Lucia speed-blitzed behind Luhas, driving both her daggers deep into his back. Flesh tore, and blood stained the cloth of his coat.
"Now it's my turn!" she shouted.
Luhas didn't even flinch. He turned his pale head toward her, his right fist already cocking back for a counter-punch.
{I need to block and strike back!} Lucia thought, her teeth grinding together as a surge of golden aura flared up across both blades, raising them to form a guard.
Before the punch could land, Rey snuck up from behind. His hands stayed casually shoved deep inside his pants pockets, but his body moved like a whip as he threw a sharp side-kick straight into the back of Luhas's knee.
The sudden kick ruined Luhas's balance. His fist swung wide, missing Lucia completely. Lucia seized the split-second opening, sweeping her glowing dagger straight toward his exposed neck.
Luhas reacted instantly, burying a brutal punch into her stomach. Lucia gasped, but Rey caught the opening and whipped a high kick into the back of Luhas's head. The force drove Luhas forward, forcing him to leap backward across the arena to gain distance.
"He's tough," Rey muttered, still resting his hands inside his pockets like nothing happened. "Time for our secret plan."
"Got it!" Lucia wheezed out, forcing her posture straight.
Sparks of bright yellow lightning suddenly overflowed from Lucia's skin, cracking against the ground. She lunged at Luhas at blinding speed. Her attack slammed into him with pure force, shattering the stone floor underneath and sending a roaring gust of wind blasting across the stadium.
As the heavy dust began to settle, Luhas's body remained standing in the center of the destruction, headless and armless.
Lucia stood a few feet away, her breathing heavy, holding both of his severed arms in a vice grip while staring intently at his torso.
The severed head twitched on the stone floor, pulling itself back toward his neck stump like an attached thread. Meanwhile, the severed arms in Lucia's grip twitched violently, trying to pull themselves back toward his shoulders.
"It worked! Hold them tight!" Rey gave her a quick thumbs-up.
{Time to stack Temporary Invincibility with Purple Death.}
~
[Skill Combo: Temporary Invincibility + Purple Death]
Purple Death: 1500% Attack and Speed stat boost, every swing and step consumes a high amount of stamina.
Temporary Invincibility: Full immunity to all damage types, constantly drains stamina while active.
~
Rey yanked his hands from his pockets as a violent purple aura ignited across his forearms. He charged forward, fists swinging like meteor strikes.
"An interesting strategy," Luhas muttered, his neck snapping back into place with a wet crunch. "You ruined my concentration. I can't keep my eyes split between here and my persona that's with Lynx like this."
As Rey closed the gap, Luhas dropped into a solid martial stance, one leg raised to strike and defend while the other held his weight.
Rey pushed to attack without any fear. He ducked under Luhas's opening kick and unleashed a relentless flurry of purple-infused punches. Every single hit struck like a cannon shot, sending heavy shockwaves tearing through the open air.
Outside the boundary line, Isbell quickly raised her hands, casting a massive magic barrier over the arena floor. The barrier rattled under the pressure, dampening the shockwaves so the audience could feel the energy of the fight without being harmed.
Luhas's body kept healing rapidly under the endless barrage, but the raw force kept pinning him down against the stone.
Suddenly, a ring of dark grey light expanded outward from Luhas, sweeping across the entire arena floor and slowing down time around them.
Their movements became extremely slow. Luhas stepped forward and landed a brutal kick straight to Rey's face. Rey negated the damage, unmoved.
"An interesting skill you've been hiding," Luhas said, stepping past him. "If my brother were here, he would definitely steal it."
Luhas quickly made his way toward Lucia, driving a vicious kick straight into her elbow, breaking her grip and letting his severed arms fly back to his shoulders. Both arms reattached instantly.
"I've had enough of this," Luhas said, his voice cold.
He delivered a swift, heavy strike to the side of her neck to knock her out cold. Because of the slowed time, her body slowly slumped toward the ground.
