Erik could not dodge; he did not even have time to block. So what could he do?
As the blade bore down on him, he jumped! He jumped slightly, so that the blade did not strike his head – it could only smash the armour on his chest!
The armour caved inwards with a loud *Clank* and Erik was sent stumbling back. His chest was in considerable pain and he coughed twice while trying to catch his breath.
Isaac immediately pressed his advantage and attacked again, but Erik was prepared. He struck directly towards Isaac, giving Isaac no room to dodge. This way, even if Isaac pulled the same trick as before, Erik's fist would still strike Isaac and they would merely trade blows.
Isaac knew he couldn't dodge, but blocking would also put him at a disadvantage. His sword swung towards Erik's fist, the disappeared when it got close. A moment later, a new sword appeared in Isaac's hand and continued heading towards Erik's chest.
However, Erik's fist was simultaneously getting closer to Isaac. Isaac activated the Nihility Intent Anima, causing grey light to spray everywhere and shred Erik's gauntlets to pieces. He also angled his body slightly to the side.
*Crash* *Bang*
Isaac's sword smashed into Erik's already-dented armour and rent a great hole in it. Meanwhile, Erik's fist collided with Isaac's chest.
The way he'd angled himself meant he didn't take a direct hit and reduced the force of the blow, but Erik's fists were still covered in black plate armour and he was empowered by the Kilo Fist Anima. Even without the help of his gauntlets, he still sent Isaac flying.
Isaac was nearly knocked out of the ring, but he steadied himself and managed to stay in. His right hand tightened around the sword's grip while his left hand clutched at his chest. There was no blood or gore, but he could quickly tell some of his ribs were broken.
On the other side of the ring, Erik didn't chase after him. He also clutched at his chest where the armour was shattered and his blood was spilling. He wasn't mortally wounded, but there was a nasty gash across his torso and it would quickly turn into a problem if it wasn't treated.
Suddenly, a warm yellow glow enveloped Erik's wound. He had a 4th Anima!
This was the Triage Anima. It healed wounds one by one, starting with the most serious before moving onto those of lower severity. It was a strange healing Anima which had a strong impact on serious wounds but wasn't very good at healing light injuries.
However, Rank 1 healing Anima all had something in common: they all had low effectiveness.
It took several seconds for Erik's bleeding to slow down and even this could be considered pretty good.
He couldn't wait for his injuries to be completely healed since the fight was still going on. Once the bleeding subsided slightly, he charged at Isaac.
Isaac grimaced when he saw this and avoided him with the Snowshoe Anima. Erik laughed as he gave chase, but he couldn't catch Isaac.
On the other hand, Isaac tried to find openings in Erik's defences but there were very few of these. Isaac even felt some of these openings might've been deliberately left to lure him in. He attacked whenever he saw a genuine opportunity, but he never even got a half-chance to deal damage.
After a short while the referee announced,
"One minute is up. Erik Baldur has won the second duel, making the score 1 – 1!"
There were shouts of displeasure from the crowd. It had been a close duel which could've gone either way, but many people felt Isaac had won it.
Isaac also felt the fight was incredibly close but he should've edged it. After all, he'd dealt 2 solid blows and destroyed Erik's defences. He'd also held a slight initiative at the end of the fight where he could circle Erik and probe for openings.
'At worst the referee should've given it as a draw and not declared Erik as the winner. What's going on here? Has this referee been bought out by the Aalto faction? After all, Erik has a new healing Anima and a defensive Anima which counters me: both of these should've been given to him by the faction. Considering how much they've invested in him, buying out the referee as well wouldn't be impossible.
'There's also the chance the referee hasn't been paid and is trying to get into the Aalto faction's good graces, or perhaps he truly felt Erik won the fight. Actually... the last referee was fired because Erik killed someone on his watch! Was this done deliberately to make sure this referee oversaw out match?!'
Just as he was about to think of other possibilities, Isaac quickly realised he was on the wrong track,
'No... I shouldn't waste much time thinking about this now. Hope for the best but plan for the worst: assuming the referee has been bought out, I either need to land a fatal blow, knock him out of the ring, or achieve a very clear victory like I did in the first duel. Do I have to risk using that final trump card?'
Erik was sitting 5 metres away from Isaac. A yellow glow surrounded his chest area and the long gash there was very slowly mending itself. It had nearly stopped bleeding and had gotten slightly smaller.
When the bleeding eventually stopped, Erik deactivated the Triage Anima. He'd kept the Kilo Fist Anima active since the first duel started and had also used his gauntlets extensively. Now that he was using his healing Anima as well, his Qi levels had dropped quite low.
Thankfully, his Qi Core was 86% full under normal conditions and his armour Anima only consumed a small amount of Qi when it was first activated, not needing any more after that.
Speaking of armour, Erik grabbed the ruined chest plate and tore it away. He proceeded to remove all the other black armour plates and cast them into a pile beside him. Then he started to stretch and do some battle warm-up.
