by Sakon Kaidou
“We will now turn on the barrier!” said the announcer.
The booing towards Xunyu subsided and the barrier became active, setting the stage for the match.
“And so! Let the main event, The Clash of the Superiors... COMMENCE!”
A split-second later, a booming sound rang out as something golden flashed across the stage. It was merely a moment. However, it was a moment during which way too many things had happened.
At least, I assumed it to be so. After all, I could only see the results.
Before I knew it, Figaro was wielding two swords and had deployed four chains, three of which were already broken.
He was swinging his dual blades at an immense speed, using them to deflect “something.” The “something” seemed to cover the whole stage at this point.
When it became spread out like that, I could finally see it with my eyes.
It was extremely long and moved at a speed so great, it was reduced to nothing but a blur. I probably couldn’t have even known it was there if it weren’t for its length. The very tip of the “something” was completely invisible to me. By following its long trails, however, I realized that it was connected to Xunyu’s sleeves.
At first, I thought that the “something” were chains, like the ones Figaro used. It only took a moment to realize I was wrong. Xunyu’s sleeves didn’t hide any hands that could hold such things.
There was only one “something” attached to those sleeves — Xunyu’s arms.
Reaching speeds my eyes couldn’t follow, the arms reached for and attacked Figaro like a duo of serpentine dragons.
“It’s too fast,” I muttered.
“They put the wrong setting on the barrier,” Nemesis spoke to me telepathically. “The time inside is slowed down, but their speed is so great that it means nothing.”
She’d said exactly what I was thinking. I looked at my brother sitting next to me, and wondered if he could see it.
Suddenly, the last of Figaro’s chains flew straight towards Xunyu. Its speed was immense, but before it could even reach its target, it was sliced into five pieces in less than a blink of an eye.
The chains that had almost killed me back in the Tomb Labyrinth were just too slow in comparison to Xunyu’s arms.
“Supersonic, extension-based attacks... They’re faster than...”
Those were probably Marie’s words, but I wasn’t certain.
A bit belatedly, I finally realized that the booming sound that had rung out at the beginning of the battle was an actual sonic boom. Also, I came to see that, despite the ludicrous speed, the jiangshi’s arms were properly controlled.
While realizing just how well-deserved Xunyu’s title of “Divine Speed” was, I couldn’t help but notice that the extending arms were much like the snake-like dragons from Chinese myth.
It made me more than certain that, if our fight in the reception had continued, I’d have been killed before I could even use Counter Absorption. Even in the off chance scenario of my being successful, Xunyu would’ve probably killed me by moving one of those arms around the barrier and simply lopping my head off.
While I could make out the trails of the extended arms, their very ends — the hands — were completely invisible to me. The fact that this was their speed after they were slowed down by the barrier made chills go down my spine.
However, Figaro was impressive, as well. Though he was exposed to a barrage of those supersonic attacks, it didn’t look like a single one of them had landed on him yet. He saw, dodged, and deflected them all.
Also, little by little, it became harder and harder for me to see his movements, too.
“A certain old manga had a term for how I’m feeling right now,” I muttered. I think it was called “Yamcha Vision,” I thought.
Nemesis, Rook, and Babi seemed to be in the same state as me. But that didn’t seem to be the case with Shu and Marie. From his demeanor and from the movements of her eyes, I could tell that they could see and follow Xunyu’s arms.
“You two can actually see them?” I asked to confirm.
“To an extent,” answered Shu. “I’m not an AGI build, so sometimes I can, sometimes I can’t.”
High AGI allows you to see this stuff? I thought.
From the battle at the reception and the fact that he was on the rankings, I was pretty certain by now that Shu’s level was pretty high. However, it didn’t make sense that Marie could see it, too.
“I can follow the movements because we Journalists have a passive skill that improves our sight,” she answered my question before I could even ask it.
I see. So there are non-battle jobs with such skills, huh?
“This is barely visible at all to me,” I said. It was my first exposure to a battle between two top players, and my first glimpse into the speeds they could reach. I wasn’t even sure I could really say that, in fact, considering that they were slowed down by the barrier.
“We will now slow down the battle speed inside the barrier even further!” said the announcer, and — sure enough — the two fighters’ movements lost a lot of speed.
And yet, they’re still faster than the semi-event fighters, I thought.
“So they set the slowdown to max, huh?” said Shu. “Well, way too many spectators couldn’t have seen what was going on if they didn’t.”
“Yeah. I’m one of them, to be honest,” I said.
Now, I could somehow see the details of the battle. A golden right hand was going for Figaro’s head from his left side. He evaded it by bending backwards.
The hand that passed him made a U-turn and attacked his head yet again. This time, Figaro deflected the attack with the sword in his right hand.
The battle that had been completely invisible was now sufficiently slowed for my inexperienced eyes, and yet it still made me feel like I was watching a video on fast-forward.
Seriously, just how fast are these two fighting?
“You can’t even land a hit if you can’t keep up with this speed, huh?” I asked.
“Well, you could try surprise attacks while they’re not in battle-mode,” said Marie. “That’s impossible in duels, though.”
