SSS Talent: From Trash to Tyrant Chapter 546: Vacation Spar [II]

"Alright, Trafalgar," Xavier declared, his voice now hushed. "My warm-up is concluded." The mana behind him intensified, coalescing into a distinct form.

From the crimson-gold distortion, a secondary figure emerged, initially indistinct before solidifying into a recognizable shape. It possessed the same stature, spear, and facial features as before, yet felt hollower, as if a mere vessel programmed for combat with imprinted memories.

Trafalgar's grip on Maledicta tightened.

"Finally," he stated.

A smirk touched Xavier's lips. "You anticipated him?"

"I anticipated you ceasing your games,"

A brief chuckle escaped Xavier, but he offered no verbal reply. He moved in unison with the brother, their spears slicing through the arena from opposing directions simultaneously – one corporeal, one an afterimage, both imbued with lethal precision that punished any hesitation.

Trafalgar offered none.

Steel clashed. Once. Twice. Maledicta deflected Xavier's lunge, slid down the opposing spear shaft, and whipped back towards the brother's wrist. The echo retreated slightly faster than anticipated, its spearhead flashing towards Trafalgar's throat as Xavier executed a low sweep aimed at the ribs.

Maledicta ascended. The direct strike narrowly missed. The secondary attack was parried at the very last conceivable moment.

The atmosphere within the arena instantly shifted. Xavier had been formidable before; this was a new level of danger. Brother and wielder moved with a synchronized rhythm, not identical but close enough to constrict the space around Trafalgar into a suffocating, perilous zone.

Xavier grinned from behind his spear shaft.

"You recall now, don't you?"

Trafalgar conserved his breath.

The brother lunged high. Xavier advanced from the flank. Trafalgar shattered their coordinated assault with [Crosswind Edge], forcing a momentary separation, and exploited that sliver of opportunity to unleash [Arc Slash] across the center of the arena. The dark-blue wave surged towards them. Xavier twisted away. The brother met the wave halfway, his form flickering and shuddering before reconstituting itself.

Xavier noted the impact on his opponent's expression and guffawed.

"That strike clearly pained him, didn't it? Try it again. I'm curious to see the count."

The brother initiated the rush this time. Xavier followed a beat later, exploiting that minute delay to make his own attack line more unpredictable. Trafalgar met the echo directly. Maledicta violently knocked the spear aside, spun, and slashed towards the torso. The brother caught the blow late, his form barely holding together.

Xavier's actual spear reached Trafalgar's back in the same instant.

[Severance Step]

Mana swirled beneath his feet. Trafalgar vanished from the pincer and reappeared outside their intersecting attack vectors, his dark blade already in motion. [Severing Fang] erupted from Maledicta in a vicious diagonal sweep that bisected the ground between Xavier and his brother. Stone fractured. Dust and debris erupted outwards. The brother's shoulder disintegrated in a cascade of unstable light before slowly reforming, this time with a noticeable delay.

Xavier glided along the edge of the newly formed chasm and planted his spear.

"Now that's the version of you I wished to see."

Trafalgar's expression remained stoic.

This composure seemed to amuse Xavier more than any verbal retort could have. He rolled his

neck, exhaled deeply, and the mana behind him surged once more.

"You're not the only one who brought forth something superior."

The arena floor grew dim beneath a vast, moving silhouette.

Another distortion tore open behind him, significantly larger and far more menacing than the first. It rose upon four legs, each as thick as a column, its form sculpted like a predator that had lost all restraint during its growth. At first glance, the creature resembled a lion, albeit one forged from pure battle-lust and bone. A formidable mane of translucent plates encircled its neck. Horns curved menacingly from its skull. Its massive paws struck the stone floor with enough force to resonate through the very runes carved into it.

The onlookers surrounding the arena gasped in unison, recoiling.

Xavier's grin reappeared, subtler now, tinged with a sense of accomplishment.

"You stated you desired a surprise, did you not?"

Trafalgar assessed the monstrous beast for a single breath before adjusting his stance.

The brother moved once more. The beast lunged in tandem with him. Xavier followed last, his spear held low, observing which opening the other two would create first.

