A brutal exchange between two mystics unfolded. No fancy display of magic, no finesse. Just raw, unfiltered brawler-style combat.
In tight quarters, Eric launched a straight punch, only for Hector to sidestep with fluid ease, answering with a counterstrike of his own. Eric t it with a sharp deflection, parrying with his right elbow. Without missing a beat, he lifted the sa leg, driving it toward Hector's ribs.
"Not so fast!" Hector barked, smirking as though he had seen it all coming.
He caught Eric's raised leg mid-air with his left arm, halting it effortlessly. Then, with a firm yank, he dragged Eric forward, disrupting his footing completely. The montum betrayed Eric, sending him tumbling off balance, an opportunity Hector didn't waste.
With a swift twist, Hector hurled him toward the nearest wall.
Eric's back collided with the unforgiving stone, rattling his bones. He crumpled to the floor, hands and knees absorbing what little impact he could.
Hector didn't wait.
Leaping high, his leg raised for a decisive blow, he descended in a powerful arc aiming to stomp down on his grounded opponent. Instinct kicked in; Eric rolled to the side just in ti, narrowly escaping the crushing weight of Hector's boot slamming into the ground with a thunderous crack.
"How long do you think you can keep running!?" Hector growled, already closing in, relentless in his pursuit.
Eric rolled again, once, twice, barely catching his breath. Each evasion bought him precious monts, but nothing more. Hector stayed on him like a storm, refusing him even a second to recover, let alone rise and retaliate.
But beneath the urgency, sothing gnawed at Eric's thoughts.
This wasn't right.
Hector's speed, where was it? His terrifying strength? That razor-sharp perception that could dissect every attack before it ford? They had vanished. The very qualities that once widened the chasm between them had suddenly gone silent.
He wasn't overwhelming anymore.
Was Hector toying with him? Trying to humiliate him by not needing to go all out?
No... Eric narrowed his eyes. This was sothing else. The way Hector moved, it wasn't restrained. It was limited. As though the power wasn't being held back, but was no longer there.
Injuries alone couldn't explain that.
Even wounded, a Mystic fueled by mana could still wield their strength. But Hector? His movents had grown sluggish, his strikes heavier, more deliberate. Slower.
That could only an one thing.
A Mystic's prowess was directly tied to their mana pool. And Hector's earlier displays of his secondary elent, his refined ice manipulation, it all pointed to an enormous reserve. Eric had even suspected Hector might surpass him in that regard.
So why was it missing now?
Their battle hadn't lasted long enough for Hector to be depleted. Eric? Sure his mana was nearly gone, siphoned away by the Clover Eye. But Hector? He wasn't maintaining any visible Art. No domain. No enchantnts. His elental magic had vanished completely.
So why wasn't he using it?
Unless...
A sudden realization hit Eric like a jolt of lightning.
How had Hector survived that final Clover attack?
That monstrous technique hadn't just leveled buildings, it carved craters into the earth. That wasn't sothing you walked away from. Even high-tier Mystics would have struggled to survive it. Hector wasn't a LORD's candidate. He shouldn't be alive.
Which ant... he paid a price.
Eric's eyes sharpened as the puzzle completed itself. Hector had burned through his mana, all of it in a desperate bid to survive. He had shielded himself, fortified every cell, poured every last ounce of energy into surviving a strike that should have ended him.
That was the truth.
Which ant this Hector, the one Eric now faced, was every bit as spent, bruised, weary, and near-empty as he was.
An opportunity.
Eric saw an opening and took it.
He rolled once more, positioning himself near the wall. With no more ground to retreat to, Hector lunged forward for the finishing blow. But Eric launched himself off the wall, using it as a springboard, flipping forward in a burst of motion and ramming into Hector's planted leg.
The timing was perfect.
Hector had lifted one foot to strike, leaving his stance precarious. Eric's crash into the grounded leg knocked him off balance, and he toppled backward, skull smacking the stone with a dull thud.
Eric didn't wait.
He scrambled up and dove atop Hector, pinning him beneath his weight.
"I get it now!" he shouted, his voice filled with the rush of revelation. "It's not that you won't use mana, it's that you can't!"
His fist struck Hector's face, landing flush.
"You burned through it all surviving that attack, didn't you?! You used everything just to stay alive!"
It was suddenly so clear, laughably obvious. Sha twisted in Eric's chest that it had taken him this long to realize it.
Hector's survival hadn't been miraculous, it had been costly. He had emptied his reserves to erect a defense strong enough to withstand a technique built to kill even the best.
They were equals now.
Two n pushed to their breaking points.
Eric's heart pounded. If mana was off the table, if this was truly hand-to-hand, he could win.
But Hector wasn't finished.
"So what?!" he roared, thrusting his legs upward and kicking Eric off his chest.
Eric hit the ground hard, but didn't stay down. He rolled just in ti to avoid Hector's body as he pounced, trying to reclaim the advantage.
Eric twisted, seized Hector by the nape, and slamd him onto the floor.
"You're nothing without your tricks, without that overwhelming mana reserve you are blessed with!" he snapped, raising a fist and driving it down into Hector's cheek. Again. And again.
If it ca down to it, Eric prided his physical capabilities over Hector, and for good reasons so to speak.
Hector as a direct individual in the world of mystics would rely more on mana enhancent than Eric who only needed to use mana enhancent when in extre situations.
So if it ca down to who would be better without it?... The answer is already within reach.
With the advantage he had, Eric had to finish this quickly.
Every mont he delayed was a mont closer to disaster, the elevator rope wouldn't hold much longer. Ramprandt and Marvelous were counting on him.
"No more gas!"
But Hector pushed back, hooking his leg to flip Eric over. The two collided, rolled, scrambled. Positions reversed and reversed again, neither yielding.
They wrestled across the floor, punching, clawing, dragging each other with sheer desperation.
Then, stone gave way.
Their chaotic scuffle brought them to the shattered edge of the building, the outside world opening behind them like a chasm.
They paused for half a breath.
Then Hector seized control.
He twisted Eric's body, shoved his head outward past the ledge, and straddled his chest, bloodshot eyes narrowing into crimson fury.
"This is it, Aldaman!" Hector bellowed, voice raw with finality. "You've lasted long enough! Now it ends!"
His fingers closed around Eric's throat, tightening with lethal intent. Veins bulged in his forehead. His entire body trembled as he forced Eric closer to the drop.
The edge of death lood.
Eric struggled, clawing, suffocating, the world spinning as oxygen fled his lungs.
Then—
"Clap. Clap. Clap."
A slow, deliberate applause echoed through the chaos.
A third presence had entered the battlefield.
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