Landing on the roof, I hold my shoulder and say, "I didn't break it? It seems I was able to turn my ice back into snow fast enough."
With bright green hair and a smile on my face, I say, "It looks like my reaction time is getting better. Though I still have a lot of room for improvement."
Seeing my giant ice hammer break, I lunge back a few times and say, "You're still moving?"
In front of me, half of his suit is ripped and covered in ice, so he smashes the frozen parts with his fist, breaking them, then laughing, Gurmand says, "You really are strong for someone lacking nutrition."
"I don't want to hear that from a veggie hater!"
"It's merely the truth, boy, the fact that you can't see it is bland. You must have never tasted the intensely disgusting flavour laced into each and every fruit and vegetable."
As the memories of the plants I once ate flash in my mind, I say, "Silence. You know nothing of true disgust. You know nothing of having to eat a vile fruit every single day for survival. An aftertaste that lingered on your mouth for days after consumption that grew more and more each day."
His face softens as he sees the seas of my despair.
"If you know the true nature of fruits and vegetables, then why do you choose to keep eating them. Answer me, boy!"
"Because of the love."
"The love?"
"Despite the taste, despite the disgust, it still kept me alive. Giving me both water and carbs. It cared not for my pleasure, but only for my nutrition in an efficient way. All those days I spent alone, all those days I spent without anything to rely on, the fruits kept me fed and healthy while also growing back within 7 days.
In was in that state I understood the true purpose of fruits and vegetables, especially after I took meat for the first time. They impart disgust to all equally, but in the heart of their hearts lies a desire to care for you far more than any piece of meat ever wishes it could. AND THAT IS LOVE!"
As my words reach Gurmand, he starts to drool, and wiping it away, he says, "I am salivating?"
Gurmand lets out a hefty laugh and says, "Your name human?"
"Orb Rian."
"Hello Orb Rian, I am Gurmand Luna. And to honour your will, I shall stop holding back."
As a sudden realisation hit me, I say, "I AM NOT HUMAN!"
My body tensed up, and Gurmand rips the rest of his shirt off and says, "I know what blows from spirit energy feels like, boy, even if I can't use it. Now listen, Curses are physical abilities, that means, unlike spirit energy, they have a direct increase in strength depending on our physical abilities.
Curses usually output power in proportion to the body, but those who reach a physical peak can intentionally super strain their body for their curses to produce more power than before, and that state of when you give up your own safety for the sake of your demonic curse can only be called one thing; Bewitchment."
Gurmand's body starts to shift and change as his flesh moves violently, so I create a massive wave of ice and send it towards him, without a moment's delay, covering his entire body in a grand flood of ice.
But moments after it covers him, all the ice fades and breaks down, then from the ice he walks forward.
His size has increased by two feet, and the wolf-like parts have become even more pronounced than before, but the most striking changes are from the top of his head all the way down to his torso, including his arms.
His right side of this area is completely covered in burning red flames, and the left side is completely covered in frost. In front of me lies a beast which controls both hot and cold. A step above what I am capable of.
"Now, boy. Don't die instantly. I want to enjoy this."
He lunges forward, running on all fours like a wolf, so I say, "Red branch battle arts; Tulip," and try to dodge him.
I start my movements in ever-changing patterns, but the instant I do, he moves towards where I was going, and strikes me with a cold half that instantly applies ice to the right side of my body.
I don't have to worry about something like frostbite, but the extra mass added due to the ice slows my body down from pure weight, and using the lag it takes me to break the ice, he smashes me with a flaming fist.
The flame burst forward from his fist like a blast, shooting my body into a clock tower in the distance.
ΦLooking into the crater he made in the clock tower, Gurmand laughs and says, "You see this, it's the power of the superior strength meat brings. Your love can only get you so far, Orb. Though out of respect, I will at least put you down like a warrior."
Using his frozen side, Gurmand create a bridge, then using his flaming side, he propels himself through the bridge at high speed, and then jumping into the air, he shoots another blast of flames right towards the hole in the clocktower Orb made.
But the flames instantly freeze, and before Gurmand can react to what happens, he is struck in his flaming side by a kick that instantly freezes all of the flames and sends him skipping on the rooftops.
On his cold side, he creates ice and uses it as a wall to stop his momentum. And looking at what struck him, he smiles and says, "Advent, huh?"
In Advent, Orb, with his overgrown hair that is no longer unkempt but in a giant spiky ponytail that is the size of a human body, says, "I won't be going easy on you anymore!"
