The two charged at each other as Ulric looked on. The lieutenant had been empowered by his self-harming hidden ability for a few moments already. It was starting to fade from what Ulric could see, but the lieutenant seemed to have more than enough fight left in him as they clashed.
For the lieutenant, his plan had been simple. Handle the pesky Paladin, then shatter that barrier and kill the weakling behind it. The boy was nothing more than a simple Rank-One Conductor. Even with the power of the Ark Cradle, he shouldn't have been more than a minor hindrance. After all, power like that took time to learn and control and in the first place, he had planned to end it before that idiot child could even make use of it.
The lieutenant was sure that he could win thanks to his superior experience and training coupled with his own power. Even while suffering the drawbacks of his hidden ability, he had been confident that the fight would go his way. However, that assumption quickly proved to be incorrect.
Alex had not only awoken from his trance but had activated the Ark Cradle and even received a boost of his own.
The moment his Iron Knuckles had connected with Alex's Scal'tar, he could feel that their power was on comparable levels. Still, the boy was still weaker. His strength only reached the bottom of the third rank. That usually wouldn't be an issue for the lieutenant under normal circumstances, but he was far from his peak because of his internal injuries coupled with the drawback of using his secret technique.
The man frowned, it wouldn't be an instant victory for him, and he knew that his time was running out. His ability would soon end, and his power would drop back down and fall into the middle tier of the second rank for a while. At that point, he would be in trouble. The full power of his hidden ability had been all but used up in order to destroy the barrier surrounding Alex and now that he had passed the climax of that power it was all downhill for him now as the ability winded back down.
Alex sprang back, spinning his Scal'tar wildly. His mind was running wild with all the possibilities of his new powers. He was far stronger than before, easily able to bridge the gap between the human ranks of power.
'So this is what the third rank feels like!' he thought to himself with glee. He was no fool. He knew that his opponent was still stronger than him. That meant caution was of the utmost importance. However, he could also see that something was wrong with the Order lieutenant, and he aimed to take full advantage of that!
The two clashed again. The Order member swung his fists just as wildly as Alex spun his Scal'tar. Each attack aimed to strike the vital spots beneath his armor. However, thanks to the speed boost he was granted, he could dodge those blows before they could make contact. Each one was a severe threat, and Alex could almost smell the desperation coming off the lieutenant.
The Lieutenant dropped low and delivered a sweeping kick. Alex jumped up and flipped over him as he drove his weapon down. It was deflected, but Alex spun it and cracked the lieutenant across the head with the pommel. The wound badly bruised the man's bald head and left a gruesome wrinkle in the flesh at the point of direct impact.
The man rolled away and clutched at his head as his blood began to run down the side of his face. However, Alex pressed the attack. It was all too obvious that the lieutenant's Wards were down at the moment. An attack like that should have only stunned someone with a Rank-Three body. Alex smiled beneath his helm as he landed and raised his hands.
"Solo! Verse 2, Frost Chain!" Icy chains rose from the ground and captured the lieutenant as Alex ended his spell. They weren't as sturdy as they could have been due to the opposing element of water as well as the use of its subset element of ice. However, they managed to hold the man steady as Alex slashed with the blade of his Scal'tar.
His Zight had been drained after equipping the Ark Cradle, but it had been refilled both after the battle with his doppelganger as well as upon transforming. One had to remember that the Zightcost of equipping an Ark Cradle was merely borrowed, not lost forever. Alex had gained an innate understanding of its use after he awoke from his trance.
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Once transformed, the Zight would be restored to the user’s Orrium if they willed it instead of refunded after the transformation ended. Alex had opted for the former instead of the latter. This meant that his full arsenal was available to him, and he was eager to test his new limits.
The lieutenant raised an arm to protect his head, shattering the icy chains. It was a desperate move and almost came a moment too late. However, while it saved his life it had cost him his left hand. The heavy Iron Knuckled hand crashed to the ground and embedded itself into the stone sending cracks through it.
Alex tried to attack again, but the lieutenant spun on his heels and, spitting out a glob of blackened blood, delivered a kick to the ribs that sent Alex skidding across the floor. The lieutenant freed himself from the other chain and growled in anger as he drove forward to attack again.
Alex rolled to his feet and blocked an incoming strike. The last attack had dealt a lot of damage, but thanks to the armor, it was nothing he couldn't shake off in the heat of battle.
“CLANG!”
“CRACK!”
“THUMP!”
“CLANG!”
The two exchanged blows and dealt damage in a flurry of quick strikes. With only one hand, Alex and the lieutenant's power gap didn't matter as much as before. Alex had extra instants to block or counterattack, and after that kick to the ribs, he had a better understanding of his durability against such a foe.
He could tank certain attacks if he read them correctly, and with the lieutenant in such a desperate way, it was almost too easy to read the incoming attacks. Once again, Alex resorted to his spells, only this time, he used one of his own affinity!
"Duet, Verse one, Galloping Embers!" A wall of fire in the shape of a horse rose from the ground and shot toward the lieutenant. The man had no choice but to guard himself and block the attack as best he could. The flames engulfed him and wrought havoc upon his flesh. Splotches of burnt skin and charred clothes appeared before Alex. Even sections of burnt bones could be seen upon the arms and legs of the lieutenant. As the flames died down, a look of pure rage covered the face of the Order lieutenant.
Still, the attack had been fully effective, and thanks to being of the fire element, it had done double the damage thanks to the armor's empowerment. With power like this, the gap between the two was hardly even an issue.
A roar escaped the lips of the lieutenant, and Alex dashed forward with blinding speed. He had converted 45% of his overall remaining Zight into physical energy and had been able to slip past the man's defenses with ease. At the same time, he had tried to behead him but given that he was moving far faster than he ever had, his aim was off, and he only managed to sever the remainder of the lieutenant's left arm.
The lieutenant growled in pain and doubled the effectiveness of his hidden ability. In his mind, if he were going to die here, he would take this annoying pest down with him. His skin turned black as his body compressed further and more blood poured from his mouth as the right side of his heart collapsed under the pressure. He sunk low and prepared to deliver his final attack.
Alex jumped back and saw that the deciding moment had come. He spun the ‘X’ of the Ark Cradle and channeled all of the energy he could into his next attack. The Armor dimmed to a grey-ashen color as its power flowed out of it and into Alex's Scal'tar. The Ark Cradle chimed, and all of the power gathered around Alex's Scal'tar and surrounded the blade. It grew in size and roared like a fearsome fire. With a final pulse, it solidified, and Alex, cloaked in an aura of roiling flames dashed forward as the lieutenant did the same. The two bellowed their mighty battle cries, and as Ulric looked on in shock at the sight before him, the deciding blow was dealt.
The lieutenant had channeled all of his power into his right hand during his strike just as Alex had done with his Scal'tar, and the results were quite devastating at least, against Alex's helmet. The two had exchanged a final blow. Alex had driven his flaming Scal'tar right through the middle of the lieutenant at a diagonal angle, and the lieutenant had slammed his fist into Alex's face.
However, at the last instant before impact, the lieutenant's lungs had imploded, and the pain had caused his attack to falter just a bit. Thanks to that, the attack hadn't made a clean impact. It grazed the side of Alex's helmet and sheared off the entire left side.
As the two quickly shot past each other, nothing seemed to happen. They stood with their respective weapons extended. However, after a moment, the remnants of Alex's helmet fell off and shattered into shards of Zight that quickly faded away, and the body of the lieutenant slipped apart and fell to the ground. It burst into intense flames that burned him to ashes before crumbling into two piles of biter-smelling dust.