"You failed," Sinful announced as he dashed toward Leon with incredible speed, way past anything his [Perception] stat could observe with the naked eye.
And when Leon realized what was happening, the crimson blade was already next to his neck, ready to decapitate him.
"…!" Leon's eyes widened as his pupils immediately looked to the left, shaking.
But even then…
[Come on, just counter it,] EGO smiled, [One arm is nothing.]
'You don't mean…?' time slowed down around Leon and EGO as they spoke, their minds being connected allowing them to do that.
[Your life…] EGO's smile turned bittersweet, [Or your arm, your choice.]
'Holy…' A vortex of fire had formed in Leon's eyes, as well as EGO's, the two facing one another in slow motion as the crimson blade beside Leon's neck was slowly approaching him more and more, on the verge of cutting it.
[You can't avoid or counter, by the way, and do not worry, as long as we devour that thing, then we can regenerate,] EGO informed Leon, [Just do it.]
And so…
"Fuck my life…" as time resumed, Leon immediately placed his arm in front of the crimson blade's attack, enveloping it with the MAJORITY of his aura as to actually block the blow and not end up like Alan with his failed [Blue Shield].
Slash!
Leon pushed his arm against the blade with all his strength, the pain feeling like hell to him, but he still needed to do it, and though actually pushing himself against the attack hurt much more than if he let it come, not doing it meant the chance of the blade slicing through his arm and heading for his head anyway.
But thankfully enough… thanks to his strength…
The crimson blade sliced through Leon's outstretched arm, severing it clean off, and blood sprayed as the limb fell to the ground with a thud.
And the blade was actually stopped thanks to the aura and impact.
"…" Leon smiled, feeling the pain but not even letting out a simple cry, "NICE TRY!"
Punch!
He immediately jumped in the air and punched Sinful's face with his other arm, which was still doing fine, his pain and anger increasing the damage he did.
[+1 progress for 'Basics of Countering'!]
[You're close! You have 9/10 counters!]
Fwish!
Sinful for the first time was sent flying backward by a few meters, forced to use his crimson blade to stop himself from crashing at the tower's small walls.
[Sinful HP: 1558/5000]
[Good, good!] EGO exclaimed, [You have balls, partner!]
"-1! -1! -1!" but Leon couldn't forget about the [Bleeding] status effect he had received, meaning that his HP were already slowly decreasing.
[Leon HP: 174/550]
Gritting his teeth, Leon pushed past the searing pain, channeling his aura to try and slow down the bleeding.
Then he glared up at Sinful, who was now pretty far, already back up, his crimson blade still dripping with his blood.
"Is that all you've got?" Leon spat, his voice as confident as before, and he actually smiled.
Sinful regarded him coolly, "Impressive, you chose to sacrifice your arm rather than your life," He raised the blade, "But it matters not, as your defeat is inevitable."
The Judge actually respected Leon a lot for that: not many people would make the split second decision to sacrifice one of their limbs to save their skin.
And yet… Leon knew it wasn't over.
"Justice's Assault," Sinful closed his eyes as his blade's electric aura grew stronger: he was about to use his strongest skill.
And then…
Fwish! Slash!
The blade came down at the human, but this time he saw it coming as it had already happened once, so he just rolled away, his remaining arm clutching the bloody stump.
He scrambled to his feet, backing away from Sinful's relentless assault.
Clang! Slash! Clang!
Leon parried and dodged as best he could with one arm, adrenaline and sheer willpower driving him, but Sinful's attacks were overwhelming, the crimson blade a blur as it rained down blows.
Slam!
Leon was sent skidding across the tower's surface as Sinful's fist connected with his chest after another failed strike.
"I am the judge, and I already gave my verdict," Sinful actually began to look mad, "So why, won't, you, give, up?"
Leon glared defiantly, even as his vision swam. "Fuck...you..."
Sinful shook his head, "So be it," he arrived right in front of Leon, who was against the wall, and then he raised his blade for the final strike.
Fwish!
But just as the blade began its descent, a blinding light erupted from Leon's body and eyes.
[Now, partner!] EGO laughed like a maniac, [Counter his final attack with your own =)]
And so, with a primal roar, Leon jumped in the air, the crimson blade landing in the spot he was in before, then he used its surface to jump again, and punch Sinful again.
"YOU… LITTLE…!" the boss himself could feel that he was in danger as blood poured out from his mouth, "JUST DIE!"
[ONE SHOT!]
Fwish! Slash!
Sinful immediately attempted to swing again, and now that Leon was in midair, there was no way for him to dodge it, his only option was to block, and this meant sacrificing another arm.
Meaning… that Leon was fucked.
Or was he now?
'EGO, USE DEVOUR,' he ordered the small fire ball.
[On it!]
EGO placed himself in front of the blade, then closed his mouth on it, devouring its powers.
"What the…?" Sinful's eyes widened as he could feel his very own aura weaken in an instant.
The power of the devourer was so much stronger than ever before, EGO now able to suck out the power of a BOSS in a fraction of a second.
[YOUR TURN,] EGO smiled, trying his best to keep devouring as to not allow Sinful to continue.
"Appreciate it," Leon thanked his little companion, then jumped in the air by using the stopped sword again, "LET US END THIS, JUDGE."
"…!" Sinful looked up, Leon around three meters above him.
Fwish!
Leon then started to spin around in the air, his body covered with aura as it almost exploded with it, and in less than a second, the crimson aura was beginning to turn into some sort of vortex… no… it was like a drill.
"BYE BYE," Leon shouted as he descended onto the boss, the aura drill coming down, its sharp edge at the bottom (which were his legs), looking as powerful as ever before.
Sinful obviously tried to avoid that, but…
[Nuh uh,] EGO moved from the sword to his legs, restraining him, [Adios.]
"…Alright," Sinful looked up as the drill aura attack was now only mere centimeters away from reaching his face, "You pass."
Fwish! Boom!
The impact of Leon's aura drill legs hitting Sinful's face shook the very tower, the ground cracking beneath Sinful's feet as Leon's aura drill slammed into him with earth-shattering force.
Tons of blood poured out as Leon was quite literally drilling through the boss's face, who should be in excruciating pain.
And when the human was done, and he used the boss's face as a platform to back away, ready to keep going…
Leon noticed that there was actually a massive hole in Sinful's face.
[+1 progress for 'Basics of Countering'!]
[10/10 counters!]
Fwish! Thud!
The dark wings behind the boss flapped repeatedly, but after a few seconds of swaying left and right, he fell to the ground, dead.
[Sinful HP: 0/5000]
"Haha...haha..." Leon panted as the vortex of aura dispersed.
He had won alone.
But... what now?