Xandro says to Geko:
"Don't get too shocked after you hear it, but I have sixteen more arms... Thirty-two in total."
Marshal mumbles:
"Thirty-two arms? Are Astryns this powerful?"
Geko teleports to attack Xandro. He blocks his attack, and attacks back while having a sinister grin on his face.
Geko falls backward and blood comes out of his mouth. Xandro runs towards Geko. As soon as he reaches Geko, he teleports.
Xandro disappears and reappears behind Geko — then blitzes around him, striking from every angle.
Geko sighs and grabs his arm. He pulls Xandro towards himself, and attacks him with a punch to his face.
Xandro manages to touch two more Eki Eki circles simultaneously and interrupt them. They start unleashing an absurd amount of energy.
Geko throws Xandro away and teleports behind him. The energy from the circles slowly starts to consume reality.
Xandro sees the destruction and says to himself:
"If these circles continue to consume reality, this battle will never reach its end."
Both of them run towards each other. Xandro teleports, and Geko tries the same but fails to do so. Geko sees it and says to himself:
"Why? What is he trying to do? How can his touch alone can disrupt the flow of these ci—..."
Geko's mouth fills with blood and he falls. Xandro's shadow appears behind him and his voice echoes:
"One isn't supposed to think or talk during La Coreira. Especially if it's as powerful as yours."
Geko looks behind, Xandro grins and says:
"I interrupted the flow of your circles. Half of the work is done and if I don't seal them away now, they will continue to consume reality."
An eye opens on Xandro's forehead, and absorbs all the immense pressure. The eye is black and red just like Xandro's hair.
As it fully awakens, Xandro says:
"Allow me to demonstrate... The power of my singular celestial eye!"
The darkness falls around them, and only Xandro's eye is shining as he says:
"Sigilli del Destino!"
(Seals of Fate!)
A horizontal portal opens in front of Xandro and starts pulling the four circles inside it. Within the darkness, Xandro's voice says:
"Once these four circles are sealed. You will be left with only three. Which means your La Coreira will be significantly weakened."
After pulling the four interrupted circles, the portal closes, and the darkness fades away.
Xandro closes his singular celestial eye and teleports near Geko then punches him in the gut.
Geko mumbles:
"How could you?"
Xandro runs towards him and kicks him while saying:
"My singular celestial eye... It regenerated my original arms."
Xandro tries to punch, but Geko blocks it with one hand and attacks him in the gut.
Xandro grins while looking into the eyes of Geko and hits another circle with his head.
A blast throws both of them away. Geko falls backward. Marshal holds Geko and asks:
"Can you fight him any longer?"
Geko nods and replies:
"Yes! I can..."
Marshal says:
"But you're left with only two circles. Even his arms have regenerated now."
Geko stands up while replying:
"You shouldn't worry about anything and let me continue this battle."
Marshal asks him:
"Why can't you see? You're brutally bruised and bleeding from the head."
Geko looks back with a warm smile and replies:
"Nothing from here on matters now."
On the other side, Akuchi and Ashy are in the Oganai hideout and watching the whole battle.
Previously, Akuchi was told not to interrupt the battle. The path he took was to watch it through the eyes of his ravens.
Akuchi sighs and the masks on his and Ashy's face disappear. She pouts and asks:
"Why did you remove the mask from my face too?"
Akuchi stands up and says:
"There's no meaning left in it..."
He walks towards the door to exit. She sees him and asks:
"And what do you mean by that?"
He calmly says:
"Someone has already lost both the battle and his life."
She gasps in shock and stays silent. He says:
"Follow me and I'll show you something."
She stands up and walks towards him. Both leave the hideout and walk into a hall.
She looks at him and asks:
"Where are we going?"
He replies:
"Please be patient."
He opens a portal and enters it. She follows him in and the portal closes.
On the other side of the portal, they enter a very dark space with many trees that have glowing blue leaves.
Ashy looks up and sees water falling on the sides — around a giant tree.
The atmosphere is very calm. Even the flow of energies seems to exist, but silently.
Akuchi looks at her:
"What do you see in front of you?"
Ashy replies:
"A giant tree."
He snaps his fingers and they teleport under the tree. He points at the waterfall and says to her:
"I want you to have some of this water in your hands."
She nods and extends her arm to get some water in her hand. He looks into her eyes and says:
"Try to look inside it. Can you see anything besides the water?"
She shakes her head in confusion. He calmly says:
"Then you can throw the water away but keep an eye on it."
She nods and throws it away. Her eyes shine when she sees green particles inside the water.
The water instantly vanishes from the ground, but the green particles remain. She instantly gasps and looks back at him:
"I saw something!"
He asks:
"What was it?"