Of course. Duels began when both sides agreed to a set of rules and were ready to fight. There was no room for surprise attacks. They were 1v1s where both sides fought with everything they had until the stronger one emerged victorious.
Figaro was the one sitting at the apex of Gideon, the city of duels. That meant that he was the greatest 1v1 fighter the kingdom had to offer. And yet, Xunyu was fast enough to force him onto the defensive.
I was about to assume that Master Jiangshi was a Superior Job focused on AGI, but then I remembered what Marie had said about it: Its counterpart in this part of the world would be... Mage, surely.
“Wait, magic!” I burst out. “Xunyu still isn’t going all out!”
A moment later, the stage was overwhelmed by thunderous roars and a crimson light that dominated the entire area behind the barrier.
I looked and saw that the extended arms were releasing countless crimson heat rays. They were boisterously dancing as they burned the air and scorched the stony floor of the stage.
The origin of the heat rays were the pieces of paper covering Xunyu’s arms whole.
“Are those...?”
“Daoshi’s Fu,” said Shu.
“Xunyu covered the arms in Fu enchanted with offensive magic and is now using them to cover the stage in heat rays,” explained Marie.
“That’s nuts,” I muttered.
Naturally, with there being so many heat rays, some of them hit Xunyu’s long arms. But the arms seemed to be extremely tough, not taking any damage whatsoever. The rays did make some of the Fus get detached and slowly drop down to the stage, but the arms continued their relentless attack.
Just how tough are they? I wondered.
“If they weren’t tough, our slit-eyed friend would’ve severed them by now,” said Nemesis.
Arms that were unaff
ected by heat rays and possessed a hardness that even Figaro had trouble breaking through. From the fact that Xunyu could fight at supersonic speeds while being the Master Jiangshi, a primarily magic-oriented job, I could only assume that...
“...those arms are Xunyu’s Superior Embryo,” I said.
Prosthetic limbs that emitted a golden gleam and attacked the opponents at speeds that broke the sound barrier. This Embryo’s characteristic abilities could be described as “strong arms that reach far at great velocity.” Though that sounded basic, seeing it in action in the display before me awed and scared me.
Strength, speed, range — it had the whole package. It was simple, but that was exactly what made it nigh impossible to counter.
“If there’s any power that can counter it, though...”
“...it must be something simple, as well,” Nemesis finished for me.
As Nemesis’ words entered my ears, something else entered my vision.
Crimson light and countless freed Fus danced all around as Figaro broke through the hell of supersonic destruction and came out of it completely unscathed.
He didn’t do anything special. Figaro simply dodged, deflected, and dashed.
Avoiding the heat rays and parrying the arms, he gradually closed the distance between him and his opponent.
The battle itself was simple, but the level at which it was happening made it seem beyond abnormal.
“Amazing,” I said, lacking any better words to describe the battle I was seeing.
At first, I thought that Figaro was completely on the defensive, but I was wrong. He was closing in on Xunyu, growing faster with every passing moment, and dodging every single one of the jiangshi’s attacks.
It was only a matter of time until Xunyu would be within his attack range. That made it pretty obvious that the odds were right, and that Figaro was going to win.
However, I suddenly noticed something. Not about the two fighters, but about two of the people sitting next to me — Shu and Marie.
The aura about them was different.
It wasn’t the first time I’d been exposed to such an aura. I’d felt it when I’d fought the Demi-Dragon Worm, gotten killed by the Superior Killer, and faced Gardranda and Gouz-Maise. Looking at them made me feel as tense as I’d been during those deathly encounters.
Soon, I realized that both their gazes were directed at the same thing.
It wasn’t anything on the stage, but one of the monitors installed in our box — specifically, the one showing a close-up of Xunyu’s face.
The visage was still hidden by a jiangshi-like talisman. However, there was an instant in which it was raised by the battle winds, revealing an indomitable grin.
“Call — Baolei!”
Right after the jiangshi spoke that word — meaning “raging lightning” — there was a new development. The back of Xunyu’s hand suddenly burst open, revealing a Jewel used to store monsters. From it came a creature that seemed to be wrought of lightning.
Released at nearly point-blank distance from Figaro, it instantly bared its electric fangs at him.
“An elemental,” said Shu. “A rare kind, too.”
“Seems like a type of Lightning Elemental that’s focused on speed and offensive ability,” added Marie. “It’s just a fancy distraction, though.”
Before I could even ask what she meant by that, Figaro swung the swords in his hands in the shape of a cross and sliced the monster apart.
It happened in but an instant. Just as Marie said, the elemental ended being nothing but a momentary distraction. However, that moment was enough for Xunyu to safely retract one of those golden arms.
It returned to its original size, and between its index and middle fingers, there was a single Fu. It was detailed and elaborate, making it reminiscent of a painting, but rather than finding it beautiful, I felt mostly fear.
Then, the hundreds... no, thousands... of Fus that had fallen on the stage during the fight began emitting a crimson light.
The main characteristic of Daoshi is that they produce and use certain consumable items — talismans known as “Fu,” I thought, remembering what Shu and Marie had said. And don’t forget that greater skills require you to spend time positioning the Fus.
