(Sky-God Arena – Finals Match 7, Leo vs Ramos)
Ramos did not ask for a substitution after his fight with Enzo.
He had no intention of stepping aside—not when the final spotlight was within reach.
Internally, he was dead set on ending the tournament here and now, by striking down Leo and claiming the glory of securing Geneva's championship with his own hands.
As he desperately wanted the headlines, the post-match interviews and the winning photographs to be all about him and him alone, and not the team.
And for that goal, he stayed, although substituting might have been the best choice to make.
"Can't run away from me anymore, Skyshard" Ramos muttered with a grin as Leo approached, as he dropped into battle-stance and shifted his weight forward.
In response, Leo unsheathed two daggers of his own from across his waist before lowering his stance into that signature crouch of his— where he kept his shoulders loose, eyes cold and balance perfect.
The air grew taut with tension, as the whole arena held its breath.
"Fighters ready?" the referee called out, eyes flicking left—
Then right.
A pause.
And then his hand dropped.
"Begin!"
—-----------
There was no delay.
No cautious circling. No test strikes.
As both fighters launched into each other like loaded springs.
Ramos came in first—low and coiled, his blades crossing in an X-slash meant to split through Leo's defense before he could establish tempo—but Leo twisted mid-sprint, angling just outside the arc and countering with a dagger thrust aimed at the side of Ramos's ribs.
*CLANG—!*
Steel met steel as Ramos parried clean, his second blade already rising into a backhand meant to punish the approach, but Leo disengaged just in time—feet skidding across the sand as he absorbed the force with nimble precision before resetting his stance.
He hadn't been hit.
But he'd been pushed back, and that told him everything he needed to know about Ramos's raw strength.
'He's stronger. Way stronger than anyone I've faced before.' Leo realized, as he narrowed his eyes, flexing the strain out of his arms.
'Not just in raw power—but also in the way he controls space around him….. he's at a level where he can easily defeat Major Hen in battle.' Leo thought, as he charged again—but this time not head-on.
He shifted right, then cut left, moving in zig-zags like a flickering shadow, trying to angle for the blindside—but Ramos rotated smoothly with him, blades moving in controlled arcs, as he intercepted every attempt with calm efficiency.
"You thought I'd be as weak as Mikhail?" Ramos called, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Or as slow as Damien?"
He cracked his neck.
"I wouldn't be Captain of Geneva if I was anywhere close to those two….. being Captain means you're the best fighter on your team by far, and that's exactly who I am!" Ramos said, as he flexed his mana that pulsed through the arena floor, before activating his first move:
[Steelbound Step]—
*WOOSH*
A burst of mana launched him forward in a blur, closing the distance instantly as he appeared right at Leo's side with a vertical cleave already mid-swing.
*SHUA*
Leo barely ducked in time, the blade whistling past his ear close enough to shave the wind off his skin, as he kicked off the ground with a sharp recoil, landing low and spinning back into a wide arc to disengage—but Ramos didn't let up.
Not for a second.
[Steelbound Step] didn't just accelerate movement—it reinforced Ramos's footwork, tightening his pivot radius and anchoring his weight, allowing him to brake and accelerate again in unnatural sequences.
Which meant that even when Leo disengaged, Ramos was already on him again.
*CLANG—!*
*CLANG—!*
Two furious exchanges rang out in succession as Leo barely deflected twin slashes, the impact sending reverberations through his wrist bones as he rolled sideways to recover, using [Blade Switch] to reposition ten meters away and catch his breath.
But Ramos didn't chase this time.
He just stood there—blades lowered, exhaling through his nose—as if waiting.
As if daring Leo to come again.
'He's not just aggressive… he's reading me. Reacting one move ahead. He's used to fighting speedsters—and shutting them down,' Leo thought, his eyes narrowing slightly, chest rising and falling now in sharper cadence as he processed what he'd just felt.
Ramos wasn't faster than him in terms of pure speed, however, he was surely better timed.
It was like he was doing what Leo did in battle, which was to read the opponents movement before they made it by looking at their muscle contractions, but only better and faster than him, as he seemed to always be one step ahead.
And that was more dangerous than him having explosive raw speed, as while Leo could handle speed, such battle IQ was hard to counter.
'Every time I try to angle in, he rotates clean. Every disengage, he takes the center back. He's not chasing me… he's steering me,' Leo realized, before rushing in again—but this time, he didn't aim for a clean strike.
Instead, he darted in with feints—two jabs low, one mid, none committed—and the moment Ramos bit on the second parry, Leo used [Blade Switch] mid-motion to vanish and reappear behind him, angling for a stab at the kidneys.
*CLINK—!*
But Ramos twisted without looking, using the flat of his secondary blade to catch the stab with his elbow already bending to slam into Leo's ribs.
*THUMP—!*
The hit landed.
Leo grunted and skidded back with a cough, the impact knocking the wind from his lungs as he gritted his teeth and ran back for reset—but not before Ramos advanced again, now smiling wide.
"Finally landed one," Ramos said.
"You're slippery, I'll give you that. But you're also a one trick pony.
Your fast repositioning is hard to deal with if one isn't tracking where you've thrown your daggers, but if you're tracking that, it's pretty easy to know where you'll show up—" Ramos said, as he enjoyed watching Leo spit a small mouthful of blood.
'That damage isn't major—but him having figured out the blade switch is a pain…' Leo thought, as he felt pissed at having one of his core moves being seen through, however, he did not panic just yet, as he knew that he hadn't shown all his cards either.
And on the flip side, Leo also found out something important about Ramos.
He had opened strong.
Too strong.
'He's overexerting to end this quickly because he doesn't have the stamina to go on at this pace for long. He's wincing in pain whenever he moves, and is trying his best to mask it.
He's definitely hurt from his fight against Yu Shen, and the longer this fight drags on, the bigger disadvantage he will be in' Leo thought, finally settling his breath as he shifted his stance again, shoulders now tilted and low, blades closer to his chest.
Ramos was without a doubt the strongest opponent he had faced yet.
An opponent where he saw no easy openings to exploit.
However, he did not feel intimidated by him either.
Somehow, he had faith that if he dug in deep and did his best, he could definitely beat Ramos, and hence he decided to bet on himself and take this fight deep instead of going for a decisive finisher.