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The blood on Loki's collarbone did not have time to burn away before Guy moved again.
There was no warning in his posture, no sudden flare of magicules, and no violent disturbance in the already tortured space around him. One moment, Guy Crimson stood across the battlefield with Tenma resting loosely at his side. The next, he occupied the space directly in front of Loki, the point of his broadsword driving forward in a straight and terrifyingly simple thrust.
Loki's eyes narrowed. Hephaestus answered before conscious thought could finish forming, reconstructing a heavy, curved broadshield directly in Tenma's path. Its dark surface appeared ancient and scarred, with overlapping layers that resembled the walls of a fortress. The weapon was based on Loki's memory of an aegis built not to resist force, but to swallow it. Any impact that struck its face was meant to spread harmlessly across the shield's entire surface before being dispersed into the surrounding space.
Tenma struck the center.
CLANG!
The impact did not spread.
Instead, every ounce of Guy's force compressed into a point smaller than the tip of a needle. The shield's layered defence remained intact everywhere except at that single location, where Tenma drove through it as though the reconstructed metal were nothing more than wet cloth.
Loki twisted at the last possible instant. The blade missed his heart, slipped past his ribs, and opened a shallow line beneath his coat. He struck the shield with the back of his hand, shattering his own creation into a burst of dark particles. The released force carried him backwards, sending him skimming fifty yards across the fractured floor before he landed lightly upon one heel.
His hand pressed against his side. The wound was minor compared to the cut across his collarbone, but the method behind it was far more concerning than the damage itself.
Guy had not merely struck harder.
He had changed what the strike was.
"Compressed force," Loki said quietly as the wound beneath his clothes began to close. His gaze rose to meet Guy's, and for the first time since the duel began, there was no humour in his expression. "You took the weight behind the Crushing Mountain and forced all of it into the tip of Tenma."
Guy rested the enormous broadsword across his shoulder. His smile was wide, predatory, and deeply satisfied, while the crimson light in his eyes carried a faint golden gleam that had not been there before. "That was part of it."
The barrier groaned around them. Cracks of white light spread across the distant edge of the sealed battlefield, only to be forced shut by the layers Dagruel and the others maintained from outside. The world inside had already lost any resemblance to natural terrain. The ground had become a patchwork of molten stone, compressed magicules, frozen scars, and open wounds in space. Above them, the collision of Excalibur and Tenma still lingered like a dying sun trapped beneath black glass.
Guy took one slow step forward, and the pressure around him doubled.
"My skill," he continued. "It's a wonderful thing, Loki. Once I understand how something interacts with the world, I don't need your forge to reproduce the weapon itself. I only need the idea behind it."
The point of Tenma dragged lightly across the ground. The reinforced floor parted beneath the blade without resistance, not from sharpness alone, but from the unnatural concentration of force held along its edge.
"You showed me authority through Excalibur," Guy said. "Certainty through that spear. Then you brought out a mountain and tried to beat me into the ground with its weight. Beautiful weapons. Beautiful principles. But every time you reach into that arsenal, you're showing me how it works."
His grin widened.
"You aren't just attacking me. You're teaching me."
Loki remained still, but his mind accelerated beneath the calm expression on his face. He traced the changes in Guy's aura, replaying each collision and isolating the exact moment Lucifer had begun reproducing the principles Loki had displayed.
'He isn't copying the weapons.'
That would have been easier to manage. A copied blade could be countered by changing its structure, altering its material, or simply summoning something stronger. Guy was doing something far more troublesome.
'He's taking the rule behind each weapon and applying it wherever he wants.'
The spear's reversed result had become certainty at the point of Tenma's thrust. The Crushing Mountain's overwhelming weight had become concentrated force. Even the pressure behind Excalibur's authority had begun appearing in Guy's aura, sharpening his presence until the space around him seemed to accept his superiority as a natural law.
Loki's expression did not change, but his attention sharpened.
Hephaestus remained one of his most versatile skills, yet its strength depended upon structure. Every reconstructed weapon was built around something Loki remembered and understood. That gave each creation purpose, but it also gave Guy something stable to examine.
