Akachi pressed one of the sticks into the neck of the Yasini possessed by his Ori Guardian. Zuber's metal defense was resistant. They battled until his opponent tripped Adisa's son. He jumped backwards, placing the X-shaped sticks in front of his body. A horizontal javelin blow knocked him back.

Zuber dissolved his Ofó. He smoothed the tip of the javelin with his fingertips. There was no blood on the blade. Despite that exchange of blows, he hadn't managed to inflict a single wound on his opponent. This irritated him. Akachi's mediumistic profile was more defense-oriented, yet he had managed to get around this situation.

The use of Axé's basic properties was primary, but rationalized and functional so far. Zuber felt his ribs creak as he moved. There was no internal bleeding. The injuries were internal. He could feel the area inflaming. His breathing was choppy. He tried to catch his breath.

How can he cover his skin with iron, Fenyang? Javelin is made of tin, not by absorption.

There is iron in the human body, including in the bloodstream. I don't know if the amount is enough to form complete armor.

Assuming he attracts the iron to the surface of the skin, he could become an ACRP.

If he does this on small parts of his body, as he has just done, it's likely. But if he manages to cover his entire body with iron armor, then he must be an APRC. Every technique has a 'but', a price to pay. We have to find out what his is.

The pair's guesses were assertive. The element iron is present in the human body in an average of five grams. Of this amount, 65% exists in the form of hemoglobin, the molecule that makes oxygen circulate in the blood. The rest accumulates in the liver, spleen and bone marrow in the form of ferritin and hemosiderin. A healthy adult has between forty and one hundred and sixty micrograms of iron in their blood.

What Zuber did was to attract some of this iron to the epidermis. After that, he multiplied it by spreading the Axé. The medium's body, in an attempt to maintain its metabolic balance, replenished the iron lost in the attraction process. However, there was a limit to this. Excessive use of Ofó by the medium would trigger anemia.

The possessed spirit, back on his feet, waved his javelin and went after his opponent. It tried to strike Akachi's legs, so that he couldn't move at speed. Fenyang realized this and made his medium keep his guard down. Zuber applied heavier attacks now.

While they exchanged blows with their weapons, their legs also applied kicks and knees. The greedy spirit used the tip of his spear to wound Akachi's calf. The boy jumped to the side. He avoided stepping on the ground with his injured leg. Landing on one leg was difficult at that speed. He stumbled and fell to the ground.

Zuber took advantage of the fact that his opponent had collapsed to the ground and began to javelin him. Akachi rolled sideways, trying to escape. He didn't manage to dodge all the blows. The short spear hit his shoulder, in the joint of his exoskeleton. The pain made him spit blood. The boy grabbed the spear shaft and applied repulsion to push the enemy weapon away.

The javelin didn't move an inch from his body. Akachi was pinned to the ground. Zuber laughed at his despair.

"Hohohoho, silly boy. Tin is considered a paramagnetic metal. Its magnetic susceptibility is very low. Some even call it a diamagnetic metal. Now that we've finished our physics lesson, DIE!"

Akachi didn't give up. He grabbed the javelin with two hands, and applying a thrust to his lower limbs, looped a leg triangle around Zuber's neck. The boy kept his hips up. His opponent's right arm, clutching the weapon, was caught in the triangle.

Zuber gritted his teeth. He couldn't accept losing to that fledgling medium. With his free arm, he grabbed the handle of the weapon. He turned the javelin, increasing the radius of the wound in Adisa's son's shoulder. Akachi let out a scream that echoed throughout the area. By instinct, the young man's thighs contracted, which increased the pressure on the possessed Yasini's neck.

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The Ori Guardian began to snort like a tired horse. He used the Iron Skin Ofó once more and pushed Akachi's leg away. The boy's legs collapsed to the ground. With both hands free and his opponent pinned to the ground, Zuber had the upper hand in the fight.

He thrust his hands into Akachi's chest, but the action had the opposite effect. A pulse of energy sent him sprawling with his javelin. A crater formed in the ground, and the boy was in the middle of it. He slowly got up, his clothes and hair covered in dust. He grabbed the end of his shirt and wiped the lenses of his glasses.

"The Spirit Key doesn't seem to be something that can be taken away by force. There must be a correct way of extracting it, Fenyang."

"It's attached directly to your body, Akachi."

On the other side, rising to his feet, Zuber grabbed the javelin. Veins popped out of his face. The tip of the weapon was dripping with blood. When he looked at the wound in his opponent's shoulder, where there should have been a large hemorrhage, there was only a clotted hole.

The key is healing you so that you don't die. Perhaps there is only one way to extract it from you, by killing you.

He spun his javelin and stood in an even tighter line of defense than before. He would wait for the enemy and thrust his spear from below.

"Come on, Akachi. I don't have all day."

Akachi, concentrate Axé on the left stick, increasing its density will make the blow heavier. With the other, use repulsion. Hit the sticks like a hammer on a nail. This will catch him off guard.

Okay, I won't get the timing wrong.

Akachi began a faltering run due to the injury to his leg. He did as his Guardian Ori recommended. Zuber counterattacked, wounding the boy's hip on the left side. The boy positioned his staff with Axé concentrated on Zuber's shoulder. He struck with the other.

The possessing spirit sensed that this could knock him out. He used the iron skin all over his body. The stick with repulsive force came down like a hammer. The impact was so great that the weight of the batons didn't double in size, it increased the impact tenfold. The ground around Zuber cracked. However, the spirit was not knocked out.

With a slow movement, he struck Akachi back. The young man leapt into the air and kicked Zuber in the jaw, but to no avail.

I saw something interesting this time.

He got slower with the Iron Skin.

Not only that. Let's go again. Do that trick of throwing stone projectiles. From underground.

Akachi concentrated his Axé on his feet. He caused the ground to crack and the stones to float. Using his repulsion, he projected them towards Zuber. A curtain of dust was formed by the possessing spirit's quick defense. Unusually, Akachi's two sticks came flying towards his chest.

With a swing of his javelin, he batted them away. Yasini's Ori Guardian felt a twinge in his right arm. He had been distracted by Akachi throwing his two weapons at him. He had lost one of his upper limbs. Zuber gritted his teeth. He tried to javelin his opponent with his other arm, but was immobilized.

"You have a thick, dense layer of iron over your skin. But it makes you very heavy. That's why you have to avoid covering your joints in order to keep moving. It's over for you, Zuber."

"Not yet, Fenyang. It's only over when it's over."

Even with his arm immobilized, his hand clung to Akachi's injured shoulder. It stuck its claw-like fingers into the wound. Blood gushed out once more. The two stood there measuring strength until Zuber's legs began to wobble. His eyes rolled back in their sockets. His black face took on a yellowish, sickly look.

He collapsed to the ground. He tried to get up, but couldn't. With his face immersed in dust, he raised his face and mocked his opponents:

"I never imagined that an Ori keeper like me would have such a hard time with two losers like you. Worse than losing to you, it's a draw."

"A draw? You're just playing for a draw. We won, you asshole!"

"You won, Akachi, are you sure? You can barely stand."

Akachi also collapsed to the ground. He got on all fours and crawled over to Zuber. He clenched his fist, gritted his teeth. He threw a punch. He couldn't hit his opponent. He collapsed first.

"You won't last now, you bastard. Wake up so we can hit you some more."

"Akachi, that was your baptism of fire. I've never faced a match as tough as this."

"This is just the first, Fenyang. We don't know how many others we'll face on our journey."