Chapter 125 - Duel

Vern took a deep breath as he internally chuckled at Lucian's display. Clearly, the man was playing to the crowd, embracing the theatrics.

Yet, as Mistress had relentlessly drilled into him, the prelude to any battle was a mind game.

Someone like Lucian naturally wielded his confidence and presence like a weapon, subtly undermining his opponents, making them doubt their own strength before the fight even began.

Vern had no plans of surrendering the psychological edge before they'd even crossed swords. Not that he was very keen on going head-on against that massive thing anyway.

The conditions were made clear to both of them beforehand. Anything but instant death was fair game. Their masters would intervene if things looked unnecessarily hairy for either of them.

With all that in mind, Vern focused.

His last words and gesture sparked something in Lucian as his smile grew wider, and he bellowed, "Give me your fucking best, then!" Resting his sword on his shoulder, he burst into a sprint.

"WAhhhh! It's on!"

The crowd's roar intensified as Lucian dove from the rooftop's edge, launching himself towards Vern as two gleaming cables shot from his waist, propelling him forward with explosive speed.

Vern's outstretched hand fell to the side, heart pounded like a drum, and mind churned with myriad possibilities as it plotted his strategy for the fight.

He had deliberately entered this fight with minimal knowledge about Lucian's fighting style, aiming to replicate the battle with unpredictable foes he might face in the future.

His hand involuntarily reached for Duality's hilt, but he forced it back. Not yet.

He was going to wait until the last second. He had been trying to embody the tenet of Instability before Stability in his every action. This was how he progressed as an Observer, and it would be foolish not to maximize his gains whenever possible.

It didn't always work, but whenever there were stakes, following this tenet helped him understand his viewpoint better.

.

.

.

His coat fluttered as the cold wind buffeted him, but he stood there amidst the snowflakes as Lucian came hurling towards him, the rope caster's strings latching onto one structure after another as he closed the gap.

Vern followed every anchor Lucian used for those wires in his perception while his fleshly eyes reflected all the people who were bewildered by his lack of action.

Jumping off a wall, Lucian twirled up in the air, building a terrifying momentum as he coiled for a downward slash, and Vern looked on with naked jealousy.

My body's not tough enough to handle even a single accident while using a ropecaster. Mistress had denied him even coming close to the contraption without infusing the Old blood. The dynamics of this fight would have been so different otherwise.

With a dreadful amount of inertia stored in that massive blade, Lucian soared even higher, his silhouette bright against the setting sun.

Finally, the strings launched and clamped onto a pillar above and behind Vern, sending Lucian hurling towards him like a meteor.

His blood pumped hard, and he took conscious control of his posture, all his muscles tightening in anticipation. Almost...

He couldn't directly influence Lucian's gears because all Observers had the habit of keeping the subjective ownership of their gears—including himself.

Yet, there was no need for him to be direct. Lucian was careless. Or maybe he didn't know how Vern's Vision worked.

The crowd gasped, and a rush like never before claimed Vern as his thought space pulsed with instability.

Yet, he didn't move.

With every instant, the shadow loomed larger and the crowd held their breath. The whole garden turned as silent as a graveyard, but Vern was living it. Feeling it.

Lucian had a puzzled expression, but there was no hesitation in his actions as the downward slash aimed to claim Vern's head.

Vern watched it all with intense focus, and he counted three beats of his heart when—

NOW!

His eyes flared with a white ring, and a sharp Snapp echoed as cranksteel wires recoiled towards Lucian. Debris fell behind him, and the chunk of the pillar where the rope caster's clamps were anchored ground into fine dust.

"Wha—" Lucian's immaculate posture and form quickly crumbled as his controlled descent turned into a free fall, and Vern could see there was no way to recover from that mid-air; much less release all that momentum without opening up even bigger gaps in his defense.

Vern pulled back his leg as his hands shot towards duality; his eyes zeroed in on the sides of the uncontrollable force of nature that was Lucian.

The battle was on. Vern had snatched the upper hand in the opening, and it was time to exploit it.

The combined blade flared violet with instability in his hand, and he executed a slanted slash beat to beat, cutting across Lucian's abductors as he rocketed past him.

But the moment Vern's blade kissed Lucian's armor, a Zwanngg echoed ominously. His blade sharpened with instability, managed only to carve a tiny gash in the metal before the chance slipped away.

Crashhh!

Snow and dust erupted into the air as Lucian, barely managing to arrest his charge, drove his sword into the ground. The earth split beneath the blade's might, halting his advance with brute force.