And once Guy understood a stable principle, Lucifer could make use of it with the overwhelming output of the oldest and strongest Primordial Demon.
Loki exhaled slowly.
'Giving him another fixed weapon would be like handing a master swordsman a new technique and asking him to improve it.'
Guy watched the realization settle behind Loki's eyes and laughed. "What's wrong? Did the great inventor finally notice he's been generous?"
The sharpness faded from Loki's face. In its place came the slow return of a reckless smile.
"Teaching you?" Loki drawled, allowing both arms to fall loosely at his sides. "And here I thought you were too old to learn new tricks."
Guy's eyes narrowed with amusement. "Careful. That almost sounded like confidence."
"No," Loki replied. "That was pity."
Then he abandoned the arsenal.
No legendary blade appeared in his hand. No spear tore through space, and no impossible hammer descended from the sky. Loki vanished beneath a burst of raw speed and entered Guy's reach with nothing but his bare hands.
Guy's expression shifted for the briefest instant. It was not surprise at Loki's speed; he had already measured that. It was surprise at the decision itself.
Tenma swept horizontally in a short, brutal arc meant to cut Loki apart at the waist. There was no elaborate concept hidden inside the attack now. It was simply Guy's strength, experience, and killing precision condensed into one movement.
Loki did not retreat.
His right palm struck the flat of Tenma, and gravity around the broadsword reversed. The weapon jerked upward by less than an inch, but that inch was enough. Loki slipped beneath the blade, stepped inside Guy's guard, and drove his elbow toward his jaw.
Guy leaned back. The strike passed close enough to disturb his red hair before his knee rose toward Loki's stomach with enough force to break a mountain in half.
Loki caught the blow on his forearm.
The collision cracked the ground beneath them, but Loki did not attempt to hold Guy's leg. A short serrated dagger flickered into existence between his fingers, appearing only long enough to intercept Guy's left fist. Steel met knuckles with a shriek, and the dagger dissolved before Lucifer could fully inspect it.
Loki turned with the motion, caught Guy's wrist, and tried to pull him into a shoulder throw. Guy planted his foot and refused to move, his physical strength anchoring him more firmly than the broken battlefield beneath them. Instead of fighting that strength directly, Loki reversed the pull, dropped his centre of gravity, and drove a short kick toward Guy's knee.
Guy raised his leg, avoiding the strike, then brought Tenma down from above.
Loki released him and vanished through a narrow fold in space. The blade struck the ground where he had stood, splitting several miles of the battlefield in a perfect line.
He reappeared behind Guy with two fingers extended toward the back of his neck.
Guy turned before the strike landed. Tenma came around in a backhanded sweep, forcing Loki to abandon the attack. Loki bent backwards until the blade passed above his face, then compressed the space behind his spine and used it like an invisible platform to push himself upright.
A dense sphere of plasma formed in his palm.
He drove it into Guy's chest at point-blank range.
The blast swallowed both of them in white heat.
Outside the barrier, the observers saw the sealed battlefield flare brighter than daylight. A ring of fire raced across the surface of the barrier, burning against the reinforcement layers before Velzard's cold and Dagruel's stabilising force crushed it back inside.
Within the explosion, Guy caught the attack with his bare left hand. The heat poured around his fingers and rolled harmlessly across his skin, but the force behind it drove him back one step.
That single step was all Loki wanted.
A heavy war hammer appeared in both of his hands.
It had no name, no legendary history, and no rule beyond the immense weight Loki forced into it at the moment of impact. Hephaestus gave the weapon form only as Loki swung, and the hammer existed for less than a heartbeat before crashing into Guy's left shoulder.
BOOM!
Guy's body dropped half a foot into the ground. The space beneath his boots compressed into glowing white cracks, and the barrier released a low, tortured groan.
Tenma immediately swung through the position Loki should have occupied after such a heavy attack.
There was no hammer for the blade to catch.
It had already vanished.
