After a few minutes of rest, we were forced back to the center.
My vision wavered a bit. Seeing a slight double of the readied Leo in front of me. I kept my head erected straight, both to lessen the vertigo of my vision and from the piercing pain in my neck. Overextending it would send a sharp chill down my spine.
My essence still worked on lessening the pain from the injuries, leaving me slightly numb.
Practice with pain recently has made dealing with it easier. Not that it's easy, I simply no longer wail in pain.
Every breath came with a sharp crackling in my lungs. With most of my essence focused on my stomach, it was the coldest part of my body. Every breath felt like I was swallowing shards of ice. The air scratched along the edges of my throat and lungs.
But my body held strong.
When Sir Chiron called for the round to start, I kept a steady head. The pain kept me grounded from panicking or overreacting like in the previous round.
Leo, while still fighting in the Grimshaw technique, continued his relentless assault. Attacking in a modified version of the form.
Leo, again, started with the voice wraiths. But knowing they were coming, I ignored them to the best of my ability. They sent chills down my spine, voices that felt too real to ignore played tricks on my mind. I did everything I could to keep Leo in my sight to counteract their effect.
In timed pulses, Leo would send out his vibrations to slow down my movements. Sometimes, even targeting a specific limb or muscle to debilitate it completely. Sudden shocks to my nerves and muscles were slowly wearing them down. To the point that even when Leo stopped, they would still contract and twitch. Pins and needles spread over my body whenever I tensed, causing some late reactions or the muscle to buckle. It was like my limbs were asleep.
I was able to keep fighting longer than before all because of what I discovered during the last round. Hardened layers of ice were able to keep the vibrations muted, practically removing the effect altogether. Even if they were thin, or condensed last-minute, as long as they kept my muscles from shaking, I was able to hold out. The longer the fight went on, the more I improved at keeping my joints free of ice, allowing continued movement.
Of course, Leo also figured this out, shifting his attacks to focus on my joints. I tried to condense instant layers of ice at the last moment to allow movement and protection, but I was slow and unpracticed. Only defending against every other vibration attack of his.
Essence spread through my body with increased ease. My reactions were becoming more in tune with Leo's fighting style. I was able to near predict what attack he might go for next, allowing my essence to react faster.
Whether I needed to defend a limb from vibrations, or from a blunt attack from his fist or legs, or to enhance my muscles to evade an attack.
The more we dueled, the more versed I became in the defensive technique. All of my countermoves became routine. And I was getting better at finding solutions to Leo's attacks.
However, I was still losing. His sheer power was still overwhelming, his speed was unmatched, and his adaptability was superior. I had yet to throw an attack of my own. I was stuck in a dance of defence. Only able to react fast enough to his attacks, without getting the chance to perform one of my own.
Even then, I knew Leo was making it easy on me. A mix of holding back, and the fact that he was not trying to kill me, made him more predictable.
Instead of going for an obvious kill shot or landing a blow that would leave me too weak to continue, Leo fought in a way that made the fight last as long as possible. He only needed one more point, but he wasn't going to take it, or give one up. He wasn't even going for a Critical Win. He just wanted to fight.
And the whole time… he wore the widest of grins.
The longer the fight went on, the more tired I became. Leo's constant assault began to add up, and the more he attacked my head with hits, sounds, and vibrations, the more muddled my vision and thoughts became.
Leo wasn't going to win because of a decisive hit. I was going to collapse from sheer exhaustion.
At the moment, we stood a few meters apart. Leo was slowly making his approach, each step amplified a hundred times to the point it was blasting in my ear. The sound of his footfalls was distorted by the volume. Causing my bones to shake.
My head ached from the overstimulation, causing me to sway.
Leo's voice rang out, the sound of it coming from everywhere, amplified above the already obnoxious volume of his footsteps. "You okay pal? You don't look too good."
I shot him a grimace, shaking off his dizzying effect. The only distraction was wishing I could turn my ears off.
Leo shot another wave of vibrations affecting my head, before jumping on me in a pounce.
Swaying from his Will, I was just able to step off to the side and toss Leo over my shoulder, launching him back.
Tired from the exchange, I fell to one knee. All I could hear was ringing. My vision blurred as my eyes unfocused. But focusing them only brought vertigo. My head throbbed; every heartbeat felt like it expanded my head, only to retract again. Banging on my skull, the pressure demanded to be released.
I can't do anything. I'm too weak to fight back. All I can do is block, dodge, and evade.
The ache in my head grew until almost unbearable. Falling to the ground, my whole body throbbed with the beating of my heart.
The ringing in my ears was louder than ever… until a challenging force fought for array.
The high-pitched voice rang in my head again. Completely overpowering the ringing of my ears. "Fight Back!" It growled.
As if the words were a wave of strength, or merely motivation, I rose to my feet, once again.
It was a struggle to stand, even harder to remain standing, but the power of the voice left no room to waver—
In my struggle to stand, I ignored Leo's approach.
He casually grabbed my head and slammed his knee to my face.
Recoiling back to the ground, I slowly crawled away from my opponent.
"Kill him! Stop crawling around!" The voice rose up again. "If you don't do something, I will!"
It was hard to tell what I was looking at. All I knew was that it was away from Leo.
Wiping my face of blood, my vision cleared a bit. In the distance, behind a wall of glass, two people stood, looking slightly panicked. Their figures twisted and blurred. My vision only crossed when I tried to focus.
Blood dripped down my nose and mouth.
"I'll kill him!"
Losing most feeling in my legs, my body felt heavy. My weakened arms dragged me across the floor at a sluggish pace.
My mind wandered, making it difficult to form cohesive thoughts.
"Kill… him!"
Essence leaked from my body, freezing the ground.
"Kill him!"
My legs slowly covered in layers of ice, growing thicker by the second. Crawling up the rest of my body.
"Kill him!!!"
My arms fell.
"KILL HIM!!!!"
I blacked out.
"ENOUGH! I'll do it myself!" The voice steadily growled.
Out for only a second, when I came to, I was on my back, facing Leo. He went down for another punch to my face. Whether by panic, reflex, or something else, my arm moved on its own, catching his right hand as it was about to connect with my face.
The look of surprise on his face was enough to put a grin on mine. But it was replaced by panic when my hand encased in ice.
Letting go of Leo's hand, he quickly jumped up and away from me as the ice extended over my arm. Looking down, the ice over my legs was wider and longer. Spreading down into long extensions that ended in claw-like feet.
A searing pain erupted over my skin as the ice spread, faster and thicker.
From my arms and legs up to my chest. The pain only intensified as it spread. The searing turned to violent ripping. Frost replaced my shedding skin.
If there weren't any ice, my bare muscles would be in full view.
I couldn't even scream as the ice covered over my throat, freezing it shut, before tearing it apart. Encasing my lungs, popping them, before rebuilding them back, stronger. Shards of ice embedded themselves in my muscle fibres. Scratching and tearing them with every micro-movement, but acting as an amplifier to my essence.
The last thing I felt was my bones cracking, snapping apart as the ice extended my limbs several more feet long. My skin stretched until it ripped, only to be repaired more flexibly by the ice.
As the layer of ice over my skin spread to cover my face, my vision went blurry. When the ice grew thick enough, blocking out all light, I lost consciousness.
The last thing I heard was the voice calling out again. Louder, more real. "Fiiinalllly." Followed by a siren-like wail.