Chapter 342: Is This Even a Fight? (2/2)
”It seems Master has found out that we weren't going to get serious at all,” Argento said to Argentum, to which the latter responded, ”I can sense that. Since that's the case, let's just go all out. Whether we lose or win doesn't make much of a difference in our reward.”
”Well, that is true,” Argento said with a shrug of his shoulders as he dispelled the connection between them. Soon after, the two headed to the center of the room, positioning themselves on opposite sides. Seeing that they were now ready to engage in combat, Rosalia raised her hand as she went through the rules she made up on the spot.
”Alright. Since this is an Earth-based inheritance, the only skills you can use other than hand-to-hand combat are skills of the Earth element. Also, you cannot use any enhancement skills on yourself or any debuffing skills on your opponent. Are we clear on that?”
”Yes!” the two simultaneously replied, not minding the limitation. With their approval, Rosalia then waved her down with full force as she shouted, ”Fight!”
Whoosh! Whoosh!
In less than an instant, the two of them charged at each other. Though, from the start, Argentum already had an edge over Argento given how his stats were boosted to a higher degree thanks to his partial ownership of Melzarin's inheritance. With that, it did not take long for Argentum to appear in front of the still charging Argento, catching the latter off guard.
”Take this!” Argentum shouted as he clenched his fist before covering it in a layer of Earth energy particles. Channeling all of the strength in his body towards his fist, he then punched out towards Argento's face, forming a small sonic boom in the process.
Fwoosh!
Unfortunately for Argentum, Argento hastily ducked the straight punch as he channeled all of the energy in his body, conglomerating it towards his hands as two broadswords made out of earth appeared, using it to slash at Argentum's torso in an X pattern.
”[Mountain Crossblade]!”
Swoosh!
Utilizing the momentum he had generated from the punch, Argentum then rotated his body counterclockwise, allowing him to dodge most of the attack, with only the tip of one blade slightly nicking at the right side of his torso.
Off to such a fierce start, the two of them looked at each other with an aura of interest and surprise surrounding them as Argentum said, ”I think this fight is worth going all out.”
”I think so as well,” Argento said in response before standing up and slashing out towards Argentum once more in an X pattern. This time, though, he infused his blades with Earth energy particles, allowing him to send blade after blade made out of earth towards Argentum.
”[Mountain Blade Frenzy]!”
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Of course, with Argentum's speed being higher than Argento's, he easily dodged all of the blades that were sent towards him with tons of room to spare. With that, he led Argento to circle around his current spot, slightly dizzying him as Argentum asked him, ”How are you holding up?”
”Pretty good,” Argento said in response as he stopped following Argentum. Soon after, he plunged both of his swords onto the ground before channeling a great portion of his energy through it, causing the earth to rumble for a bit. Surprisingly, this threw Argentum off his usual rhythm for running, prompting him to stop in place as he muttered to himself, ”Yeah, I guess this is enough stalling.”
With that in mind, he then dashed to where Argento was as he said, ”Let's settle this with one more move. Give it your all!”
”Alright, then! I won't hold back!” Argento said in response, retrieving his swords from the ground before using Earth energy particles to fuse the two into a double-handed sword. Using all of his might, he then placed the double-handed sword on his back before infusing more and more energy into it.
As for Argentum, he hastily went through the spell creation module of [Sage's Earth Magic], namely the Blessed spell portion of the module. With the skill not being raised yet, there was only one slot for a True Earth spell, which he had already used to create a defensive skill. Although he could remove it and replaced for another spell, he felt that the spell he had made was a good fit for the element of Earth.
Not only that, but he felt like a Blessed spell was enough for the attack he had in mind, given how his stats were boosted by Melzarin's inheritance. Although he was not sure as to how much of a boost it gave, from the feeling his body gave him, he knew that the boost was not insubstantial at all.
Coming up with a straightforward move in his mind, Argentum hastily made a Blessed Earth spell that would fight against Argento's ultimate move, relying on the belief that the boost from Melzarin's inheritance would help him out.
Opening up his right palm, he then cocked his right arm back, channeling all of the strength and energy in his body towards it as the surface of the palm had taken on a bright brown hue. As for Argento's double-handed sword, a large swath of Earth energy particles were now circling around it, ready to be released at a moment's notice.
By the time the gap between the two was less than a meter, the final moves from both sides were ready, prompting Argentum to shout, ”Now!”
”[Mountain Cleaver: Sundering Earth]!”
”[Terra Palm Wave]!”
Bang!
Propelled by great amounts of energy, Argento's double-handed sword and Argentum's palm imprint had collided, eliciting a large explosion to occur as a great amount of dust had been kicked off the ground. While that was happening, the two pushed their bodies close to each other, allowing more of their attacks' force to affect the other side.
Unfortunately for Argento, the amount of force in Argentum's palm imprint was just too much for him to handle, sending him and his double-handed sword flying. Of course, with Argento being sent flying, that meant that their match was over. Though, once Argentum looked at his palm, which still had traces of Earth energy particles around it, he could not help but look at Argento, who was now stuck one of the room's walls and ask himself, ”Is this even considered a fight?”
As for Rosalia, she could not help but look at Argentum from a new light as she did not expect such combat power to appear in such a low-grade Pseudo-Animate. Noticing this, Eleanor looked at her and asked, ”So, are you satisfied now?”
”More than satisfied,” Rosalia said with a chuckle as she disabled the magic circle covering the whole room. Taking in a deep breath, she then announced.
”The match is now over. The winner of this match is Argentum!”