It looked like heâd undone his seal. Heâd suddenly gained several skills, namely the Dimitris Style ones, Physical Barrier, Magic Emission, and Thought Division. Both Herculean Strength and Blink had also had their levels boosted a bit. That, of course, wasnât all; he gained a pretty massive boost to his stats. I recalled they used to be.
In other words, all his stats had risen by 50, save for magic, which had gained a whole 100 points. That, combined with his newly unsealed Dimitris Style skills, made it so weâd practically be fighting a whole different person from here on out.
ăBe careful. Heâs undone his seal.ă
ăUndid seal?ă
ăâŠSo you noticed?ă
Colbertâs expression seemed to waver in unease as he signed, an action that demonstrated that he hadnât actually been too willing to undo his seal. I decided to try probing him, given that his current state was clearly the result of self interest.
ăHey Fran, repeat after me for a bit, alright?ă
ăNn.ă
That is, I decided to try attacking him mentally instead of physically, as it seemed like weâd be able to profit from it.
ăWonât be excommunicated for unsealing for self-interest?ă
ăThat⊠does happen from time to time, yes.ă
ăColbert, wonât be excommunicated?ă
ăI might be.ă
ăThen why undo seal?ă
Franâs words caused Colbert to look down and make a bit of a troubled face before returning his gaze to her and shaking his head.
ăYouâre right. Undoing my seal like this much get me excommunicated, but, I donât care. Thatâs not what matters most to me right now!ă
Colbert raised his voice as he once again took a stance.
ăThen what matters most?ă
ăThe answer to that question is a simple one. What matters most to me right now is upholding the Dimitris Styleâs pride.ă
His declaration came with a really cool sounding line.
ăGetting serious and undoing seal against opponent with childâs appearance for pride?ă
ăUghâŠă
Heh. Looked like we hit the sucker in a sore spot.
ăPride?ă
ăSorry⊠I was just saying it that way because I was trying to make myself sound cool.ă
ăExpected.ă
ăUgh⊠Yeah, youâre right. I was trying to make it sound much better than it really was.ă
Uhh⊠shit. I realized that weâd pushed him a bit too far, as our words had ultimately led to an effect opposite that of what Iâd been hoping for.
ăSorry. Youâre right. I didnât undo my seal out of something as propossessing as pride. I did it because I wanted to, because I, as a practitioner of the Dimitris Style, wouldnât be able to forgive myself for losing this easily to a C ranker. That just isnât something I can allow to happen. I have always looked up to the Dimitris Style, and known it to be the worldâs most powerful.ă
The magical energy Colbert emitted began wrapping its way around his body. It only took a matter of moments for it to grow so dense that itâd effectively become a suit of armour.
ăThat is why I cannot allow myself to lose. I will not let myself be the reason people look down on the Dimitris Style! I would much rather be excommunicated than put the style to shame!ă
That was just how much the Dimitris Style meant to Colbert.
But despite his passionate shouts, Fran managed to retain her calm. Likewise, Iâd done the same. This, him going all out, was within the realm of my expectations.
ăGale Hazard!ă
Fran fired off an AOE projectile at him in order to keep him as pinned as possible as she rushed at him. His stats had risen, but his Divine Fist Arts had remained unchanged; he still possessed the exact same amount of skill with his hands. Hence, I suspected that Fran would retain the upper hand in terms of technique.
Or at least thatâs how things were if I didnât factor the Dimitris Style in. I was on guard for what would happen, but apparently not nearly as on guard as I shouldâve been.
ăDimitris Style Martial Art â Asura!ă
ăKuaahh!ă
Colbert allowed Fran to slash at him, but immediately followed with a counter and sent her flying back. He then kicked off the ground in attempt to chase her down and follow up his attack with another before she could regain her balance.
ăOraaah!ă
ăKuh!ă
His strategy, taking a hit and then countering, was similar to Kurusuâs, but he was much more skilled, and hence, his application of the tactic had been much more effective.
The first major point of deviation was the fact that we hadnât even been able to actually pierce his defenses; Colbert managed to remain unharmed despite the fact that Fran had attacked him with my element-cloaked blade. His martial art allowed him to condense magical energy and use it in the same manner as he would his arms. These four newly created energy-based appendages stayed close to his body and, in doing so, almost made it him truly resemble the six armed God the technique was named after.
It was precisely this technique that allowed him to avoid taking any of the damage we wouldâve otherwise inflicted. It seemed to have both boosted his reaction speed and the range of his field of vision, as heâd used two of his magical arms to catch me mid swing. As the arms were constructed entirely of energy, the few scratches they did get from the act immediately regenerated and were made moot.
Naturally, all of his magic hands were also capable of attacking. Colbert being a martial artist meant that, the number of attacks he could execute was purely limited by the number of limbs he had, which, in turn, led to the conclusion that heâd become way deadlier than heâd been before.
One of his many attacks eventually ended up breaking through Franâs defenses and digging straight into her lungs.