Luhas immediately released the time domain to turn his full attention back to Rey.
As soon as time snapped back to normal, Rey rushed Luhas at top speed.
Fists and kicks collided repeatedly, pounding against flesh and guard. The constant shockwaves tore up the stone floor, turning the stadium arena into a cratered wasteland.
Isbell wiped sweat from her forehead as she strained with everything she had to maintain the magic barrier.
Up in the spectator stands, tens of thousands of audience members watched in breathless silence. This was a battle that would be recorded in the history of the World of Reasl.
In the participants section, Lynx's childhood friends watched from the railing. Dip and Reilly had their jaws dropped, cold sweat dripping down their necks.
Dip stared at Lynx's motionless body, standing frozen and covered in white dust.
{Whether he wins or loses, I'm going to fight him again,} Dip thought, wiping sweat from his brow. {We fought over 236 times. I won 12, drew 37, and he won 187.}
Nearby, Marim and Joon watched the action unfold.
"Sister! They might actually have a chance to win!" Joon shouted, pointing toward the field with wide eyes.
Marim looked over at Lucia, who was lying motionless on the ground. She narrowed her eyes thoughtfully.
{Just how many skills do these summoned people have?} Marim thought, watching the unconscious girl closely. {Lucia Hayat, was it? Her name is unusual. And why is she pretending to be unconscious...?}
Back on the battlefield, Rey was breathing heavily, sweat dripping continuously off his chin onto the stone.
{This guy is insane. Not only is it impossible to push him over the boundary, but whenever he gets close to passing out from damage, he destroys his own heart to force a complete reset!}
~
[WARNING: Low Stamina. Internal Damage Imminent.]
~
"I'm not stopping now!"
Rey forced his exhausted legs forward, rushing Luhas one more time with everything he had left. Luhas caught Rey by the face mid-stride and slammed him violently onto the stone near the outer boundary line.
Rey coughed heavily, spitting blood onto the ground as he collapsed on his stomach, unable to force his trembling body back up.
{If I fail here... where will I even go...}
"You fought well," Luhas said, standing tall over him with his hand raised to strike the final blow.
Behind him, Lucia slowly stood up, her head hanging low before snapping upward. Her eyes glowed with a deep crimson light.
"Finally," a dark, unnatural voice echoed from her throat. "I can use this body."
Luhas sensed the sudden shift and glanced back, but a dagger flew through the air at blinding speed, driving straight through his skull.
Luhas yanked the blade out of his head, his flesh knitting together immediately. "So you heal even if your brain is destroyed," the entity controlling Lucia noted coldly.
"I'm impressed by..."
Luhas's survival instincts suddenly screamed in alarm. Goosebumps broke out across his skin. He instinctively snapped his fingers to trigger his time-stop domain. The grey light flared once again. "What was that feeling?!"
Lucia tilted her head at normal speed, unbothered by the time manipulation.
Luhas's jaw dropped. {How can she move?!} He forced all his power into slowing time down to a microscopic Planck scale.
Lucia dashed forward at a speed so impossibly high that space itself distorted and cracked along her path.
"Lucia is weak, but I am not!" the entity hissed. "Once I take full control of this vessel, I will erase her soul completely."
She raised her dagger over Luhas's frozen body. "If I strip away your kinetic energy, you become nothing more than a lifeless object. What a pathetic domain!"
Suddenly, Lucia's consciousness fought back violently from within her mind. {Not again... you foolish girl!}
Lucia's eyes flickered from glowing crimson back to their original blue. The time-stop domain shattered like glass, and Luhas stumbled backward, a deep cut bleeding heavily across his left cheek.
Lucia quickly jumped away, panting heavily as she regained control over her muscles. {What just happened? How long is this fight going to last...?}
Luhas touched his cheek, looking at the fresh blood on his fingers in utter disbelief. "What's going on...? Why isn't it healing...?"
Suddenly, a cold, suffocating pressure began leaking out from the thick dust cloud where Lynx's motionless body lay.