Somewhere along the fortified passage...
a formation of ice gave way.
BOOOOOOM!
The sound tore through the storm.
At the same instant...
FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!
The boom disappeared beneath the roar of the blizzard.
Snow swept through the fortified passage.
Entire layers of white rushed over the ice.
Fragments of ice spun through the air.
SCRRRRT...
Others slid across the frozen surface.
One of them passed by the fallen blade.
CLINK.
The metal moved a few centimeters.
Stopped.
FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!
The storm swept through the passage again.
Snow began to gather over the sword.
Roven did not move.
His right arm hung at his side.
Ahead...
Tazir watched him.
The long katana rested over his shoulder.
His gray eyes slowly lowered.
To the thin red line opened beneath his ribs.
Two fingers touched the torn fabric.
When they pulled away...
blood stained their tips.
Tazir watched the blood for a moment.
"Even after your arm began to betray you..."
The small smile did not fade.
His eyes returned to Roven.
"you still found room for this."
Roven did not answer.
His single eye lowered.
First...
to his right hand.
The fingers remained loose at his side.
Then...
to the blade lying on the ice.
The snow was already beginning to hide part of the steel.
For a moment...
nothing changed.
Then he raised his face again.
His single eye met Tazir's.
The fingers of his left hand tightened around the hilt.
"Hm..."
Tazir's smile took on just a little more shape.
"Most men, by this point..."
Tazir let his bloodied hand fall to his side.
"would be worried about the arm that stopped responding."
Roven's eye narrowed.
"But I'm certain you're more interested in the reason."
Roven said nothing.
FWOOOOOOOOOSH!
Snow passed between them.
His left hand turned the hilt slightly.
He turned his body a few degrees.
His right shoulder moved back.
His left advanced.
The tip of the blade angled toward Tazir.
His right arm remained motionless at his side.
"This complicates things a little."
Tazir tilted his head slightly.
"For now."
The katana left his shoulder.
SHIIING...
He rotated his wrist.
The blade stopped diagonally before his body.
Tazir leaned forward.
CRACK!
The ice broke beneath his foot.
FWOOSH!
The distance between them disappeared.
His silhouette crossed the blizzard diagonally.
During the advance...
the katana rose toward Roven's neck.
His single eye followed the movement.
Until Tazir crossed the limit of his vision.
The silhouette disappeared to the right.
Roven turned immediately.
His left foot remained firm.
His right slid in an arc across the ice.
When his single eye found Tazir again...
he was already on his blind side.
The katana abandoned the line of the neck before Roven could complete the turn.
SHIIING!
The tip thrust toward his ribs.
Roven crossed the left blade before his body.
CLANG!
The short steel blade knocked the katana outward.
Tazir did not break contact.
He twisted his wrist.
SKRRRIIING...
The edge slid along Roven's blade.
Rose toward his only armed hand.
Roven pulled his fist back.
The katana passed before his fingers.
His short blade turned with the retreat.
And returned against Tazir's neck.
SHIIING!
He tilted his head.
Roven advanced.
He did not allow the katana to recover its full reach.
The left blade descended against the armed arm.
Tazir pulled his elbow back.
The guard of his sword rose.
CLANG!
The impact knocked the short blade away.
Roven rotated his hip.
His foot drove toward Tazir's knee.
He pulled his leg away.
The strike passed through empty space.
For a moment...
Roven remained balanced on a single foot.
Tazir attacked.
The katana advanced along the right side.
Roven turned to keep him before his single eye.
Too late to get completely out of the way.
SHRAAK!
The edge cut through the side of his armor.
A narrow line opened across the metal.
The force of the blow made his torso turn.
Tazir advanced to follow him.
The tip returned toward his chest.
Roven did not try to recover his previous position.
He let his body complete the rotation.
The left blade disappeared alongside him.
Tazir narrowed his eyes.
Roven lowered himself.
SHIIING!
The katana passed over his head.
He moved beneath the armed arm.
Too close for the long blade to return.
The short sword emerged from below.
Straight toward the abdomen.
Tazir pulled his hips back.
The tip reached his coat.
SHRAAK!
The fabric split.
Before the edge could meet flesh...
Tazir dropped his elbow.
THUD!
The strike hit Roven's left forearm.
The short blade was knocked downward.
In the same movement...
the katana's guard drove toward his face.
Roven tilted his head.
The metal passed before his forehead.
He answered with his knee.
Tazir turned his body.
THUD!
The blow struck the side of his thigh.
His footing gave way a few centimeters.
Roven advanced to exploit the opening.
The katana was already returning.
CLAAAAANG!
The long steel met his only blade before his chest.
The force traveled through his left arm.
SCRRRT...
His feet slid across the ice.
Tazir stayed on him.
The katana broke contact.
Descended against his forward leg.
Roven pulled his foot back.
SHIIING!
The edge cut through the snow.
The short blade advanced toward Tazir's wrist.
He pulled his hand out of the path.
Roven tried to follow it.
The katana changed direction.
The tip occupied the space between them.
Roven had to interrupt the attack.
Tazir advanced.
SHIIING!
A thrust.
SHIIING!
Then another.
Roven deflected the first with his blade.
Stepped out of the line of the second.
The third did not seek his body.
It descended into the ice beside his left foot.
Roven withdrew his footing.
Tazir twisted his wrist.
The upward cut came from the side without vision.
Roven followed the movement through the turn of his shoulders.
He raised his sword.
CLAAAAANG!
The block stopped the katana above his right shoulder.
His left arm flexed beneath the pressure.
Tazir took another step.
Roven gave ground.
One step.
Then another.
The tip of his blade lowered a few centimeters.
Tazir pressed.
Roven's forward knee bent.
His weight shifted onto that leg.