After a while,
"Three minutes is up. The participants must go back to the ring."
This was the third and final duel. The victory would be crowned king of the newcomers and receive a slew of resources to support their cultivation!
Erik and Isaac both returned to the ring, and they each had calm gazes without even a hint of excitement, as if they didn't care about what was at stake.
However, both were actually very determined and intensely desired those rewards. They merely pushed those feelings deep down in their hearts, since any emotion could become a weakness in battle.
"On your marks. Begin!"
Erik charged forwards while Isaac activated the Snowshoe Anima and moved around the edge of the ring. His Qi was also depleting but he had to avoid a direct confrontation with Erik at all costs. It was bad enough that Erik was accumulating strength with the Kilo Fist Anima – now Isaac was badly injured and absolutely couldn't clash with him.
Instead, he reverted to the tactic he used at the end of last round. He moved around Erik while looking for openings, only attacking when he saw a slight gap.
However, this strategy was ineffective. Erik had very few flaws in his fighting style – at least, he had very few flaws which Isaac could spot.
Isaac quickly realised he had to change tact, since the referee would declare Erik as the winner even if the fight was even. It was frustrating, but he had to throw away his advantage of mobility and confront his opponent in their strongest area: close combat.
However, he still had a trick up his sleeve.
He backed up to create some space, then charged at Erik. He built up a considerable amount of speed and, as he charged, grey light began to glow ominously around his sword. The light gathered and gathered until his sword shone so brightly you could hardly look at it. The glow was powerful and foreboding and grey like huge clouds which foreshadowed a devastating storm.
Everyone expected Isaac to release this grey energy – after all, the sharp nihility intent needed to be released from his sword for him to use it. However, Isaac showed no signs of unleashing it even as the energy grew even further. In fact, he poured almost all his Qi in to strengthen the grey light.
Erik finally sensed danger. This sword, full of razor-sharp intent, was deadly and he had to block it.
A fresh set of black plate armoured covered him, and his gauntlets begin to emit thin violet steam. This was the gauntlets' true ability and Erik had kept it hidden for a long time. However, he was so overcome with a sense of peril that he felt forced to reveal it now.
Isaac was traveling at breakneck speed. He arrived in front of Erik before much steam could be released and his sword slashed downwards ruthlessly. The air seemed to shudder with this strike and Erik's gauntlets were torn apart by the palpable nihility intent before Isaac's sword even got close.
He stared at the blade, realising even his trump card was useless. This sword was too powerful...
*BANG* *SHATTER*
The sword exploded! The intent it contained was powerful – too powerful to be contained. Fragments of sword flew everywhere before being quickly eliminated by the nihility intent which also sprayed all over the place.
Streaks of grey light jolted everywhere, creating an effect like a flash talisman. A lot of grey bolts collided with Erik's armour, causing horrific screeching sounds and covering it in shallow scratches. On the other hand, Isaac didn't have any armour: his clothes were ripped to shreds and he was coated in countless tiny cuts.
Erik, who was sure he was about to be defeated, stood there in shock.
However, he quickly snapped out of it.
"Ha... ha."
He gave 2 nervous laughs as he looked at Isaac who'd been thrown to the floor by the explosion and was deeply harmed by the spirit sword's destruction and the Nihility Intent Anima going haywire.
As Isaac hazily looked up, Erik pounced towards him. Gauntlets reappeared on his fists as he became sure of his victory.
On the other hand, something strange was happening in Isaac's mind.
He'd struggled to control, contain and balance the chaotic nihility intent as he charged at Erik, but he had lost control of it when he tried to attack. However, just as the energy had slipped away from him, he had a sudden moment of realization as to why he couldn't control it.
'Nihility intent... an intent so sharp it can tear through Qi and reduce something to nothing. It has a strong chaotic nature, but chaoticness can only be directed, not controlled – this is why I failed. To be chaotic, that is to be dangerous and unpredictable yet still have a direction. Now I see... my style was too forceful, too controlled. Only when a blade receives 'direction' can it move loosely and flow like water...'
Isaac felt that these thoughts came to him slowly, but he actually realised all this during the instant he spent falling over.
*Thud*
He came back to his senses when he hit the ground. He glanced up calmly, not in a hurry despite the intensity of the battle. His eyes were cloudy and he was in a zen-like state of mind as he watched Erik jumping at him.
His mind went blank and his body moved by instinct.
Just as Erik's gauntlets were a dozen inches from his face, a sword appeared in Isaac's hand.
His grip on the sword was loose, not tight like usual. It snaked forwards at an astonishing speed, the tip flickering from place to place erratically.
Erik was too focused on attacking Isaac. He didn't notice the sword and, even if he did, he wouldn't be able to block it. Just as his fist approached Isaac's face, the sword also neared his abdomen.