(Sky-God Arena, Finals Match 8)
In the final battle, Leo found himself in the same position that Ramos had stood in not long ago, where he was cornered, drained, and hunted by his opponent.
Except this time, he wasn't the one pressing down with lethal intent, but rather the one being chased.
'He behaves like a naive child, but his battle instincts are the real deal…His speed and reflexes are no joke. I can barely keep up with this tired body of mine–' Leo acknowledged, as he barely dodged a slash that went over his head.
'The longer this fight goes, the worse my odds of victory become,' he admitted internally, his chest rising unevenly as he adjusted the grip on his daggers, the weight of exhaustion pulling at his limbs.
Due to [Faster Recovery], the waist wound he had received in the previous battle had dulled but not disappeared— as each twist of the torso reminded him it was still there.
His shoulder throbbed beneath the dried layer of blood and his field of vision fluttered at the edges like a light bulb about to burn out.
He had burned through most of his body's natural mana reserves and he was now drawing energy from his new improved cells, however, even they could only sustain his movement for so long.
He needed a finish.
An end to this fight—
And fast.
But charging in without having a handle on the opponent's abilities— without knowing Darnell's range, tempo, or reaction delay—was akin to suicids, which was why Leo decided to gauge his abilities first before betting it all on one final sequence.
*Swish—Clang—Whoosh—!*
He watched, as Darnell's short sword sang through the air, the arcs deceptively graceful—wide swings giving way to sharp jabs, all accompanied by that annoyingly innocent grin stitched across his lips.
"Whoa! That almost got you, didn't it?" he giggled mid-strike, like a boy trying out a new toy, but Leo didn't respond.
He remained focused and intense, his mind calculating the precise arc of Darnell's attacks using [Absolute Vision] while his eyes processed the twitch of his muscles and predicted his next move.
*Swoosh*
Leo tilted. Slid. Rolled. Pivoted. Never letting Darnell's blade touch skin, but never retreating far enough to reset either, as he pushed his body to the limit of its reflexes.
Every dodge was calculated—not to preserve distance, but to inch closer to an answer, as he gauged Darnell's abilities in the most daring way possible.
He read the pivot delays in Darnell's footwork. Tracked how long it took him to shift from a low sweep into a high feint. Measured the two-step recovery he needed after committing to a lunge.
And then came the one that nearly caught him.
A tight inward step. A low-to-high transition meant to bait a jump. A deceptive shoulder drop to sell the feint.
And a real thrust aimed straight for the ribs.
It was a move called [Serpent's Bite] and it was a combo Leo had never seen before, as he fell for the deception for a split second, before realizing his mistake and correcting his trajectory, however, it was too late to dodge by then, leaving Leo with only one option, which was to activate–
[Celestial Veil]
*CLANG!*
Mana surged in a shimmer of light—translucent, radiant, and impenetrable—as Darnell's blade crashed into it with enough force to rattle the stands.
Dust kicked up. The crowd gasped.
And inside the haze, Leo crouched—breathing hard but eyes sharp, as he came to the conclusion he had been waiting for.
'So that's your strengths limit. That's your maximum reach and that's the best move you've got—'
He concluded, as he finally got the information he needed to go for the counter attack.
'I don't have enough mana to do this twice…. So this has to work by hook or by crook—' Leo thought, as he knew he did not have much left— but hopefully he wouldn't need much either.
As he activated [Parallel Processing] and the world slowed down—
He could see everything more clearly now.
The slow rise and fall of Darnell's chest as he breathed.
The movement of his feet as he charged in for a follow up strike.
And the gleam in his eyes as he waited for Leo to spin into a dodge.
Every tremor of Darnell's muscle, every shift in his heel weight, every inch of his exposed flank, became clear to Leo now, as he activated [Thousand Phantom Slashes] and pushed his speed to the maximum.
To the crowd, he became a blur, someone so fast that they couldn't even follow his movements at all.
And to Darnell—he became a nightmare, as dozens of phantom Leo's burst toward him—some slashing high, others low, others striking from impossible angles in succession.
His brain could barely register one before the next one came, and although he spun to defend the first strike which he felt was coming from the right—
It actually came from the left, and with such power at that, that it simply blew his blade out of his hands.
*CLANK!*
The short sword clattered to the ground.
And in that moment, the real Leo stepped forward—one hand steady as it bent Darnell's right wrist, while the other was pressed to his neck, as he drew a single line of blood.
"It's over… I win—" Leo whispered in his ears, his voice exhausted, as Darnell froze in shock.
"No way! I didn't even see you move—" Darnell spoke in shock, as he couldn't even register when or how he found himself in this state? As Leo was just that fast towards the end.
"Let him go…. It's over—" The referee said, jogging over to the duo, as Leo pulled his blade away and smiled, while the crowd burst to its feet.
It was done! Leo had won…. He had somehow achieved the impossible. However, just as the referee came up beside him, and was about to raise his hand as the victor, something unthinkable happened.
"Winner—"
The referee began, reaching towards Leo's palm, when suddenly—
*BOOOOOOOOOM—!*
The ground split open.
And everything went to hell.