Vern had been ready to hold back the moment his sword drew blood, but what the fuck was this? He knew the armor wasn't for show, but Instability inducement, when applied to duality, was no joke either.

"Holy fuck, man. That was dirty! I like it!" Lucian coughed.

Vern, however, narrowed his eyes and bolted towards the blonde, his sword gleaming with deadly light.

He burst out of the smoke and cleaved at Lucian with ferocity.

Tangg

Lucian barely managed to put up his guard, hoisting the massive sword's flat towards Vern.

"Woah—" Lucian gasped as that simple exchange wedged a nick in that inch-thick blade.

Vern kept up the pressure, slashing once, twice—crisscrossing nicks on the darned thing before Lucian managed to stand back up.

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A wire shot out of his hand, and the gears reeled back the string, pulling him out of the downward slash aimed for his head.

Vern expanded his perception, chasing the new destination of this ropecaster. However, his perception was met with emptiness he couldn't perceive.

Vern clicked his tongue. Tch. Lucian wasn't as dumb as he'd thought. He now knows to observe the immediate area around his anchor points.

That wasn't to say Vern couldn't destabilize the whole thing, but he didn't want to pay the cost for the cascading effects of smashing a whole pillar—or worse, the whole tower.

That would mean the end of the battle for him.

He debated chasing Lucian on foot but quickly gave up the idea. He could just keep running away like this. Vern would spend his stamina while Lucian would just use some steam.

I'll let him come to me, then.

So Vern relaxed and eyed Lucian, who held his abdomen, a small hint of red dripping from the chink in his armor.

Yet, the wound inside healed right back up in mere moments. Fuck. This is some bullshit level of cheating.

"That was good, man. But don't think you can get me twice with the same thing." Lucian dusted himself and rested the sword's tip on the ground with a Thump as he took rapid, deep breaths.

Damn. Did that excite him instead? Was he feeling no psychological pressure from this? Hmm, no. Lucian's just a little wrong in the head.

So Vern took the time to reorient himself and smiled before replying, "Sounds like someone's got excuses today."

"Hahaha, I like it. I like it. I really hope you can keep this up. Trust me. This is what I want."

As Vern waited for Lucian, Ambrose shouted, "Ehem. Simon, are you seeing this? Didn't know you were one to bet all your money on a mindless brute. Here I thought the rhythm guided you to do that."

Then he chuckled to himself, "Oops, my bad. Forgot you can sense fuck all kind of rhythm."

Simon remained silent, his hand on his chin.

However, some other guy spoke up, "Just you wait, young master. Now that Mister Lucian is prepared for that trick, things will go down for that guy real quick."

Ambrose simply snorted and continued watching with interest. At least the newbies knew how to put up a show.

Lucian used this leeway to reattach the rope caster's rerouting contraption before cracking his neck and aiming his sword toward Vern another time. "Let's go for a round two."

Vern remained in his usual calm headspace. To him, this was exactly like Mistress had put it, a complex game of chess, and he appreciated every second of it.

Real-life encounters wouldn't give him the safety net he had here. With his mind ready for next bout, he nodded, "Round two it is."

"HIYAA!!" Lucian stomped and let out a battle cry before rushing at Vern, his massive sword primed behind him for an overhead slam.

Stability Vern thought, and his glowing Duality instead devoured light, turning heavier in his hand as he shifted to his most practiced Ox guard stance—the sword's blade leveled with his eyes.

However, he knew that alone won't be enough. So right as Lucian was upon him, he perceived the air around the blonde's ears and—Pop

It was nothing but the most minor of distractions, but Lucian's attack trajectory shifted just a tad.

To exacerbate this inaccuracy, Vern shuffled to the right and received it with his blade's length, redirecting all the force in one direction.

Bamm the giant sword slammed into the ground, and the moment the weight was lifted off duality, he connected it into an upward slash

Ripp—Tanggg.

He barely managed another shallow cut before Lucian blocked it. Damn! How the hell did he get such a big hunk of metal back up so fast?

However, his peripheral vision gave him the answer in the next instant. Half of the blade had turned ethereal, and Vern understood what just happened.

He can control the exact part of his sword to materialize. A practical application of his Visions for sure. It essentially negated the poor mobility that came with a great sword.

Another variable for him to consider.

However, Lucian had no plans of letting Vern breathe. The gigantic blade disappeared again, leaving nothing but the hilt as he pulled his hand taut for another attack.

It was so fast there was no time to retreat. Vern's heart thumped wildly, but he somehow managed to transition that last attack into a guarding stance. An empty hilt came for his chest with a terrifying promise.

