Victory?

How long had the battle gone on?

The murmuring of the crowd had gone silent in Larians ear. To him, there was only absolute focus on the little being in front of him.

Larian sensed the change he was bringing, his movements were getting closer to the image he had seen from his epiphany of Shinki Style. He was brining fantasy into reality.

He was getting so close that he had even forgotten his exhaustion.

In between the next confrontation, he finally got another clear view at Star's face. 

'He's... smiling?'

Larian was initially confused, but he quickly felt his facial muscles relaxing. He realised that he too had been smiling during the fight.

In the face of qualitative change Larian had found himself enjoying himself in this hell where people bled and died.

'Had fighting always been so fun?'

All this time Larian had only picked up the blade for the sake of redemption. He had swung his blade to chase the fear that creeped up behind him.

The fear that he would lose it all and revert to his past self. Fighting had been the prove that he was better than the version of himself yesterday.

But now the exhilarating feeling of adrenaline pumping through his veins was something he didn't want to let go.

'If this is how it feels to improve, then I won't let it stop!'

Larian embraced the new feeling of joy and for once he was not straining his mind to endure the pain.

Within Larians inner mind, the chains wrapped around his body without any command and pulled it according to his wishes.

His already exhausted body moved with renewed energy and moved faster and hit harder.

Star's face revealed a pleasant surprise, swept by Larian's tempo he shifted his speed to match Larian.

Larian had never seen himself moved so fast. 

This made executing the complete Shinki Style possible now.

Two blitzing shadows wrapped around the arena. One luminescent white and the other a fleeting red blur.

Larian slid his weapon into his sheath. Grasping a moment when Star made a split decision, he executed his quick draw.

It felt like trying to draw water from an already dried well. He was squeezing dirt for any drop of liquid essence. His slash flew soundly and elegantly when it came close to Star, it burst open like a ruthless hurricane and crashed upon his blade.

Star's clothes got torn and cuts formed under them. Star had mitigated the greatest force of the quick draw but the explosive force still lingered and injured him.

But Larian was not done. His blade slipped downwards. Like a serpent stuck in a cage, Larian's blade crashed and battered his body in multiple directions. 

To the naked eye, it looked like Larian's blade had split into multiple afterimages.

'Afterimages?'

Larian chained his sword strike into the next and the afterimages turned into black blades. With some adjustments the sword wave turned into a wave of darkness that enveloped the arena.

In this darkness, Star tried to radiate as brightly as it could. But the light is swallowed by the illusory darkness. 

The sword of shadows dances dangerously while Larian's blade is unhindered in its fierce assault.

Robbed of his blinding powers, Star concentrated and his shortsword turned into a blur under Larian's focused eyes.

With his quick reaction, Star slashed down on every illusion, while occasionally parrying Larian's katana.

This showed how much Star had held back prior. The speed he moved in could barely be kept up with even when Larian surpassed his peak.

But Larian blade pulled back, for a moment Larian concentrated deeply. His focus centered on his blade and spread all around the air. It connected into every illusion.

Pulling his blade back like lifting a war hammer, Larian swung forward into the air. For the first time the illusions looked solid and heavy. As one passed Star's shin, a cut was formed.

The wave of illusions had turned real.

This was his sixth sword art of Shinki Style. If the third blade was meant to deceive, the sixth turned the illusions into reality.

With Larian's control, the wave crashed into Star, turning his surroundings into a blender hell. Cuts and slashes formed around Star's body like a spiral potato. With quick judgement Star endured one front and dashed out of the encirclement, taking a deep stab wound to his chest.

Controlling the wave of blades, Larian chased the little monster and felt his essence strain.

When the illusory dark blades looked like they were about to come close to Star, he raised his blade to his eyes and braced for the carnage that was about to unfold on him. 

But the blades passed through him harmlessly. The pleasant surprise did not give Star comfort, instead his scalp tingled as he sensed something was immediately wrong.

On instinct, Star turned to his back. There, a formless doppelganger was already on him, its crooked blade already in position to cut him down. But Star in a turn of surprises shot his hand out to grab the incoming blade with his palms.

'!'

Larian who could nearly taste his victory did not expect such a brave act. He was ready to exploit the gap in his attention to deal the finishing blow, but who knew Star would so easily judge the lethality of his doppelganger and make the best possible choice.

Not letting the opportunity slip, Larian stabbed the distracted Star, but Star managed to block his blade with his remaining arm with his shortsword.

In this stalemate, both sides were exhausted.

They were both riddled with wounds, both their bloody wounds sprinkled down the grilled floor.

Larian's eyes faded in and out but he remained resolute in his blade. If they both held this position, it would be a contest of who could endure to the end.

But Larian's heart was not satisfied. He had advanced soo much, if he falls in the end, simply satisfied with how much he had earned, could he trust himself to finish the monumental task of defeating one of the greatest Heroes in the world?

'No. It won't end this. I WILL PREVAIL!'

Within Larian, he called upon his chains once again. Larian's essence shot out like the tiniest strings of webs and wrapped the entire arena, the webs were as heavy as the metal chains that bound them.

This was his Seventh blade, The Mountain. It was a mix of the ritual he made for himself and the style he mimicked from the Elder from Shinon Castle.

It felt like a giant iron was pressing him down and Larian followed its force and pressed harder.

In reality, the grill under their feet was bending harder, it curved down from Larian's pressure and caused Star's arm to shake. 

He tried to mimic Larian's sword style and perhaps he would learn it entirely after this fight.

But he could never steal Larian's endurance.

Hardship was not something learned from others, it is experiences that you learn from yourself.

*Creak…

*Bang!

The grills snapped from the pressure and Star fell through it.

Larian's mind turned blank for a moment.

'What…?'

This expected victory was cut short, not because Star had fallen. But because he literally fell through the stage.

Watching Star fall through, his luminous blade shone his fall down the tunnel below them. Larian could finally see the blood trail flowing in from the other arena and where they ended up.

*Splash!

Star landed into the liquid which had accumulated. Beneath the arena, was a blood pool so large that Larian could barely believe it.

But reality was in front of his eyes. It really was a blood pool as big as the entire arena. 

Staring at Star, he saw the little kid splashing about.

'Star! He can't swim?!'