ăBughhhă
ăGreater Heală
I managed to get Fran healed up immediately, but I couldnât stop her from momentarily flinching because of the hit. The bit of a stagger that resulted allowed Colbert enough of an opening to follow up with a third flurry.
One of his hands even ended up grabbing onto me. It tried tightening its grip in order to hold me in place the moment it did, but I managed to escape by using Telekinesis. Though I did indeed manage to reo retreat, I wasnât able to stop him from momentarily restricting Franâs movements, which, once again, caused Colbert to gain yet another shot of momentum.
Fran was still avoiding his attacks and returning fire, but she was doing so with her face warped in pain. Erza had mentioned before that some of the Dimitris Styleâs practitioners were capable of performing attacks that would permeate into oneâs body and destroy it from the inside out.
Colbertâs attacks were in fact all of that precise type.
Even the ones that struck me instead of Fran carried through my blade and assaulted her hands with shockwave upon shockwave upon shockwave. I attempted to block the effects of his attacks by deploying a series of barriers, but to pretty much no avail. They passed right through them; even the lightest touch would cause Colbertâs Qi to flow into her body and damage her internals.
Having Fran continue holding her ground like this was a bad idea. Simply patiently waiting for a chance wasnât going to work.
ăIt doesnât look like his attacks are just physically based, but I think it might be best for us to point both Physical Damage Resistance and Physical Barrier regardless.ă
ïŒNn! Got it!ïŒ
I executed one of the contingencies Iâd discussed with Fran earlier and threw 18 points into each of the two skills.
Fran and I had come into the tourney with more than just a few cards in hand. Weâd pushed ourselves as hard as we could in order to farm magic stones so I could rank up as quickly as possible â which I did. Iâd then just held onto all 66 of the points that we had, just in case we ran into any situations like this one.
Hoarding points and using them in the middle of a battle was much more effective than using them up ahead of time, as having them available meant being able to adjust to our opponents.
ăA new skill has been unlocked as you have fulfilled all of its prerequisites. Your Physical Barrier and Magical Barrier skills have been merged into the Perfect Barrier skill.ă
Perfect Barrier seemed to be a pretty damned good skill. Its level 1 output was equivalent to the two other skillsâ max level outputs combined. The term âperfectâ initially led me to believe that the barrier could prevent any and all damage, but I was wrong, as it clearly wasnât completely impregnable. The âperfectâ part of its name instead seemed to describe that it could at least attempt to mitigate all types of attacks.
ăThe Physical Damage Resistance skill has reached its maximum level and evolved into Physical Damage Nullification.ă
And⊠we also ended up unlocking a skill Iâd been expecting, but not really all that keen on getting.
ăLetâs go, Fran!ă
ăNn!ă
ăWhat!? How are you suddenly no longer taking damage!?ă
Colbertâs eyes widened as Fran began stepping forward while completely ignoring all his attacks. He didnât stop, and continued to assault her, but she didnât mind his strikes at all. At first, it seemed like she was trying to take damage in order to dish it out, but that wasnât the case at all. Our two newly obtained skills made it so she didnât have to to force herself into a trade.
Itâd almost looked like sheâd become flat out invincible.
But I was panicking nonetheless.
ăShit, Rumina was right! That nullification skill is eating my mana ridiculously quickly! ă
Only a few moments had passed since weâd gotten the skill, but itâd already eaten up a whole 1000 mana. That was just how much energy it took to completely negate Colbertâs incoming attacks.
Again, the skillâs ridiculous mana consumption was something that Rumina had warned us about. Specifically, something sheâd warned us about just before the tournament began.
***
ăMaster. That ability of yours is quite the powerful one, but warn you I must.ă
ăWarn me? About what?ă
ăI ask that you beware of skills capable of nullification. Some magic beasts carry them, and thus, I believe it very likely for you to one day obtain them. You must take utmost caution in their application.ă
ăWhy caution?ă
ăSkills carrying effects akin to nullification bear the tendency to consume a great deal of magical energy to actualize their effects. Moreover, the skillâs function is automatic. You will not be able to stop them from activating, and thus, it is quite possible for you to quickly lose all your magical energy should you fight a foe capable of a vicious assault.ă
In other words, Flame Invalidation would drain oneâs mana pool extremely quickly if one decided to sit in a sea of flames or something.
The one Rumina emphasized as the one we should be the most careful with was Physical Damage Nullification. It was a skill typically possessed by monsters whose bodies were made of energy, so she wasnât sure exactly what would happen if we were to acquire it. There was a chance itâd end up activating every single time we so much as took a step.
But that wasnât all. Sheâd also warned us that nullification-type skills didnât actually provide invulnerability. Certain skills would just go right through them.
According to Rumina, the Gods had made it so that nullification skills werenât in fact the highest order of skill one could have. They could be broken through by both skills built to pierce defenses as well as skills containing the Godsâ powers.
