On the other side of the battle, Koji stood up, panting, wiping blood from his mouth while his body still felt the impact of Alaric's last punch.
In a split second, Koji took a knee to the stomach. Thump!
"Come on! You're not going to fight back?" Alaric taunted with a smile before throwing a right punch to Koji's face.
Every blow Alaric delivered felt like a hammer crashing into Koji's body, and the spheres surrounding him, once an impenetrable defense, couldn't keep up with Alaric's speed and precision.
"If the spheres… can't protect me efficiently against his external energy… I'm screwed," Koji thought, getting back on his feet. He knew his defense was far inferior to his opponent's offense, so confidence wasn't an option. "Before, I was sure the spheres could block everything, but now that seems impossible. I have no defense left."
Whoosh! Alaric appeared in front of him like a ghost, so fast that Koji barely had time to react.
"No!" Koji screamed instinctively, seconds before being hit again.
Alaric's punch slammed into his chest, throwing him backward. The impact made his lungs burn, and for a moment, he felt like the air had been sucked out of his body.
"He moves like I'm lagging behind… I can't even track his movements."
"Having trouble, huh, Koji?" Spherea yelled from afar, grinning at his partner's struggle.
"Damn him, he never helps…"
Whoosh! In the blink of an eye, Alaric appeared beside Koji, as if the distance between them was irrelevant. He grabbed Koji by the collar, pulling him up, their faces just inches apart, and spoke with disdain.
"Is it really going to be this easy?" Alaric's tone was dripping with condescension, as if Koji were a helpless child.
Swiftly, Koji moved his left arm against Alaric's right hand, breaking free. He then tried to throw a hook at Alaric's chin, but his opponent vanished.
"Huh? Where did he go?"
"Fragmentation!" Alaric whispered, now standing atop a small, crumbling two-story building.
Suddenly, the sound of crumbling filled the air, and Koji felt a sudden sense of dread as the ground behind him started to break apart into sharp particles. Alaric looked down at him with a sadistic smile, pointing at Koji and shouting.
"YOU AND YOUR FRIEND ARE GONNA DIE HERE! HAVE YOU NOT REALIZED THE MESS YOU'VE GOT YOURSELVES INTO?"
But Koji remembered Spherea's advice.
"Call him a brat, a wannabe, a goth nerd, whatever makes him angry."
— Spherea, Chapter 38.
"WHY DO YOU TALK LIKE A SPOILED TEENAGER?" Koji yelled, pointing at Alaric.
"What?" Alaric stopped manipulating the Fragmentation, looking puzzled and thoughtful.
"Yeah… ARE YOU ALL ANGRY? WHAT'S WRONG? DIDN'T YOUR MOMMY FEED YOU?"
"WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH ANYTHING?" Alaric shouted, confused, gesturing wildly.
"EVERYONE KNOWS YOU LOVE STAR WARS AND SPENDING ALL DAY PLAYING VIDEO GAMES!"
"Ah… WHY DON'T YOU JUST SHUT UP?"
In the distance, Spherea was laughing uncontrollably.
"Ha! Ha! Ha! The idiot actually did what I told him. Ha! Ha! Ha!"
"GO ON! TELL ME YOU LOVE FORTNITE MORE THAN YOUR DAD!"
"Aah…" Alaric rubbed his ears and dragged his hands across his face in agony. He was completely uncomfortable, the yelling getting to him. "Ah… SHUT THE HELL UP!"
Before Koji could react, Alaric moved at an unbelievable speed, kicking him in the right rib. When Alaric tried to land another punch straight at his face, Koji barely dodged, tilting his head and collapsing to the ground off balance.
"Get away! Get away!" Koji shouted, crawling backward as Alaric, amused, declared, "Serrated Vortexes."
Tiny vortices of cutting particles formed around them, preventing Koji from escaping and pushing him back further with every second.
"Tch. I knew Spherea's idea wouldn't work. Now I'm trapped," Koji thought, looking around, realizing he was stuck.
The spheres, disoriented from trying to follow Alaric's movements, began to stabilize since they were now facing the vortexes instead of Alaric's blinding speed, which they had overcome in the past.
"Damn it. My external energy is fading," Koji stretched out his arms, noticing the drastic drop in his power.
When all his external energy dissipated, Koji felt his legs weaken, and an immense pain shot through his body.
"Aah! Spherea! What's this pain... Spherea!" Koji cried out in panic.
Then, Spherea appeared in front of him, while Koji continued to suffer with his weakening legs and aching body.
"Your legs gave out, huh, Koji?" Spherea teased indifferently, amused by the situation. Koji, in pain and anger, snapped, "What's happening? Why am I feeling this all of a sudden?"
"I'll explain it in a way you'll understand quickly, okay?"
"Hurry up!" Koji was almost collapsing from the pain.
Spherea explained.
"Imagine a young guy, not too strong but not weak, who's never trained before and has no experience with physical activities. He decides to go to the gym for the first time, works out with the help of a professional, and at the end, he feels some pain, but it's bearable. But the next day, the muscles he worked out are sore, much more than when he trained. Why? Simply because his body experienced its first muscular stimulation."
"That's basically what's happening to me?"
"Exactly. The difference is, in your case, the pain comes immediately after your external energy dissipates completely."
At that moment, Koji's left leg gave out, and he fell to the ground. The small vortexes were now so close that the wind was blowing toward the center of the circle, with Koji trapped in the middle.
Even seeing his bearer collapse, Spherea turned away nonchalantly, and Koji muttered, "Why don't you help me? Why do you always turn away or disappear when I need you?"
"Hmm... None of that. I simply choose not to help. It's an easy decision for me, and know that I'd do the same with any other bearer. So stop feeling sorry for yourself," Spherea replied calmly, his tone more serious than usual, without turning back.
"YOU'RE NOT GONNA MOVE? I KNOW THAT SHADOW WON'T BE HURT BY THE VORTEXES, BUT YOU WILL!" Alaric shouted, excitedly punching the air outside the circle of vortexes.
Looking at the approaching cuts and the spheres hovering around him, Koji spoke slowly, struggling to get the words out.
"Spherea… I just want you to help me… can you do that?"