-Break-
With his hands pressed against the ground of his monster truck, Iancu takes a series of deep breaths as he turns his head and sees the chessboard behind him decimated, with almost half of the pieces lying on the ground.
He feels a surge of pain run through his body, and stares at his hands where his gloves have been ripped, and his flesh beneath them broken and gushing blood.
He turns his head to the side, where he sees the Gynėjas siblings celebrating and, along with Cara, Orb, and Ikaras, all lying on the ground utterly exhausted.
Zbur, standing by the mike, says, "38 minutes have passed since this match began, and the slaughter has ended. Ever since their captain's last goal, the Knightmares have been in a never-ending blockade by those six ogres. It is utterly devastating how much they are getting their butts whooped into the ground."
Ivana, rubbing her head, says, "This is my fault, this is my fault! I shouldn't have picked this strategy and should have used Maple and Cyrus instead!"
José, grabbing her hand with eyes filled with passion, says, "Your knowledge is second to none. Right now, you just have to believe."
Ivan, who looks teary-eyed behind her face covering, turns to face the match and says, "Iancu, come on, I know you can get through this."
Avram, looking on from on top, says, "They keep passing to Orb, and he keeps getting the ball stolen from him again, and again. Why don't they change up their strategy?"
Abbán says, "It has reached a point where Orb just needs to use Advent and get Dumnorix to the front."
Gheorghe says, "It's too late for that. Almost 40 minutes have passed, and every single one of the siblings can activate Bewitchment according to the rules. If Orb tried to do that, it would result in him being overrun by the ogres."
Cyrus, under his breath, says, "Is this hopeless?"
Suzuka jumps up and down from afar, punches forward, and says, "ORB, IANCU GET YOUR BUTTS UP!"
Wadim says, "You know they can't hear you."
"They can, I am sure, both of them in some way, somehow can feel my cheers."
Maple, joining her, says, "IF YOU LOSE, I AM GOING TO CRUSH YOU INTO PASTE!"
Willow's eyes quickly fall onto Orb's hair, which has changed to Verdigris, and she says, "Is that a new colour? Orb, what are you feeling right now?"
Φ Feeling the sweat drop from my head, I raise my head quickly to hear the cheers from the six siblings in front of me.
What the hell can I even do at this point? My body is a mess, my mind is cluttered, and I still haven't been able to figure out the idea behind Helix battle arts. I am too tired to do anything else, and at this rate, my body and mind can't keep up with each other. This situation is utterly hopeless. I feel just like I did back when I was fighting Ahmed. Maybe I should just use Advent and crush them all, it would be so easy, wouldn't it, Wolfie?
Behind me, I hear Iancu's voice scream, "GET UP YOU DUMB DOG!"
I turn my head, and see Iancu standing right behind me with blood gushing from his hands, grabs me by the collar and says, "What's with that vomit stain hair? Why are you hanging your head low? Are you telling me that you're tired? That you want to give up? Well, too fucking bad! You lost that right when you met Maple, you lost that right when you saved Cyrus, when you healed Suzuka, when you took in the kids of Skydust, and especially when you forced your way into my life! I don't want any thing to hurt the people of Blestemate, I don't want this to turn into another Nialathrú, I have had enough of bloodshed. So get up, and move past them, use every single cell in that creepy stalker, obsessive, overbearing brain of yours, and move past them, Orb, do it right now! And even if you mess up, I assure you, no more goals are moving past me; they all stop right here!"
Looking at him, the only words I can mutter from my mouth are, "Iancu."
"DON'T SAY MY NAME! TELL ME THAT YOU AREN'T DONE YET!"
With a smile creeping up on my face, I say, "NOT BY A LONG SHOT!"
He smiles, and then throws me to the ground, and says, "Then let's get started."
Standing up, I turn around and see the faces of Dumnorix, Cara, and Ikaras filled with determination.
I jump up and down, trying to stretch out my body and regain my focus. Then, as the whistle blows, and the ball falls towards me from Iancu, I jet forward and say, "It's time for victory."
I dribble the ball and charge forward towards Green, who says, "Time for another embarrassment!"
ΦOrb stops in front of the Green and quickly moves the ball between his hands, legs, and his tail to confuse Green, yet despite all of that, he can't manage to make it past him, but the ball remains in his control.
"It's pointless, not just lay down and grant the ball to me!"
Φ What does Helix battle arts mean? Is it just the act of building on spiral energy and releasing it? Can something developed over so long really only have that to say? Orb, think back to the battle against Naji? You felt it, didn't you, something that allowed you to grasp Helix battle arts so quickly?