Rumina herself had actually bore witness to one of these incidents; sheâd seen Ignius use its Godflame skill to roast and kill someone that happened to have the Flame Nullification skill.
Sheâd warned that it was possible that the Beast Lordâs Golden Flame of Extinction skill also counted as a higher order skill.
ăDo not let your guard down. Do not rely on nullification skills should you obtain them.ă
ăGot it.ă
Our case was actually a bit different. We were able to choose whether or not we actually wanted a certain skill to be active, so, it was possible for us to avoid using any nullification skills we had unless we actually really needed them. They were quite perfect as far as trump cards went.
That said, I couldnât actually switch the skill out as of right this moment, as Colbert was still in the middle of attacking us.
ăHurry up Fran! Youâll have to finish this real quick!ă
ăNn!ă
Fran raised me above her head and readied herself to a massive downwards swing â an opening Colbert failed to miss.
He poured his mana into his fist as he twisted it as he shoved it straight into Franâs gut. But it was rendered null. The strike hadnât even caused her to so much as flinch.
ăShit! It had no effect!?ă
Colbertâs attack hadnât damaged Fran, but itâd contained so much force that it drained another 1000 mana straight from my pool, which, once again confirmed that Colbert was one helluva a foe. I couldnât even imagine how much damage his attack wouldâve done had we not the means to completely negate it.
ăNn!ă
Fran leapt into the air and delivered a downwards strike with every last bit of her power.
We activated two instances of Elemental Blade, popped Vibration Blade, Magic Poison Fang and Weight Boost as she drew me from a sheath of wind. Her skill with the katana, which had already been remarkable, had become even more refined because of the Sword Lord Arts skill.
Though we were basically in his face, our attack was one that was incredibly easy to read, and thus, Colbert had an easy time avoiding it.
Or at least he would have, had I not stopped him.
I bound him with both Wind Magic and Telekinesis and prevented him from moving either to the left or right. To him, that much was nothing. He easily shrugged it off, but in doing so, lost the instant he needed to avoid Franâs incoming strike. Realizing that escape had become impossible, he instead quickly opted to use all four of his magical arms to defend himself.
ăHaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!ă
ăGaarrgghhh!ă
But it wasnât enough.
We not only split all his magic-made limbs in two, but also left a giant gash running from his left shoulder to the opposite side of his hip. Both his arms were still fine, but the same couldnât be said for his internals. The majority of the damage had gone straight to his lungs,one of them had even been flat out turned to ash. The flames that cloaked my blade scorched his body and completely turned into a huge mess. The open wound was charred black; smoke wafted off of it alongside a foul, meaty smell.
It looked like he was done for, but we kept going. Colbert was strong. We knew that it was still possible for him to turn everything around despite how grim the situation looked, and so, we continued focusing on refining our magical energies.
ăKeep it up! Donât slow down!ă
ăNn!ă
Fran brought me to her waist and followed up with a powerful horizontal slash.
I figured that Colbert could still fight, but I never expected him to do as he did. That is, he attempted to avoid the attack by leaping backwards and dodging despite his near fatal wound. He then focused his energies back into his magical arms and once again extended them towards us.
The situation was dire. Weâd run out of mana if he hit us even just one more time. If we wanted to win this, we had to end it here and now.
Knowing that, I quickly responded by stretching my blade as far as I could.
ăCome on!ă
ăReach reach reach!ă
ăGuaagghhh!ă
Colbert reached us right as we reached him. We managed to null his attack, but the same couldnât be same for him; my blade tore through his gut and caused his blood to splatter across Franâs face.
He took far too much damage to maintain his concentration, and so, his magic-made arms faded away.
ăShâŠitâŠă
The martial artist fell onto his knees before groaning in pain and collapsing, after which he didnât even so much as twitch. He was bleeding heavily, crimson liquid leaked from his protruding internal organs began turning the stage into a sea of blood. To make matters worse, he was even badly poisoned.
Things were looking really bad.
Invalidating Colbertâs last attack had used up the rest of my mana. I was flat dry. I couldnât do anything for him at all.
Fortunately, I didnât need to be the one to heal him. A member of the guildâs staff immediately rushed over and did what was necessary in order to save him.
And with that staff memberâs actions came an enthusiastic announcement.
ăItâs over! The match has been decided! What a stunning upset, ladies and gentlemen! Todayâs winner is once again, Fran, the Magic Sword Girl! It looks like she just might end up being the most terrifying dark horse in this tournament history!ă
[1] This technique, in the raw, is Body Destroying Internal Organ Breaker. But that sounds like shit in English, so I just kinda put some random substitute name that kinda sounds martial artsy and has a bit of the meaning in there for now. Let me know if you guys can think of something better.
[2] This type of punch is called called a Seikenzuki in Japanese. Its pretty well known, and even used in a fair bit of media. Itâs basically the standard Karate punch. You thrust at chest level, with your fist upside down. You then turn it at the moment of impact for that extra bit of oomph.