She replies:
"Some kind of... green particles."
He nods and grabs her hand:
"The name of this dimension is ChiaroOscuro. In old times it was famous for married couples to spend time here."
She smiles and replies:
"Oh, yeah? Then we aren't married yet."
He says:
"I was only recalling the history of this dimension."
She asks:
"Hmm... Go ahead!"
He replies:
"Later on, it was found that the water here contains an otherworldly property. That is why it was reserved for beings with high authority only."
She asks:
"Otherworldly property? Did we just see that property right now?"
He nods and says:
"Yes! This water has the property to show the particles related to warriors who are currently in battle..."
She replies:
"Oookayyy... So what's next like do we see the particles of the warrior who will win?"
He closes his eyes and says:
"No! We see the particles related to the one who will die."
She gets serious:
"R-Really?"
He nods and says:
"In our case, we saw the green particles... Which means..."
Geko is standing in front of Xandro even if he is heavily bruised and in a weakened state.
Geko catches his breath and runs towards Xandro to attack him. Xandro teleports in front of him and punches him in the gut.
Geko dodges it and throws a punch at his face. Xandro doesn't even flinch, and attacks with multiple punches.
Geko blocks them, but due to Xandro's monstrous strength and his own weakened state, he gives up.
Xandro jumps and lands a powerful kick on his head. Geko falls in front of Xandro and says:
"Colpire!"
(Attack!)
The two Eki Eki circles quickly move towards Xandro to attack him but Xandro says:
"Hmph! This won't do anything good for you anymore."
Xandro extends his arm and stops both circles at once. He moves his finger and seals one of them away, and lets the last one go back to Geko.
Before the last circle goes back to Geko, Xandro uses one of his invisible arms and seals it away, then says:
"All this time, I was fighting while staying below my base form. Even with La Coreira, you failed to push me to awaken my base form."
"It is really unfortunate for me, who loves to battle, whether I win or lose doesn't mean anything. I simply enjoy being on the battlefield."
Geko transforms back into his normal state and tries to catch his breath. Xandro sees him and says:
"Only a few hours have passed and you're in your weakest form already. You could push, but it's impossible now because through every attack of mine, I was consuming emotions from your body."
"Your mind is not functioning properly either, and that is because of using buffed La Coreira — which is the least refined form of La Coreira."
Geko says to him:
"Hmm... So I wasn't a worthy opponent at all, huh?"
Xandro replies:
"For me? No, you weren't a worthy opponent. I have fought upper entities in my full-blown state. Do you know how powerful they are?"
Geko nods and says:
"Yes... I know!"
Xandro says:
"Every battle has an end. Even if it takes thousands of years, it still comes to an end. That is what I want you to know... Because this battle has come to an end."
Geko replies:
"What are you waiting for? Land the final blow and finish me."
Marshal steps in and says:
"I am done with waiting. You must move Geko-san, I'll fight him now."
Xandro replies:
"I wasn't finished yet."
Geko keeps his hand on Marshal's shoulder and says:
"Didn't I say nothing from here on matters now? I've lost both the battle and my life."
Marshal replies:
"No, don't say that... I don't actually believe you."
Geko falls, coughing blood. Marshal moves and holds him. Geko says:
"I feel like my body is drowning. I have no energy left to move."
Marshal mumbles in shock:
"But..."
Geko replies:
"Don't feel bad if it weren't me dying first, it would be you, and I didn't want it."
Marshal listens to Geko as he says:
"I have... cleared the path ahead of you, Marshal... You can fight him freely now."
Marshal's body trembles as he says to himself:
"Why... Why in the world can't I speak anything? I have no words to say anything to him."
Geko says:
"Have I proven my... loyalty as your right hand?"
Marshal gulps and nods:
"Y-Y-Yes, you have... You have done what I couldn't..."
Geko replies:
"I haven't done much... I'm sure there is much more to come in the future."
After a moment of silence, Geko takes his last breath as he says to Marshal:
"Farewell, Marshal!"
Marshal blanks out, he doesn't know what to say. His body trembles as his eyes fill with tears.
He closes the eyes of Geko while saying:
"Farewell to you too, Geko-san!"
Marshal opens a portal through which a black chain comes out and pulls Geko's body in.
Xandro stands behind Marshal and says:
"So... Shall we start our battle?"
Marshal stands up while wiping his tears and replies:
"You're going to pay for it."
Marshal's body releases immense energy and breaks the veil around them.
Xandro looks at his surroundings and says to himself:
"So, this is how the direct pressure from the Gates of Tusatra feels like."
As the energy release ends and the smoke fades away, Xandro sees Marshal and says:
"Full-blown State? Don't tell me you awakened it... by instinct."
(TO BE CONTINUED)