Loki was gone as well, floating ten yards away with his hands once again empty. A small sphere of black-and-white gravity rolled across his knuckles like a coin.
"What's the matter, big brother?" Loki asked, his breathing still even. "Stop copying from my paper. I thought you were supposed to be a genius."
Guy slowly straightened. Smoke rose from his shoulder, though the blow had done little more than disturb the surface of his aura. His expression held no irritation. If anything, the excitement in his eyes had deepened.
"Fluid," Guy murmured.
The word was quiet, but it carried clearly through the ruined space.
"No fixed principle. No weapon that exists long enough for Lucifer to understand completely. You're changing the attack before the impact has even finished." Guy rolled his shoulder once, testing it, then looked at Loki with open approval. "You finally stopped showing me your collection and started fighting."
"That's the beauty of art," Loki replied, settling into a posture that belonged to no recognised school of combat. His weight rested loosely upon the balls of his feet, his hands hung low, and every part of him appeared relaxed enough to be careless. "Once someone knows how the song ends, it gets boring."
He tilted his head.
"So I stopped writing the score."
Guy's laughter rolled across the battlefield like thunder.
"You really are an insufferable bastard, Loki!"
The pressure around him erupted.
"But let's see how long your improvisation lasts once the stage starts burning."
Guy surged forward.
This time, he did not rely on a formal sword style. Tenma moved with the flawless efficiency of countless schools stripped down to their most lethal movements, but Guy's free hand, knees, elbows, spatial distortions, and raw aura were woven into the attacks without any separation between them. Prideful King Lucifer followed Loki's every reaction, not merely predicting techniques, but measuring habits.
Loki met him with chaos.
Tenma descended toward his shoulder. Loki summoned a short blade, but instead of blocking, he struck the side of Guy's weapon and dissolved his own before the impact finished. The tiny change in angle sent Tenma past his body. Loki stepped forward with a palm strike, only for Guy to catch his wrist.
Loki inverted gravity around his own arm.
Guy's grip was pulled upward. Loki ducked beneath it, drove his shoulder into Guy's chest, and released a burst of compressed air from the soles of his feet. The explosion hurled them both across the battlefield, but Loki released Guy halfway through the movement and folded space beneath himself, changing direction before momentum could carry him away.
He appeared above Guy with his heel descending.
Guy caught the kick on Tenma's flat, twisted, and threw Loki sideways.
Loki turned the throw into a spinning leap, manifested a chain for less than a second, and wrapped it around Tenma's hilt. Guy pulled before Loki could, attempting to drag him back into range, but the chain vanished. Guy's own strength drew his sword slightly off line, and Loki used the opening to fire three narrow bolts of black lightning into his face.
Guy tilted his head. Two passed beside him. The third struck his cheek and burst into a web of dark electricity.
His response was immediate.
The space surrounding Loki hardened.
For the briefest instant, he could not move.
Tenma thrust toward his chest.
Loki shattered the restraint with a burst of holy energy, twisted sideways, and allowed the blade to tear through the edge of his coat rather than his body. His hand closed around Guy's forearm. A dense pulse of gravity dragged both of them downward.
The battlefield broke beneath their feet.
Guy drove his forehead into Loki's face.
Loki's head snapped back, blood bursting from his nose, but he did not release Guy. He answered with a knee to the stomach, then altered the direction of gravity halfway through the strike so that the blow landed with force from two directions at once.
Guy absorbed it with a grunt and threw him away.
Loki skidded across the ground, one hand brushing the broken surface before he regained his balance. The blood beneath his nose burned into vapour. His grin returned almost immediately.
Outside the barrier, Milim leaned forward on her floating stone, her eyes moving so quickly that most of the others could barely follow them. "They're not using turns anymore."
Dagruel folded his massive arms. "They stopped doing that the moment Loki put the weapons away."
Velzard's expression remained cold, but the fingers of one hand had tightened against her sleeve. "Guy is learning his habits."
Testarossa glanced at her. "Loki is aware of that."
