A few in the crowd became restless at the countdown, unsure what it would entail, whether it would be a huge explosion, and whether they’d be safe. Rallie was quick on the mic, reassuring everyone. “Don’t worry, our barriers will protect you from everything.”
That did temper fears, but didn’t stop the rumbling of words. Even those in up in the spectator booth were practically spouting whatever nonsense sounds their mouths could make, completely caught off guard by this turn of events.
『4, 3, 2…』
But as the countdown reached its end, one voice cut above all the rest.
《Drim: ❝Tize, don’t you dare die!❞》
『Se- Des-ction Se-uence 』 The already distorted voice struggled to say anything more, as if it was losing power—Tize growing weaker from Drim’s demand. 『Canceled』
The screen in front of Jaid’s face flickered and then it suddenly went black. The armored woman plummeted back down into the arena, experiencing the same agonizing crash for the second time that day. She fumbled her hand around for her sword in the darkness, finally managing to grab it and at least pull herself back up to her knees.
Jaid then heard a bit of heavy breathing in her mind, as if Tize had suffered a serious blow, but it quickly stabilized. 【So be it. Then I’ll beat you the hard way.】
The visor blinked back to life, and Jaid looked up at the figure in front of her. Out of everyone it could have been, she was shocked to see herself. Though it wasn’t quite her, but rather just her armor, staring down at her, floating a few inches off the ground.
Finally, Jaid got a proper look at what she was wearing, her and Tize’s synchronization. It was a sleek suit of armor that didn’t look made by human hands. That level of craftsmanship was far too intricate. And with how it wrapped to her figure, consisting of hundreds of thin plates, it would be a nightmare to take on and off. She was now slightly thankful for the fusion process.
And the knight couldn’t deny its splendor. The armor truly looked straight of a zealot’s imagination, and the way it flew above all could easily spawn a religion. Maybe it already had.
However, there was one main difference between her and the armor: it was clearly hollow. Jaid stared dead at the centerpiece: her mother’s visor, flipped down on the knight’s face. There was no one inside past the grating, but instead, it glowed blue, the same blue as her own eyes.
Jaid had no doubt that was the key to it all. Her visor must have been the relic the system was talking about. She had always wondered its origin, and many speculated it had come from a world long dead. That only seemed cemented to her now. It was actually an ancient relic—Visor of the Armor of the Herald.
The Paladin had no idea what that meant, whether it belonged to some long dead hero, or maybe a herald of destruction. But it didn’t matter now, she could figure it out later. First and foremost, could she really use it to fly?
Jaid thought about that feeling from before, and her heavy body suddenly became weightless. She lifted up into the air, just a few inches, matching the eyeline of the armor in front of her.
【I see you’ve found your footing.】 Tize’s voice exuded from the armor, rather than directly into her mind. She had no doubt now that he was controlling it. The woman had read a lot into Tize’s Curse, how it tailored itself to every host. So this was their synchronized power: the ability to make a freestanding clone. But whether or not it could…
【Good!】 The man shouted, cutting into her thoughts. He swung his sword, an exact copy of Jaid’s. She quickly grabbed hers, swinging it to block, and their blades locked.
They quickly came to a standstill, their strength exactly the same. He really was an exact clone of her, but she had no idea whether it meant that he had the same level of stamina. Jaid had already exhausted herself just trying to break Tize’s shield. There would have been no way she could power through a fight against herself if the clone was at full potential.
However, there was a pleasant side effect from their synchronization. It seemed Tize’s energy had merged with her own, refilling her tank while depleting his to the same level. The man still had a lot of it too, since all he’d really done was stand around while she’d attacked him relentlessly. But it meant it was a fair fight in all aspects.
Except, Jaid did have one advantage. They exchanged a few more blows, perfect blocks each time. Both could read each other's intent and predict how they’d attack, but The Paladin managed to confirm something. “You’re not used to my body!”
Tize whiffed his next attack, likely expecting his swing to go just a bit further, but it missed the woman by a hair because of his now-slightly shorter arms. Jaid was able to use it to retaliate, stabbing her sword into the armor’s stomach. She smirked at her win, but the win was pointless.
The man merely floated backwards off of her sword, and the gaping slice in the armor sealed itself back up. And in retaliation, Tize didn’t just swing back at her, not alone at least. Two clones spawned at either side of him, connected by their feet, and the five of them swarmed and slashed in unison.
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Jaid made her own line of clones to defend and then made even more to retaliate. This caused Tize to do the same, and both began spawning their armies endlessly, until there were full battalions on each side clashing their blades.
But with this came no further progress. Neither caused the other any significant damage. And if Tize could just regenerate, Jaid could never overcome him. But maybe if the armor was completely destroyed it would stop his advance.
The Paladin ordered her battalion skyward, flying well out of Tize’s reach. They all turned around and began charging their swords. But to Jaid’s annoyance, the mirrored army did the same.
