Ricardo stood beneath the towering statues of the Ten Blades.
Massive stone figures loomed around the castle chamber, each one carved in honor of a killer, an assassin, a weapon given human form. Their presence alone made the air feel heavier, like the space itself was remembering violence.
He reached out calmly and caught a blade thrown toward him mid-air.
The metal stopped instantly in his grip.
No damage.
No resistance.
Then he smiled slightly.
"I'm glad you're here… Undying One."
---
Jhonathan charged.
The ground cracked beneath him as he closed the distance in an instant burst of motion, Dexcalibur and the Undying Blade flickering between realities in his hands.
But before he could reach Ricardo—
thirty magic missiles erupted from the air.
They struck him directly.
One after another.
Explosions layered over his body, forcing him backward through the castle hall. Stone pillars shattered. The statues trembled. The entire structure groaned under the pressure of overwhelming magical force.
Yet Jhonathan didn't stop moving.
He pushed through the barrage.
And swung.
---
The blade in his hand—Reynaldo's power manifested within it—reacted violently.
Shockwaves detonated outward with every motion, tearing through the castle's structure. Walls collapsed. Floors fractured. The statues of the Ten Blades cracked under the pressure of conflicting energy.
Ricardo raised his hand.
A barrier formed.
Then shattered.
The clash intensified.
---
Jhonathan struck again.
And again.
But Ricardo's expression stayed calm.
Too calm.
Then something shifted.
Jhonathan's attacks began to reflect.
Not deflected.
Returned.
Each strike bounced back with equal force, colliding mid-air with his own movement. The battlefield became a cycle of mirrored destruction, each attack feeding into the next like an endless loop of rage being recycled.
Blood began to spill from both of them.
Not just from wounds.
From strain.
From overload.
---
Ricardo laughed softly.
"So this is it," he said. "The Undying One's limit."
Jhonathan didn't respond.
He kept attacking.
Faster.
Heavier.
His eyes slowly shifted.
A faint red glow forming as the repeated collisions began to erode the boundary between intent and instinct.
Ricardo's eyes matched his.
For a moment, both of them moved like reflections of each other.
Strike.
Return.
Strike.
Return.
---
Then—
a poisoned dagger slipped through the cycle.
Silent.
Hidden in the rhythm of reflected attacks.
It pierced Jhonathan's side.
The poison spread instantly.
Not through flesh—but through mana flow.
Jhonathan staggered slightly.
Ricardo stepped forward.
"Now," he said.
---
But Jhonathan did something unexpected.
He looked down at the dagger.
Then—
he pulled it out.
And stabbed himself again.
Deliberately.
The same wound.
The same poison.
The battlefield went still for half a second.
Ricardo's expression shifted for the first time.
Confusion.
Jhonathan exhaled.
And smiled faintly.
"…If it keeps getting returned," he muttered, "then I'll break the condition."
---
His mana shifted.
Something inside him adapted.
Slowly.
Unnaturally.
The reflection ability wavered.
For the first time, Ricardo's return cycle didn't fully complete.
Jhonathan stepped forward again.
And this time—
his attack did not come back the same way.