Heating up his flaming side and breaking the ice, Gurmand says, "Try your best."
The energy radiating from Orb's left side is slammed into the ground, and as it hits it the entire rooftop of the building freezes at incredible speed. So Gurmand jumps and roars towards Orb with his mouth open to bite down on him.
Φ When I am in Advent, my body is overlayed far more with Setanta than normal. His physical abilities, his mental capacity, and his spiritual abilities are all imparted onto me in their fullest extent with barely any hold back.
I wasn't able to fully comprehend all of this the first time since it was more instinct-based, but even during my fight with Ahmed, my body was always directing me to use Red branch battle arts, and no that I know what it is, I can use it far better than ever.
"Red branch battle arts; Passiflora," I say as I dash forward into the air. Right now I am using this technique with the same level of skill are Setanta.
Smashing my fist into the middle of his body with my right side, I create a giant amount of ice. But then both his sides become flaming hot, and he smacks me away.
Landing, I rush forward towards him, and as I do, I feel my understanding growing more and more.
For Advent, a triangular symbol appears around the centre of the chest, and then one side is filled with a radiating coloured energy, with the other side having the legacy biomechanical side acting through it. The current clothes on my body are also slightly modified by it. For the face, one of two things would happen. First, the legacy completely acts on the face, forming a biomechanical mask, or second, the face is left open, and the legacy simply acts partially on the face; for me, it creates a crescent moon symbol made of my legacy around my right eye.
At first I thought the split between the two sides where mainly cosmetic, but the more I use it, the more I can tell it isn't.
As the blue energy radiates out of my left side, I gather it around my fist and charge forth, clashing fists with Gurmand, and as I do, my ice this time is far colder than before, freezing him and sending him off.
The side of Advent that holds the radiating energy has stronger spiritual abilities than the side that doesn't. So my fist from my left side is capable of creating colder ice.
Gurmand sprouting his wings takes off into the air, and from above it starts to breathe fire down on me. So with my right leg, I start to move at high speed, and then, creating a pillar of ice underneath my feet, I send myself flying into the air, then make a spear of ice which I reinforce with spirit energy.
But for the other side, the one which bears the legacy, I am able to feel a stronger connection with Setanta's physicality. My senses and my instinct on how to move are far more intertwined with Setanta on the right side of my body.
"Red branch battle arts; skyflower."
With a powerful kick from my right, I fly and pierce Gurmand with a spear that breaks moments after moving into him.
This is how Advent is supposed to be used! Right now, due to all of this, I feel invincible, like I will never lose.
Gurmand grabs me midair, and then flames erupt from all sides of his body, and he says, "It's time to burn."
But as quickly as his flames heat up, they quickly cool down again, and he says, "What?"
All the air around me starts to freeze solid, and I say, "In an environment of negative 25 degrees, the human body is put at eminent risk of death, which is the temperature my ice usually is. But when I am in Advent, my ice temperature can get as cold as negative 75 degrees in an instant."
Holding Gurmand's power, I plunge my fist into his chest, rapidly cooling his body and completely destroying the scales protecting his chest and freezing his upper body as I send him flying into the ground.
Φ Dropping down, Orb looks at Gurmand and says, "That's all out of you."
Standing up, Gurmand says, "No way."
"Why do you continue?"
"Because I can't allow you to look down on them. After our land where cursed and we didn't have knowledge on how to farm on this land, it was the ocean and the sea which allowed us to not go extinct, Sealife has been critical to the existence of our people and to allow you to mock it is no different than shooting my people in the heart."
Orb's hair turns green as his understanding increases in his heart, and assuming a battle position, he says, "Then keep coming at me, Gurmand Luna!"
"You to Orb Rian!"
Both of them rush at one another, and clash against and against spreading fire and ice through the city. Their bodies fly from building to building, and their fight spills into the streets around them.
The brutal hits from both wound their bodies, but through it all they smile and continue their clash again and again, and again, and again!
-Break-
Φ With Suzuka, Ivana, Gheorghe and Wadim behind me, I follow the destruction caused by the battle between Orb and Gurmand, then I say, "I got too caught up in his stupidity, I can't believe I aided with that."
Suzuka, behind me, stops and holds her head, so I say, "Are you alright?"
With a slightly pained expression, she nods and then says, "People are gathering that way."
Looking at Ivana, I say, "Stay with Suzuka so the voice doesn't affect her too much."
"Right."
Then I start to run off, and seeing a large crowd in front of me, I say, "Shit did one of them get seriously hurt."