Every railgun unleashed their payload at once, and the countless bolts of lightning collided in the area, fusing into one massive blinding explosion of light. Jaid’s army was sent blasted backwards, covering their faces out of instinct to block any damage to their eyes, forgetting that she was seeing the world through a visor—though the blast did temporarily distort the sensor.
It seemed Tize didn’t have that same problem. His squad soared through the explosion, catching Jaid off guard. She scrambled to block whatever attack came next, but he subverted her expectation. The man shot a line of clones up behind her, stealing one of her own moves. His sword sliced through a single clone's back, cutting through his own armor that he’d made as part of their synchronization.
Pain echoed through all of Jaid’s clones and she was forced to unsummon them. But not only that, it was so excruciating that her metaphorical wings had been clipped. Once more, she took a dive straight to the arena floor. Thankfully, not as harmed by the fall this time.
Tize sent his battalion down after her. She managed to make enough clones in time to defend, gritting through the multiplied pain. But in this new confrontation, she noticed something very important. It was faint and easy to miss at first, but the more she focused, the more certain she was. There was now a glowing orange crack in Tize’s armor.
It had to have been from the damage he’d done to his synchronized piece. Which meant the key to victory was back to her original thought. She had to get the bastard off of her.
Jaid made a dome of clones around herself, a purely defensive formation to keep her attackers at bay. And Tize did just that, swarming around the protective lineup, trying to bash through any vulnerability. But her clones held their own, and they didn’t try to fight back, focusing solely on defense.
She’d flipped the script entirely, no longer trying to defeat the man, just keeping herself safe. While the dome kept him at bay, several more clones got to work. A bunch latched onto the main chest piece on the front of her torso and pulled with every ounce of strength they had.
But it didn’t budge. The armor piece clung to her tunic without stretching a single thread. And then a thought occurred to her, causing her to shout, “Dura, if you can hear this, release your Curse!”
A second later, her tunic ripped, the armor piece quickly flying off with it. As soon as it was disconnected, the piece dissolved into orange light, and a new crack appeared in Tize’s armor. Jaid knew instantly that this was the correct course of action, and her clones began tearing into her clothing like they were trying to rip her to shreds.
The woman didn’t even consider the embarrassment of having her top forcefully removed in front of everyone, especially since the same happened to every clone when a piece was removed. But fortunately she still had her undergarments to hide her shame, and her Central Peace pendant now dangled free.
It didn’t take long for every tunic piece to be removed, but then the clones approached the painful part. They started with her neck. Direct pulling didn’t do much but cause agonizing stretching. So the clones changed their tactics, digging their armored fingertips around each shard, slicing through the skin around it.
Once they got a good enough grip, several more clones would grab hold of their arm, and they’d all pull. One by one, each shard was yanked free, tearing off the top layer of skin with it. Some pieces were only connected by a few spots, while others were entirely fused to her flesh.
It became unbearable excruciation, every clone feeling each bit of agonzing torture, but they persisted, pushing through it. Because she had to. She had to win. Her only solace and relief was that with each piece removed, Tize seemed to grow weaker. His attacks slowed down, each not hitting as hard. The cracks grew to the point that it was a wonder that the armor still held together, likely from his sheer force of will.
But Jaid would not let his will surpass her own. Even if she passed out from the pain, died from the bloodloss, she wasn’t going to let him beat her. The knight got a bit of a reprieve once she got to the helmet trapping her head. Every piece around her hair was fortunately not fused directly, or she would have had to rip herself bald.
Instead, it was all locked to her mother’s visor wrapped in her hair. With that removed, she was down to the last piece: the solid screen covering her face. Every clone available dug their fingers around the edge and began to pull. Unlike any before, this piece held tighter, Tize clinging desperately to his host.
“Damn it!” The Paladin roared in anguish, in anger, in pure adrenaline. “Get! The hell! Off me!” Her skin started to peel away, and finally, it tore. Thank Cosmos that only the edges of the piece were sticking to her, otherwise she would have had to rip off her own face.
“Gahhhhhhhhhhh!” Jaid screamed one last time in both torment and relief as the piece wretched loose, her blue blood now pouring into her eyes. The last shard dissolved in her clone’s hand, and all around her, the army of armor shattered to pieces, returning back to orange light. And then right before her laid the man responsible for all her pain, crumbled on the ground in exhaustion.
Jaid dismissed all of her clones, grabbed the hilt of her sword with both hands, and took a single step forward.
Tize started to stir, and he lifted his face just in time to see the woman hovering above him, the tip of her sword an inch away from his eyes, swirling with light.
The Paladin pulled the trigger, sending a bolt of lightning straight into The Refuge’s face and surging through his body. It would have killed any human or Lesser, disqualifying her immediately. But for the first time ever, Jaid was happy that he’d turned into a Fiend.
“Ladies and Gentlemen!” Rallie’s voice boomed around her, and the audience all gasped together at once. “We have our winner! The Prude Paladin, Jaid Luciri!”
~Unfulfilled Wish~
Tize: [Redacted]
~Wish Fulfilled~