Ryuma kept hitting Diaga with no retaliation. The force of his blows and his wind-walker pushing him back. He hit him one last time at the edge of the arena, knocking the young man off and out of bounds.
Not only was he out of the arena, but he also now looked like he was out of commission to boot. He was laid out and unconscious having suffered through all of that.
With heavy breathing, Ryuma turned around and faced his final opponent. Toga, who'd finally removed his sword from in front of him, saw the crumpled heap of flesh that resembled Diaga.
He sighed. "Why did I have a feeling that it'd come down to this?" He shook his head in disappointment. "Oh yeah… because it's you we're facing,"
Despite however strong Toga might have thought he was, the fact of the matter was that he didn't have much left in the tank. His muscles were sore, his lungs desperately gasping for whatever breath was left. Even his spirit energy was lacking.
If ever there was a time for Toga to win a match against him, this would be the most optimal position to fight him in. If memory serves him right, Toga has won matches with even less optimal circumstances. He was going to have to be clever about this.
"Ehhh… Toga is the last one left. If he falls, doesn't that mean we all won't be able to become priests?"
Worry and discontent started spreading amongst their peers.
Toga ignored all of them and kept his eyes and his sword focused on Ryuma. Ryuma held his two blades up defensively. He swallowed that lump in his throat. Both held their stances for what seemed like forever.
With Ryuma slightly lowering his guard, Toga dashed in. Ryuma used his wind-walker skill to dash to the sides. He couldn't fight Toga with his back to the end of the arena. That was just asking to get pushed off.
Despite that giant hunk of metal he dragged with him. Toga was fast enough to somewhat keep up with his wind walker. The whole time he chased, he swung multiple times, forcing Ryuma to deflect all the blows.
He Hit Ryuma's weapon one good time, knocking him into the air. He landed with a thud on the ground, but quickly recovered rolling back up.
Now Toga was already on him, swinging his sword downwards, and having it baring on him from above. He felt the strain of it on his foot, as he needed both to successfully block the attack. He still got knocked back some more, and even fell over.
Before he knew it. Toga was already coming down from above with the whole sword.
He rolled away from his current spot and was blown away by the power that resulted in Toga hitting the arena, causing him to skid even further.
"Aye, is it me, or is Ryuma spent at this point?"
"We might have a chance to win. Go Toga!"
It was more of that damn background noise. Not something he could control, but they were right. If the match kept going like this, it was sure to be his loss.
Think, Ryuma, think. There had to be an area left that Ryuma was still better than him at. Something he could exploit.
It for sure wasn't his physical strength. That was a no brainer. His spirit energy was almost non-existent since he was the only one there who couldn't even pass the first test because of it.
But if it were one thing that he could undoubtedly say that he was better than Toga was at, it was his technique.
During the midst of battle, Ryuma glanced towards the sides. Yeah… that could work. Toga was the last man standing, and he could now take risky moves like this. He smiled inwardly, if only to keep Toga from thinking that he had a plan in the works.
If he did this right, he could use a reversal on Toga right over the ledge. He'd win without having to exert himself too much if everything went as planned.
Realistically, Toga isn't that stupid.
Now he may be known for his strength for many of his combat skills, but his intelligence was higher than your average brute. The mistake people made with him, was that they always underestimated it.
Regardless, he still had to try and see if anything could come out of it.
He wind-walked towards the edge and turned around. This time he supplanted both his feet, heavily into the ground.
Toga's face changed to confusion for a brief second before changing back to being steadfast and resolute.
"What an idiot! Of course Toga can knock him out from that position!"
Ryuma held himself and his swords to brace for impact. At this point, time seemed to have slowed for him. It was at these moments, Ryuma did his extreme thinking. Toga was coming in fast. To the naked eye, it would seem as if he fell for the ruse, but Ryuma thought beneath the surface of his actions.
This whole time, Toga has made it a point not to jump in as recklessly as most people have been doing under what they thought were favorable circumstances. In this instance, he's doing everything he told others not to do.
So why was that the case?
Everything in Ryuma's body, screamed to him that Toga knew his plan, and had already come up with a countermeasure for it. If that's the case, even letting him close this distance here, would screw him in the long run. He didn't need more strength than necessary to take him down, so it's likely that Toga is going to hold back at the last second to avoid going out of bounds. If that were the case, then he's screwed.
That meant he was left with one option.
Ryuma bent down, putting strain on his injured leg. "Wind Walker," Ryuma dashed forward with both swords drawn and ready to clash.
Toga's eyes widened. Ryuma's suspicion was correct. In that scenario, if Ryuma was planning a reversal, than he wouldn't dash forward and create any space away from the boundary. It would be more favorable to stay.
Which is exactly why he launched forward.
Tactical wise, Toga had it right, but what Ryuma noticed about him, was that he wasn't good at responding to sudden and unexpected shifts amid battle. Ryuma engaging him, was an unpredictable move given his situation. His plan, however, was still the same.
"Whirlwind spin!"
Right at the moment of contact, Ryuma spun Toga around him and threw him towards the edge behind himself.
Toga skidded into a stop, mere inches from being thrown off. Something that terrified everyone. He looked back at how close he came to losing. A huge mistake in Ryuma's eyes. For he did not let that lapse in judgement go, and immediately flew at him again.
Toga quickly regained himself, and blocked Ryuma's blades baring down on him. Ryuma pushed with every ounce of his strength, but Toga, barely hanging on by a thread, was pushing just as hard, and wasn't ceding a centimeter more than he had already. Both desperately struggling, the match was this close, and too intense.
"Wind Artes!" Ryuma yelled.
"Fire Artes!" Toga yelled.
"BURST!" Both screamed simultaneously.
A raging fire started bellowing in the winds. Both of their Artes were colliding and fighting around them. The force being felt from the vibrating ground. Despite their attacks, not an ounce of their position had changed. Neither gained nor lost any ground to the other.
Ryuma started sweating. Every bit of his energy was being put right here. If he couldn't knock Toga out, then it was his loss by technical knock-out. Despite his ribs being cracked and his leg injury, Toga was still caught in such an awkward position. The fact that he was able to hold him off this long without losing any ground was ridiculous. If he could just move one of his blades to hit from a different angle, then maybe…
No. It would be dumb to halve his strength even for a split second. That one second would be all Toga needed to push him off. It must be here and now.
The winds around the fire started raging out of control. It was small, but Toga was starting to get a tiny bit of push back.
Ryuma was putting it all in and going beyond his limits. Even if it meant destroying his friends' dreams, he had to win, for the lives of the people that never got the privilege to live up here in the Skylands.
He looked forward and saw who was behind Toga. Clara looked at him, with a look of worry on her face. He didn't understand it. What was she so anxious about? Did she want him to win, or lose? With her, he could never tell, but something just clicked with him. Like an epiphany, or revelation that had never really occurred to him until now. At least until he saw her face.
He lost the grit on his face. The power of his wind was dropping, and his hands loosened.
"AAAgggghhhhhh!" Toga yelled. With his last desperate push, Toga's blade lit aflame, and he launched Ryuma so fast. He flew all the way to the opposite side of the arena.
He skidded across the end of the platform until he finally landed out of bounds. His body ached all over and moving felt like he had to personally unlock each individual muscle.
But overall, he understood even in this circumstance, he lost the match.