As expected, in the last moment, a ginormous mass manifested on the hilt out of nowhere, creating a whirlwind as Vern flailed to angle Duality against it.

Clanggg

A tremor spread through Vern's body, and he tasted copper as he took the full brunt of that attack, almost losing his footing. Fuck!

That was bad. It packed a lot of punch. Negating all that force wasn't going to be easy.

Giving Vern no chance to counter, Lucian continued his flurry of attacks, imbuing the hilt with momentum, which magically then transferred over to that hulking block of steel.

Bamm

One parry after another, Vern stepped back, trying to get out of the range of the attacks, but failed to do so.

However, with every exchange, he found ways to better nullify or redirect the force. Next when the sword came for a skull crusher, he perceived the ground beneath his feet and timed a destabilization to synchronize with the hit received by Duality.

Clangg. The moment the blades made contact, the ground cracked beneath his feet, channeling some of that force like a lightning rod catching thunder.

Sweat trickled down his brow as he continued to block one hit after another, his arms starting to feel numb from the havoc that giant sword wreaked on him.

This can't go on…

And he switched up his tactics right away.

As the colossal blade materialized just beyond his arms for the umpteenth time, a purple glow flared on the edge of Duality at the last moment.

Instead of trying to redirect the attack like earlier, he slashed toward the massive blade, aiming for a frontal clash that should come out with Victory for his destabilized edge.

Swishh! However, when Duality made contact with metal, a blue flare erupted from Lucian's eyes; his blade turned ethereal, and the purple edge cut nothing but air.

Tch. He clicked his tongue. It worked out differently in my head.

"Hahahha!! I knew it. I knew you could push me harder!" Lucian stared Vern down as he made for another attack.

Vern didn't have the capacity to conversate with the crazed Lucian as he took this opportunity to back out of the massive weapon's range, perceiving the ground around him as he did so.

Lucian smirked, "Don't run away, now. It's only starting to get fun," and pursued him.

Crack

However, the moment Lucian took his next step, the ground beneath his feet caved, and he stumbled. Hah. It worked?! He assumed Lucian would be able to suss out such a blatant trap.

Seems not. But this was good.

He synchronized small bursts on the ground with each footfall, allowing him to leap farther and run faster as he rapidly covered the distance he'd just retreated.

Whizz Lucian tried to run away again, but Vern was also ready this time and in a perfect position.

The moment strings shot out of his hand, Vern chopped down. It didn't cut the wire but managed to throw it off wildly, pulling Lucian in an unexpected direction. When Lucian managed to halt the gears, Vern had circled around to get a clear shot at his back.

A smile appeared on Vern's face and he didn't let such an opportunity go–thrusting his sword with all the might.

However, Lucian did something entirely unexpected. He took that hilt and…stabbed himself?

The massive blade protruded from his own back, and Vern's instincts sharpened over the past week, narrowly saved him from being impaled by the unexpected assault. And all he managed in return was a minor slash on Lucian's armor.

"You've got some tricks up your sleeve, too, eh?" Vern conceded, acknowledging the surprise with a nod. It completely caught him off-guard.

But he didn't allow the shock to paralyze him. Adrenaline surged through his veins as he launched back into the fray, determined not to offer Lucian even a moment of respite.

Clang–shh.

His purple edge struck the giant sword, only for it to disappear as Lucian tried trick after trick to regain his footing.

It was exactly like a minute ago, but Lucian was the one caught off balance this time. The crowd cheered and jeered, but each thump of his heart drowned it all out.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Amidst a whirlwind of feints and strikes, Vern pushed through the pain, his body hurting everywhere—an aftermath of the previous defensive moves. Lucian, however, fared worse, his body gradually marked by an increasing number of wounds.

Once again, Vern had decisively claimed the upper hand.

That's when Lucian suddenly did something wholly unexpected. Instead of dodging or blocking Vern's thrust, he rushed right into him.

Vern's instinct nearly made him retract his hands, yet he held firm, his sword piercing the armor as they collided.

However, instead of the anticipated resistance from skewering flesh, his hands felt…nothing.

An ominous premonition welled up in his mind, but it was too late.

"Seems I can't beat you without using all my Visions, after all." Lucian declared as he completely ignored both the swords and rammed right into Vern with his formidable physique.

Before Vern could react, a knee crashed into his abdomen. Bone met bone, and a loud Crack cut through the pounding in his ears as he was sent flying.

Blood erupted from Vern's mouth as he tumbled, finally slamming against a pillar with a heavy thump.

Yet, the ground trembled beneath him the next instant, and a monster with blue eyes jumped high in the air, the colossal sword gripped in both his arms, poised to split Vern in two.