“Zhenhuo Zhendeng — Baolongba!” Xunyu called.
Those words — meaning “True Flame True Light, Explosive Dragon Dominance” — caused most of the duel field to be engulfed in a pillar of fire.
The scene made me remember one of the jiangshi’s other nicknames: “Landmine.”
The pillar of fire had no trouble breaking through the upper part of the barrier separating the fighters and the spectators.
In fact, it went high enough to make it seem as though it would scorch the very heavens themselves. Though not great enough to cause damage, the pillar’s heat reached us and just about everyone else in the audience, causing many to scream in fear.
The panic might’ve made it seem otherwise, but no harm came to any of them. If anyone was hurt by it, it would be the two fighters on the stage.
But the pillar didn’t extend to its caster, Xunyu. Before I’d even realized it, the jiangshi’s right arm was retracted back to its original length, just like the left one, sparing it from the flame.
The same couldn’t be said for Figaro. Dealing with the elemental had rendered him unable to evade the attack, and it obviously wasn’t something that could be deflected with mere swords.
Just about everyone in the audience held their breaths as the pillar of fire faded and allowed them to see what was happening on the burning stage.
What we saw was Figaro, completely surrounded by a searing hot heat haze and a spherical barrier that shielded him from all harm.
“He survived it completely unharmed?!” Marie voiced her shock, and I couldn’t agree more.
“Is that one of Figaro’s Embryo’s skills?” I asked. “Or is it an Over Gladiator ability?”
“Neither,” answered Shu. “It’s an item skill. That longcoat he’s wearing is a special reward. Its active skill allows him to prevent all and any outside influence for a short time.”
So it’s a special reward skill. Like the ones on my Miasmaflame Bracers and Grudge-soaked Greaves, I thought.
“Oh, but it has a cooldown of 10 minutes,” Shu added. “Meaning that the attack cost him his ultimate means of defense.”
“I think that Xunyu is also out of viable moves, though,” Marie said. “The elemental can’t fight anymore, and I don’t believe it’s easy to recast a spell that costs so many Fus, which means that the same trick can’t be repeated, and that...”
“...Figaro will win!” I cried with certainty.
“All that’s left is to figure out the effects of the last skill that Xunyu used,” Rook said.
Nemesis and I, and even Babi, didn’t understand what he was talking about.
Shu — clearly noticing something — was looking at Xunyu. A bit belatedly, Marie joined him in that.
“What do you mean by ‘last skill,’ Rook?” asked Babi.
“Xunyu used a skill besides the one that created the flame pillar, no?” Rook asked.
“Well, I... Really?” I asked. I hadn’t seen that happen.
“Figaro’s defensive skill’s about to end,” said Shu, and sure enough, the shield protecting Figaro from outside influence disappeared.
I fully expected the duelists to start clashing at supersonic speeds again, but what actually happened was the complete opposite of that.
Neither Xunyu — the one used the fearsome skill — nor Figaro — the one who negated it — were moving a muscle.
Naturally, that was strange, for it was clearly time for the former to get into a proper stance and for the latter to charge. Despite it all, however, Xunyu was still grinning.
“‘Arms and Legs Reach for the Horizon — Tenaga Ashinaga,’” Rook broke the silence.
“Rook?” I asked.
“That’s what Xunyu said right after creating those fl
ames,” he said.
I didn’t hear anything like that, I thought. The soundscape had been dominated by the fiery roaring, and Xunyu didn’t have a mic or anything of the sort.
“How do you know that?” I asked.
“I saw his lips move,” he answered. “The mouth movement for proper nouns here is the same as it is in reality.”
He was lip reading? When did he get this skill? Or wait, is it like Marie’s drawing? Did he bring it over from reality? More importantly, is “Tenaga Ashinaga” the name of Xunyu’s Superior Embryo?
The name referred to a certain type of yokai from Japanese myth — one that would be a perfect fit for the jiangshi’s abnormal frame.
A skill bearing such a name could only mean that...
“...Xunyu used the Embryo’s ultimate skill — the one named after the Embryo itself!” I cried.
Suddenly, the jiangshi raised the right leg, which was hidden by cloth. The one which hadn’t moved an inch since the battle had started.
Just like the arms, the leg was a golden, prosthetic limb — a Superior Embryo.
Its toes were as sharp as the fingers on the arms, and there was something between them. Unlike the Fu from before, its shape was indistinct.
The same could be said for its color. It looked white, pink, and red at the same time, which — combined with its apparent softness — made it look much like a human organ.
“I missEd your heaRt,” said Xunyu. “This iS a damn luNg.”
A moment later, blood splattered from Figaro’s mouth as he dropped to his knees.
Chapter Four: The Clash of the Superiors
Paladin, Ray Starling
“Arms, Guardian, Chariot, Castle, Territory. Those are the five base categories in Embryo evolution. Which, do you think, is the most common?” asked Shu.
It had happened on my first night in Infinite Dendrogram — specifically, at the welcoming party. I’d forgotten most of what we’d talked about after he’d told me about the war, but this part had stuck with me.