To clash one's faith against another for the sake of refinement, where the words spoken to me. To clash, to battle, to receive, and to give, to truly understand and take in before return. Almost as if you and are opponent are in an infinite dance. That rotation, that dance, that back and forth are converted into spirals, and just like a Helix, it turns rotation into a path to move forward! Green moves his arms towards me, and in that moment, I can feel the world around me align. Each action is a give and take between both of us; I move, he reacts, and in turn, I react endlessly until one of us gets the upper hand. It isn't a random game; it's a dance between both of us.
Sometimes my enemies are faster, trickier, or even stronger than me, so my brain can't keep up to stop them. But I was going about it the wrong way; I don't even need to think, I just need to feel it all at once. Both of us in this moment are locked into a spiral, and just like you learned with Helix battle arts, take it all in and send it back.
Φ Green, taking a step forward, takes all of his arms and sends them towards Orb, prepared to grab the ball, yet as he does, Orb, with minute movements, completely keeps the ball away from Green, stopping his arms from reaching it.
Then he quickly slides the ball across Green's right arm, gliding it right through all of the little hands across his elongated arm, and then lunges forward, moving directly past him to the left. As the ball moves along the right arm curves and ends up right behind Green, then with his tail, Orb grabs the ball and moves forward, leading the crowd to erupt in cheers.
Zbur, holding the mike, says, "It's taken nearly the entire match, but Orb has finally surpassed Green! What kinda of awakening is this!"
Green turns around and tries to grab Orb, but looking down, he sees his feet are frozen to the ground, unable to move.
Φ I never noticed before, but Green's attention always shifts towards the ball first and foremost. When split between taking the ball and engaging his opponent, he doesn't really take in his opponent's movements, just the ball and his own. When I move the ball, I try to make my opponents mess up by reading them, but he just plays with the ball in whatever way he wants till his opponent gets overwhelmed.
So using the ball as a distraction, I can freeze him, allowing me the get past him, granted I disrupt his thought process by blocking his offensive strike. If I had to mentally keep up with all of his different movements, I wouldn't have been able to see this weakness. I think right now, I feel far better in my own flesh than I ever have in my entire life.
Φ Orb quickly puts away both his ears and tail, and then says, "I CAN DO IT!"
Ikaras and Dumnorix, seeing this, dash forward away from both Blue and White, right towards the Bloody Mary's monster truck, and Cara says, "This is how I like it. Bewitchment!"
Cara's body burns yellow as he grows, looking like an inverse version of Pia's Bewitchment. Then, into the sky, he launches a series of meteors at all of the siblings with the exception of White, who dashes past him.
"Bewitchment!" White says as his legs gain even more muscle mass and the rest of his body becomes far more streamlined, forcing it into a blade that completely cuts through the wind. But more notable than all the muscles on the hands forming a mask on his face become even tighter, almost as if they become one with his face.
With this new form, he dashes forward to meet Orb, and while dribbling forward, Orb moves to meet White, and they dash along side each other with White outpacing him.
Orb soon comes to a stop and then lunges to the side, but White quickly does the same and says, "In my Bewitchment state, you won't be able to trick me like that again."
Orb processes to continue to lunge forward, stop himself instantly, then do so again, and White follows, not only keeping up but surpassing Orb's movements as they go.
Soon Orb stops completely, and holds his hand up, then beckons white towards him with his back towards Blue, who is descending at him from above.
White quickly lunges forward towards Orb at high speed, imperceptible by Orb's human eyes. Yet despite that, the boy remains completely calm as White dashes toward him, and taking a deep breath, he jumps up. White's body arrives to ram him, but with subtle and light touches against White's body, he moves himself behind White's body, completely evading the attack.
He says, "Red branch battle arts; Sonic thrust!" then slams the ball right into the back of White's neck, both sending White down, and the ball into the air right into Blue's neck.
Orb says, "Red branch battle arts; Sky flower!" Then kicks off into the air to reach the ball with his left foot, then slams the ball right into Blue's neck a second time with his right foot before falling to the ground.
Yellow and Pink make it through the large barrage of meteors to attack Orb and shout, "Bewitchment!" Yellow's body increases in mass evenly throughout its body, and Pink's elongated leg becomes even more fearsome, and at the same time, masks similar to White's appear across both of their faces.
Yellow moves in front of Orb, and Pink, in the back, using his leg like a whip, strikes at Orb. Through the barrage of Pink's strikes, Orb dodges with the ball, evading each one of the strikes that sends shockwaves through the air, and through this, Yellow moves right towards Orb.
"You think you can just get past us now."
Orb, passing the ball to Yellow says, "Without a doubt."
Yellow looks confused for a moment, yet as he looks up and sees meteors completely overtaking the air and blocking all long passes, he says, "Do you really think you can take me in a one v one after last time?"
"Only one way to know that?"