[I'm counting on you, Jack.]
"Worry not." Jack reluctantly smirked. "I'm not keen on dying yet."
With the body of a cladded warrior, and the strength of thousands of men. He still gripped what was supposed to be the weapon of the master duelist.
It had the blade length of a longsword, but with the handle of a spear. The only word that could describe it, was the 'straight and honest glaive'.
Suddenly, the knight's glaive unleashed a glinting golden vapor. Wary, Jack took a step back and went into a stance in an instant.
But instead of attacking, Cruciatus could be seen glancing at his shadow beneath his feet. There were jet black and gooey veins crawling and sprawled on the ground from the darkness, pulsating. In an instant, the knight stabbed his own shadow with his glaive. Only then the golden vapor disappeared.
The knight then glanced back at his adversary, both of them were waiting to see who was the first to claim the first move.
Jack ingrained the whole detail to his memory. For now, he could only rely on the visual information within his frame. Sephiroth couldn't access any of Cruciatus' moves and ability. Striking first would only be a massive demerit for the Mollusian.
The encapsulated wind was churning within the vast chamber, creating an eerie yet spirited whistling sound. The choir continued its lullaby.
Unlike the first moment both of them met, their eyes held regret upon one and another.
Jack prepared his stance. His body shuddered for a second and conflicted until he managed to capture the memory of his adversary shaking the whole ground.
His mind tried to unravel on how to defeat a powerhouse such as Cruciatus that stood menacingly in front of him, who waited for his friend to attack.
"Reality can often be disappointing." Jack couldn't do anything but smile, as he delicately coated his sword with his flaming tentacle's flammable mucus.
"There never seems to be enough time to do the things you want to do—once you've found them."
The knight stood undaunted.
Both of them towered over the grass, standing still as they gazed at each other. Ears and eyes, both were mesmerized by the whistling wind and its divine organ.
In just a moment, the knight rushed forward like a bull.
Seeing the immovable figure covered in thick and heavy steel running at the speed of a leopard, it was enough to make Jack almost faint.
In a panic, he immediately blasted his own tentacle to clear out the flammable mucus from its exterior. His heart beat faster than the fast cyclic rate of a machine gun at that moment. In an instant, he immediately created the explosive stone and flung it toward the impregnable knight that was only two meters away from him.
[Petra Tentacle's Health> 85%(-15)]
The shockwave launched both fighters away from one and another. Although Jack was the only one who felt the brunt of it the most. While Cruciatus only flinched without exuding a huge position change.
The explosion damaged some few part of his armor despite his unmovable fortitude. A great exchange if Jack wanted to sacrifice more of his octopus limb's health.
Without stopping, Jack stood up and began to create his explosive stone again, repeating the mucus clearance process with a raw explosion. Albeit, he was still in the state of panicking so he made a mistake and accidentally blew up his tentacle with a minor explosion.
[Petra Tentacle's Health> 80%(-5)]
The flame sprawled up to the air, creating an illusion of a usurping demon. That visual was enough to make the courageous Cruciatus stop for a second to capture the otherworldly experience.
It wasn't even a second yet, so he tried again. Filled with determination from his error, he immediately did the whole process again before the knight tried to make his move. Thanks to the panic mistake, he was able to come up with the right adulteration to fully minimize the damage while bearing the same result.
[Petra Tentacle's Health> 70%(-10)]
But this time, instead of keeping range, he rushed forward with zeal.
"Such vigor and spirit!" exclaimed the knight. "You're a true warrior, Jack!"
The knight swiftly stepped back before hurling his glaive. In the middle of the downward slash, he stopped his action abruptly and threw a dubious and unpredictable thrust.
It not only made Jack caught off guard, but also forced him into an unstable stance as he dropped his explosive stone.
'Dang nab it!'
Cruciatus then threw an upward slash, forcing another abrupt dodging from Jack, making his unbalanced posture to become irrecoverable.
Instead of trying to recover, Jack took the fall and reached out for the explosive stone with his right hand.
With a stupid grin on his face that hints his upcoming crazy idea, Jack used his muscly tentacle to spin his body mid air. He then used his right hand that held the sword to immediately latch and shifted his safety helmet to cover his whole face.
'This will be painful!'
With the momentum, he smacked the explosive stone to the ground. The shockwave propelled him slightly forward with a loud bang, still airborne in spinning motion.
Just like a proper duelist, Cruciatus showed no hesitation as he did a built up down slash with his glaive. Jack parried slash at the right time, as he was brought to the ground once again.
His blade grinded against the long pole of the glaive. Jack then coated it with the flaming liquid of his tentacle while also trying to hold it down while advancing.
The knight spared no mercy and time, he then tried his best to lift his glaive once again.
Jack's tentacle was able to burden the spear to some extent. The moment Cruciatus was able to overcome the weight, he slammed his spear against the wind.
Jack managed to grab the spear and went on a ride for a small amount of time, waiting at the right moment where Cruciatus halted his strike mid air, before lunging forward with bloodlust using his tentacle.
"HOOAAAAA!"
Cruciatus replied to his adversary's dexterity with a raw punch to the face. Jack shifted his hurled sword onto the upcoming fist in response.
Both types of steel clashed in the air, unleashing a mild shockwave of pulse.
The knight then swung his freed glaive once again, only for its momentum to be used as Jack parried the strike to be back at the ground again. Rolling on the ground. After Jack got up, he immediately ran away as he distanced himself.
The glaive unleashed a burst of golden vapor once again. Cruciatus then stabbed his own shadow once again before preparing his undaunted fighting stance. Jack didn't take great notes of what happened this time because he was too focused on keeping his distance.
The flame torch was given to Cruciatus. With the blaze dancing on his spear, he shouted.
"The flame shall burn brighter than any sun!"