His rear foot left the ice.
Tazir noticed the movement.
The pressure on the katana disappeared.
Roven advanced with it.
Instead of resisting...
he guided the steel beyond his own shoulder.
Tazir lost the line of force.
Roven entered from the side.
He turned the blade.
The tip sought his throat.
Tazir retreated.
SHIIING!
The edge passed before his neck.
The distance opened again.
Roven did not pursue him.
He firmly planted his left foot again.
The only blade remained before his body.
Ahead...
Tazir planted his feet again.
He tilted his head slightly.
"I must admit..."
His gaze traveled across Roven's stance.
The motionless arm.
The blade in his left hand.
Then returned to his face.
"I expected fighting with a single arm to compromise your precision a little more."
Roven did not answer.
The fingers of his left hand merely adjusted around the hilt.
Tazir watched the movement.
His wrist turned.
SHIIING...
The katana traced a small arc before his body.
One of the inscriptions engraved upon the steel glowed.
VMMMM...
The light traveled across part of the blade.
At the same instant...
the threads of the World's Flow around the katana wavered.
One of them bent.
Another deviated from its course.
For a fraction...
they remained that way.
Until they resumed their trajectories.
Brief.
Subtle.
Roven's single eye lowered.
Only for an instant.
To the inscription.
When it rose again...
Tazir was still watching him.
The katana stopped beside his body.
"I wonder..."
Tazir's eyes fixed on him.
"if that precision will remain..."
Roven's eye narrowed.
"when the only eye you have left also stops obeying you."
"Heh..."
A brief laugh escaped Roven.
"I understand."
The short blade turned discreetly in his left hand.
His single eye remained on Tazir.
"In that case..."
The corner of his mouth lifted almost imperceptibly.
"I'll make good use of it while I still have it."
Tazir did not answer.
Roven continued looking at him.
"Spatial Distortion."
His voice came low.
At the same instant...
the trajectory of the storm warped.
FWOOOOOOOOOSH!
The white curved.
The flakes advancing from the right began falling before Tazir.
Others rose close to the ice...
before disappearing into the white.
The crystalline formations behind Roven seemed to tilt.
They did not collapse.
Their contours merely shifted position.
Tazir remained motionless.
His gray eyes followed the alteration around him.
Ahead...
Roven moved his left foot.
His single eye did not leave Tazir.
One step.
Then another.
The distance between them remained the same.
Although Roven continued advancing.
FWOOOOOOOOOSH!
A new gust swept through the passage.
Roven's silhouette shifted with it.
To the left.
Tazir turned the katana in that direction.
The shape continued advancing through the snow.
Closer and closer.
Tazir's blade rose.
The white passed through the silhouette.
There was nothing there.
The gray eyes moved.
A line opened in the blizzard to his right.
Narrow.
Fast.
Too close.
SHIIING!
The blade appeared beside his neck.
Tazir tilted his head.
His body turned at the same instant.
Too late to escape unscathed.
SHIK!
The tip passed beneath his jaw.
A red line opened along the side of his neck.
The katana returned from below upward.
CLAAAAANG!
The long steel struck Roven's blade.
The impact knocked the short sword outward.
Roven followed the deflection.
His body turned.
The blade disappeared once again among the flakes.
Tazir advanced before he could pull away.
The katana crossed the space toward his chest.
SHIIING!
The edge passed before the armor.
Roven was close enough to be struck.
Even so...
the blade found only white.
His silhouette was dragged backward by the storm.
Tazir corrected his step.
The tip of the katana changed direction.
Roven was already emerging from the side.
The short sword advanced again.
This time...
against the armed arm.
Tazir twisted his wrist.
CLANG!
The blades met.
He pressed.
Roven did not contest Tazir's strength.
He let the impact drive him away.
SCRRRT...
His feet slid across the ice.
Snow crossed the open space between them.
FWOOOOOOOOOSH!
For a moment...
Roven disappeared again.
Tazir did not advance.
The katana remained raised.
His eyes swept across the white.
Roven emerged a few meters away.
The left blade remained before his body.
His right arm still hung motionless at his side.
His single eye remained fixed on Tazir.
A drop of blood detached itself from the cut on Tazir's neck.
PING.
It struck the ice.
He brought two fingers to the wound.
When he pulled them away...
red covered their tips.
He did not look at the blood.
His eyes remained locked on Roven's single eye.
For several moments...
neither of them moved.
Tazir's smile took on a little more shape.
"So that's it..."
Roven remained motionless.
Tazir's eyes passed over the warped space between them.
Over the snow that was still slowly returning to its course.
Only then did he look at him again.
"the true legacy of Nidhogg's blood."
Roven's single eye narrowed.
"Unable to command the threads of the World's Flow..."
The katana turned in his hand.
"and yet..."
The tip stopped over the ice.
"capable of making them yield."
FWOOOOOOOOOSH!
Snow swept through the passage.
Tazir did not look away.
"Selvaria demonstrated that on a large scale."
"You..."
The smile diminished only slightly.
"turned the same impossibility into precision."
Roven said nothing.
Tazir watched the space between them for several moments.
"My White Horizon follows the course of a confrontation."
His eyes lowered to the red.
"Among the possible paths..."
"it finds the one that best leads to the target."
Tazir raised his face again.
"But you did not walk any of them."
"Apparently..."
Roven adjusted the blade before his body.
His left foot slid a few centimeters across the ice.
"the servants of the Temple really like to talk."
Tazir remained silent for a moment.
"Heh..."
A brief laugh escaped his lips.
"Perhaps you're right."
Roven slightly lowered his center of gravity.
His single eye did not leave Tazir.
The tip of the katana rose.
"From here on..."
Tazir's eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly.
"it would be unwise to keep merely watching."