Three distinct attack vectors.

One unified entity.

The horned beast impacted the arena like a hurled meteor. Trafalgar sidestepped just as the charge threatened to overwhelm him, but the sheer force of its landing fractured the stone and disrupted his intended maneuver. The brother's spear thrust in immediately. Xavier's joined from the opposite side.

Maledicta became a blur of obsidian energy.

One impact near the chest. A second at shoulder height. The third strike sliced low, tearing open the beast's foreleg and scattering fragments of unstable light across the platform. The creature showed no sign of faltering. It pivoted on its wounded limb and swiped with a claw massive enough to obliterate an ordinary first-year student.

Trafalgar ducked beneath the strike and retaliated with [Earthsplitter].

With Maledicta and its weight focused into a downward cleave, a brutal shockwave surged through the platform as it impacted the stone beneath the beast, causing the entire field to convulse. The horned echo faltered, its front half momentarily lifted by the sheer force. The brother element flickered into existence beside it, prompting Xavier to leap backward to maintain his balance.

The center of the field was consumed by dust.

Trafalgar advanced into the obscuring cloud.

It was the brother element that found him first, as was expected. A sharp crack echoed as spear and sword collided within the dust, the impact bursting the cloud apart between them. Trafalgar executed a pair of swift cuts, driving the echo back. The echo attempted to reposition, but Trafalgar denied it the necessary space.

[Severing Fang]

The force of the diagonal pressure slash tore directly through the brother element's chest.

This time, the echo did not recover. Its form began to disintegrate from the center outwards, the spear dissolving first, followed by the torso, until the entire figure shattered into dispersed motes of red-gold light and vanished.

One down.

The horned beast let out a silent roar and charged from the left, its jaws agape and plated mane flaring. Simultaneously, Xavier struck from the opposite side, attempting to force Trafalgar into the intersection of both attacks.

He did not yield.

[Morgain's Requiem]

Dark mana unfurled around Maledicta as Trafalgar moved into the eye of the storm, initiating a deadly sword dance. A single slash raked across the beast's muzzle. Another split its plated mane. A third wave of power emanated outwards, compelling Xavier to retreat before it could strike his shoulder. Trafalgar continued his relentless assault with chilling precision, each strike aimed at the points where the echo's structure was weakest.

The fourth slash sliced through the beast's flank.

The fifth severed its neck about halfway through.

The sixth strike bisected the core concealed within its chest.

The massive body of the horned beast contorted under the onslaught, light pouring from the multiple wounds. For a fleeting, grotesque moment, it held itself together through sheer momentum alone. Then, the entire form disintegrated, scattering across the field like ashes blown by the wind.

Only Xavier remained.

He was already in motion as the second echo dissipated, his spear whipping towards Trafalgar's face with enough velocity to reclaim the initiative, should Trafalgar allow himself a moment to regroup.

He did not.

Dark energy coalesced along Maledicta's edge, growing more concentrated and dense, carrying that ominous hum that invariably preceded one of House Morgain's more potent techniques. Xavier's expression shifted instantly upon perceiving this.

[Morgain's Last Dusk]

The air itself seemed to scream.

Trafalgar's diagonal ascending slash erupted upwards in a dark, violent line that ripped through the space before him. Instinct alone propelled Xavier backward. He dropped heavily, partially falling as he desperately kicked himself out of the slash's trajectory. This movement saved him, but only just. The black edge of the technique passed so close to his chest that its residual force tore a piece of his scarf away, sending him crashing onto his backside on the stone floor.

An unnerving silence fell over the field.

Before Xavier could even complete the breath he had drawn to recover, Trafalgar vanished.

[Severance Step]

Mana warped.

One moment, Xavier was on the ground, his spear partially raised, his chest still heaving from the desperate dodge. The next, Trafalgar stood beside him, Maledicta hovering mere centimeters from his throat.

It was only then that Xavier comprehended the duel had concluded.

Trafalgar's voice was calm, almost a whisper. "I believe this duel has a clear winner after all, don't you?"