"That does not mean he can prevent it."
Inside the barrier, Guy drove Loki backwards with a series of attacks that seemed almost casual. A downward cut forced Loki to shift left. A short punch forced him farther. A spatial rupture closed the route behind him, leaving only one safe angle.
Loki took it.
Tenma was already waiting.
The flat of the blade struck his ribs and hurled him through three broken layers of reinforced ground. Loki tore through stone, spun in the air, and stopped himself before crashing into the outer wall of the barrier.
Guy appeared above him.
"You're still repeating yourself," Guy said.
Tenma fell.
Loki crossed his arms and created a narrow barrier above them. Guy's blade broke through the first layer, then the second. Loki allowed the third to collapse inward rather than resist, pulling Tenma slightly off balance before teleporting behind Guy.
His fist struck Guy's spine.
Guy moved with the blow, reducing its force, and turned with an elbow that Loki barely avoided.
"You bend space when the blade comes from above," Guy continued. "You reverse gravity when I catch your weapon arm. You dissolve anything Lucifer touches for more than an instant."
His sword forced Loki back again.
"You're improvising, but even improvisation reveals the habits of the person performing it."
Loki blocked Guy's wrist with both forearms, shifted his weight, and slipped beneath another cut. "That sounded almost wise."
"I've had a long time to practise."
"And somehow you're still boring."
Guy's smile sharpened.
Tenma rose above his head in a vertical wheel. Loki had seen the movement before. Guy had used it three times during their exchange, and each time he had forced Loki into one of the same responses: reverse the blade's weight, escape through folded space, or create a weapon to redirect the strike.
Lucifer was ready for all three.
Loki saw the calculation in Guy's eyes.
He did none of them.
He stepped directly beneath the descending blade.
Guy's brows lifted.
Loki opened his mouth and released a violent burst of compressed sound directly into his face.
It was not Toon Force, nor was it a grand magical technique. Loki's magicules forced the pressure outward in one brutal pulse. At such close range, it struck like an invisible battering ram.
The blast did not injure Guy, but it snapped his head back and knocked Tenma away from its intended path.
Loki moved before Guy's vision settled.
His right palm struck Guy's chest.
There was no magic in the first impact, only physical strength delivered through flawless body mechanics.
The second palm landed on the same point a fraction of a second later, but Loki delayed the force within a narrow pocket of space instead of releasing it immediately.
The third strike carried compressed gravitational weight, angled through Guy's body rather than against its surface.
For one impossible instant, all three impacts arrived together.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The battlefield buckled.
Guy was driven backwards, his boots tearing white-hot trenches across the floor as he slid toward the edge of the barrier. The first strike moved his body, the second erupted from within the space around his chest, and the third dragged his entire weight into the impact. None of them shared the same principle, yet Loki had layered them closely enough to produce a single violent result.
Guy struck Tenma into the ground and stopped himself before reaching the barrier wall. Cracks spread from the blade beneath his hand.
For the first time since the exchange began, he remained still.
His chest rose once.
Then again.
Lucifer examined the attack, searching for a structure it could reproduce. It found the physical strike, the delayed pressure, and the gravitational force, but not a single technique that bound them together. Loki had not created a new discipline. He had assembled three unrelated actions for one moment, one target, and one purpose.
Repeating the exact sequence would make it predictable.
Which meant Loki had no intention of repeating it.
Guy raised his head through the drifting smoke.
At the centre of the ruined battlefield, Loki stood with both hands tucked into his coat pockets. His coat had been torn at the ribs. None of it diminished the wicked satisfaction written across his face.
"Try copying that one, Guy," Loki said softly.
Silence held for half a breath.
Then Guy began to laugh.
It started low in his chest and climbed until the sealed space shook with it. The sound carried no anger and no humiliation. It was the laughter of a monster who had just discovered that the game was more interesting than he had imagined.
Tenma rose from the ground.
Guy pointed its crimson edge toward Loki.
"Oh, I will," he promised. "Not the attack."
His smile widened.
"You."
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