The eighth match of the Sixways Exhibition was over.
The war underneath the surface that unfolded between Zigita Zogi the Thousandth and Obsidian Eyes concluded, and the brain that Hiroto the Paradox had relied on more than any other, Zigita Zogi the Thousandth, had perished.
However, there were still battles being fought. Toroa the Awful left Aureatia and headed for the Mali Wastes…
"Toroa the Awful!"
Psianop the Inexhaustible Stagnation was rushing along the frozen surface of the Mali Wastes. He now understood the finer details of the magnificent battle that had unfolded far below the surface, down to the precise coordinates where it was located.
Psianop's keen senses told him more than that—he understood that this battle had already been decided as well.
"You were supposed to live on… Why didn't you understand that?"
Without a moment's hesitation, he jumped down into the Mali Wastes fissure, several meters deep.
It was a swift descent.
As he felt gravity and wind, he could detect a presence ascending from the depths of darkened abyss.
He could tell. Its speed vastly outstripped that of Psianop's descent.
Was it just a coincidence? Or was he waiting for me to jump down, knowing full well I was nearby?
He fell.
They were going to cross paths. Midair. He couldn't dodge.
Star…
Two wings and three arms then— A gunshot.
Alus the Star Runner, flying at terrifying speeds up from the abyss, fired two
magic bullets of lethal poison with precision at Psianop mid-descent.
There was an abnormal scraping sound of the bullets' impact.
…Runner.
A stone fragment that Psianop gripped, enveloping it with his gelatinous body, bent in a bizarre shape, likely from the strength he used to parry the bullet's impact.
Psianop spun around. He flipped the stone fragment at the shadow now above him.
The target of this flicked projectile, revolving at high speeds, wasn't Alus the Star Runner's body itself.
It was his item bag.
Alus, with a flash of his magic whip, reflected the projectile, ascending from directly below his blind spot, as if he had been able to see it the entire time.
"..."
All of it had occurred in a single moment.
Psianop the Inexhaustible Stagnation fell to the deepest pits of the silent frozen earth.
The fastest wyvern carried a tremendous selection of magical tools, far more than one person could typically possess, and displayed an aptitude with every single one of them, as well as being equipped with intellect and the experience of felling countless legends.
Alus the Star Runner had survived after forcing the world's strongest dragon, whom the word calamity failed to properly describe, to use her breath attack three times, and even brought low the beast of enchanted blades.
The horrifying wings flew off into the distant sky and were soon out of sight. "…Toroa the Awful," Psianop simply mumbled, landing at the bottom of the
frozen abyss.
A circular track had been etched into his landing point, like a geometrical wave shape, making it clear that he had been able to completely disperse the impact of his fall, despite the length of his descent.
There was nothing left behind but the vestiges of destruction.
There were none of Alus the Star Runner's magic items, nor Toroa the Awful's enchanted swords.
The remnants of the spatial fissure carved by Karmic Castigation were just
barely visible, but they, too, disappeared shortly after. "So you died, huh?"
Had Toroa the Awful managed to settle one of his grudges?
Psianop the Inexhaustible Stagnation had no reason to feel sentimental. Almost all the people he was supposed to mourn had met their demise. Tora and Alus faced off at this position. Star Runner went to take off.
He looked at the scars of the battle, carved into the earth and the rock wall.
Toroa used the flame sword's secret technique…and to stop his flight, he must've fired those magnetic wedges.
There were places all along the wall where it seemed like wedges had been driven in.
A chilling sensation.
None of the heat of the flames that were exchanged in the recent battle remained in this glacial hellscape, born of Lucnoca's breath.
The fiery magical item scorched all in its path. With magnetic force, he threw off Star Runner's rifle aim…
He had matured.
Toroa the Awful appeared to have gotten even stronger compared to when they had fought in the first match.
Alus…used something to blind him for a moment. He got in range of the Luminous Blade.
Perhaps Toroa had had an encounter of some kind that dispelled his hesitation. Or perhaps it was because he had several techniques to guarantee his victory, honed precisely for this one moment, that made it seem like he had grown stronger.
But Toroa saw through the feint. Well done. He had stepped forward to use the Howling Blade's secret technique…
There was no longer any heat left here. Still, Psianop knew. Toroa had grown.
A long-range stab. Wind defense. There were still another few dozen moves after that. Toroa…
Psianop didn't feel any sentimentality. He simply understood.
…Toroa didn't lose.
Right up to the last moments, even if his life came to an end.