be accurate to say that he had no real combat experience. Thus his sentence saying that he doesn't like to play with his food.

Tvar was a figure inspiring fear, dominance and fortitude. There have only been two others in the past who have been able to break his armour. Both are not human.

Tvar dominated with his superior strength and constitutional durability. His full power with the Armour of Fortitude had broken Myraliana's arm. That was how he ended most fights.

The Armour of Fortitude had a weakness that not even he was aware of.

"Haha! Your armour may be strong but once it starts to break, you'll slowly start to crumble!"

"Don't... play... with me!"

Although Tvar twisted his waist to increase the strength produced, he couldn't blast Myraliana backwards. Myraliana's grin became larger.

"Let me teach ya a lesson! Singularities that involve bolstering a target's defence using physical objects have a weakness. It'd be unfair that endurance would rise. There's always a downside. For you, it's the fact that you're strong with all of your armour until some of it is broken. Once a part breaks, your strength decreases. You've never lost so you wouldn't know!"

Myraliana retracted her sword and swept Tvar's legs.

"Shit...!"

Ascalon became pale blue. He sliced down, striking at Tvar's core. Instead of slicing through, the man's body froze over, inside an armour of ice.

Myraliana had expended most of her mana during that fight. She sighed.

"Better go back to Rentaro. Hopefully, that old sack didn't escape."

Tvar hadn't died; she immobilised him temporarily. That was enough for Myraliana.

She ran retracing her steps back into the room where Rentaro was. As she entered...

"You're back."

Rentaro spoke upon seeing Myraliana. She stood frozen in awe. She stared at the man.

"What happened to your...?"

"Oh, my eye? It's nothing, this guy here tried to escape, that's all."

He covered his bleeding eye while trying to play it off.

"Get... off of me!"

On the ground was Saito Eiji, Fan held him in a submissive position. She began applying more pressure to his arm as he struggled.

"He is weaker than expected."

Fan announced in a systematic tone.

Myraliana sauntered over to him and crouched. Ascalon disappeared from her hand.

"I've put that guard of yours in an ice block. Now, tell me. Where is the Godslayer?"