Tri rushes forward swinging his blade wildly as Jago fires his arrows. The arrows fly past Tri and explode as he rushes towards Jago. His body heavy and clanging with every step as he makes his way forward.

“Metal!” The watch piece yells out.

“Metal Crash!” Tri yells as he rushes in.

He swings his sword down towards Jago who leaps back avoiding the blow and simply stares ahead at Tri. “What was that? Your fighting like an amateur swinging your sword around with no skill or finesse.”

“What?” Tri says considering the situation. It’s because Edmond’s not here. Edmond guided my sword and gave me advice in battle, without him…

Jago tilts his head. “I see this is what happens when you fight alone. The Professor always said the Dual Soul system had its downsides but could make complete amateurs expert warriors overnight.”

“Dual Soul System?” Tri asks curiously.

“Or DSS for short, of course, you never mind that.” Jago pulls back on his bow. “Because you’ll fall here!”

He sets loose a flurry of arrows that shoot out towards Tri knocking him back as each one explodes upon contract. The force of the rapid explosions knocks Tri to the ground as he struggles to stand.

“Your defense is impeccable, I guess that’s the benefit of such a sturdy Element.”

Tri forces himself to stand and grips hard onto his blade. “Well, it’s the only thing I’ve got going for me right now.”

I can’t seem to use Fire, which means I’m stuck on Metal for now. I don’t have any actual skill with a sword either all of that came from Edmond. The very fact I can transform means that Edmond is still here, but I can’t seem to access any of his abilities.

“Now eat this!” Jago holds up his bow to the sky and pulls back the invisible string with a large arrow forming the farther he stretches the bow. “Arrow Storm!”

He losses the arrow and it flies up high into the air. As it flies high, it turns and fall breaking apart into numerous arrows as it falls to the ground onto Tri. All the arrows fall and hits Tri with each Arrow chipping away at his armor causing a small explosion.

“Tri!” Saffy yells out moving away from hiding. “Please be okay.”

Tri stands barely holding himself as he breathes heavily barely able to stand as he tightens his grip on his blade. He steps forward his armor breaking apart as he moves trying his best to reach Jago.

“Still coming at me, huh? I can respect you as a warrior even if I have a distaste for you personally.” Jago says coldly.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Tri struggles against the pain. “I told you I never killed your guy, the only thing I did was defended myself.”

“So, you killed him in self-defense?”

“I didn’t kill anyone!” Tri yells as his suit shines. “I’m not going to let you get past me. I’ll beat you and I’ll protect Saffy, even without Edmond here!”

“Without your Phantom? Well then show me what you can do.”

Tri rushes in as his sword glows with a bright light. “Eat this! Metal Spiker!”

Tri smashes his sword into the ground away from Jago as he looks on. “That didn’t even hit me. Are you even trying?”

Suddenly a sharpened metal spike shoots out of the ground nearly skewering Jago. It’s quickly followed by another spike and then another as various more spikes shoot out from the ground with Jago barely dodging the strikes. However, one strikes him hitting him in the chest followed by several more knocking him back.

“There I hit you,” Tri says breathing heavily. “Now all I have to do is…”

Tri steps forward falling to the ground as he breathes heavily barely able to move his extremities. “My body, I can’t seem to move.”

“Water!” A voice screams out.

Suddenly a rapid flurry of arrows flies out smashing apart the metal spikes breaking them apart and leaving only puddles of water. Jago steps forward with the blue parts of his armor shinning as he steps forward.

“That was close, you made me use my other Element. I didn’t expect that.” Jago says happily.

Tri forces his body to raise as he comes to his feet with Jago stepping forward pulling back the bowstring. Water comes from the air forming in the air and shooting out at Tri knocking him back.

Tri struggles to stand and rushes ahead swinging his blade wildly as Jago remains still and unflinching. None of Tri’s attacks connect as Jago dodges each and every attack. Jago holds out his leg and Tri trips falling to the ground as Jago stands over him.

“Damn it…” Tri says unable to move.

Jago sighs. “Is this it? I mean, you’re just lying there unable to move, it’s kind of embarrassing. I can barely even look at you like this.”

“You’re telling me.” Tri struggles to say.

“Well, how about I just end this,” Jago says holding his bow over Tri. “Any last word?”

“This is a giant misunderstanding.”

“Those are a poor choice of words,” Jago says coldly.

Tri grabs his blade and musters every amount of strength he can muster. “Metal Crash!”

Tri swings the blade and swipes at Jago’s feet. Jago leaps into the air and pulls back the bowstring and gathers an arrow of water that turns a sickly purple color.

“Aquatic Taint,” Jago says calmly.

The arrow flies and hit’s Tri’s back the water flowing into his body as his armor fades away leaving an injured Tri on the ground defenseless. “What now, you kill me?”

“In a way, the water I shot into you will soon fill up your insides and you’ll drown on dry land,” Jago says staring at Tri. “Such weakness, how could Frank ever lose to you.”

“Because he wasn’t at full power!” Saffy yells out rushing from her hiding place. “If he had been at full strength, there’s no way he would’ve lost!”

Jago turns towards her. “You can see Phantoms? And you don’t even have a Phantomizer, interesting.”

“So, what?” Saffy asks.

“The Professor asked us to bring any naturals to him to further his tests,” Jago says. “Although it pains me to sacrifice such a cute girl.”

“Sacrifice? There’s no way you're laying your hand on Saffy!” Tri yells out forcing himself to move despite the immense pain all over his body. “I’ll crush you!”

As Tri stands Edmond’s coin glows slightly as Jago stares ahead curiously.

“I guess this wasn’t a fair battle, but how about this?”

“What?”

“We have a rematch, with a more interesting prize at stake,” Jago says pointing towards Saffy. “We’ll use this girl’s life the bargaining chip to determine you're both of your fates!”